Wilderness Awaits Fox for PPA #260.....

 Hello everyone: From the moment I laid eyes on The Wilderness Awaits in the new SU catalog, I wanted it immediately. All of the four images are stunningly detailed and gorgeous.  I have a hard time making masculine cards so, when I saw this set, it screamed MASCULINE to me loud and clear. 
The Pals Paper Arts sketch for this week is ideal to showcase the beautiful Fox, that looks up at you with a sweet, trusting expression that really is endearing. So, here is the card I made with this image

This card is destined for one of my dear Triathlon friends who is recovering from knee surgery, he loves the outdoors so I thought this image would definitely cheer him up.  As you can see, there is very little bling on this design, I really don't think it needs any, all I added was 4 little copper eyelets with my Crop-a-dile. I was fiddling with some ribbon to tie the leaf (made with the lovely but retired SU "Gently Falling" stamp set) and the sentiment, stamped with the Teeny Tiny Wishes in Rich Razzlelberry and punched out with SU Word Window Punch, love how all of the sentiments in this set fit perfectly in that punch. The leaf was inked with Versamark ink and stamped on water color paper, then I heat embossed it with Silver Pearl embossing powder. I colored it with SU markers in Rich Razzleberry and Pumpkin Pie.

I'm sorry that the picture doesn't show the shimmer of this embossing powder, it looks really beautiful in person. After trying several ribbons I decided to go with this very old twine to tie my bow, I think it looks just right.
So, there you have it, my little foxy all curled up and ready for a nap in a field of pretty Summer flowers, what do you think?  Please let me know, ok? and if you have any questions, I will be more than happy to answer them.
Till next time, hugs.
                              Maria.

 

A challenge within a challenge for Power Poppy.....

Hello everyone: The challenge for the month of July over at the Power Poppy blog is HANG SOME  PAPER!!!!! Hosted by the fabulously talented Leslie Miller . Now, this challenge is not about Card Stock, mind you.....Leslie is asking us to use patterned paper, goodness, gracious!!   Most of my crafting friends know that I just don't like DSP all that much, don't get me wrong,  I love the patterns, most of them are lovely, sharp, colorful but for me, they represent a challenge on their own.  My brain just can't deal with it, no kidding, when I see crafters making gorgeous cards combining patterns and cardstock I get so jealous.  ME?.....well, I see DSP and I freeze!!  I don't buy a lot of this type of papers, I do own some but I don't use it often, specially double sided DSP, if the one sided kind is difficult to deal with, the double sided paper makes it impossible (for me) to decide which side to condemn to obscurity forever.
So this Power Poppy July Challenge made me step out of my comfort zone and try, really try to come up with some kind of design that will follow the requirements for it.....this is the card that I made, please, just bare with me.

Believe me when I tell you that this rather simple card took me almost 10 days to complete!!!!! I made a ton of backgrounds with all kinds of papers from my very humble stash, my craft room look like something weird had exploded in there, there was paper clippings all over the floor and on my work table and on top of the counters, then the mess follow me to the kitchen table, where I showed some of the "layouts" to my ever patient husband who, I think, was even more lost than me when I kept asking "which one of this papers look best, honey?" and kept a stoic attitude through it all, gosh!!  Back in my craft room, I looked like a mad scientist experimenting, cutting, pasting, arranging and rearranging layouts with disastrous results.  So I left this alone for a while, I decided to let my brain rest, regroup, refresh, restart, recharge and I proceeded to cleaning up the mess and vacuuming the evidence of my experimentation, ughhh!!
Well, today I came back to face my nemesis , who patiently was waiting for me to resume the battle, I took a look at my stamped image, which is one from the lovely Potted Primroses by Marcella Howley, and finished coloring it, I stamped the sentiment and die cut the tag, sat at my desk and started again thinking about how I can create a card for this challenge, I really didn't want to give up.  Since I truly do not know how to combine patterns, I finally figured that I needed something that I can start building with so, I went to the closet and grabbed the box of pink paper scraps, I rummaged for a bit and finally I found that wide piece of DSP I placed under the bow, the colors are bright and pretty so I just grabbed it and let it guide me.  The lay out took some hard thinking too, I went from horizontal to star burst to vertical, cut skinny pieces, big pieces, die cut pieces, sheeesh!! until finally I arrived at this layout and when I did, I again walked away because I really liked it and I didn't want to start messing it up, later I came back and glued everything in place, took the picture and I was done.
This is the challenge banner that pushed me into the uncharted territory of DSP.

 I hope you like this card, I know I went on and on about this very simple theme (for most) which is DSP, I know I should not feel so darn intimidated by it but that is the way things are, I wish I could attend a seminar or something where I could learn not to fear this lovely papers and learn how to combine the patterns, that most times are so beautiful, to add variety and interest to my cards.
Anyway my friends, I thank you for reading this post and for your comments and as always, if you have any questions, (which I totally doubt for this post), please just ask me. I always try to reply to all the comments, ok?
Thanks again for visiting.
Many paper (not DSP) hugs for you.

Maria.

Aww Nuts!!!!! for Fab Friday.....

Hello Everyone: Well, it's time for a Fab Friday challenge sketch and for me to participate on this challenge for the first time. Here is my card.

