Friday, December 29, 2017

#TGIFC140 - Anything Goes!

Hello! Oh, boy do I ever have some exciting news today... I have been asked to join the amazing design team over at TGIF Challenges and this is the first week that I am joining them!  If you are new to my blog, Hi! I'm Maria and I'm a Stampin' Up! demonstrator from a tiny mountain town in California, USA called Boulder Creek. I love stamping, paper crafting and sharing fun ideas. I'm glad to have you stop by today.

It's such an amazing week for me to have my first challenge this week as it is "Anything Goes!" Not only that, but if you decide to play along as a challenger you get to case any one of the design team members-Your Choice! 

For this challenge I've made a fun little notecard sized Birthday Card using the soon to be released Party Pandas stamp set. I love this stamp set and look forward to making many a birthday card with it.




I've layered some black and white striped paper onto a background of Bermuda Bay. The layers are Pink Pirouette, Basic Black and Silver Washi. The Panda's cute little party hat was colored with the lighter shades of my Bermuda Bay and Pink Pirouette Stampin' Blends Markers. After popping the Panda up with dimensionals I added a couple of rhinestones just for good measure and called it done!


I hope you'll head on over to the TGIF Challenge Blog to play along with us for #TGIFC140. It doesn't get much better than the freedom to choose that this week's challenge has to offer. I can't wait to see which designer you'll choose to case and what creativity you'll share with us. 



That's it for today folks. I hope you're enjoying your holidays and spending lots of time with your loved ones. Take care and I'll see you back here soon.

Have an amazing day!
Maria




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Email: mariawillis@hotmail.com


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 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!


Thursday, December 28, 2017

A Paper Pumpkin Thing: December 2017 Kit

Hey everybody and welcome to this month's A Paper Pumpkin Thing Blog Hop! As always, a group of us Stampin' Up! demonstrators has come together to bring you a hop full of alternative card and project ideas for this month's Paper Pumpkin kit.

This month's kit is called Flora & Flutter and has some really fun die cut focal pieces. I have used one of those focal pieces on this card. Behind the Calypso Coral die cut with the beautiful, delicate flowers I have added a piece of Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper which was also included in the kit. Actually, everything on this card came in the kit except for the Crumb Cake cardstock and ink, and, Clear Wink of Stella. 

I wanted to do something a little different with the embellishments that came with this kit so I created some little flags out of scraps and tied them with a bow. Then, after I stamped the butterfly I used my Clear Wink of Stella to stella color the inside of the butterfly giving it both color and shimmer (I did pick up some extra ink from the pad using my Stella brush). I also snipped off the edge of the Berry Burst ribbon and frayed it to get a fringed look.



For my project I decided to make what could either be a gift card holder, or, a secret message holder... I also chose to add a Very Vanilla card base and some Pacific Point watercoloring to this project to change up the color scheme a bit. I also used the shredded ribbon that I had pulled from the ribbon in my card above as a background for my sentiment. I also couldn't resist adding some of these new embellishments from upcoming Occasions catalog (launching January 3rd, 2018). These are my favorite embellishments right because they are tiny and subtle. They make it really easy to add just the right touch without overdoing it.

When you pull the ribbon at the top of card you reveal a secret hiding place. You could choose to adhere a gift card to this piece, or, you could write a special message.

I also made a custom decorated envelop for this project. I used one of the leaves that I had cut out and placed it on top of the envelope. Then I used a spritzer filled with rubbing alcohol and Pacific Point re-inker to spritz over the top of it. When I lifted the leaves up they had left their mark  so to say.

I hope you have enjoyed my projects for today. Have you come up with any alternative ideas for this kit yet? If so, let me know what your ideas are in the comments below. If you'd like to see some more great ideas just click the next button to head on over to my friend Andrea Tracy-Tucker's blog! She's sure to have something mind blowing to share!

That's all for now. Have an amazing day and I'll be back tomorrow with some really exciting news!

Maria.





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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 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!


