Cardinal Love.....

Hello everyone: I have another Holiday card to share with you today that will happily go into my Holiday card stash, I know Christmas is a long way off but, time flies and I want to be prepared.

This image is from a Power Poppy set called Cozy Cupfuls, I love this Cardinal couple, this birds visit the feeders all year round, love their song and their amazing colors.

I stamped the image onto Strathmore mixed media paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with, believe it or not, an empty Wink of Stella brush that I filled with water, (there's still some of the pretty glitter inside and it works perfectly) and my SU markers. Even though they are a bit dry because they are old and I use them a lot, they still give me enough ink to work with, I also used some of my Sakura Koi water colors. 

The sentiment is from the same set and I was able to curve it to stamp it there on the side using my MISTI. The gold frame was die cut with a Spellbinders set called "Oval Majesty" that I got on Ebay for about $6.00, free shipping, sheeesh!! I love a bargain!!!

The pattern papers are from a discontinued line from Lili of the Valley.

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

The sentiment is from another Power Poppy set called Poinsettia and the little Poinsettia in the corner from a set called Merry Littles.

I'm entering this card onto the following challenges.

Power Poppy May Challenge "Frame It Up!"

Jingle Belles "My True Love"

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "It's a Frame Up!"

The Cutie Pie Challenge #111 "Ribbon and Rubber"

Use Your Stuff Challenge #263 "Feathers"

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.

Old Fashioned Florals.....

Hello everyone: There is a brand new challenge over at RETRO RUBBER, this time it's all about FLOWERS, it's Spring everywhere and the gardens are in bloom. I hope you feel inspired to dig out your floral stamps and join my teammates and I in the gallery. Please remember that at least one of the stamps you use be older than  ONE YEAR.
Here is a card I made with a retired Flourishes stamp set called "Old Fashioned Florals" that came out back in February of 2013 and I bought immediately.

This set has 3 oval images, I picked this two, stamped them onto die cut pieces of Strathmore mixed media paper with Versafine black ink and clear heat emboss them, I colored this images with SU markers and an empty Wink of Stella brush that I filled with water, this brushes even when empty, they work fabulously to water color. The pattern papers are from a discontinued line from Lili of the Valley (sigh!!) the sentiment from the same set.
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Here is a picture of the finished inside of my card.

The sentiment and flower are from another retired set called Sweet "Violets".

I hope you get inspired and play along, for more inspiration, hop over at RETRO RUBBER and check out my teammates beautiful creations.

Please remember that at least one of the stamps you use must be OLDER THAN A YEAR.

You can enter up to 10 challenges including ours.

No back linking, only new work.

Link to your post and not your blog.

Last but not least, have fun.

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.

Buttons n' a Little Bow.....

Hello everyone: There is a new challenge over at SHOPPING OUR STASH that I think you'd like to play with, this time we want to see BUTTONS, big ones, little ones, shaped ones, critters or flower ones, the sky's the limit so I hope you join us in the gallery.

Here is a card I made to inspire you to play and, for more inspiration, hop over my teammates blogs and check out their awesome creations.

It's funny we are having this challenge because I just happen to have a nice bag of gardening buttons I got at my local craft store, 30 buttons for $1.00, now that's a bargain. I used it to make THIS CARD,

and I still have a bunch of them, my favorite are this cute flower ones.

So I stamped this old, old retired image from Impression Obsession with Stazon Dove Gray ink, it has a bucket filled with little flowers that look like my buttons so I knew they would look great. I then colored the stamped flowers with some SU markers and I used Prismacolor pencils for the bucket. 

I stamped the two little bees from a Power Poppy set called Foxglove and Ranunculus. I cut them off the stamp just to be able to use them on other projects, they are beautifully detailed and a perfect size.

The little tag is die cut with a Spellbinders die set and the word "Love" is from a retired Flourishes set called "Old Fashioned Florals", this set has 4 teeny tiny words that fit inside this teeny tiny tag perfectly, I made a little bow with some embroidery thread.

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

This image is also from the same set as the one on my front panel and so is the sentiment.

That little butterfly was added last minute because I smudge a bit of pink ink on my finish panel😡, oh how I hate when this happens, don't you? Sheeesh!!

So I hope you feel inspired and go dig out your stash of buttons and join us in the gallery.

