Mojo Monday Week #44

Happy Monday Everyone! I've got exciting stuff going on this week, and I'm kicking it off with a mojo sketch for y'all. I've added an optional layer to this week's sketch for those that want it. You can do it with or without or both, depending on your mood. Okay, here's the drill... just make a card using the sketch as inspiration and then leave a comment on this post with a link to a photo of your creation. There is no time limit - you can play any week at any time, but to be included in the slideshow next Monday, I need your link by Sunday at 8 PM Mountain time (6 PM ET). If you happen to upload to SCS, please use keyword Mojo44 so we can see everyone's mojoliciousness all in one happy place.

For my sample card, I used the optional layer as an embossed frame using the largest Rectangle in the Classic Rectangles Nestabilities collection directly on my background layer. The patterned paper for the horizontal strip is from the Hello Sunshine Cosmo Cricket collection, and was my color inspiration for the card. I didn't really have any colors that exactly matched, so I went with a classic black, cream and a splash of color look. The image panel is embossed and cut with Nestabilities and then I stamped one of the large filigrees from Filigree Fantasy and layered a flower and flower center from Petals & Stems over it, popping each layer up on a dimensional. The sentiment is from the Feeling Groovy set and is punched out with a 1.25" circle punch and matted with a 1 3/8" circle punch. To finish I added two photo corner punches, some black grosgrain ribbon and a bunch of Tiny Twinkles from Taylored Expressions.

Be sure to checkout the 63 mojolicious entries from last week in the slideshow below!



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Just a Note

This week's OCC Challenge is to use BasicGrey paper somewhere on your project. And since I just ordered the new Euphoria papers from Lindsey, I new exactly what I was going to use for this challenge. Especially since all of my other BasicGrey paper is packed away in boxes right now! Anyways, this week's challenge has a prize - a $15 gift certificate to Jacksonbelle Embellishments, and let me tell you, Lindsey has the coolest stuff, and she ships super fast! My kinda gal! ;)

I decided to pull out an old fave from SU! Doodle This is one of my faves - I just love the look of this flower. It's one of those stamps that makes making a great card really easy. I stamped it on white cardstock and colored with Copic markers before cutting out. Next I stamped it again on some of the Euphoria paper and then colored the tiny leaves and glued down. For some added dimension, I used regular adhesive for the inner portions of the flower and then put a pop dot on the outer edge of each petal, so they would seem to pop up. The rectangles were all cut with the Classic Rectangles from Nestabilities using Purely Pomegranate and River Rock as my accessory colors to the DP. Next I cut two different patterns from the Euphoria collection, matted them on River Rock and then embossed the biggest one with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. I stamped Just a Note from the Asian Flair set in black and then matted everything on a white card base. To finish I added some white gel pen doodling and then some Stardust Stickles on the stamped image and a flat back pearl for the flower center.

Okay, be sure you check out the OCC blog to see all the details on how to enter for the prize!

A Brand New Day

Hey everyone! For today's card I had sunrises on the brain. The other day I was talking to my MIL about this High-Def show on PBS that shows sunrises across the planet. Apparently it's about 2 hours long, with no music and just sunrise after sunrise. MIL thought it would get a little boring, but I thought it would be the perfect way for a night owl like me to actually get to start the day (whenever that may be) with a sunrise. I could totally see myself just watching 15 minutes of sunrise a day from the comfort of my couch!

Anyway, this morning when I saw the Ways to Use It Challenge on SCS was to use birds, I totally though I needed to do a sunrise card with the You make each day feel brand-new sentiment from All About You. So I started by stamping Mr. Birdy from Anniversary Birds on white cardstock and then using eclipse tape to mask him. (This turned out to be a completely irrelevant step once I decided to pop the bird up, but oh well!) Next I stamped the bamboo leaf from Asian Flair randomly around his feet in Wild Wasabi and then colored in some ground with a Sand Copic marker. Then I got my trusty old brayer out and brayered the page with Barely Banana, then So Saffron and then sponged Pumpkin Pie around the edges. When I peeled off the mask, I realized I now had white space in between all of the tail feathers where the mask had been. I attempted to color it in with a Teal marker, but let's just say it got messy! LOL! So I decided to give Mr. Birdy a little dimension and stamped him again, colored him with Copics and then trimmed out just his body and tail feathers and popped up on dimensionals. I'm not much of a scene stamper, so I'm pretty proud of this little piece.

