Mojo Found :)

Hi blogger friends! Happy weekend! My day started out wonderfully- with a cup of coffee in hand, I finished this card and several others. Doesn't get any better than that! My card was made for two challenges. The sketch is this week's Mojo Monday sketch shown below.

The colors are based upon the CR84FN challenge to use light pink, tan and cream as shown above.Be sure to read the quote- its from a famous Missouri author and humorist, Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemens. Love it!

I'm happy with this card- mostly because I broke out of a long period of "lost mojo".  It took way too long to find my groove. This lost mojo happens to each of us at some point & my solution is to CASE others so that I keep stamping; in essence, "riding the storm out". When I have made originals during this stretch, it has been awkward & required lots of concentration. But yesterday & today, it all just came together- not much conscious effort, just flow. So it was a very happy day today! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend, friends!

Supplies:
Stamps: Floral Silhouette (Stampabilities); Sentiment (Studio G)
Paper: Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake (SU!)
Designer Paper: Blushing Bride- polka dots (SU!), Lost & Found- Madison Avenue (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Crumb Cake, Regal Rose marker (SU!)
Accessories:Circle & Curly Label punches (SU), Circle nestabilities (Spellbinders), Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, Pink Pirouette Taffeta ribbon SU!). pink & white twine (The Twinery), button- stash.

Keep Calm & Shop On

Hi Friends! How are you? All is well in St. Louis. Our weather has turned cooler; probably like your neck of the woods. My DH and I are doing some re-decorating of our home- wallpaper removal, new paint, & new decor. We've also been downsizing. Since we started mid-summer, we've made three trips with a filled SUV to our local Goodwill. Since I am home full-time now, I thought I'd be creating cards & on-line checking out galleries & challenges, but I haven't been. I am having a lot of creative fun in our home though but I feel a little rusty with my card making...whenever I get away from creating daily then I am much slower & also more indecisive about the details. Let's see if I can get back into the daily routine. I enjoy it so much when I play in the studio every day!

My card today is for the CR84FN challenge. The colors are light blue, yellow and green. I chose to use River Rock as my background base to coordinate with my focus of green. I rarely use River Rock so I thought it would be good to switch it up. My DP is from my 6x6 pad of Basic Grey Picadilly. I just love this color combo from CR84FN- my Studio is painted in colors similar to Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery so I wanted to challenge myself to use a different green. I was so indecisive about the big brad, ribbon and blue floral embellishment that the card stayed on my desk for two days- I changed the embellishments numerous times & finally just made a decision on what you see here. Below is a close-up. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping! I'll be back later tonight to see your galleries,
Hugs, Marilyn

Supplies:
Stamps: Carry On (SU!)
Paper: River Rock (SU!), White (Neenah)
DP: Picadilly (Basic Grey)
Ink: Bashful Blue, Daffodil Delight (Sponged edges of nestie shape) (SU!)
Embellishments: Jumbo Grommet in white, Vintage Flower in Blue, 3/8" Old Olive ribbon (SU!), White Large Glitter Brad (hiding under flower) (Americal Crafts), Labels 4 Nestability (Spellbinders)

Denim & Burlap

Hi Friends! How are you? Happy Friday!
This card was made for two challenges. First, the CR84FN63 challenge (below) to use the colors denim, tan and brown. They are having an open call for Design Team members. I'm all over that! Wouldn't that be a blast to be a part of that awesome DT?!!

Several months ago I purchased two pairs of toddler jeans at the local Goodwill. I intended to make some denim flowers but I never got around to it. So when I saw the CR84FN challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted to do- make those flowers after all! I was struggling with the design when I decided to look out on blogland at some of the sketch challenges & found this week's Pals Paper Arts challenge, PPA143 (below) which was perfect for my flower idea! It's a great sketch, very versatile- I'd like to use it with my blossom punch later.

