Blue Jay for SOS.........

Hello everyone: I've been away for a while taking care of some very sad and difficult situations with our family.  I want to thank my amazing teammates at SHOPPING OUR STASH for their comforting words, support and understanding and for the beautiful cards I received from them, this means the world to me and I feel blessed and forever thankful to be a part of such a wonderful group of women who always, no matter what, will have your back.

But I'm back and I'm happy to be in my craft room again, doing one of the things I love the most, coloring and creating cards for your inspiration so, I hope you come and join us in our gallery, the theme this time is to create a Winter card using predominantly the color BLUE.

This image is from a Power Poppy set called Serene Scenes I had in my stash of un-inked stamp sets and that's a shame because it's so beautiful.

So I stamped it on a die-cut panel of watercolor paper with Versafine ink and colored with SU markers and a bit of shimmery silver paint.

The sentiment is from another Power Poppy set called Cozy Cupfuls.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like. 

The sentiment and the little branch are from a retired SU set called "Beauty of the Season" (2014 Holiday Mini).

I hope you can come and play with us at the SHOPPING OUR STASH gallery, stop by to check my teammates' beautiful creations.

Thank you for visiting me today and for your sweet comments.

Hugs.

Maria.

My first Twofer of 2020......

Hello everybody: It was very hard to wait for the first Twofer Challenge theme for 2020 and, as usual, the talented DT came up with a fabulous prompt.
I'm happy to submit these cards for one of my favorite challenges.

And this is my first card.

I used two hearts punches plus the Postage Stamp (SU-retired) Punch to create this card.  The bigger heart is punched with a retired SU hearts punch, the smaller heart, with the Owl Builder Punch (SU-retired)

The sentiment is from an old Valentine's Day set from Flourishes called "Tokens of Affection"

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This is how the INSIDE of this card looks like.

The sentiment and banner are from a Flourishes called "From the Heart" (2015) 

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My second card is created with a super fun die set from SU called "Apron Builder", LOVE IT!!! that fortunately is still available and ON SALE!!

The pattern papers are from my stash and I used the same heart punches to decorate the apron and banner, the sentiment is stamped with a super old alphabet set from "Your Next Stamp".
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This is how the INSIDE of this card looks like.

The sentiment is from a 2017 Power Poppy set called Tweet Tidings.

I would like to play along with the following challenges.

Twofer Card Challenge #23

Send a Smile for Kids "Valentine or Anything Goes"

Gem of a Challenge "Anything Goes"

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hugs.

Maria.

A Little Reminder........

Hello everyone: I've been out of the blogging loop for a while, trying to sort out a few sad and difficult family issues, and I want to thank my amazing teammates at The Flower Challenge, for their support and love, patience, caring thoughts, and cards I've received, I feel so blessed and grateful to be a part of this group of talented and caring women, thank you again for your love and understanding.

So now, THE FLOWER CHALLENGE is at its halfway point and here's a little reminder to let you know there's still plenty of time for you to come and play along, the theme is "Shaped Cards" so I hope to see you in our gallery.

Here's my card.

I used a retired Stampin' Up! die set for the card base and the main panel, the flowers are from a retired Flourishes set called "Botanical Bookplates", released back in March of 2012.

The image is stamped with Versafine black ink, heat embossed with clear powder and colored with Gansai Tambi watercolors.

I added some enamel dots and a twine bow. The word "amazing" is die-cut with a die I bought from eBay some time ago.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like. 

The sentiment and flowers are from the Flourishes set.

Our Guest Designer is the very talented Alex Syberia and she's giving our lucky winner two of her beautiful digital images as a prize, check out her web site to see the wonderful images she has there.

Stop by THE FLOWER CHALLENGE blog to get more inspiration from my fabulous teammates.

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

Hugs.

Maria.

Let it Snow.....Please!!!!!

Hello everyone: Well, I'm back after a really long absence due to some sad and difficult family situations. But it's 2020!!! so my only resolution is to make this year so much better than the last.

My dear friends at RETRO RUBBER have been ever so patient with me, giving me some time to recharge and for that, I'm so very grateful, but like I said, it's a New Year and with that comes the very first challenge of 2020 so I hope you come by our challenge blog and get some inspiration from my amazing teammates, here's mine.

