CAS Colours and Sketches #171.....

Hello everyone: I have another card made with my brand new Power Poppy set called Sunny Harvest and I will submit it to the CAS Colors and Sketches #171 sketch challenge and the Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #191, here is my card.

This was a quick and easy card to create, I just love this Sunflowers and Chinese Lanterns sprigs.  I stamped them onto a panel of Canson water color paper with Versafine Onix Black ink, I love the crisp image I get every time with it. I colored this sprigs of flowers with SU markers and the aqua painter and then, I sponged Hello Honey around them, I love this soon to be retired SU color, it's truly rich and gorgeous.  The sentiment from the same set is also stamped with Hello Honey.

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

I stamped the sentiment and another sprig with Tangelo Twist, this color will also retire soon. I love the deep, rich orange shade and, when I water color with it, it softens beautifully. 

Here is the banners that inspired my card.

 

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

Hugs from Maria.

Cards for a Cause.....

Hello everyone: I have a card to share with you today that, along with 5 more will go to Foster Kids Charity who is hosting a Graduation Party for about 35 young people who, in spite of the hardships of being in the Foster Care System, are graduating from High School.  My dear friend Darlene DeVries from LiveLoveCards is asking her subscribers to donate cards to this worthy cause, not only for this young, amazing people who graduated but also, for the other kids, young and old, who have to be in the court for many hours while their fate is determined. The Foster Kids Charity donates and distributes over 1,000 snack bags to this children around where Darlene lives, that, otherwise, would be hungry and bored.  You can find more details of this worthy cause HERE. I plan to make more cards for kids, this set is for the GRADUATES!!!!!

I made this card not gender specific, I don't know how many young ladies and gentleman are graduating so, I just used a lot of sponged colors and the fabulous Pyrotechnics images from The Ton. I heat embossed them in gold, silver and Tempting Turquoise.  The sentiment is from a Retired Flourishes stamp set that I think it's perfectly fitting for this cards.

Here is a picture of the finished inside, I also stamped this encouraging sentiments from other Flourishes sets.  Darlene is asking us to personally write something to this young people, I plan to do it later this afternoon.

This craft we all enjoy is able to reach far and wide around the world, bringing joy and smiles to family and friends near or far but also, can touch people who we've never met, in this case children that are having a tough time in their young lives, through no fault of their own so, if we can take a few minutes to create a pretty card that will end up in the hands of this kids and bring hope and a smile, all of us can be better for it. 

You can find the information on Darlene's blog.

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

Hugs from Maria.

Beautiful and retiring.....

Hello dear friends: Well, it's that time of the year when SU announces the retiring items from the old catalog, there are quite a few stamp sets I'm lucky to have and you can be sure, they will be treasured and enjoyed for many years. I made this card with not retiring stamp sets but with beautiful colors that are on their way out, the In Colors collection is my favorite, I love the deep, rich shades of Blackberry Bliss, Tangelo Twist, Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon and Mossy Meadow, whether stamped right from the pad or use them for my water coloring, I truly love this colors. So, my card is made with the new Botanical Builder Framelits Dies, (Not retiring!!) I used water color paper for the flowers, which I sponged with Blackberry Bliss, Tangelo Twist, Hello Honey and Lost Lagoon, and some card stock for the leaves, which I sponged with Mossy Meadow. Here is my card, which I will link to the Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge by Ginger Toivonen.

This was a fun card to create, this framelits cut perfectly, then it was just a matter of sponging and arranging my flowers on the panel that I sponged with Hello Honey, the sentiment is from my stash and it's stamped with Lost Lagoon on this other panel that I sponged with the same ink. 

Here is a picture of the finished inside.

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes stamp set called Tulips for Friends, the pretty border is done with the retiring SU Bordering Blooms, both are stamped with Blackberry Bliss.

Here is the sketch that inspired my card.

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

Hugs from Maria.

Sunny Harvest.....

Hello everyone: I had this card almost done yesterday but I was side tracked by a friend's request for a Baby Boy card, Jim is one of my dearest Triathlon friends so, I put all else aside and made him a card for his niece, who just had a healthy and beautiful baby boy.  So I finished this card this morning for the Retro Sketches sketch challenge#212, here is my card.

This beautiful bunch of Sunflowers is from a Power Poppy set called Sunny Harvest, which has other equally beautiful images.  I stamped it onto Canson water color paper with my new favorite black in for clear stamps, Versafine Onix Black, the impression is flawless the first time so, no need to re ink your image. I colored it with my SU Tangelo Twist ink pad, the Old Olive, More Mustard and Chocolate Chip markers and the aqua painter. The panel is sponged with Tangelo Twist, I embossed the card stock with a brick embossing folder, the pattern paper is from Lili of the Valley and I put a bit of ribbon from my stash, the sentiment is from the set and it's stamped with Tangelo Twist.

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

Both the sentiment and the sprig of flowers are from the same set.

Here is the sketch that inspired my card.

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

Hugs from Maria.

