A Fairy Challenge.....

Hello everyone: It's time for another fab challenge over at SHOPPING OUR STASH and this time the theme is FAIRIES  AND ANGELS!!!!!  So dig up your magical, beautiful images of this beautiful and magical creatures and join us in the gallery.  My card for this challenge inspiration was made with one of 20+ rubber stamps my aunt gifted me with some years ago. She found them in a thrift store in a cardboard box, dirty, stained, dusty, abandoned, unloved. She knows how much I love making cards so she bought the whole lot for $10.00, they didn't have a name or where they came from but years later, I found out they were made by a company called Sweet Pea Designs, that unfortunately, is no longer in business. Am I a lucky person or what?!
I couldn't tell what images were in this plain red rubber, unmounted stamps so, I soaked them in hot, soapy water and scrubbed them a bit, rinsed, dried them and started to ink them up and, to my complete astonishment, I saw the most gorgeous Fairy images I've ever seen in a rubber stamp, all of them are amazing, here is my card.

See what I mean? Isn't she just beautiful? I stamped this image onto Canson water color paper and die cut it with the retired SU Labels die set then, colored it with SU markers, the aqua painter and added some highlights and shadows with Prismacolor pencils, I also added Wink of Stella to her wings.

One thing I must point out.....that little butterfly is not part of this stamp, I put it there to cover a black smudge (grrrr!!) I made when I was coloring her hair, I froze, I was almost done and I didn't want to start over so, I went into my stash of stamps and found this little butterfly on the retired SU set called Kindness Matters, it was just the perfect size, I stamped it onto a scrap of water color paper, colored and fussy cut it, VOILA!! mishap averted, I was super happy with how it turned out.

The pattern paper is from a discontinued line from Lili of the Valley, I was so lucky I grabbed a bunch of 8x8 pads and some of the packages. 

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

This sentiment is one of my most favorites, it's from a retired Flourishes set called Orchids, it's words are just so beautiful and so true as well.

Now, go and check out my teammates fabulous creations at the SHOPPING OUR STASH and visit their blogs to see the details, don't forget to leave them some crafty love.

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

The Fantasy Crafters Challenge Anything Fantasy Goes.

Creative Knockouts Challenge Winged Wonders.

Sparkles Christmas Challenge #68 Angels or Fairies.

Paradise of Stamps Challenge #48 Fairies.

Just For Fun September Challenge Photo Inspiration.

(taking a chance here, my card has orange, green, brown.)

Here is a picture of this beautiful Fairy rubber stamp, all cleaned up and trimmed.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

The beauty of a handmade note.....

Hello dear friends: I've been off the grid for 3 days, sick with some kind of bug that had me all congested, sneezing and coughing my lungs out, ugghh!! since Friday.  I'm much better now, the weekend helped me rest and recover, hubby took good care of me, even if I looked like something that the cat dragged in from the alley. They say that, you know someone truly loves you deeply if they hang around while you are sick with the flu and then, stay. Love this guy, after 43 years, I still feel the love.
Anywho, I have a card that represents the awesomeness of receiving a handmade card or letter. In this day and age of electronic everything, the art of writing is sadly disappearing but we card makers are keeping it alive and I'm sure it will still be around for many years. Here is my card.

This image is from Impression Obsession and I bought it a while ago on Ebay for about $3.00, I just love it. I stamped it onto Canson water color paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with SU markers and the aqua painter. The pattern papers are from a discontinued line from Lili of the Valley, the sentiments, both in front and inside are from retired sets from Flourishes.

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

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

The Ribbon Girls Challenge Anything Goes.

Crafting When We Can "Use your favorite medium" for me is Water colors.

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Merry Monday#213.....

Hello everyone: I'm sure all of you are super happy Merry Monday is back from their Summer brake, this time they have a fabulous inspiration photo for us to create a pretty card to add to our Christmas stash, here is mine.

My image is from Lili of the Valley and it's a cute one, I love this little bear hanging stockings on the bird feeder, how sweet is that?! I stamped this image onto Canson water color paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with just the Real Red SU marker, I was a bit doubtful about how this was going to look all in red but, after I was done, I was very happy with how it came out.

I added a bit of Dazzling Diamonds to the puffs and the rim of the hat and also, to the star on top of the feeder, I truly wanted to stick wit the colors of the inspiration photo, which are Red, White and a hint of Black.

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

The sentiments both in front and inside are from my stash.

I'm linking this card to this challenges.

The Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge.

Merry Monday photo inspiration challenge.

C.R.A.F.T Challenge "Christmas"

52{Christmas} Card Throwdown color challenge.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, Happy Stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Babe, the Sheep Pig.....

Hello everyone: Did you ever watched that adorable movie called "BABE"?  It's about a wee pig that is raised on a sheep farm and has the unique ability to talk to the sheep and make them understand what The Boss wants them to do and, because of this, he and The Boss enter a sheep herding contest and they win!!
Anyway, this card was made with one of the stamps on the My Favorite Things set called "The Whole Herd", when I saw this images I just melted, they are so darn cute, the piggy reminds me of Babe. Here is my card.

Isn't he just the cutest? I stamped the images onto a piece of Canson water color paper, doing a bit of masking to put the food container in the back. Easy sponging of some Broken China distress ink for the sky, everything else was colored with SU markers.

