MOO'S ROSA.....

Hello everyone: Last September 15th. was Mexico's Independence Day so I decided to celebrate by creating this card using this sweet, little girl dressed in the typical outfit of a Mexican Dancer.  If you've never seen these dancers in action or heard this music, I hope you enjoy this little clip in which you can see this beautiful, amazing dresses and hear the happy, energetic dances of the State of Guadalajara, so I invite you to click HERE for a glimpse of some of the traditional folklore dancing of the Country of my birth.

The SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge for this week is "WELCOME HOME" and that means your projects can be about the place where you live or where you came from, in my case I came from Mexico as a young bride back in 1973.

This super sweet little girl's name is ROSA which means Rose, from Moo's Digital Pencil, I love the beautiful, flowing dress that can be colored in just about any color of the rainbow.

The lamps are from an old Flourishes set called "Pinwheels and Popsicles"

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I just punched some scraps of green and red foil paper, stamped the sentiment from Power Poppy called "Marcella's Mixed Tape 1" and a couple of fireworks from Altenew's set called "Pyrotechnics"

I would like to enter the following challenges.

My Besties Spanish Challenge

Coloring in Scrapland Anything Goes or Easel Card.

Aurora Wings Challenge "Inspired by Music"

I got my inspiration from the Fabulous Music of Mexico.

I hope you come and play along with us over at SHOPPING OUR STASH, we can't wait to see what you create.

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.

Recycled Wood Stamping Blocks.....

Hello dear stamping friends: With all the fabulous stamping positioners we all have and enjoy today, woodblock rubber stamps are not used as much anymore, even if they are still available.

So, when I bought my MISTI I decided to convert all of my wood block stamps to plain rubber to be able to use the MISTI to stamp my images, I don't even put the foam on them, I use them just like that, plain red rubber and it works great.   But, I couldn't just throw away these beautiful woodblocks, they are so smooth, with awesome natural woodgrain designs on them and I knew there must be something useful I can use them for.  So I kept them on a box in my craft room closet while figuring out what to do.  They got forgotten for a while until the SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge came out with this theme, "RECYCLE/REPURPOSE" and then I knew I had finally found a way to convert this beautiful wood blocks into something really cool and pretty and decorative.

I found on Pinterest a lot of great ideas so I CASEd a couple of them and here is the result. I hope that, if you are keeping your woodblocks from old rubber stamps, you get inspired to give them new life and help you decorate your home for any Season and/or occasion.

Or, look around your house, put your creative juices to work and find something that might not look like much right now and turn it into something totally awesome. 

Here is what I came up with, hope you like this project.

Super easy to do, you can either paint them or, cover them with scraps of pretty pattern paper like I did for my Family blocks so it's a double benefit here to use all of those scraps of DSP we just can't throw away. The letters were cut with my Cricut machine, I don't use it as often as I should and this time around, it came in really handy.  The flowers on each block were from my little stash of leftovers from the "Botanical Blooms" die set.
I apologize for the darkness of this image, I couldn't get the flash to work, grrrr!!

Please visit the SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge blog and check out what my teammates created for your inspiration and come and join us in our gallery, I'm sure you have a few things somewhere in your craft room or around your house that can be converted into something beautiful as well as useful.

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.

Lets Have Tea.....

Hello everyone: The month of September brings a challenge that is a favorite for many of you over at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE and that is "ANYTHING GOES" so here are my projects and I hope you like them, I had a lot of fun creating this cute Tea Dispenser, following this fun video tutorial by HEIDI BAKS and this other fun video tutorial to create the mug by WENDY KLEIN.

The videos are fun and easy to follow, this ladies give exact measurements and explain real well how to create this truly sweet projects.  I wish I had some cookies or chocolates to put in the mug but I didn't have time to get any so I just filled the mug with some paper packaging and stuck a couple of Nuvo Drops bottles in there, which lets you know how roomy they are.

My papers are all from a sadly retired line from Lili of the Valley, the image on the Tea Bag Dispenser is from a Power Poppy stamp set called SIMPLY CAMELLIAS, I stamped it on a piece of watercolor paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with SU markers and Prismacolor pencils.

The little charm is from my stash.

I hope you come and play along with us over at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE because we have two wonderful surprises for all of you.  The first one is that we are welcoming a new team member to our little family, her name is MILLA and her blog's name is MUSTESORMI, she was our Guest Designer last month and we are thrilled to have her.

The second surprise is that we are offering a prize for the winner which consists on a $25.00 voucher to the CAS-ual Friday Stamp Store, which Michelle kindly donated for our winner.

So, come on and play along with my teammates and I over at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE, we can't wait to see what you create.  

Please remember to have flowers as the main focus on your card, add our banner to your blog post when you upload your card or project to the gallery and please limit your other challenge participation to 6 including ours, no back linking, only new cards/projects please.

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.

You Are My Favorite Perk.....

Hello Blogging friends: I can honestly say that I'm a "Coffee-holic" (Hmm.. is that a word?😏)

Anywho, I found this image from Art Impression in my stash of NBUS, it's been there for a while because, when I found it during my never ending quest to keep my craft room more or less organized,

this stamp set was among other stamps that were temporarily labeled "Friends" so I decided to ink it up for our new SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge #370 which is "CRAZY FOR COLORING", use any medium you want, like or love.

I love water coloring and I love using my Prismacolor pencils so, this image was colored with both. 

