Golden Azaleas.....

Hello everyone: We have a new challenge over at SHOPPING OUR STASH for you to play with, this time we want to see you use GOLD on your cards or projects.  You can heat emboss it, use gold glitter, gold paper, gold embellishments, gold inks, etc.   Here is my card that I hope inspires you to join my teammates and I in the gallery.

This lovely image is from a Power Poppy set called Azaleas. I stamped the image onto a panel of Strathmore multi media paper with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder then, I colored it with SU markers and the aqua painter.

The golden frame around the image is cut from, believe it or not, Christmas wrapping paper. When we open our gifts I can't bare to throw this lovely papers away so I save them and trim the parts where they were taped and use them on cards. This challenge was a perfect opportunity to do just that. The die I used is from Spellbinders and it's called Fleur de Lis from the Decorative Elements Nestabilities collection.

The sentiment is from the set, I also use a small piece of this pretty golden paper. The ribbon is from my never ending stash.

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

The sentiment is from a retired Flourishes set called "S'more Fun", the border is from a new Stampin Up! set from the Sale-a-bration brochure and it's called "Delicate Details", I know this is brand new on my stash but I couldn't help it, love this beautiful, lacy stamps.

Now, hop over my teammates blogs HERE  and see their wonderful creations, get more inspiration and then, come and play with us in the gallery.

I'm entering this card onto the following challenges.

Power Poppy January Challenge "Blossoms to Warm Up your Winter"

My Creative Scoop Color Inspiration Monday "Use any medium of your choice"

Scrapbook Stamp Society Challenge #108 "Anything Goes with Ribbon/Lace and Pearls"

Use Your Stuff Challenge #248 "Heat Emboss and Water Coloring"

Colouring in Scrapland January Challenge "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 this more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Friendship Never Stops Blooming.....

Hello everyone: The title of this post is one of my most favorite sentiments, it's so true and I can attest to that.  Even before I started my little blog 2 years ago, I had already made sweet friendships through this wonderful craft of card making but, when I decided to create this blog, (with a lot, and I mean A LOT, of encouraging from my dear card swapping friends), a whole world of new friendships was born coming from all over this world, reaching out from miles and miles away to my home. I treasure this friendships, I enjoy them, thrive in them, learn from them and will cultivate them with love for many years to come.
I have a card to share with you today that I will link to a few challenges at the end of this post.

Monarch Butterflies are pretty amazing little winged  jewels, their migration South from Eastern North America to the Siarra Madre Mountains of Mexico is nothing short of incredible and sublime. HERE is a link from the USDA Forest Service with information and migration routes and how you can help this gorgeous Butterflies reach their destination.

This beautiful image is from Northwoods and it's called Two Monarchs On Flower. I stamped it onto a die cut panel of Strathmore multi media paper with Versafine black onix ink and clear heat embossed it then, colored it with SU markers and an aqua painter.  Sponged Tumbled Glass and Shabby Shutters distress inks on top and bottom.  The small butterfly perched on the sentiment is also stamped with Versafine ink, heat embossed and then, very carefully fussy cut, the embossing powder gave the legs and antenna a bit of thickness so I could snip them out.

The blue pattern paper was cut with Spellbinders Decorative Lables 8 die set.

The banner for the sentiment is also from Spellbinders, you can find it HERE 

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Tulip for Friends"

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

Sentiment is from another Flourishes set called "Gerbera Daisies"

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

Sketch Saturday Challenge week #447

Sweet Stamping Challenge "Use dies/punches"

INKspirational

A Gem of a Challenge #186 "Hearts and or Flowers"

Crafting When We Can Challenge #136 "Spots and or Stripes"

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 this more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Coffee for Two.....

Hello everyone: I know, must of us are coffeeholics, (am I right or wrong here?😉) I don't know if there is such a word, if not, well.....I just created it, ha!!!  My alarm goes off at 3:45am., 5 min. later, it goes off again so, I quietly get out of bed so hubby can snooze another 15-20 min.  As I'm going downstairs, the aroma of a freshly brewed pot of coffee hits my nose and I start to really wake up. Then comes the first sip.....ahh!! HEAVEN!!! Now, I can get hubby's breakfast and lunch ready, pack it up and wait for him to come downstairs at around 4:45, we chat for a spell and then, he leaves for work.  This card is caffeine loaded and I will link it up to a few challenges at the end of this post.

This images are from a very old stamp set from Cornish Heritage Farms and the only one I have from this company that, apparently, has closed it's doors. I couldn't find much information out there so I can't be sure if this is true.  But I'm happy to have this fabulous set, it has a lot of beautiful images and sentiments, here is a picture of the whole set.

Aren't this images just so beautiful? Well, I took the chubby pot, coffee cup and saucer and the little spoon to create my card. For the pot and coffee cup in the background, I did a bit of masking, the cup in the foreground was stamped and fussy cut, the same with both little spoons.  I used SU markers and a couple of Prismacolor pencils to add some shadows.

The pattern papers are from my stash.

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

The sentiment and the cream and sugar are from the set.

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

djkardkreations Blogbirthaversary SURPRISE Challenge #8

Creative Knockouts Challenge #177 "Finish the Inside of your card" I always, always finish the inside of my cards so this challenge was right up my alley.

