Oodles of Doodles.....

Hello everyone: Well, I finally got around to finishing my card for the CASology challenge. This week, the Designer Team gals are asking us to DOODLE!!!!! Now, how fabulous is that!!!
A couple of years ago I stumbled on Pinterest with the word ZENTANGLE for the first time and, when I saw the designs, I just immediately got interested.  I've done a few Zentangles since then, it's fun but it does require some time and patience, I have the patience but the time.....well.....sometimes, not so much.  But this afternoon, after I went to the High School to pick up my two older grandkids from Track and Field practice, I came home and sat down in my work desk and totally doodled away.
Here is my card, let me know what you think, there is NO stamping on this card at all.

Ok, I even doodled the "sentiment", I didn't know what to write and I really didn't want to stamp anything so, after practicing a little on a pad of paper I felt comfortable enough to commit to ink on my panel.  The doodle image is all done freehand with a ZIG Millenium Micro Pen .01, this is the only way to be able to draw the small figures on these designs. I have a beginners book with lots of samples so I did like they suggest, dividing my wonky ''square" into sections so I could doodle each sections with a different design.  Here is a close up of all the sections.

 I had a fun and relaxing time, I even doodled the inside of my card.

So, there you have it, I hope you give this challenge a try, there is no wrong doodle, if you make a little mistake, you can always turn it into something.

Here is the CUE CARD that inspired me to doodle.

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

Hugs.

ATCAS.....DELICATE.....

Hello everyone: There is a new challenge over at Addicted to CAS for this week,  hosted by Ksenija , her blog is "Sweet Kobylkin" and she picked the CODE WORD "DELICATE" for us to play with.  The gals of the DT gave us a bunch of definitions and ideas for using this word in our cards, I chose this image to interpret it.

As far as delicate, the Humming Bird is one beautiful example. This little flying jewels amaze me and delight me!!! The feeders outside my kitchen window looking into the back yard are constantly being visited by this sweet and gorgeous little birds, they are very used to me replenishing the sugar water and they just fly to the near by trees to wait for me to finish so they can come back and take another sip and then, fly away to rest, it's a constant marvelous coming and going to the feeders, they are not even bothered by the little bees that sometimes share this sugary drink.

Although it's still kind of early in the Season for them to get here, I know they will eventually come back and once again they will put on their show of color and beauty and incredible strength. 

Here is a close up of this image from a retired SU set called "Spring Song", this beautiful stamp set came out way back in 2008!!!

I stamped this image onto Canson water color paper and colored it with SU markers and the aqua painter, I added some high lights and shadows with my Prismacolor pencils.

I wanted to add a bit of shimmer to his colorful throat but my Wink of Stella has no more ink, it's time to get another one.

Here is a picture of the finish inside of my card.

The sentiment is from the same set, the little humming bird is from a retired flourishes set called "Humming Along".

Here is the CODE WORD that inspired my card.

And here are the pictures of the stamps I used for this card.

SU "Spring Song" came out in 2008!!!

Flourishes llc. "Humming Along"

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

Hugs from Maria.

All in Green.....

Hello everyone: Has this ever happened to you?  I was commenting on a card and I saw a challenge this lady was participating in with her card, I went to check it out and decided to give it a try too, the challenge is 52 Christmas Card Throwdown , this time the colors are GREEN AND WHITE. The challenge closes in 9 hours and a few minutes so, without any delays, here is my little card.

I die cut the Christmas Tree from green foil card stock with a Memory Box die, the word "Joy"is from a Spellbinders die set.

Pretty simple, I just scored a couple of lines on the side to add a bit of detail.

As always, well since 2016 started, I'm finishing the inside of my cards too, saves me lots of time when I mail them to family and friends. The Sentiment is from my stash and the little tree is from Power Poppy Merry Littles stamp set.

Here is a picture of it.

Here is the banner that inspired this card.

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

Hugs from Maria.

S'more Fun!!!!!

