Madcap Manor

 This is tough for me, because there are so many techniques I enjoy! It's a bit like being asked 'What's your favourite book?' To which my answer is always 'The one that I'm currently reading.' Anyway, I love using patterned papers on my cards, but rather than use a sketch I decided on paper piecing for a change.  I used an old  Woodware  stamp by the brilliant Francoise Read, it's called 'Large Patch Tree' and unfortunately is out of print.  But check out the other stamps she has designed, so many are great for paper piecing. One of the good things about paper piecing is that it's so easy to make 2 cards at once. I used 2 green patterned papers, a scrap of red tartan paper, and some red card.  I stamped the tree on all the papers and fussy-cut them out.  Then I went around the cut edges with a black marker to hide any imperfections in my cutting!  I stamped the image again on 2 4 x 6 inch pieces of white card and assembled the trees like a q...

 I have had this 'Patchwork Boat' stamp by Woodware for many years, and I thought I'd use it for my Olde Manne's birthday card.  Making cards for him is very difficult because he does not do Cute in any way at all! Fortunately the paper-piecing was judged to be acceptable! I used 6 papers from an old paper pad, stamped the image on each one and fussy-cut the 'patches.'  I re-stamped the image on some white card, glued down the patches and then cut the image out.  Then, because I had all those extras left over, I made 5 more to give to the Toddler Group at my Church. The background is made with an old background stamp from Hero Arts and Peacock Feathers Distress ink.  The border is made from blue holographic card from Tonic and I added the embossed greeting to 'ground' everything.  Finally I added 3 drops of Nuvo Drops for a tiny bit of bling! He likes it! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

Hello! Happy Friday! Christmas now seems a long time ago, doesn't it? However we have a new Challenge at My Time to Craft which will bring back some of the excitement of Christmas Day - New Stash! It's a chance to show off any lovely new inks, stamps, dies, paints etc that you received. My lovely daughter bought me the gorgeous Peony stamp and die set by Reverse Confetti. Instead of colouring the images I stamped them onto snippets of patterned paper and added a little shading with my Prismacolor pencils. The background has been dry embossed with an old Spellbinders folder, it scarcely shows in the photo but irl it adds a subtle background. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Simply Sentiments stamp set. I added shimmer with a Spectrum Noir pan and finished with dots of various Nuvo Drops. After several days of cleaning and tidying it was great to get back into ye olde crafte hovel to create! Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend! love Mags B x

Morning, all! Our new Challenge at My Time to Craft! is Paper Piecing. In case you haven't come across this technique before, it's where, rather than colouring your stamped image, you stamp it again on patterned paper, cut out the pieces and glue them in place instead. I used an old stamp by Woodware called 'Patchwork Christmas Tree.' Sadly it's now unavailable. The key with paper piecing is to use an image with clearly-defined shapes - have a look at my teamies' lovely creations to get a better idea. I used a selection of green papers for the tree, and a scrap of red for the heart, which has been covered in Glossy Accents. I also added Stickles to one of the 'patchwork' patterns and the star. The background paper is from stash and the ribbon is from Hobbycraft. The sentiment is from an old magazine freebie stamp set and the gems are also from stash. I made a second card, too: I only have another 2 dozen Christmas cards to make! I've ...

