Happy Snowmen for Merry Mondays.....

Hello everyone: Thankfully, some of my computer issues have been resolved so today, I have a smile on my face, not only because the internet is working fine again but because of this card I made for the Merry Monday Christmas challenge , I don't know about you, but this super cute Snowmen just make happy.

This week the challenge's theme is "Funky Hats" and think this hats the snowmen are wearing, might not look to funky but I think they fit the theme, because they're kind of big so, to me, they look totally Funky on the heads of these guys.  This card was made with a combination of two stamps, one super old by Tara Reed Designs I bought at Michael's maybe 5 years ago and the other one, which is a new  Power Poppy  set by Marcella Howley called "Merry Littles", it has a whole lot of little images, all of them beautiful, for this card I used the hat. I stamped the snow men on water color paper with Stazon Ink and with an Extacto knife, I cut their noses just on the sides to be able to fit the hat under them, then I stamped the hat 5 times, colored them and fussy cut them, applied some Crystal Effects and sprinkle some fine glitter. Here is a close up of this cute hats.

I colored the hats, scarfs and the little snowmen noses with SU markers and the aqua painter, cut a bit of gold glimmer paper for the top and bottom of the image and that was it. Not complicated and rather fast to finish.
Thank you so much for visiting and for your comments. As always, I read each one of them and appreciate each word you write. If you have any questions about this card, please feel free to ask me.
Till next time.
Hugs.
Maria.

The Wilderness Awaits for the Pals Paper Arts.....

 

Hello everyone: I'm having so much fun creating cards with this brand new Stampin Up! set called The Wilderness Awaits , it's images are just so beautifully detailed and very masculine, which are perfect for creating this types of cards for the men in our lives.
The Pals Paper Arts  has a sketch challenge this week, here is the card I made.

I actually had to Google some pictures of Mallard Ducks to be able to more or less, recreate the magnificent colors of their feathers, this is as close as I came to doing that.
To follow the sketch I stamped the beautiful Stampin Up! background stamp Hardwood with Versa Mark ink and heat embossed it with Copper Embossing Powder, cut the strips and added some Candy Dots.  I wanted to make a little sign to "hang" on the fence so I stamped the sentiment from the Wilderness Awaits set and ripped the paper, punched a couple of little holes and grabbed some thread to hang it.
This is the sketch that inspired this card. Thank you so much for visiting and for your comments, I read each and every word. If you have a question about this card please don't hesitate to ask.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Maria.

Paper: Canson water color paper, CS from my stash.
Inks: Stazon Jet Black, SU write markers in Garden Green, Old Olive, River Rock, Sahara Sand, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip and Soft Suede.

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #191

Hello everyone: This week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches challenge blog gives you the freedom of filling in the space in whatever way you want, here is what I did with this simple and fabulous sketch by Jennifer Timko.

I had this stamp for a while, because it's un mounted I put it in a box where I keep this type of stamps until I can remember to buy foam for them, which I haven't done yet, sheeesh!! I'm a busy grandma and the kiddos are on Summer Break, but I love this image from I Brake for Stamps called "French Flower Cart", I've never been to France but this is probably how this pretty carts look like.
Here is a close up of this pretty flower pots.

I stamped the image on Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black Ink and colored it with my Aqua Painter and a bunch of SU Write Markers, I always love how they blend so beautifully.
I hope you like this card, I surely enjoyed sitting at my desk on a sunny afternoon, working on it.
As always, I want to thank you for visiting my blog and for leaving me your comments, I read each one and appreciate them so much.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Hugs.
Maria.

Stamp, Ink, Paper Challenge #1.....

Hello Everyone: My super fabulous friend Sonny Peterson whom I met through Brian King's blog over 3 years ago, told me about this new blog challenge called Stamp, Ink, Paper and asked me to go check it out. I'm having a total blast participating in a bunch of challenges and this one will be no exception.  This first challenge's theme is "Getting to know you", here is my card.

This card was made a couple of months ago just for the pure joy of coloring this beautiful and sweet image, if you believe in Faeries or even if you don't, looking at her makes me wish I could maybe come across one of them among my flowers.
Here is a close up of this lovely Fairy, I think she is just waking up.

This challenge at Stamp, Ink, Paper is called "Getting to know You" so, I figured this could be a good way for you guys to know a bit about me.  I love water coloring, I'm no expert but I do love it, I also love Faeries and, whether they are real or not, the sheer possibility of this lovely creatures flying around, drinking morning dew and sleeping in flowers, like this sweetie, makes me smile.
The Sentiment is from a very old stamp from a long gone stamp company called Flourishes and I thought it's words were very fitting for this Fairy image.

