Monday, September 28, 2015

WWYS #31: Cheer All Year and CYCI#88

Hello Everybody! It's Monday again and that means that it's time for the big question again... What Will You Stamp?! This week for our WWYS challenge we are having a play with a fun set from the Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalog called Cheer All Year. I've been making a lot of cards lately using leaves and a Fall theme so I've decided to switch gears and use the Christmas Tree and sentiment from this set. This is my first holiday card of the year and that meant that I got to dig into my new stash of Holiday Vellum!! I'm such a sucker for vellum and loved this silver snowflake embossed vellum...Here's my card which I've also entered into this week's Can You Case It Challenge #88-It's a Designer's Choice challenge this week so I hope you'll enter too!

I've used a Basic Black card base layered with Pacific Point and Designer Vellum. I layered the tree on top of the sentiment (dressed that up with washi tape and some paper piercing) and put that on top of the new gold cord trim and corrugated paper. My tree is wrapped in silver thread tinsel and topped off with a gold foil star. I usually don't mix gold and silver on the same card but I like the way it somehow worked here (or did it? If you think it's weird-let me know!). Here's a little close up so that you can see the layers and details of the card. Also, I'm such a neat freak, I have to point out that the rough edge on the bottom of my card is driving me absolutely bananas! How did I not see that when I was photographing my card? 

I hope you liked my Cheer All Year card! I only used two of the stamps from the set though so here's a quick peek at what the whole set looks like. There's a little something for Fall/Autumn, Halloween and Christmas!

Do you have this stamp set? If you do I sure hope you will play along with us this week over at What Will You Stamp?! I can't wait to see what you will make. If you don't have this set and would like to purchase it please feel free to check out my store by clicking on the products below. 

And, of course, don't forget to go check out all of the amazing "Designer's Choice" projects over at the CYCI Challenge Blog. What a fun week for creativity!


Have an amazing week and thanks for stopping by!!
-Maria

Monday, September 21, 2015

WWYS #30: Lighthearted Leaves

Well guess what folks? Here we are again, another fantastic week of WWYS....but this week is different. Why? Because this week we are featuring my favorite set from the new Holiday catalog. It's called Lighthearted Leaves and I Absolutely. Love. It. I've already posted a couple of projects using this set but was only too happy to get show you another one. Here's my card-I think I had a smile on my face the whole time that I was making it. 

This time I've made a "soft" colored card with this set. If you've seen my other posts using this stamp you might remember that I've made some much bolder color choices with my last projects. I love the way this came out. It's soft, simple and the gold embossing and rhinestones step it up, just enough perhaps, to be called elegant (at least I hope so! Haha!). 


Here's a different angle so that you can get a close up of the gold embossed leaf that I watercolored.




I can't wait to see what the rest of the WWYS crew has made with this set! AND, I can't wait to see What Will You Stamp with Lighthearted Leaves! Submit your favorite project using this set to the WWYS Challenge Blog and earn a shot being one of our guest designers! 
Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome week!
-Maria


Thursday, September 17, 2015

Stampin Friends Blog Hop-Everything Fall



Welcome to the Stampin Friends Everything Fall Blog Hop! If you have just arrived from the uber talented Raquelle Clifton's blog, thank you for continuing with the hop! If you're starting the hop right here on my blog then HELLO! I'm so glad to have you and don't forget to check out all of the incredible projects on this hop. You can go backwards by hitting the "Previous" button above, or, forwards by hitting the "Next" button at the end of my post. Either way you decide to go you're about to see some amazing creations as each of us has designed both a card and project to share this month!

This month the Stampin Friends Blog Hop is featuring three Awesome Guest Hoppers that you should definitely check out... recognize any of the names? EEEEEeee! That's right, I'm number three on the list! Thanks for having me Stampin Friends!!

Maria Willis: That's me! You are here!

Here's my Everything Fall Card. When I think of Fall I think of leaves and trees and bright, happy colors! I used Stampin' Ups! new Lighthearted Leaves stamp set and some pretty background colors to make this card. 

Here's a close up of my background... Yup! It started out as a mistake! I was sponging my colors onto the background piece when I accidentally bent my paper-Bummer! I noticed that the crease picked up more ink than the smooth part of the paper. So, I decided to crush the whole background paper up to get lots of creases in it. I smoothed it out as much as I could and sponged the rest of the background making sure to hit the creases. It ended up making a cool Batik looking background that I liked. Have you ever made a mistake and then turned it into something you liked? If you have, I'd love to hear about it! Please tell me your story in the comments below. 

