My "No Mojo" Card

I wish I knew where my mojo has gone as it seems to be taking a vacation more often then I do. What frustrates me even more is that I WANT to create, but as soon as I get in the room I just can't seem to create. I even have ideas floating around in my head, but I just can't seem to get past the ideas. It is very frustrating.

Maybe the stess at my job is getting to me on some level. Maybe it's Spring Fever. Maybe it just my mojo playing a mean joke on me. For those that don't know, I teach 9th graders. I am sure most every one is aware of the education troubles that seem to be spreading around our country. My district is better off than some but still being effected. People are being shifted around or let go and nothing is a done deal until the new school year starts and then we'll be starting this all over again for the next following year. I didn't think I was worried as I've been trying really hard to leave it in God's lap, but maybe on some level I am still worried. At any rate, there are 10 weeks left and I am trying to make them as teachable as possible for my students.

However, ya'll came for the card, lol. Even though my mojo is on yet another vaca, I was able to squeak this little card out for ya'll. It's very simple, and IRL it is pretty (at least according to my DH). The base is white with another white piece cut slightly smaller, embossed with PTI's linen plate (I LOVE this plate), sponged along the edge, and then sprayed with TA's Irridecent Gold Glitter Mist. The two pieces of patterned paper I used is from Prima's Annalle paper pad. The flower is also Prima and is in fact two Prima flowers that I simply layered on top of each other for a subtle color difference between the flower and paper. In fact, they were left over flowers from a Live with Prima class kit I got over at YMH. I even sprayed the flower with the same gold glimmer mist give them a little something extra. The sentiment is from a PTI button set and the banner was cut using PTI's little banner die. Before I glued everything together I sponged the edges with PTI's Chamomile ink from their Vintage Touch duo. I ended up with a simple little card to welcome in Spring (what better way than pastels, white, and a flower).

Challenges used:
Get Sketchy - sketch

Colour Creatre Challenge - pastels

Totally Gorjuss - spring

Stamp Something - spring

Blog Candy Alerts

Just wanted to share quickly with ya'll about some amazing blog candy going on right now. Angie over at Angelwood's Crafting Corner has three amazing blog candies happening right now. Here work is beautiful and so generous in her giving. Check out my sidebar for a peek into one of the prizes being offered.

Waltzing with WMS St. Patty Day's style

In the midst of Spring Break over here and am loving it. We (my boys and I) really haven't done much this week and don't really plan to. School/work has been busy so this break is to catch our breathe. The boys haven't been too upset about keeping things low key as we started having a roof put over our patio. This been free entertainment as they boys and the dog are glued to the windows so they can "supervise" the work going on. The workers have been really great with them too. I knew we have a large patio but I guess I just never really knew how big until the work started (18 feet deep and 25 feet wide). Because of the size they have to put a post in the middle. At first, we weren't happy about that, but then we talked to my architect brother and all is good now. The money to get what we really want would cost too much at this point for us, so this is the next best thing. In fact, we plan on working with the post and turn the patio into two "rooms": play and eat.

I always look forward to waltzing with WMS as I LOVE Claire's stamps. I am slowly starting to build up my collection. For my two cards in this great waltz I used a wonderful FREEBIE that Claire has done and ya'll can get from her store. I've been on a kick with coloring on canvas so both images have been done that way. I love how I was able to acheive two different looks with the same image. For the first card I choose to go with a more natrual look by using kraft, vanilla, and a yellowy-green color. I printed the digi image on some sticky-back canvas and then colored it with my copics. Once I was happy with my coloring I shaded with Distress Ink Antique Linen and Vintage Photo to age the canvas before pulling the edges apart to fray it some. To give the background papers some depth I used PTI's Linen/Canvas Impression Plate and then sponged the edges with the same two distress inks. I roughed up the edges of the green mat, krafts strip and the kraft card base. The green strip was crampled and sponged so that it could stand apart from the green mat that goes over it.

Oh how I wish this close-up could show the embossed linen and canvas as well was the aging technique on the canvas. IRL it looks really neat.

Challenges used:

Fab & Funky Challenges: all things green or happy St. Patty's Day

Whimsie Doodles: use green

Beary Scrap: spring theme

Creative Card Crew: use green

The sketch is an old CPS one

For my second card I wanted to go with a different look. I wanted something more "spring-y" and thought these colors would be perfect: grey, light blue, the same green from the above card, and white. I colored the image with copics on sticky back canvas again (G21 & 24), but this time I used my oval nestie to cut it out after I snipped a few part to extend the edge. I used the same canvas impression plate on the light blue, but the grey and green was stamped to create my background paper. I used a text image on the grey and a damask from PTI on the green. The lace is Prima and was sprayed with Meadow Green Glimmer Mist.

