Time to CASE Marika again.....

Hello everyone: It's no news that I absolutely love the talent of Marika Rahtu from Me and Minime Crafting and this week over at the TIME OUT CHALLENGE  we are asked to CASE her amazing card. I've been inspired by her beautiful coloring since I found her blog, she is as sweet as she is talented so, I could't pass this opportunity to once again, try to CASE her, so here is my card, I'm also linking this card to the Freshly Made Sketches challenge by Jen Brum.

And here is her gorgeous card.

The image I used is from an old Flourishes stamp set, I stamped it onto a panel of Canson water color paper and colored it with the aqua painter and this SU markers: More Mustard, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry.  I did some high lights and contours on the petals with Prismacolor pencils #1003 Spanish Orange, #916 Canary Yellow, #995 Mulberry and #938 White.
She did some beautiful sponging creating an hombre effect with that lovely shade of lilac, I did my attempt at this technique with SU Costal Cabana.  I added some gold thread and gold sequences to complete my CASE.

The sentiment is from another Flourishes set called "Humming Along", I love the font. 

Here is a picture of the finished inside, I used another couple of stamps from this same set.

I hope I did justice to Marika's card, I also hope you go check her blog out, you will be absolutely delighted and inspired by her amazing art work and give this challenge a try.

Here is the FMS that also inspired this card.

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

Hugs from Maria.

CLEARLY.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.....

Hello everyone: I must confess that the challenge for this week at CASology really had me scratching my head. The Cue Word is CLEAR and it can be interpreted in a lot of ways.  So I kind of pondered for a bit not sure if I was going to give this challenge a try.
Well, this morning, I received some Utube videos from Jennifer McGuire and, among them was THIS ONE , which is exactly the idea I needed to make my card. Here is a picture of it and I will explain how I CASEd it from Jennifer.

First I watched her video, (I love all of her videos, she is just amazing!) and then, I started thinking about how to improvise because I didn't have any of the stuff she used to make her card. 

I didn't have the acetate folded cards so, I grabbed a sheet of acetate from a box I bought at Office Depot, that I think I will never finish, cut it to size and fold it in half. Then, since I didn't have the pretty balloons with the greetings I grabbed my Spellbinders circle dies and chose 3 of them to cut the circles from some scrap card stock. Now, the dilemma was the greetings so I went hunting for some stamps that said at least the Happy Birthday and found an old set I think from Penny Black and cut the greeting into 2 words but, I didn't have a "to you" stamp, I looked and looked with no luck until I stumble onto an Avery Elle set that has a cross word puzzle and the entire alphabet plus numbers and that was just perfect. 

I stamped the words with Versamark Ink and heat embossed them with white embossing powder. The "to you" words were tricky to stamp but, with the help of the MISTI I was able to place them exactly where they needed to be.  Jennifer added some pretty stars with white Stazon ink but I didn't have any so I just added a few Rhine Stones for a bit of bling.

Now, the inside of the card was hard to photograph, in Jennifer's video, she die cuts 9 more balloons to cover the tape she used to attach the ones in front, I did the same but taking a picture was hard because the acetate didn't want to stand up for me so I kind of had to hold it so, forgive my finger and the fact that the picture is a bit blurry but I wanted you to see how there is some space inside to write your greeting.

And this is a picture of the back, also with die cut circles to hide the tape on the inside, I stamped my little froggy that tells the recipient, this card was "Toddaly Hand Made".

I will stamp either "Maria Rodriguez" or "By Grandma", depending on to whom I will send this very cool card.

Here is the Cue Card that inspired mine.

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

Hugs from Maria.

XO XO XO XO XO.....

Hello everyone: I can't believe January is almost over so, I need to step up and get my Valentine's Day cards ready to go. I made this card to participate in The Paper Players CAS challenge and in the Addicted to Stamps and More "Make your Mark" challenge. Here is my card.

This image is from a retired Flourishes set called "Love Sweet Love" and it's stamped onto a panel of Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored with the aqua painter and this SU markers: Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Real Red, Melon Mambo, Basic Gray and Soft Suede. 

The sentiment is from another retired Flourishes set called "Berry Sweet Frames" and it's stamped using SU Cherry Cobbler ink.

Here is a close up picture of this yummy love cookies. 

I added a few Rhine Stones just for a little sparkle.

Here is a picture of the finished inside.

The sentiment is from a Power Poppy by Marcella Howley called Sassy Succulents , stamped in Cherry Cobbler and die cut with Spellbinders Decorative Elements Floral Ovals .

Here are the banners that inspired this card.

