Choose Joy!!!!!

Hello everyone: Some years ago, my aunt Norma (on my hubby's side) gifted me with about 25 amazing, plain red rubber Fairy stamps. She found them at a thrift store in a cardboard box, dirty and abandoned so, knowing how much I love Faeries, she bought the whole lot for about $10.00

Almost all of them have never been inked up, just about 5 had some ink stains so, after I washed them and dry them really well, I started stamping the images and let me tell you, all of them were stunning.

I've used them several times, you can check a few HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, can you see why I just adore these stamps?

Among them, there was this particular one of a fledgling Dragon, I think it's just so darling and so sweet.

I stamped this cutie on a piece of watercolor paper with Stazon black ink and colored with a bit of Sakura Koi purples and added shading with Prismacolor pencils. I also added a bit of gold paint to its wings, I sure hope you can see it.

I sponged the sky and the mountains with Distress Inks and used a stencil I made with some edge dies, it seems this little Dragon is looking out into the Horizon and might take flight at any moment.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like. 

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Orchids" and it's my favorite to add when I make Fairy cards. The little fairy in the corner is from the bargain bin at Michael's.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

Addicted to CAS

The Fairy and the Unicorn

May Challenge/Anything Goes.

Southern Girls Challenge

"Sparkle, Shimmer and Shine"
I added gold shimmer paint to the wings.

Fabrika Fantasy Challenge

"Animals"

Sparkles Monthly Challenges

#116 "The Color Purple"

My little Dragon is PURPLE.

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

Hugs.

Maria💐

Clearly Wonderful.....

Hello everyone: I hope all of you up in the Northern States are finally enjoying some warm temperatures and sunshine, we have been blessed with awesome weather this past few days so I hope it stays that way from now on.

I have a card to share using one of my old Power Poppy and Flourishes stamp sets in my continued effort to use what I have, which is plenty, and not get any more stamps sets this year. Some of these old favorites haven't seen ink in a while so it feels like they are brand new, this is what I tell myself and it works.

This sweet image and sentiment are from a Power Poppy set called Under Glass, it has some really beautiful images plus the glass dome to create little topiaries with several themes for practically, any occasion.

I stamped the dome with Tumbled Glass distress ink and then, the Orchid "inside" of it with Stazon black ink and colored it with Prismacolor pencils.

After coloring, I fussy cut the image and added some Glossy Accents to make the dome look like glass. I'm sorry the camera didn't capture this effect no matter how many times I took the picture, but it looks really pretty.

The pattern papers are from my dwindling stash from Lili of the Valley, I bought several pads some years ago when they discontinued the collection, so very sad.

I added a few enamel dots from Gina Marie Designs and I also created a bit of a background with my sponge daubers. 

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from the set and that little dome with the orchid is from a Flourishes set called "From the Garden" (illustrated by Marcella Hawley.)

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

Power Poppy Creative Confetti

"Sketch it Out"

Crafty Gals Corner Challenges

#191 "May Flowers"

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

Hugs.

Maria.

Altenew Reminder.....

Hello dear friends: It's midway to our "Embossing (Heat or Dry)" Challenge over at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE and this time around, Altenew is giving away a beautiful stamp set to one lucky randomly chosen winner so, I hope this card I created using the gorgeous "Recollections" Altenew set, will inspire you to come along and play with us in our gallery.

I stamped this beautiful spray of flowers and the sentiment on black card stock with Versamark ink and heat embossed them with gold embossing powder then, colored the flowers with my Prismacolor pencils.

I added a few enamel dots from Gina Marie Designs.

When I took the picture, the sun came out and it cast that beautiful, diagonal shine on the card as I was focusing the camera, I didn't want to move and I took the picture quickly because there are some clouds rolling in and I didn't want to miss out on this cool effect, it kind of looks like I sprinkled Pixie Dust all over the card but I didn't, although I wish there was a little Fairy hiding somewhere in this craft room doing this when I'm not looking.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I have this very old but pretty set of punches from The Paper Studio and I used the one with the butterfly to punch the corners on the inside, the sentiment is from the Altenew set.

I hope you go and visit us over at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE and join us in the gallery, remember Altenew is donating a gorgeous stamp set for one lucky winner.  Here's a picture of it to get you all excited to play along. 

Please remember to use FLOWERS as the main focus on your cards, including our banner on your blog post when you upload your creation to the gallery, no back linking, please link back to our challenge on your post and you may enter up to 6  other challenges but, most of all, have fun creating.

I want to play along with the following challenges.

Ike's World Challenges

"E is for Embossing"

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #191

"May Flowers"

The Sisterhood of Crafters

"It's All About Flowers"

Addicted to Stamps and More!

Challenge #341 "Anything Goes"

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

Hugs.

Maria. 

Twofer Challenge # 16.....Wheels!!!!!

Hello everyone: I've been participating in the Twofer Challenge since the very first one they launched and, after a bit of a rough start because I didn't understand the purpose of it, now I eagerly await for these fabulous ladies to reveal the theme for their new challenge and let me tell you, I'm surprised every time.

So here are my Twofer cards together and then, I'll show you both of them separately and explain what I used to create them.

I created these two cards using the same fabulous stamp and die set that has that awesome little bike. The one on the left is a Retirement card, the one on the right is a Graduation card. Two different Journeys, both totally fun to start.

Here's card # 1.

This card is for the aunt of one of my Triathlon friends who is an elementary school teacher and is retiring at the end of the school year going to Arizona to be near her daughter, moving from Wisconsin to Arizona will be a total change both in landscape and especially weather, I bet she won't miss the Winters up here all that much, Tee Hee!!😉

I stamped the bike from the Impression Obsessions Riding Pretty, (it has a companion die set) and fussy cut the wheels and part of the rack and chain to create this "Dream Catchers", I used some spare leaves I had from my scraps box for the "feathers", I sponged some Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana on them, (these "feathers" were stamped and punched with a retired SU set called "Language of Friendship", I punched them out with the coordinating punch.) I drew stripes on the wheels with a white Prismacolor pencil to mimic yarn wrapped around and a few enamel dots and Rhine Stones for bling.

The wall is done with a Tim Holtz embossing folder, sponged with a bit of pink and copper inks, the sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Pears"

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The border is stamped with the SU Delicate Details (retired), the sentiment is from the SU "Teeny, Tiny Wishes) (retired) and the little flower pot from an Altenew set called Garden Grow 

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Here's my Twofer.

This card is for my grandson's girlfriend, who's graduating this year from High School, same time as him, I already have his graduation card, which was part of TWOFER CHALLENGE #14. 

The bike, flowers and gifts were stamped with Stazon black ink, colored with Prismacolor pencils and cut out with the dies.  The background is called "Faded Text Background" (Stampabilities) was stamped using copper ink, I stamped a couple of more little leafy branches to create a scene for this fun bike ride through Life.

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Country Charm Labels"

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The border is done with the SU Delicate Borders, the sentiment, diploma and "congrats" word are stamped with a Fiskars set called "Monumental Moments".

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

Twofer Card Challenge #16

Dream Valley Challenges

#202 "Only Girls Allowed"

Always Fun Challenges

#110 Embossing Folders.

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

Hugs.

Maria.