Hi, guys! We have a technique challenge at My Time to Craft and it's Paper Piecing . That's the technique where, instead of colouring in your image, you stamp it on coloured papers, cut out, and pice them together like a patchwork quilt. For the background I used Snow Drifts Cover Up by My Favorite Things. The papers are Beach Boardwalk an older paper pad by Carta Bella. The yacht image is from Lawn Fawn's Float My Boat and the sails and hull are paper pieced. Go and get some inspiration from my teamies' gorgeous creations, they will inspire you to join in! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! At CRAFT Challenge this week we have a Technique for you to try: Paper Piecing . This is when instead of using pens to colour your image, you stamp it on patterned papers, cut them out and piece them together like a jigsaw. There is a tutorial on our Challenge blog here . Our lovely sponsors this week are: Di's Digistamps The Stamping Boutique Sweet'n'Sassy I used Blast Off! by Sweet 'n' Sassy to make a shaker card. I apologise for the picture, the rocket ship is much clearer irl! I printed and cut out a plain image and then paperpieced the rocket with scraps from my stash, and before I glued them onto the base I went around the edges with a black felt tip to add definition. I added Wink of Stella to the blue bubble cockpit and the flames. The papers are also from stash. Go and see my creative teamies' paper piecing, and have a go! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Happy Independence Day to all my friends and family in the USA! Good morning, all! We had an amazing thunderstorm last night, bright sheet lightning lighting up the clouds and an absolute cascade of rain! The air feels so much fresher today! Now for the new Challenge at My Time to Craft which is Paper Piecing . (The link leads to a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers.) Woodware have produced some great 'patchwork' stamps that are ideal for this. Here's the elephant: I used papers from the Snippets drawer to piece her. The background is made with a MFT Die-namics Sun-ray die, I cut it from pink card and patterned paper, glued the card to the front of my card, and filled in the gaps with paper - it seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I'm not so sure. However, half the fun of cardmaking is EXPERIMENTING to see what works and what doesn't! ;) The banner is Paper Smooches, the sentiment I think came from a magazine a long time ago! Do go and see...

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree... This is the last Challenge for 2014 for My Time to Craft we are back on January 3rd! I used a Winter Trees die from Simon Says Stamp to cut out various shades of card and paper, then paper-pieced them together. One of these has a card outline and patterned insides; the other has 3 paper outlines glued together for strength, and paper insides. The sentiment is from the Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler stamp set. There's still time to make a quick Christmas Tree card and enter our Challenge! The DT have made some wonderful creations, do go and see them and be inspired! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Evening, all! I have been paper piecing some thank you cards, since I needed a bunch, using Penny Black flower stamps Gossamer 3865K and Whispers 3377K This one is made with blue Snippets - paper piecing is such a good way to use up scraps of paper! Though even so I have to force myself to throw away the snippets left after fussy cutting the design! And I apologise for the naff photo, the card base is in fact white! And this one is, of course, made with pink snippets. the very tiny areas are coloured with felt tips. The banners are by Lawn Fawn and I edged them with Spectrum Noir pens in the appropriate colours, to look like mats, and put them on foam adhesive to give some dimension. Two very simple cards, with no glitter or Glossy Accents, just stamped and cut papers! An ideal technique for quietly cutting out while watching tv! I'm now off to enter Pixie's Snippets Challenge Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning, all! I hope you're enjoying your weekend! My house is full of people - my daughter is over from Ireland, and my son, daughter-in-law and baby granddaughter are here from Shropshire. We have a family wedding tomorrow, my niece is getting married! It's time for another Challenge at My Time To Craft! and it's a technique that is very popular: Paper Piecing! My card is very simple because I wanted the Penny Black image 'Love Blush' to stand out. (Sadly, it looks as though the stamp is discontinued, at any rate, I can't find it online.) It is very fiddly to cut out all the petals! I used Lotv Bonnets and Bowties papers. I stamped the image on 3 pink papers and 1 green one, and then I stamped the image in the middle of my card blank. Then it was a matter of finding my scissors and snipping away - it took quite a while! i did cheat a bit and coloured the very narrowest sections with felt-tips! The banner is the Bannerific set by Lawn Fawn. I ...

