Background Stamping.....

Hello dear friends: Today I want to share with you a card I created for THE FLOWER CHALLENGE's new challenge which is "BACKGROUND STAMPING", I hope it inspires you to join my teammates and me in our gallery.  Please stop by their blogs and check out their amazing creations.

I must confess creating this card was a bit hard for me.  Those of you who've known me for a while know I'm not a fan of pattern papers, not because they are not beautiful, which they are but, because I just don't ever know how to mix and match or combine them on my cards with the images I stamp and color so, for me to cover a panel with repetitive images was truly a challenge.  

But that is what challenges are for, to urge you to step out of your comfort zone and figure something out. This card is it, hope you like it.

I used 3 different Power Poppy sets on this card, the Springtime Love, the Countryside Bouquet Delux, and the Dynamic Duos: Foxglove and Ranunculus for the sentiment on the inside.

I stamped the images on a piece of lilac cardstock with Stazon black ink and then, I colored all the images with my Prismacolor pencils.

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

This challenge will run until August 25th. so you have plenty of time to get creative and join us in our gallery.  For more inspiration, hop over the challenge and check out my teammates awesome creations, you'll be glad you did.

Please remember to check out our rules, they are few but important and don't forget to add our Challenge Banner to your post when you upload your card to the gallery.

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.

Pansy Garden.....

Hello everyone: It's that time again when all of us at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE are reminding you to go and check it out and join my teammates and I in our gallery.

The "Anything Goes" theme is very popular because it gives you the chance to just go and create whatever you'd like, just keep in mind that FLOWERS should be the main focus of your card.

Here is my card that I hope inspires you to play along.

Pansies are some of the sweetest of flowers, they are small but they are gorgeous and hardy, they come in all kinds of colors and some, like in this card, have 2 or 3 colors in their petals. Most times, when I need to have an idea about the colors of flowers I go to Google, here's a picture of Pansies that gave me the starting point to color this images.

Aren't they just lovely? Well, my image was stamped onto a piece of water color paper with Stazon black ink and colored with Sakura Koi water colors and my water filled Wink of Stella brush, I just opened the brush, filled it with water and shook it, there is a lot of the glittery stuff left in there after your brush feels dry, so don't throw it away!! 

This is what I do, super easy!!

Unscrew the brush part from the bottom then, with some small pliers, carefully grab the black part and pull it out of the chamber where the glitter is, put it aside like in this picture. Then, grab the bottom part and carefully fill it with water but not all the way or it will spill the glittery stuff.

Now, put the black thingy back inside the water filled part, screw back the brush part and shake it. Hope you give this a try, there is a lot of the glittery stuff inside this chamber, enough to water color with a shimmery look.

Anywho.....on my first CARD for this challenge I die cut the picket fence for my little patch of flowers, this time, I used a small Martha Stewart fence punch on a piece of brown card stock that I stamped with a Wood Grain background stamp, the "dirt and grass" were stamped with the retired SU "Gorgeous Grunge" and a small grass image from Art Impressions.

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

The sentiment is from a retired Flourishes set called "Tulips for Friends" and the little flowers in the corner from another set called "Violets", I didn't have a small enough Pansy image to fit.

So now it's your turn to hop over THE FLOWER CHALLENGE to check out what my teammates have created and join us in our gallery.

Please add the Challenge Banner to your post when you upload your card to the gallery and also, please limit your other challenges participation to 6, including ours, read our rules at the top of the challenge page, they are few but important. 

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. 

Behind the Picket Fence.....

Hello everyone: It's time for a new challenge over at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE and it's one of the most popular ones....."ANYTHING GOES" so, come on over and play along with us, we can't wait to see what you create.

For my inspiration card I used a spanking new Power Poppy set called Natural Beauties I just got about a week ago and I couldn't wait to ink it up, all of this images are amazing and a joy to color.

So I stamped the image onto a piece of water color paper and colored it with my Sakura Koi water colors and SU markers for shading.

I added the cute little picket fence I cut with a Sizzix "Flowers and Fence" die,to make it look like a little garden.

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

The sentiment is from Elizabeth Craft Designs and the little flowers from the same Power Poppy set.

I hope my card inspires you to join my awesome teammates and me in THE FLOWER CHALLENGE gallery, please go check out their beautiful cards and don't forget to leave them some comment love.

Also, please read our rules, they are few but important and add our challenge banner to your blog post when you upload your card to the gallery.

