Sunflower Thank you......

Hello everyone: The new challenge over at RETRO RUBBER is a favorite of mine, Tic, Tac, Toe is fun to play with because you have lots of combinations to choose from so, my teammates and I hope you come along and join us in our gallery.
This is the card I made using the vertical line on the right, "Pattern Paper, Thanks, and Nature".  I encourage you to come and check out my teammates' beautiful creations for more fabulous inspiration.

The image is from a Power Poppy set called In Praise of Sunflowers, (released and bought back in 2016) and it's a beautiful one.

I stamped the Sunflower on a panel of Bristol Smooth mixed media paper with Versafine black ink and clear heat embossed it, then colored it with Sakura Koi watercolors and fussy cut it. I have a tip for you about fussy cutting an intricate image......I always put some painter's tape behind the parts of the image that might rip when cutting them, in this instance, I applied the tape behind the stems of the leaves and the little bud, that way you make the paper a bit stronger and easier to cut. 

The pattern papers are from my stash, the sentiment is from the set.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from another Power Poppy set called Sassy Succulents, the small Sunflower is from the sunflower set.

I hope you come and play along with us at RETRO RUBBER, please don't forget to use at least one stamp that is one year old or older and, if you can, let us know the age of it, we are all about using our old and sometimes forgotten stamp sets.

Thank you for visiting me today.

Hugs.

Falling Petals........

Hello everyone:  I'm slowly but surely getting back into my MOJO so I'm sharing this card today done with one of my favorite Altenew stamp sets.

This is the "Persian Motifs" and these beautiful images give you the option of coloring them any color you want to suit the occasion.

I stamped them on a panel of watercolor paper with Versafine black ink, clear heat embossed them and colored them with SU ink refills. The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Simply Camelias, I also added a few enamel dots from Gina Marie Designs.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from another Power Poppy set called Short Stacks and the flower in the corner from the Altenew set.

I would like to play with the following challenges.

I just used the left side for my card,

I hope it's ok.

Crafty Katz #490

"Anything Goes/optional twist "Flowers"

Thank you for visiting me today.

Hugs.

Maria.

Blue Jay for SOS.........

Hello everyone: I've been away for a while taking care of some very sad and difficult situations with our family.  I want to thank my amazing teammates at SHOPPING OUR STASH for their comforting words, support and understanding and for the beautiful cards I received from them, this means the world to me and I feel blessed and forever thankful to be a part of such a wonderful group of women who always, no matter what, will have your back.

But I'm back and I'm happy to be in my craft room again, doing one of the things I love the most, coloring and creating cards for your inspiration so, I hope you come and join us in our gallery, the theme this time is to create a Winter card using predominantly the color BLUE.

This image is from a Power Poppy set called Serene Scenes I had in my stash of un-inked stamp sets and that's a shame because it's so beautiful.

So I stamped it on a die-cut panel of watercolor paper with Versafine ink and colored with SU markers and a bit of shimmery silver paint.

The sentiment is from another Power Poppy set called Cozy Cupfuls.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like. 

The sentiment and the little branch are from a retired SU set called "Beauty of the Season" (2014 Holiday Mini).

I hope you can come and play with us at the SHOPPING OUR STASH gallery, stop by to check my teammates' beautiful creations.

Thank you for visiting me today and for your sweet comments.

Hugs.

Maria.

My first Twofer of 2020......

Hello everybody: It was very hard to wait for the first Twofer Challenge theme for 2020 and, as usual, the talented DT came up with a fabulous prompt.
I'm happy to submit these cards for one of my favorite challenges.

And this is my first card.

I used two hearts punches plus the Postage Stamp (SU-retired) Punch to create this card.  The bigger heart is punched with a retired SU hearts punch, the smaller heart, with the Owl Builder Punch (SU-retired)

The sentiment is from an old Valentine's Day set from Flourishes called "Tokens of Affection"

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This is how the INSIDE of this card looks like.

The sentiment and banner are from a Flourishes called "From the Heart" (2015) 

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My second card is created with a super fun die set from SU called "Apron Builder", LOVE IT!!! that fortunately is still available and ON SALE!!