Ok, I've been making cards for my grandchildren for many years now and the other day, I realized I d haven't taken any pictures of them so, I decided to ask my grandkids to borrow their cards so I could take pictures, just to have them, you know? all of them gave me their cards and I was so happy to see them and remember the times when I made them. 
This card was made for my little granddaughter Anastasia, who broke her little arm (she was only 7!!)  back in August of 2011, at the playground of her school, just one short week after school started, climbing the Monkey Bars during recess. When she fell, she didn't tell her teacher right away that her arm was hurting until the pain was just to much and one of her classmates alerted the teacher that she was crying and her left wrist was very swollen. Her teacher took her immediately to the nurse and they called my daughter to come and get her and take her to the doctor.
Well, when I saw her she looked like a little bird with a broken wing, so that afternoon I started thinking of a card to cheer her up and I remember that I had this very old and retired SU set called "Lots of Boots" and one of the images was of this little robot with a broken arm, so I knew it was going to be perfect for her, what do you think?
Anyway, this is the sketch that inspired this card.
I want to thank you for visiting and for your comments, I read all of them and I appreciate every word. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Till next time, have a great weekend.
Hugs.
Maria.

A Penguin Birthday for Merry Mondays.....

Hello everyone: This week, the Merry Monday Challenge Blog theme is Penguins. When I read this, my mind went directly to the retired SU "Zoo Review" stamp set and THE ONLY PENGUIN STAMP I OWN!! Honest, I do not have any other penguins in my entire stamp room but I was mighty happy I had this one because I was able to make this card.

I did a little bit of masking, just on the penguins right wing, to line them up all in a row. This card required just some light sponging on the background and coloring the penguins beaks and feet with SU Pumpkin Pie marker.

Since it's rather simple I decided to add a bit of interest to this images by giving each little penguin a birthday hat and a pretty scarf tied up in a bow, which I punched out with a super old punch from Tonic Studios, I looked around for this punch but couldn't find it, the image it punches is of a candy cane with a bow, so I just cut the bow for my card. 
For the hats I just cut little triangles and glued a mini pom pom in coordinating colors.

For the "snow" I added a bit of glue and sprinkle some chunky glitter, stamped the sentiment with the SU retired "Curly Cute" stamp set and died cut it with Spellbinder's banner dies.

Well, that's it, I hope you like this card, I would love it if you let me know. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Have a fabulous week.

Hugs from Maria.

 

A baby card for Retro Rubber.....

Hello Everyone: Today I'm thrilled to be the guest stamper over at the Retro Rubber challenge blog again. This week it's a sketch challenge and I hope you guys join in the fun. This is the card I made for it, I hope you like it.

I chose to color it with very soft pinks, yellows and greens, using SU markers and the aqua painter. I sponged the edges of the water color paper with Hello Honey and a little bit of Daffodil Delight. The strip of DSP is from Lily of the Valley and the image I used is from a retired Flourishes set.  The beautiful crystal buttons are retired SU and the pink card stock is SU Pink Pirouette.

The sentiment is also from this lovely Flourishes stamp set, I died cut it with Spellbinders Nestabilities die set called Oval Regalia and sponged it with Hello Honey too.

I love sketches, they are a fun way to get creative, this one is simple but fabulous, so I hope you give it a try.

Thank you so much for visiting, it always makes me so darn happy to see your comments so I thank you for those too. This is the sketch that inspired my card and, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. 

Till next time, have a fabulous day!!

Maria.

"Best Day Ever" for Power Poppy's Pencil Challenge.....

Hello again, everyone: Today I'm sharing a card that I made for the Power Poppy "Can you Pencil Me In" Challenge for the month of June. You can check it out HERE .

The challenge asks us to color our images using pencils so, I grabbed my Prismacolors , paper stumps and baby oil and this is the card I made.

This image from the set "Best Day Ever" and I chose to make a shaker card with it. The problem is that, when I filled the shaker with the sand, the static was so bad that it covered the entire surface, the sand just wouldn't go to the bottom so, I empty it and tried washing it with soap, shampoo and rubbing it with the Embossing Buddy with absolutely no luck. I knew I wanted to still use the sand and shells, which by the way, are from Panama City, FL. from the last Spring Break vacation my hubby and I took with our 5 grandchildren back in 2012.
Anyway, since nothing was working to prevent the sand to sticking to the window, I decided to glue it to the card so, I applied some Crystal Effects with a brush onto the image and poured the sand on it and then, I put a bit on the back of the shells to keep them in place.

I hope you can see the sand in this picture. I also put some Crystal Effects on the sun glasses, I also hope this picture shows that.
The sentiment comes in this set, I think it's funny all of this new words young people are using now a days.
The DSP is from a very old pad I bought at Hobby Lobby a long time ago, I was lucky to find this whole page in that stash.
I hope you like this card, it surely took me back to those glorious days with our grandkids, walking on the beach, collecting shells, and watching them run to us to show their finds of "never seen before" treasures.  We feel so grateful to have this children so close to us and to have this wonderful memories when they were little and we had them all to ourselves, grandpa and grandma sure felt awesome.
I want to thank you for visiting and for your comments.
Have a great day.
Maria.

Chilling out with MM #403 and PP #250.....

Hello Everyone: Summer is finally here and I'm really enjoying the warm, sometimes hot days, you will never, ever hear me complain again about the heat, as I'm (gracefully) aging, the cold months really do not appeal to me all that much anymore, love the beauty of falling snow and the way everything looks all covered in white but the cold temperatures are no good for my bones.
Anyway, this is the first time I combine two challenges, this time is, Mojo Monday and The Paper Players the theme and sketch worked perfectly for this card I made.

This little mouse is sure chilling out inside this cold and refreshing lemonade glass and looks perfectly happy and contented. The image is from House Mouse and it's called "Splish, Splash, a Citrus Bath".  As always,  I colored it with SU markers and the aqua painter and added a bit of Wink of Stella shimmer to the glass, flower and lemon slice.

The Gingham paper is from Lily of the Valley, the rest is from my stash. My card base is in Daffodil Delight and I embossed it with the Tulip Frame embossing folder (retired).
Here are the sketches that inspired this card.
As always, thank you so much for stopping by, I appreciate your comments immensely. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Till next time, hugs.
Maria.