The teal{ish} layer is from the Cosmo Cricket Hello Sunshine pad. Both panels are matted with black and then I stamped the bamboo leaf randomly around the edges of a wild wasabi square for the main background. Next I cut and embossed a tag with Nestabilities dies, stamped the sentiment from All About You in black and then added some pewter hardware and a black grosgrain ribbon. I finished off by sponging the edges of a 4.5" square so saffron card base with Pumpkin Pie to mirror my faux sunrise.

Okay, that's it on the stamping front from me, but wait there's more....

HAPPY MAIL! :) I received this super adorable Blogger RAK from Leanne of Leanne:{all natural}. I just love these warm cheery colors and the image is so lovely. Leanne's note was so sweet and totally brightened my day! Thanks so much Leanne!

Ribbon Squares

Today I cooked up a little number for you with the newest Verve release, Asian Flair, and this week's SCS Sketch Challenge. The how of the card is pretty straight forward. I cut nine 1.25" squares and then stamped 5 with the square stamp in Certainly Celery and then 4 in Soft Sky. Next I matted with black cardstock, added black dots to each of the corners of the squares and then lined the squares all up on a 4.5" square card base. Next I tied a little black grosgrain around the card and added another knotted bow on the other side for symmetry.

For the main panel, I stamped the sentiment in the center of a 2.5" x 2.25" square and then stamped the flower ribbon stamp below and the butterfly above.Next I stamped the flower and the butterfly again and popped them up, coloring with Soft Sky and Certainly Celery ink. I finished off with some dots around the panel and voila! A card was born!

Although I didn't look at the sample cards, I must have subconsciously remembered Jen's (designer of the sketch) original card, since my butterfly is almost in the exact same place and colored pretty similarly!

Be sure to check out all the new releases at Verve!

Feeling Groovy

Today I have a little preview card of Feeling Groovy, which will release tomorrow along with three other sets from Verve. Feeling Groovy includes 9 song lyric inspired sentiments and two flower stamps.

For my card I paired one of the flowers from Feeling Groovy with the stem and leaves from Thankful Blossoms. I started by stamping the flower three times at various heights and angles in Versafine Onyx Black ink. I then went back and stamped the stem twice for each flower, so I could have a thicker stalk to color in. Next I added two leaves to each flower and then colored in with Copic markers. I added the You make everything groovy sentiment and then trimmed and matted on black, with a small photo corner punch in the top right corner.

The background is Regal Rose stamped with the Vintage Ledger Scrapblock from Cornish Heritage Farms in the same color ink. I tied two layers of ribbon in a knotted bow and then matted this layer on black. I had this week's OCC Challenge to use a button and a brad on my mind, so I decided to add a row of alternating black mini brads and buttons from Foof-a-la across the bottom. I finished off with some Stardust Stickles accents on each of the flowers and glued everything to a Classic Cream card base.

Hope you've been enjoying the sneak previews. There's more of this set over on the Verve Blog today, and another chance to win one of the new sets. Just be sure to skedaddle on over and leave a comment there by tonight, because we announce the winners on Wednesday.

Mojo Monday Week #43

Hey everyone! Are you ready to get your mojo on? This week I've got a fun sketch for you, and I've even (shockingly enough) already made my sample card! :)

If you're new to mojo, I'd love for you to play along. Just make a card using the sketch as inspiration and then leave a comment on this post with a link to a photo of your creation. There is no time limit - you can play any week at any time, but to be included in the slideshow next Monday, I need your link by Sunday at 8 PM Mountain time (6 PM ET). If you happen to upload to SCS, please use keyword Mojo43 so we can see everyone's mojoliciousness all in one happy place.

My sample card today is a sneak preview of two of the new Verve sets releasing on Wednesday... Asian Flair and Here For You. I started by cutting and embossing an oval with Nestabilities Classic dies. I also cut a basic grey scalloped oval mat at the same time. Then I pulled out one of the grasses stamps from Floral Whimsy and stamped in Basic Gray as a body for my bamboo stalk. I then stamped the bamboo leaves on each blade in Basic Gray and set aside. Next I made a background for my square using the open square frame and one of the circle images from Asian Flair. I matted this square on black and set aside. I cut a strip of Basic Gray, used a corner rounder to make a scallop edge and then stamped the Asian circle image in each scallop. I tied a black grosgrain knotted bow and then added some dots above the ribbon for interest.