Monday, December 18, 2017

Stampin' Up! Magical Sleigh Ride

Hi Everybody! How are you all? I'm wondering if you're charging into this holiday season like a crazed maniac...? I certainly am! It seems that there is always so much to do and so little time to get it done in. I've been trying to get some handmade gifts done. I stayed up late last night and cut wine bottles so that today I could pour candles into them. I've only gotten a couple done but I'm happy with how they are turning out. I need to buy more wax so I can keep going and get the rest done. Anyhow, I'll post a picture of those after the wax sets.

A couple of weeks ago I made this card and never had a chance to post it. Right about now I wish I could take a night ride on a magical sleigh...


I sadly don't have these gorgeous sleigh thinlits... but lucky for me one of my downline does. I went over to her house for a little craft fun and she was kind enough to share with me. I used gold glimmer paper behind the detailed Real Red piece of the sleigh. I love how magical and sparkly it looks. 


I need to get back to my gift making as I am determined to finish my gifts on time (early even) so that I can relax and enjoy my family and friends this holiday season. However busy you all may be I'm wishing you the sparkliest, happiest of holidays from the mountains of California, USA. 

Bright wishes and big smiles,
Maria



Want to shop with me? No problem, just click the button below. 
Let me know if you have any questions!
Email: mariawillis@hotmail.com


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 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!


Thursday, December 14, 2017

Oh, What Fun It Would Be...

Hey Everybody. I am popping in quickly to submit my application to hopefully earn the honor of being chosen as a Display  Stamper for the next OnStage event in April 2018. We have been asked to submit three cards, two 3D items and one scrap book page for consideration. Oh, what fun it would be to get chosen...

For my first card I went with this gold embossed and watercolored flower card (see the original post HERE)...
I love watercoloring and mixing colors to make new ones.






For my next card I chose to share this adorable little elf. I did a fun technique on this card called Paper Tole (see the original post for more info and a full tutorial HERE).

I love doing different techniques and this was my first time doing Paper Tole.


For my third card I picked a simple one with a fun background. The background was heat embossed in gold and then watercolored with three colors. You can find more info and a video tutorial HERE.

I kept the sentiment simple in order to let the background stand out.

For my first 3D item I'm sharing this cheerful box. The background DSP is colored with Stampin' Blends. Then I layered some fun pieces together to create a focal point for the sentiment. You can see the original post for more pics and info HERE.

I also used my Blends to color the rhinestones blue to match the rest of the project.


My second 3D project is this set of tiny pillow boxes. The inspiration for these was a vintage tea cup that was just gorgeous! You can see the original post with more pictures and the tea cup HERE.

Here's a close up of the watercoloring and layering I did for the tags.


Now, if you follow my blog at all you know it is a rare thing for me to do a scrapbook page... But, I had fun with this one! I recently came across this photo of me when I was a baby. It's a throw back to 1978 in Belize (Central America) and my Granny is holding me while other family members look on. This photo means the world to me and I'm so glad that now the memory will be preserved.


Alrighty, that's it for now! I'm off to bed as soon as I submit this application.
Nighty, night!

Maria.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Stamping Sunday Blog Hop - Stampin' Blends

Hey everybody! I'm so excited today because I've been asked to hop along with the Stamping Sunday crew as their guest designer. What an honor! The theme for the hop is Stampin' Blends so it'll be fun to see the different and creative way everyone has used them. The Stampin' Blends markers are alcohol based markers and are great for so many uses. The obvious use to color on paper but keep on reading to find a couple of other uses for them.

For this hop I decided to try something that I haven't tried before and I used my Stampin' Blends on acrylic to create a fun, artsy, faux-watercolored look. 



