Friday, October 30, 2015

Happy Halloween & Día de Los Muertos!

Happy Holiday weekend! In the US we celebrate Halloween today (October 31) and tomorrow is the beginning of Día de Los Muertos. I made this card a few weeks ago and I've been saving it for today! This is a Congratulations/Wedding card that one of my friends asked me to make for her. I had so much fun piecing it together and I sure hope you like it!

I used the skulls from the Boo to You stamp set and the matching framelits to cut out the cute little skulls. I had fun layering bright colors with glimmer paper and gold foil to get a funky, fun and classy card (c'mon, it's totally classy, right?). 

I used some of the new gold cording to add some extra detail and a bow for the bride. The hat on the groom is cut using the witches hat from the Boo to You Framelits Dies. I cut it out and lopped the top off to create this fun fedora-ish looking hat. I had so much fun making the eyes for both the bride and groom. I used lots of itty-bitty punches and topped the pieces off with rhinestones. What a fun look!

I thought that the font from the Timeless Love stamp set went perfectly with this card. I embossed it in gold and called it a day!

If you are celebrating Halloween this weekend I wish you so much fun! Stay safe and don't make yourselves sick on candy!

To all of those celebrating Dia de Los Muertos this weekend, I wish you a weekend of wonderful, loving memories as you pray for, respect and remember your loved ones.

Enjoy your weekend everybody!
-Maria

Monday, October 26, 2015

WWYS #35: Acorny Thank You

Welcome back to another fantastic week of What Will You Stamp! This week we have an Acorny Thank You challenge and here's my card. I used Crumb Cake, Bermuda Bay and the Neutrals Paper Stack in gold to put this card together. I added a little Gorgeous Grunge detail to make it look like the acorn is falling and to emboss some gold splatter. Then I tied some of the beautiful gold cording from the holiday catalog to finish my card off. Hope you like it!



Here's what the whole Acorny Thank You stamp set looks like. It also has a coordinating punch to make cutting out all those acorns and their little caps much easier.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my project for today!
Happy stamping and enjoy your day!
-Maria

Monday, October 19, 2015

Stamp Sale!! 15% off!

Wowza everybody!! What a fantastic deal! October 19th-23rd Stampin' Up! is offering 15% off of all stamp sets except for rotary stamps and hostess sets! This is your chance to get that set you've really been wanting! I can't wait to see what you all will get! Enjoy the sale and happy stamping!
-Maria


WWYS #34: Among the Branches

Hello! It's Monday again and that means it is time for the What Will You Stamp Challenge! This week's challenge is Among the Branches. I chose to use the most "Christmas-y" sentiment. I like it because it really doesn't have to be used for Christmas, it can be used to make a beautiful holiday card. This is great when you need to send a card to someone who doesn't celebrate the holidays, or, celebrates a different holiday than you do. I did choose traditional Christmas colors for this card mostly because I was dying to use that fancy foil vellum you see on the background of my card. My card this week is pretty simple and just incorporates lots of layering and the use of some beautiful Stampin' Up! products. 

Here's a close-up so you can see my layers more easily. I've got the foil vellum with the trees, then a circle of Red Foil (this foil is thick and sturdy!) that was paper pierced around the edges for some detail. Then I wrapped the new Silver Cording Trim around the card face five times and topped that off with Silver Glimmer paper, Silver Metallic Thread and my sentiment stamped in Real Red on Whisper White. I popped almost every layer out with dimensionals...keeping things fancy, ya know!



And that is it for today! A simple card that is stepped up with fancy paper and lots of dimensionals-I hope you liked it! Here's what the whole stamp set looks like. The rest of the stamps are for fall or Halloween and are great for building woods scenes.


Don't forget to head on over to the What Will You Stamp Challenge Blog to check out what the rest of the WWYS Design Team has made this week! They're all such a talented crew that I can't wait to go check out their projects myself. If you have this stamp set we would love to have you play along with us this week! Simply submit your card or project to the WWYS Blog and earn your shot at being our guest designer in a future challenge!

Thanks for stopping by and checkin out my project this week!
Happy stamping!
-Maria

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Stampin Friends Halloween Blog Hop




Hi Everybody and welcome to the October Stampin' Friends Blog Hop! This month our theme is Halloween. You may have already been hopping along with us in which case you have arrived here from the extra talented Kirsteen Gill's blog! If this is your first stop then welcome to it! This month we have 13 talented paper crafters who each made a card and a project to inspire creativity in others. I hope you'll hop along with us and enjoy the talent and creativity that this group has to offer.

This month we have two amazing guest hoppers that we hope you will check out... SURPRISE! I'm one of them-wink! Please make sure you also check out Cindy for some awesome projects!

Maria Willis: You are HERE.

Here's my Halloween themed card...  I used a doily, some ribbon, paper, burlap ribbon and linen thread to make something of a wreath on the front of my card. I did a lot of sponging and even sponged the linen thread.

Here you can see that there might be a little more to this card than meets the eye... Mwuahaha!

Yup! It's a 3D box card! I saw a beautifully decorated leaf card on Dawn Griffith's website and knew I wanted to do something like hers for the inside of my card. So I designed a completely different card front and based my inside design off of hers (but with some changes).
Here you can see the 3D factor in action. I love cards with dimension and this type of box card is my new favorite as it is so easy to put together.

One last close up for you...

And, just in case you would like to make your own, here is a how-to video on these 3D box cards. Enjoy!