For the bottom panel I took a piece of Soft Sky and then randomly stamped the grass blade again and the bamboo leaves across the bottom (leaving room for the sentiment) in Soft Sky ink. I finished off with the "I'm here if you need me" sentiment from the new Here For You set and added three black brads for accent.

Be sure to check out the Verve Blog to see other sneak previews and enter for your chance to win these new sets.

Be sure to checkout the 98 mojolicious entries from last week in the slideshow below!



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Asian Flair Preview

Hi everyone! Today is the start of the sneak previews on the Verve Blog for our June 25 release. Be sure to head over there to see a few projects from the design team and enter for your chance to win this set.

My sample card uses five stamps from the new set. Most of you who've been reading my blog for a while know that I totally love Asian art. There's a simplistic beauty in most of it that really inspires me. The images in this set are all just under an inch, making it easy to mix and match for beautiful backgrounds, as well as simple one layer cards. I chose to make a background for this card, so pulled out the solid and outlined funky square images and stamped them alternating in Old Olive and Purely Pomegranate ink. I just kind of eyeballed it. For me the easiest way to line things up is to stamp the first square, then line up the next stamp of the same kind on the diagonal corner, repeating across the page for a checkerboard pattern. Then I simply went in and filled in the holes in the checkerboard with the solid square in Purely Pomegranate. I love the really neat background it makes.

Next I stamped, the solid square frame three times in Old Olive. Since I'm not always the straightest of stampers and I envisioned lining these stamps up as parts of trios, I designed the square frames to fit a 7/8" square punch so they could be easily punched out and lined up. Then I stamped the bamboo leaves inside the squares and matted with 1" black squares. Next I pulled out some We R Memory Keepers paper from the White Out Hoopla collection, wrapped a thin grosgrain ribbon around it, matted in black and attached to a white card base. I finished off with the sentiment in black and three pearl dew drops below it for accent.

Zooming Along

Can you believe how fast the month is going? Less than a week until the next Verve release, peeps! Woohoo! Seems like we just finished the last release, and I still have so much more to do before next Wednesday.

Anyhow, today's card is a quick one I made using this week's SCS sketch challenge {SC181} and a scrap of Crate Paper from the Zoom collection. This week is my father-in-law's birthday, so I needed to make a card. The layout seemed pretty no frills - which would lend itself to a masculine card pretty well. I started by stamping the Dad from Father Figure in Versafine Olympia Green and the When I grow up sentiment in Buckaroo Blue on the back side of the Zoom dots paper. Next I sponged with Ranger Antique Linen Distress ink and added two antique brass jumbo eyelets with my crop-a-dile. Next I stamped the strip of dots twice across a strip of Buckaroo Blue in Buckaroo Blue and tied a section of hemp around it. This piece was matted on green Paper Accents muslin paper and then I lightly distressed the edges of the mat as well as the patterned paper with a paper distresser. I added piercing all around the patterned paper edge and then matted on a green card base.

To finish off I stamped the textured star from Seeing Stars in Versafine Crimson Red on Cranberry Crisp and then punched out with the large SU! star punch. I added a little distressing to the edges of the star, and then popped up on double thickness of stamping dimensionals in the corner. I just realized that I forgot to actually put the star on before taking the photo. And as luck would have it, my camera battery just died, so you'll have to imagine the star in the top right corner for now. I'll come back and update the photo once my battery has finished rejuicing. :) ETA: Okay, now the pic is updated, so you don't have to imagine anymore. :)

Petals & Mojo

Today's card is another attempt at this week's mojo sketch, only flipped. This one didn't translate to paper as well as I thought it would in my head. Ever have days like that? I think the patterned paper might just be a little overwhelming to cover the whole card. I've been on a kick recently where I haven't been using patterned paper (mainly because it's all packed neatly away in boxes), so maybe I'm just out of practice in the DP department. :)

Anyhow, here's the deets on how it came about... I started by stamping the stem from Petals & Stems in Versafine Onyx black on a Nestabilities rectangle and the stamping the small butterfly beside it. I colored these with Copic markers and then stamped the flower on Pretty in Pink cardstock, cut out and added over the stem with a pop dot. Next I stamped the sentiment from Fluttering By and then added three little black brads to the corner. The background is American Crafts paper cut into strips and matted on a Pretty in Pink card base.