The pattern papers are from my stash and I used the same heart punches to decorate the apron and banner, the sentiment is stamped with a super old alphabet set from "Your Next Stamp".
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This is how the INSIDE of this card looks like.

The sentiment is from a 2017 Power Poppy set called Tweet Tidings.

I would like to play along with the following challenges.

Twofer Card Challenge #23

Send a Smile for Kids "Valentine or Anything Goes"

Gem of a Challenge "Anything Goes"

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hugs.

Maria.

A Little Reminder........

Hello everyone: I've been out of the blogging loop for a while, trying to sort out a few sad and difficult family issues, and I want to thank my amazing teammates at The Flower Challenge, for their support and love, patience, caring thoughts, and cards I've received, I feel so blessed and grateful to be a part of this group of talented and caring women, thank you again for your love and understanding.

So now, THE FLOWER CHALLENGE is at its halfway point and here's a little reminder to let you know there's still plenty of time for you to come and play along, the theme is "Shaped Cards" so I hope to see you in our gallery.

Here's my card.

I used a retired Stampin' Up! die set for the card base and the main panel, the flowers are from a retired Flourishes set called "Botanical Bookplates", released back in March of 2012.

The image is stamped with Versafine black ink, heat embossed with clear powder and colored with Gansai Tambi watercolors.

I added some enamel dots and a twine bow. The word "amazing" is die-cut with a die I bought from eBay some time ago.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like. 

The sentiment and flowers are from the Flourishes set.

Our Guest Designer is the very talented Alex Syberia and she's giving our lucky winner two of her beautiful digital images as a prize, check out her web site to see the wonderful images she has there.

Stop by THE FLOWER CHALLENGE blog to get more inspiration from my fabulous teammates.

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.

Hugs.

Maria.

Let it Snow.....Please!!!!!

Hello everyone: Well, I'm back after a really long absence due to some sad and difficult family situations. But it's 2020!!! so my only resolution is to make this year so much better than the last.

My dear friends at RETRO RUBBER have been ever so patient with me, giving me some time to recharge and for that, I'm so very grateful, but like I said, it's a New Year and with that comes the very first challenge of 2020 so I hope you come by our challenge blog and get some inspiration from my amazing teammates, here's mine.

This "Winter" has been anything but, we haven't gotten any significant snowfall since I can't remember when, only little dustings here and there but nothing to make a snowman or have a snowball fight, so I'm wishing for a couple of inches, you know, just for the fun of it.

This is a very simple card, I'm trying to ease my way back into the crafting mode, so I just grabbed my snowflake dies and cut out a few, cut a panel of white card stock with a set of wavy dies, stamped the sentiment from Power Poppy's "Snow Kissed" stamp set (2017) and added a few enamel dots and Rhine Stones for some bling.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Warm Winter Wishes" (12/2010) and the little bird playing with a "bunch of snowflakes" is from a SU set called "Snow Much Fun" (2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog).

So I hope you come and join my teammates and me at the RETRO RUBBERchallenge gallery for our first challenge of 2020.

Make sure at least one of the stamps you use on your card is OLDER THAN ONE YEAR, and if you know the year of its release or when you bought it, we would love to know.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

Cut It Up Challenge #191 "Snow Much Fun"

CAS on Friday Challenge #171 "Winter"

Crazy 4 Challenges #517 "Summer or Winter"

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.

Hugs.

Maria.

A Little Reminder for The Flower Challenge.......

Hello everyone: Well, there's still time for you guys to come and play along with us at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE "Use a Die" challenge, here's my card that I hope it will inspire you to join us in our gallery.




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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I hope you find a bit of time to play along with us at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE, come and check out the cards my awesome teammates created to inspire you to join us.
We have a $25.00 gift e-card offered by our generous sponsor Crackerbox and Suzy Stamps, check out their online store, you'll find lots of awesome products to choose from.

I would like to play on the following challenges.

World Wide Open Design Team Challenge

Happy Little Stampers


Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.

This is what I used to create this card.

*Botanical Blooms (SU, retired)

*Simply Camelias from Power Poppy (Sentiment)

*Enamel Dots from Gina Marie Designs.

*Delicate Details (SU, retired)

Hugs.
Maria.