For my DT card for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Hello again! Apologies for being late with this post, too! Now that I'm a Deputy Church Warden (no need to salute lol!) Sunday mornings can be quite busy! I should have remembered to schedule today's posts. Sorry!!! Anyway, enough of my twaddle! The new Challenge at Dream Valley is to use a Tag on your creation. Our sponsor is Lacy Sunshine Stamps and a winner can choose 3 of their gorgeous images from the store! Go and see what my teamies have done with the lovely images they were given! And here is my card: The alert among you (ie everyone) will notice that I didn't use a digi image. My printer isn't speaking to my laptop for some reason, and refuses to produce anything but blank sheets of paper. (Or maybe it's pictures of a white horse in a blizzard? No, I don't think so, either.) There are three tags on the card, they are made with a Whiff of Joy die, the...

Good morning! I hope you're all keeping well! Sadly, I have needed to make a Sympathy card for a friend who has lost her Mum. (How tough it is, when all the shops are full of Mother's Day cards!) I paper-pieced a Penny Black stamp called 'Love Blush' with scraps from the Snippets Box. Though I did colour the tiniest bits (are they called sepals? It's many years since I did Science at school so I may have that wrong!) - anyway, I used Spectrum Noir DG3 on them. The mat is cut with a Spellbinder's Floral Ovals die and I distressed through the die with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink to give a faint pink shade. The paper is from a 'Country Diary' stack that was free with a magazine quite some time ago! I decorated the inside, too I'm glad to say my friend likes it! I'm entering Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge - thanks for the reminder, Di! Well, the tidying and dusting won't get done if I just sit here looking at it (wouldn...

Evening, all! How's your weekend going? Well, I hope! We have taken down the decorations - how bare the house looks now! This week I have mostly been making thank you cards in blue: and in pink: I used a Woodware Clear Magic 'Huge Thanks' stamp on lots of leftover snippets, most of them Nitwits. Then I cut them all out, which took ages because I needed so many of them! Half are lighter colours, half are darker, and I glued them to get a shadow effect. I was going to add punched flowers, but my Olde Manne suggested they look better without. I ended up making 11 of them and my goodness my hand ached when I'd finished the cutting-out! I now appreciate my dies and punches more than ever! I hoped I'd make a big dent in my snippets collection, but it's scarcely noticeable! Thanks for looking, guys, and I'll see you tomorrow for the first Dream Valley challenge of 2013! love, Mags B x PS Sorry about the faded pix again, I'm going to need a...

Hi, all! I'm so sorry I've been AWOL, my elderly laptop decided to start freezing - so frustrating! Trying to get online with my phone is definitely not the same, I always hit the wrong letters on the teeny-tiny keyboard! Luckily after a thorough clean of the keyboard with a paintbrush the problem seems to be solved - thank goodness for my daughter, I'd never have thought of that on my own!! So I have to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas but at least I'm in time to say Happy New Year! I hope you all have a wonderful 2013! Just before Christmas my hubby, daughter and I went down to Shropshire to celebrate our granddaughter's first birthday. Her initials are 'L A' so I always think of her as 'Little Angel'! Oh she is gorgeous! She loved her 'post the shapes in the matching holes' house that we got her - at least, I think she did, she certainly enjoyed bashing the shapes together! This is the card I made her: Apologies for the na...

Hi, guys! What a blustery day it's been today! I dug out my woolly winter scarf and hat when I went out this morning!  I was at the Ally Pally on Saturday where I met Mags , one of my lovely Dream Valley teamies, and her mum. It was great to sit down and talk about cards with people who understand! The image and papers from today's card were all bought on Saturday. The totally adorable teddy is by Lili of the Valley , I used promarkers and paper-pieced her balloon. The basket has been coated with Glossy Accents. The papers are by K and Co, called 'Lion Sleeps'.  I already had the Penny Black sentiment and the Martha Stewart punch. I used Woodware punches for the flowers, which are pearlised white Papermania card coloured with Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks. The leaves were also made with a Woodware punch, and the brads and gems are from stash.  The sketch is by Friday Sketch Challenges isn't it great? I distressed the strips and stickled ...