Delight

Today I have a special sneak peek of a scripture stamp that will be available from Verve next week (June 25). I just loved the way the card turned out and couldn't wait another week to share it with y'all, so you get an early sneak peek. I won't tell if you won't! ;)

I started with the CC171 Color Challenge on Splitcoast for this week to use Kraft, Black and Soft Sky. The card was super simple to make. I just cut some Kraft and a strip of Soft Sky to make a 4 x 5.25" piece, then taped them together and stamped with French Flair in Versafine Onyx Black. I added a few highlights with my white Signo gel pen and then covered the seam with some wide black grosgrain from Michael's. Next I cut and embossed a Kraft oval, black oval and soft sky scallop oval with Nestabilities dies. I stamped the scripture {Psalm 37:4} in Versafine Onyx black and added some accents with a black pen and a white gel pen. I added dimension with some pop dots and then finished it off on a standard A2 black card base.

15 Minute Mojo

Okay, I had a little pocket of time, so I created this super simple sample card for this week's mojo sketch. This sketch was inspired by the bed railing in the Verve Project Parade Inspiration Challenge photo, and so I decided to go with a flourishy patterned paper, in keeping with the inspiration piece. The designer paper is from Chatterbox and to do the panels, I simply started with a 4" square of designer paper. I then cut four strips 1/2 inch wide and then one strip 3/8" wide (which gets thrown away) to account for the gutters in between each strip. If you want bigger gutters, you just cut a bigger strip. Next I mounted the strips on a 4 1/8" square piece of black cardstock.

The rectangle is cut and embossed with Nestabilities Classic Rectangle dies and mounted on a black Nestabilities scallop rectangle. I stamped the plain butterfly from Fluttering By in Versafine Onyx Black and then colored with a Copic {BG10} marker and covered with a mixture of Dazzling Diamonds/Diamond Glaze. I finished off with three rhinestones in the corner and the sentiment from Petals & Stems in the corner. Finished card size is 4.25" square. Easy peasey! :)

Mojo Monday Week #42

Happy Monday! It's time for another sketch to jump start your mojo. When I created this sketch, I envisioned it two different ways... either color blocked or just one main background layer with several ribbons breaking up the layer. I haven't had a chance yet to make a sample card for y'all, but it will hopefully be coming later today.

As always, you're free to use any stamps you like and use the sketch as inspiration to jump start your inner mojo. Here's the drill... if you make a card with the sketch, just link me up in the comments of this post so I can come check out your creation. If you've got your link to me by Sunday at 8 PM Mountain time (6 PM ET), I'll include it in the slide show next Monday. If you happen to upload to SCS, please use keyword Mojo42 so we can see everyone's mojoliciousness all in one happy place.

Hope everyone has an awesomely creative week! Check out the 75 fabulous submissions for last week's sketch in the slide show below.



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Artful OCC

Happy Saturday! This morning I woke up all giddy when I remembered that the first Our Creative Corner Challenge was being posted. Woohoo! I couldn't wait to stamp! This week's challenge was a sketch by Cindy Haffner. I paired the sketch with the color inspiration #11 from kwernerdesign and got to stamping! After I finished, I realized the real challenge was to use mostly white on your card...oops!

My goal for the card was all SU!, but I came just shy of that. Without thinking about it, I used Copics for coloring and to dye the Vanilla taffeta ribbon. And I used dew drops from Robin's Nest. Other than that, everything is SU!

I started by stamping the flower sprig from Artfully Asian and then coloring with Copics. Next I overstamped the whole panel with Linen background in So Saffron and then sponged the edges. I stamped the Paisley background on a piece of Old Olive and a piece of Rose Red in the same color ink as the cardstock. I used the Rose Red piece for my matting and the Old Olive piece for the second rectangle panel and a photo corner punch accent on the top. For the background of the card, I used the Tres Chic background in So Saffron and then realized I didn't have any Going Gray cardstock. So I stamped Linen in Going Gray on white and then brayered over the panel with more Going Gray ink. I really like the effect. Next I went for the sentiment, and pulled out the Circle of Friendship stamp set. I used two of the circle stamps, using a 1/2", 1", 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" punch for all the layers. I finished off with some piercing accents, a little Crystal Effects/Dazzling Diamonds mixture on the flowers and some dew drops along the bottom edge of ribbon.