The sentiment is from the set and it's stamped onto a die cut banner from Spellbinders, then sponged with a bit of Barn Door distress ink.

The papers were cut with the Wonky Stitched dies from My Favorite Things. 

DSP from Lily of the Valley.

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

Ahh!! I just love this images!!!

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

Double D challenge "Down on the Farm"

Freshly Brewed Challenge September challenge "Animals"

Ellibelle Creative Moments "Critters and Creatures" Linky Party #7

Inspiration Destination "Anything Goes" challenge #103

Try Stamping on Tuesday Sketch challenge

Thank you for stopping by, till next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

One Layer Iris.....

Hello everyone: CAS cards have grown on me since the first time I tried to make one, I feel more comfortable now with leaving a lot of white space and keeping the image as simple as possible. I made this card for the "Less is More" challenge One Layer Week #293, and we also need to pick our favorite flower to work with.  I really love all kinds of flowers and, among my favorites is the Iris, I love their delicate petals, the colors they come in range from soft to vibrant and everything in between.

This image is from a retired Flourishes set called "A year in flowers 2", I stamped it with Versafine black ink and colored it with Prismacolor pencils. The embossed image is done with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

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

I masked the same image and inked up this single flower with markers, the sentiment is from another retired Flourishes set called "Tulips for Friends".

I would like to link this card to two other challenges.

Crafty Sentiments Designs "Use your favorite stamp or image"

Cards and More "No DSP"

Colouring in Scrapland "CAS or Fully Loaded"

Love to Scrap "Use two or more Flowers"

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

A bit of shaking going on.....

Hello everyone: For this week over at the RETRO RUBBER  challenge we have one of the most popular themes in challenge land.....ANYTHING GOES.
I love interactive cards, don't you? they are a bit challenging to make but fun non the less. One of my favorite are Shaker Cards, I always love to see the bits of stuff that rolls around between the sheets of acetate and how it shines and sparkles.  I saw THIS VIDEO by Jennifer McGuire on how to make a "no bulk" shaker card so I decided to make one, here is my card.

Ok, sometimes I don't have the exact tools that are used to make the cards some people have when they make theirs so I improvise. In this case, I didn't have the dies Jennifer used but I do have some nesting rectangle dies and those are the ones I used for my card. 

I didn't have those cute little stars she put on her card but I did have some other sequences and beads so I used those. 

She also made her card in a way that you can write on without being seen through the front but, I had already finished this panel when I realized there was no place to write anything without messing up the front so, I added another card base and glued it to the main one, ending up with a 3 panel card, sheeesh!! But now, there is plenty of space to write.

If you look at this next picture you'll see what I mean about having no space to write your note.

All things considered, I'm happy with this card, the butterfly is from Cherry Lynn and the flowers from the Power Poppy set called Countryside Bouquet Delux, which dates from 2014. I stamped this image on white card stock with Versamark blac ink and colored it with my Prismacolor pencils. The butterfly is from Cherry Lynn, I had it for at least 4 years and it was die cut with a piece of Strathmore water color paper, and sponged with distress inks, I put some scotch tape to keep all of the little pieces from the die so I could add highlights with Prismacolor pencils. The die is from Elizabeth Crafts and I had it for 2 years.

So, I hope you like my card, for more inspiration, hop over to my Teammates blogs and see their wonderful creations, then join us in the gallery, we can't wait to see what you create.

Please remember to use stamps that are at least ONE YEAR OLD and, if at all possible, tell us their age.  Also, you can link your card to up to 10 OTHER CHALLENGES INCLUDING OURS.  One good place to find out the age of your stamps is Splitcoaststampers, if you know their names, you look them up in the Gallery, all of the stamp companies are listed in alphabetical order.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Die Cut Everything!!!!!

Hello dear friends: Well, here we are again over at SHOPPING OUR STASH  with a new challenge that I'm sure you will enjoy. This time around we want you to create your cards with NO STAMPING AT ALL!! Use only dies, punches, stencils but no stamping.  So, here is my card, hope you like it and, for much more inspiration, hop over to my teammates blogs to see their awesome cards.

The pattern paper is from my never ending stash, the tag, pine cones and leaves are from a die set by Elizabeth Craft. I die cut them out of light brown card stock and then, I sponged a bit of Hello Honey and Baked Brown Sugar. and the Joy word is from Penny Black die set called "Love and Joy"

The punched out edge was done with a Friskars punch.  I dug deep into my bottomless ribbon drawer to find a piece of ribbon in this color I wanted, this was the last of it so, I guess I need to go get some more, I really love this color.

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

I apologize for the lack of better lightning, I know I need a better lamp but I kind of like buying stamps better.  Most times I rely on the sun light but today, it's very cloudy and gray.  For the inside of my card, I stuck with the NO STAMPING request and for this I struggled a bit due to the fact that I don't have to many word dies. The word Love is from the same Penny Black die set and it's die cut with some Copper glitter paper,  the two leaves are from a stash of already water colored and die cut pieces from Elizabeth Craft.

So, go get your dies and start cranking up your good old die cutting machine and share your creations with us in the gallery, we can't wait to see what you come up with. 

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.