Challenges used:

Crafty Cardmakers: make your own background paper

Lollipop Crafts: Lace

Tuesday Throwdown: lace

A Spoonful of Sugar: sketch

Papercraft Star: St. Patty's Day photo inspiration

Robins and Springtime

I don't see many Robins around my home, but I just love how they one of the symbols for Spring. And spring time is starting to make it's way to my home at the start of my Spring Break. For most, spring break means sleeping in; however, my youngest has taken it upon himself that 5:30 am is an excellent time to start waking up. Most of the time we can keep him down for another hout, but only if one of us is "sleeping" in his room. 6:30 am means wake up and play though. Mommy and Daddy aren't really digging this new wake-up call, and we're racking out brain trying to figure out what to do.

I am so excited that I have finally been able to play with one of my two new stamps sets I just bought from PTI. For this card I used Little Bitty Bird for my focus as a scraped background to give the background some texture. Since I had robins on my mind, I decided to turn one of the birds in this great set into a sweet little robin. Another thing that I've been playing with this weekend is stamping and coloring on some sticky back canvas. You have to be a little more careful with the copics, but I do love the results. I used Rich Cocoa Memento ink to stamp the words and images in before I started coloring. To help add some depth to my little bird I lightly outlined the wing and went over the eye as well. I created the sky but lightly sweeping different shade of blues and blue-greens around the bird/branch. The copics I used were E25, 27; R22, 24; G21, 24; BG0000, 10, 11; B0000, 000. I chose to soften the edges of everything with PTI's Vintage Touch. I also broke up sentiment in order to stack it and have it work better with the image. I added some twine to the stirp of brown that I embossed with Tim Holtz's wood folder and placed a little twine bow to give it a little something extra. The brads are used to completed my visual triangle the bird and bow started.

Challenges used:
PTI's Make it Mondays: distress - the patterned paper is crumpled and the edges have been sponged as well as roughed up
Papertrey Paper Dolls: have something that starts with PTI - p, patterned paper; t, twine/tree branch; i, ink
Crazy 4 Challenges: create a card with a tree (I hope my tree branch will count)
Sketch Saturday: sketch challenge

Give me a K

for my first altered monogram letter. I chose to use the letter of my last name for this simple project. I like the simpleness of this, yet I do feel like it's missing something. The letter is covered with this subtle and pretty colored paper from Patterened Paper from Your Memories Here and then sponged along the edge with Distress Ink's antique linen and vintage photo. Next I went from a white flower to a Patina color flower by using some TA's Gimmer Mist to allow my sweet little Prima butterfly something land on and stand out to be seen at the same time. For my little trail for the butterfly I used some Prima bling. That's it. Simple yes, but I am learning how to make altered letters sing.

Two More For You

So here are the other two cards I was working on last night. Both are for A Delightful Waste of Time's birthday week celebration.



The first one is a simple vintage take on Verve's Vivia la Verve wk 2 sketch. The card base was created with PTI's linen impression plate while the raspberry circle was created with TA's Red Velvet and Pink Taffy Glimmer Mist. The flowers are from Prima and the lace type ribbon might be as well. The sentiment is of course Verve's from their Everlasting Life set. Everything was sponged with PTI's vintage due: chamomile and chai. The colors are inspired from A Delightful's color challenge of sage, raspberry, and vanilla. I'm also enterimg this one for Crafty Calendar and Stampin' for the Weekend's Springtime theme as this will be one of my Easter cards.

For my second card I went a little more girly. The inspiration came from the inspiration cake picture from A Delightful's challenge. I was really inspired by the ruffled icing and the combination of vanilla with white. I had some pink ruffle ribbon and new it was just the thing to use. The sketch for this sweet card is from Get Sketchy's challenge this week while the idea to use only a sentiment is from Raise the Bar's sentiment only challenge. I lined the white and vanilla c/s with my silver paint pen to represent the silver spoon in the cake picture. To give the white a little more substance I clear embossed it with a paisly pattern. The great thing about the ribbon is that even though it's got three layers it will lay pretty flat in an envelope to mail. The sentiment on this one is also Verve (Plain Jane's Psalm 3:3)

inspiration photo

Musical Butterfly and a Sweet Gift Box

My post today is another short and quick one. It's already after midnight and I'm starting to get tired. On the plus side I finished these two project for ya'll and two more that I'll share later today.


