Winter Birds.....

Hello: This post is to see if my blog is working ok. I've been having some difficulties with Blogger and I don't know if anyone is able to receive my blog posts.
I had this card in my stash, I don't know why I never posted it so, I'm doing it right now as a test to see if anyone out there is receiving this post.

I just hope you guys can see this post.

Thank you.

Maria.

A bit of sweet yummyness!!!!!

Hello everyone: I've been off the grid for a few days due to the fact that we had a dear friend from Mexico visiting our home, what better reason to put card making on the shelve for a spell.
But I'm back once again sharing a card with you that I'm linking to the CASology challenge with the Cue Word "PIE" for this week, I hope you guys give this fun challenge a try, here is my card.

This card was made with a retired Flourishes set called "Fresh Baked" and, as you can see, that pie looks really yummy.  I stamped it onto a panel of Canson water color paper and colored it with my SU markers in Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, Cajun Craze and a little bit of River Rock for the recipe, I wanted it to look a bit aged.

I die cut this image with a Flourishes die that has a companion stamp set called "Berry Sweet Frames" that I bought from one of the DT ladies, her name is Christine Okken , as a matter of fact, I've bought several Flourishes sets from her, I hope you guys go to her blog to check out her "For Sale" place, there are still plenty of Flourishes sets available plus stamp sets from other places at really good prices.

Here is a close up of this Cherry Pie for you.

I put a little Crystal Effects on the pie to resemble the fruit oozing out when you take it out of the oven, I can smell it, oh sooooo goooood!!. I hope you can see the shine.

I set this image onto a Stampin Up! Cajun Craze card base .

Again, I tried to follow the CASology guide lines by having my focal point on the bottom 1/3 of the card base but, this image is a bit big and so is the die.  I also added a narrow strip of yellow Gingham paper that, to me, matches the color of the pie dough and gave me some space to stamp my sentiment, which is from this same set. 

I'm having so much fun making CAS cards and posting them on my blog, sometimes I achieve the style, sometimes I kind of go a bit, just a bit over the line but, in the end, it's all about having fun and, believe me, I just love this little blog of mine and participating in all kinds of challenges.

Here is the banner for this fun CASology challenge.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I appreciate your comments more than I can express here, I read them all and they give me such joy. Most times, I personally reply to them, other times, I just write a small note in the comment section, thanking all of you for your sweetness.

Until next time, Happy Stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Purple Onion Best Wishes.....

Hello everyone: I have another card to share with you for the CASology Week #174, with a Cue Card "OWL", here is my card.

This little sweetie is from Purple Onion Designs, his name is Snowy Winter Owl and I think he is just adorable. The Fence and the Sign are also from Purple Onion and right now, they are having a HOLIDAY SALE with 25% off all their stamps!!

Anyway, have you ever made a card and then look at it and then start adding stuff to it and then you feel you should STOP!!???  Well, this happened to me while I was making this card. I needed to keep it CAS but, after I finished coloring the little owl and the fence and after I sponged the sky, I thought "Hmm.. wouldn't it look really nice if snow was falling?" so I grabbed a stencil from Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow and added some snow with SU white craft ink pad and I heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I added some Dazzling Details to the snow on the fence and the ground but I forgot to stamp my sentiment before adding the Dazzling Details so I was wondering where I was going to put it. Then I remember that sign so I stamped on a small piece of water color paper, stamped the sentiment and attached it to the fence with 4 "nails".

 

I think this card is kind of border line with a CAS requirements but, in my defense, I think it looks cute.  

I stamped all of this images onto Canson water color paper and colored them with the aqua painter and SU markers in Chocolate Chip, Night of Navy, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler and More Mustard.

I hope you like this card, I hope it meets the CAS rules too. 

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Silvery Snowflakes.....

Hello everyone: I hope your Thanksgiving was fabulous, that you shared joyful memories, delicious food, awesome desserts and yummy drinks with your family and friends.
Here is a card I made to participate in the Freshly Make Sketches sketch challenge by Jen Timko, the Time Out Challenge "Snowflake" challenge and the LiveLoveCards , also with a Snowflake Challenge.

This snowflake dies are very old, I can't really remember where they came from but I think they are Spellbinders. I apologize for not giving you a link or a name but, when I bought them, having a blog was never in the picture, I never considered it, I was just happy to make cards for my family and friends so I never bother to save the packaging or at least, the name and company that made them.

