Mojo Sketch for Mother's Day

By some happy accident I just found that an old favorite sketch challenge of mine, Mojo Monday, is back!  As a new papercrafter, Mojo Monday was one of the first challenges that I played along with regularly as I stretched out my creative wings and I was sad when it retired back in 2017.  But it's back and I'm playing along with the current sketch.

One of the things I always loved about the Mojo sketches were the layers!  They allowed me to get creative with pattern and texture so for this card I dug deep into my patterned paper stash and used a lots of different SU papers.  And in a nod to Julee, the Mojo creator, I used a favorite flower from Verve.  The colors from the latest challenge at The Color Throwdown inspired the floral theme and since Mother's Day will be here before you know it I thought this was a perfect card for that.  And at Tic Tac Toe I managed to squeeze in the first row down - as long as "mother" is a good enough substitute for "mom' LOL! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Dream Big (Verve); Keep It Simple Mother (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Desert Storm (Neenah); Old Olive, So Saffron, Cameo Coral, Whisper White, Sweet Pea DSP, Patterns Stack Brights DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Cameo Coral, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Dreamy Leaves die (Verve); Dotted Borders die (Avery Elle)

Live the Life You've Imagined

I needed a sentiment that ran subway-style for the card I'm sharing today.  "Live the Life You've Imagined" fit the bill and I will add the disclaimer that I do not, most days, fancy that I want to be a dragonfly.  With that being said here is the card:

I actually think that dragonflies are very interesting creatures.  They look vaguely like a helicopter and despite their size seem to fly around in a very elegant manner.  When I was a kid my sisters and I somehow thought that long body was some kind of sewing needle and if one of these fellows landed on you nothing good would come of it - you'd be sewn up like Frankenstein, I guess.

The colors for my card are inspired by the current challenge at Muse - pinks, green, and white are predominant in the inspiration so that's what I chose for my card.  The layout comes from the Mojo challenge and the dragonfly is a nod to the "winged creatures" challenge at Global Design Project.

I had an enjoyable long weekend, but it's back to work today.  The weather here the last few days has been decidedly spring-like but I try not to get too excited about that.  It's only February and warm days are an aberration here at this time of year.  But I'll enjoy it while I can.  The week ahead is looking good too so I'm hoping to get back to my lunch-hour walk!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Life's Possibilities (Tim Holtz)
Paper:  Pixie, Lemongrass, Raspberry, The Sorbet Collection (Avery Elle); Whisper White, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Blueprints 21 die, Jumbo Fishtail Banner STAX (My Favorite Things); Libellules die (4enscrap)

Peace on Earth

We're on a little bit of an unanticipated hiatus from colourQ, but we should be back to normal soon.  In the meantime I am continuing my fast and furious pace of churning out Christmas cards.  Luckily some of my favorite challenges have been very accommodating in the sketch and color categories!  Today I've got a card that I made using the sketch at Mojo and the colors at Global Design Project.

I love these earthy colors for Christmas.  And the bit of red makes everything so festive!  I used a texture plate to emboss the Early Espresso layer (can you see it?) and I found some really old Christmas patterned paper to add some pizzazz.  I even used some of my ancient supply of grosgrain ribbon - accented by a bit of sparkly baker's twine!  And to finish this off, I stuck on a few rhinestones.  This went together pretty quickly!

I really need to start mailing out some of these Christmas cards I've been hoarding all these months.  That's my project for the next few days.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Peace on Earth (Verve)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Real Red, Dashing DSP (Stampin' Up!); Naturals White (Neenah)
Ink:  Real Red, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Linen impression plate (Papertrey Ink); Real Red grosgrain ribbon, Basic Rhinestones (Stampin' Up!); baker's twine

Jingle All the Way

Christmas is in the air, I think!  Now that thanksgiving is behind us the focus to Christmas has begun in earnest.  I've made some good progress this year making my Christmas cards but, as I discovered Monday night when I went looking for a particular card I made a few months ago, I seem to have misplaced some of them!  I'm sure they are around here somewhere!

But today I've got a card that I made for a few challenges:  the sketch at Mojo, the masculine Christmas challenge at Merry Monday, and the anything goes theme at Christmas Card Challenges.

