A Bright Tomorrow for Freshly Made Sketches #212.....

Hello Everyone: I have a card to share with you today I made for the Freshly Made Sketches #212 sketch challenge, here is my card.

I recently won a gift certificate from Simon Says Stamps from for participating in the October challenge over at LiveLoveCards, so I got me this lovely Penny Black set called A Bright Tomorrow plus a fabulous Snow Fall stencil, I love this beautiful ornaments and the rest of the images on this set are just as beautiful and festive.

I stamped the ornaments onto a panel of Ninah Solar White card stock with Versa Mark ink and heat embossed it with SU Tempting Turquoise embossing powder. The pattern paper is also from SU and it was from the retired Winter Frost DSP paper stack.

The "Merry" sentiment is from SB and it's die cut with silver foil paper. The little confetti stars are from the SU Brights Sequence assortment, I picked the turquoise ones but in the photo they kind of look green, sorry about that.

In this photo, the star in the corner looks blue, the other ones green, but I can assure you, all of them are Turquoise.

Here is the sketch that inspired this card.

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

Hugs from Maria.

Ahh!! that dress!!!.....

Hello again everyone: Well, today I think I had a huge shot of MOJO because I think I'm in a roll here, so I made this card kind of last minute for the Runway Inspired Photo challenge, the dress is simply gorgeous, ahh!! if I only had that figure.....Sigh!!

I don't know why I had such a difficult time photographing this card, maybe it's because of the dark blue panel, but I just wish the colors were a bit more true to the actual card.

I just purchased THIS  Tim Holtz Alterations dies, all 4 dies are awesome and I decided to use them for this card to more or less imitate the design on it but it was the awesome color combination of Navy Blue and hot pink that I really love, besides the fabulous cut and design of it, the butterfly is from Marianne Designs, (although not totally sure about that) and the little tag die is from Spellbinders.

I know this is the third post today and I hope I'm not bugging you guys to much but, in my defense, this cards are kind of fast to make, the only stamped image is the little word "hope" inside the tag.

Anyway, I need to link this card to the challenge before the time runs out.

Here is the photo that inspired this card, isn't this a gorgeous dress?

 

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

Hugs from Maria.

GIVE!!!!!

Hello dear friends: After posting THIS card earlier this morning, which came together in a flash, I have another card to share with you today that I made to participate in the Pals Paper Arts color challenge and the CASology  week #172, Cue Card "GIVE" challenge.
Here is my card.

I love the House Mouse siblings, they are just the cutest, most adorable little mice ever!! so, when I saw the CASology cue card "GIVE" I immediately grabbed this little image, but it's really very small so I needed something more on this space, something for Monica to stand on so, I went to my Halloween box of stamps and found my retired 2011-2012 SU set called "Jack of all Trades" with this fantastic pumpkins plus the faces, etc.  I just stamped the image onto a panel of Ninah Solar White card stock with SU Tangelo Twist ink, (solid images do not stamp well on water color paper), then I stamped the little mouse on top of it with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and masked a portion of the little tail to stamp the pumpkin's curly cues with Wild Wasabi ink.

I colored Monica with my Prismacolor pencils but I didn't use the paper stumps and baby oil this time because the oil tends to run outside the lines on the images on the Ninah Card Stock, so I just used the pencils to color and shade her little body.

 Then I created a bit of soil for the pumpkin to sit on and added the sign, both the grass and the sign are from Purple Onion Designs, I also colored them with my Prismacolor pencils.

To follow the PPA color challenge, I colored the cheese with Hello Honey and the ribbon with Blackberry Bliss. 

Now, I don't know if this is CAS card, I created my little scene at the bottom of the panel leaving plenty of white space on top but I'm afraid it might be a bit ''busy'' for CAS. In any case, I'm going to take a leap of faith and submit it to the CASology challenge, I hope it's ok.

This are the banners that inspired my card.

 

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

Hugs from Maria.

BLOGGING IS A BLAST!!!!!

FURIOUS!!!!!

Hello everyone: Well, I think by now you guys know how much I love this craft, making cards was so much fun when I made them for my family and friends but now, I've doubled or tripled the fun because I'm entering a bunch of fabulous challenges and I'm having a total BLAST!!!!!
Some of the best things about this hobby is that I've met fabulous people along the way, caring, sweet friends that have been so kind to me, helping me, teaching me, pushing me to get out of my comfort zone and venture into the never ending world of blogging and cyber space.  Now, another just as fabulous aspect of this is that I've found tons of inspiration and card making products in blogs and challenges I've found either by accident or by browsing Pinterest or by following links on other crafters blogs.  This is how I found KATZELKRAFT and THIS just incredibly awesome stamp set. Here is a card I made with this set, I just wish it would have arrived sooner, but then again, I just found this company and, well.....this set came all the way from France. I made this card just for the fun of it, but I would have loved to make some fun Halloween cards with it this year, I will definitely do it next year!!!!!

