Mojo Sketch Inspired

Yeah, I know, it's been ages since I've posted any work. It's not because I haven't made anything...I just haven't had the time. You know how it is - 45 min trip to work, 45 minute trip home, dinner, dishes, do this, do that and it's 11pm. Fortunately, I'm taking advantage of a few weeks off (thanks, Gary). While I'm tackling a list of long overdue projects, I'm pausing occasionally to share some of the things I've been making.
This afternoon I looked through some old mojo monday sketches and decided to try one from April. I used the new SU color coach to find a color combo for real red. It had real red, early espresso and pumpkin pie (wasn't really sure about this combo at first). But since I wanted to add some designer paper to the mix, I decided to switch to choc chip. It worked, I'm done, and I have another card to add to my growing stash!
Stamps:Pocket Silhouettes, Sanded, Matchbox Messages
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink; Real Red Marker, Pumpkin Pie marker, and Soft Suede marker

Mojo Monday Challenge

I made a card for todays Mojo Monday Challenge, and then I switched out the center of the card to give it a whole new look.  Choosing a patterned paper from SU Sale-a-bration collection determined the color combination.  The ribbon is also from last February's Sale-a-bration.   The circle background and thank you stamps are from Inkadinkado (at least I think).  The Japanese doll was made from punches.

This layout would be great to use for a brag book or mini album. Okay, now there's one more card challenge I would like to try before I begin dinner.  If I keep it simple, I just might make it.  

Mojo Monday Challenge

Wow...I managed to make another challenge card! I was beginning to think that perhaps these were a thing of the past for me. There's way too many things I should be doing on my Monday at home. Today, I painted some baseboards (should have been done months ago), washed the dishes, did some laundry, and...began the process of cleaning the grout on the kitchen floor...how gross is that? So, the Monday Mojo Sketch Challenge sounded like a good thing!
I used the Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper...it's on SU "going, going, gone" list. Baja Breeze was one of my favorite In Colors this year...I'll miss this one. Thanks to the Mojo Design team for another fun card sketch. Check out all of the cards here.

My card components:
Paper: kraft, baja breeze, Parisian Breeze Specialty, white
Ink: close to cocoa, chocolate chip marker, baja breeze reinker (with blender pen)
Accesories: close to cocoa ribbon, oval punches, flower fusion, CB folder

2 Challenge Cards

The sketch for the first card comes from Jen's Saturday sketch challenge. The card is for my nephew who turned 13 on Saturday. I know I'm a bit late in making the card. It's not that I don't remember these birthdays...I just remember too early and then put off making a card...then when I remember again...I'm late! I need a better system.
The sentiment on the card is from the retired SU set called Alphabet Soup (this set is one of the retired sets that I am selling).
Stamps: Alphabet Soup, Sanded background
Paper: baja blue, not quite navy, basic grey, white, not quite navy dp
Ink: not quite navy and going grey SU markers
Accessories: punches
I made this card for a friend using the mojo monday sketch. Papers: white, baja blue, Parisian Breeze Specialty paper. Ink: Not quite navy, baja blue, SU markers (not quite navy), reinkers (baja blue and kiwi kiss) with blender pens
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Cheep Talk, Think Happy Thoughts
Accessories: grey satin ribbon, punches, ice brads

Mojo Monday #80

Card sketch challenges are a wonderful inspiration when making a card. But even then I sometimes have a difficult time choosing colors or stamps. But today's Mojo Monday card was much easier for me because I had a specific kind of card to make. I needed a card for a new baby boy and I wanted to use the retired SU set "I'm Here." I couldn't believe I still had some papers from SU "Splash" designer paper collection. Now all I need to do is make a couple of scapbook pages for Ty and I should be able to use up ALL of that paper.)


Gotta go, Gary will be walking through the door any minute and I need at least look like I'm making dinner. :)
Paper: barely banana, certain celery, bashful blue, white, Splash dp
Ink: bashful blue, barely banana
Accessories, punches, certain celery grosgrain ribbon

Mojo Monday

I made a very quick card for today's mojo monday sketch challenge. The flower is a Hero Art stamp I have had for a couple of years. I colored it with SU markers. I stamped the green layer with the sanded background stamp and then used the scallop border punch on the bottom. The patterned paper is from an Old World Textured paper pack. I was trying to finish this in less than 10 minutes so I could go for a walk before dinner...and in doing that I took the picture before I realized I had not added a sentiment. On the sketch it is positioned above the green panel, right side. I'm not sure what I will use...birthday, thank you, thinking of you...any of those will work.
The best thing about today's card...10 minutes...it took longer to take the picture and post it here!

