WWYS #74: Pop of Paradise

Happy Monday everybody! Today I have a fun card for you for this week's What Will You Stamp? Challenge Blog featuring Pop of Paradise. This flamingo is so fun and since I first laid eyes on it I've been wanting to do this with it.

I stamped the flamingo in Flirty Flamingo ink and then sponged the edges of the stamp with Dapper Denim. Then I spritzed the stamp with water and stamped it onto some Shimmery White cardstock. After it dried I coated the whole flamingo with a layer of glue from my fine tip glue pen so that the flamingo would be shiny! That gorgeous leaf is embossed in copper. The background piece is Old Olive that I distressed with Old Olive and White Craft inks.

I hope you liked my card today. I'd love to see what you will make using this stamp set. Do you have it yet? If not, check it out...

If you have time this week to make a project with this stamp set then head on over to the What Will You Stamp? Challenge Blog and submit your project for a chance to be our guest designer! Don't forget to head on over there just to check out what the rest of the design team has made!

The Can You Case It Challenge Blog has a really fun and flexible challenge this week so I'm excited to be able to play along with them! Head on over and check out their blog for some Birthday Card themed inspiration for CYCI#130.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I hope I'll see you back here soon! For now, have an amazing day!

-Maria

Need more stamps now? Never fear! I've got you covered!

Want a great discount on Stampin' Up! Products and to have a fun new stamping family? Join me on this fun adventure! I can't wait to be your super excited (possibly way too enthusiastic... No! That's not possible!) Stampin' Up! side kick and support lady! In case you didn't know, you can join Stampin' Up! just for the discount and never sell a single product. If you want to know the details just let me know. If you're looking for a discount on your favorite hobby (stamping and paper crafting with Stampin' Up! products) and want to earn money doing it... let me know! I'd love to talk with you whatever your interest might be! If you want to see a little more info go ahead and click the button below. Looking forward to hearing from you!

WWYS #73: Jar of Love

Hey everybody! Welcome back to another fun of stamping with the What Will You Stamp Challenge Blog! This week's challenge is Jar of Love! This set is seriously SO fun! I think my favorite stamp from the whole set is the beautiful fish so that's what I've used on my card today. I stamped the fish in Peekaboo Peach then rolled the edges of the fins on my Calypso Coral ink pad. I added a dash of clear Wink of Stella and cut the fish out with the matching framelits. 

I decided to use a fun watercolor technique for the background. I used a size D acrylic stamping block and swiped it on multiple ink pads until the whole thing was covered in ink. Then I held it over my Shimmery White paper and spritzed it with water. As I spritzed some of the ink splattered off the block onto my card and gave me some fun ink spray that matched color choices. Pretty cool and so darn easy! After spritzing my block I immediately placed it onto my paper and pressed down to transfer the ink to the paper. I love the way it turned out!

I had some leftover White Bakers Twine that I had painted with Dapper Denim for another project and thought the color was perfect for this card. I love that the color looks variegated on the twine. I added some Copper bubbles using a stamp from the Timeless Textures set and added a quick Happy Birthday below the "water."

Here's one last shot of my card. I really had fun with this technique. It's so easy to do and gives you a "wow" effect immediately.

Of course I didn't just make one of these gorgeous backgrounds! Here's another card I made starting from the exact same fish and watercolor background as I did with today's card. It's so fun to see the different directions that you can take a card even when you start with the same images. This card was on my blog last week. Here's the link if you'd like to check it out-Just Click Here.

Here's what the whole Jar of Love stamp set looks like! It's so fun and so versatile! 

Do you have this set? If you do I sure hope you'll join in the fun this week! We would love to see What Will You Stamp with Jar of Love! Just head on over to the Challenge Blog and submit your own fantastic creations! Can't wait to see what you make!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! It's always nice to have you! Have a great day and I'll see you back here soon.

-Maria

Need more stamps now? Never fear! I've got you covered!