I started my card by selecting an acrylic sheet from the Petal Passion Memories & More Card Pack (available when the new Occasions Catalog Launches on January 3, 2017). This acrylic sheet was preprinted with some subtle white flowers on it. I used those flowers as a guide for my coloring and colored on the textured side as the texture held the color well. For the flowers I used the Daffodil Delight and Calypso Coral Blends. The leaves were done with Old Olive.
At first I wasn't sure that the smooth acrylic was going to hold the ink very well. I had started with Soft Sky and decided to use the light Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends to do the background. I started to see a light layer of color. As the color started to dry I was able to add to it by coloring a second layer of color over the first layer. This also moved some of the color around resulting in a brush stroke look that I think looks like a soft and pretty watercolor painting. 

When I was done coloring, I layered the acrylic sheet over a piece of Whisper White Cardstock and added Iridescent Sequins with reckless abandon. This all got layered over Sahara Sand cardstock and some Very Vanilla Lace Trim.  After that I embellished with some Calypso Coral Ombre Ribbon, some Linen Thread, a tassel and tag from the Corrugated Elements pack. If you look closely you can tell that I colored that tiny little piece behind the sentiment with my Calypso Coral Blends. Originally, I was going to use Calypso Coral cardstock but the color was too bold. The Stampin' Blends were the perfect shade for this project. I didn't end up using it (because I LOVE this ombre ribbon) but I actually made a custom color ribbon for this project out of white ribbon colored with my Stampin' Blends. It colored evenly and dried quickly and was an easy way to get just the color of ribbon you were hoping for. 



I've also made a box to show the versatility of the Stampin' Blends markers. For this project I used a strip of black and white DSP (Petal Passion DSP) and colored it in with my Blends. I used both of the Pool Party, Bermuda Bay and Night of Navy markers to create an ombre look on the DSP. 

Here's a closer look at the DSP so that you can see how well the colors blend. It's unbelievable easy too. I like to start with my light marker, then I use the darker one. After both colors are laid down, I use the lighter of the colors to blend the line where the two colors meet. It's really great that you can do this and it does not ruin your markers!

Another fun way to use the Stampin' Blends markers is to color your embellishments. I already mentioned making custom color ribbon and you can do the same thing with your rhinestones too! I used the light Night of Navy marker to color these sparkly bits before adding them to my layered sentiment piece. I love that we can now have many colors of rhinestones that match SU colors perfectly. 

Here's a last look at my box and that Blends colored DSP peeking through as an accent piece. 

That's it for today folks! Thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope you'll keep on hopping with us to see what the rest of the crew has made. If you'd like to keep on hopping please follow the list of names in the Blog Roll below until you've seen everybody's beautiful creations. 

A huge thanks to Sara Levin and the Stamping Sunday team for inviting me to join them this week. It's been fun ladies!

Have an awesome day everybody!

Maria Willis

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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 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!


Friday, December 8, 2017

Reindeer

Hey everybody! It's late and I have got to hit the hay so this post is going to be short and sweet. I made a couple of holiday cards last weekend that I haven't had time to share yet so here's the first one. I'm trying to use up my DSP and ribbon so I did some layering for this fun card.



I love using black and white for most of the card and then using some pops of color to make a few elements stand out. I used the Wood Textures DSP stack for the reindeer and the Painted Harvest and Merry Little Christmas DSPs for layering. I also added some silver metallic ahead, 
black and white Striped Ribbon and some Real Red 1/8" Ribbon ( I love this ribbon). The black rhinestones were the perfect embellishment to pull this card together. 

Ok, you guys! That's really it for today as I am off to bed! If you have any questions please let me know. As always, if you'd like to purchase any of the products that I've used today please click the "Shop Online" button below or email me for help.

Have an awesome day!
Maria







Want to shop with me? No problem, just click the button below. 
Let me know if you have any questions!
Email: mariawillis@hotmail.com


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 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!


Thursday, December 7, 2017

Creating Kindness Blog Hop: Because We Care

Hello Everybody! I'm glad to have you here today because today is another fabulous Creating Kindness Design Team blog hop. Our theme today is Because We Care and it such a fitting theme for this time of year when we have so much opportunity to care for others.