Mojo Monday #78

It's Mojo Monday and another great sketch to inspire all of us (well, me) to make a card. The flower from Pocket Silhouettes is probably the only SU stamp (current) I have that fit in the parameters of the white panel. But that's ok...it's one of my favorite stamp sets. I used a not quite navy marker and a blender pen with baja breeze re-inker to color and stamp the flower. The patterned paper is from Urban Garden and the texture on the baja breeze panels was made with cuttlebug embossing folders. Circle Ice brads filled some of the empty space at the top, and gray satin ribbon "tied" the whole thing together.







I remembered to stamp and add an inside panel. I don't know why I don't do this more often. It only takes a minute and easier than adding it later.
I've enjoyed Mojo Monday sketch challenges and hope I'll be able to continue participating. My work schedule changes and I'm not quite sure where this will fit in. Oh well, it was fun!

Mojo Monday and Divine Design Challenge

Today's Monday Mojo sketch provided the inspiration to make this month's Divine Design Bible Verse Challenge. I just finished reading Humility: True Greatness by C. J. Mahaney. (My book club is reading it this month.) It's a great book and I highly recommend it. C. J. Mahaney offers some advice on how to weaken pride and cultivate humility in our lives. Number 14 is identify evidences of grace in others and number 15 is encourage and serve others each and every day. It is in the discussion of encouraging others that he encourages the reader to memorize Ephesians 4:27 and to take it with you into your many conversations day by day. So I chose this verse for this month's Divine Design Challenge.
I used my computer to print the verse. The words "Good" and "Grace" are printed in baja breeze (I used RBG color to match). I wanted those 2 words to stand apart - just to help get the point across.
Perhaps if I have time I can make a couple more of these to give to my friends in the book club. Maybe I can make it like blog candy for them...a "treat" for reading my blog.
What did I use on the card: Cardstock - Chocolate chip, baja breeze, white, and Parisian Breeze Specialty Designer paper. Ink - baja breeze and chocolate chip markers, kiwi kiss re-inker and blender pen. Accessories - 5/16" brown brads, large scallop punch, cricut to make circle.
Last Word - Read the book if you have the opportunity.

2 More Challenge Cards

It's Mojo Monday and boy did I struggle with today's card. I like the sketch, I just had a hard time settling on the stamp for the center layer. I think it's all because I have way, way, way too much other work to do to justify stamping. And perhaps there was a bit of guilt there, even some stress starting to mound. But oh well, what's done is done.
What I do like about the card are the colors and the designer paper. The paper is from the Parisian Breeze Specialty collection. I love the texture and colors (baja breeze, chocolate chip and kraft). I use sanded on the baja breeze layer (inked with the same color.. The flower is from Heartfelt Thanks and the sentiment from Cheep Talk.







I made this card yesterday for Jen's sfytt challenge. The house mouse stamp is called Confetti Rain 2 and is a stamp my sister Becky gave me a couple of years ago. It was lost in my stash (I remembered it after Becky's visit). The paper and ribbon are two of the free products from Stampin' Ups Sale-A-Bration. The paper and ink colors were chosen to match the colors in the designer paper: certain celery, so saffron and bashful blue.


I'm sure I left out some other details, but paper work, dishes, and laundry are among the things calling me right now. The paper work is in stacks all around me, so I think I will walk out of this room, shut the door and do anything but that on my list. Surely that will count!

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!

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

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!

Mojo Sketch Challenge #69

Yesterday I went with Jill to take Ty for his 2 week check-up. He's doing great. Bree wore her big sister shirt and kept a close watch as the nurse practionor checked him out. So cute!
Anyway, we were gone most of the day and after they went home there was little time left for stamping. Well, I guess there could have been...but I couldn't miss Jack Bauer and 24!
So today, after working on tax stuff I took the Mojo Monday challenge.
This is another weekly sketch challenge that is definitely worth checking out.







Along with the challenges, I am trying to use some of the stash I have collected. You know...things you find on sale or clearance and think "I can use that." But then they come home with you and get buried in a box or drawer and quickly forgotten about.
So when I saw the round circles on this challenge, I remembered the buttons. . . packages of buttons. . . white ones, red ones, green ones, yellow ones...you get the picture. Yes, they were still in a little storage drawer just for buttons! It didn't matter that the red ones were not "real red." They were close enough. The patterned paper is from an Old World pack given to me for Mother's Day (or maybe my birthday?). There was a small piece that was perfect for this card. The other papers used are SU real red, pink pirouette, and basic black. I stamped sanded background stamp in both pink pirouette and real red inks on the pink paper. And I sponged some ink on the edges to distress it a bit. I don't have any nesties (they're on my wish list), but I do have a couple of punches that I was also very happy to use. The heart flowers and sentiment are acrylic stamps I purchased at a store last year. It's difficult to see in the picture, but the dots on the scallop circles were made with a Glaze Gelly Roll pen.
Wow...that felt good! I made a Mojo Monday card and used up some stuff!