Wild Flower Tag.....

Hello everyone: Been busy this morning with my 75gal. marine aquarium, did a much needed  water change, it was a week overdue.
But anyway, I made a tag for the Tag You're It! challenge, who's feature designer is Michele Ferguson, here is my tag.

The image is from a Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley called Go Wild. I stamped the image with Versafine Onix Black ink on a tag I punched with the SU Scalloped Tag Topper using Ninah Solar White card stock, then I colored it with Prismacolor pencils. I also embossed just the left side of the tag with a retired SU embossing folder, I forget the name at the moment but maybe you can recognize it? Easy peasy, I tied a Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon on top and that was it.

Here is Michele's tag that was the inspiration for mine.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Thank you with Zinnias.....

Hello everyone: From the 4 seasons of the year, the Fall is my most favorite, the colors are always spectacular up here in NW Indiana, the weather is gorgeous, not to hot and not to cold yet, so I'm really anxiously awaiting the arrival of this most beautiful time of the year.
I have a card to share with you that I will link to the CAS-ual Fridays "Time to Color" challenge and the Addicted to Stamps and More "Anything Goes" challenge, here's my card.

I bought a couple of spools of this gorgeous ribbon last year at Hobby Lobby at the clearance section for $1.00, I'm just in love with the rich, deep tones of orange and gold, I haven't used it yet until now. 

The image is from a retired Flourishes set called Zinnias, all of this images are simply beautiful.

I stamped this one onto a piece of Strathmore multimedia water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored it with SU markers but this time, I did not use the aqua painter, I used instead my Wink of Stella, why you might ask?? well, it was because of THIS VIDEO by Kristina Werner, I never thought of using Wink of Stella instead of water but the results are fabulous, if I could have an unlimited supply of this glittery brushes, I think I wouldn't use water anymore to color my cards.

Here is a close up of this pretty flowers, I hope you can see the shimmer.

The word THANKS and the sentiment on the bottom are from a retired Flourishes set called With Gratitude, I just grabbed the word THANKS and inked up each letter masking the rest, thank goodness for the MISTI. I stamped the other part of this sentiment stamp at the bottom with Hello Honey ink, I embellished it by adding that little Hemp twine bow.

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

I die cut the sentiment, from the same set, with the Spellbinders Romantic Rectangle dies, the sprigs are from Penny Black.

Here are the banners that inspired my card.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Mary's Color Challenge.....

Hello everyone: My long time friend and Stampin Up! demonstrator Mary Fish is the host for this week's Pals Paper Arts color challenge #313 so I made this card with colors that hopefully are as close as the ones on the challenge. I'm also linking this card to the Butterfly Challenge #60, the challenge consists in using Butterflies+V as in Vase and or Vanilla. Here is my card.

This image is from Impression Obsession and it was given to me as a gift by my dear friend and card swapping buddy Patti Willey some time ago. It's such a beautiful image and a joy to color.

Ok, this is my very first attempt at trying this technique called "No Line Coloring", I've seen a few videos but the one that totally captured me was THIS ONE by Kristina Werner, she is amazing.

I, of course, didn't have the water colors she used or the brushes, for that matter but, I did have the Tim Holtz "Antique Linen" distress ink and my SU markers and aqua painter so I figured I could use what I had and give this a try.

I stamped the image onto a panel of Canson water color paper, I used the smooth side, with the distress ink, I did mask the sentiment that comes with the image because Spring is long gone.

Then, I braced myself and started to color this lovely vase of flowers using the color palate on Mary's challenge as close as I could, I hope it's ok.

Since the sentiment was already on the image, all I did to embellish this card was to make a bow with some twine, I just didn't think the image needed any more stuff.

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

The sentiment is from a retired Flourishes set called "Lots of Thoughts", the butterfly unfortunately, I don't know where it comes from, I bought it so long ago and, at the time, I really never thought I was going to need the information on the package. I will show a picture of this set at the end of the post, maybe one of you have seen it and can tell me the name and the company that made it, I thank you in advance.

Here are the banners that inspired this card.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Stamps I used.

A Lucky Hand.....

Hello everyone: We have a new challenge for you this week at SHOPPING OUR STASH, this time we want to see you make cards that have PLAYING CARDS in them, you could use Clip Art, stamps, stickers, digital art, pattern paper or, if you don't have any of this elements, you can make your own playing cards like I did in my card.

Ok, I didn't know the exact size of a playing card so I Google this question and found out that the standard size for Poker cards is 2.5x3.5.  But then, I really never seen a card made with playing cards so, I went to my other trusty source of information, Pinterest!! and found several cards with this theme, from all of them I chose to CASE THIS ONE made by Linda from Nothin' Fancy, I changed it up a bit by stamping the sentiment, mainly because I had no way of printing anything, my printer sucks!!!

So I cut 5 pieces of white card stock and rounded the corners then I grabbed an old set from Your Next Stamp called Mini Letters and Numbers to stamp the letters and numbers on the cards. I used a hand held small circular punch to punch the Trebles in black card stock, the small retired SU heart punch for the hearts in red card stock and I grabbed the Owl Builder punch for the little hearts in the 10 of Hearts card, I sponged a bit of Antique Linen distress ink to give the cards some dimension and separation. The sentiment is from an old retired Flourishes set called "Magnolias".

