The Flower Challenge #14.....CAS.....

Hello everyone: The First Anniversary of THE FLOWER CHALLENGE was a total success!! We want to thank all of you who participated sharing your beautiful cards on our gallery, my teammates and I had a blast admiring your creations every single day. 

CONGRATULATIONS to the winners, we hope you enjoy your prizes and continue to join us every month for the next 12 months and beyond.

 Now, our next challenge is one that many, including me, find a bit difficult to do and that is CAS.  

I like the simplicity and elegance of CAS cards but, at the same time, it's hard for me to leave a lot of empty space, I always feel like there is something missing that I need to add but I stop myself and just leave the finished card alone.

So here is my card that I hope will inspire you to come and play with my teammates and I in THE FLOWER CHALLENGE gallery.

When I'm stumped as to what to do, I always go to Pinterest for some inspiration and I'm never disappointed, it's there that I found THIS CARD  by Sarita Simmonett and decided to CASE IT. 

The flower is from a retired SU set called "Every Moment". I stamped it on a die cut piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper with Versafine black ink and colored it with Sakura Koi watercolors.

I added a bit of bling with some tiny Rhine Stones and tied a little bow with Silver metallic thread.

The die cut word "amazing" is by Die Cuts and More.

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Here is a picture of the finished inside of my card. I always finish the inside, it saves me lots of time when I mail my cards.

I tried to keep the inside also CAS so I just stamped the sentiment from a Power Poppy set called Orchids Rock, the little bees are from another Power Poppy set called Dynamic Duos: Foxglove and Ranunculus, I very carefully snipped out these two bees from the stamp to be able to use them separate, I keep them inside a little zip lock bag taped to the set.

 I hope you come along and join my teammates and me in the gallery. Be sure to go visit THE FLOWER CHALLENGE blog to see what the rest of the Designer Team created for your  inspiration, you'll be happy you did. 

Please read our rules, they are simple but important and don't forget to add our banner to your post when you upload your card to the gallery.  Here it is so you can just copy and paste it, ok?

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.

Warm Inspiration from Merry Monday.....

Hello everyone: The cozy season is here and with it comes warm sweaters and mittens, hot and delicious coffee and cocoa, with all kinds of goodies on top.

This card really warms me up, I have a hot mug of strong coffee with a bit of almond creamer to sweeten it up.

The images are from a very old Cornish Heritage Farms set called "The Cafe", I love all the images of tea pots, coffee percolators, mugs, cake, muffins, etc. 

I stamped the images with Stazon black ink on a piece of Arches watercolor paper that my granddaughter gave me to try, the texture is not as smooth as my other papers but I love it, perfect for water coloring. I colored the images with SU markers and an aqua painter. The pattern paper and the ribbon are from my stash, the sentiment is from a retired SU set called "Snow Day", super cute snow man in this set.

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I always finish the inside of my cards, this saves me a lot of time when I mail them.

The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Ponsettia and the little mug from another Power Poppy set called Merry Littles.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

Merry Monday

Tuesday Morning Sketches

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #18 "Anything Christmas Goes"

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #367 "Watercolor"

Christmas at Sweet Stamping "Anything Christmas Goes"

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.

All Wrapped Up for You!!

Hello everyone: Well, it's finally here.....HALLOWEEN!!!!!  and, since our challenge fell right on the very date we at SHOPPING OUR STASH want to see some spooky, frightening cards to start your stash for next year so, be sure to stop by the challenge blog and check out what my teammates have there for your inspiration.  Here is my card, I hope you come and play with us in the gallery.

This spooky cat is from Whipper Snapper Designs and it's called Mummy Cat, when I bought this image some years ago, it came with the background moon, tomb stones, clouds and bats, now they just sell the kitty.

Anywho, I stamped it on water color paper with Versafine black ink and clear heat emboss it, then I colored with SU markers, I sponged some distress inks for the sky and I stamped more of the bats that came in the set. The big bat on the tomb stone is from Kraftin Kimmie as well as the ghosts, I stamped them onto Vellum with Versamark ink and heat embossed them in white then, believe it or not, I fussy cut them and placed a small piece of double sided tape just at the end to prop them in my scene. Hope you can see they are transparent.  The ribbon and enamel dot are from my stash.

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I always finish the inside of my cards, it saves a lot of time when I decide to mail them.

Sentiment is from my stash, the rest of the images from Kraftin Kimmie.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

Use Your Stuff Challenge #286 "Halloween"

Cards in Envy "Lets Play Dress Up" My kitty is going as a Mummy.

Aurora Wings Challenge #59 "Darkness Falls"

Artistic Inspiration Challenge #189 "Anything Goes, option of "Spook it Up"

Always Fun Challenges #30 "Halloween"

Hope you come and play along with us at SHOPPING OUR STASH and be sure to stop by the blog to check out what my teammates have there for your inspiration.

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.

Happy Fall Y'ALL!!!!!.....

Hello everyone: I'm all in Autumn mode so I made this card to add to my stash, I love to work with this colors, I can see them all around my backyard from my craft room windows.

I will link this card to a few challenges at the end of this post.

This sweet image is from a Power Poppy set called Feeling Fall, I stamped it on a die cut panel of watercolor paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with SU markers, the sentiment is from the set, the two little leaves are from an Impression Obsession die set, the pattern paper from my cherished and sadly discontinued stash from Lili of the Valley. I embossed the background panel with an embossing folder from SU called "Woodland".

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I always finish the inside of all my cards, it saves me tons of time when I mail them.

The sentiment and leaf are from a stamp set by Our Daily Bread called "Autumn Blessings"

I'm playing along with this challenges.

Challenge Up Your Life

Inkspirational Challenges #146 "Autumn Photo"

Hiding In My Craftroom Challenge #324 "Any Holiday"

A Vintage Journey "Crazy for Autumn Color"

Brown Sugar Challenges #271 "Colors Orange, Brown and Green"

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.