I have a few different things to share with you today and I'll be the first to say that my photos aren't spectacular as I hadn't actually planned to share these first two (until I realized that they fit this theme perfectly), but, stay tuned for a third project with a VIDEO TUTORIAL (bottom of post). I live in a tiny, little mountain town in California, USA. Our town's recreation department recently purchased an abandoned country club with the intention of turning it into a rec center for our community to use. This would be so great for our community as our summers are hot and we do not have a community pool. It would also be fantastic for our local youth to have a safe place to go for summer activities. Now that the property has been purchased the Recreation Department is in desperate need of funds to renovate the property. Our town held a fundraiser (an epic Chilli Cookoff!) with a huge raffle to try to help the Rec Department out. I donated a huge stamping/crafting basket and a gift set of cards to the raffle. 

My basket was full of card and project kits many of which were put together from leftover Paper Pumpkin Supplies. I also added Stampin' Write Markers, adhesives, embellishments, some finished cards and projects and some treats as well (chocolate). I have no idea who won it but I sure hope they loved it!

Here's a pic of the card set I donated. It was a set of four different customs cards. I closed them up in an acetate box and added a belly band to pretty it up. 



I also did something fun at the On Stage event in Salt Lake City, Utah this past month that I think fits the theme of "Because We Care." There is of course a small back story... Earlier this year (April) I attended the OnStage event in San Diego. I had been selected as a stamper for one of the Display Boards and I spent the time leading up to the event stressing out about creating pretty things for my display board. I didn't have time to prepare swaps and I decided that I would just have to be ok with that. But, guess what...?  My heart was absolutely melted by the kindness that so many showed to me that day. Many people asked me to swap with them and of course I didn't have anything to give. The first time that someone smiled huge and pressed a beautifully wrapped chocolate bar into my hand and told me to "take it anyways..." brought the hugest smile to my face. And folks, it didn't stop there. Many more people gifted me beautiful handmade creations throughout the day. I went home feeling so happy, so lucky, to be part of this beautiful community. 

This time as I prepared for OnStage I had originally decided not to do swaps because I was so busy and didn't need the stress. But then I remembered the kindness I had experienced in April and decided that if I could only get ten swaps done then hopefully that would be enough to put a smile on a few people's faces. I suddenly felt that it was really important to pay it forward. I ended up making over fifty "swaps!" Of course, they didn't end up being swaps as I gave them away to anyone who wanted one. Thirty of them were these treat boxes that I'm sharing with you today. The other 20-30 were smaller and had sticky hands inside (I love sticky hands!). 

Anyhow, the most special part of my day came when I was explaining why I was just giving my swaps away to a table of people. I explained how good I felt being the beneficiary of other people's kindness and that I just wanted to do the same. I was Paying It Forward I guess. One woman at the table was so thrilled! She was so happy and excited that she said she was gonna do this same thing at the next OnStage! How cool! I plan to do it again too as seeing people's happy faces as they received an unexpected gift was really quite the treat. Ok, I'll stop rambling now. Here's my project.

Each of these little boxes held a Hanuta treat, was wrapped with a DSP belly band and had a touch of Black Shimmer Ribbon popping out the side. 

The sentiment pieces were stamped with Basic Black Archival ink onto Shimmery White Cardstock and spritzed with Island Indigo, Lemon Lime Twist and Berry Burst (rubbing alcohol mixed w  re-inker in a spritzer). Please not that if you got one of these from me and your colors blended more than splattered like these examples.... It's because I accidentally refilled my re-inkers with water and it does give a different look than the alcohol mixture does. So, some of my sentiment pieces had a splatter look and some of them blended and bled together a bit more. 

Want to see how I put these together and get some measurements too? Here's a quick video tutorial for you. Enjoy, and then check out the description in my video to see a list of awesome videos from my Creating Kindess Friends. 




So glad to have you stop by today and I'll see you back here soon! I hope you'll continue the hop by clicking the button below and heading over to see what the fabulous Cheryll Miller has made to share today!

Maria




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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 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!


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