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

Hugs from Maria.

Mojo Monday #431 and Merry Monday #188.....

Hello everyone: I have a card to share with you that will kick into gear my Christmas card production for this year. I love it when I can combine challenges and this time, I'm linking my card to the Mojo Monday sketch challenge and the Merry Monday Christmas challenge with a theme of "Hot Bevvies", here is my card.

This images are from an old and retired stamp set from Flourishes. I stamped them onto a couple of die cut pieces of Canson water color paper and, this time, I colored them with Prismacolor pencils and paper stumps dipped in baby oil. I added a bit of gold gel pen to the decorations on the tea pot and cup and I colored the Holly on it with SU Real Red and Garden Green.

The sentiment was stamped with SU Cherry Cobbler ink onto a piece of SU "Wooden Elements", retired embellishments from the 2014 Spring Catalog.

Here is a picture of the finished inside, both the sentiment and the Holly are from the same set.

And here are the banners that inspired this card.

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

Hugs from Maria.

Guest Designer for Retro Rubber.....

Hello everyone: I'm thrilled to tell you that I was invited to be a guest designer at the Retro Rubber Challenge for this week, so it's my honor and joy to share this card with you today.

One of the many fun things about this challenge is that you get to give your old, retired, maybe even forgotten and neglected stamps a chance to shine once again.  This particular image is from Flourishes, a company that closed it's doors maybe 3 years ago, the stamp set is called, "A Token of my Affection" and I just love all the images in it, this little love struck robot is just so darn sweet.

I stamped this image onto Canson water color paper, that I die cut with Spellbinders Floral Ovals  and colored it with the aqua painter and SU markers in Basic Gray, and a little bit of Regal Rose, I applied a little silver gel pen to the screws and ''hands'', then, I punched some hearts using red foil card stock with the SU retired Pinking Heart Corner Punch, I love the teeny, tiny perfect hearts that you get from this punch. The heart flowers were punched with the heart in the Owl Builder punch from SU and the heart in the token with the SU small heart punch.

The strip of DSP is from Lili of the Valley "Butterfly Kisses" 8x8 paper collection, now sadly retired. I used the SU retired Scalloped Dotted Ribbon Punch on black card stock for the strip separating the two panels.

Here is a close up of the little punched hearts.

And of the white embossed sentiment.

This is a picture of the finished inside, I'm keeping my resolution of finishing the inside of all my cards before I post them, I know it will save me a ton of time when it's time to send them on their way to family and friends.

And here is the sketch that inspired this card.

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

CAS{E} This Sketch! #155.....

Hello everyone: I have a card to share with you today using the sketch by Chrissy Larson over at the CAS(E) This Sketch! challenge blog, here is my card.

The trick was to find a sentiment that would fit in the middle so I looked and looked and found this one from a super old sentiment set that was just perfect for it.  The other sentiments were either not long enough or the letters were to big or they didn't say what I wanted to say but this one was it.

The little clay pot with Geraniums is from a Flourishes set called "From the Garden" and it's stamped onto Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink, I used the aqua painter and this SU markers: Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Cajun Craze, the water droplets are a stamp from Designs by Ryn I had for a while, so pretty, I gave the drops a bit of shine with a little Bashful Blue and Crystal Effects.

The sentiment is stamped with Versamark Ink and heat embossed in white.

Here is a picture of the finished inside.

This is the sketch that inspired my card.

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

Hugs from Maria.

Pun Fun Tag.....for Tag You're It!.....

Hello everyone: This is the first challenge for Tag You're It! for 2016 and, when I saw the inspiration tag, I knew I was going to use the adorable images from a retired SU set called "Pun Fun", here is my card.

I love this little critters, they are just so darn cute and the sentiments that come with each image is the reason for the name.  I love the fact you can stack some of the animals, like in this tag.  Since this set is wood mounted,  I used the good old Stamp-a-majig to position each image perfectly.

I stamped this little critters with Stazon Jet Black ink on Canson water color paper and punched a tag with the SU Scalloped Tag punch, I colored them with the aqua painter and SU markers in Tempting Turquoise, Sahara Sand, Regal Rose, Basic Gray, Wild Wasabi and Pumpkin Pie, I punched another tag with a piece of orange card stock and tied both tags with a colored wire that I then, curled up with a small brush. The candle pattern paper is from my stash.

Here is a picture of the finished inside.

The sentiments are stamped with Tangelo Twist ink. I used markers to ink the curly streamers and confetti on this very old stamp.

Here is the tag Tracey McNeely created that inspired mine.

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

Hugs from Maria.