Just a Little Reminder.............

Hello again everyone: On this reminder post for THE FLOWER CHALLENGE with a theme of "Add Leaves", I confess I might have gone a bit overboard with all of these pretty flowers and leaves but, in my defense, I'm very tired of gray and cold days, we got about 3" of snow last night and everything looks nice and white and clean but still, I yearn for color, lots of it and that's one of the reasons I created this card that I hope inspires you to come and play along with my teammates and me in THE FLOWER CHALLENGE gallery.

I decided to use one of my favorite flowers die sets from Stampin' Up! called "Botanical Blooms", I don't have the stamp set but I can still create lots of pretty flowers in all colors of the rainbow.

I die cut a "Congratulations" word in gold foil paper to use this card for a June Wedding or Bridal Shower, which I know I'll use this year.

I sponged a little bit of distress inks on all of the flowers and added some Gina Marie Designs enamel dots to their centers.

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

The Sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called "Marcella's Mix Tape Vol 2", the border is from a SU set called "Bordering Blooms" and I cut an extra little flower with the same die set.

Please go visit THE FLOWER CHALLENGE and check out my teammates' creations, I'm sure you'll find even more creative inspiration with their cards.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hugs.

Maria.

An Apple a Day...........

Hello everyone: Well, it looks like it's going to be another gray and cold day up here in the Midwest, but well......it's February so I guess it's expected.

I shouldn't complain, we haven't had a whole lot of snow and, so far, it's been a mild winter but, I'm yearning for Spring, I can't wait to see the first signs that it's finally arriving.

So I have a pair of cards to play along with the Twofer Card Challenge, which is one of my most favorites, the fabulous ladies of the Designer Team never cease to amaze me with their fun themes and awesome inspiration, thank you.

Here's a picture of my cards together.

This is my first card.

This delicious image is from a Power Poppy set called Farmers Market.

I stamped it on Strathmore Bristol paper with Versafine black ink, clear heat embossed it and colored it with Windsor&Newton watercolor markers, then fussy cut it.

The pattern papers are from a retired line from Lili of the Valley.

The sentiment on the top is from an old Flourishes set called "From the Garden", (designed by Marcella Hawley)

the sentiment on the bottom is from an old "There She Goes" set called "Wrapped in Joy".

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Short Stacks, the apples are from the "Farmers Market" set.

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This is my Twofer.



I used the same apple stamp from the "Farmers Market" set and colored it with the Windsor&Newton markers, I fussy cut it again.
The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Tea in the Garden.

This is how the INSIDE of this card looks like.

The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called Daffodils, the mug with aromatic apple-cinnamon tea is from an old Flourishes set called "Apple of my Eye", (designed by Marcella Hawley)

I want to play along with the following challenges.

Twofer Card Challenge

Crafty Sentiment Designs
Use RED challenge.

A Sweet Color Challenge........

Hello everyone: With Valentine's Day just around the corner, the RETRO RUBBER challenge has this super sweet Color Challenge for you, I hope you come and play along in our gallery.

This beautiful image is from a 2016 Power Poppy set called "Everything's Even Rosier" 

I stamped the image with Versafine black ink and, after I dried it with my heat gun, I colored it with Prismacolor pencils. 

I wanted to have Pink, Red and White roses so I hope the ones that are supposed to be white look white. I saw a few pictures of white roses and they all seem to have a tinge of light green at the base of the petals.

The sentiment is from another Power Poppy set called "Natural Beauties"

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This is the INSIDE of my card.

The sentiment and petals are from the Power Poppy set.

I hope you come and play along with us at the RETRO RUBBER color challenge.

Please remember to use at least one stamp that is ONE YEAR OLD and if you know the year you bought it or when it was released, we would love to know.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hugs.

Maria.

Just Add Leaves.........

Hi there everyone: THE FLOWER CHALLENGE for the month of February is to add LEAVES to your flower card, simple, eh?
All flowers have leaves so this can't be easier.

My card is very simple, created with a super old stamp set from SU called "Fast and Fabulous", (sounds like the title for a fast car movie, LOL!!"

