Madcap Manor

 Hi, guys! I have been spending many weeks (many, many weeks!) making Christmas cards.  The latest batch uses the December 2023  Sheetload of Cards  by Alicia of Call Me Crafty Al.  I have made 50 cards for all the mums/Nans/childminders who come to the Toddler Club that I help to run at my church. Here are 8 of the cards I made to show how great this is for using up paper pads.  I finished off a Christmas pad that I'd had for 2 years! And the next 4. All the images and the sentiment are by MFT, the Santas are from the  Jingle All the Way  stamp set and the Elves are from the  Santa's Elves  stamp set.  I love 'em! I coloured them with Promarkers and fussy-cut them.  These cards make me smile! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

  Good morning from a bright, hot, summery S-E Hertfordshire! It has been SCORCHIO! for the last few days - I felt quite sorry yesterday for the Croatia and England teams having to play football in this weather. (Don't mention the Cricket. On a perfect wicket for batting England collapsed horribly and New Zealand deservedly won the Test Series.)  Our new challenge at Dream Valley is very appropriate: Summer Fun. Our sponsor is the awesome Bugaboo Stamps. I love them, especially the 'oldie' characters Stella and Gus, they are so funny! I used Stella Teenagers and Flowers for my card, which was one of the digis that the DT received from Bugaboo. Isn't she great? I used a very bright paper from the Over the Rainbow paper pad by Dovecraft for the background and matched some of the colours when colouring the image. The ribbon came from my stash. The sentiment is stamped in >Atlantis Green embossing powder from Love from Lizi, it has flecks of gold in it whi

Good morning, my lovelies! I hope you're all keeping well. We have a new Challenge at Dream Valley - use Pearls or Gems. I may have gonne a bit over the top with the gems on my Christmas card! But can you have too much bling at Christmas? I don't think so! I used a Spellbinders 6 x 6 die for the background, the centre is in the shape of their Labels One and I used a Decorative Labels One die cut in patterned paper to cover it. Sadly, it seems that the Labels One dies are no longer available. The papers are from Dovecraft's The Magic of Christmas 6 x 6 pad. The background paper has wreaths on it, and I like how bits of the wreaths peep through the trellis. The sentiment is from Lil' Inkers All the Christmas You'll Ever Need stamp set (also, sadly, out of print.) I used 3 sizes of clear gems from stash, going from the largest in the middle to the tiniest at the edge. Go and see my teamies' gorgeous creations and join in the Challenge! Thanks fo

Good evening, all! Phew, what a scorcher it's been today! Here at the Manor we are in danger of running out of suncream, and the Olde Manne has been wearing his straw trilby to protect the bald spot on his crown that he swears is not there because he can't see it! I sheltered in my craft hovel to make this card: The stamp is by Personal Impressions and is called 'Oriental Collage.' I coloured with Spectrum Noirs, there's a list below this post. The blue flower has been stickled. The little blossoms in the corner were punched with a Tonic Retro Daisy punch, and the leaves were done with a Woodware punch. The pearls are from Hobbycraft. The seam binding came from The Ribbon Girl. The background paper is from an old Dovecraft set called 'Oriental' and the script is a scrap of handmade paper, which has a lovely matte texture. I'll be back tomorrow with DT cards for The Squirrel and the Fox and Dream Valley Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hello, my lovelies, I hope you're having a relaxed Sunday! We have sunshine! I'd almost forgotten what the sun looks like! It's time for Challenge 51 at Dream Valley and this time we would like to see ribbon AND bling! That's both, by the way, not either ribbon or bling! And the Challenge this time will last for THREE weeks, not two! Our fabulous sponsor is Crafty Ribbons who are offering one of their gorgeous 'Bev's Bags' to a lucky winner, so get out your ribbons, your rhinestones, your glitter and your Glamour Dust and have a go! This card is not in my usual style, but I'm rather pleased with it! My lovely daughter gave me a pack of Papermania Big Bloomers flowers for Christmas, which inspired this card. I fastened two together with a brad and put some Spellbinders Foliage die-cuts behind it. The leaves have a lot of Glamour dust on them, if you squint you can just about make it out on my naff photo! The ribbon and lace are from stash,