Want a great discount on Stampin' Up! Products and to have a fun new stamping family? Join me on this fun adventure! I can't wait to be your super excited (possibly way too enthusiastic... No! That's not possible!) Stampin' Up! side kick and support lady! In case you didn't know, you can join Stampin' Up! just for the discount and never sell a single product. If you want to know the details just let me know. If you're looking for a discount on your favorite hobby (stamping and paper crafting with Stampin' Up! products) and want to earn money doing it... let me know! I'd love to talk with you whatever your interest might be! If you want to see a little more info go ahead and click the button below. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Just a Note, Kylie Bertucci's International Blog Highlight & CYCI#128

Hey Everybody! Today I'm doing something really fun! I am participating in Kylie Bertucci's International Stampin' Up! Blog Highlight! Kylie has invited demonstrators from all over the world to share their creation and participate in a challenge. The theme is something very special this month. It's "From me to you when you are feeling blu." The idea is to think of someone in your life who could use a little cheering up or a special thought and to send them a card to let them know you care. I LOVE this idea! I made a really Clean and Simple card today which is something I almost never do but I am happy with how it came out. That gorgeous die cut bird can make a card pretty all on its own so I decided to let it stand center stage on my card today. 

Another cool thing about Kylie's International Blog Highlight is that you can vote for your favorite card(s)! If you'd like to check out the other amazing cards that have been entered please click HERE. The top five winners of the International Highlight will have the opportunity to hop along with Kylie and her friends in a future blog hop! That is an absolute honor for whom ever wins it!!

I've also decided to link my card up to Can You Case It #128! Their sketch challenge this week is awesome! I flipped my card on it's side but otherwise stuck pretty closely to the sketch. If you haven't ever checked out this weekly challenge it might be time. Click HERE or on the graphic below to check out the crew over at #CYCI128.

That's all for today! I hope you all have an amazing day and don't forget to go check out those links I gave you and vote for your favorite international stampers! Thanks for stopping by today!
-Maria

Need more stamps now? Never fear! I've got you covered!

Want a great discount on Stampin' Up! Products and to have a fun new stamping family? Join me on this fun adventure! I can't wait to be your super excited (possibly way too enthusiastic... No! That's not possible!) Stampin' Up! side kick and support lady! In case you didn't know, you can join Stampin' Up! just for the discount and never sell a single product. If you want to know the details just let me know. If you're looking for a discount on your favorite hobby (stamping and paper crafting with Stampin' Up! products) and want to earn money doing it... let me know! I'd love to talk with you whatever your interest might be! If you want to see a little more info go ahead and click the button below. Looking forward to hearing from you!

OSAT Blog Hop: Shabby Chic

Hey everybody and welcome to the July One Stamp At a Time Blog Hop! This hop is full of some super talented paper crafters who will all be bringing you both a card and a project that are sure to inspire. This month's theme is Shabby Chic! I must admit that I actually had no idea what this style of crafting really encompassed but I did my research on Pinterest and off I went... and what fun I had creating this card!

I wanted to go for lots of layers with plenty of distressed grunge to give it that "shabby" look. I also wanted to add some fancy stuff to make it "chic..." que the lace, pearls and splatter!

I started with a base of Soft Sky and topped it with a layer of Smoky Slate. I did a lot of work on the Smoky Slate layer. I sponged it, stamped it and wrecked the edges with my finger nail. I love the way it turned out! I topped that with a lacy heart, flagged banners, lace, a length of banners and a beautiful two layer bird. 

My Sweet Sugarplum tag is sporting a little love from my White Stampin' Chalk Marker, a pearl and a little Clear Wink of Stella splatter. You can also see the layers of color and paper and lace in this shot.

Something that I've never done before is to use my finger nail to break down the edges of my paper. I think about it often but worry about "ruining" my card... What the heck was I thinking?! I love this look and you can count on seeing it a lot more from me. Combine rough the paper up with some white ink, sponging and ink splatter... ooh, it makes me happy!

Here's one last look at my first ever Shabby Chic card. I hope you like it as much as I had fun making it.

Now on to my project we go. I decided to keep with the bird theme and I even stuck to a similar color scheme to make my tags. I used both the positive and negative pieces of the bird and I really like the way they both look. 

Here's a close up of the negative pieces. I think these are my favorites as they are striking and bold.

These tags are a bit more whimsical than the first two. On these ones I made small banners for the sentiments and attached them with glue dots allowing the middle to pop up for some extra dimension. I traded out the Soft Sky of my card and used Pink Pirouette for one of my tags. Dapper Denim goes really well with all of these colors.