Now, isn't this cat just awesome? I just fell in love with all of this images in the set, they are just to funny.

My oldest daughter has a black cat that my granddaughter Vanessa (17) rescued a couple of years ago from under a car on a very cold Winter afternoon, they already had a cat so she didn't know if her parents would let her keep it. Well, "Precious" stayed, her color is totally jet black, her eyes gorgeous green but she is a bit temperamental. While "Rocky" plays with the dogs, "Precious" really don't want anything to do with them, yet they chase her and slobber all over her and well, I've seen her do that pose in this image, hissing and snarling at those dogs. That's when they leave her alone to go clean herself up by the window.

Anyway my friends, I just thought I share this super fabulous cat images with you.  I'm sending this card to her house, so she can put it in her dresser or by the night stand, as a warning to her "tormentors", LOL!!

They say cats and dogs don't get along, well, I beg to differ.....

This is a no fuss, simple little card, I had fun making it, so.....what else is new!!

I'm always having fun with this awesome craft.

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

Hugs from Maria.

Pink and Green for Merry Monday.....

Hello everyone: I love, love Christmas cards with non traditional colors so, when I saw the challenge over at Merry Monday for this week, I jump right at it. Here is my card.

I recently purchased this sweet and beautiful Power Poppy stamp set called Cozy Cupfuls , as soon as I saw this set I knew I wanted it, all of this images are just gorgeous, whimsical, so endearing and perfect for making cards for the Holidays. 

I absolutely love this pair of Cardinals, how sweet is this image? I went to Google to look for pictures of female Cardinals so I can more or less color the female. Males are a bit easier to color, they are just red but the females have some shades of light brown, orange, gray and a bit of red too, I hope I captured her color well.

I stamped the image onto a panel of Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored it with the aqua painter and this SU markers: Real Red, Bravo Burgundy, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi, Old Olive, Garden Green, Regal Rose, Sahara Sand and Basic Gray.

The sentiment comes in this set, I just inked it up with Old Olive and Regal Rose markers to stamp it. 

The pattern paper is from a HUGE block from The Paper Studio I bought at Hobby Lobby on sale some time ago, I don't think I've made any dents in it, this will probably last me like forever.

The ribbon on the top of this card is from my stash and the Poinsettia is stamped with one of the images from another fabulous Power Poppy stamp set called Merry Littles  , stamped onto a piece of pink card stock, colored it with Prismacolor pencils and snipped out, I attached it with a dimensional and place a few Rhine Stones in gold for the center. 

This is the banner that inspired this card.

I absolutely adore this tree!

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

Hugs from Maria.

Musical Ornament for 3.....

Hello dear friends: I'm really enjoying participating in all kinds of card making challenges, they give my MOJO a boost when I try to figure out what I'll do to make my cards and submit them to this challenges.  Once in a while, I find some challenges that I can combine to be able to participate in them with one card.
This time I'm submitting a card for The Paper Players color challenge, CASual Fridays precious metals challenge and IN{K}spirational anything goes with Silver challenge. Here is my card.

I had a bit of left over musical note Vellum from when I made THIS card, I need to get more of this really beautiful paper. 

The ribbon is from my stash, the ornament's ''hanger'' is from a retired SU Bottle Cap embellishment, I just flattened it by running it through the Big Shot and folded it in half. 

I added a few small Rhine Stones in blue and clear to follow The Paper Players "other color" request and the IN{K}SPIRATIONAL challenge "anything goes with silver" request. I cut this piece of Vellum and the white piece of card stock behind it with one of the Spellbinders Circle collection. 

Here are the banners that inspired this card.

I hope you like this very simple card. Thank you so much for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Muse Christmas Visions #27.....Beauty of the Season.....

Hello everyone: I hope your weekend was fabulous, up here in Crown Point, IN. the beauty of Autumn is almost gone, the gorgeous colored leaves are now raked and collected in piles along the sidewalks for the trucks to come and take them away, we still have a few trees in the front yard that are hanging on to the last of their lovely foliage but those leaves will soon be gone too.
But it's ok, that is Mother Nature doing Her stuff and every year we all enjoy the beautiful color palate of Autumn before the trees go to sleep for the Winter waiting patiently for Spring to arrive and wake them up again.
I have a card to share with you this frosty morning with one of my favorite Winter scenes, that I made for the Muse: Christmas Visions challenge, here is my card.

