HAPPY 2016!!!!!

Hello everyone: I have one last card to share with you in this 2015, I'm linking it to the Freshly Made Sketches #217 , here is my card.

This is a simple card to wish you all a wonderful 2016!!!!!

I die cut a piece of Ninah Solar White card stock with the Spellbinders Decorative Labels 8 dies and stamped it a few times with one of the SU Gorgeous Grunge stamps using Versamark ink and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. I also stamped and heat embossed the word "cheers" and the 2016 numbers. 

I then stamped one of the images in the retired SU ''Happy Hour'' stamp set with Blackberry Bliss, I like the way the ''bubbles'' look like they are floating from the glass.

Simple and festive, a lot of bubbly will flow at my house tonight.

Here is a picture of the inside.

And here is the banner that inspired this card.

 

Thank you for stopping by today and thank you for all the sweet, encouraging comments you left on my blog throughout 2015, it's been such fun to participate in the Freshly Made Challenges and an honor for my cards to be picked a few times by you, fabulous ladies.

I'm looking forward to another year of challenges.

The Rodriguez family wishes you a Joyful and Healthy 2016!!!!!

Hugs from Maria.

Sage Advice.....Rewind.....

Hello everyone: On the Eve of New Year's Eve 2016, I have a card to share with you for one last entry to the Power Poppy TIME TO REWIND last challenge of 2015.  I picked the month of June for this card, the challenge is called Pencil Me In , in which we are asked to use pencils to color our images. Here is my card.

This image is from the stamp set called Sage Advice .

I stamped the image onto Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored it with my Prismacolor Pencils. For the colander I wanted to achieve a bit of a copper color, I really tried but it was not really happening, although I do like the vintage green I ended up with.  I die cut the image using SU Retired Windows Frames Collection dies and pierced the edges with the template. 

The sentiment is from the same set, I stamped onto a scrap of water color paper, snipped it and stamped it using SU Hardwood background stamp to make a sign.

The little Gingham bow and the scissors are part of this set, I stamped them onto water color paper, colored and paper snipped them to show how adorable they are.

Here is the banner that inspired this card.

I want to thank you for stopping by today but also for your sweet support and lovely and encouraging comments this past year.  It's been a wonderful and fun year for me, participating in challenges and having you guys to share my cards with, reading your words and just marveling at the whole aspect of blogging, learning tons and tons of new things, techniques and having the help of this wonderful and giving and kind community of paper crafters from around the World.

I'm humbled and grateful for the privilege of sharing my work with you and I hope to continue doing so in the year ahead.

We, the Rodriguez family of Crown Point, IN. want to wish all of you sweet friends, a Joyful and Healthy 2016!!!!!

MAY LOVE PREVAIL AND PEACE REIGN ON THIS WONDERFUL AND BEAUTIFUL

PLANET EARTH.

Warm hugs from Maria.

Merry for CASology/week 178.....

Hello Everyone: This is a very busy time of the year for all of us here at the Rodriguez household, but amidst the bustle and hustle of parties, cooking, shopping, etc. I try to escape for a bit to my craft room to stamp or die cut or color and create.
I made this card for the CASology week #178 challenge with a CUE word "MERRY", quick and simple.

The "Merry" word is die cut in red foil paper and it's from THIS Penny Black die set and the Jingle Bells are Memory Box.

Here is a picture of the inside.

Here is the banner that inspired this card.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

My family and I wish for you a Joyful and Healthy 2016.

Maria.

Spring time in December.....

Hello everyone: I hope your Christmas was beautiful, with family and friends around you, laughter and good food, delicious sweets and awesome drinks and the Joy of seeing your loved ones gathered around the table, smiling and asking for seconds.  Here, at the Rodriguez household, we had a beautiful time and we wish you and your family, Love, Joy and Health in 2016!!
May Peace reign on Earth!!!
I have a card for you that is not at all a Christmas card, it's in fact, a Spring card.  We've been having very warm weather up here in NW Indiana, temps in the mid and even upper 60s. and our Christmas was kind of a wet one.
I made this card for the Power Poppy "Time to Rewind" Challenge , we are asked to pick any or all of the challenges of this past year and make a card using that theme.  My card is for the April-2015 Pop of Pastel challenge, here is my card.