Here they are again. I left a few of them without strings as I think they might end up on card fronts over the next couple of weeks.

That's it from me today. I hope you liked what I had to share and I'm so glad you stopped by. I'll see you again soon but don't forget to keep on going with this amazing hop! There are sure to be some stunning projects. Enjoy!

-Maria

Next up on the hop is the talented Wynne Grob! Be sure to check her out!

BLOG ROLL:

Megan Thompson

Tina Rackley Riddle

Melissa Davies

Sara Levin

Renee Ondrajka

Maria Willis: You Are HERE!

Wynne Grob: NEXT!

Alisa Tilsner

Pam Staples

Dena Rekow

Justin Krieger

Andrea Tracy Tucker

Jeanna Bohanan

Kelly Acheson

Marisa Gunn

Lori Mueller

CARD SUPPLY LIST:

Need more stamps now? Never fear! I've got you covered!

Want a great discount on Stampin' Up! Products and to have a fun new stamping family? Join me on this fun adventure! I can't wait to be your super excited (possibly way too enthusiastic... No! That's not possible!) Stampin' Up! side kick and support lady! In case you didn't know, you can join Stampin' Up! just for the discount and never sell a single product. If you want to know the details just let me know. If you're looking for a discount on your favorite hobby (stamping and paper crafting with Stampin' Up! products) and want to earn money doing it... let me know! I'd love to talk with you whatever your interest might be! If you want to see a little more info go ahead and click the button below. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Jar of Love-Birthday Fish!

Hi! Happy Wednesday! I'm so glad to be able to share a lot this week! Today's card features the beautiful fish from the Jar of Love stamp set. This little fish is so darn cute I just can't get enough of it. 

I started out by inking up a Size D acrylic stamping block, spritzing it with water and pressing it onto a sheet of Shimmery White to get that beautiful background. Then I stamped the fish in Peekaboo Peach and Calypso Coral and cut it out with the matching framelits. A little copper and gold did the trick to fancy this card up just a little bit.

I also did some sponging and roughed up the edges of my Old Olive paper a little bit.

I also added a piece of DSP from the Pop of Pink DSP pack and added it all to a Dapper Denim card base. 

And that's it for today folks! Thanks for stopping by today!
-Maria

Need more stamps now? Never fear! I've got you covered!

Want a great discount on Stampin' Up! Products and to have a fun new stamping family? Join me on this fun adventure! I can't wait to be your super excited (possibly way too enthusiastic... No! That's not possible!) Stampin' Up! side kick and support lady! In case you didn't know, you can join Stampin' Up! just for the discount and never sell a single product. If you want to know the details just let me know. If you're looking for a discount on your favorite hobby (stamping and paper crafting with Stampin' Up! products) and want to earn money doing it... let me know! I'd love to talk with you whatever your interest might be! If you want to see a little more info go ahead and click the button below. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Sweet Birthday Kitty

Hi and thanks for stopping by today! I just realized that before yesterday I hadn't posted in almost two weeks. What in the world is going on?! Thank gosh only good stuff. I've just gotten back from spending a week in Florida with my little, bigger brother (he's younger but bigger) and his beautiful family. We had such a great time enjoying the Florida heat, the pool and most of all some really great family time. I'm back in action now and have lots to share with you. I went on a card making rampage before I left but never had time to photograph and blog my cards. So, if I can just get to the blogging this week you should have a card almost everyday (if not everyday). On Thursday I'm taking part in the monthly One Stamp at a Time Blog Hop and there is always some killer talent in that lineup so be sure to check back on Thursday for the fun.

Ok, onto my card for today. This card is for my friend Barb. Her birthday was yesterday and she loves cats. Unfortunately, this didn't get in the mail on time but I did wish her a happy birthday!

I spattered the card base with Smoky Slate ink and added a doily and some sweet DSP to for a simple but pretty layout.

I stamped this image from Pretty Kitty Basic Gray Archival ink onto Shimmery White paper and watercolored it with lots of love (and lots of colors too!). I added a circle of Peekaboo Peach and a bow of silver metallic thread to just add a bit more detail.

Last of all I stamped my sentiment added my image piece using dimensionals. 

