Why, there you are, mojo!

Woot-woot, my mojo came home. Little Mr. Mojo went on a sabbatical for a bit there. Sketches always help, but tonight, I felt inspired without them. In fact, I mainly used them so I could participate in some great challenge blogs. I love challenge blogs. It's fun to make myself stick within certain rules and guidelines...I guess that's what makes it a challenge, right? And Lord knows, I'm not always good at following rules. Challenge blogs give me the opportunity to follow the rules and feel good about it, not to mention potentially being rewarded for it!

So, anyhow, here's how it goes. The cute little CC Designs guy with the cupcake is for http://sweetsketchwednesday.blogspot.com, challenge 75. I originally colored him with intentions of using him for this week's Simon Says challenge to do a male card with a charm, but that didn't work out. However, he worked perfectly for the challenge at SSW, to follow a sketch. I had the ruler paper in my scraps. Since I'm trying hard to keep my scraps pile from growing large enough to hide one of my cats, that made me happy. His little cupcake is covered in liquid applique and then sprinkled with Martha Stewart mica glitter. I've gotta do an aside here to give thanks to my friend Brenda, who sent me some Neenah paper. I'd never used it before; I'm a big fan of Gina K. This Neenah paper was awesome, though. I'm glad I tried it. I might have to get some for those times that the Gina K is too thick or too glossy.

Moving on...the friend card with the adorable Sarah Kay image is sketch challenge 25 at http://peartreedesigns.blogspot.com. As instructed, I followed the sketch exactly and didn't flip it or any of my other usual tricks. I love the simplicity of this card. I'm pretty proud of myself for tying a fairly decent bow, too. That's not one of my strong suits. I got myself a bow easy and that sucker grew legs and walked. Now I am tying my bows by hand until it turns up. I'd sure like to know where some of my craft supplies and mojo take their vacations. I might follow them. I need a vacation.

Wait, I digress. So, what else is new? Back to the cards. The third and final card is for the Sweet Stop sketch challenge 81. I am in love with everything apple lately. If it's got an apple on it, it's mine. I have to have it. On this card, I used my fabulous nestabilities. I cut the apple once around the image, then cut it again out of the red checkboard paper. Then I used the scalloped oval to cut the center of the apple out so the image could show through, and layered it on top. The cute little leaves are from Wild Orchid Crafts. Check them out...their flowers and leaves are gorgeous! Sentiment stamp is Magnolia. I had so much fun making this card.

This is a wonderful way to start the weekend. I need to clean my bathrooms this weekend, and maybe do a few other little cleaning chores, but my hope is to create, create, create. So, let's just hope that Mr. Mojo does not go on another vacation, shall we? Well, at least, I hope he doesn't. As always, thanks for reading my ramblings!