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Friday, March 22, 2019

C'mon, Eat Your Veggies.....

Hello everyone: I'm here today with a fresh and delicious card made with the image of one of my favorite veggies.....CAULIFLOWER!! Love this beautiful "bouquets" of creamy goodness that taste amazing whether in soups, salads or grilled, my goodness, my mouth is watering, can't wait for the grilling to start.
Here's my card and I will play with it on a few challenges at the end of this post.



This card is a CASE from This Card by Narelle Farrugia I saw on Pinterest, I just changed the direction of the design making the card vertical. Thank you Narelle.
A simple card, really. Just grabbed some scraps of card stock and Gingham paper from my stash and using an old Friskars punch I decorated the white strip.  The image is from a Power Poppy set called Farmers Market, colored it with my Prismacolor pencils.
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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.


 I often use several stamp sets in order to create my cards, especially to add the sentiments.  This inside panel was created with some green scraps for decoration, the sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Sage Advice and the two little plants are from an Altenew set called Garden Grow.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

GINGHAM


"Think Spring or add some Green.

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.
XO
Maria.

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Vellum again.....This time a Rose.....

Hi there, blogging friends: I'm really loving watercoloring on Vellum after I heat emboss the image, there is still a bit of warping but I think, somehow, the melted embossing powder keeps the image nice and almost flat. 
So here's this card that I will enter in a few challenges.


This image and the sentiment are from a Power Poppy set called Everything's Even Rosier, the embossed design is from a Cuttle Bug EF.
I stamped the rose on Vellum with Versafine black ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder then, colored it with SU markers and a damp brush, the butterfly is from a retired SU set called "Papillon Potpourri", I added a bit of gold paint to the leaves and the butterfly I borrowed from my granddaughter Vanessa and then, fussy cut the rose.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.


The border is from a SU retired set called "Delicate Details", the sentiment is from the same Power Poppy set.

I would like to play with the following challenges.


Challenge #15 "Watercolor"
Crazy for CAS

"For a Special Female"
Dragonfly Dreams

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.
XO
Maria.

Monday, March 18, 2019

Stain Glass Jar.....


Hello everyone: I was doing some sprucing up in my craft room over the weekend and I came across this pretty die from Elizabeth Craft called "Ginger Jar", unfortunately, it's sold out but not discontinued so I hope they bring it back, it's really beautiful and you can really do all kinds of combinations with the pieces of this flower and curvy lines. 


I die cut the jar out of gold foil paper and glued it to a piece of watercolor paper, after it dried completely, I colored it with Sakura Koi watercolors.  I left it to dry again and then I filled each section with Glossy Accents to give it that stain glass look. The branches are die cut with a Memory Box die called "Grove Branch", the little flowers are from an Altenew set called Moments in Time, this little flower was so hard to stamp, I don't have a block that small so I grabbed my glue pen and put a mini glue dot on the lid and then, I attached the flower stamp, it worked really well.  The sentiment is from a SU set called "By The Bay".
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Here's a close up of the jar so hopefully, you can see the wells filled up with the Glossy Accents.


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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.


The border is stamped with a retired SU set called "Delicate Details", the sentiment is from an Altenew set called Recollections and the little branch from the Moments in Time set.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

My choice was die cutting.


                   

Challenge #172 "SPRING"

This is the Ginger Jar die set I used, I looked for it but I think it's discontinued, so sad, it's really beautiful.

  Ginger Jar

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.
XO
Maria.

HELLO, I DON'T HAVE THE WORD VERIFICATION OPTION ON, IT'S TURNED OFF LIKE IT'S ALWAYS BEEN.  I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M GETTING THOSE VERIFICATION PICTURES SO, IF YOU'RE GETTING THEM TOO, I APOLOGIZE.  I HOPE YOU STILL LEAVE ME YOUR LOVELY COMMENTS.
THANK YOU.



Saturday, March 16, 2019

Balloons Galore!!!!!

Hello everyone: It's Twofer Time again!!! Woo Hoo!! so here are the cards I created to play along.
These cards are so very special for me because they are for my two older grandchildren.  Vanessa will be 21 on May 24th. and Gabriel will graduate from High School in June.  I'm amazed at how time has flown and how these beautiful children have grown into amazing, healthy, sweet, talented, and loving young adults, we couldn't be more proud of them and feel so fortunate and blessed to have them in our lives since the day they were born.


I created these cards with very little stamping and hardly any coloring.  I used the retired SU die set called "Balloon Pop-Up Thinlits Dies", I've used it a couple of times before but I don't think I've shared any cards made with it.

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Ok, so this is Vanessa's card.  The balloons are cut from silver foil card stock, I wish they would show up right but you know how difficult is to photograph foil paper. I fussy cut red foil paper to put in the back of the balloons so it would show through. I also die cut the "strings" from scraps of the red foil paper.
The sentiment was stamped on a die cut piece of white card stock using one of the dies from a retired SU set called "Itty Bitty Banners", the word and number were stamped using some of the stamps from a Concord & 9th. called "Happy Day", thank goodness for the MISTI, I finished it off with a pretty red bow.
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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.


The sentiment is from my stash and the little cupcake from a Penny Black set called "CUPCAKES".
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This is Gabriel's (18) Graduation card.


