Orange Crush!!!!!

Hello everyone: Once again, it's time to send out a little reminder to you to join us at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE.   In this challenge we want to see you create your cards using either DRY EMBOSSING OR HEAT EMBOSSING or both.  Here is the card I made to inspire you to join my teammates and I in our gallery.

The other day, I saw THIS VIDEO TUTORIAL from StampTV., about how to "color" with Bleach. I was intrigued, I never thought of Bleach as a stamping tool, 😲 sheeesh!! I just use it for the laundry!!! but non the less, I decided to give it a try,  the results were awesome!!  So, for my card I picked this beautiful bouquet from a Power Poppy set called Countryside Bouquet Deluxe.  First I sponged some Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon on a panel of water color paper, then I stamped the flowers with Versmark ink and heat emboss it with white embossing powder.  Then I went over the flowers with a small brush dipped in the bleach and just touched some areas, the color immediately started to fade so I was real careful not to do to much.  I love the way this turned out, and the best part of all, is that there is no bleach smell when it dries. 

Then, I made a cut on either side of the stems and wrapped some twine a few times and tied a bow.

I stamped part of a sentiment from the Power Poppy set called Azaleas and die cut the word "Amazing" with an Elizabeth Craft Designs die.

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

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Dahlias", it was also die cut with THIS Spellbinders die set.  The flower at the bottom is from the same set as the front flowers.

I colored it with Prismacolor pencils.

I hope this card inspires you to join us in THE FLOWER CHALLENGE  gallery.

Please add our challenge banner to your post when you enter our challenge.

Please check our rules, there are simple but important.
So, pop over THE FLOWER CHALLENGE to see my teammates amazing inspiration cards and join us in the gallery, we can't wait to see what you create.

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.

You Are The Bomb!!!!!

Hello everyone: I made this card yesterday but, as it's usually the case, LIFE got in the way and I couldn't take pictures or write the post until this morning so, here  it is, hope you like it.

I will link this card to a few challenges at the end of this post.

This beautiful image is from the Power Poppy set called Dynamic Duos:Peonies and Tulips.

I stamped with Stazon black ink on Strathmore water color paper and colored it with SU markers,  an aqua painter and Prismacolors for added shadows.

The black die cut is from Spellbinders, pattern paper from my stash.

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

I don't have a smaller image of a Peony for the inside so I just stamped the same image but with Spun Sugar Distress Ink, the sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Tulips for Friends"

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

The Sisterhood of Crafters "Where in the World?" I live in Indiana and the State Flower is the Peony.

Peonies are also called "Bombs" hence the sentiment. 

The Paper Shelter Challenge #302 "Punches or Dies"

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.

CAS Tulip for SOS #311.....

Hello dear blogging friends: I love the CAS style of card making but sometimes I find it a bit difficult to leave a lot of empty space on my cards but, none the less, once in a while I venture into making this very elegant and, well.....simple cards to get used to the guidelines for CAS.

This week over at SHOPPING OUR STASH we want to see your interpretation of this style of card making, so I hope my card inspires you to join my teammates and me in our gallery.

I love SHOPPING MY STASH of very old and retired stamp sets, I have a ton of Flourishes sets that I absolutely love, this image is from one of those retired sets called "Tulips for Friends" that came out back in 2013. I stamped it onto a die cut piece of watercolor paper with Stazon black ink and colored it with some of my Sakura Koy watercolors. I always save the negative piece of die cuts, I have a nice stash of them in a box ready for when I need them.  I really wanted to color this Tulip and leave it alone but, as I was finishing adding some shadows to the petals, my aqua painter decided to jump off of my hand and it landed on the bottom left side of the flower making a big smear of paint on it.

I gasped!!!😨, my first impulse was to just start over but, I really loved the colors I got on this flower so, I decided to fix it somehow. I tried to remove the ink with a small brush and water but, all I achieved was to make the ink bleed so, what the heck!! I went around the whole image with my brush dipped in water and that was that!! 

A small sentiment and a couple of Nuvo drops completed this card front.

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

The sentiment is from another Flourishes set called "With Gratitude", the little tulips on the bottom, from "From the Garden", colored with Prismacolor pencils.

So I hope you give this challenge a try, go check out the SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge blog to see my teammates awesome creations.  And, for your 411, July 12th. is Simplicity Day, CHECK OUT THIS LINK to this blog and find out how you can simplify your life, there are some awesome quotes there that I've been implementing in my craft room. 

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.

The "Dreaded" OLC.....

Hello dear blogging friends: I love, love all kinds of styles for making cards but there is one style that always intimidates me a bit.....CAS!!  Yes, yes, I know, what's so hard about it?? Well, I often need to fill up the space and that is a BIG No No!!!   But, none the less, I enter this challenges just to be able to practice and learn, how else am I going to get any better in teaching my brain it's ok to leave empty space around so, here is this card I made for the Less is More Challenge #336 & 337, which is collaborating with the AAA Cards and the talented DT's are asking us to make a "One Layer Card" with the added "bonus" of using colored card stock, anything but white is to be used.

This image is from the retired Flourishes set called "Zinnias", the butterfly is from a set I've had for years but I don't know it's name or where it came from, it has 9 gorgeously detailed images. I stamped the flowers and the butterfly onto a single, yellow card base first with Stazon black ink, color them with my Prismacolor pencils, easy peasy, and once it was finished, I stamped it again with Versafine black ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder to make the lines visible again, the pencils kind of made them look opaque,  I just left the images on my MISTI so I could stamp them again in the exact same place.