Hello everyone: Who doesn't love S'mores? I sure do, I could eat this delicious concoctions every day if my conscience would let me, LOL!! You know? the thing about watching our girly figure and such.  So I have a card to share with you today that might wet your appetite and possibly urge you to make some S'mores today or, you can just look at it and dream you are having one, this is totally calorie free. I'm submitting this card to the Freshly Made Sketches #228, a sketch by Kim.

Ahh!! I can almost smell this and see my grandkids holding their sticks over the fire in our back yard, charring the white, puffy marshmallows until they are burnt and still, put it on top of the piece of Hershey's chocolate, put the other piece of Graham cracker on top, push down and bite into it, getting their faces covered in both delicious and melting sweets, I must confess, I get a face full of this too. 

This image is from a retired Flourishes set called "S'more Fun", I stamped it onto a panel of Canson water color paper and then, I die cut the circle from it to follow the sketch. I colored this fun image with SU markers and the aqua painter. 

Here is a close up picture of it.

I love that the bouquet of wild flowers is resting on a can of Pork and Beans, both this food items are a must when camping, even if it's in the back yard.

Here is a picture of the finish inside of my card, I made a New Year resolution of always finishing the inside, that saves me a ton of time when I have to mail my cards to family and friends, besides, I think the inside should look almost as pretty as the front.

The images on this panel come from 3 different Flourishes stamp sets, I'll explain which ones at the end of the post. First, here is the Freshly Made Sketch that inspired my card.

And here are the stamp sets I used for it.

I used this one for the front, the little banners inside are from this one too.

From this one, I used this one for the sentiment.

And from this one, I only used the little cluster of flowers for the bottom corner.

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

Hugs from Maria.

A Little bit of Everything.....

Hello everyone: Well, I got a bit side tracked this morning, you know how it is some days, you have your plan, you are ready to put it in motion then, LIFE happens, I wont go into the details but things are more or less back to "normal" in the Rodriguez household so, I'm finally posting this card that I will enter in the CAS Mix Up Challenge , a brand, spanking new blog challenge headed by Bonnie Klass (you might know her from the Merry Monday challenge blog, in which she is a Designer Team member and her blog, Stamping with Klass ) and her friend Loll Thompson, her blog is Stamp with Loll. This challenge is asking for a mix of techniques, some stamping, some water coloring and our choice, there is a list of choices on the blog.  I'm also linking this card to the Can You CASE It? color challenge, we can play with 3 colors of our choice, I'm using Pistachio Pudding, Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight.  Here is my card, in which I combined a little water coloring, a little stamping plus some sponging and die cutting.

For this card, I used the beautiful and sadly retired SU set called "Fabulous Florets", I stamped the leaves several times directly onto my card base with SU Pistachio Pudding, to get the ink to distribute evenly, (I don't have any Whisper White card stock, grr!!) then I stamped the small flower from the set onto a piece of Canson water color paper, colored it with Calypso Coral ink and the aqua painter and added a bit of highlights with the same color marker. 

The die is from Elizabeth Craft Designs and it's called Ginger Jar , I bought this beautiful die for only $2.95, can you believe it??!!! I bought other stuff from their clearance page.

I die cut the base from water color paper and the design from card stock, the possibilities are endless with the colors. Here is a close up of this pretty flower.

The teeny, tiny sentiment is from a retired Flourishes stamp set called "Old Fashioned Florals", it's die cut wih the smallest die from a label set from Spellbinders.

I added a couple of score lines to the side of the card, no reason in particular, I just love how they look.

Here is a picture of the finish inside of my card.

The sentiment is from Flourishes "Lots of Thoughts", I also stamped again the small flower from the set plus the leaf.

Here are the banners that inspired my card.

And here are some pictures of the retired stamp sets I used for my card.

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

Hugs from Maria.

Black and White, Silver and Gray and.....