I'm entering this card onto this challenges.
Just Us Girls Challenge #396 "Die Cuts" my fence is a die.
Crafty Purple Frog "Fabulously Floral"
Crea Chicky's challenge. "Flowers"
Classic Design Team Open Challenge "Anything Goes"
A Bit More Time To Craft Challenge #45 "Anything 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.

Oh Sweet Pea.....

Hello everyone: Once again, we come to the half way point at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE and, once again, here I am with another card to inspire you to, either CASE me or one of my teammates. Your card doesn't have to be an exact copy of ours, we just want you to take any element on them, like the colors, layout, techniques, etc. and make your own card.

Please, mention on your post who's card you are CASEing and don't forget to please add our banner to your post, we sure appreciate that.

As always, when I'm not sure about the colors of flowers, I go to Google and I always find what I need, in this case I wanted to see how many colors Sweet Peas come in and, I was blown away by this picture.

I have never seen a real Sweet Pea flower before but this picture makes me want to maybe plant some Sweet Peas to, hopefully see them in person, they are just so beautiful.

So here is my card.

I stamped this image onto Strathmore water color paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with some of my SU markers and also, my Sakura Koi water colors, I wanted to get more or less the colors of those lovely flowers in the picture. 

I used an empty Wink of Stella brush that I filled with water, (you'll be amazed at how much of the glittery stuff is left behind after the brush is empty, mixing this with water loosens the glitter and works beautifully as an aqua brush, just make sure you shake it real good).

After I finished coloring, I embossed the panel with a retired SU embossing folder (it's name escapes me at the moment), and added a few Nuvo Jewel Drops, I love this stuff.

The sentiment is from the same set as the images.

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

Sentiment and image from the same set.

I hope this card inspires you to join my teammates and me in the THE FLOWER CHALLENGE gallery, take a look at the amazing creations of the Design Team and CASE one of us.

You can CASE the colors, layout, technique, etc. we can't wait to see what you create.

Please remember to add our banner to your post.

Also, you can participate onto 10 challenges including ours.

Most of all, have fun.

Thank you for stopping by, I always read every single comment you so kindly leave on my post, I want you to know I appreciate them more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

CASEing US!!!!!.....

Hello dear blogging friends: Well, we at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE, have reached challenge #8 and this time the theme is "CASE a Designer Team Member".....which basically means, you can check out all the cards from US and CASE them, you don't have to make them exactly alike, just take our cards and make a version that it's all your own.  You can CASE the style, the colors, the design, the technique, etc. So, here is my card, I hope it inspires you to maybe, possibly CASE it, ok?

This image is from a retired Flourishes set called "Picking Wild Flowers", (images by Marcella Hawley).  I stamped this beautiful bouquet onto a piece of Strathmore water color paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with a few SU markers and my Sakura Koi water colors. 

I need to get some real good water color brushes but, at the moment I had to make due with an empty Wink of Stella pen. I kind of took this pen apart, filled the empty chamber with some water, rinsing the precious glitter in the process trying not waste any, then I just put the pen back together and used it as my brush, I was so happy that the shimmer was transferred to my flowers.

After I was done coloring it, I embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder that, for the life of me, I just can't remember the name of it, sheeesh!! If you recognize it, please let me know the name,ok?

Thank you in advance.

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

Both sentiment and butterfly are from this pretty set.

So, there you have it, I hope this card inspires you to join my teammates and I in THE FLOWER CHALLENGE gallery, you can CASE me or my teammies so check out their awesome cards in the gallery and come and play along.

Please, when you upload your beautiful creation onto the gallery, copy our banner for this challenge on your post.

Also, you can enter up to 10 other challenges, including ours and don't forget to make flowers be the main focus on your card, but most importantly, have fun, fun, fun!!

I would like to enter this card onto the following challenges.

LiveLoveCards May Challenge "Anything Goes"

Poppy Stamps Challenge #32, "Flower Power"

Creative Sketchy Girls Challenge #11 "Butterflies and or Flowers"

Craftaholics R Us May Challenge "Spring Colors or Flowers"

Country View Challenges May Challenge "Flower Power"

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.

A Little Reminder.....

Hello everyone: We've come to the half way point on THE FLOWER CHALLENGE sketch challenge so, my teammates and I created some more cards for you to get inspired and join us in the gallery.  Here is mine.