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Here is a picture of the finished inside of my card, I also left this with no layers.

Both the sentiment and the butterfly are from the same sets.

I'm linking this card onto the following challenges.

"Less is More"

AAA Cards: CAS game #94 A collaboration with "Less is More" 

International Art and Soul Challenge #12 "Elements of Nature" 

(Flora, Fauna, Water, Sky, People.....)

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.

Ahh!! The Bling!!!

Hello everybody: I have a card to share today made with one of my favorite images from Arts Impressions, this super fun, adorable lady is from the set called Beach Babes and I think she is totally fabulous, love the sentiment and the HUGE rock on  her finger, LOL!!
I'm linking this card to a few challenges at the end of this post.

After arranging my layers, I stamped her onto a piece of water color paper with Stazon black ink and colored her with some neon green water color paint who's origins I can't remember, this little plastic tube of paint is super old but I love that it still works.  I added Dazzling Details to her bathing suit and hat, Glossy Accents to her shades and glass and a bit of Panama City Beach sand under her beach chair. This sand is from those amazing Spring Break vacations my hubby and I took with our grandchildren, when they were younger, sigh!! how we miss those days.😢

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

The sentiment is from a retired Flourishes set called "Camellias" and the yummy drink from a retired Stampin' Up! set called "Happy Hour".

I'm linking this card to the following challenges.

Art Impressions Challenge #212 "Bling, Glitter or Glossy"

Creative Knockouts Challenge #201 "Summer Fun"

DL.ART Challenge #207 "Summer Fun"

Making Memories Crafting "Anything Goes/Anything but Square"

Paper Play Sketches

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.

Tissue Paper Fairy.....

Hello dear blog friends: Many of you know how much I love Fairies, never seen one in person but, well.....you'll never know, right?  Until that day or night comes, I have to rely on beautiful images of Fairies to satisfy the need to actually encounter one. 

This little one is from a stamp set collection by Cicely Mary Barker called The Flower Fairies. This images are so beautiful, so delicate and detailed that, when I found out that some of them were available over at 49 and Market, I had to get them.  I only wish that the other Fairies were made into rubber stamps too, sigh!! 

Ok, one of the challenges I want to enter with this card is the CAS Mix Up Card July Challenge in which we are asked to make a card using "Stamping+Tissue Paper+a Choice" from the list on the right side of the challenge's page, I picked "Fussy Cutting". Here is my card, if you click on the image, you can see the awesome gold embossing better.

I've never done the Tissue Paper technique but let me tell you, it's fun super easy and the results are stunning, if I say so myself.  I followed THIS AWESOME TUTORIAL by the equally awesome LOLL, this video tutorial is fabulous, perfectly explained and super easy to follow.

So, I did the colors on the tissue paper the way she did on the first segment of the video, then I dried it with my heat gun, I just couldn't wait for it to dry on it's own.  Then, I crinkled the paper in my hand and unfold it, glued it to a piece of white card stock making sure I had wrinkles on it, then I again dried it with the heat gun, (can you tell I'm very impatient?) then, rubbed it with the embossing buddy and very, very carefully, rubbed Versamark on it, making sure I just touch the tips of the wrinkles, then applied the gold embossing powder and heat it to set it. The result blew me away, I think I just found a new favorite technique, I just love it.

I stamped the Fairy and flowers onto a piece of Strathmore water color paper and colored them then I put some Scotch tape on the back to give it a bit more sturdiness to fussy cutting with paper snips and an exacto knife, it was a bit tricky doing the leaves.  I glue the Fairy and flowers to the embossed panel and put small pieces of foam dimmensionals on the leaves. 

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

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Orchids" and it's one of my most favorites, I always use it when I make Fairy cards, the words are beautiful.

The little butterfly perched on the Lavender twig is from another one of the sets I bought from 49 and Market.

I want to enter this card onto the following challenges.

CAS Mix Up Challenge, I used the Fussy Cutting from the list.

Sparkles Monthly Challenge #93, Embossing heat or dry.

Make My Monday Challenge #49 "Summer Brights" Hope the colors and gold embossing are ok.

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.

EMBOSS IT!!!!!

Hello everyone: July is here and with it comes a new challenge for you to play with over at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE.  I want to thank all of you amazing crafters who participated in our June Challenge "Anything Goes", we had a fabulous turnout, over 182 entries!!! which made my teammates and I, very happy.
So for our July challenge we want to see some EMBOSSING, heat or dry, which ever you'd like or even both techniques, we can't wait to see what you create.
Here is my inspiration card for this month, and I hope you join us in the gallery.

This lovely Azalea image is one of my first purchases from Power Poppy back in 2014, this set is called Azalea. I stamped this image onto a piece of water color paper with Versamark ink and heat embossed it in gold then, colored it with my Sakura Koi water colors and my fixed Wink of Stella.

I embossed a piece of pink card stock and a piece of SU retired vellum with a retired embossing folder, (I forget the name of this one, sorry).

The sentiment is from the set. I added a few Nuvo Drops and a triple bow made with some organza ribbon.

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

I embossed just the top of the pink card stock with the same folder, the sentiment is from a retired Flourishes set called "Tulips for Friends"

So go ahead and join us in the gallery, please check my teammates amazing creations HERE, I'm sure you will get even more inspired.

Please add our banner to your post when you enter our challenge,

Please, only new work, no back linking.

Please you can enter only 6 challenges including ours.

You might enter this challenge up to 5 times but each entry must be different.

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 works can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.