Winter Blues.....NOT!!!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to another challenge over at SHOPPING OUR STASH, where we want you to go ahead and go "shopping" for all of those old stamp sets, embellishments, papers you know you have in your stash somewhere in your craft room.
I did just that with this card, the stamp and corner punch have been on my neglected stash for a very long time, unused and forgotten. Well, no more!!! this was a perfect opportunity to create a card using this gorgeous stamp from Penny Black Slapstick called "Passionate", here is my card.

I love Iris flowers, their delicate petals are almost transparent, they come in all kinds of amazing colors, so the sky is the limit as to which one to use.

I got this stamp a long time ago, I think I've used it only once and I'm very happy to play with it again this time for our challenge.

The stamp it'self is big so I had to create a card base specially for it. Then, I stamped the image using the technique on THIS FABULOUS VIDEO by Virginia Lou.

When I saw it, I immediately went and bought this stamp, it's incredible how easy it is to do it like Virginia, the water colored look is truly fabulous.

The corners of this card were punched with a super old punch from The Paper Studio, I think this particular design is retired because I couldn't find it to share the information with you.

****************************************************************************

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

This sentiment is from my Flourishes stash of sentiment stamps and so is the little basket of flowers.

The beautiful border is from Stampin' Up! and it's called "Delicate Details", from the Sale-a-bration catalog. 

I hope you feel inspired to make a card that has NO Winter theme, using the color BLUE  and join us in the SHOPPING OUR STASH gallery and, for more inspiration, hop over to my teammates blogs to see their beautiful creations.

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.

CASEing Therese.....

                                                                         

Hello everyone and welcome to THE FLOWER CHALLENGE #5.  This month, we have the fabulous and talented THERESE from LOST IN PAPER as our Guest Designer and, to make things even more awesome, Therese has a video tutorial on her blog where she will show you how she made the gorgeous card we are CASEing.  So, I hope you come along and play with us, we can't wait to see how Therese's card inspired you.

Here is a picture of her beautiful card, followed by mine.

Isn't it awesome?

Here is my card.

 

When I saw Therese's card I was so happy because I had just gotten a couple of dies that totally would work perfectly to create my card. The dies are from Memory Box and this one is called Chrysanthemum Corner, it's so delicate and just beautiful.

I die cut a panel of Whisper White card stock and carefully removed the die, then I placed it on top of my card base and lightly traced each petal with pencil, I colored the petals with my Prismacolor pencils and paper stumps dipped in baby oil, then glue the die back in it's negative corner using a two way glue pen, making sure each flower was exactly where it should be. Once the panel was secured, I  lightly colored the leaves using a sponge dauber and distress ink.

I needed the sentiment to be colored with an Ombre effect so, I grabbed a scrap of white paper and using my Prismacolors I went across the paper from dark to light, trying to blend each color as I start with the next, then using a paper stump, blended the colors even more. 

The word Love was die cut with a Penny Black die set called Love and Joy.

***************************************************************************

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

The pretty flower border is stamped with a retired SU set called "Bordering Blooms", the sentiment is from a retired Flourishes set called "Tulips for Friends".

Ok, so now, it's your turn to give this fabulous challenge a try, for more details and inspiration, hop over to THE FLOWER CHALLENGE to check out my teammates awesome cards and then, join us in the gallery, we can't wait to see how Therese's card inspires you. 

Don't forget to add this banner when you enter the 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.

Days of Yore.....

Hello everyone and welcome to another challenge at SHOPPING OUR STASH, this week we want to see your creations with a Vintage, Shabby Chic, distress look. This style is so beautiful so I was so happy to have a few stamps I bought a long time ago and hardly ever used. Here is my card that I hope inspire you to come and play with us.

This stamp came in a set I bought on Ebay, all the images on this set are like this, very vintage and feminine, I love them. I think I've used this stamp only once and I think the other ones have never been used so I was so happy that the SHOPPING OUR STASH Challenge this week asked for this style of card making so I went and Shopped MY Stash to create this card.