Happy Birthday Taylor

Yesterday was Taylor Van Bruggen's birthday, and today is her Virtual Surprise Birthday Party. True to form, my card is going to be late. Although I made it in plenty of time to send it off - it's still sitting on my desk. Doh! Sorry Taylor - hope you had a fabulous birthday, and are enjoying your Virtual Surprise Birthday Party! Taylor is one of my favorite stampers and I really appreciate all the inspiration she shares on her blog. And she's just as sweet to work with as she seems. I set out to make a special birthday card for her, and what better way to go than with one of her Cupcake Sketches? This sketch was actually last week's sketch, {TECC19}.

I knew as soon as I saw the sketch that I wanted to pair it with Cuppacakeabella and I thought the length of the sketch would be perfect to showcase this die cut paper from Cosmo Cricket. I started by stamping Cuppacakeabella and then coloring here with Copic markers. Next I used my Creative Memories Circle cutting system to cut her out, leaving just a little bit of room to trim around her foot. I cut a coordinating black mat and then added black dots all around the circle and then added a border with a Copic Marker to give the illusion of another layer without adding even more bulk. I did the same for the It's Your Day {The Cat's Pajamas} sentiment panel and used my scallop corner punch to give the panel and it's mat a curvy look. Next I trimmed a thin black mat for the Hello Sunshine diecut paper and tied a black grosgrain knotted bow around it. Since I'm still limited in my unpacked supplies, I decided to try out my new airbrush kit with the Honey Copic marker to make a matching background for the card. I just love the look of it - kind of airy and light like frosting. :) I then added some black dot accents, then used the corner punch for each of the corners and added small red rhinestones to match the pattern on the paper. The finishing touch was the addition of some Stardust Stickles on the frosting and a red rhinestone cherry on top.

Filigree Inspiration

I'm sure by now you've seen this little graphic floating around blogland. The Verve project parade is going on right now, and we've got an inspiration challenge for you. For all the details on how you could participate and win $15 in Verve Bucks check out this post on the Verve Blog.

I've had a completely different card in my head for this inspiration piece for a while now, but most of those supplies are still in boxes, so this is what I came up with this morning using what was available. I was really drawn to the symmetry of the lines in the image, and also really liked the color combination - the ones I jotted down were red, black, white, sahara sand and a splash of so saffron.

I started by stamping the large filigree from Filigree Fantasy in Versafine Onyx Black, then alternating with the small filigree in Versafine Crimson Red to form a pattern across the panel. Next I added the solid square in the open spaces in So Saffron and then colored the center of each of the black filigrees with a So Saffron marker. Next I stamped the sentiment and then stamped over it with the small filigree in So Saffron and inked the edges of both white panels in So Saffron ink. Both panels are matted on black cardstock, and I used the Fiskars Threading Water border punch for the scalloped edge on the main panel. Next I added diamond glaze to the center squares and circles of all the filigrees and attached pearls to the red filigrees. I set this aside to dry and worked on the background.

The background is just Sahara Sand cardstock stamped with the large filigree in Sahara Sand and then sponged around the edges with the same color ink. To finish off, I punched two holes with the horizontal slot punch to make my sentiment a ribbon slider and then tied it with some May Arts ribbon.

So in conjunction with each of the project parade posts on the Verve Blog the design team are each answering a series of questions about themselves, so I figured I'd answer mine here if any of you are still reading. :)

1. When/how did you get hooked on stamping? My friend drug me to a DOTS (now CTMH) party about 15 years ago and a love for stamping was born. I dabbled in stamping and scrapbooking off and on over the years, and belonged to a monthly DOTS/CTMH stamp club for several years before my corporate job became just too demanding to pursue any hobbies. I started stamping again about 2 years ago when I quit my job, discovered SCS and gained a whole new level of obsession for all these wonderful little rubber and photopolymer things. :)

2. How often do you stamp? I try to stamp every week day - although Verve takes up a lot of my time, so that doesn't always happen. I can consistently find stamping time about 3-4 days a week. If I don't get a chance to head up to the studio, I think up card designs in my head or find a pocket of time to create a card sketch on the computer.

3. Tell me about your funniest or most embarrassing stamping related injury. Well, it wasn't very funny, but in January 07 I got the "brilliant" idea to pre-punch all my pieces of scrap cardstock so I could organize them better and have punches on hand. After a day and a half of punching, my right thumb was so strained that I could barely use my hand for several weeks. My thumb was in so much pain and for months, I couldn't use it to apply pressure on anything without bringing tears to my face. It took almost a year for it to completely heal.

