Calla Lilies for Mojo Monday #437.....

Hello everyone: It's time for another fabulous sketch over at the MOJO MONDAY challenge blog. I'm so very ready for Spring, Easter, warmer temperatures, flowers, the good old Planet Earth waking up from the long and cold slumber of Winter so, I went with soft colors for my card and a beautiful image of Calla Lilies.

 I stamped this flowers, from the retired Flourishes set called "Calla Lilies", onto Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored the flowers with the white Prismacolor pencil and the stems, ribbon and little chick, from retired Flourishes set called "Signs of Spring", with SU markers and the aqua painter. I was going to leave the flowers with no color but the water color paper has a off white hue and I wanted the flowers white. The sentiment is from the dollar bin at my local craft store. The pattern paper is from Lili of the Valley and the seam binding ribbon is from SU in Daffodil Delight.

I die cut all of this images with Spellbinders scalloped oval dies. 

Here is a picture of the finish inside.

The sentiment is from another Flourishes set called "Lenten Rose", I stamped a partial image from the same set as in front, both using Wild Wasabi ink.

Here is the sketch that inspired this card.

 

Here are the pictures of this 3 stamp sets.

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

Hugs from Maria.

Butterfly Kisses for Retro Rubber #33.....

Hello everyone: I have a card to share with you today for our new Retro Rubber  challenge this week.  With Spring just around the corner, I wanted to change the colors and images a little to keep thinking of warmer temperatures, sunny days, flowers blooming, butterflies fluttering about.....So here is a card that hopefully will send a bit of warmth your way.

This images are from two sets of Stampin Up! stamps and punches you probably recognize. The beautiful Papillion Potpourri stamp set with the Small Butterfly punch came out in 2012-2013  catalog and both are still available.  The equally beautiful Petite Petals stamp set with it's companion punch came out in 2014, this is also still available.
I stamped the images onto Canson water color paper, colored them with the aqua painter and SU markers and punched them out, then I die cut the circles from a strip of white card stock,  using the smallest one from the Spellbinders Nestabilities Circle dies .  The top embossed panel is done with SU "Delicate Designs" Textured Impressions embossing folder, I just love the lacy look of it.
The pattern paper is from Lili of the Valley, the sentiment is from a retired Flourishes stamp set called "Tulips for Friends", stamped with Tempting Turquoise ink and it's die cut using the Spellbinders Shapeabilities die set called Ribbon Banners . Here is a picture of the finished inside.

And here is the sketch that inspired this card.



Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you give this fun sketch challenge a try, we can't wait to see what you create in the gallery.  Until next time, happy stamping.
Hugs from Maria.

Happy Leap Year!!!!!

Hello everyone: Well, it's here, February 29th. 2016, it's funny but, I for one, never really paid to much attention to this day, all I know is that it happens every 4 years and, according to THIS explanation, it's because actually, the Earth takes 365.24 to go around the Sun so, they (who ever "they" are), added one day to our calendar every 4 years to keep the Seasons of the year synchronized otherwise, the Seasons would shift around the calendar and then, every 750 years June would be in the middle of Winter.....so weird that would be!!!
Anywho, over at the "Just Us Girls" has a photo inspiration challenge for today, February 29th. so here is my card.

This image is from a company called "Alotastamps", that apparently closed it's doors a while back, I tried to look for this stamp and I couldn't find it, but I love this frog, happily submerged into what appears to be a Martini....."Shaken not Stirred" please!! Hmm.. I don't know about this one, I think it's both shaken and stirred, LOL!!

I just stamped the happy froggy onto a panel of Canson water color paper and colored it with my new Derwent pencils, the color green is just perfect for this frog. The olives were colored with SU Old Olive, I stamped one extra and snipped it out and placed it there on the side falling, I think this frog is just about done!!

I added a bit of Crystal Effects to the glass and the drops.

Here is a picture of the finished inside.

This stamps are from the Retired SU "Happy Hour" stamp set.

Here is the picture that inspired this card.

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

Hugs from Maria.

ALL WIRED UP!!!!!

Hello everyone: Well, I must say that the challenge over at "Less is More" had me scratching my head and pondering all day yesterday, I really, really wanted to participate but I honestly had trouble figuring out how to incorporate WIRE into my card. I look around this room at all of my stamp sets, all I saw were beautiful flowers, cute little critters, fabulous Fairies, balloons, cakes.....but nothing that I could add wire to so I just put it out of my mind for a while and kept cleaning up this room and getting the boxes for my 11 year old granddaughter's Art Club ready to take to the school on Monday, with stuff I don't use anymore, from pattern paper to ribbon, embellishments and other stuff I know this kids would love to have.
But, when I was gathering my SU cling stamps to dust the shelf, what do I see!!! the cutest little monsters ever!! I grabbed this set called "Monstermaniacs" from October 2013 and I knew right then this is what I was going to use to participate in this challenge, I just mask the Monsters' antennae to substitute it with wire. Here is my card.