I just stamped the flowers on Strathmore Bristol paper and colored with Prismacolors.  This set has no leaves so I used a leaf stamp from an Altenew set called "Peony Bouquet".

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The border is from a SU set called "Delicate Details", the sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called "Tea in the Garden" and the flower from the same set as in the front.

So I hope you hop over to THE FLOWER CHALLENGE to get even more inspiration from my amazing teammates and our fabulous Guest Designer, Galina Filippenko, please take a moment to check out her blog, she has some truly gorgeous cards.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.

Hugs.

Maria.

Love is in the Air........

Hello everyone: February is here so the DT over at SHOPPING OUR STASH has a LOVE challenge for you to play with, this is the card I made to inspire you to come and play along.

This cutie pie of an Owl and the balloons are from Purple Onion Designs.

I stamped them on Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper and colored it with Prismacolors and a red SU marker.  The die is from eBay.

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This is the INSIDE of my card.

The sentiment is from a Power Poppy set called "Farmer's Market", the balloon from Purple Onion.

So I hope you go and shop your stash and come join my teammates and me at the SHOPPING OUR STASH gallery.

I want to play with the following challenges.

AAA Birthday


Bitten by the Bug2
Valentine's/Anything Goes


Crafting Happiness Challenges
Anything Goes/twist HEARTS

Dream Valley Challenges
#218 "Love"

Make My Monday
#115 "I Heart You"

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hugs.

Maria.

Knit, Knit,and Knit some more...........

Hello everyone: When I was about 9 years old, my maternal grandma taught me how to Knit and Crochet, besides teaching me how to bake with yeast, make cakes and cookies and a lot of Mexican dishes over the years up until I left home at 21 as a brand new bride.

When I saw this beautiful set from Flourishes back in November of 2012 I bought it on the spot, it reminded me of my sweet grandma, her room with her sewing machine, her drawers full of fabric, yarn, and crochet threads and the warmth of her hands as she was guiding mine through the movements of needles and hook, sweet, amazing memories!!
I stamped the image on watercolor paper with Versafine black ink and clear heat embossed it then, colored it with SU markers.
I embossed the back panel with the beautiful SU embossing folder called "Tufted 3D", I love the quilted look it gives your card stock, the pattern paper is from an old and retired like from Lili of the Valley.
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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

I embossed the top with that beautiful EF, the sentiment is from the same Flourishes set.

I would like to play with the following challenges.

The Card Concept
I was inspired by the colors.
Clean and Layered.


Stinkin' Inkers Challenge
"Warm Up"


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

Sunflower Thank you......

Hello everyone: The new challenge over at RETRO RUBBER is a favorite of mine, Tic, Tac, Toe is fun to play with because you have lots of combinations to choose from so, my teammates and I hope you come along and join us in our gallery.
This is the card I made using the vertical line on the right, "Pattern Paper, Thanks, and Nature".  I encourage you to come and check out my teammates' beautiful creations for more fabulous inspiration.

The image is from a Power Poppy set called In Praise of Sunflowers, (released and bought back in 2016) and it's a beautiful one.

I stamped the Sunflower on a panel of Bristol Smooth mixed media paper with Versafine black ink and clear heat embossed it, then colored it with Sakura Koi watercolors and fussy cut it. I have a tip for you about fussy cutting an intricate image......I always put some painter's tape behind the parts of the image that might rip when cutting them, in this instance, I applied the tape behind the stems of the leaves and the little bud, that way you make the paper a bit stronger and easier to cut. 

The pattern papers are from my stash, the sentiment is from the set.

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This is how the INSIDE of my card looks like.

The sentiment is from another Power Poppy set called Sassy Succulents, the small Sunflower is from the sunflower set.

I hope you come and play along with us at RETRO RUBBER, please don't forget to use at least one stamp that is one year old or older and, if you can, let us know the age of it, we are all about using our old and sometimes forgotten stamp sets.

Thank you for visiting me today.

Hugs.