Just a Little Note.....

Hello Everyone: The Freshly Made Sketches has a great sketch by Jen Mitchell that I'm combining with the Addicted to Stamps and More "Make Your Mark" challenge, here is my card.

This image is the very first one from the Flourishes Stamps I ever saw back in February of 2011 on Mary Fish's blog when she had one of her beautiful parades of cards from friends and I fell completely head over heels in love with it. Of course I needed to find out where it came from, there was no information about it except for the lady who made that card so, I wrote to Mary asking if she could possibly ask this person where this image came from and, as always, Mary was happy to help and a few days later, this lady contacted me via email and that is where she told me this image was from Flourishes, she told me just to google it and, when I did, I entered an incredible world of amazing, gorgeous images created by Marcella Hawley, that lured me with their charm, elegance and beauty.  Of course, I immediately bought this set and, for years and years until they sadly closed their on line store, I collected a fabulous stash of this awesome stamp sets.

Ok now, I stamped this image onto Canson water color paper with Versafine Onix Black ink and colored it with my SU markers and the aqua painter, the beautiful font background stamping is from Stampin Up!, it's from back in 2007!!!!! and it's called "French Script" which is just perfect for this beautiful image, don't you think?

Here is a close up picture of my card.

The beautiful "Friend" word is from another Flourishes set called

"Gerber Daisies" (2012)  matches perfectly the font on this big stamp, the ink well is stamped onto a scrap piece of water color paper, colored and fussy cut to add a bit of dimension.

Here is a picture of the finished inside of my card.

The sentiment is also from this set.

Here are the banners that inspired my card.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Stamps used.

Smells like Christmas.....

Hello everyone: Well, even if it doesn't really smell like Christmas yet, this card might make you recall those wonderful scents of the Holidays coming from the kitchen or your Christmas decorations.
This image from Power Poppy's Spice it Up stamp set only needs the aroma of cloves and oranges but even without it, still looks awesome. Here is my card.

See what I mean? the combination of the citrus and cloves really adds the sweet feel of family and the Holidays.  I stamped this image onto Canson water color paper with Versafine Onix Black ink and colored it with SU markers and the aqua painter, I sponged the panel with Hello Honey ink, I love this color, it adds such a vintage feel to your cards, I placed a few sequences and stars for some bling.

The pattern paper and ribbon are from my stash, the die cut embellishment is done with THIS corner dies.  Here is a picture of the finished inside.

The sentiment is from that same set and the little pine cones are from Merry Littles, also from Power Poppy, I use this little images all the time, they are perfect to add to the inside of your cards.

I'm linking this card to the Tuesday Morning Sketches 

I just flipped the sketch on it's side.

Thank you for stopping by today, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Glitter, Glitter!!!!!

Hello everyone: I have a glittery card to share with you today.  Yes, yes, GLITTER is both beautiful and messy to work with, no matter how careful you are, you end up wearing this tiny specks on hands and face, your clothes, hair and they hang around on your work table until you come in with the vacuum. But, for Holiday cards, GLITTER is fun and festive. The  Merry Monday challenge hosted by Christie, is asking to use the Ombre technique, which I think I need a bit more practice with and GLITTER, well how can I pass this up, here is my card.

This card was done rather quickly, what took me the longest was the sponging, I kept adding more color to the top only to have to adjust the fading to the bottom but, I think it looks ok, in my humble opinion.  This ornaments are ancient, I don't know where I bought them so I can't tell you but I really like them, both designs are really pretty. 

The sentiment is from Power Poppy Merry Littles, ribbon from my stash.

Here is a picture of the finished inside.

The Poinsettia is also from Merry Littles and the sentiment is from another Power Poppy stamp set called Spice it Up, with just gorgeous images for the Holidays.

This is the banner that inspired my card.

Thank you for stopping by today, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Riding Pretty.....

Hello everyone!! I have a card to share with you for The Paper Players hosted by Nance, the theme is BICYCLE which is fabulous. I would have sadly passed on this challenge if it wasn't for the fact that just last week I received a few stamp sets I bought from Julie Koerber who is selling some of her stamps and dies. Among this bunch there was one with a bike that, even if it's not a race bike, I had to have it. Here is my card.

This sweet bicycle image is from Impression Obsession stamp set called "Riding Pretty", super cute!!

I just stamped the image onto a panel of Strathmore multi media water color paper with Versafine Onix Black ink and colored the bike with SU markers, the grass and sky were sponged with Tumbled Glass and Peeled Paint distress ink, the little grass patches are from Arts Impressions. 

I die cut the clouds and fussy cut the flowers and the presents, that's it!!!

Here is a picture of the inside of my card.

I apologize for the images being so dark but my camera was running out of batteries, I had to fight with it, letting it rest in between picture taking, so I was only able to take this 3, sheeesh!! 

Here is the banner that inspired my card.

Thank you for stopping by today, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

All Dressed Up.....

Hello everyone: This week over at the "Less is More" challenge blog the DT is asking us to use DSP in our CAS cards.....well, those of you who know me for a while know that DSP and I sometimes don't get along to well, don't get me wrong, I love the designs and colors of it, I just don't know how to mix patterns or how to match it with regular card stock, or where to place it on a card, I have some mental block that stops me on my tracks every time I attempt to work with it.  I've seen other crafters do wonders with it, I just can't.  Sometimes I manage to put a small panel on some cards but, for the most part, I avoid it completely. I have a nice stash of Lili of the Valley pattern paper and I use a small piece for my card.

This pretty DSP is from the "Sunny Side Up" collection. Unfortunately, Lili of the Valley discontinued this papers, when I found out about this, I went a little crazy and bought a few packs and pads. I love the primary colors on this paper and I picked this particular one for my card.  I have this fabulous and retired SU die set called "Dress Up", I love this pretty shapes, they make the most adorable little dresses, I added a piece of red card stock and I punched a little flower from white paper and a little dot with red. 

The stamped gifts are from a retired Flourishes set called "All Wrapped Up!" and the sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Go Wild, it has absolutely gorgeous images of Wild Flowers.

Here is a picture of the finished inside of my card.

The sentiment is from the same Power Poppy set and the stack of gifts is from the retired Flourishes set, stamped in Stazon Dove Gray ink.

USE DESIGNER PAPER IN A CAS STYLE.

 This two elements are hard for me to work with, DSP and CAS style. I hope I achieved this on my card. 

Thank you for stopping by today, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Baby Bundle.....

Hello everyone: I have another baby card to share with you today, I'm linking it to the Match the Sketch challenge, here is my card.

This images are from a retired SU set called Baby Bundle, from the 2010-2011 catalog, I adore this little baby images, you can really create sweet little scenes with all of this baby accessories. 

I stamped all of this images onto Canson water color paper and colored them with SU markers and the aqua painter, super easy and quick. I added some silver brads to the wheels of the baby carriage and one green one to the top. The pattern paper is from Lili of the Valley, my sentiment is from a retired Flourishes stamp set called Baby Love and it's stamped on vellum and sponged with Broken China distress ink, I didn't want to cover the pretty paper with card stock. 

Here is a picture of the finished inside of my card.

The sentiment is from the Baby Bundle set, this is really a great group of stamps for any Baby occasion. 

Here is the sketch that inspired this card.

I just turn it on the vertical to fit my design.

This are the stamp sets I used to create my card.

Thank you for stopping by today, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.