Hello dear friends: As soon as I saw the Merry Monday Challenge I really loved the inspiration picture, it's so peaceful but, what caught my eye was that line of beautiful lamp posts and also, I will enter this card to the Christmas Cards Challenge #15 "Anything Goes" and the Landscaping Challenge #125 "Color Splash".  I have a very old lamp post stamp that I think it's from Flower Soft, not so sure but, in any case, I wanted to use it to make this card.

The challenge at Merry Monday is to use the colors Black, White, Gray and Silver, which worked real good for this image but, I saw that some of the Designer Team cards had a bit of color so I took a chance and added just a little ''glow'' to the candle.

Here is a close up of it and also, of the silver Holly leaves and the silver thread bow that looks so pretty adorning this lamp post, it was a real pickle to tie this bow, sheeesh!! 

The falling snow is stamped with one of the stamps on the SU set "Gorgeous Grunge" I used it also to stamp the inside of my card, just to finish it, the sentiment is from my stash. The one in the front of the card is from Power Poppy Merry Littles , I also used the little candle stick in this set to stamp the candle inside the lamp, I just masked the bottom part.

I colored this lamp post with my black Prismacolor pencil and blended the color a little with a paper stump dipped in baby oil.

Here is the picture of the finished inside of my card.

I thought you might like to see the super old punch I used to punch the Holly leaves, it's from a company called McGill.

Here is the banners that inspired my card.

ANYTHING GOES.

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

Hugs from Maria.

KISS ME, I'M IRISH.....

Well not really, I'm not Irish at all, but tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day and I wanted to share a card with you I really had fun making. Here is my card.

This card just makes me smile, it's a CASE from THIS CARD I saw on Pinterest a very long time ago, I just fell in love with this sweet little guy made with punches. I don't do punch art at all and I admire people who have the ability to see the endless possibilities for creating awesome cards with punches that have nothing to do with the original intent.

The eyebrows, mustache and nose of this Irish Gnome are made with the Bird Builder Punch, the eyes are two black candy dots, the 4 leaf clover on the hat is made with a little heart punch, I applied some stickers for a bit of shine. 

It's smile is done with a black marker, I made the bow with some ribbon from my never ending stash.

That's it, super quick and cute, don't you think?

Here is a picture of the finish inside of my card, I made a point to do this to save time when it's time to mail my cards.

I'm sorry to say I have no St. Patrick's Day sentiments except for the one in the Teeny, Tiny Wishes from SU so, I looked for some other that would look good for this card and I found this one that is so old I don't remember where I got it. 

I'm submitting this card to the SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge, they are asking to make a card with St. Patrick's Day theme or just use a charm or the color green predominately.

The Get Creative Challenge #34 with a theme of St. Patrick's Day.

And the Incy Wincy Design Challenge Shades of Green.

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

Hugs from Maria.

The Budding Artist.....

Hello again, everyone: I made this card this morning because I discovered a new challenge blog called Cardz 4 Galz and their theme is "Woman or Women". Also, the IN{K}SPIRE_me has a sketch challenge that was just perfect for this image. Both challenges close in a few hours so, here is my card.

This image is from Penny Black and it's called The Artist  and I think it's just so endearing. This is how I see my almost 18 year old granddaughter Vanessa, she is so talented with her water coloring and acrylics, she has a board on Pinterest where she keeps all of the paintings she has done.  I'm going to be a total GRANDMA here and share with you her amazing art, you can check it out HERE  if you'd like. I'm so very proud of all of my 5 amazing grandchildren, each one is unique, loving, smart, funny and talented.

Ok, I'm done bragging.....

Anyway, this image was stamped with Stazon Jet Black ink onto Canson water color paper and colored with SU markers and the aqua painter, I did a bit of shadowing and highlights with my Prismacolor pencils. 

The little piece of pattern paper is from Lili of the Valley, the ribbon from my stash. I have a few Candy Dots left so I put 3 in the corner matching some of the colors on this image.

The little charm says "believe", I wish there was a better picture but I just couldn't get close enough and take it, it kept getting blurry.

The sentiment is from a retired Flourishes set called "Old Fashioned Florals", I just stamped it and fussy cut it.

