Kindness Matters.

 Hello everyone: I hope and pray you and your families are well, keeping each other healthy and safe.

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I have a card I finished yesterday but I've been super busy and now, that I have some time, I want to share it with you.

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This is the inside.

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This is what I used.

Altenew "Beautiful Day" 

Flourishes "Humming Along" (2010) for the sentiment in front.

Power Poppy "Sassy Succulents" for the sentiment inside.

Prismacolor pencils.

Vellum.

Ranger "Liquid Platinum" embossing powder.

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I want to play with:

Tic Tac Toe

I used the last vertical line: "Flowers, Coloring, Green"

Cardz 4 Galz

"Spring Flowers" or "Mother's Day"

Thank you for visiting me today and for your comments, I read them all and I appreciate them more than words can express.

Stay healthy and safe.

Maria.

My First Cloisonne attempt.....

 Hello everyone: I hope all of you and your families are doing well, keeping each other healthy and safe.

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I'm a person who loves to try new things at least once if anything, just to see if I can do them.  Recently I heard of a new (to me) technique called "Cloisonne", I saw a few video tutorials on how to do it and, to my delight, it's really simple, what took a little longer was to find my magazines and browse through the pages looking for the best images with lots of colors, to use.  So, here's my first ever "Cloisonne" card, please let me know what you think, ok?

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This is the inside.

And this is what I used.

Stampin' Up! "Peaceful Petals" (2014)

Flourishes "Tulips for Friends" (2013)

Tim Holtz "Alterations" Die set.

Flourishes "Hydrangea" (2012)

I want to play with:

CAS Mix Up Challenge 

For my added elements I added "Fussy Cutting", "Dry Embossing"

and "Heat Eembossing"

Thank you for visiting me today and for your comments, they are very much appreciated.

Please stay healthy and safe.

XO
Maria.

In Love With These Poppies......

Hello everyone:  I hope you and your families are doing well, please take care of yourselves, wear a mask and keep your distances, I truly believe these are some of the most important things we can do, to help contain and eradicate this virus.
God Bless us all.
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At the beginning of July, my dear friend Brian King (www.stampwithbrian.com) had his now famous Spring "Sending Love One for One Card Swap", in which he asks his followers to create a handmade card, send it to him and he, in turn, will send the cards randomly, back to us. It's fun because you can receive a beautiful card from somewhere here in the good USA.
Oh, and by the way, he has a "Holiday One for One Card Swap" too so stay tuned and I hope you participate.
This is the card I made for his Spring One for One Card Swap.



When I saw this Stampin' Up! die set on the 2020-2021 Annual Catalog I immediately knew I was going to get it. It has a stamp set but I just got the dies, I figured I could still create pretty cards this way.
I don't know about you but I save magazine pages that have pretty colors advertising from wall paint to nail polish to delicious food just to see color combinations and, like on my card, I used the page to die cut the flowers, buds and leaves. I added some shading to the flowers with Prismacolor pencils.  I used the Spellbinders "Hemstitch Rectangle" dies to frame my bouquet, I added some enamel dots from Gina Marie Designs.
I can't remember where the die-cut sentiment is from, I'm sorry.
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This is the INSIDE of my card.

The border is from a retired SU set called "Delicate Details" (2017 SAB),

the sentiment is from a 2016 Power Poppy set called In Praise of Sunflowers, which, by the way, is on sale right now!! It's a gorgeous stamp set.

I want to play along with the following challenges.

Die Cut Divas

All about the Flowers.

Heart 2 Heart Challenges

Green Thumb for Flowers

The House that Stamps Built

"In The Dark"

Anyway, thank you for stopping by today.

Stay healthy and safe and please, wear your masks.

XO

Maria.

Calypso Coral with a Twist of Lemon Lime.....

Hello everyone: I saw the challenge over at THE PAPER PLAYERS and I decided to give it a try.  Color challenges are a bit hard for me because I don't always have the colors but this time I did and I'm loving this combination from the very talented Nance Leedy, it's very bright and cheerful.

Here is my card.

The images are from a stamp set that is so old that I lost the packaging but I think this stamps are from Our Daily Bread, (they came with the dies too) but I'm not 100% sure, I apologize. 

I stamped the flowers and butterfly on watercolor paper with Antique Linen ink and colored them with my old Calypso Coral ink pad for the flowers and butterflies and Sakura Koi watercolors for the green parts.  I'm really loving the No Line Coloring Technique.  The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Words of Wisdom", the sentiments are from Mother Theresa and they are beautiful.EI was lucky to find some lemon/lime scraps and one fitted perfectly behind the die cut circle.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like

I

The border on the top is from a retired SU set called "Bordering Blooms", the sentiment is from the same Flourishes set and the butterflies from the same Our Daily Bread set.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges.

The Paper Players

Dare2BArtzy June Challenge "Bright Colors"

heARTful Stamping Challenge "Anything Goes + a Stamp"

Happy Little Stampers

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.

Grateful.....

Hello everyone: This week, a dear friend of mine of many years was welcomed to be a Designer for a challenge blog named CAS(E) this Sketch, that friend is Mr. Brian King from Stamp With Brian.  I've been following Brian since day one back in 2013, I always enjoy his amazing talent and sense of humor, his kindness and generosity and, most of all, his friendship.

So, in honor of Mr. King's brand new Designer spot at CAS(E) this sketch, I'm submitting this card and I will play along with a few challenges at the end of this post.

This sweet little mousy is from my other favorite critter stamp set from Penny Black called Hugs. I stamped it onto a panel of water color paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with Sakura Koi watercolors, I sponged a bit of Tumbled Glass distress ink and stamped the sentiment from an old Flourishes set called "Lots of Thoughts".

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Finishing the inside of my cards is a great habit I picked up a year ago, it saves a lot of time when I mail them.

The sentiment is from another Flourishes stamp set called "Picking Wild Flowers", the little mouse is from a Penny Black set called Critter Party.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

CAS(E) this Sketch

Time Out Challenges Challenge #100

Moving Along With The Times Challenge #62 "Flowers"

As You Like It "Anything Goes"

Double D Challenge

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.