This beautiful image is from Power Poppy's Daffodils stamp set and it's stamped onto Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored with the aqua painter and SU markers in Daffodil Delight, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi, Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Soft Suede and Chocolate Chip (for the little snail).

The image is die cut with Spellbinders Resplendent Rectangles dies, the DSP is from Lily of the Valley and the Hexagon die cut is from Tim Holtz Alterations Collections thinlitz dies.

Here's a close up of this image, I just adore that little snail.

Here is a picture of the inside of this card.

The sentiment is from Power Poppy's Potted Primroses , The flower image is from Power Poppy's Country Side Bouquet , both are stamped with SU Strawberry Slush.

Here is the banner that inspired this card.

I hope you give this challenge a chance. If you don't have any Power Poppy stamp sets, this is the perfect opportunity to win one, Marcella's images are gorgeous, beautifully detailed and a true joy to color.  This challenge will close on Dec. 31st.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping. I hope to see you at the Power Poppy gallery.

Hugs from Maria.

Get Well Quilt Blocks.....

Hello everyone: I love quilts but I've never made one, I've seen them on craft shows and on Pinterest and I admire the amazing and intricate designs on all of this wonderfully beautiful works of art.
I have a card to share with you today for the "Less is More" WEEKS 255 and 256 challenge with a theme of "HOMESPUN" and the "Ruby's Rainbow" challenge #119  with a theme of "Get Well", here is my card.

I had this set for a very long time, unfortunately I don't know where it came from, where I got it or the name of it and I apologize for that.  In my defense, back when I started buying stamp sets, the thought of having a blog was never on my mind so I neglected to save names and companies from a bunch of sets.

Anyway, this set comes with 12 different quilt block stamps, a pair of scissors, the spool and threaded needle plus several really sweet sentiments, the one on this card is one of them.

As always, I stamped this images onto Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored them with my SU markers. The sentiment is stamped with Wild Wasabi ink.

Here is a picture of the inside. I feel so good that I'm sticking to the promise I made to myself about finishing the inside of all my cards before posting them on my blog.

The sentiment is from a retired SU set called "Perfectly Penned", I just love the font on all of them.

Here are the banners that inspired this card.

"GET WELL"

"HOMESPUN"

I want to thank you for stopping by today, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

All Ye Faithful.....

Hello Everyone: I have another Christmas card to share with you today, this time, it's to participate in the Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge and in the Muse Christmas Visions challenge, here is my card.

This image is from a Stampin Up! set called All Ye Faithful and all of this images are simply beautiful. I stamped it onto Canson water color paper, die cut it and colored with SU markers and the aqua painter. I die cut some silver foil paper with a Spellbinders scalloped die set, I just wanted a bit of a pretty edge on this image. I cut a piece of Vellum and using one of the SU Gorgeous Grunge stamps, I stamped this one with Versamark Ink and heat embossed it in silver.

This image really doesn't need any more bling.

Here is a picture of the inside.

The sentiment is from the same set and it's stamped in Cherry Cobbler, the image at the bottom is from a retired Flourishes set called Christmas Candles. 

Here are the banners that inspired this card.

This is the Muse for this week.

Thank you so much for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Warm Fuzzy Wishes.....

Hello everyone: This is my second post today, this time, I made a card for the Power Poppy Time to Rewind challenge, here is my take on the February challenge The Sky Is The Limit! where we're asked to make a card using colors from the sky.

This image is from Power Poppy's Bough Wow Wow , this mittens look warm and fuzzy. I stamped the image onto Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored it with the aqua painter and SU markers in Tempting Turquoise, Soft Sky and Old Olive, I added a bit of two way glue pen to the puffs and sprinkled silver glitter on them.  The heart is stamped onto a scrap piece of water color paper and colored with SU Real Red marker, I added a bit of white gel pen to the stitches, the sentiment is stamped with Tempting Turquoise and sprinkled with clear embossing powder.

