Riding Pretty.....

Hello everyone: I was supposed to have posted this card yesterday but my hubby is on vacation so, well.....you know, right? I did finish the card but needed to take the pictures and write the post but I couldn't concentrate listening to him trashing around in my kitchen, "fixing lunch", Yikes!!! so I went downstairs and joined him just to keep the dirty dishes to a minimum. 

But anywho, here is my card, inspired by the CASe this Sketch sketch.

Since the beginning of the year, I've been sticking to my resolution of not buying new stamps/dies and just use what I have, there are some things I haven't used in a long time and this set is one of them, although it was not brand new, it was new to me since I bought it from Julie Koerber, "Out to Impress" a few years ago, it came with the dies, all of this for a very affordable price.

I love this bike and the accessories, it's a shame I don't use it more often.

The images of the bike and the flowers were stamped on white card stock, colored with Prismacolor pencils and cut with the dies.

The pattern paper is from my stash, the sentiment from the set.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment and image are from the set.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

CASe this Sketch

Brown Sugar Challenge #289

Spring or Fall

Through The Purple Haze Challenge

#155 "Spring Forward"

Time Out Challenges

Fab 'n 'Funky Challenges #437

"Vehicles"

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.

Hugs.

Maria.

Bubble, Bubble, Bathtub Trouble.....

Hello everyone: Most of you know I adore the House Mouse siblings right?  Well, there are other equally cute and sweet images of little Bunnies from a line called "Happy Hoppers".

Here's a card I made with one of these images.

Most of us don't really have time to take long, hot, bubble baths but I bet all of us wish we could just escape for a while and step into a bathtub full of aromatic bubbles, lay there uninterrupted, sipping some delicious drink and unwind.

This little Bunny looks like she just finished putting the babies to bed, cleaned the kitchen, folded the laundry and now she's rewarding herself with a hot bath.

Just look at that face, that is the face of total relaxation.

I just stamped this image on a piece of white card stock with Stazon black ink and colored it with my Prismacolor pencils, easy peasy.

I had the rose panel from Lili of the Valley (retired) with the little edge on my pink/red scrap box so it was just perfect for this card. I added a few enamel dots from Gina Marie Designs and the sentiment from the set.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I put a piece of the same pattern paper, stamped the sentiment from a Power Poppy set called Short Stacks and since the keyword here is RELAXATION, I added a little Martini, "Shaken, not Stirred" please, 😉

from the retired Stampin' Up! set called "Happy Hour"

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

Freshly Made Sketches

The Sisterhood of Crafters

"Chicks and Bunnies"

Craftyhazelnut's Pattern Paper Challenge

Daisy Chain Challenges

Challenge #29 "Make it Feminine"

Bitten by the Bug 2

Mother's Day.  Mom deserves to relax.

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.

XO

Maria.

Fabulous Paper Piecing Florets.....

Hello everyone: I'm here with another card created with an oldie but goodie stamp set from Stampin' Up!  This one came out back in the 2011 Summer Mini and it's called "Fabulous Florets".

I'm playing with The Paper Players paper piecing challenge and that's why I stamped my flowers and leaves on some scrap pieces from Lili of the Valley pattern paper, I added gold to the centers with a gel pen and a bit of detail with my Prismacolor pencils then, I fussy cut them.  The embossed panel behind them is from Tim Holtz and the branch is sponged with a leftover piece of card stock cut with a branch die. I saved it and it works really well as a stencil.

The little sentiment is from a retired SU set called ""Itty Bitty Banners", from the 2012 Catalog, it has a coordinating die set.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Sassy Succulents, the little flower from the Fabulous Florets set.

I would like to play with the following challenges.

The Paper Players

CAS(E) this Sketch

The Crafter's Cafe

Challenge #217 "Easter or Florals"

Fabrika Fantasy

Challenge #29 "Flowers"

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.

XO
Maria.

Hey, Cupcake!!!!!

Hello everyone: I'm back in my craft room after taking some time off to take care of some family stuff, all is fine now so I'm fully enjoying myself creating.
The SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge has a new theme for you guys to play with, this time we want to see CUPCAKES🧁 on your cards, we can't wait to see you in our gallery.
This is the card I made to inspire you to play along.

