Christmas Stockings.....

Hello everyone: If you think about it and, even if it's only September, Christmas is truly just around the corner so, I made this little card to add to my stash so, when the Holidays are here, all I need to do is write a sweet message, address, stamp and seal the envelopes and send this Merry Messages on their way to family and friends.  Christmas Challenges are great to increase your stash so, I hope you participate often.  Here is my card and I will enter it onto a few challenges at the end of this post.

I stamped this old Flourishes image onto a die cut panel of water color paper and colored it with SU markers and my Wink of Stella, which I filled with water after the glittery stuff had run out so I can still use it, it works perfectly.

I added some glitter to the top of the stockings, hope you can see it better on this picture.

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

The garland was stamped with the retired SU set called "Bordering Blooms", the sentiment is from my stash and the little gift from another retired Flourishes set.

I'm entering this card onto the following challenges.

Merry Monday

ABC Christmas Challenge S is for Sketch, T is for Trio, I chose the Trio of Stockings.

Addicted to Stamps and More

The Merry Christmas Challenge Challenge #33, "Anything Goes + Christmas"

Double D challenge "GLITTER, GLITTER, GLITTER"

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 espress.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Yummy Treats.....

Hello there dear blogging friends: It feels so good to be able to be in my craft room having fun with my stamp sets, inks, markers, papers, giving my MOJO a chance to wake up from a very long slumber.  So here I am with a fun card that will be entered into a few challenges at the end of this post, hope you like it.

This "yummy" image is from a retired Stampin' Up! set called "Jar of Haunts", this is one of those sets that could never, ever go out of style, I love each of the spooky and fun images and sentiments.

I stamped this jar and the eyes with Versafine black ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder then, I colored the iris of the eyes with blue and the slime with lime green.  I stamped the dripping slime onto a scrap of vellum with Stazon black ink and colored it with a green water color pencil. The blue holographic paper is from an old gift bag, I knew I would use it one day!!

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

The sentiment and spooky eyes are from the same set, the spider web from my stash and the owl was punched with an old Martha Stewart punch.

I will enter this card onto the following challenges.

"Less is More"

Everybody Art Challenge #408 Clean and Simple.

Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge #177 "Something beginning with the letter "D" (DISGUSTING)?

Fairy Tale Challenge Blog #175 "Something from your kitchen" Well, if I was a Witch.....

Tuesday Throwdown #359 "Punches and or dies" I used both.

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.

Hello Gorgeous!!!!!

Hello everyone: The new challenge over at SHOPPING OUR STASH it's all about what's trendy out there in the crafting world.  I must confess I had NO idea what's trendy now a days so I had to Google this question and also, I ask my dear teammates for their suggestions.

There are a lot of things that I didn't know are trendy, like Cactus and Succulents, copper, mason jars, Mermaids, Macrame, burlap, Nuvo Drops, woo hoo!!!!!
So, because I love all kinds of Fantastic creatures I went with Mermaids, plus I was totally able to SHOP MY STASH and found some beautiful shells and sand from our Spring Brake vacations with our grandkids and also, some already made Nuvo Drops and a left over die cut I made with the Tissue Paper technique, so here is my card, hope you like it and get inspired to join us in our gallery.

This gorgeous Mermaid is from Stampendous and it's been just waiting to get inked up for months. I stamped her onto a piece of water color paper and colored it with water colors and Prismacolor pencils. The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Best Day Ever, the bubbles are from a set from Designs by Ryn.

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

 

The sentiment and bubbles are from the same Power Poppy and Designs by Ryn sets.

I hope you come and play along with us over at SHOPPING OUR STASH so you can see the awesome projects my teammates have there to inspire you.  Do not forget to stop by their blogs for details and to leave some blogging love.

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.

Tic, Tac, Toe for The Flower Challenge #12.....

Hello everyone: I've been absent for quite a while due to the fact that I had to take my 94 y/o Mother back to Mexico, she had been living with us here in the USA for 5 1/2 years, I've taken care of her for all of this years but now, her health is declining and she needs a specialized kind of care that I just can't give her here.  So I traveled with her, which in itself, was truly difficult but now, she is in a nice place, near my brothers and, most of all, in a warmer climate, Winters up here in NW. Indiana can be brutally cold and long.

But anyway, I'm slowly getting back into the crafting swing of things so, here is my card for THE FLOWER CHALLENGE #12, which is a Tic, Tac, Toe challenge, full of awesome possibilities.

Here is the template and, below it, my card.  I hope it inspires you to play along with my teammates and I in our gallery. 

For my card I chose the first horizontal line, which is "Embossing, Distress Inks and Sentiment"

I dry emboss my panel with a Cuttle Bug embossing folder and, carefully sponged some Tim Holtz Distress inks in Picked Raspberries, Peel Paint and Tumbled Glass.