I was having a hard time taking this pictures, it's foggy and gray and awful so, I apologize for the darkness, I think I will get one of those picture boxes with a built in LED light, I've seen some good ones out there.  But anywho, this image is from a Stampin' Up! 2015-2016 Catalog Hostess set called "Best Thoughts". I always loved this beautiful Hydrangea flower and I was lucky to get it on Ebay.

I just stamped it onto a panel of Whisper White card stock with Versamark ink and white heat embossed it, then, wetting each petal, I colored this flower with a set of  water colors that my aunt gave me the other day, they are from Sakura Koi and the shades are gorgeous.

I bought this sentiment plus a few more also on Ebay and I heat embossed it in gold glitter.

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

The sentiment and butterfly are from the same set.

Here is another look at the fabulous sketch we have for you to play with.

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.

Pretty in Blue.....

Hello everyone: This month, at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE, we have a sketch challenge for you to play with so, come and join my teammates and me in the gallery. 

Here it's the sketch and the card I made with it, hope it will inspire you to play along.

This image is from a Power Poppy set called Potted Primroses, the sentiment is from the set too.

I Google'd this pretty flowers to see what colors they come in and I was amazed at the huge array of shades and variations so, I picked the blue ones for my card.

I stamped them onto a die cut piece of Strathmore mixed media paper with Stazon black ink and colored them with SU markers, an aqua painter and Prismacolor pencils. 

Now, about that beautiful green/silver paper.....I save every single piece of pattern paper Marcella Hawley, the owner of Power Poppy, wraps my purchased stamp sets with, I used a piece of one of this papers for my card,  she also always writes little personal notes for us, I've also saved them all. 

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

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Sweet Peas", the potted flower from Power Poppy's "Potted Primroses".

I hope you get inspired by the sketch and my card, for more inspiration, hop over THE FLOWER CHALLENGE blog and check out my teammates amazing creations, don't forget to leave them some comment love.

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.

A Little Reminder.....

Hello everyone: Well, half of November is gone, I can't believe it, time has just been flying by and soon, Christmas will be here, but for now, it's time for the middle of the month reminder for all of you for THE FLOWER CHALLENGE, there is still plenty of time to enter this month's challenge with a theme of OCCASIONS, whether is a Holiday or a Birthday, a Thank You or a Wedding, a New Baby or a New Home, just create a flowery card and share with us in the gallery.
Here is my card made with a stamp called "Morning Glory" that was given to me by my dear friend and card swapping buddy Lisa Poe. I love this sweet, delicate flowers.

I stamped this image onto a panel of Strathmore multi media water color paper (this has become my new favorite water color paper, it's smoother and whiter that others) with Versafine black ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder then, colored it with SU markers and the aqua painter, the inside of the flowers were highlighted with Prismacolor pencils.

The pattern paper is from Lili of the Valley, the wood grain panel was stamped with retired SU background stamp called "Hardwood", added some sequences and ribbon from my stash.

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

For the inside, I combined 3 different stamp sets to get the look I wanted. The bolder sentiment is from Power Poppy's set called Potted Primroses and the curved sentiment is from another Power Poppy set called Go Wild, I love how pliable the Photopolymer stamps are, I was able to curve this sentiment to fit it under the other one.

The beautiful Morning Glory image in the lower corner is from a retired Flourishes set called "A Year of Flowers 2".

I hope you join us in the gallery and go and see my amazing teammates cards on THE FLOWER CHALLENGE  blog and be sure to hop over their blogs for the details of their creations.

Please read the rules of our challenge, they are few and easy and don't forget to paste our banner on your post if you want to enter our challenge. Here it is for you.

Thank you for stopping by, I always read all the comments you so kindly leave on my posts, I want you to know I appreciate this more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

The Flower Challenge #2.....

Hello everybody: Well, all I can say is that the very first Flower Challenge was a total success!!! our gallery was jam packed with gorgeous creations from all over the world and my dear Design Team teammates and I, couldn't be more happy and grateful to all of you who participated so eagerly in our first challenge.  So here we are, launching THE FLOWER CHALLENGE #2, this time with a theme of OCCASIONS, hoping you join us again in the gallery.
This challenge is all about flowers, flowers of any kind, color, shape, die cut or stamped, but for the second challenge we want to see you create cards CELEBRATING any occasion you choose.....Weddings, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Baby Showers, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Graduations, Bridal Showers, etc. you decide.  Here is my card celebrating Christmas, I hope you like it.

