Butterflies and Morning Glory.....

Hello, dear blogging friends: I started this card 2 days ago and I finally managed to finish it today, with my grandchildren on Summer Break, it's been a bit hectic around here for about 2 weeks now, we've gone to the pool, the beach, mini golfing and the other day, we went to see "The Incredibles 2", which by the way, it's AWESOME!!!!! waiting 14 years for the sequel was totally worth it, I highly recommend you guys go see it, you don't have to be a kid to love it 😉

Anyway, this card will be entered in a few challenges at the end of this post.

This image is from Northwoods and it's called "Petunias and Butterflies" although I colored them in blue because to me, they also look like Morning Glory.

I stamped the image on watercolor paper with Versafine black ink and colored it with SU markers and Sakura Koi watercolors. The image is quite big so I couldn't layer it with pattern papers or add too many embellishments and just opted to add a few enamel dots to the corners of the panel.

I think the image looks just fine on its own.

The sentiment is from the retired SU set called "Charming Cafe", stamped on a die cut banner from Spellbinders.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The border is from a retired SU set called "Delicate Details", the sentiment is also from the retired SU Bundle called "Charming Cafe" and the butterfly from a set I have had for years but I just can't remember where it came from.

I would like to play along with the following challenges.

Double D Challenges with a theme of BUTTERFLIES.



As You Like It Challenge "Favorite type of embossing and why"
I love heat embossing, especially for watercolors, the raised border on the images provide a perfect little "well" for your watercolors.

Moving Along With the Times #74 "June Blooms"

Pattie's Creations Design Challenge #147 "Anything that Flies"

FabrikaFantasy Challenge #21 "Animals"

Thank you for stopping by, I always read every single comment you so kindly leave on my posts, I want you to know I appreciate them more than words can express.
Until next time, happy stamping.
Hugs from Maria.

Baby, Baby for Retro Rubber.....

Hello crafty friends: My teammates and I at the RETRO RUBBER challenge blog, have a fun and fabulous new challenge for you, one that is always a favorite because of the many possibilities to play with. I hope you have some time to join us in the gallery, although I know how hard it can be to have some "alone time", with the children and grandchildren out on Summer Break, I tell you this because our own grandchildren are on vacation and you know what that means, right? 😊😉

 For my card, I chose the middle horizontal line on the Tic Tac Toe diagram, "Embossing, Pattern Paper and Baby".  The sweet images are from a long discontinued Flourishes set called "Hello Baby" that dates back to 2012, the Teddy Bear and Ducky are from another beloved set called "Baby Love", this set dates from 2009.

I stamped the Onsie and the Baby Booties on watercolor paper and colored them with "Coastal Cabana", I added a couple of yellow brads for the booties buttons.

I cut a piece of Lili of the Valley pattern paper (discontinued) and a piece of Vellum the same size, I embossed the Vellum with a retired SU embossing folder called "Filigree Frame" and stamped the Teddy and the Ducky with Stazon black ink and colored them on the back with SU markers.

The sentiment is from the "Baby Love" set.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment and the Baby Rattle are from the "Baby Love" set.

I hope you can find some time to come and play along with us at RETRO RUBBER, we can't wait to see what you create.  Please stop by the blog to check out my teammates' beautiful creations.

Thank you for stopping by, I always read every single comment you so kindly leave on my posts, I want you to know I appreciate them more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Our Wonderful Crafting Machines.....

Hello crafting friends: The SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge has a new and fun one for you to play this week, we want you to use your favorite crafting machine or tool, I have 2 that I just can't live without.....the BIG SHOT and the MISTI.  I use this tools every single day in my craft room, I can't picture my crafting life without them so, here is my card that uses both of this wonderful machines that have changed the crafting world forever.

I used a lot of my stash of die cut flowers done with the now retired SU "Botanical Blooms", this is one beautiful die set, it has a stamp set but the dies are more than enough by themselves.

I saw THIS CARD on Pinterest and I decided to use some of my already cut flowers, all I did is to sponge them a bit with distress inks. 

I also had a strip of black card stock that I had heat embossed in white using the "Bordering Blooms" stamp set from SU and I thought I could incorporate it on my card, even if the design doesn't look like the flowers.

The sentiment was die cut with oval dies and stamped with Versafine black ink.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I used some scraps of the DSP to decorate the inside, the sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Sweet Peas" and the flower on the corner also from my stash.

I hope you stop by the SHOPPING OUR STASH blog and check out my teammates beautiful creations then, come and play along.

Please let us know what craft machine or tool you used to create your cards.

Thank you for stopping by, I always read every single comment you so kindly leave on my posts, I want you to know I appreciate them more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping,

Hugs from Maria .

A Little Reminder in Blue and Yellow.....

Hello everyone: THE FLOWER CHALLENGE has come to it's half way point and here I am with a little reminder that there is still time for you to play along.
This challenge asks for you to use a previous challenge, you can find the link to all of them on the upper right corner of the challenge page, click on it and you will be shown the post with all of the cards and projects my teammates and I shared on that date.

Here is the banner for that challenge posted on January 5th. of 2017.


And here is the card I made using that challenge.

My image is from an old and retired Flourishes set called "Bees and Blooms" and was stamped on a piece of water color paper with Antique Linen ink,  that had been die cut with one of the dies from a Tim Holtz set Mixed Media Thinlitz, I used the Honeycomb one.

I colored the image with SU markers and Prismacolor pencils.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The border is from a retired SU set called "Bordering Blooms" and the sentiment is from another retired Flourishes set called "Sweet Peas".

I hope you come and play along with us in the gallery. For more inspiration, check out THE FLOWER CHALLENGE post to see my teammates beautiful creations.