It's a Boy!!!!!

Hello dear friends: Today I have a card that will be on it's way to Lakes of the Ozarks, Missouri to the house of one of my dearest Triathlon friends, who's niece just had a healthy and beautiful baby boy. I had another card I was going to post this morning but, when I read his email requesting for a baby card, I put everything aside and got to work. Lucky me, I had the fabulous theme for the Stamp, Ink, Paper "BABY" and the equally fabulous sketch from Try Stamping or Not on Tuesday, here is my card.

This card was made with a combination of stamp sets, all of the images are stamped on Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored with SU markers and the aqua painter. The bassinet and baby toys are from a retired Flourishes set called "Baby Love", super adorable little images, I added a little blue Rhine Stone to each of the Hexagons like the sketch asks. The sentiment was stamped using one of the images on this other retired Flourishes set called "Hello Baby", the die cut is from Spellbinders set called "Tranquil Moments" A2. 

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

The sentiment is from the same Baby Love set, it's words are so true, baby time is so precious and it doesn't last to long, ask me how I know! (Sigh!)

Here are the banners that inspired my card. I turned the sketch horizontally.

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

Hugs from Maria.

Here are the stamp sets I used to create this card.

Retro Rubber Sketch Challenge #37.....

Hello everyone and welcome to a new week for the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog, this time we have a really fabulous sketch for you to play along, lots of space for you to create your beautiful designs. We hope you join in the fun and stop by the Designer Team's blogs for tons of inspiration.  Here is my card, hope to see your creations in our gallery.

Some of you who know me for a while are aware of how much I love Fairies and everything that has to do with their wonderful and mystical world. This ethereal little creatures, whether real or imaginary, are simply beautiful. When my granddaughters were younger, they used to play in the back yard building little houses for them, spending hours just dreaming and hoping to catch a glimpse of this tiny creatures, truly a sweet and beautiful time for them and me.

This image is called Silver Fairy from Whimsy Stamps, I've had this stamp for over 2 years, I checked Pinterest and the cards made with this image date back from 2012!! so this stamp might be even older than that, (when you go to this page, please scroll down to see this stamp, there is some other information before you get to the image.) I stamped it twice onto Canson water color paper and colored her wings and her flowing hair only with SU markers and the aqua painter then, I stamped her again onto another piece of water color paper and finished coloring her dress and her face and the other details of her outfit, then I fussy cut her and glued it onto the panel, I wanted to add a bit of dimension, I hope I achieved this.

I sponged the sky and grass with distress inks, die cut the mushrooms with THIS Mushroom Border die and colored also with SU markers. The word DREAM is die cut with THIS die, on sale now for only $1.99, fabulous.

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

The sentiment is from a retired SU stamp set called "Summer Solstice" and it's from the 2011-2012 SU catalog. The little Fairy resting on the mushroom is from my stash, possibly had it for at least 3 years. Another good place to find out about the age of your SU images is Splitcoaststampers, click on the SU gallery and there you'll find a list of every single stamp set from SU and the date it was released. This really help for very old sets.

Here is the sketch that inspired my card. 

I hope you give this challenge a try, we can't wait to see your beautiful creations on our gallery. Please remember that at least one of the stamps you use for your creations MUST be older than one year, this challenge is based on giving your old stamp sets a chance to shine again. 

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

Hugs from Maria.

Summer Solstice, 2011-2012 Stampin Up! catalog.

Dragons or Heroes or Saints, oh my!!!!!

Hello everyone: Well, the "Less is More" has a new challenge this week and they are asking for cards with Dragons or Heroes or Saints, to help celebrate St. George's Day and I'm submitting this card made with the only stamp that will be perfect for it, I simply adore this little Dragon, here's my card.

This image is kind of big as you can see, so I really hope there is enough white space, in this case light blue, to qualify as CAS. I've used this image before, HERE is another card I made with it, but this time, I decided to give my little Dragon a pretty shade of blue and purple to make it stand out against the trees. This image was given to me by my dear aunt who found it at a thrift store along with about 20+ more unmounted, red rubber stamps, dirty, stained, abandoned in a cardboard box, with the most beautiful images of Fairies, this was the only Dragon stamp but it's equally beautiful. For a long time I didn't know where they came from, what company made them, there was no information at all, but last year, I found out this images were from a company called "Sweet Pea Rubber Stamps" that sadly is no longer in business.

I stamped the image onto Canson water color paper and colored it with Derwent water color pencils adding some shading with Prismacolor pencils and paper stumps dipped in baby oil. The sky and the green bottom part were sponged with distress inks.

I just love the look of this little Dragon staring off into the distance, the expression on it's face is just beautiful. My sentiment is just one word, DREAM, I hesitated about adding it to the front of this card, I didn't want to clutter it so I just looked for a small word that would go with it.

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

This sentiment is exactly what I wanted for this card, this little Dragon looks like it's doing just that. 

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

Hugs from Maria.

Here are the stamps I used to create this card. 

This retired set is from Flourishes.