Good afternoon, my lovelies! It's time for another challenge at Dream Valley and this fortnight we're asking for Earth Tones . Think browns, creams, greys, russets, maybe a touch of green... Our sponsor is Bead Crafty who are offering one lucky person a massive £20 to spend in their online store! Have a look at their website, it's an absolute treasure trove! I decided to make some little notecards and a box for them, following instructions on the Scor-Pal website here . It was the lovely Jules who made a set in January who linked to the page. The cards are tiny, just 8cm square. The sunflowers are a stamp by Great Impressions. I had great fun making the paper that I used for my paper-piecing, using Distress Inks as shown by Tim Holtz here . He uses Perfect Pearls, but I sprayed with gold Glimmer Mist, and the sheen is lovely! The box is made from a sheet of Bo Bunny double-sided card, and the ribbon is from stash. It took longer than I expected to cut ...

Hi, guys! Just a quick post on a quick card made for the engagement of a couple of my daughter's friends. The stamp is Penny Black, and I used scraps to paper-piece the image in pink and green. I used a Nestie Labels Three that I got at the Ally Pally. The paper ribbon is from stash (I think it was from Whiff of joy) and the rose is Wild Orchid. Simples!! I'm going to enter the lovely Jules's Snippets challenge, because althoug this only used smidgens of paper, it was still all from scraps!! Thanks for looking! luv, Mags x

Warning: this is a picture-heavy post, so get yourself a cuppa and a biccie! I'm entering this week's Less is More challenge, which is to use a ribbon or button. That's better! I had withdrawal symptoms because I haven't made a card in about 10 days! I also haven't played along with Jules's Snippets challenge for far too long, when she challenges us to use up those snippets of leftover paper in our stashes! Three of these cards qualify, but for the last one I cut into a pristine sheet of paper. Okiedokie, I'll keep this short'n'sweet! The patchwork squares were punched using scraps of Pink Petticoat papers, and the pink flowers are Papermania Honey and Hugs, I think. There are purple gems in the middles of the flowers. Sentiment is Penny Black, on a die-cut Nestie, and the gorgeous ribbon is recycled from a cardigan! I used a smaller punch on this one, and doodled lines around them to look like patchwork. There are 4 small butterflies, though they ...

Good afternoon, everyone! Today it looks as if Spring has come to Southeast Hertfordshire: chilly, showery, sunny intervals and rain! It doesn't feel like June at all! I recently decided that I didn't have enough Magnolias and indulged in a few more! This happy lassie is 'Happy Spring Tilda' and she really makes me smile! This week's challenge at Just Magnolia is paper-piecing, one of my favourite techniques! I'm really pleased how the dress came out on this card. The papers are K & Co Classic K, so pretty! I used Promarkers, as usual (love my Promarkers!) and stickled Tilda's lace. I also put Glossy Accents on her shoes, which has changed the original peach and coral to a more orange tone, but it seems to look ok. The sketch was for last week's Sweet Sketch Wednesday, so I've missed that challenge. I don't know why, but this week I've been a day behind myself, thinking yesterday was Tuesday. My memory's as topsy-turvy as the weather...

Afternoon, all! It's a grey, chilly, dank day today and my feet were so cold at church this morning! Hurry up, Spring! We can always make cheerful springtime cards in the meantime, of course! This one is for two challenges: Less is More whose theme is 'Spring' and Penny Black Saturday Challenge who want Mens' Cards. I loved the technique that the lovely Jules used on a card a few weeks ago, when she paper-pieced one of the pretty, sketchy PB flowers. So I decided to have a go. Actually, this is my second attempt, as I chose the wrong shades for my first attempt, and made a dark purple SPLODGE. That's what it looked like, anyway! The papers are Papermania Capsule Collection. The sentiment stamp is from an unmounted collection that's lost its cover, so all I can say is it's not Woodware, who very sensibly print their name on the protective acetate. The flower stamp is PB 'Gossamer.' Thanks for looking! luv, Mags x