This beautiful image is from the 2014 SU Holiday Mini Catalog, sadly it's retired, this set is called "Beauty of the Season", I love it, Cardinals are gorgeous birds and I see them, all year round, coming to the feeders in my back yard. 

I stamped the image onto a Canson water paper panel with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored it with the aqua painter and SU markers in Cherry Cobbler, Bravo Burgundy, More Mustard, Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip and Basic Black. I added a bit of SU white craft ink to the branch and berries and sprinkle it with SU Iridescent Ice embossing powder for a bit of sparkly snow, then heat it up to set.

The sentiment is from another lovely retired SU set called "Winter Memories" from the 2012 Holiday Mini Catalog, I'm so lucky to own this beautiful sets. 

 Here is the Muse card that inspired my card, I didn't have a kitty or any other critter hanging from a branch so I picked this Cardinal who's perched on one.

Thank you so much for stopping by, till next time, Happy Stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Land of the Free.....Home of the Brave.....

Hello everyone: I just got the blog post notification for Addicted to CAS challenge with a theme of HERO for this week. Veteran's Day is around the corner so, we need to reflect and thank all of those brave Soldiers who have and still are, defending our Country.  As an Immigrant, I have a debt of gratitude to this Country, here my husband and I have forged a good future for our daughters and grandchildren and beyond. So, I couldn't pass the chance to use a couple of stamps sets have had for a while. Here is my card.

The Flag background stamp is from Our Daily Bread and it's called "Old Flag", I tried to get a link but the site seems to be temporarily unavailable. 

The other image is from Deep Red Stamps and it's called Band of Soldiers , I bought it a while ago through the Operation Write Home organization, who sent out hundreds and hundreds of hand made cards to our Troops overseas.  

Now, the OWH  stopped the project back in August of this year, mainly because the number of Service Members has dropped to a record low, which is great news so, like they said, more and more Soldiers are able to come home and communicate with their families across the dinner table instead of by mail. 

I sent just 2 boxes of cards to the OWH back in 2013 and 2014, so hopefully my cards brought smiles and comfort to the families of this brave and amazing Soldiers.

I stamped the Flag with Gray Stazon Ink onto a panel of Canson water color paper and I colored with the aqua painter and several washes of Night of Navy and Cherry Cobbler SU markers.

After it dried, I stamped the line of Soldiers with Stazon Jet Black ink on top.

The sentiment was printed on a piece of Vellum and I just added 3 little confetti stars in Red, White and Blue for a little bling.

Here is the Addicted to CAS code word.

Thank you for stopping by again, as you can probably suspect, I just love making cards and posting them on my little blog. It's a thrill for me when I read your comments.

Till next time, (maybe later?? LOL!!) happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

   

Thanks a Bunch.....

Hello everyone: I have another card to share with you with one of my favorite themes.....Autumn and Thanksgiving. I love all the Holidays but the colors of the Fall season are so warm and beautiful that they just make me want to drink Apple/Cinnamon tea curled up with a good book, the kind with actual paper pages in it. I'm linking this card to the Just Add Ink #287.....Inspiration! challenge and The Card Concept #43 Thank/Fall challenge. Here is my card.

This image is from an old Flourishes stamp set called "A Season of Thanks", sadly this company is no longer in business but I'm lucky enough to have a whole bunch of their gorgeous sets. 

I stamped the image onto a panel of Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored it with the aqua painter and this SU markers: Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, So Saffron, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue and Soft Suede. I embossed the yellow panel with the SU Argyle embossing folder, the DSP is retired from SU. I stamped the sentiment with Baked Brown Sugar and die cut it with a Spellbinders label die set, but I could be wrong, this die set it's old and I didn't save the label when I bought it so long ago, sheeesh!!  Back then, having a blog was the farthest thing from my mind.

I love this bunch of Indian Corn, it's so colorful, I see this beautiful bunches at craft fairs and flower shop windows, adorning their Autumn/Thanksgiving displays.

Both, The Card Concept and the Just Add Ink Challenges give us this beautiful photos to inspire us, I took the hues of light blue from some of the tubs and buckets and the soft browns and yellows and oranges from both of this images.  Here are the beautiful inspiration photos that inspired this card.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I truly appreciate and love each comment you leave me, if you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Till next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.