Mojo Monday

It's Mojo Monday and time for another sketch challenge. I checked it out first thing this morning, printed it, and then thought about it while I was cleaning (finally) the utility room. The room is now clean...even under and behind the washer & dryer. Of course I'm having a hard time breathing after all that dust. But it was worth it.
So I took a break and made my card. What's nice is this is an all Stampin Up! card. The designer paper is from Urban Garden. The stripes are the reverse side of the paper I used for one of the layers. The card base is baja breeze with a layer of not quite navy and then the printed layer. The flowers from Upsy Daisy were colored with Not Quite Navy marker and blender pens inked with baja breeze and kiwi kiss re-inkers. The sentiment is from Mark the Date, and the ribbon is basic gray taffeta. I like the results and the sketch. Mojo Monday is NICE!

Cupcake Challenge

It took a couple of days, but I made a card for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge. OK...why did it take a couple of days? Well, I was waiting for Sunday when I knew I would be purchasing an Inkadinkado set from ac moore. It's so nice that the store is not too far from my church (PC3). It only takes a minute to run in with coupon in hand and make a quick purchase. Yesterday Gary took a coupon in with him and bought the MS butterfly punch for me...he's so nice...doesn't complain about stopping there and is always willing to help me use coupons!
Moving on...for the card, I used wild wasabi designer prints paper and so saffron cardstock for the layer beneath that. The scallop is chipboard which I inked with So Saffron craft ink and then added tiny rhinestones (from Walmart). I punched out a purely pomegranate circle and attached it with dimensionals. I used a water pen, purely pomegranate ink and brown colored pencil to color the cupcake. I cut it out and added some stickles. The celebrate sentiment is from the same cupcake stamp collection. After I stamped it, I went over the letters with a glaze pen. The 3 brads are from my brad stash. I think these were the last of this color :) yeah! I'm gradually using these things and will be so happy when they are gone. The next thing I want to do is sell some of my older and seldom used stamp sets. They need a new home. Watch for a list in the next couple of days.
Have a blessed week!

Kindred Spirit Card

This morning I checked out Saturday's Sketch For You To Try on Jen's blog iheart2stamp. Even though I wanted to make something right away, I stuck to my plan and worked on taxes instead. I thought I would only be a couple of hours...wrong. I worked on them until 4:00 and then I said, "Enough!" So I retreated into my stamp room and made this card with today's sketch.
I started the card by choosing the 3 embellishments on the left side...fusion felt flowers and buttons...both items on my list of seldom used things. When I first started using Stampin Up products, my favorite color family was Earth Elements and I used old olive, more mustard, ruby red, and really rust a lot. I thought about that and remembered a card I made for a swap a few years ago. I couldn't believe (well, yes I can)...I still had a piece of cardstock that I used for the background of that card. I made it using the wax paper resist technique. So this is what I used for the bottom layer of this card. Well, that made the rest of the card easy to create. I pulled out the giraffe from In the Wild, stamped it in old olive and sponged some old olive around the edges. You can't tell in the picture, but the ruby red layer is embossed with a Sizzix texture panel. It actually goes well with the giraffe and background. I then remember how much one of my friends likes these colors and this stamp set so I stamped kindred spirit (from So Many Sayings) on twill tape and layered that on old olive grosgrain ribbon.
If you want to know more about wax paper resist, splitcoast has a great tutorial on it. It's really easy.

One Cool Dude

I don't have any cards or projects to post right now. But I think it's time for an update on the little guy. The clothes and hat are from his Aunt Julie and Uncle Shannon. What can I say...he is so cute! His big sister Bree is keeping a close eye on him. I don't think she wanted him to go to sleep. Being a grandma is wonderful!
I would really like to add a texture or border to the pictures, but I haven't experimented enough with them. FYI...Aunt Julie does awesome work! Check out her blog.

Mojo Monday Sketch #73

Participating in sketch challenges has been very beneficial to me. I try different card layouts, I actually make cards, I'm using more embellishments, and I get to see some awesome cards made by other stampers. I guess if there is a downside it is that I'm also seeing some really, really great stamps that I don't have!
This card is for the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge At first I wanted to try making a valentine's day card, but decided I didn't really need another one. So I made something I could give one of my friends. . . for a birthday, a thank you, for any reason. I can wait and add an inside verse later.
Two great things about today's card: I used some retired SU stuff - the ribbon and hodgepodge hardware. I kinda decided that I should try and use what I have before spending more! That's not always easy.
Paper: Brocade Blue, So Saffron, Mellow Moss, Very Vanilla
Ink: Mellow Moss
Markers (to color the flowers) mellow moss, brocade blue, so saffron
Accessories: small oval punch, ribbon (from Theatre pack), hodgepodge hardware, button, linen thread

Friday's Challenge Card

I learned late last night that a friend's father passed away a couple of days ago. I wanted to make a card and mail it right away especially since I was not able to attend the visitation nor the funeral. It's difficult to suddenly lose someone you are very close to and I am praying for the family.



I was hoping Taylor would have a challenge sketch today to help get some creative juices flowing...and she did.




It was difficult choosing colors. Many of my sympathy cards are done in softer colors. I hope these brighter colors will help convey the hope that she has in God that she will see her father again.


The Purely Pomegranate layer is embossed with a cuttlebug folder (I think textile). The tulips are from the retired SU set Watercolor Garden II- one of those sets I can't seem to part with.
The sentment is from Hero Arts.
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, and Purely Pomegranate (one of last year's in-colors.
Ink: same colors as paper
Accessories: Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Curly Label Punch, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, brads

Sketch Challenge Cards

Here are yesterday's Mojo Monday sketch and my card. I'm still on this kick of using some of my forgotten and seldom used supplies. The patterned paper is from a K&Company Designer Mat Pad. (That's a lot of words.) The papers are really designed to be mats for 4x6 pictures and I wish I would start scrapbooking more and using them for that purpose. But...
Anyway the colors for the card were chosen to coordinate with the colors in the dp. I used creamy caramel, pacific point, and riding hood red.
I used one of the cuttlebug folders to emboss the riding hood red layer. The flowers are a SU retired set - Easy Elegance. I used a mellow moss marker and a blender pen (with pacific point re-inker to color the flowers. I used a large scallop punch and then distressed it with creamy caramel ink. The sanded background stamp adds some texture to the creamy caramel labels and to the small punched flowers.
The monkey card was made with Jen del Muro's Saturday challenge. After rejecting 4 other colors and various stamps, I decided to pull out the stuff I have left in my Creative License Simply Scrapping Kit. I used a piece of dp and some of the stickers. The strips at the top and bottom, the FYI, the circle and star in one of the circles are all stickers from the kit. The monkey is from Zoofari, a current stamp set, and isavailable for purchase. The sentiment is from a retired All Year Cheer set, but you could easily use another stamp (like one of the stamps from On Your Birthday #111664). The monkey and colors make this a great card for kids.








Splitcoast Stampers has a limited supply challenge on Fridays. Last week the challenge was to make a clean and simple card. Gotta love this one. The card probably took 5 minutes to make. There are a lot of great cards in the gallery that will provide inspiration for many, many cards and I will definitely be be checking them out!