For my card, I saw this amazing card at the Embellish blog and wanted to try it out myself as a CASE. I used some amazing Prima lace and half pearls that you can pick up at YMH. I used a wood embossing folder for the long kraft paper, but I only embossed the side that would be seen along the opening edge. Before I embossed it, I sponged the edges to give it some definition. I used a butterfly punch to punch out my kraft butterfly and layered on some vanilla c/s that had been stamped with music. You'll notice the butterfly layer is higher due to foam dots. I also added the half pearls in the corners for a little extra something. I also crumpled up the purple layer for some more added deminsion. This card is also for the Embellish Challenge for their color and music week as well as A Delightful Wast of Time color sketch challenge.

My second project is another one for A Delightful Wast of Time, but this time for the gift package challenge. I used some grade paper from YMH as well as more half pearls and the amazing yellow Prima flowers. I also coated the flower with some TA Chandelier Glitter Glam from YMH. I think it'll be a super cute little gift package for a little pick-me-up. What you can't see (because I forgot to take pictures) is that I did all four sides of the holder with the same gray and patterned paper. A quck and easy way to dress up a plain holder.

Verve Hopping

I got some time tonight to create a quick birthday card and thought I would create it for the Verve Blog Hop that's going on right now. I used the large Whimsy tree as well as the smaller tree and clouds from the Up, Up, & Away set. The sentiment is from PTI's Little Bitty Birds. I stamped the images in Distress Inks (faded jeans, walnut stain, and peeled paint) onto watercolor paper. Once stamped I then took a small brush dipped in water and did my version of watercoloring. I also watercolored the two edge panels in the background. I am also using this card for the birthday challenge over at A Delightful Wast of Time. A quick and easy card I was able to pull off in under an hour.

OLW Blog Hop

I am so excited that I get to join in the OLW blog hop this month. A bunch of us from the BPS OLW class have decided to have a little hop and it looks like it might just be the first of each month for the rest of the year. Our goal for the month of February was to find/take nine pictures to represent our word to us. I must admit that two of my pictures this month came from Flicker: the hand with the word written on it (I just thought it looked really neat as I am intrigued with henna art) and the flamingo because I was able to go to the zoo this month to take my own picture. I will be taking my own picture of a flamingo as it not only represents my word since they balance on one leg, but it represents my family as well. However, that will be for another post. The other pictures I did take as reminders of some of the things I want wanting to find balance with: me with my boys, my DH with our boys, getting out of debt (the screen shot of our balance as of the end of February), my faith and relationship with God (my bible and current devontional book), my job as seen with my ID and stack of papers to grade, one of my current projects in the craft room is getting my ribbon tamed, attempting to keep our house cleaner even though the picture is of a current mess that I have honestly been avoiding.


I have been feeling calm this month; although, I haven't been consentrating on my word like I would have liked. Can't wait to see what else it has instore for me.

1. Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/
2. Monica Bradford http://scraplifters.blogspot.com/
3. Jill C http://jillconyers.typepad.com/
4. Miranda http://mirandasscrapsite.blogspot.com/
5. Lynn http://www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/
6. Stacey http://www.TheAcornGarden.com/blog
7. Lisa http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog
8. Cassie http://craftycassiescorner.blogspot.com/
9. Abbey http://athomewiththerichardsfamily.blogspot.com/
10. Nicky http://seejanebake.blogspot.com/
11. Holly http://lovingrobots.blogspot.com/
12. Karen T http://breathenowsmile.blogspot.com/
13. Claudia http://creative-moms.com/
14. Rebekah http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
15. Kimberly http://foreverdaisies.blogspot.com/
16. Kat http://www.katswonderings.blogspot.com/
17. Kristina http://ciqis.blogspot.com/
18. Jan http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com/
19. Nikki http://inkyart.com.au/
20. Amanda http://www.scrappnbee.blogspot.com/
21. Lisa http://luluoz.typepad.com/
22. Sam http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/
23. Maureen http://cookingmylife.blogspot.com/
24. Kristi http://theprojectofme.wordpress.com/
25. Tere http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/
26. Karen http://womenontractors.blogspot.com/
27. Katrina http://k84mansramblings.blogspot.com/
28. Monica B http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
29. Mandy http://captureandcreate.wordpress.com/
30. Lisa http://makeyourownescape.blogspot.com/
31. Chrissy http://getcraftywithchrissy.blogspot.com/
32. Lee http://linarstudio.typepad.com/
33. Jen http://www.byjen.com/
34. Sylvia http://baxtersmom1.blogspot.com/
35. Christianne http://christiannemarra.blogspot.com/
36. Cheri http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/
37. Joy http://www.undiscoveredjoy.blogspot.com/
38. Beth http://justbebeth.wordpress.com/
39. Jennifer L http://www.studiojenn.blogspot.com/
40. Kathryn http://www.katlodesigns.com/
41. Heather http://www.scrappyhare.blogspot.com/
42. Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com/