Nap Time.....

Hello everyone: I'm sticking to my New Year's resolution of using my old stamps and dies this year.

I'm sure some of you guys are in the same boat as me, getting new stuff and neglecting your old sets that, at one point, you bought planning to use them and then, well.....here come some new stuff and there go the old stuff, put away on the shelf, drawer, closet, cabinet, box or whatever.

Not any more in THIS craft room, although I will most definitely use the few new sets I have, my emphasis will be to use the old ones. 

So here is this card, made with an old but beautiful SU set.

This sweet image is from a Stampin' Up! set called "Peace Within" that came out in the 2009-2010 catalog and I can't believe I haven't use this set in a very long time.

I stamped this image on a die cut piece of watercolor paper with Stazon black ink and colored with SU markers, don't you want to curl up with this kitty on your lap and read a book? 

Another one of my resolutions is to use pattern paper, I'm not fond of it mainly because I never know how to combine it or match it.  On this card, I'm not to comfortable with the patterns but maybe that is my lack of experience with this?? I don't know, you tell me if this patterns look ok to you, please.

The little bouquet is from a newer and never used SU set called "Beautiful Bouquet", that is still current but I haven't ink up, again.....shame on me!!!

The sentiment is from another old SU set called "Kindness Matters" (2011-2012 catalog).

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I took a small piece of the pattern paper to decorate the inside, the sentiment is from another old SU set called "Heard from the Heart" (2008), I absolutely love the font on this sentiment, I don't know why I haven't used it before, sheeesh!!  The flower pot is from the same stamp but I only inked this portion with SU markers.

Thank you for stopping by, I sure appreciate your kind comments.

Till next time.

XO

Maria.

Ewe x Three.....

Hello dear blogging friends: One of my New Year's resolutions is to make an honest effort to use my older stamp sets, those that I bought like over a year ago and HAVE NEVER USED, shame on me!!!

I made this card with one of these stamp sets from My Favorite Things called Ewe Are The Best, these little, fluffy sheep are just the cutest.

I stamped these images on some scraps of white card stock and colored them with Prismacolor pencils, I don't have the dies but these images are easy to fussy cut, then I sponged the grass and sky with distress inks on a panel of white card stock and stamped the grass.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called POTTED PRIMROSES that came out in 2015, the little flowers at the bottom are from the MFT set.

I would like to play with the following challenges.

The Paper Players

2 Crafty Critter Crazies #22

Ike's World Challenges "A is for Animals/Anything Goes"

Thank you for stopping by, I sure appreciate your kind comments.

Until next time, happy stamping.

XO

Maria.

A Winter Card for SOS.....

Hello everyone: Hope your New Year's celebrations were awesome, in the company of family and friends.

This is the first challenge of 2019 for SHOPPING OUR STASHso we hope you come and play along with us. The theme is "Winter Blues", meaning make a Winter card using the color BLUE. 
This is my card and I hope it inspires you to join us in the gallery.

The image is from an old Flourishes set called "Warm Winter Wishes", stamped on watercolor paper with Stazon black ink and colored with SU markers and Prismacolor pencils.

I added a bit of Dazzling Details to the Snowman and the snow.

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The Sentiment, the snowflakes and the mittens are from the same set.

I hope you find some time to play in your craft room now that the Holiday celebrations are over, I know from my own experience, how busy we are during this festive time.

Please visit our SHOPPING OUR STASH blog to see what my teammates created for your inspiration and come join us.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

CRAFT ROCKET CHALLENGES #55 WINTER.

Christmas Crafts All Year Round

January Challenge "Let It Snow"

Winter Wonderland Challenge January Challenge "It's Snow Time"

Tuesday Throwdown #422 "Winter Sparkles"

Card Mania Challenges #112 "Baby It's Cold Outside"

The Fairy and the Unicorn

Anything Goes, optional theme "Frosty"

Thank you for stopping by, I sure appreciate your kind comments.

Till next time, hugs from Maria.

My first CAS card of 2019.....

Hello everyone: I hope 2019 is starting off just fabulous for you, I'm wishing you and your family Health, Peace, Joy, Love and Prosperity all year long.
I saw THIS CARD on Pinterest and when I clicked on it, the link took me to Liz Gaze's blog.
I decided to CASE it because it's just so beautiful.

This card was pretty simple to create, I used some dies that I haven't used in a very long time, which makes me wonder why since they are really so beautiful, I'm making an honest effort to use my old stamp and die sets more often.

I will enter this card in a few challenges at the end of this post.

I'm not entirely sure where I bought this Snowflake dies, I think the small one on the top of the ornament is from Memory Box.

I just die cut the big one and the small one out of silver foil paper, the middle one out of white cardstock, I added blue Rhine Stones and used silver thread to "hang" my ornament.