For more inspiration, check out the SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge blog and my teammates' projects, you will be delighted.

I'm entering this card onto the following challenges.

Always Fun Challenges Challenge #5 "For a Female or Mom"

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity Challenge #36 "Use Faux or Real Stitching" I used a cross stitch die.

Make my Monday Challenge #45 "May Flowers"

Crafting from the Heart Challenge #158 "Anything Goes"

Great Impressions Rubber Stamps May theme challenge "Feminine"

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.

Rhapsody in Blue.....

Hello everyone: Today, the sun finally came out from hiding, it's been a good 4-5 days of cloudy skies, rain, fierce winds, cold temps, everything looks green and lush, my flowers are happy and the grass is tall, need to mow it, that's for sure, later maybe?.....For now, I have more pleasant things to do like coloring this awesome image from a Power Poppy set called Foxglove and Ranunculus, I love this fabulous flowers with their widely open blooms so the little bees and butterflies can stop and get a drink.  I was looking on Google for pictures of this flowers because I needed to know if they come in blue shades and, to my delight, they do, I will explain later why I needed to know this, in the mean time, here is a picture of some blue Floxgloves.

Aren't this just gorgeous? Now, here is a picture of my card.

This lovely image is from a Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley stamp set called Foxglove and Ranunculus, I just love this image, specially those chubby little bees.
I stamped it onto a piece of Strathmore mixed media paper with Versafine black ink and clear heat embossed it, then colored it with a mix of SU markers for shading and highlights and Sakura Koi water colors using my empty Wink of Stella brush, I found out that, even when there is no more of this beautiful, shimmery liquid, you can take the pen apart and fill it with water, put it back together, shake it and there you have it, a perfectly good water brush, I'm amazed at how much glitter stuff is left behind once the brush is actually empty.
I die cut the frame with a postage stamp die, in the front and inside for the sentiment.
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Here is a picture of the finished inside of my card.

I stamped the sentiment from another Power Poppy set called Potted Primroses and the top of the Foxglove image plus the little bees. I actually snipped this sweeties off of the main stamp just so I could use them in different ways, like stamping more than two or just stamp them any where on my flower images, they are the perfect size.

I'm linking this card to the following challenges.

Power Poppy May Challenge "Frame It Up!"

Your Next Stamp "Sketch and Color" Challenge #63.

Daring Cardmakers "May's Elementary Inspiration"

Cut It Up! Challenge #121 "Wings" 

Crafting With Dragonflies Challenge #80 "Lots of Flowers and/or Mother's Day.

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.

Mellow Yellow.....

Hello everyone: I have a card to share with you that I made for one of my dear Triathlon friends for his little one year old grandniece. He often writes to me with this requests and I'm always super happy to grant his wishes. He was an amazing inspiration and source of comfort and advice when I was training for my very first Iron Man Triathlon back in 2006. Jim is a veteran Triathlete, with many, many Iron Man Triathlons under his belt and he was just the best adviser and supporter I could ever have asked for. But I digress.....(I tend to go on and on about this amazing sport I love so much).

Anywho, his little grandniece is celebrating her first birthday in 2 weeks so I got a letter this morning asking for a cute card for little Esther, and this is what I made.  I'm happy I found some challenges I'm linking it to. 

As many of you know, I adore the House Mouse Siblings and this one is Monica "Jumping for Joy". Super simple card to make, I had the balloons already cut, the image was just quickly stamped onto a die cut panel of Strathmore mixed media paper with Stazon black ink and colored with a couple of Prismacolor pencils. The sentiment is from SU "Teeny, Tiny Wishes" that was the perfect size for a little banner. This card took me 15 min. to finish and that is because I was looking for this die cut panels and balloons I had and I couldn't find, sheeesh!!

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

The sentiment and balloon are from a Hero Arts set.

I'm linking this card to the following challenges.

Just Add Ink Challenge #358, "Just Add Stitching" my panels are die cut with a cross stitch die.

Hanna and Friends Challenge #272 "Glitter" one of the balloons was cut with silver glitter paper.

Seize the Birthday "Anything Goes"

Stamps and Stencils "Fabric and Fibres" The balloons are attached with embroidery thread.

Through The Purple Haze Challenge #124 "Glitter", one of the balloons was cut with silver glitter paper.

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.