The musings and offerings of a burgeoning greetings master

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Mr Cardmaker is Ready for His Big Break

I know we all have our mojo-free periods.  No energy to create, we force things, we hate everything we make, yadda, yadda, yadda....Oh, and that'll be me, over here, raising my hand to say, "Yup.  That's me."

A good friend of mine always has maintained that those times are our brains and spirits gearing up to have a big breakthrough, which will take you to a new and better creative place.  As this has borne true for me in the past , I have taken this on as part of my creed as well.
So, ok.....  Let's get ON with it, already, shall we???  Sheesh...

Hey, what do YOU do to break your Mojo-free moments?  Any great ideas out there??  SHARE, please!

Anyway--

If you made it through the pitiful post about THIS CARD, (for which, I offer up my apologies) you may remember the whole thing started with eight card bases I put together in order to finish up some paper from My Mind's Eye that I had been hoarding.  A sad end to that particular card base, I must say.  It never did anything bad to anyone....

HOWEVER!!

I had seven more to work with.  One became Charlie's Valentine.  I will share that later.  (It's not bad.  Not bad at all)

The remaining six made it out alive!!!  Aren't you glad this story has a happy ending?!

I have this really sweet stamp set from Papertrey Ink (PTI), called Funky Florals, which they GAVE you if you spent $100.00 at their online store.  I had a wonderful gift certificate from Christmas, and was able to get in on this deal.  They do not sell this, btw, and I am actually not sure if there are any left.  Be worth a check, however.

I used the stamps to make these--


Isn't his SOOOOO much better than the other thing?  I love that sentiment, and the flowers are so fun and pretty. 



PTI sells coordinating dies (from the Notched Flowers stamp set) that also go with this stamp set, but they rapidly sold out of them.  What I found, however, is that I could easily use my Nestabilities dies to cut the basic circle, and then my snips made easy work of the notches.  You just follow the image.  DUH!  There are no leaves in this set, so I used the leaf stamps and dies from the Rosie Posie set (also PTI).



When I adhered the flowers, I used foam adhesive, and put the medium flower on a 1/8" foam dot, while the other two flowers are on 1/16" foam.  I like the extra dimension.



I think my favorite part is the little "giggle of bling" that I sprayed across the bottom.  I like the mix of pearls and gems here, and the lighthearted placement.

Oh, I should mention that these are 4"x 5 1/2", and not the standard A2.  I wanted a little extra room to allow some of the leaves and flowers to go off the edge a bit, and still fit in a regular envelope.


I will decide later whether these go solo or as a set.  I am pretty happy about they way these came out, though!

I am back to a low mojo period after making these, however.  I threw three cards away this week.  *SIGH*  That's 3+ hours down the tubes.  It happens, I know, and then it goes away.  I am READY for it to go away now, thank you.

I think I will go dig out a favorite card, and either CASE myself, or just do the same thing in a new colorway or something.  That should get the juices pumping!

PTI is doing a "black background" blog hop on the 25th.  I made some COOL things for that, and I have been saving them for this.  Stay tuned for that!

Hey, thanks for stopping by.  I so apreciate you putting up with my ravings.
Have a great, creative, and love-filled day!

All Best--
Richard

8 comments:

  1. These are great! I love the one at the top and the one with the nearly solid brown. As for helping to get going again... I make something. It might suck, but it gets my hands moving and working and playing with my supplies. Sometimes starting with a challenge helps, but generally, I just need to get my hands on the supplies and let them work it out for me!

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  2. I don't know WHAT you are talking about! Looks like you have plenty of MOJO to me! Whenever I'm feelings in a crafting funk, I do some craft space cleaning and organizing. I never fail to find something I had forgotten about and that sparks all kinds of ideas. That's my solution anyway. Breaks (just like getting enough sleep) are just as important to the creative process and working at it.

    TFS

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  3. I hope your break is short, but know it is well deserved. It is so funny to me how those times of no mojo come. You feel like what the heck have I ever stamped before! But I also know it is like all times and seasons they end and a new start is fresh with enthusiasm and MOJO!!!!! I love it more when I am creating but allow myself permission to stop once and a while because I know it will be like fireworks on the fourth of july when I return and my brain will be on overload when the mojo hits once more and we are creating agian!

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  4. Wow, Richard - these are great! Each one is wonderful, and you are right, the little 'giggle' of bling is SO sweet! These should definitely go 'each', not 'set'! Can't wait to see your black background items!

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  5. They're all beautiful - you did great! As for mojoless times, here are my thoughts. I'm not a religious person but I do fervently believe in God (insert whatever supreme being you believe in here) and I think that creativity is a gift. I wait for an idea to pop into my head (knowing where it came from) and then run with it, embellish it, blah blah. If it's been just too long and I want to force it, I peruse my stamp sets and pick one (usually one I have never or rarely used) and play around seeing how many different cards I can make with the one set. Or sometimes it's a paper, or a color. I think even these times are given to me, to make me think : ) Have fun!

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  6. You know these are really beautiful!!! They look like a set that really complement each other....I LOVE the colors!! And those owls...so cute!!! Yep...you definitely have some winners here!!

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  7. May I be so bold as to say, this is a sexy six pack of cards!! I love the common factor of each of them, but those paper combinations are the heat man!!
    What do I do to rejuvenate my mojo? Dust, vacuum, organize closets, clean a bathroom, collect dust bunnies. Then about 20 minutes into it, I quickly realize ANYTHING is better than this and give crafting another go.

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  8. Sweet set of cards! I saw your comment on Wida's segment about Laura and of course I had to check out your blog. Love that there are guys out there who enjoy cardmaking! All the best to you! Nina
    P.S. I've been mojo-free for a month or so, I totally know what you mean. I will meet up next weekend with a crafty friend, so I hope that'll get me going :)

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