A Fairy and a challenge.....

Hello again, dear friends: I'm here again keeping up with my New Year's Resolutions, about posting regularly and trying to do what my blog name says.
Some of you might only know the stamping side of me, making cards, water coloring, struggling a bit with layouts, not being to much of a fan of DSP, (oh, I can hear the gasps from you, LOL!!) and just loving swapping cards with dear friends.
My other passion is the sport of Triathlon, I've been a competitive swimmer practically all my life but I became a Triathlete back in 2003, when I did my very first Triathlon in Naperville, Ills. My last Triathlon was an Iron Distance one, in Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington, NC. (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a full Marathon, 26.2 mile run) all in a time allotted of 17 hours. I finished this one in 15 hours, 3 min. 53 sec., at age 60 finishing first in my age group.
Well, today I will submit this card for the Mojo Monday challenge and I will also share my Triathlon challenge with you. 
Yesterday I registered for the 2015 Transamerica Chicago Triathlon, which is what, in the sport it's called an International or Olympic distance race, in which you swim 1 mile in Lake Michigan, ride 24.8 miles and finish with a 6.2 mile run.
So, after nearly 3 years of not racing, I'm taking this challenge head on, I know I will love every minute of the entire process and I hope to bring you guys along this ride.
I will keep you posted of my training, nutrition, etc. as I get ready for this race which will take place on August 30, 2015. 
Ok, here is this super cute Penny Black image from a stamp set called, what else, "Fairy Sweet".
I stamped it on Canson water color paper with Stazon ink and colored it with my SU markers in this colors and the Aqua Painter.
Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Mellon Mambo, Wild Wasabi and Elegant Egg Plant.
Her hair was colored with Prismacolor Pencils in Golden Rod, Sienna Brown and Dark Brown.
The Card Stock is from my Hobby Lobby stash, the one sided DSP is from "My Paper Studio", the pretty green brads are retired SU.  I used Vellum for one of the panels because I didn't want to cover that pretty design.
I hope you guys like it, I also hope the links I provided will work, I'm still a bit nervous about this stuff so, bare with me, ok?
Many hugs.
Maria.

PS. Here is a picture of me at the 2006 Wisconsin Iron Man Triathlon in Madison, just so some of you can put a Triathlon face to this posts. (Blush, Blush)

It's a little fuzzy, I'm still getting used to this camera.

Power Poppy "Azaleas".....

Hello again, everyone: Today I made this card using the gorgeous images of Marcella Howley's Power Poppy "Azaleas".  This flowers are just so beautiful and come in a whole array of magnificent colors and orange is one of them. 
I stamped the image on Canson Water Color Paper with Stazon ink and then, colored it with the following Stampin Up! markers.
Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, Always Artichoke and Baja Breeze, I used the Aqua Painter to blend the colors, it always works great. I also used a bit of Wink of Stella shimmering ink, I love it!!!
I used the SU Labels Collection dies to cut and frame the image. The base CS is from my stash from Hobby Lobby and the DSP is from My Paper Studio, I love the vintage look of it. The sentiment is from the Azalea's stamp set, I stamped it with SU Pumpkin Pie ink and punched it with the SU 1 1/4 and 1 3/4 punches.
So here is my card, hope the pictures show how beautiful this image is, I'm still learning to take photos of my cards with my new camera.  Lots to learn as I continue on this brand new Journey.
Thank you for visiting.
Maria.