I finished my card off by adding ribbon and a second layer. I fussy cut some leaves and a flower to make a bouquet of sorts and added some pearls.

I kept the inside of the card simple by stamping in the same color as my card base (Early Espresso).


For my Everything Fall Project I made a gift box using the Stampin' Up! Gift Box Punch Board. If you don't have this board I can tell you that I love it! The entire box is just one piece! There is no cutting, gluing, adhering-no hoping it will fit together...none of that. It's a one piece box that is easy to make and clasps together at the top (Yes! It clasps and the board takes care of that detail too!). Here is  my box in a combination of Whisper White, Smoky Slate and Old Olive with a little silver detail. 

So, what does one put in a pretty little box like this? Well, I custom made my box to fit this gift that I will be giving to someone special. It's a jar of Calm Child Salve that I purchased from a business called WellPath. WellPath healing salves are on my list of favorite gifts to give (Organic, GMO-Free AND affordable!) and I'm really happy that I can design my own boxes for them. I also dressed up the salve jar to make it match my Fall Themed Box.

One of the biggest problems (actually the only problem I think) that I run into when I am flamboyantly decorating boxes like these, or, the Curvy Keepsake Box is that I have to make sure I decorate in such a way that the box can still be opened without destroying my hard work. I really wanted to decorate the top of this box, but as I've explained, the top closes by clasping to itself. This means that I have to be very careful if I adhere anything at all to the top. Guess What?! I'm so excited to say that I have found a fantastic way to work around this dilemma! I used the new Curvy Corner Trio Punch to punch slits for my twine to pass through in a two layer box topper. Then I decorated the box topper the way you see in the pictures above. To remove the top you can either untie the twine or just slide the top and twine off like you would a belly band.

I hope you enjoyed my projects! Please click next to continue the hop and see what the fabulous Kim Smith has made!



Stampin Friends Blog Roll:
Maria Willis: You are HERE.

I love to have feedback on my projects so if you have a minute please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.  If you have any questions or are looking for a Stampin' Up! demonstrator please feel free to contact me. I would love to work with you. 
Thanks again!
-Maria
mariawillis@hotmail.com


CARD SUPPLIES:
Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog




BOX PROJECT SUPPLIES:


Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Monday, September 14, 2015

WWYS #29: Traveler

Hi everybody! Happy Monday and welcome back to another wonderful week of What Will You Stamp? This week we are featuring the Stampin' Up! set called Traveler. It's an old-timey, vintage looking set that's got everything from a locomotive, to a globe, to a passport and suitcases (and more). Here's the card I made using the ship from this fantastic set.



The ship image is stamped in black and colored with my Stampin' Write markers and Blender pens in Real Red, Smoky Slate and Pacific Point. Do you recognize that background? It's one of the fabulous cards from the Watercolor Wonder Card Kit (great kit!!). I thought it worked well for this card and originally had intended to orient the stripes horizontally but changed my mind somewhere along the way. I must admit that happens a lot! My banners are cut to match my ink colors in Real Red, Smoky Slate and Pacific Point and that cute little sentiment is from Let's Get Away (which we featured in June). I finished my banners off with some mini-brads and dimensionals and called it good to go!



I hope you like my card for today. Please feel free to leave me some comments and let me know what you thought! Here's what the whole stamp set looks like-lots of fun to be had with this set!

As always, we hope you will play along with us this week over at What Will You Stamp? Just show us your favorite card or project idea using this stamp set and submit it to the WWYS Challenge Blog. Even if you don't decided to join us make sure to check out what the rest of the design team has created for us this week.

Thanks for stopping by and I can't wait to see What Will You Stamp this week!
Bye for now,
Maria

Thursday, September 10, 2015

OSAT BLOG HOP-Designer's Choice!




Hi Everybody! I have some pretty exciting news-I've been offered the opportunity to participate in the One Stamp At a Time Blog Hop! There are some extremely talented artists in this hop so I am really honored to have been included. This month's challenge is Designer's Choice (Woot-woot!) and we have been asked to make either a card and a project, or, two exceptional cards.

First, I've got a card to share with you. This past weekend was my niece's bridal shower. I was running late and had to whip up a card that was beautiful and that I could stash some cash in. I wanted it to be soft and elegant but still fun. I decided to use the Mini Treatbag Thinlit and combine it with some vellum, glimmer paper and silver thread. Here's what I came up with.