A little close up of those glittery puffs.

And here, a picture of the finished inside.

The sentiment is from a retired SU set called "Beautiful Season".

Here is the banner that inspired this card.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Christmas Memories.....

Hello Everyone: I love baking breads, cakes and cookies, specially during the Holidays, this aromas that fill my kitchen bring back warm and sweet memories of my Maternal Grandma Maria, she was an amazing, sweet, loving woman, hard working and giving, who loved us and, YES!! spoiled us kids to the max!! we had the fortune and were blessed to have her living with us as we were growing up and I, in particular, leaned from her how to bake and cook, knit and crochet and even to sew a little.
I'm a grandma now of 5 amazing kids and I'm loving them and spoil them just like my grandma spoiled me, when they come to my house, there is always cake and or cookies and the first thing they do is to go to the stove and lift the lids of the pots and pans and ask: "What are you cooking, grammy?"
So, here is a card that reminds me of my grandma, of her kitchen, of the aroma of love that always filled our house because she was there.

This is an image from Our Daily Bread called Sweet Christmas Wishes and, as you can see why this table brought back such sweet memories of my childhood.

I stamped the image onto Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored it with my SU markers and the aqua painter. The little spoon on the top and the gold embossed sentiment are from a retired Flourishes set called "Fresh Baked", here is a close up of the sentiment.

The pattern papers are from Hobby Lobby, I don't think I will ever use all, I've been making cards like for ever and I don't think I've made a significant dent on this stash.

Here is a picture of the inside, I'm so happy I decided to finish the inside of all of my cards before posting them, I'm sure this will save me a ton of time when it's time to mail them.

The sentiment expresses exactly what my grandma was for us.

I'm linking this card to the IN(K)SPIRE_me challenge, which called for a card that evoked nostalgic memories for us, the Merry Monday with a theme of ''BAKING'' and the Curtain Call challenge with a theme of ''MILK AND COOKIES''.

Here are the banners that inspired this card.

Thank you so much for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Toys for Tots.....and for CASology.....

Hello everyone: This week over at the CASology challenge blog the Cue Card is TOY so, I went looking for a stamp set with toys and I found this one..... the retired Stampin Up! 2009-2010, adorable "Teddy and Train", I think I only own two sets with toys but I chose this set for my card.

I stamped the image onto a panel of Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored the little train with SU markers, for the teddy bear I used Prismacolor pencils and paper stumps dipped in baby oil. 

I scored the panel on all four sides to add a bit of texture, I like how this frames my images.

The sentiment is from a retired Flourishes set called "Baby Love". 

Here is a picture of the inside.

The sentiment here is from Stampabilities, I used SU Hello Honey ink to stamp it, the little baby rattle is from the same SU set and it's stamped with Wild Wasabi ink. 

Here is the banner that inspired this card.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Holiday Home Tag.....

Hello Everyone: I love, love being able to combine challenges with one single card, it's fun, effective and helps me really reach inside my creative mind to come up with something pretty that adheres to the rules of the challenges. I made this card for the Mojo Monday 428 sketch challenge and the Tag You're It! challenge. Here is my card.

This card was made with the beautiful but retired SU set "Holiday Home". The little house is stamped onto Canson water color paper and colored with the aqua painter and SU Mossy Meadow ink pad and SU markers in Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight. I paper snipped it and placed it on a piece of Ninah Solar White card stock, I stamped the Snowman and Santa's sleigh with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I punched the tag with SU Scalloped Tag Topper. The DSP is retired from SU, the ribbon is from my never ending stash.

I don't know where this punch with the word "hi" is from, it's very, very old and the label is gone, I apologize I don't have the information on it.  I sponged the sky with a bit of Tim Holtz Broken China ink, masking the moon, I should have done it with a darker blue, this is supposed to be a night sky.