I stamped the dress image onto Strathmore mixed media paper with Antique Linen distress ink, I wanted the lines to be soft and looking old, then I softly colored it with SU markers and an aqua painter and then, ran a distress little tool around the edges.   The background was also stamped with distress ink, the little cameo on the right is from an old Flourishes background stamp, I did a bit of masking to surround the rose with some buds and added some peach colored pearls to give the panel some vintage feel. 

The butterfly and ribbon are from my stash, the sentiment from the set. 

*************************************************************************

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

The sentiment and the basket of flowers are from an old Flourishes set called "Around the Harbor". I sponged Baked Brown Sugar around the panels to make them look old.

I hope you got inspired to get into your Vintage, Shabby Chic mode, go Shop YOUR Stash and join my teammates and me in 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 this more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria. 

From the Heart.....

Hello dear friends: Well, the LOVE month is in sight so we, at the RETRO RUBBER CHALLENGE want to give you a chance to get a bit of a head start on those Valentines so, for our next challenge we want to see HEARTS😍, big ones, little ones, lots of them. So here is a card I made that hopefully, will inspire you to join my teammates and me in the gallery.

This image is from a long ago retired Flourishes set called, "With Love",  it was released back in 2010 or 2011,  I love the swirls on this heart, the banner is part of this set, which comes in handy to add a sweet sentiment.

I stamped the image with Versafine black ink and clear heat embossed it  then colored it with SU markers and an aqua painter. The Pattern paper is from a discontinued line from Lili of the Valley and that little envelope from a punch that, unfortunately, broke some time ago, but I was able to punch a good amount of envelopes with it before I had to dispose if it, sigh!!😕😞 The "love" sentiment it's from a combination of sets and the little heart was punched with the Owl Builder punch from SU.

****************************************************************************

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

The sentiment is from a Flourishes set called "Sweet Love", I use this set a lot, I realized that I only have a few sets for Valentine's Day so I kind of use this sentiments often. The little hearts are punched with the Owl Builder punch from SU.

I hope you have some time this week to come and play along with us at RETRO RUBBER , for more inspiration, please hop over to the challenge and see my teammates beautiful cards.

Now, our rules are simple and few.....

Make sure your stamps are at least ONE YEAR OLD, either from the day of their release or how long you've had them.

You can enter no more than 10 other challenges including ours.

Post your NEW card onto your blog or on line gallery, no back linking.

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.

Warm Winter Wishes.....

Hello everyone: As much as we want to see some signs of Spring, it's still Winter up here in the cold Mid West, there is a dusting of snow on the ground and it's just about 28 degrees, which will be the temperature throughout the day.....oh well.....it's a good day to craft, right? so here is this card, which I hope, will give you a warm feeling, I will link it to a few challenges at the end of this post.

This card was made with several retired stamp sets, the cup is from the Flourishes set called "Grab a Cup", the cookies are from another Flourishes set called "Fresh Baked" and the sentiment from the Stampin' Up! set called "Winter Memories", I love it when I can combine my beloved stamp sets.

All of the images were stamped onto Strathmore multi media paper with Versafine black ink, heat embossed with clear embossing powder and colored with SU markers and an aqua painter. 

The cookies were fussy cut and I added Wink of Stella and a few teeny, tiny hearts punched out with a retired SU corner punch out of Cherry Cobbler card stock, love this punch, it cuts this perfect little hearts. 

**************************************************************************

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

Both the sentiment and the Poinsettia images are from a Power Poppy set called Merry Littles, perfect little images to finish the inside of my Holiday cards.

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

Merry Monday

Creatalicious Challenges "Anything Goes"+optional "Winter"

CCC Digi Creations Challenge #65 "Use die cuts and or punches"

4 CRAFTY CHICKS Challenge #335 "Water Color" (my favorite medium)

Moving Along With The Times Challenge #37 "Swirls and or Curls" Taking a chance with the Swirls on the coffee that a Barista would make. (I've only had this a cup with a design like this once, I didn't want to drink my coffee, it was just so beautiful)

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. 

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.

*****************************************************************************

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"

***************************************************************************

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.