This "Winter" has been anything but, we haven't gotten any significant snowfall since I can't remember when, only little dustings here and there but nothing to make a snowman or have a snowball fight, so I'm wishing for a couple of inches, you know, just for the fun of it.

This is a very simple card, I'm trying to ease my way back into the crafting mode, so I just grabbed my snowflake dies and cut out a few, cut a panel of white card stock with a set of wavy dies, stamped the sentiment from Power Poppy's "Snow Kissed" stamp set (2017) and added a few enamel dots and Rhine Stones for some bling.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Warm Winter Wishes" (12/2010) and the little bird playing with a "bunch of snowflakes" is from a SU set called "Snow Much Fun" (2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog).

So I hope you come and join my teammates and me at the RETRO RUBBERchallenge gallery for our first challenge of 2020.

Make sure at least one of the stamps you use on your card is OLDER THAN ONE YEAR, and if you know the year of its release or when you bought it, we would love to know.

I'm playing along with the following challenges.

Cut It Up Challenge #191 "Snow Much Fun"

CAS on Friday Challenge #171 "Winter"

Crazy 4 Challenges #517 "Summer or Winter"

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

Hugs.

Maria.

A Little Reminder for The Flower Challenge.......

Hello everyone: Well, there's still time for you guys to come and play along with us at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE "Use a Die" challenge, here's my card that I hope it will inspire you to join us in our gallery.




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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I hope you find a bit of time to play along with us at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE, come and check out the cards my awesome teammates created to inspire you to join us.
We have a $25.00 gift e-card offered by our generous sponsor Crackerbox and Suzy Stamps, check out their online store, you'll find lots of awesome products to choose from.

I would like to play on the following challenges.

World Wide Open Design Team Challenge

Happy Little Stampers


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

This is what I used to create this card.

*Botanical Blooms (SU, retired)

*Simply Camelias from Power Poppy (Sentiment)

*Enamel Dots from Gina Marie Designs.

*Delicate Details (SU, retired)

Hugs.
Maria.

Orchids........

Hello everyone: I hope your Thanksgiving celebrations were beautiful and yummy, surrounded by family and dear friends.
And now, the Designer Team over at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE has a new challenge for you to play with for the month of December, we want you to use FLOWER DIES on your cards.
This is the card I made to inspire you to play along.

The card is made entirely with the "Climbing Orchid" bundle from Stampin' Up! (2017-2018 Catalog).  I stamped the flowers with "Picked Raspberries" and added some detail with Prismacolor pencils.
The branch is from Memory Box called "Grove Branch", the sentiment from the set.
I sponged some detail with a Splatter Stencil from Altenew and added a few 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 from another retired SU set called "Whimsical Words", the flower from the Orchid set.

I hope you find a bit of time in this busy month to come and play along with us at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE.

  

Please read our rules to be eligible for the prizes. 

This month we're being sponsored by Cracker Box & Suzy Stamps, they are generously giving our lucky winner an e-gift certificate for $25.00

Be sure to check out their online store, they have some fabulous crafty stuff.

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

Hugs.

Maria.

An Angel for Christmas......

Hello everyone: With Christmas just around the corner, my teammates and I at RETRO RUBBER want to encourage you to make one more Holiday card for your stash, from personal experience, you can never have too many Christmas cards to send to family and friends.

This sweet image is from one of my favorite Penny Black children stamps, this little Angel just fills my heart with warmth.  The name of the stamp is Ragged Angel, I bought it back in 2015. The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Frosted Gingerbread (2014).

I didn't add embellishments, I think she is just so beautiful on her own.  I stamped the image with Versafine black ink and colored with watercolors and Prismacolor pencils, I think I've finally achieved a good skin tone using 3 pencils, #939 "Peach", #929 "Pink" and #1034 "Goldenrod", applied very softly and also lightly blended with Gamsol.

I created some snow hills and added some Diamond Dust for a bit of sparkle.

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

The Santa and Reindeer and the sentiment images are from a very old (2011) set I bought at Etsy, the little birds on the corner are from a retired SU set called "Christmas Lodge" (2011-2012 Holiday Mini).

So I hope you are inspired to create one more Christmas card and come and join my teammates and me in the RETRO RUBBER gallery.

Remember to use at least one of your stamps that is at least ONE YEAR OLD, please check the rest of our rules on our blog.

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

Happy Holidays and my best wishes for Peace, Love and Health in 

2020.

Hugs from Maria.