I used the "For You" from the Mini Treatbag Thinlits to cut out my greeting in Silver Glimmer Paper. I layered it with hearts in Basic Gray and Smoky Slate on top of a banner in Blushing Bride. The banner was too plain so I heat embossed (clear) "Love" on the banner to give it a bit more detail.

The insert pulls out and says, "Congrats to You Two," and has room to write a note below. This picture shows the back of the insert where I added a little pocket to put money in. I didn't want the money pocket to be a focal point of the card so I left it looking fairly inconspicuous.


My second project is a box I made to give a friend a gift in. My friend likes very natural, earthy, subtle colors and I knew that sticking to something simple would be the best for her gift. I used Baked Brown Sugar Cardstock to make my box and my new favorite stamp set, Lighthearted Leaves, to stamp on the box. I used a doily, some gold baker's twine and some thick twine that I had lying around to create a pretty but rustic look.

I added some Pool Party and Lost Lagoon to give the box a pop of color and called it good to go!

I like the many different textures and dimension on this box-even the paper has some texture.

I hope you liked my projects for today. I can't wait to see what the rest of the OSAT Hoppers have made! Make sure to check out everybody's amazing projects by hopping along with us! Click the next button below to check out what the fabulous Raquelle Clifton has created this month!
Thanks for stopping by!
-Maria

Monday, September 7, 2015

WWYS #28: You Little Furball

Holy smokes folks! This is week 28 of What Will You Stamp and this week we are featuring You Little Furball! If you haven't heard of What Will You Stamp, it's a challenge blog that features one stamp set a week and the entire design team creates their projects using primarily that set. It's a great place to go when you are looking for a little inspiration for specific stamp sets and you can even play along with us!

Here's my card for this week. I really had fun making it! 

The card base is Basic Gray and the layers are Smoky Slate and Pool Party. I wanted a little more interest in the background so after dry embossing the Pool Party layer I used the "Love" from the "Love Your Catitude" sentiment to clear emboss each dot. I watercolored the background behind the cat using Smoky Slate and Basic Gray. The cat was heat embossed in black, fussy cut, then popped up on dimensionals. The little ball of yarn was made from thick baker's twine in Pool Party and adhered using glue dots. 

This is a simple card but I was happy with how it came out. Let me know what you think about it. Here is a look at what the whole You Little Furball stamp set looks like. It's super fun because you can mix and match the cat's bodies and heads to get the look you want. 


Don't forget to go check out what the rest of the design team has made this week over at What Will You Stamp! See you back here next week for more WWYS fun! Until then, Happy Stamping!
-Maria

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Lighthearted Leaves for Jacksonville Starz

Welcome back to another Jacksonville Starz Blog Hop! I'm excited because I've been so busy that I haven't had the time to participate in this hop the last couple of months but I've really missed being a part of it...So I'm glad to be back!! This month we've got a Fall challenge. When I think of Fall I immediately think of leaves-Red, orange and yellow leaves! 

I just got this new and AMAZING stamp set called Lighthearted Leaves. I absolutely love this set. It's got a fun, artistic look to it and you can really use it for so many different things. For this Fall Challenge I decided to use the largest stamp from the set and emboss it in gold. Then I watercolored it with Real Red, Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight. The colors are so vibrant and really pop off of the Island Indigo background. 


Here's a close-up of the leaf so that you can see the detail. I also used Gorgeous Grunge to emboss my background with some gold spatter. I also gold embossed my sentiment on vellum and used mini brads to attach it. 
I'm sure you've noticed the change in color in my backgrounds... It's not your eyes playing tricks on you. I have terrible lighting at my house. Sometimes I take pictures at different times of day, in different rooms and from different angles trying to get a good shot. All of these factors really affect the outcome of the final pic. It's pretty crazy really. I feel like the leaf is very true to color in all of these shots but the background is Island Indigo (in the pic below it looks like Pacific Point but it's not). 

I hope you like my card for this month's hop! I'm really looking forward to seeing what the rest of the team has created and I sure hope you will hop along with me! Next up on the hop is the talented Rose Ann Marr!

Here's a list of all of us in case you get lost, or, would like to hop around:
Maria Willis (You Are Here)

Have fun and thanks for hopping with us!
-Maria




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