4. How long does it take you to create a project that you're happy with? I'm not a speedy stamper, but I'm getting faster. I can usually come up with a card in about 45 minutes to an hour. Sometimes when the mojo is running dry it takes a couple hours of fussing - but those are never the cards I'm the happiest with.

5. I am usually a little messy in my creating. Tell me about your creative space. I wish I could say I am a little Stepford Stamper, but my space is usually in a state of chaos. If you remember PigPen on Peanuts my space usually resembles the cloud of dust that is always surrounding PigPen. No matter how big my space is, I usually only have about a 6 x 6" square of open desk space to work on. I'm lucky enough to have a room all to myself, and with the addition of all new furniture, I'm hoping that the messiness magically disappears.

6. If you were stranded on a deserted island, which craft tool could you not live without? Why? I'm thinking I would take my Copics. They write on just about any surface, and I could use them to make a very pretty SOS sign or pass the endless days sketching, or writing, while I slurp coconut milk, eat Dharma Initiative peanut butter and lounge in my makeshift hammock while watching Sawyer try to build a fire. Oh, I digress... ;)

7. What is your biggest source of inspiration? I look for inspiration in everything around me. I'm most inspired by pretty photos and colors. I love to look at letterpress and stationary designer blogs as well as other creative, non-stamping blogs and websites.

8. Who in the stamping world do you want to be when you grow up and why? I think I most admire Beate Johns. She has an effortless style, beautiful creations, and she takes the time for everyone. She's a sweet, genuine person and prolific stamper that truly gives back to the stamping community.

9. What is your favorite part of the creative process? Without a doubt, my favorite part of the process is the finishing touches. I love adding little doodling accents, embellishments, ribbon, sparkle. I believe this is the magic part of the process that transforms an ordinary card into something wonderful.

Simple Pleasures

Last night I dug out all the supplies to finish my ATC swap that's due this weekend. I always say I'm going to finish things early, but it never fails I'm doing it at the last minute. After I finished, I decided I had a little time that I could use the leftover supplies from the ATC's to make a sample for this week's mojo sketch.

All stamps are from the Floral Whimsy set. I stamped the big and small clusters of open flowers around my main panel in Versafine Vintage Sepia and then colored with Copic markers. Next I sponged around the panel with Sepia. I used a post it note to mask part of the stamp to just ink up Life's Simple Pleasures. I added a few piercings and then colored and cut one extra flower to pop up in the corner. This panel is matted on Chocolate Chip and I used the Fiskars Threading Water border punch for the scalloped border. The designer paper is from the Afternoon Tea collection from SU! and also is punched with the border punch. Ribbon is SU! poly twill. I intended to put jumbo eyelets in the corner, but made my holes too close together so modified it by adding some flat back pearls from Stamping Bella. Finished off with Stardust Stickles accents and a Groovy Guava card base.

Fifi

Happy Tuesday! There still hasn't been any stamping going on around here. My darling husband told me over the weekend that I work hard and deserve to have a studio that works for me. So we picked out some similar pieces of furniture (bookcases, lateral file, rolling file) to coordinate with my new desk and ordered them. They're actually not from the same company, but they have a very similar look and feel. Last night we built the first bookcase, and today the other three pieces are supposed to arrive, so we can build them later this week. So until all the pieces are ready, a majority of my stamps and accessories will remain in boxes.

I didn't want to leave you with nothing crafty to see, so I dug up this photo out of the old hard drive that I don't think I've shared with you. This card uses stamps from the It's a Mod, Mod World by The Cat's Pajamas. As many of you know, I'm not much of a dog person, but I've been wanting this Fifi stamp for a while. She just looks so Parisian, so I decided to try for a little couture dog show. I stamped Fifi and colored her and the carpet she's sitting on with Copic markers. Next I made a little scalloped border with a corner rounder, tied a bow around it and popped it up over the panel as an awning. It is stamped lightly with the stardust stamp from the set. I stamped the Hot Dog on two different lines on a circle and then added Pink Stardust dots all around and matted on more circles cut with Nestabilities dies. The ocean panel is embossed with the D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder.