The image is from Art Impressions and it's called "Coffee BFFs" 

Stamped with Stazon black ink on a piece of watercolor paper and colored with Sakura Koi watercolors and Prismacolor pencils.

The pattern paper is from Lili of the Valley (sadly discontinued), 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 Power Poppy set called UNDER GLASS, the little coffee cup is from a discontinued set from Cornish Heritage Farms.

So I hope you get your favorite color mediums, look in your stash of stamp sets and come and join my teammates and me in the SHOPPING OUR STASH gallery, where you can check out the rest of the team's 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.

Foxgloves and Bees.....

Hello everyone: The new theme over at the SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge blog is "BUGS, BUGS, BUGS", any kind of bug will do. Here is my card and I hope it inspire you to play along.

This image is from my Power Poppy stash of stamp sets and it's called "Dynamic Duos: Foxglove and Ranunculus, it was released as a stamp set back in June of 2016.  I pounced on it immediately.

I stamped the image on a die cut piece of watercolor paper with Stazon black ink, colored it with Sakura Koi watercolors an added a few Rhine Stones.  I then die cut a piece of white card stock with the Spellbinders die set called Floral Ovals to frame the pretty flowers.

I just love the little bees around the blooms.

The pattern paper was given to me by my granddaughter Vanessa a couple of years ago.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The image and sentiment are from the same Power Poppy set. I lightly colored the image with Prismacolor pencils.

So I hope you stop by the SHOPPING OUR STASH blog and check out the rest of the teams' projects and then come and join us in the gallery.

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.

Some Cute Little Boxes.....

Hello everyone: I have 5 little boxes to share with you that I've created for the new "Anything Goes" RETRO RUBBER challenge.  They are CASE'd from the wonderfully creative Julie DiMatteo who as a blog called The Paper Pixie where you'll find her amazing video tutorials to create some of the prettiest little boxes for party favors or any other celebrations. 

Her videos are so fabulously detailed but totally easy to follow, she is a delight to listen and watch.

These little boxes I'm sharing were made following her directions and I will link each one to the actual video so you can check them out.
Here are all five boxes together, it was a bit hard to group them but finally got all of them to cooperate and stand still for a few seconds to take this picture, 😉

And here they are individually, with the link to that particular video tutorial and a description of what I used to create them.

Mini Diamond Box


I used some pattern paper from Lili of the Valley (discontinued) and card stock from my stash.
The sentiment is from the SU set called "Bella and Friends" from the 2016-2017 catalog.

Candy Wrapper Box


This box was created using Real Red card stock, the sentiment is from the SU set called "Best Birds" from the 2016-2017 catalog.

Diagonal Closure Treat Box

The Pattern Paper for this box is from My Paper Studio, the sentiment is from a SU set called "Whimsical Words" from the 2010 Sale-a-bration catalog.

Envelope Punch Board Treat Box

The pattern paper is from my stash, the sentiment is from the SU set called "Touch of Kindness" from the 2011 Summer Mini.

Self Closing Treat Box

Pattern paper from My Paper Studio, sentiment is from the SU set called "Kindness Matters" from the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog.

So there you have them, this adorable treat boxes can be done in any color and for any occasion, they are loads of fun to create and will delight and amaze the recipients.
Thanks again to Julie DiMatteo from The Paper Pixie for inspiring me to create this awesome little boxes, I hope you give them a try.

I hope you get inspired to come and join my teammates and me over at the RETRO RUBBER challenge blog and check out what the rest of the Designer Team created.

Please remember that the stamps you use MUST BE OVER A YEAR OLD, if you have the date of their release or the date when you purchased them, we surely appreciate you sharing that with us.

I would like to play with the following challenges.

Cute and Crafty Challenge #8 "Anything Goes"

Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenge #1834 "Anything Goes"

Woopsi Daisy Challenge "Anything Goes"

613 Avenue Create Challenge 212 "Anything Goes" Optional "Magic or Fantasy"

Angie's Digital Stamps Challenge #23 "Anything but a Card"

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.

Lemonade anyone?????

Hello everyone: The hot days of Summer are still around and, when it gets really humid, it's basically unbearable so, a good dip in the pool or better yet, the beach, does a body real good.

Over at SHOPPING OUR STASH, we have a new challenge for you to play with, we want to see something "HOT, HOT, HOT" in whatever way you can interpret this word. 

Even the little critters try to keep cool so, here one of the little mice from House Mouse, taking a dip on someone's lemonade, LOL!!  I can only imagine the shock to come back to take a sip only to find this little guy chilling out, I know of one dear friend who most definitely won't like this at all.  Me on the other hand, I will handle the mousey a towel and serve myself another glass.😉

I stamped the image with Versafine black ink, clear heat embossed it and colored with some Sakura Koi watercolors, the sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Sunny Harvest, the sun on the corner was made with a circle die mask using a sponge dauber with Daffodil Delight.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is also from the "Sunny Harvest" set and the flowers from a retired Flourishes set, I can't remember the name, I apologize.

So I hope you come and play along with us over at SHOPPING OUR STASH, we can't wait to see what you create.  Stop by the blog to see my teammates awesome creations.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

House Mouse and Friends Challenge

Use Your Stuff Challenge

Cute and Crafty Challenge #7 "Animals"

Dream Valley Challenges #184 "Animals"

Heart 2 Heart Challenges "Cuteness Overload"

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.