Hope you like my off-beat creation!
Hugs, Marilyn

Supplies:
Stamps: Vintage Labels (SU- retired)
Paper: Basic Brown textured, Very Vanilla (SU!)
Designer Paper: Basics Manilla (Basic Grey)
Ink: Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: Denim, Burlap material; Corduroy Brad (Eyelet Outlet), Dahlia nestabilities (Spellbinders), Pop-Pom ribbon (stash), Curly Label punch & 1" circle punch (SU)

Daffodil Day

Hey there! How's it going? I'm having a great week & I hope you are too. I made this card for two challenges~ my favorite combo- a sketch and a color challenge! The sketch is from Clean & Simple's FTL180 & the color challenge is from CR84FN49 challenge to use gray, craft & yellow.

For my image, I used SU! "Just Believe" stamp inked in Basic Gray on Daffodil Delight cardstock. I outlined the image using a crushed curry marker. The large dots gray panel was made with a new purchase of the Quickutz Polka Dots embossing folder that I'd been seeing out there in Blogland. Love it! The DP, ribbons and button is all SU!'s Daffodil Delight. And to think I almost didn't purchase this Daffodil cardstock when it first came out because I don't consider yellow a favorite color. So why then would I have buttons, DP, several spools of ribbon?

Hugs,

Marilyn

Summer Memories

Happy Saturday! We have spent the last few days moving youngest DD into an apartment at her college. Boo Hoo-I'm going to miss that young lady! I can't believe that summer is coming to an end. It went by so fast, and thankfully we have lots of wonderful memories. My card today was created using a Victorine Originals image called Children Playing. It was made for three challenges. First, the SCS Inspirational challenge where I chose the yellow wallpaper placemat as my inspiration. My designer paper which is mostly covered up now (eye roll) is from Webster Pages & looks nearly identical. The second challenge was the CPS231 sketch challenge. 

I altered my card size to 5.5 X 5.5 inches. The last challenge I used in creating my card for the day was the CR84FN36 challenge. The colors are shown below.

My ribbons are from SU! & I used my Bow-Easy to create the multi-looped bow. The pretty little button is Making Memories Vintage Findings. I really love both of these challenges & now that fall is arriving, I will have more time for challenges. Thanks for stopping! You know how much it means. Have a great evening!
Hugs,

Marilyn

Spring Bouquet

 

Happy Friday! I am sooo excited for this Saturday as the Creating Keepsakes Convention will be here in the St. Louis area (Collinsville IL to be precise).  My three very good 'crafty' girlfriends and I are taking a class together & then going for dinner. I signed up for an earlier class & plan on getting to the convention extra early for some extended shopping time. The convention always has the latest products and plenty of special deals. But most of all, I have such a great time with these girlfriends. Enough blabbering... Here's my take on the Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge (SC327) and the CR84FN22 challenge to use craft, green and brown colors. 

Supplies:

Stamps: Breath of Spring (JustRite); Teeny TIny Wishes (SU)

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Certainly Celery, White, DP- Best of K&Co stack

Ink: Rich Cocoa (Momento), SU Markers- Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Summer Sun, Certainly Celery, Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade

Accessories: Embossing folder- Swiss Dots (Cuttlebug), Green Pearls, felt butterfly (Michael's), Oval punches (SU)

Thanks for stopping by, 

Marilyn

Classic Valentine

Hello from snowy St. Louis! I hope you all are enjoying your weekend. I've been busy with the usual life activities- work during the week & caring for the household on weekends. Fortunately, I've had some fun time in the studio. Here's one of my creations today. I used my new Gina K Lovely Labels 2 stamps which coordinates with Spellbinders Nestabilities. This one is Labels 14. I made this card for two challenges; Clean & Simple's Fall-to-Layout (FTL124) and Create 4 Fun (CR84FN11) color challenge to use red, craft and brown. The brown paper is retired SU! called Bella Rose. I'm almost out of this designer & I have so enjoyed playing with it's beautiful roses. The flower was made from SU! 5 petal punch & paper flowers from Michael's $1 bin, and a gold heart brad from my stash. The red gemstones came with the Michael's flowers. I added a layer of SU! crystal effects on the gold heart brad. I hope you like it! 

Hugs, Marilyn