Be sure to check out the Verve Blog for our latest challenge and a chance to win Verve bucks!

Mojo Monday Week #41

Hey Everyone! This week I've got a simpler sketch for you. I actually designed it for an ATC swap that I've been working on, but modified it a little for a standard card. So, if you're an ATC maker, feel free to do an ATC and if you're a cardmaker, make it a card. :) And if you're a scrapbooker, it probably would work with a few modifications, too.

As always, you're free to use any stamps you like and use the sketch as inspiration to jump start your inner mojo. Here's the drill... if you make a card with the sketch, just link me up in the comments of this post so I can come check out your creation. If you've got your link to me by Sunday at 8 PM Mountain time (6 PM ET), I'll include it in the slide show next Monday. If you happen to upload to SCS, please use keyword Mojo41 so we can see everyone's mojoliciousness all in one happy place.

Hope everyone has an awesomely creative week! I'm not sure when I'll get a sample made. I don't want to show the world my ATC yet, since the girls in the group should get first peek, and the contents of my craft room is all still in boxes.

Mojo Madness Winners & Slide Show #40

Last week's sketch was a much tougher one than we normally do, and I was just blown away with all of you who were totally up to the challenge. You all really poured on the mojo, making it so hard for me to judge. After hours of thinking about it, I finally picked the two winners.

This month's Mojo Madness Honors go to...

Cindy Haffner of Cindy Haffner's Corner.
All I can say, is she had me at cupcakes! LOL! I've been a long time fan of Cindy's work, and this card is just dripping with mojo. All that pink, brown, and frosty white looks good enough to eat, don't you think?

Lori T. of Inking Aloud
This card is just so soft and fresh. I love the way each layer is so crisp. The stitching of the squares, and the thin little layer of scallop with the perfect little bow just sold me on this card. So beautiful!

Congrats Cindy and Lori!!! Email me (link in the sidebar) your addresses and your choice of Verve stamp set and I'll get your goodies on their way! Thanks everyone for playing, I love seeing your work! The judging seems to get harder every time. Everyone submits such beautiful cards. Be sure to check out all the entries in the slide show below.

I'll be back very soon with Mojo Sketch #41.



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What's Up

Today's card is one I made for The Cat's Pajamas using the clearly swanky It's a Mod, Mod World set. This set always makes me think of the Jetsons, and the Jetsons makes me think of the Flinstones, which made me choose this Archaic paper by BasicGrey.

I started by cutting and embossing a few rectangles with my Nestabilities. Next I stamped the mod car in Versafine Onyx Black, then stamped the car again and masked it to place L'il Sprinkle at the center of attention. I then colored with Copic markers and set aside. I stamped What's New Pussycat? on classic cream, matted with black and then layered on top of the Archaic paper with some holes pierced all around. Finished off by stamping the small and large asterisky things randomly on the card base and then adding three brown dew drops to the corner.

That's all folks. There just might not be any new stamping coming from me for a few days. On Saturday the new desk for my studio is supposed to be delivered, so I need to start boxing up all my stamps and moving out the old falling apart furniture (if you can call a folding table from Costco, a $20 put it together yourself dresser and a very cheap particle board student desk furniture) to make room for something new and beautiful. :)

Oh, and if you've been waiting... Petals & Stems is now back in stock at Verve. :)

Eloise Smiles

This week Jen had a special edition of her Sketch For You To Try, where she added a challenge to use any type of Stamping Bella image with the sketch. Well, mainly due to Jen's mad stamping/enabling skillz I have a pile of Stamping Bella stamps that haven't even seen ink, so I just had to try out the sketch.

I started by stamping Eloise Greengrass on Pearlized cream and then coloring in with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol, and then highlighting with a Stardust glitter pen and a blender pen. I added a little shading with a light gray marker and then paper pieced the flower. I thought the bottom panel on the sketch would go really well with the foiled swirly paper from my DCWV Blossoms & Butterflies stack. The teal background paper is from a retired SU! paper pack (Sweet Treats, or something like that). Before I glued down my layers, I used the horizontal slot punch to make a hole in the pink paper near the top. I then glued to the teal piece and used a craft knife to cut through the hole and feed my ribbon through to tie a bow around the side. I then glued down my image panel to cover the holes. I added two brads from the Styled Silver Hardware kit.