For my project I made a series of treat bags using Stampin' Ups! Howl-o-Ween Treat and some Halloween DSP that I dug up out of my stash. I cut strips of DSP to 12" x 4" and scored at 2" and 4". I creased the DSP and nestled it into the bottom of the bag so that it would have a strong base and give some shape to the bag. With a two inch strip of DSP showing in the front, and the pattern from the opposite side showing in the back, you get a pretty fun look! I cut strips of basic black in 4" x 4" lengths, scored them in the middle, and decorated them to finish off these cute treat bags. Inside is a pretty good stash of caramel apple taffy-YUM!


I hope you've enjoyed my projects today and that you will keep hopping along with us to see all of the amazing projects the rest of my Stampin Friends have made to share with us. Next up on our hop is the fabulous Elizabeth Thatcher!

WAIT! I'm not done yet! Want a chance to win a $25 gift card? Here's what you've got to do. Follow this hop all the way through until you get back to the wherever you started and make sure to leave a comment on everyone's blog. At the end of each of our posts we will tell you what our current favorite stamp set is. Write down every hopper's name and favorite stamp set and mail your list to Elizabeth Thatcher at happystamper508@gmail.com before midnight on Sunday, October 18th, 2015. You will be entered in a raffle to win a $25 Stampin' Up! gift card.

My current favorite stamp set is Lighthearted Leaves.





Product List for my Halloween Treat Bags:

Monday, October 12, 2015

WWYS #33: Sweet Hauntings & CYCI#90

Hi everybody and welcome back to another fun week of What Will You Stamp! This week we've got a Sweet Hauntings challenge for you and I sure hope you will play along! This week I've also entered my card in the Can You Case It #90 Halloween Edition challenge so be sure to head over there and check out all of those fabulous Halloween cards as well!


Here's my Sweet Hauntings card for the week.


I used Bermuda Bay, Tangering Tango and Cucumber Crush to make the poison bottles pop with color. Then I layered some of the In Color Envelope Paper and the Everyday Chic DSP behind my sentiment. I also stamped some fizzy bubbles above the poison bottles.

It's hard to tell in the pictures above that my poison bottles are all shiny. I wanted them to look like glass bottles so I covered them in Crystal Effects to give them shine and a little added dimension.

I like to finish the insides of my cards and I loved this poison bottle with skull for the inside. 

I hope you liked my card this week! Thanks for stopping by and don't forgot to go check out all of the amazing cards over at Can You Case It for CYCI#90!





See you all soon!
-Maria

Friday, October 9, 2015

3D Secret Box Notecard!

Hey everybody!
I've got some fun cards to share with you today and I even wrangled the time to do a video tutorial on how to make these box cards. These cards fold flat for mailing and appear to be your average everyday card. But, when you open them, WOWZA! They're 3D! Very fun and easy to do. Here's what they look like.



And here's a quick video tutorial. Enjoy!





If you still have questions or just want more info please feel free to ask! Shoot me an email or comment below.
Thanks for visiting and happy Wednesday!!
-Maria

If you're interested in recreating this project you can check out the products below to see exactly what I've used.

Monday, October 5, 2015

WWYS #32: Howl-O-Ween Treat

Heya! I am back with another fabulous start to your week because it's always fabulous when you are playing along with the What Will You Stamp Challenge Blog! This week we are featuring a really fun set called Howl-O-Ween! I absolutely love the owl from this set so it was a no brainer which stamp I would use for this challenge. Today I've gone for something of a monochromatic/gray-silver scale type of look. I hope you like it!


Check out that sparkly hat on the owl! The hat is cut from the new Black Glimmer Paper which is AMAZING! It is so sparkly and the glitter doesn't fall off and get everywhere. The hat, owl and the "BOO" are cut out using the Boo To You Framelit Dies that match the Howl-O-Ween Treat set. You can buy these separately, or, as a bundle for a 15% discount-Score!! I used my Rotary Stamp to customize the rest of my greeting. I added a little extra something in the top left corner using my little banner punch and star from the Star Confetti punch.



And, that's it for today folks! I hope you liked my card. Please let me know what you thought of it in the comments below. Here's a peek at the whole Howl-O-Ween Treat set... It's pretty fantastic!

If you have this set at home we would love to have you submit your own fabulous project to the What Will You Stamp Challenge Blog. If you don't have this set we would still love to have you cruise over and check out what the rest of the Design Team has dreamed up. 

See you soon and thanks for stopping by!
-Maria


Saturday, October 3, 2015

Wild About Flowers Gift Set


Hi Everybody! 
Today is World Card Making Day and I was so happy to have the time to put together a set of gift cards using the Wild About Flowers set from Stampin' Up! I've been searching for the time to do this project since August and I was so glad to have the time today. This is a gift for my Aunt who hosted my son and I when we were on vacation in Belize a couple of months ago. She spent so much time with us, carted us all over the place, and fed us the best food (both homemade and eating out). She owns a nursery and does landscaping so I thought this stamp set would be perfect for her.  I'm hoping she doesn't read my blog or this surprise will certainly be spoiled... But just in case, Aunty P, if you're reading this-This is for you! Thank you so much for spoiling us rotten! We love you!



This gift is a set of six cards in different colors and using three different flower stamps. I stepped it up a little bit by adding some Crystal Effects to my flowers. Here's a video with all the info you need if you're interested in making a project like this one. It's my first video so I hope you like it! 


  




Here's a picture of what the card set looked like all boxed up. I put the yellow card on the top because yellow is my Aunt's favorite color. You can also see the little sentiment tags that I made so that she can customize each of the cards to whomever she is giving the cards.


Here's a top view of the box I made. It matches the card set.

And a little side view for good measure.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my project. I hope you all were able to get your hands on some paper for World Card Making Day too! Let me know what you made in the comments below!
See you all again soon!
-Maria


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