This image is from a set from Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley called Ponsettia, I love the gorgeous, realistic petals of this image, surrounded by all that greenery.

I stamped this image onto a panel of Canson water color paper with Versafine black ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. This has become my favorite way to water color my images because the embossed edges keep the colors contained so they don't bleed out to the next section. I decided to color this flower pink, so I went looking for pink Poinsettias on Google and they are just lovely. I used SU markers and the aqua painter, the sentiment is from another Power Poppy set called Cozy Cupfuls, I didn't want to add a big sentiment and this one I was able to bend it a little to accommodate it on the curve of the flower.  I added some pink and white Rhine Stones for a bit of bling, both ribbons are from my stash.

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

I would like to enter this card onto the following challenges.

Power Poppy Power and Spark November "Dreaming of a Pink Christmas" Challenge.

Crafty Ribbons Challenge #174 "Must use ribbons"

CRAFT ROCKET CHALLENGES #27 "Pretty Pinks"

The Card Concept Challenge #61 "Pretty in Pink". My card might fall into the "Classy and Elegant"?

The Merry Christmas Challenge #5 "Anything Christmas Goes"

Crafty Boots Challenges "In the Pink" for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Thank you for stopping by, please head out to THE FLOWER CHALLENGE  and join us in the gallery. For more amazing inspiration, please visit my teammates blogs to see their gorgeous creations.  Don't forget to read our rules, they are few and they are simple.

Thank you for stopping by, I always read all the comments you so kindly leave me on my posts, I want you to know I appreciate this more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

A Flowery Reminder.....

Hello dear friends: Well, all of us over at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE  are thrilled and grateful for the amazing response we are getting from all of you who joined us in the gallery of this, our very first challenge blog post. We hope you continue to enjoy this blog and come to visit often and participate in subsequent challenges, we simply love all the amazing cards you have submitted, keep them coming.
Here is a card I made for the mid month reminder, so I hope you like it, get inspired and come to the challenge and join us in the gallery.  To get more inspiration, visit my teammates blogs to see their beautiful creations and leave them some sweet inky love.
                                                                   

This image is from the Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley called Spring Time Love and, even if we are in the middle of October, beautiful flowers are really for any time of the year.

I stamped this image onto a die cut circle of Canva water color paper with Versafine black ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I like how the raised borders of the embossed images keep your water colors from bleeding out. I colored it with SU markers and an aqua painter.

The pattern paper is from a discontinued line from Lili of the Valley, I was lucky enough to grab a bunch of 8x8" pads and packages before they were gone.

I die cut a piece of pink card stock with the retired SU Labels die set and paper pierced it. The ribbon is from my stash. 

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

I was lucky I had this roll of washi tape that looked like the ribbon in the front, this organza ribbon is kind of hard to stick to paper. The sentiment is from a retired Flourishes set called "Tulips for Friends" and the little flower on the corner from the Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley set called Country Side Bouquet Delux, colored it with Prismacolor pencils.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I appreciate your visit and your comments more than words can express. Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

YOU ARE ALL INVITED!!!!!

Hello dear friends: Today is a very, very special day for me. I have been invited by my dear friend Aileen Ryan from Colour and Sparkle  to be one of the members of the Design Team for a brand new Challenge Blog she created called The Flower Challenge, this request was immediately answered by a loud and clear YES, YES shout across the miles from me. I started this little blog of mine on December of 2014 and it has grown by leaps and bounds, I'm learning a ton of new things about blogging and, well.....here I am, on the Designer Team of this awesome challenge blog, in the company of some of the most talented, creative ladies I've ever met, this is an honor and a thrill for me, one that I will strive deserve, as I embark on this Journey along with my teammates.
The main focus of this Challenge Blog will be FLOWERS, so to get us started here is my card for our very first challenge post, the theme is "ANYTHING GOES", just remember to make flowers the main focus of your cards.  Here is mine, hope you like it and join us in the gallery, we can't wait to see your creations.

This gorgeous image is from a Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley called Everything's Even Rosier.

I stamped the image onto Canson water color paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with SU markers, the aqua painter and Prismacolor pencils. The patter papers are from a retired line from Lili of the Valley, the sentiment is from the set and the butterfly is from SU Papillon Potpourri. 

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

The sentiment is from the set and the roses from a very old Flourishes set.

Thank you so much for stopping by, for more inspiration, please hop over my teammates blogs to see their beautiful creations and then, join us for our first challenge in the gallery. 

Happy Stamping.