It was at this point that I realized I still hadn't added a sentiment. So, I pulled out my word window punch and punched through the two layers of patterned paper to give me room for a sentiment. Next I stamped the word window frame and the Sending you smiles sentiment from Thoughtful Florals on a scrap of pearlized cream before gluing the whole card front to a 5.25" square card base of brushed silver.

My photo doesn't really capture her sparkly goodness, but she's all blinged out as good fairies should be. :)

Simple Father's Day Card

Today I have a super simple card for you. I started by inking the Dad stamp from Father Figure with Bordering Blue and then adding Night of Navy to just the bottom 1/2 of the stamp for a two-toned effect. Next I stamped the I'm so proud to call you... above the Dad and then sponged the edges with Ranger Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Next I took a scrap of Buckaroo Blue cardstock and stamped the row of three stars stamp from Starlight Starbright Remixed across the top and bottom of the panel and then sponged all the edges with Vintage Photo. I pulled out a center finding ruler and marked three holes equidistant across the bottom of the panel and punched holes with my crop-a-dile. I used Pewter We R Memory Keeper jumbo eyelets and then matted the panel on a piece of Classic Cream cardstock completely sponged with the Vintage Photo distress ink. I finished off by matting on a 4.25" square Classic Cream card base. It's not my usual style, but I really love the way it turned out. :)

Be sure to check out the sale going on at Verve - now through June 23 select sentiment sets (including the two sets I used on this card) are 10% off. Plus we've got clearance markdowns on all our non-stamp merchandise.

Shabby Cape Cod

Okay, here's my sample for Mojo Monday #40. I'm sorry about the super challenging sketch this time, peeps. Usually I get a chance to "test drive" the sketches and make modifications, but I just didn't have any time last week. So after making this card, I probably would have modified the sketch to leave off the rectangles in the background. Oh well, I think creativity really comes alive when we have to face obstacles and figure out a way to overcome them. I really loved the card without the extra rectangles, so I had to think about how I could stay true to the sketch without losing the look. For me it was vellum and white embossing powder, two products that I rarely use. I think my card turned out great, and I really like the way the vellum squares really draw the eye to the center of the card.

I started by stamping the large blossom from Thankful Blossoms in VersaMark and embossing with black detail embossing powder. Next I stamped the small flower in VersaFine Onyx Black and heat set. I colored both flowers with Copic Markers, then used my Nestabilities dies for the large circles and Stampin' Up punches for the smaller flower. The scallop circles are both cut from Creamy Caramel and I used one of the leaf stamps to stamp a little pattern in each scallop in Creamy Caramel. Next I sponged both white and caramel circles with Creamy Caramel ink and set aside.

For the Soft Sky layer, I used a small corner rounder for the scallop background and stamped French Script (retired SU!) in Soft Sky, then sponged around the edges. Next I cut two vellum squares, and embossed the French Script with VersaMark ink and white embossing powder. I sponged a little creamy caramel ink over the top to dirty it up and then glued the two vellum pieces to the soft sky. Next I glued the whole soft sky piece to a piece of Creamy Caramel and embossed the You're Amazing sentiment in white at the bottom. I finished by inking the edges with creamy caramel and then using a paper distresser to distress the edges all around the panel. I finished off by tying a knotted bow with vanilla taffeta, adding the two circles on pop dots and gluing everything to a Cool Caribbean card base.

Mojo Monday Week #40 - Mojo Madness

It's the first Monday in JUNE, and that means it's time for another Mojo Madness Contest! To participate, just make a card using this sketch and leave a comment on this post with a link to your project by Sunday, June 8 at 6 PM Mountain Time (There's a clock on the sidebar with the official Poetic Artistry time). Once all the entries are in, I'll pick the TWO entries that I think are the mojo-est of them all. Those two winners will each receive their choice of ANY Verve stamp set! Sound like fun? Well, let's get started! If you upload your cards to SCS, please use keyword Mojo40 (no space between Mojo and 40) so we can see them in one place. As always, you can use any stamps or products your heart desires. Although the sketch is meant purely as inspiration, if you're hoping to be crowned the mojoest of them all, remember to stay as true to the sketch as possible.

I didn't have a chance to stamp this weekend, so hopefully I'll be back later with my sample card.

And here's the slideshow with all of last week's mojolicious creations:



NOTE: If you get a message that says no photos found, please hit the refresh button on your browser or the F5 function key on your keyboard, and hopefully it will reload with the pictures!