Aud Sentiments Challenge #171 "Anything Goes + a sentiment"

4 Crafty Chicks Challenge #334 "Coffee"

Craft for the Craic "Pick Me Up!

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 this more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Sprinkle some Love.....

Hello everyone: I have a really cute card to share with you today that I will link to a few challenges at the end of this post.

This sweet little Fairy is from Sugar Nellie, the stamp is called Sprinkle some Love. 

I die cut a piece of Strathmore multi media paper and stamped my image with Stazon black ink then, colored it with SU markers and a few Prismacolor pencils. I added some silver glitter to the sugar this sweetie is sprinkling on that cup of tea.

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

The sentiment and the sugar cookie are from a retired Flourishes set called "Fresh Baked".

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

Cute as a Button Challenge #30 "Faeries"

Die Cutting Divas Challenge #300 "Silver and Blue Photo Inspiration"

PINspirational Challenge #182

Crafting by Designs "Anything that shines challenge"

Fab and Funky Challenges #334 "Must use Ribbons"

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 this more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Not a Christmas Card.....

Hello everyone: I hope your Holidays were full of the warmth of family and friends and enjoying the sweet smells of the Season, opening gifts and cheering the New Year.

I wish for all of you, Peace, Health, Joy, Love and Prosperity in 2017.

So, here we go, with our first challenge for you for 2017 over at the RETRO RUBBER challenge blog, that will give you a chance to make a card that has NO Holiday theme in it, we just want to see some SNOW.  If you live in the Northern part of this Country, you definitely have snow on the ground so, here is my card, picturing one of the fun and fabulous things you can do with snow.

This sweet image is from a long ago retired Stampin' Up! set called "Winter Memories" from the 2012 Holiday Mini. All 3 images are totally different, so beautiful and very Vintage.

I stamped it onto a die cut panel of Strathmore multi media paper and colored it with SU markers and a couple of Crayola markers for the little girl's outfit, I sponged some Broken China Distress ink for the sky and then, using a snow fall stencil, I applied some embossing paste, I've been practicing, it's fun and this embossing paste truly adds a lot of beautiful dimension to your cards. I added a bit of Dazzling Diamonds to some of the snow shadows for some sparkle.

Then I embossed the background with the retired SU Northern Flurry embossing folder and added some Rhine Stones to the snowflakes for a bit of bling, this embossing folder is lovely.

The sentiment is from the also retired from SU set called "Snow Much Fun" from the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog, super adorable images, I masked the part that says "Wish your Christmas is" and only ink up the  "snow much fun" part.

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

The frame is from a retired Flourishes set called "Country Charm Labels", the sentiment is from the "Winter Memories" set, I cut it in 3 sections to fit the frame because it's a long sentence.

The little pine cones branch is from a Power Poppy set called "Merry Littles".

I hope you find a bit of time to join us in the gallery, remember to please use stamps that are at least 1 year old, whether you purchased them a year ago or they were released a year ago, the RETRO RUBBER challenge is dedicated to all of our old and beloved stamps that we have been neglecting for a while, we want you to ink them up and show them off in our gallery.

Please read our rules, they are simple and few but important.

For more inspiration, go to my teammates blogs or to the challenge page HERE to see their wonderful creations.

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

Until next time, happy stamping. 

Hugs from Maria.

Monster Mash.....

Hello everyone: This week over at SHOPPING OUR STASH, our theme is FANTASTIC BEASTS, that can include Unicorns, Dragons, Monsters, Faeries, (I think this little creatures can be considered little monsters, there are some really mischievous ones out there 😉)
This time I chose an image I've been neglecting for a while, it's part of a really cool but sadly retired SU set called "Monstermaniacs", which is just absolutely perfect for all the little (and big) monsters in your life, love this set to make kids cards so, here is mine, I hope it doesn't scare you to much, so sorry if I give you nightmares.

Yikes!! are this guys scary or what?!!! 

I stamped this image onto a die cut panel of Strathmore multi media paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with SU markers, Crayola markers (for the neon green spots on that purple cutie pie) and also added some shadows with Prismacolor pencils.

I added some long time neglected googly eyes, I have a bag full of this little thingies that always add such a whimsical  and fun touch to cards like this.

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

The little banners are from an old Flourishes set called "S'more Fun", the sentiment from my stash of birthday greetings and the little cupcake from a Penny Black set called "Cupcakes".

I hope you get inspired to join us in the gallery, if you want more inspiration, stop by my teammates blogs to see their wonderful creations. 

Dig into your stash of paper, inks, stamps, etc. for some forgotten items and show us what you create, I can't wait to see what you come up with. 

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 this more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria. 😊

A little reminder.....

Hello everyone: We are at the half way for The Flower Challenge "Blue and Yellow" challenge so, here I am with a card to inspire you to join us in the gallery.

This is an image from Concord and 9th. called Happy Day, I adore this cake!! I stamped the image onto a panel of Strathmore multi media paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with SU markers and an aqua painter then I fussy cut it since I don't have the companion die.

The background is done with SU Wood Grain stamp, heat embossed with clear embossing powder and sponged with Tempting Turquoise ink.

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

The sentiment is from SU (retired) the fireworks from The Ton.

Hope you join us in the gallery, the challenge ends on January 25th. so you still have a lot of time to play. Don't forget to take a look at my teammates amazing creations for more awesome inspiration.

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 this more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.