I did add some enamel dots to my card but I still think this is still pretty masculine.  I mean, who's more manly than Santa Claus? Ho Ho Ho!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Blue Bayou, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!); Snow Village (Pink Paislee); Heidi Swapp patterned paper
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew); Prismacolor Pencils
Accessories:  Jingle All the Way die (My Favorite Things)

colourQ 368 redux

Colors that keep on giving.  That's our motto this week at colourQ.  Due to some personal issues the challenge at colourQ is open for another week.  Since we're only a few days away from Thanksgiving I decided to use these fall-inspired colors to make a thank you card.

I went back to my patterned paper, layering roots for this one!  I love to dig into my old patterned paper stash (with some exceptions) and I got a double whammy with this one thanks to the Mojo sketch.  These colors are all about autumn and once we get past Thanksgiving in the US these colors take a backseat to Christmas so I really wanted to use them at least one more time in 2016.  

There's still plenty of time to join us at colourQ so I hope you can before the craziness of Black Friday and holiday shopping in general starts.  See you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Simple Sunflower (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); Classic Ivory (Flourishes)
Ink:  Hello Honey, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Thanks Script die (Mama Elephant); Fishtail Flags die (My Favorite Things)

colourQ 355!

Every once in a while an old card of mine will get a new like or pin on Pinterest and since I've got email notifications turned on, I'll get an email to let me know that someone has expressed a liking, in some fashion, for a card of mine.  Often I'll look at the card and think "oh I remember that one" or "I made THAT?  I forgot about it but I really like it!"  Quite often these old cards feature layers, patterned paper, a flower or two, or texture from something like burlap.  My cards tend to be a bit more austere nowadays, but when I run across one of these oldies-but-goodies I really like how they look and I get a bit nostalgic for yesteryear!

So this week, starting with my colourQ card today, I've dug deep into my card-making soul and made some throwback cards using things like patterned paper, die cut flowers and leaves, and maybe a layer or two.  I'm a bit rusty with these things but I had a lot of fun digging through my stash to see how I could use some long-forgotten supplies.

First up, a layered concoction using these new colors from colourQ and a sketch from Mojo Monday.  I used to play along with the Mojo sketches all the time.  They are fabulous and are easily adaptable to a CAS card-maker like me.  My card-making schedule usually means I miss the Mojo sketch deadline so this week I was happy that I could play along.

I used ribbon (ribbon!) for the horizontal layer.  Originally I had a much wider piece of ribbon on here but while I was editing the picture realized that the ribbon was TOO wide and went back to my stamping desk to carefully pry apart the layers.  I brushed off the dust from a more narrow kind of ribbon and went with that instead.

Thanks for stopping by and for sticking with me for my long narrative!  I hope you get the chance to play along with us at colourQ.  And if you need inspiration with these colors, look no further than our own colourQ design team!  They will wow you for sure!

Supplies
Stamps:  Take Note (Verve)
Paper:  Black (Simon Says Stamp); Poppy Parade, Basic Gray, Whisper White (SU); The Sorbet Collection (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Blueprints 21 die, Pierced Circle STAX, Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Petite Scallop Circles Small die (Spellbinders); Basic Gray ribbon (SU)

colourQ 344!

I think the long weekend did a lot to restore some of my mojo.  The palette this week at colourQ is eclectic, as always, and I made a card on Sunday using the colors but I was not entirely happy with it.  Luckily I had Monday off (to celebrate Memorial Day here in the US) so in the afternoon I took another crack at the colors using the tall and skinny sketch at Mojo.  The results are much better than my first attempt, I can assure you!

Coastal Cabana is close enough to green that I used it for my leaves and I substituted Pacific Point for Brilliant Blue and used it on my flower.  I found a button that is a spot-on match for Coastal Cabana so I used that in the center of the flower.  The challenge at House of Cards in May is to use vellum or acetate so I cut a banner in vellum and used it as the layer to stamp my sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!  And I hope you have some time to check out the inspiration from my colourQ teamies and join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Dream Big (Verve)

Paper:  Basic Gray, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Vellum (SU)

Ink:  Pacific Point, Coastal Cabana (SU); Jet Black (Stazon)

Accessories:  Fishtail Flags STAX (My Favorite Things); Dreamy Leaves die (Verve); Woodland Park button (October Afternoon); crochet thread

colourQ 342!

Happy Tuesday! And that means it's time for a new challenge at colourQ.  The colors this week are kind of bold and I got to work on my card right away with some new floral stamps.