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

The sentiment is from a Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley set called Dynamic Duos: Peonies and Tulips, I die cut it with a Spellbinders Nestabilities die set called Floral Ovals and the little kitty is from an adorable Stampin Up! set called Pretty Kitty, I just adore this little images.

So, are you ready to get creative with this challenge? Yes, you are!! We can't wait to see what you come up with. For more inspiration, go visit my Teammates blogs and leave them some crafty love.

Please check the challenge rules and link up your fabulous creation to our gallery.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

PPA #312 and PP#307.....

Hello again everyone: Sometimes I get confused with the dates of challenges and I think I still have tons of time to enter them. This is the case with this card that I want to submit to the fabulous Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge by Linda Callahan, I thought I had more time but I only have 1 day and a few hours so, here is my card that I finished yesterday (By the way.....I kind of turned the design on the vertical, hope it's ok), I also will enter the The Paper Players with a theme challenge "You Light Up My Life" from Joanne.

This image is from a beautiful retired Flourishes set called S'more Fun and I think it fits the Paper Players theme really nicely. I stamped the image onto Canson water color paper and colored it with SU markers, I sponged a bit of Squeezed Lemonade distress ink on the lantern's glass for a warm glow. The sentiment is from the same set, I framed it with one of the dies on the Oval Regalia set. 

To follow the sketch, I inked up one of the stamps on the retired SU set called "Gorgeous Grunge" with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. 

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

The sentiment is from a Flourishes set called Magnolias, the flowers in the corner are from another Flourishes set called From the Desk Of....., that little butterfly was my attempt of covering a black ink smudge, ughhh!! don't you hate when you have your panel all done and looking pretty and you mess it up with your inky fingers??!!! I tried to erase it with no luck so I looked for a stamp that would be small enough not to take the entire space and that also would go with my inside panel and I found it in the beautiful retired SU set called Flowering Fields. 

Here are the banners that inspired my card.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Rhapsody in Blue.....and Brown.....

Hello everyone: I have a card I finished real quickly this morning, I had the little Viola already colored for another card but I thought I would use it on this card that I would like to enter to the "Less is More"  color challenge #288 BLUE and BROWN the Addicted to CAS challenge #94 with a CODE WORD "MUSIC", here is my card.

I sponged a bit of Tumbled Glass distress ink in the center and placed the music score die cut with blue foil paper with mini glue dots, I had the Viola already fussy cut so I just glued it to the panel, with the left over foil paper I die cut the word. I stamped some dots with one of the stamps in the Gorgeous Grunge set in Baked Brown Sugar after stamping once on scrap paper, I didn't want the dots to be to dark.

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

I stamped the sentiment from a retired Flourishes set called Orchids, with Tumbled Glass twice to get a darker impression then I die cut it with the Spellbinders Fleur de Liz die set.

The little butterfly and flower are from the retired SU set called "Flowering Fields". I stamped the flower with Tumbled Glass and the stem with a SU marker, the butterfly was stamped with Stazon Dove Gray ink and colored with Prismacolor pencils.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Back to School!!!!!

Hello everyone: Well, this card is the first card I make for my grandchildren who are soon going back to school, I still have to make the rest and I will be posting them later. This one is for my almost 12 year old granddaughter Anastasia, who is going into the 6th. grade this year but will be taking advance 7th. grade Math and English.  This year she will also join the Cross Country team, this little girl loves to run. Last February she was on her school's Timothy Ball Math team and the competition was at this school so we were able to go see her, we were amazed at the math skills of this kids, we were trying to solve the problems, with NO luck what so ever, LOL!!  so I made this card for her to wish her good luck this school year.

Oh yes, here I go again with my little mice, LOL!! forgive me but I love them. Besides, little Monica has the perfect expression to convey the message as she stares at the board filled with this Mathematical equations, sheeesh!!

This image is, of course, from House Mouse, I stamped it first onto some copy paper to be able to more or less create the brick wall, after I drew the bricks and colored them, I took the mask off and I stamped the little mouse right on it's place, colored it with SU markers. Then I made the "board" and, after looking for some equations on Google, I wrote them down with white gel pen.  I also drew the question marks and exclamation point with a micro black pen.

The books are from a retired Flourishes set called "From the Desk Off.....", I just masked the flower vase and stamped it onto a piece of Canson water color paper and colored it also with SU markers.

I wrote the titles of the books myself, then I fussy cut them and placed them on the panel with dimensionals. The sentiment is from another Flourishes set called Botanical Bookplates Volume 2.

I stamped the letters and numbers with an Avery Alle set.

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

This is to let my little granddaughter know that, with hard work, she can accomplish anything, she'll be jumping for joy like this little mousy.

Now, this is the program from that Math Bowl competition, thought you might like to see it.

And this is the list of kids from Anastasia's team.

Thank you for stopping by and for letting me brag a little, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

I'm entering this card into the following fun challenges.

PDE Linky Party I'm using the sketch.

Moving Along With The Times, Back to School theme.

Sunny Day Crafting Back to School theme.

Patti's Creations Challenge #125 Anything Goes.

Kitty Bee Designs Challenge #77 All About Animals.

Creative Fingers Challenge #14 Anything Goes.

Crafting With Friends Challenge #26 Anything Goes.

Color Crazy Week 19 Anything Goes.

Stamps I used.