I'm also linking this card up to this week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge: PCCC202 I've completed one of the diagonals withe a punch, animal and pastels. Check out their awesome challenge by clicking HERE. 

That's all for today! Thanks for cruising by! Come back tomorrow for some Jar of Love fun!
See you soon!
-Maria

Need more stamps now? Never fear! I've got you covered!

Want a great discount on Stampin' Up! Products and to have a fun new stamping family? Join me on this fun adventure! I can't wait to be your super excited (possibly way too enthusiastic... No! That's not possible!) Stampin' Up! side kick and support lady! In case you didn't know, you can join Stampin' Up! just for the discount and never sell a single product. If you want to know the details just let me know. If you're looking for a discount on your favorite hobby (stamping and paper crafting with Stampin' Up! products) and want to earn money doing it... let me know! I'd love to talk with you whatever your interest might be! If you want to see a little more info go ahead and click the button below. Looking forward to hearing from you!

WWYS #72: You're Sublime

Happy Monday! Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I'm so glad you're here! Today I've got a fun card to share with you for this week's What Will You Stamp? Challenge blog. This week's challenge is to use the You're Sublime stamp set. I sadly do not have this set but was able to get this one image from a friend. The whole time I was working on it I kept telling myself, "Don't mess up, don't mess up!" I knew that I only had one shot and if I blew it I would have to bow out of this week's challenge and I really didn't want that (especially after missing last week since I didn't have the stamp set). So, on to my card... here it is...

I used the adorable little camper to make my card. I love camping and, yes, we fancy camp... kind of. We have a trailer but where we camp is totally off the grid. Half the time there isn't even water and the temperatures can be extreme. My husband is a professional off-road dirt bike racer and we camp where he can go ride "extreme" terrain and where my son and I can explore and hike. It's pretty awesome to have a place to go out in the middle of nowhere where we can disconnect and just enjoy this beautiful world we live in. Ok, back to my card! Check out the windows! I gave them a subtle wash with Smoky Slate, then with Clear Wink of Stella and finally I gave them that glassy look with my fine tipped glue pen. Pretty cool! 

I used the new Dapper Denim Ruched Ribbon and some Flirty Flamingo enamel hearts to embellish and I have to say I love the combo of Flirty Flamingo and Dapper Denim! Throw in some Bermuda Bay (camper) and some sponged Pool Party (die cut background and card base) and it's even better! I love how the ruched ribbon looks when it's shredded. It's so shiny and pretty! What do you think?

One last shot of my card... Do you love that background DSP?! I do! It's from the new Serene Scenery Paper Stack. I had a freak out moment when I got my first huge order because this DSP was first on my list of favorites for new paper... and when I did my middle of the night ordering I made a typo and accidentally ordered the Serene Scenery cardstock instead of the DSP.  Horror of horrors. Anyhow, I added it to my next order and it is BEAUTIFUL paper.

Here's the color combo I used today. I love it and will definitely use it again.

Basic Gray

Bermuda Bay

Flirty Flamingo

Dapper Denim

Pool Party

Crumb Cake

Here's what the You're Sublime stamp set looks like. If you haven't seen it before check it out. It's got lots of fun images and punny sentiments. Pretty fun! I can't believe I don't have it yet!

If you have this stamp set I hope you will join us this week by submitting your own creations to the What Will You Stamp? challenge blog. I'm looking forward to seeing What Will You Stamp! 

And, since I mentioned him this week I'll throw in a picture of my husband too. 

Have a great week everybody and thanks so much for stopping by!

-Maria

PRODUCT LIST:

Need more stamps now? Never fear! I've got you covered!

Want a great discount on Stampin' Up! Products and to have a fun new stamping family? Join me on this fun adventure! I can't wait to be your super excited (possibly way too enthusiastic... No! That's not possible!) Stampin' Up! side kick and support lady! In case you didn't know, you can join Stampin' Up! just for the discount and never sell a single product. If you want to know the details just let me know. If you're looking for a discount on your favorite hobby (stamping and paper crafting with Stampin' Up! products) and want to earn money doing it... let me know! I'd love to talk with you whatever your interest might be! If you want to see a little more info go ahead and click the button below. Looking forward to hearing from you!