I hope this card brought a smile to your face, it certainly made me smile.  As always, I used my Aqua Painter and SU markers to color this image and I bit of Wink of Stella glimmer brush for her wings.
Thank you so much for visiting and for leaving me a comment, I appreciate each and every word more than you know.  If you have any questions about this card, please don't hesitate to ask, Ok?
Till next time, have a fabulous day.
Maria.
Paper: Canson Water Color 140lb., DSP from my stash. Daffodil Delight for the die cut.
                                              Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Stampin Up! write markers in Daffodil Delight, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Pacific Point, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink and Mossy Meadow. I added a bit of Wink of Stella to her wings, hair and skin.

Peaceful Petals for the Retro Rubber challenge.....

Hello everyone: One of the things I enjoy most about the Retro Rubber challenge is that one of the requirements is to for us to use our old, retired stamps, to dust them up, bring them out from obscurity and give them a chance to shine again. This card was made with one of those beautiful SU sets called Peaceful Petals, sadly retired but still, much loved. Here is the card I made for this challenge.
I stamped the flowers and colored them with the Aqua Painter and SU markers, I heat embossed the centers with gold glitter embossing powder to give a bit of lift, I hope you can see it in this picture.

My butterfly was stamped with one of the images of Papillon Potpourri and colored also with SU markers then punched out with the Elegant Butterfly Punch . The seam bind ribbon and the die cut foliage are also retired SU items, I love those pretty leaves.
I want to thank you for visiting and for your comments, I appreciate every word you write. I hope also you liked this card, please let me know if you have any questions about it, I would love to answer them.
Have a great weekend.
Maria.

Vellum card for LiveLoveCards.....

Hello everyone: I love Vellum, don't use if often but, when I do, I always like how it makes everything look so soft and ethereal. My dear friend Darlene De Vries has a challenge for us over at her blog LiveLoveCards for the month of June and she asked us to make cards using Vellum. Here is the card I made for this challenge, it's a bit different than other cards, specially because I've never done this technique before. Here is my card.

Ok, this Vellum is a bit thicker than other, more transparent Vellum sheets and that is because it has to withstand the pressure of the stylus to change the color of the paper. I've seen this technique many times but I never actually give it a try until now. I even went ahead and purchased a beginner's kit to give it a try. The designs on this kit are not to complicated, but there are other patterns out there that are simply stunning. Here is a close up of the pretty little daisy.

It's amazing how a simple design changes before your eyes, I'm so totally fascinated by this beautiful and ancient art that originated in Europe back in the 15th. and 16th. Centuries. One thing I need to say about this technique is that, unlike water coloring (which is my favorite medium), this is not forgiving at all, once you apply the pressure with the stylus, the lines on the Vellum are permanent, you just can't "erase" them at all, but I can also tell you that it's fun and the results can be awesome. This card is simple and, amazingly enough, it didn't take long to finish, I think the slow part is to draw the image with the white gel pen, (included in the kit) from the images in the instruction booklet, you just place your Vellum on top of the image and trace it.
I hope you like my card, I was going to leave it with no colors but I decided to paint the petals and the steam with my Prismacolor Pencils. The butterfly was stamped with one of the images of Papillon Potpourri and traced onto the Vellum, finished with the stylus and punched out with the Elegant Butterfly punch.
I want to thank you so much for visiting, reading your comments truly make me so happy. If you have any questions about this card please let me know.
Have a wonderful day.
Maria.

Mojo Monday #401

Hello again every one: Seems to me, I've been posting on my blog a lot, I'm having a lot of fun even if I've encountered a few bumps on the road.
I have a simple card to share with you for this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge.

Yesterday, it rained like crazy, so much that the emergency sirens were bowing loud and clear the warnings for flash flooding, today it's still cloudy but I was able to take this picture of my card when the sun was hitting my work desk.

This pretty clay containers are from Our Daily Bread designs and it's called You are the Potter , I love this images, they remind me of our Spring Brake vacations with our grandchildren when we went to The Canyon Lands in Utah some years ago.

I stamped the clay pots on water color paper and colored with SU markers and the aqua painter, this is all I use for water coloring. The cross stitched band was punched with the retired Punch Border Dotted Scalloped Ribbon and I cross stitched with some linen thread.

The DSP and CS are from my stash.

I chose to turn the design on it's side to fit this image, I hope it's ok. Here is the banner that inspired this card.

As always, I want to thank you so much for visiting my blog, reading your comments truly make me so very happy. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Till next time, many hugs.

Maria.