The Flower Challenge #2.....

Hello everybody: Well, all I can say is that the very first Flower Challenge was a total success!!! our gallery was jam packed with gorgeous creations from all over the world and my dear Design Team teammates and I, couldn't be more happy and grateful to all of you who participated so eagerly in our first challenge.  So here we are, launching THE FLOWER CHALLENGE #2, this time with a theme of OCCASIONS, hoping you join us again in the gallery.
This challenge is all about flowers, flowers of any kind, color, shape, die cut or stamped, but for the second challenge we want to see you create cards CELEBRATING any occasion you choose.....Weddings, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Baby Showers, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Graduations, Bridal Showers, etc. you decide.  Here is my card celebrating Christmas, I hope you like it.

This image is from a set from Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley called Ponsettia, I love the gorgeous, realistic petals of this image, surrounded by all that greenery.

I stamped this image onto a panel of Canson water color paper with Versafine black ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. This has become my favorite way to water color my images because the embossed edges keep the colors contained so they don't bleed out to the next section. I decided to color this flower pink, so I went looking for pink Poinsettias on Google and they are just lovely. I used SU markers and the aqua painter, the sentiment is from another Power Poppy set called Cozy Cupfuls, I didn't want to add a big sentiment and this one I was able to bend it a little to accommodate it on the curve of the flower.  I added some pink and white Rhine Stones for a bit of bling, both ribbons are from my stash.

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

I would like to enter this card onto the following challenges.

Power Poppy Power and Spark November "Dreaming of a Pink Christmas" Challenge.

Crafty Ribbons Challenge #174 "Must use ribbons"

CRAFT ROCKET CHALLENGES #27 "Pretty Pinks"

The Card Concept Challenge #61 "Pretty in Pink". My card might fall into the "Classy and Elegant"?

The Merry Christmas Challenge #5 "Anything Christmas Goes"

Crafty Boots Challenges "In the Pink" for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Thank you for stopping by, please head out to THE FLOWER CHALLENGE  and join us in the gallery. For more amazing inspiration, please visit my teammates blogs to see their gorgeous creations.  Don't forget to read our rules, they are few and they are simple.

Thank you for stopping by, I always read all the comments you so kindly leave me on my posts, I want you to know I appreciate this more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Gobble Gobble!!!!!

Hello dear friends: I'm very late posting this card, I had to take two of my grandkids to the Orthodontist and that took most of my morning, after I dropped them back at school, I went grocery shopping and I came home about an hour ago to finish this card that I will link to a few challenges at the end of this post.

This adorable little Turkey is from a Verve Stamps set called Bountiful Harvest, which happens to be on sale now. Love all of this adorable pumpkin and Turkey images.

I stamped it onto a piece of Canva paper with Versafine black ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder and then colored it with SU markers and an aqua painter.

The pattern paper is from a discontinued line from Lili of the Valley, (I was lucky I grabbed the last of the 8x8" pads and packages), the ribbon from my stash and the wooden banner from SU with a sentiment from a retired Flourishes set called "A Season of Thanks".

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

The sentiment is from the same Verve Stamps set and the image from my stash.

I would like to enter this card onto the following challenges.

Paper Craft Crew challenge #217

The Sisterhood of Crafters "Pumpkins or the color Orange"

Little Red Wagon challenge #366 "Happy Fall Y'all"

Double D challenge "Harvest Blessings/Give Thanks"

Crafty Creations Challenge #327 "Water Color"

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

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Holiday Homes.....

Hello everyone: It's time for another challenge over at SHOPPING OUR STASH, this week we want to inspire you to create a card or project featuring a HOUSE or BUILDING, it could be a doggie's house, a bird's house or a people's house, you decide. Here is a card I made that I hope will inspire you to join us in the gallery and, for more fabulous inspiration, hop over to my teammates' blogs to see their awesome cards.