I don't have a lot of Coastal Cabana left so I substituted another color that is a bit lighter.  I chose this color because it looked so close when I was perusing my stash of card stock but my pic makes it look so much lighter!  Rats!

The layout on my card comes from the latest Mojo challenge.  It has been ages and ages since I've played along there.  I actually checked and the last time was July 14, 2015!  How time flies!  This time around I was inspired by the tilted layers and that little round focal point, which I interpreted with my flowers.  I hemmed and hawed about adding a sentiment but decided to leave it blank so that I can use it for whatever occasion comes up in the future.

Thanks so much for stopping by and please head on over to colourQ to see what the rest of the design team has got up to with this sketch.  I hope you can play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wildflower (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Midnight Muse, Vellum (SU); X-Press It Blending Card; Sea Glass, Sorbet Collection (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  Inside & Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Leaves die (Penny Black); Black Rhinestones (KaiserCraft)

colourQ 299

Happy Tuesday!  It's time for a new palette from colourQ!  This week our colors are inspired by this rug.  An eclectic batch of colors if I've ever seen any!  But I see a challenge and I embrace it with both arms, all of my stamps, ink and whatever else I can scrounge up, then I get to work!

The background of my card is a bit of card stock embossed with translucent embossing paste and another bit stamped with an old SU background stamp with a canvas "texture."  I remember the days when background stamps were all the rage and I was convinced that I couldn't live without them.  Well fast forward a "few" years, I don't use them much and my life still has meaning! Even still I wouldn't want to part with them.  They give such great texture without adding any bulk.

 I was a teensy bit late making my card this week, but luckily the Mojo sketch came to my rescue.  It's been a dog's age since I've played along over there and truthfully my card-making style has evolved away from the layers that are a hallmark of the Mojo sketch.  But every once in a while I like to do something a bit different than my norm.  This sketch was perfect for showing off the colors and a bit of my old DSP that I can't seem to get rid of!

The colourQ design team has really rocked the colors this week so be sure to check them out.  And I hope you have time to join us in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Canas (SU); Mesh (Darkroom Door)
Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Cameo Coral, Blushing Bride, Rich Razzleberry, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Summer Starfruit (SU)
Accessories:  Thanks Script die (Mama Elephant); Diagonal Strip stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Basic Rhinestone (SU); translucent embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

Dragonfly Thanks

Hard to believe it's new year's eve isn't it?  It's funny how time seems to fly (unless it's winter which always seems to drag on) and suddenly you are staring a new year in the face.  I've got some crafty goals that I hope to meet in 2015 - I think I'll be brave and post them here soon because I think it will help me be accountable!

Wednesday's are usually the day where I debut a card that I made using the new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, but we're on a holiday hiatus so I'm free to indulge myself in other crafty challenges today.  This card is for the Mojo sketch and a recent color challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.

The SCS color challenge was actually to use Hello Honey, but I used Crushed Curry because I had some DSP in that color and I really wanted to use it on my card.  This is also tall and skinny week at Mojo so my card is a slim 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches.  I kinda like that size!

I hope that you all enjoy a safe new year's celebration, whatever it is you are doing.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by here and left an encouraging comment over the past year.  I really appreciate your feedback and cherish all the friends that I've made during my crafting journey!  And here's to a super crafty 2015!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Distressed Background Blocks (My Favorite Things); Mini Stamp Thank You (Heidi Swapp)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Welcome Neighbor DSP (SU)

Ink:  Crushed Curry (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX, Pierced Circle STAX (My Favorite Things); Pretty Butterflies & Dragonfly die (My Creative Time); black crochet thread

Watercolor and Three Challenges

You might want to put your sunglasses on for this one!  Last weekend was a long one so I had plenty of time to check out some challenges and get crafty.  I made this card on Monday and saved it until today to post.  Since I've been on a bit of a watercolor kick lately it should be no surprise that I tried it again on today's card.

I've got a challenge three-fer going on here since I was inspired by the colors, the watercolor background and the butterfly on Vicki's Muse card as well as the layout of the latest Mojo sketch.  (Incidentally I knew it had been a long time since I joined in the Mojo challenge so I looked it up and September 18th of last year was the last time I played along!  I can't believe it's been nearly a year!  Will work on rectifying that because they've always got terrific sketches).  And finally, the icing on the cake, is the AAA Cards challenge which is, you guessed it, watercoloring!