The image is from Lili of the Valley (retired), I stamped it on a die cut piece of white card stock and colored it with Prismacolor pencils, the sentiment is from my box of leftover sentiments and the embossing folder from Stampin' Up!, also retired. I added Wink of Stella to all the cupcakes but darn it!!! It never photographs well, 😞

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I stamped the border with another SU retired set called "Delicate Details", the sentiment and the cupcake are from an old Penny Black set called "Cupcakes".

So, go look in your stash of stamps and I hope you find some delicious Cupcakes to share with us over at SHOPPING OUR STASH, I hope you stop by the blog to check out my Teammates' awesome cards.

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.

XO

Maria.

Groovy Christmas Ornament.....

Hello everyone: My teammates and I have the ever so popular "Anything Goes" challenge for you this time around so we all hope you can come along and play with us in the RETRO RUBBER gallery.

Some time ago while browsing on Pinterest I came across a card made with something called GROOVI PLATES, I was blown away by the beauty of this card so I Googled it and I found a store with tons of these plates with beautiful designs to create all kinds of cards using Parchment or Vellum paper.

I have a small kit I bought many years ago but this is something totally different and amazing so, I bought THIS PLATE and created this card with it.

So, what are Groovi Plates? They are acrylic squares with Laser Etched images that you can trace using a stylus, you must use either Parchment or thick Vellum or else, you'll pierce the paper.  It's fun, relatively easy and it truly looks amazing. After I traced my image, I colored it on the reverse side with Prismacolor pencils and using the stylus, I shaded the ribbons and the ornament.

I used 4 glue dots on each corner to attach it to the card base and added 4 enamel dots from Gina Marie Designs.

The sentiment was stamped with Versamark ink using the beautiful "Hand-Penned Holidays" stamp set from Stampin' Up! (from the 2011-2012 Holiday catalog) I heat embossed it in gold.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I stamped the border using the retired SU set called "Delicate Details", the sentiment is stamped with the "Hand-Penned Holidays" and the little gift in the corner came from a Power Poppy set called " Merry Littles.

I hope you stop by the RETRO RUBBER CHALLENGE BLOG to see my teammates' beautiful creations and get inspired to come and play along with us in our gallery.

I would like to play with the following challenges.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge

Anything Goes Christmas.

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.

XO

Maria.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.....

Hello everyone: Ok, that's just the title of this post, not my wish for any more snow, no way!! we've had enough of that so let's just enjoy Spring and forget for a while that not so long ago, we had freezing temperatures and tons of snow to shovel, right now, my front and backyards are waking up and I love it.

But anywho, I have the fourth and final card made with the delightful set from Stampin' Up! called "Best Borders", this time its Snowmen.

These sweet little Snowmen are all dressed up with their colorful scarfs and hats, super easy to color, it's the easiest of all 4 of the stamps on this set.
I just stamped the image on white card stock and colored it with some Prismacolor pencils and fine tip markers on the small areas.
The pattern paper is from my stash, I added some glimmer paper as a border and the sentiment from an old Flourishes set called "Warm Winter Wishes".

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment and the snowflake border are from the Flourishes set, I just inked up a pair of the little Snowmen for the corner.

I would like to play with the following challenges.

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge

Taking a leap of faith with my Snowmen.

Kitty Bee Designs 

Challenge #141 "So Shiny"

Winter Wonderland Cute Christmas

Christmas at Sweet Stamping

"Anything Christmas/Monochromatic"

Cute and Crafty Christmas Challenge

Challenge #11

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.

XO
Maria.

For the Birds.....

Hello everyone: I'm back with my third card created with this super sweet and beautiful oldie but totally goodie stamp set from Stampin' Up! (2004), this time it's a line up of adorable birdhouses.

Ok, aren't these little houses just so sweet? I did pretty much the same as with my previous cards, stamping the images with gray ink, colored it with my Prismacolors and then re-stamp it using Versafine black ink for a nice, crisp outline.  The images are very small so it helps to keep your pencils nice and sharpened to a fine point.  The pattern paper is from Lili of the Valley (retired), the sentiment is from SU set called "Wetlands", it's like the little birds are thanking the owner for their room and board.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

 

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes sets called "Gerbera Daisies" and it's one of my favorites about friendship.

I would like to play with the following challenges.

Crafter's Castle
Anything Goes/option Spring.

Dare 2B Artzy

April Challenge, "Animals"

I have 3 little birds on my card.

Dragonfly Dreams

Animals, there are 3 little birds on my card.

Crafty Catz Challenge

All Creatures Great and Small.

Polkadoodle Challenge

Spring Colors.

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.

Hugs.

Maria.