Here is a picture of the finished inside of my card.

The sentiment inside is from the set called "Orchids", the little Humming Bird is from the set called "Humming Along" and the little Hydrangea cluster is from the set called "Hydrangea", all 3 are from Flourishes and are sadly retired.

Here is a picture of the sketch that inspired my card.

And the logo from Cardz 4 Galz.

Here are the pictures of the retired sets I used to create my card. I want you to see how they look like.

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

Hopping down the Bunny Trail.....

Hello everyone: I have a card to share with you today to get you inspired to give the Retro Rubber Easter Theme for this week a try. Think of Easter Eggs and Bunnies, Egg Hunts and Easter Baskets, just remember that the stamps you use must be at least one year old, we all have those special stamp sets that we love and have had for years so, go dust them off and ink them up and join us, we love to see what you create, for more inspiration, go check out the fabulous cards of the rest of the Designer Team.  Here is my card.

All of this images are from Purple Onion Designs, Stacey Yacula Studio Collection, this adorable little critters just melt your heart, I've had this stamps for more than 2 years so I know they meet our requirements. 

I stamped this images onto Canson water color paper and colored them with SU markers and the aqua painter, I did a little masking for the bunnies and those Easter Eggs are made, believe it or not, with THIS Bumble Bee die that I won participating in a blog hop, I just rounded up the top of it to make it look more like an egg. 

The clouds are from Spellbinders and the sentiment is from SU "Teeny Tiny Wishes" from the 2009-2010 Idea Book and Catalog. 

Here is a close up of this cuties sharing their Easter goodies.

I "decorated" the "eggs" with markers and I gave the little sweetie bunny girl a flower for her hair, punched out with a hand held punch. I sponged some Tim Holtz "Broken China" for the sky, (my favorite shade for that) and some "Peel Paint" for the grass. 

Here is a picture of the finished inside of my card.

This sweet bunny with his flag is from the retired SU set called "Picnic Parade" from the SU 2010 Occasions Mini, super cute images, perfect for any occasion children's cards. By the way, if any of you are not sure where your older than one year Stampin Up! sets first came out, go to Splitcoaststampers and click on the SU gallery, ALL of their stamp sets are listed there in alphabetical order, with the year of their release, this is a big help, I always go there for this information.

Here's the picture of this SU retired set.

And here is the banner that inspired this card.

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges.

AAA Cards:Game#60:EASTER 

Penny Black and More March Challenge-Feature a Creature 

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

Hugs from Maria.

A Whole lot o' Shaking Going On!!!!!

Hello everyone: I have a fun card (well, I had fun making it) to share with you today, this is my very first of this kind, a bit time consuming, due to my total lack of experience in this field but non the less, I finished it, I hope you like it. I'm linking it to the "Just Us Girls" Trend Week Challenge, the theme this time is Shaker Cards.

I was looking for some tutorials on Utube to get an idea of how to go about making a shaker card, all are good but THIS ONE by Jennifer McGuire, I liked a lot.  I changed the card by stamping my background with the Penny Black "Wonderful" stamp set, I love this cute little Hedgehogs, I used Stazon Jet Black ink on Canson water color paper, colored it with the aqua painter and SU markers.

Then, the fun began.....I gathered all the material Jennifer suggested and, with the video playing, I followed her directions, pausing the video to give me time to stamp, cut, glue, etc. It was fairy easy except for the gluing of the cut out panels, I didn't have that roll of strong adhesive she uses on her video so I used a strong double sided tape, 1/8" wide around the circle windows, it was time consuming but I needed to make sure non of my sequences and stars were going to get out.

I stamped the background with an old stamp with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with Calypso Coral powder, the sentiment is from the retired SU set called "Curly Cute", the banner is from Spellbinders.

Here is a picture of the finished inside. 

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set.

Here is the banner than inspired my card.

This is the flourises set I used for the inside.

And the SU Curly Cute set.

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

Hugs from Maria.