Here is a picture of the inside of this card.

Here is the banners that inspired this card.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Christmas Stockings.....

Hello everyone: I'm almost done with my Holiday shopping, how about you guys?  It's getting a little bit to close to crunch time so, for all of us procrastinators, we better get busy.
Anyway, I have a card to share with you today I made for the "Less is More" One Layer Challenge, "What's in my Stocking?",here is my card.

This image is from a retired Flourishes stamp set called "Christmas Classics". I stamped the image on a Ninah Solar White card base with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored it with my Prismacolor pencils. I love the way this pencils blend with paper stumps dipped in baby oil but I've had some trouble with the oil bleeding out of the image on Ninah card stock, since it's not as porous as water color paper so now, instead of dipping the paper stump in the oil, I just use it with the oil it's in it already, no dipping is necessary since it's saturated and it blends without bleeding out. 

I used a little silver gel pen for the hooks and the silver bells on the blue stocking, the sentiment is from a Power Poppy stamp set called Cozy Cupfuls and it's stamped with SU Strawberry Slush ink. 

I made a promise to myself to finish the inside of all of my cards before posting them here, I know come Christmas 2016, I will have a good stash of totally finished cards, saving me a lot of time.

The sentiment is also from the same retired Flourishes set, stamped in Strawberry Slush and the little mug is from Power Poppy's "Merry Littles" stamp set. I colored it also with Prismacolor pencils and paper stumps. 

Thank you for stopping by my blog today, I appreciate your comments more than I can say here.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

A Golden Tree for CASology.....

Hello everyone: I have a second card to share with you today, this one came together in just about 20 min. I'm linking it to the CASology challenge week #176 with a CUE WORD "TREE", here is my card.

This image is one of my first rubber stamps I bought about 8 years ago, it's from Stampabilities and it's called Vintage Pine Tree , I think I bought it at Hobby Lobby, probably with their 40% off coupon. I stamped it on a panel of Canson water color paper with Versamark ink and gold embossed it. I cut a piece of gold foil paper to create a narrow border on the image.

I ran the card base through the Big Shot with my Snow Fall embossing folder for a bit of texture.

Here is a picture of the finished inside.

Here is the banner that inspired this card.

I'm cutting it a bit to close for comfort posting this card to the challenge, I hope I still have time.
Thank you so much for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.
Hugs from Maria.

Santa's Horses.....

Hello everyone: Well, I stamped this image some time ago, way before the creation of my little blog, I meant to finish it at some point so in it went into the box where I put unfinished projects, stuff that didin't quite come out like I wanted, hoping for a day when I can either fix it or just forget it, which is what happened to this image.  Anyway, over at the As You See It Challenge Blog, the theme is SANTA CLAUS for this week so, for some reason, this forgotten image came to my mind, perhaps my conscience was trying to make me aware of it because it's truly sweet. Anyway,  I wanted to maybe push my blogging luck just a bit and created this card, using this beautiful and forgotten image from Impression Obsession called Santa Horses , I'm fully aware that there is no image of Jolly Old Santa Claus here but, in my defense, this horses are wearing a pair of Santa's Hats. I'am also linking this card to the Retro Rubber Challenge with a theme of "Holiday Spirit", I think the sentiment speaks of it loud and clear. Here is my card.

I stamped the image onto Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored with Prismacolor pencils and paper stumps dipped in baby oil. I was going to add some white craft ink to the furry part of the hats but I decided to add just Dazzling Diamonds instead, I love the sparkle.
I used the Hardwood background stamp from SU to add a bit of rustic feel, this horses really didn't need any embellishments but those hats. The sentiment is from Power Poppy's Cozy Cupfuls , I think it fits this sweet image perfectly.
Here is a picture of the inside.

And here are the banners that inspired this card.

.

I hope you guys give this challenges a try.

Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate your comments so much and I will answer your questions, should you have any.

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.