The sentiment is from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called "Poinsettia", the little Tree on the corner from another Power Poppy set called "Merry Littles".

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

CAS January Christmas Challenge

Addicted To CAS.....

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge

CAS on Sunday Make a Christmas Card.

Cut It Up Challenge "New Year's Resolutions"

Mine is to use my old stuff more.

Thank you for stopping by, I sure appreciate your kind comments.
Until next time, happy stamping.
Hugs from Maria.

HOPE EVERYTHING'S ROSY IN 2019!!!!!

Hello, dear blogging friends: Before I continue and share with you the new theme for THE FLOWER CHALLENGE, I want to thank all of you who visited my blog during 2018 to check out my cards and leave me such beautiful, heartfelt comments, it's a thrill to read them and I appreciate each and every word, I hope you continue to visit me from time to time this year.
I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Healthy, Joyful, Peaceful, Love filled and Prosperous 2019.
So our theme for this first challenge of the year is



This is a really beautiful color combination, PINK and GRAY and I'm sure you'll have lots of fun creating your cards, we can't wait to see you in our gallery.
This is the card I made and I hope it will inspire you to come and play along with us.

The image is from a Power Poppy set called Everything's Even Rosier, I stamped it with Stazon Gray ink on water color paper and colored it with SU Markers and Prismecolor pencils.

The pattern paper is from Lili of the Valley and the lace border is stamped with SU "Delicate Details" stamp set (retired).

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from the set stamped with Picked Raspberries distress ink.

At this time, I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite cards I made last year, I picked them because they have different techniques and styles, I hope you enjoy this group.

There is dry embossing, heat embossing, no line coloring with Prismacolor pencils, water coloring and  heat embossing on Vellum.

I hope you come and play along with us at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE first challenge of 2019, please remember to display our banner on your blog when you upload your card to the gallery.

You can only participate in 6 other challenges, including ours. 

Thank you for stopping by, I sure appreciate your kind comments. 

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Eastern Influences.....

Hello everyone: Well, I'm here again with a little reminder post for THE FLOWER CHALLENGE in which we are asking you guys to use your older, older stamps or dies, you know? those neglected sets maybe at the bottom of a drawer or up in a box somewhere in your craft room.

We want you to give them a chance to shine again.

This is the card I made to inspire you to come and play along with my teammates and I in our gallery.

This is my oldest flower stamp set, it's from SU, it's called Eastern Influences and it's from 2008!!
The flower and the swallows are stamped on a piece of white card stock with Stazon black ink, I colored the flower with my Prismacolor pencils and paper stumps dipped in Gamsol, then, I fussy cut all of this images.
I stamped the branch on a die cut piece of black card stock with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder then glued my images on top.
The Joy sentiment is from a Penny Black die set "Love and Joy".
I also found a little bag with this very shiny fabric so I thought of putting a piece in the back just for a bit of bling.
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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I love this sentiment from Power Poppy's "Short Stacks", the punched detail at the top is from an ultra old Friskars punch, the cherry branch from the SU set.

So I hope you come along and play with us at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE gallery, just remember to read our rules and please add our banner to your blog post when you upload your card.

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.

I

The Merriest of Christmas.....

Hello everyone: Before I continue, I want to wish all of you who come to my blog and leave me your sweet, wonderful comments. It's an honor and a Joy to read them and to know you like the cards I make, I feel truly grateful for each word you say.

This is the last challenge for the year 2018 for SHOPPING OUR STASH, my teammates and I will be taking a Holiday break and will be back on January 8th. 2019 with the first challenge of the year, hope to see you then.

This challenge is a Christmas one and just in time for you to make a few more Christmas cards, I know from experience that, when you think you have all the cards you need for family and friends, there is always a couple more that need to be made so, here is my card that I hope will inspire you to come and play along with us in our gallery.

This stamp and die set are from Stampin' Up! and they have been in my stash since I bought them back in August or September of 2017 when they came out in the Holiday Catalog.

I just love the gorgeous silhouette images on the stamps and dies.

I stamped the image of Mary, Joseph and the Donkey on black card stock with gray ink and added a bit of color to Her veil. 

The buildings are die cut out of silver foil card stock and the sentiment is stamped once in black ink and a second time with silver glitter embossing powder.

The night sky is pattern paper I found at the bottom of my DSP drawer, lucky me!!!

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This is the way the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I had to cut the buildings a bit to fit the front panel but I didn't want to throw that piece away, it's just so pretty so I glued it to the corner, the sentiment is from another beautiful SU set called "All Ye Faithful".

I hope you go and stop by the SHOPPING OUR STASH blog to get more inspiration from my teammates and they come and play along with us.

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.