All of this adorable little houses are from a retired Stampin Up! set called "Holiday Home", it came out in the 2014 Holiday Mini Catalog, it has images for all of the end of the year celebrations. I love this houses and I wanted to use all 3 of them so I created this "Screen Divider" card using THIS tutorial, this stamps allow you to create truly awesome scenes and using this fun fold it's fabulous way to make a card that can be displayed through the season.  I stamped the house images onto Canson water color paper and colored them with SU markers and the aqua painter. 

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Here is a picture of the back of this card, you can decorate it too, I just cut some pattern paper and glue it to 3 panels and left one blank with just a short greeting and enough space for a little hand written message.

I hope you are inspired and join us in the gallery and, for more awesome inspiration, please visit my teammates' blogs.

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

Until next time, happy stamping,

Hugs from Maria.

The Little Mermaid.....

Hello everyone: For those of you who doesn't know, a bit of information.  Some 2 years ago, my aunt was at a thrift store and came across a cardboard box full of plain rubber, dirty, dusty, stained rubber stamps. She knows how much I love stamping so, without hesitation, bought the entire lot of 25 for $10.00 and gave it to me. I couldn't tell what the images were of, they looked very dirty so I soaked them overnight in some soapy water and washed and dried them the next day. After I did this, I ink them up, one by one and to my total amazement, gorgeous, amazing images of Fairies and Mermaids started to appear. This image is one of them, I hope you like it.

Isn't she lovely? This rubber stamps had no name so I didn't know where they came from, I'm so lucky to own them and grateful to my aunt for her generosity.  A long time passed until I came across one of this images on Pinterest and that is how I found out they were from a company called Sweet Pea Designs but, when I went to look of it, sadly they had gone out of business.

I stamped my image onto a panel of Canson water color paper with Versafine black ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder then, colored it with SU Markers, an aqua painter and some Prismacolor pencils. 

The Bubbles on the background are from Designs by Ryn and the shells from an old Flourishes set called "Seaside Life".

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

The sentiment is from another retired Flourishes set called "Orchids" and the shells from the Seaside Life set.

I would like to enter this card onto the following challenges.

Designs by Ryn October Customer Creation Challenge.

Sweet Stampin' Challenge "Inspired by a book/a film or a song" I'm inspired by "The Little Mermaid" 

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #71 "W is for Watercolor"

MFP Stamps Challenge #44 "Anything Goes"

Amusing Challenges "Anything Goes"

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

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

The end of an Era.....

Hello everyone: Well, like they say.....ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END, this couldn't be more true for the awesome Paper Pals Arts Challenge. Ever since I started blogging almost 2 short years ago, I've been inspired by this amazing crafters and found the courage to participate in several of this fun challenges.  So, after several years and 324 challenges, the Pals Paper Arts challenge is running it's last one, so sad to see it go but I'm thankful for the chance you gave me to share my cards on your gallery and for the sweet comments I received from you.
So, here is my last card for your challenge, I bid you farewell and wish you the best in everything you want to do.  One thing that makes this final challenge more bearable is the fact that I will keep seeing you guys out there in Blogland, visiting your personal blogs.  Good luck to all of you.

This images are from Altenew's stamp set called Persian Motifs, I love it because you can literally color this flowers any which way you want to.

I stamped the images onto Canson water color paper with Versafine black ink and heat clear embossed them with clear embossing powder then, colored them with SU markers, the aqua painter and Prismacolor pencils.

The beautiful gold vellum is from SU (retired), the sentiment is from a retired Flourishes set called "Lots of Thoughts", I heat embossed it in gold and added a bit of bling with some Rhine Stones.

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

The sentiment is from a Flourishes set called "Picking Wild Flowers" and the sun flower in the corner from the "Lots of Thoughts" set.

I would like to link this card to the following challenges.

Pals Paper Arts Final Challenge #324  Sketch

My Time To Craft challenge #332 "Autumnal Colors"

Ellibelle's Creative Moments Linky Party #13 "Fall Colors"

Morgan's Art World Challenge #22 "Embossing, wet or dry"

Fussy and Fancy challenge #175 "Shades of Autumn"

Thank you for stopping by, I read all the comments you so kindly leave on my posts, I want you to know I appreciate every single one more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.