Madcap Manor

Morning, all! It's a grey and overcast day here in S-E Hertfordshire - I hope you guys are seeing some sunshine this weekend! We have a new challenge at My Time to Craft and it's quite a difficult one: Sympathy. I am a big fan of Jennifer McGuire and took inspiration from this video entitled 4-for-1 masked cards. It's a clever technique, because you get two cards from just one stamping session. I cut a circle in a piece of card the same size as a card front and stamped various flower and leaf imges in dye inks over both pieces, added a stamped sentiment, and mounted them on 2 card bases with foam tape. I cut one of the cards down because the circle looked a bit remote on a full-sized card. Some close-ups: and: My teamies have made some beautiful and elegant sympathy cards - do go and see them! Thanks for looking and have a good weekend!

Sadly, I've had to make some sympathy cards recently. I experimented by dropping tiny amounts of Brusho Pigment Powder on wet watercolour card using blues, purples and a smidgen of orange and green. When it had dried I die-cut it with a Memory Box Lovely Peony background die, then added the matching open die-cut in blue cardstock on top. The sentiment is by Penny Black from the Gratitude stamp set. Not too sombre, I hope! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Sadly, I've had to make Sympathy cards for 2 friends, and Get Well cards for 3 others. All have reached their recipients, so I thought I'd show 2. This uses Clearly Besotted Stamps and Lawn Fawn dye inks. Lawn Fawn's 'Penelope's Blossoms' stamped in Lawn Fawn ink. The banner is silver embossed. Very simple cards - which means careful placement! I drew faint pencil lines in the appropriate places and erased them when the inks were dry. I hope you're all well! roll on the weekend! love Mags B x

It's been quite a sad year so far, with several Sympathy cards made for friends. I'm sorry the photo is a bit naff, it's been a very overcast day and the light is pretty bad! The paper is from a 'Webster's Pages' stack, one of the many magazine freebies I'm trying to use up. The card base and die-cuts are done in white Centura Pearl, which has a lovely subtle sheen. I used Spellbinders: the label is from the A2 Filigree Delight set, and I added 2 small pearls; and the corner is from Parisian Accents. I silver embossed the sentiment, which is by Penny Black. A very simple card - but my craft hovel is a disaster! Boxes of paper pads, several Spellbinders packets, my Grand Calibur and all its plates, left-over bits of card.... You name it, it's there on the bed!!! After we've eaten I'll be tidying up! Thanks for looking, my lovelies! I will be back tomorrow with my DT cards for The Squirrel and the Fox and Dream Valley I hope you'r...

Sadly I have had to make two more Sympathy cards, both for two lovely ladies at Church. It's very simply made, with some paper from a Papermania Capsule Collection called 'Heather' as a background. The diecuts are by Tattered Lace and came with the 2nd edition of the Tattered Lace Magazine, and I used White Centura Pearl to cut them. They are glued directly onto the purple paper. I cut and embossed a frame, which is on foam pads, and so is the Spellbinders Tag. I added 2 small gems, coloured purple with a Promarker, and the bow is made with ribbon from stash. The second is smaller, made with Spellbinders Labels One dies. Again I used paper from the same pack, but used the Spellbinders/Our Daily Bread Quatrefoil die. The label is from the Parisian Accents set, and has little gems also coloured with a purple Promarker. The ribbon (which is purple irl) is from my stash. Again the frame is embossed and raised on foam pads. Unfortunately I can't recall where ...

Evening, all! I hope you are enjoying calmer weather now, we have seen two days' sunshine in a row for the first time in ages! What a difference it makes! Sadly, I have had to make a sympathy card. They are so hard to make. I used a Stampendous stamp called 'Agapanthus Cluster.' I stamped it in Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and dabbed it while the ink was still wet with Turquoise Perfect pearls, then misted it with water to set the Perfect Pearls. There's a lovely sheen when the light catches it. I can't remember where I got the coloured base card, it's been in my stash for several years! The ribbon is from Hobbycraft. The sentiment is also from Hobbycraft: it's a clear stamp and I carefully cut the words apart so that they would fit on the banner, which is from the Lawn Fawn 'Bannerific' stamp set. I added shading with a Weathered Wood Distress Marker. I hope you are all keeping well. There seem to be a lot of cold and flu bugs going around...

Sadly, I have had to make another Sympathy card for a dear friend. I used the lovely Penny Black stamp 'Fireworks' with a Kaleidocolor 'Fresh Greens' multicoloured pad. The paper is by Pink Petticoat from the 'Waterfall Hearts' collection and the ribbon is from stash. I had the sentiment already stamped in my file - it might be Hero Arts from either 'Messages' or 'Framed Messages' clear stamp sets. Or it might be Penny Black! I really should organise my sentiments one day! (An update: Thanks for all the kind thoughts and comments about my daughter's cancer, I appreciate them very much. You guys are a tower of strength. Good news - the chemo is definitely working and she will be CURED by Christmas, hooray!) Wishing you all a happy weekend, and thanks for looking! love Mags B x

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...

Sadly, I've needed a sympathy card for my neighbours. I used dandelion stamps by Marion Emberson for Personal Impressions, which I bought at the Ally Pally. The sentiment is from Stampendous. I stamped in Faded Jeans Distress Ink and added Waterfall stickles, which unfortunately don't show in the photo. The faux stitching is done with a blue gel pen to give a bit of shine. You'd think something this simple would take no time at all, but 4 attempts ended up in the bin, three because the image smeared, one because I managed to add a massive blue thumb-print! Wot a plonker! I hope you're all keeping well. Thanks for looking! love Mags B 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 ...