I cut a panel of Ninah Solar White card stock and run it through the Big Shot with the Sizzix Snowflake embossing folder. Following the sketch, I place some smaller ones around.

The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called "Sentimental Christmas" and it's heat embossed in silver, I love the font.

It's a little tricky to take a good picture of the shimmer on that sentiment so I hope you can see it better in this photo.

This is it for today, thank you for stopping by, until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.

Hoot, Hoot for CASology #174.....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU, FROM ALL OF US!!!!!

This week, the CASololgy designer team has a new Cue Card for us to play with, the theme is OWL, here is my card.

As soon as I saw the Cue Card I thought about the fabulous SU Owl Builder Punch.  This punch is so versatile that you can really make all kinds of things with it, I've seen punch art using this punch on Pinterest that really amazes me.

But, for this challenge I made this card, I don't know if it's really very CAS but I'm going to take my chances anyway and link it to the challenge.

I've used this Santa's hat image before and, this snipped out one was just perfect for my little owl. There is very little stamping on this card, just the sentiment Owl Santa is standing on. Before I placed the owl on the panel I ran it through the BS with a Sizzix Snow Fall embossing folder to give him a bit of a background.

Thank you for stopping by, I know you might be busy today with preparations for your family's celebrations so I want to wish you all, a wonderful and Blessed Thanksgiving Holiday.

In this Day of giving Thanks, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all the sweet and kind words you always leave for me.

  

Until next time, love and hugs from Maria.

Seize the Birthday with Vellum.....

Hello everyone: I don't know about you but, I love Vellum. It can be tricky to work with, if you are not careful, you can burn it while heat embossing it, it warps a bit if you apply markers or a bit of water color, it's hard to conceal the glue, sticky strips, glue dots and it can tear very easily when you try to dry emboss it. But, if you can avoid all of this pitfalls, it's a wonderful and beautiful product to work with, it gives your cards a very soft and elegant look.
This week over at Seize the Birthday they have a new challenge, this time you must use Vellum or Acetate on your birthday card, I chose Vellum, I'm also linking this card to the AAA Cards #53 "Anythig Goes" challenge, here is my card.

Some time ago I bought THIS starter kit, I've seen several amazing cards on Pinterest using Vellum or Parchment and I wanted to try it. This kit comes with everything you need to get a taste of this beautiful way of embossing on Vellum.

This design is one of the 7 that come in the instruction booklet, the only difference is that, instead of embossing the sentiment, I stamped it with SU white craft ink and carefully heat emboss it with clear embossing powder, the rest of the design is traced with the white gel pen that comes with the kit and, using the stylus, I carefully embossed it from the back, with a flipping motion, just like when you do a check mark. I colored the leaves with SU Certainly Celery but the flowers were left white, their pink hue is from the piece of soft pink card stock in the back.

The little bow is from my stash and I placed it on one of the beautiful, SU Very Vintage Designer Buttons with a glue dot, the piece of retired pattern paper is from Stampin Up! but I don't remember which collection it belongs to.

Here are the banners that inspired this card.

 

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

Hugs from Maria.

Christmas Cuties for the PPA #276.....

Hello dear friends: I have a card to share with you today I made for the Pals Paper Arts Sketch challenge, here is my card.

This cute little Christmas critters are from a retired 2011-2012 Stampin Up! set called "Forest Festivities", I love using my old and much loved sets. I stamped them onto Canson water color paper with Stazon Jet Black ink and colored them with this SU markers and the aqua painter: Riding Hood Red, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green, Regal Rose, Bashful Blue. I added a bit of Dazzling Diamonds for the snow under the bunny's feet and sleigh. I can't remember where I got that background snowflake stamp but I used Coastal Cabana to stamp in onto a panel of Ninah Solar White card stock and to sponge each little square for a little definition. The sentiment is from the Power Poppy Merry Littles , one of many beautiful images on this set, and it's cut with a label die from Spellbinders, (I'm not to sure about this, I had this die set for a long time now). 

Here is the banner that inspired this card.

Thank you so much for visiting, I appreciate all you comments, thank you!!

Until next time, happy stamping.

Hugs from Maria.