Please include our banner on your blog post when you enter the challenge and don't forget to read the rules, they are few but important.

Thank you for stopping by, I always read every single comment you so kindly leave on my posts, I want you to know I appreciate them more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Calypso Coral with a Twist of Lemon Lime.....

Hello everyone: I saw the challenge over at THE PAPER PLAYERS and I decided to give it a try.  Color challenges are a bit hard for me because I don't always have the colors but this time I did and I'm loving this combination from the very talented Nance Leedy, it's very bright and cheerful.

Here is my card.

The images are from a stamp set that is so old that I lost the packaging but I think this stamps are from Our Daily Bread, (they came with the dies too) but I'm not 100% sure, I apologize. 

I stamped the flowers and butterfly on watercolor paper with Antique Linen ink and colored them with my old Calypso Coral ink pad for the flowers and butterflies and Sakura Koi watercolors for the green parts.  I'm really loving the No Line Coloring Technique.  The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Words of Wisdom", the sentiments are from Mother Theresa and they are beautiful.EI was lucky to find some lemon/lime scraps and one fitted perfectly behind the die cut circle.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like

I

The border on the top is from a retired SU set called "Bordering Blooms", the sentiment is from the same Flourishes set and the butterflies from the same Our Daily Bread set.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges.

The Paper Players

Dare2BArtzy June Challenge "Bright Colors"

heARTful Stamping Challenge "Anything Goes + a Stamp"

Happy Little Stampers

Thank you for stopping by, I always read every single comment you so kindly leave on my posts, I want you to know I appreciate them more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

SOS Color Challenge.....

Hello everyone: The SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge has a color challenge for you to play with this coming week, the shades are rich and beautiful so I hope you come along and play with us.

Here is my card that I hope will inspire you to join my teammates and me in the gallery.

I used an image from a set by Art Impressions called SHOPPES, which contains 4 stamps to create a beautiful tri-fold card, I only used one of the images on my card.

I stamped it on a die cut piece of watercolor paper that had been glued to a Terra Cotta die cut piece of card stock that I had in my stash of "I changed my mind" box, colored it with a few SU markers that are still ok with ink. 

The blue layer is done with another piece of card stock from a pad called Kraft Core and sanded out a bit to reveal the undertones, I really like this paper.

The sentiment is from the set.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from a retired SU set called "Perfectly Penned", the little cup on the corner has unknown origins, my 20 y/o granddaughter bought it for me from the bargain bin at the craft store.

So I hope you find some time to come and play along with us at SHOPPING OUR STASH, please visit the blog to check out my teammates awesome projects for your inspiration.

I would like to play along with the following challenges.

Dare2BArtzy June Challenge "Bright Colors"

Happy Little Stampers

Stamping Sensations June Challenge "Anything Goes"

Thank you for stopping by, I always read every single comment you so kindly leave on my posts, I want you to know I appreciate them more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Guest Designer for The Twofer Card Challenge.....

Hello everybody: I'm beyond thrilled to be the April Twofer Card Challenge Winner and to top this honor, I was invited by the fabulous Darnell and her awesome Design Team to be their Guest Designer for the TWOFER JUNE CHALLENGE #6 so, without further delay, here are my TWOFER cards that I hope will inspire you to come and play along in this fabulous and super fun challenge.

The Prompt for this challenge is TREES.  You must create two cards with two different designs for two different occasions using the same Tree stamp or die. 

Here are my TWOFER cards together, I will share an individual picture of them later on.

My TWOFER this time are a Christmas card and a Halloween card.....talk about two different celebrations and occasions, right?  The stamp I used on both cards in different ways is the Purple Onion Birch Tree Background, I used it to create the frame for the Nativity Image on my Christmas card and the "Spooky" forest for my little critters, all dressed up for Trick or Treating, on my Halloween card.

Here are the individual pictures of these cards, I will briefly explain how I created them and what I used on each.

For this card, I stamped the trees 4 times with Antique Linen distress ink and added some shadows with a Prismacolor pencil then, I fussy cut them and placed a brad on each corner to secure the frame, I also added a bit of glue to the corners for reinforcement.

I stamped the image form the retired SU set called "All Ye Faithful" with Stazon black ink and colored it with SU markers and Prismacolor pencils, I glued the frame on top and attached it to an embossed panel using a brick embossing folder. The pine branches, bow and gold detail are die cut with the retired SU die set called "Pretty Pines thinlits".

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This is how the INSIDE of this card looks like.

The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called "Poinsettia", the little tree from "Merry Littles".

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This is my second card using the same Purple Onion Birch Tree background.

I stamped the Birch Trees on a panel of black card stock with white ink and added the shading with a white Prismacolor pencil,  the little critters are also from Purple Onion and they are TROUBLE the Halloween Bat, SHADOW THE OWL and BUTTERCUP BUNNY, I hand drew the Owl's cape and the Bunny's mask and cape myself since I didn't have the rubber stamps with these images, the sign is THIS ONE, I love it because it's perfect for stamping small sentiments, the one here is from the SU TEENY, TINY WISHES, love this set, it has a sentiment for every occasion.

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This is how the INSIDE of this card looks like.

The sentiment is from my stash and the PUMPKINS from Purple Onion, the little bat is from Kraftin Kimmie.

So there you have it, my TWOFER cards for my GUEST DESIGNER SPOT!!!!!

So, come on over to the TWOFER CARD CHALLENGE #6, check out the amazing cards the Design Team have for your inspiration and join the fun. 

Thank you so much Darnell and all the amazing ladies of the Design Team for inviting me to join you guys this month, I'm thrilled and honored to be in such fantastic company.

Thank you for stopping by, I always read every single comment you so kindly leave on my posts, I want you to know I appreciate them more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.