Introducing Karen Maldonado

The next Creative Team member I would like to introduce to you is, Karen Maldonado. She has a very ornate, yet graceful style, and loves to work with sultry colors.  She caught my eye because of the little details that she adds to each of her creations.  You can tell she loves crafting as she pays attention to placing everything "just so" on her cards by adding little flowers or ribbons in just the right place.  I know the recipients of her art must feel loved when she passes on a little piece of herself through her creations.  Heck, I feel loved anytime she puts a few of my products into her designs.  I have linked any of the Silhouette dies that she used directly to that file on the Silhouette site to make it easy for you to find the die. 

I love pennants...they just scream Celebration!  Combine them with fun colorful paper, and you've got a paper party going on.  This card is so cute!  For Karen's "Birthday Wishes" card she used die cuts from the silhouette digital download store (Polka Dot Pennant  -C00951-19210) She used two of the four layers to create this string of pennants.  There is an addtional polka dot layer and offset pennant layer you can use too!

Karen gives a festive twist to a Halloween card by creating a hand made paper carnation.  She has a tutorial on her blog for this technique. She used a few of my Sillhouette die cuts to complete her design:

"Bats" (C00927_19210) and The card base is another Silhouette die cut "Artisan Nesting Rectangular" (C00685_19210) which can stand upwards or sideways!!

What kid wouldn't love to receive this little treat bag that Karen created for Halloween.  She used  my Silhouette die,"Scalloped Favor Bag (C0156)" and also used my "Hanging Ghost (C00931_19210)" Silhouette die. She cut two each of the ghost, covered the back of the ghost with black cardstock so the eyes would be black.  This is an excellent tip for minimizing layering details when using the Silhouette. Cute and clever!

In celebration of World Cardmaking Day, Karen created this beauty. The card has a antique vintage feel complete with lace and aged ink techniques. She used my Silhouette (Crown Border Square/C00637-19210) as her card base.  There are also some more of those cute handmade paper flowers...tutorial here.

Isn't this fun? I love the way Karen added a pink bow to my Silhouette "Kitty Cat Favor bag" die.  One of my favorite things about this project is how she used little pearls for the shine in the cat eyes...that's brilliant!!

Karen made a little mini album with a couple of my Silhouette dies (8 piece scalloped round corner set C01032_19210 & swirly frame C00796-19210) which she squeezed so it was more square and omitted the swirly center.  That is something that is always good to remember about the silhouette, you can always choose which lines you want to cut by ungrouping the file and deleting what you won't be using in that cutting pass.  Karen makes use of that feature all the time to make shapes work for her projects. and I tell you what...Karen is like the queen of flower making...here's another cool handmade flower...details for making this sweet beauty are on her blog.

Karen also has a lot of fun with Copic markers...a fun blending markers for stampers...if you haven't heard of them...check them out...very cool stuff!  She used several of my my silhouette dies to create the center of her card including: artisan_with_swirls_C00487_19210, she omitted the swirl part of the design and just used the out line. That is a cool thing you can do from within the Silhouette software. She also used: 8_piece_mini_scalloped_oval_set_1_C01037_19210

I think this card is just lovely.  Karen put an unexpected bright pop of color in the ribbon and the pink pearls--great idea to add contrast against the muted background. She used a few of my dies from Silhouette including the dual_edge_half_moon_scallop and 3_nesting_retro_flowers_C00494_19210 for the base of her flower.  

Karen has a knack for making cute little journals like this beauty. She used one of my Silhouette Dies called "3 Nesting Artsian Shapes" (C00493_19210) " it comes with three different files in this one set!!  Of course you know I am going to say I love her flower and ribbons.  

This card that Karen designed makes me feel warm and fuzzy.  Love the autumn cozy colors of the designer papers she used (Basic Grey's Wisteria collection!)  I love Basic Grey and how they revolutionized the scrapbooking industry when they entered the market.  They are an awesome company. She also used my "Artisans Nesting Rectangular (C00685_19210)" Silhouette die design to mat her cute little stamped girl.  Then, she tucked three of my Silhouette "Snowflakes (C0301)" dies to go with her autumn/winter theme!  She was clever and cut the snowflakes in 3 different sizes.  I think the snowflake die would also be cute cut large and used as a doily under a plate of holiday cookies.

I hope that you enjoyed getting to know Karen.  I certainly have been enjoying getting to know her through her designs.  I hope you visit her blog and frequent it often as there is always some kind of inspiration there for you to enjoy.  

After coming off a HUGE string of deadlines...I've finally come to the eye of the storm where there is a calm before the next string of deadlines. Don't get me wrong...there is plenty of stuff to do on my "to do" list--even in the eye of the storm...but this week, I am taking a little break from design work and just doing the minimum...but I'm maximizing on Family time.

On Sunday, I went for a walk with my kids, then visited my parents, then went to a family dinner at my in laws. On Monday I painted my daughters toe nails and organized her room while searching for my wedding ring (that's the last place I remember seeing it 2 weeks ago, but I didn't find it...sniff sniff.) Yesterday I volunteered at my 8 year olds school and then perused through the book fair and brought home way more books than I care to admit (hey, it was buy on get one free...and for a great cause!) Then in the afternoon, I read books to the kids--almost all of them that I purchased, but not the chapter books. I've also started studying scriptures at night before bedtime with my 8 year old son. I made dinner from scratch three nights in a row...and I contemplated organizing my pantry--it's evolved into one of those cartoon scenes where the character quickly opens the door, grabs what they need, then shuts it before the whole closet comes down on them...(I'm not there yet with organizing the pantry...but the idea is heavily brewing.)

The start of this week has been full...but I have only worked a few hours...so it makes me wonder...how do I get it all done on weeks where I work 40-70 hours. One thing's for sure...I've learned that sleep is overrated...I do some of my best work between the hours of 9pm and 2am. I've reinvented what the word weekend means...my husband usually works weekends, so I kind of forget it's the weekend until I wake up Sunday morning and frantically realize that I need to get moving if I want to get to church on time with the kids. Today...I got my hair done--it hadn't been cut or colored since January...I think that may be a new record for me for shortest time between beauty shop visits--I typically put it off until the very last possible minute (usually the day before CHA, and I look in the mirror and realize that I'm a little too grey and shaggy.) Then I browsed on e-bay for a new purse (typically, I only do shopping on line unless it's groceries, Costco, or my favorite thrift store) My current purse is so gross...let's just say my kids have lived in it with their banana peels and snacks, and diapers, and candy wrappers, and mystery items that need not be discussed. It's been nice to unwind a little.

In my unwinding, I also perused through the Silhouette Flikr group and found some wonderful creations using my designs. It's designs like this one by Eva Dobilas that motivate me to design. She made this amazing little birdhouse using my Silhouette birdhouse die, and Ippity stamps. The detail on this project just amazes me! That's why I have to share it with all of you! I love seeing what people do with my designs. It motivates me to make more stuff. The thing that thrills me is that 3 crafters can use the same fabric, paper, die, or whatever, and come up with a totally different project than the other crafters. The possibilities of what to do with the designs is virtually endless, and in turn...so inspiring.