I used the pop-up die to cut this panel but I used the "Wonky Stitched dies" from Gina Marie to just make a front for my card with black card stock, the balloons and strings were die cut separately from scraps of the red foil paper and then glued to the black balloon base, it took some doing but I'm happy with the results.  I wanted to heat emboss the sentiment in gold but I didn't like it how it looked with the black banner so using a scrap piece of red card stock, I die cut just the banner and cut the strings and then, heat embossed the sentiment, I hope you can see the shine.
The Cap and Diploma I'm not sure I remember where I got them but they sure come in handy for really cool graduation cards.
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This is how the INSIDE of this card looks like.


I kept the inside pretty simple, you know how it is with young men's cards, the front is fine with the only bling coming from the red foil card stock.
The stamped frame, the little diploma, and the sentiment are from a bargain bin stamp set from Fiskars, bought some years ago for $1.00, love the fabulous stuff you can find in those bins if you are willing to kind of rummage around a little.

Anyway, there they are, these cards for my grandbabies (sniff, sniff) all grown up now but still, sweet as pie.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.


Simply Create Too Challenge #147
Anything Goes/Anything for a Male.
The second card is for my Grandson.
Simply Create Too Challenge Blog

Through The Craft Room Door

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.
XO
Maria.


Friday, March 15, 2019

Vellum Embossed Iris.....


Hello everyone: So we've arrived at the halfway point on our "Anything Goes" Challenge so here's a little reminder to inspire you to come and play along.


These pretty flowers are from the Altenew set called Enchanted Iris and it's beautiful.  I love these flowers, in real life, their petals are almost transparent so that's why I decided to stamp them on Vellum. But Vellum can be difficult at times, especially if you wet it, (don't ask me how I know, tee hee!!)
After a few futile attempts, I decided to heat emboss it hoping that the raised edges would help a bit with the warping.  
To my delight, they did, still had a little bit of twisting, especially on the petals and the leaves but, after the watercolor was dried, I used my bone folder to gently straighten them up.
I used my Sakura Koi watercolors, a bit of water and a very thin brush, I die cut the frame with THIS Spellbinders die set.
I added a few sparkly enamel dots from Gina Marie Designs.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.


The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Dynamic Duos: Peonies and Tulips, the frame is from an old Flourishes set called "Country Charm Labels" (2011), the butterfly is from THIS Stampendous clear stamp set.

I hope you find some time to come and play along with us over at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE, this challenge will close on the 25th. of March.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

Favorite Dies or Stencils and Why.
Love these dies for the Iris, it cuts perfectly on the edge of the image.
As You Like It Challenge

Challenge #57 FLOWERS
CRAFT ROCKET CHALLENGES

I used Sakura Koi watercolors.

March Challenge: "Think Spring or add some Green"

One for the Ladies/Girls
The Sisterhood of Crafters

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.
XO
Maria.



Thursday, March 14, 2019

Trouble, Trouble.....

Hi there, everyone: I know it's too early for Halloween but I just couldn't resist playing with yet another NBUS stamp/die set. I resisted for a long time getting this bundle but alas!! I couldn't resist any longer so here's my very first card using this adorable and sadly retired Halloween set.


I stamped the little Witch and the super adorable Ghost on a piece of white card stock with Stazon black ink and colored them with my Prismacolor pencils. The little Froggy is stamped on a piece of green card stock, such a cutie, love it.
The purple pattern paper is from my stash, I added some stars with the die from the set, I hope it still a bit CAS for some challenges I'll enter at the end of the post. The sentiment is stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with silver glitter embossing powder.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.


The starry border is done with one of the stamps on the set, the sentiment and the Witch's Hat are from an old SU set called "Tee Hee Hee" (2014 Holiday Catalog)

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

I used my Prismacolor pencils.

One for the Ladies or Girls.
The Sisterhood of Crafters

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.
XO
Maria.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Beach Babes.....


SOS Headquarters

Hello everyone: My teammates and I at the SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge blog, have a fun challenge for you to play with and it's all about FRIENDSHIP so I hope this card inspires you to come and play along in our gallery.


These sweet and beautiful gals look like they've been friends for years and what can be more fun than to take a vacation to someplace warm with your friends.
Heck, I wish I was sitting there, holding a refreshing beverage, getting a tan and turning heads, LOL!!
This image is from Art Impressions and it's called BEACH BABES, love it.
I stamped it on watercolor paper with Versafine black ink and then clear heat emboss it, I wanted to watercolor it and, as you can see, there are a lot of small areas that might bleed into one another if it wasn't for the little wells that heat embossing creates. I used a set of fine line markers my granddaughter gave me the other day, I love the colors, they are super vibrant.
The yellow background paper was heat embossed in white using one of the stamps on the retired SU set called "Peaceful Petals", the green paper is from my stash. The sentiment is from the AI set, I added a couple of enamel dots from Gina Marie Designs.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.


The border is from a retired SU set called "Bordering Blooms", the sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called "Sassy Succulents". I masked the little glass at the bottom from the fun image on the front of the "Beach Babes" set.
Please stop by the SHOPPING OUR STASH blog to see my teammates' beautiful creations and come and play along in our gallery.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

Path of Positivity "Friendship"
Path of Positivity Challenge

Feminine or Girly.

Taking a Leap of Faith  here, I think
I have all the Rainbow colors represented.😉 

Ladies/Girls
Crafty Friends Challenge Blog

Thank you for stopping by, your comments always make my day.
XO
Maria.