Favorite Season.....

Hello everyone: I've been absent for quite a while, I had some family situations I had to take care of that involved traveling to Mexico with my elderly mother to bring her back after 5 1/2 years of living with us here in the USA. Her health was the major issue for this decision since she is 94 years old.  It was a very difficult time for me for a lot of reasons and that is why I took some time off from blogging. I'm happy to report that she is doing well in her new place and this gives me comfort and peace of mind, she is close to 3 of my brothers, my sister and I will visit as often as we can.

Anyway, we have a new challenge for all of you to play with over at SHOPPING OUR STASH, this time we want you to make a card showing your favorite Season of the year.  

I love all them but my favorite is the Fall, with its gorgeous colors and cooler temperatures and for me, the celebration that jumps start the Holidays is Halloween. So here is my card that I hope inspires you to join my teammates and me in the gallery.

I just love this pair of Pumpkins, I've used this images several times to make cards for my grandkids and also for friends. They are old so I really can't remember if they are from Penny Black or somewhere else, I do not have the packaging so, I apologize for that.
I stamped this images onto water color paper, colored them and fussy cut them, the bats are die cut, the sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Witching you a Happy Halloween"
***********************************************************************
Here is a picture of the finished inside of my card.

All the images are from my stash of Halloween stamps, I sure wish I knew where they came from.

So there you have it, hope you come and play with us over at SHOPPING OUR STASH, my teammates and I can't wait to see what you can 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.

No Dream is to Big.....

Hello everyone: All of us at the RETRO RUBBER challenge blog have a fun theme for you to play with.  Every student in the USA and the world has gone back to school, some for the very first time ever, whether is Kindergarten, Elementary School, Middle School, High School or College, these young people need some support and encouragement so, to give them just that we want you to create a card for your student or their teachers. 

Here is the card I made to inspire you to play along and join my teammates and me in our gallery.

As I was thinking about making my card, I came to the realization that I have absolutely NO STAMP SETS with a teacher's theme so, as you can imagine, I was in a pickle as to what to do.  

I went to Pinterest to look for some ideas and found several cards that had books made out of card stock so I went in this direction.  

I liked the idea of putting an actual notebook page on my card so I simply pulled one from my notebook and used it as my background layer.  The rest, as you can see, is simple, I had the apple already colored so I just fussy cut it to add to my design, the books were cut from DSP, I used a gold gel pen to add some decorations and the titles for each.  I die cut the word AMAZING to hopefully inspire the recipient to have an amazing school year.

**************************************************************************

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

The sentiment is from Hero Arts and it fits perfectly with this school theme, dreaming BIG is the key to achieving your goals.

I hope you come and play with us over at the RETRO RUBBER CHALLENGE BLOG, be sure to stop by my teammates' blogs to check out their awesome creations.

We do have a few rules to keep things fair.

This challenge blog requires you to use stamps that are OLDER THAN ONE YEAR, please give us the age or how long you've had it.

You can combine our challenge with a maximum of 10 challenges.

Turn off your WORD VERIFICATION so we can comment on your card.

If you post your card on a private forum such as Splitcoaststampers or a photo sharing site, we might not be able to comment on your creation, thank you for understanding.

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.

New Home.....

Hello everyone: After a while of being absent, I'm happy to say my MOJO is slowly but surely coming back, it feels a bit weird to actually sit here in my craft room and create my cards.

The "Less is More" gals have a fun challenge for us to play with and, to top it all, my dear friend Vivien from Daizy Mae's Crafty Blog is their Guest Stamper so, here I go with this card that I hope you'd like.  By the way, Vivien's card reminded me that I had just gotten this adorable die frame so I kind of CASE'd her card but with a different theme, thanks Viv.

The challenge is asking us to make a card using some real elements so, as soon as I read that I went to my drawer where I keep little embellishments and got a pair of teeny, tiny keys that I bought at an Antique Store some time ago. I actually cleaned out the tray on that booth buying about 35 little keys, I added a bit of cotton for smoke coming out of the chimney.

This little house is from a super old Sizzix stamp and die set I bought at my local Hobby Lobby store at the Clearance section, I think I paid like $5.00 for it.

*******************************************************************

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

The sentiment and mail box are from a couple of old Flourishes sets.

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.