The sentiment is heat embossed onto Vellum, the butterfly is from a retired (or retiring) set called "Papillion Potpourri" I stamped it with Stazon black ink on a scrap piece of Vellum and colored with Prismacolor pencils on the back.

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

The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called "Best Day Ever", the flowers and butterfly from an old Flourishes set.

I hope you stop by THE FLOWER CHALLENGE and give this fun Tic, Tac, Toe challenge a try, do not forget to stop by my teammates' blogs to see their awesome creations and leave some comment love.  This challenge runs until September 25th. so you have plenty of time to get creative and share your beautiful cards in our gallery.

Please read our rules, they are few but important and also, please add our challenge banner to your post when you upload your card to 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 them more than words can express.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Favorite Season.....

Hello everyone: I've been absent for quite a while, I had some family situations I had to take care of that involved traveling to Mexico with my elderly mother to bring her back after 5 1/2 years of living with us here in the USA. Her health was the major issue for this decision since she is 94 years old.  It was a very difficult time for me for a lot of reasons and that is why I took some time off from blogging. I'm happy to report that she is doing well in her new place and this gives me comfort and peace of mind, she is close to 3 of my brothers, my sister and I will visit as often as we can.

Anyway, we have a new challenge for all of you to play with over at SHOPPING OUR STASH, this time we want you to make a card showing your favorite Season of the year.  

I love all them but my favorite is the Fall, with its gorgeous colors and cooler temperatures and for me, the celebration that jumps start the Holidays is Halloween. So here is my card that I hope inspires you to join my teammates and me in the gallery.

I just love this pair of Pumpkins, I've used this images several times to make cards for my grandkids and also for friends. They are old so I really can't remember if they are from Penny Black or somewhere else, I do not have the packaging so, I apologize for that.
I stamped this images onto water color paper, colored them and fussy cut them, the bats are die cut, the sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Witching you a Happy Halloween"
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Here is a picture of the finished inside of my card.

All the images are from my stash of Halloween stamps, I sure wish I knew where they came from.

So there you have it, hope you come and play with us over at SHOPPING OUR STASH, my teammates and I can't wait to see what you can 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.

No Dream is to Big.....

Hello everyone: All of us at the RETRO RUBBER challenge blog have a fun theme for you to play with.  Every student in the USA and the world has gone back to school, some for the very first time ever, whether is Kindergarten, Elementary School, Middle School, High School or College, these young people need some support and encouragement so, to give them just that we want you to create a card for your student or their teachers. 

Here is the card I made to inspire you to play along and join my teammates and me in our gallery.

As I was thinking about making my card, I came to the realization that I have absolutely NO STAMP SETS with a teacher's theme so, as you can imagine, I was in a pickle as to what to do.  

I went to Pinterest to look for some ideas and found several cards that had books made out of card stock so I went in this direction.  

I liked the idea of putting an actual notebook page on my card so I simply pulled one from my notebook and used it as my background layer.  The rest, as you can see, is simple, I had the apple already colored so I just fussy cut it to add to my design, the books were cut from DSP, I used a gold gel pen to add some decorations and the titles for each.  I die cut the word AMAZING to hopefully inspire the recipient to have an amazing school year.

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

The sentiment is from Hero Arts and it fits perfectly with this school theme, dreaming BIG is the key to achieving your goals.

I hope you come and play with us over at the RETRO RUBBER CHALLENGE BLOG, be sure to stop by my teammates' blogs to check out their awesome creations.

We do have a few rules to keep things fair.

This challenge blog requires you to use stamps that are OLDER THAN ONE YEAR, please give us the age or how long you've had it.

You can combine our challenge with a maximum of 10 challenges.

Turn off your WORD VERIFICATION so we can comment on your card.

If you post your card on a private forum such as Splitcoaststampers or a photo sharing site, we might not be able to comment on your creation, thank you for understanding.

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.

New Home.....

Hello everyone: After a while of being absent, I'm happy to say my MOJO is slowly but surely coming back, it feels a bit weird to actually sit here in my craft room and create my cards.

The "Less is More" gals have a fun challenge for us to play with and, to top it all, my dear friend Vivien from Daizy Mae's Crafty Blog is their Guest Stamper so, here I go with this card that I hope you'd like.  By the way, Vivien's card reminded me that I had just gotten this adorable die frame so I kind of CASE'd her card but with a different theme, thanks Viv.

The challenge is asking us to make a card using some real elements so, as soon as I read that I went to my drawer where I keep little embellishments and got a pair of teeny, tiny keys that I bought at an Antique Store some time ago. I actually cleaned out the tray on that booth buying about 35 little keys, I added a bit of cotton for smoke coming out of the chimney.

This little house is from a super old Sizzix stamp and die set I bought at my local Hobby Lobby store at the Clearance section, I think I paid like $5.00 for it.

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

The sentiment and mail box are from a couple of old Flourishes sets.

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.