This card came out much brighter than I thought it would.  I used Melon Mambo and Tangerine Tango to watercolor the bigger layer.  Then I used a lot more water with the same colors to create a softer look on the second layer.  Then while it was still wet I put a stencil over it so that the ink would pool around the pattern of the stencil.  That was a little trick I learned the first day of the watercolor Online Card Class and the look is very cool.  The layered butterfly was created with a bit of the leftover watercolored paper and some black card stock.  I love how the bits of black add some nice contrast to the bright colors.

Well that's it for me.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Words of Wisdom (Verve)

Paper:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Basic Black (SU); Strathmore watercolor paper

Ink:  Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Delaney Butterfly die, Cheviot Butterfly die (Poppystamps); Dot Fade stencil (Tim Holtz); Basic Rhinestones (SU)

Shiver Me Timbers

I know that parrots can be taught to speak a little, but with this card I think I've officially got the smartest pirate parrot there is.  He can speak in complete sentences!  He is from Black Beard's Loot and he gets his famous sentence from Treasure Island.  Both can be found at The Alley Way Stamps.

I used the soft colors at Dynamic Duos and paired it with the Mojo sketch.  For the circle on the sketch I used a bit of burlap and it wasn't until I went to photograph the card that I thought the burlap called to mind a bird's nest.  Not exactly, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

BE Inspired 32

It's Friday and that means it's time for a new BE Inspired challenge from The Alley Way Stamps!  I'm a little late joining the party this morning since I'm having Internet issues at home, but better late than never, I say! Here's the super duper inspiration and my take on it.

The polka dots inspired me to add some colorful ones of my own from the cute Ice Cream Parlor DSP from Stampin' Up!  Then I added this cute stack of books from Learning Curve.  The sentiment is a combo of words from Learning Curve and Chatterbox.  And the layout is from the latest Mojo Monday where they are celebrating their 300th challenge!  Wow!  Congrats to all the Mojo-makers on this huge accomplishment!!

If you participate in the BE Inspired challenge you have a chance to win a free stamp set!  You have to use an image from The Alley Way Stamps and if you need to you can find freebies HERE.  One person will be the Top Pick and one person will be randomly selected out of all the entrants.  Each will win a free stamp set!  So come play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies

Stamps:  Learning Curve, Chatterbox

Accessories:  Stitched Mats Square die, Stitched Sentiment Flag die (Lil' Inker Designs); Tag Sale #5 die (Papertrey Ink); Midway Button (October Afternoon)

Something Wonderful

The ladies over at Nacho Average Challenge have a really awesome color challenge this week and as soon as I saw it I knew what I wanted to combine it with the Mojo sketch.

I don't have a lot of Perfect Plum designer paper and what I do have is from an SU Halloween set called Cast-A-Spell.  I only have a small amount of it so I only bring it out on special occasions!  I thought this color challenge was pretty special so I used a sliver of it layered on the scallop circle.  The sentiment is from life is short, a brand-new set from The Alley Way Stamps that has got a little something for everyone.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  life is short (The Alley Way Stamps)

Accessories:  Pool Party button, Pool Party ribbon (SU); Stitched Mat Rectangles die (Lil Inker Designs); crochet thread  

TAWS Blog Hop

It's blog hop time at The Alley Way Stamps!  And today I get to show you a card I made using the fun Tag-Alongs stamp set.  There are lots of great images and sentiments in this set for a bunch of different occasions.  I had a hankering to make a Christmas card so with a little help from the Mojo sketch and the tic-tac-toe challenge at Merry Monday I came up with this.

Now, if you would like the chance to win the new release from The Alley Way Stamps then here's what you have to do.  You can pick and choose the ones you want to do, but keep in mind the more you comment, the more chances you have to win.

1. Comment on The Alley Way Stamps Blog
2. Comment on the Design Team blogs (you'll find the links if you scroll down)
3. Post about it on Facebook or your blog
4. Like us on Facebook

(leave a separate comment for each that you do)

You have until March 31st at 9:00PM TAWS time to leave your comments.

And during the month of April when you shop at The Alley Way Stamps and spend $40 or more, you'll get a free stamp set.  Nothing to do but shop!  And this fun little guy will be added to your order!

Now off you go to do the HOP!!!  You never know which comment random.org will pick so don't miss out!  Here's the lineup...