I stamped the image onto a panel of Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black in and colored it with my Derwent water color pencils. I bought a set of 12 the other day on sale, love the colors.
When I finished coloring them, I grabbed some copper colored jewelry wire, cut a piece and wrap it around a tapestry needle several times to create the antennae for my little monsters. I more or less followed the picture on the front of the stamp case, then I pierced a small hole on top of them, inserted the wire and taped it in the back. It was a bit time consuming but I really like the way it turned out. Here is a close up of this cute and adorable Monsters.

This set is just so perfect for kids cards, here is a picture of the finish inside, I used the other little monster in the set here.

And here is the picture of this fun stamp set.

This is the banner from "Less is More", the recipe this week is to

ADD SOME WIRE.

I hope you like my little monsters, thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

BLOW OUT ALL THE CANDLES!!!!!

Hello everyone: I'm a little late posting this card, I've been doing some SERIOUS rearranging of my craft room, purging some papers, embellishments, stickers, glitter, ribbon, yarn and other goodies to donate them to my granddaughter Anastasia's Art Club in school, the kids are in dyer need of supplies, I'm also going to go get them some glue, tape and coloring pencils and other stuff, for their art projects.
But anywho, here is this card that I'm linking to the Seize the Birthday "Anything Goes" challenge and the Stamp Ink Paper "Card Maker's Choice" challenge (we're suppose to use our favorite stamps and papers but, in my case, all of my stamps are my favorites, I chose this one for the Seize the Birthday challenge), and the LiveLoveCards Masculine Challenge, I figured this card could go either way but the fact that it looks like this chickens are all "boys" made me take a chance and submit it to this challenge.

Ok, just the expression of concern on some of this chicken's faces makes me smile but then, add the gazillion candles, this cake looks like it could be mine, hmm.. I think I can count almost 65 candles, sheeesh!! I kept it pretty simple, (ah...it's not CAS at all, ok? just simple without the clean part), I used colors that kind of match the chicken's crests and.....what are those things under their beaks called? Anyway, just stamped t his Penny Black image called "Best of Luck"  onto a panel of Canson water color paper and colored it with the aqua painter and SU markers, I sponged a bit of Old Olive for the grass and a litle of Broken China distress ink for the sky, added 4 Candy Dots and that was it. Here is a picture of the finish inside.

Here are the banners that inspired this card.

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

Hugs from Maria.

CELEBRATE!!!!!

Hello dear stamping friends: I have a card to share with you today using one of my favorite Penny Black stamp sets called HUGS , here is my card.

I did some masking on this image, the little Hedgehog is holding a bouquet of flowers but I wanted him to hold one of balloons so, with a bit of washi tape, I was able to stamp only this sweet critter and then, I added my balloons.

I stamped this image onto a panel of plain white card stock, (I ran out of Ninnah solar white) with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored it with just 2 Prismacolor pencils, the strings on the balloons were done with SU markers. 

I stamped the CELEBRATE sentiment from an old stamp with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with Tempting Turquoise embossing powder, the colors on this card are from the Color Q challenge #330 , I had to dig deep into my card stock scraps to find this colors to at least die cut my balloons, I wanted to use a panel of Poppy Parade for the layering but I didn't have enough. 

Here is a picture of the finished inside.

I'm also linking this card to the CAS{E} this Sketch! challenge. 

Here are the banners that inspired this card.

Thank you for stopping by, until next time, Happy Stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

The Good Old Days.....

Hello everyone: I have a card to share with you today that features one of those nostalgic and classic phones of yesteryear, I've seen this phones only in movies but I think they are just so beautiful.  I'm linking this card to the Freshly Made Sketches challenge for this week. Here is my card.

The image is from a retired Flourishes stamp set called "Call Me" and all the images are so beautiful. I stamped it onto a panel of Canson water color paper with Sazon Jet Black ink and colored it with my Prismacolor pencils and paper stumps dipped in baby oil.

The beautiful pattern paper is from Lili of the Valley. Both the sentiment in the front and the inside are from the same set.

Here is a picture of the finished inside.

I stamped the cute cup with the flowers again by masking the rest of the image, with Dove Gray Stazon Ink. 

Here is a picture of the stamp set I used, so you can see how it looks like.

Here is the sketch that inspired my card.

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

Hugs from Maria.