Good morning!!! I made a card this morning! I need to get started on a pile of thank you cards!
I have to admit I had a little trouble getting started, there was a mojo shaped hole in my imagination this morning, and so I started simply with a little subtle background stamping! I used Anya's delicious dog tooth to create a tone on tone card base and just popped on a simple sentiment from Compact Sentiments 2 as a focal point. Beautiful ovals trimmed out with the Floral oval dies, I trimmed a cream one down further with scissors before mounting it on a kraft card oval.
I drew the pink heart onto the pale pink button ( I used a copic marker) and threaded it with a little cream button twine to add a weeny bit of interest. Lovely delicious brown velvet ribbon! oooh it's yummy stuff that I'm 'interviewing' for the store!
So, since I'm trying to get going again, I'd like to know how you kick start your mojo when you're feeling lacklustre? ooh, and since I have a couple of spare meters of this stuff just sitting around, I'm going to pick a random comment to win a wee length of this lovely ribbon! So - tell me all your secrets and help me get back into the swing!!! I'll let this run till Wed midnight, my time.
:)
So classy and beautiful! LOVE your card!
ReplyDeleteOh Claire, sometimes my mojo is in the doldrums, and nothing seems to work! Sometimes a little twirl around pinterest can help - (funnily enough, not at other peoples cards, as I find them all so wonderful I then feel oh so inadequate!) but at the inspirational photos of landscapes, wedding dresses, cakes, all sorts of stuff! Sometimes all it takes is a particular colour scheme that catches my eye, or a challenge sketch or pic. I even find sometimes if I have a very limited time to create something, it can just flow, and some of my favourite makes have been made this way! And sometimes, I just have a little twirl around the WMS gallery, for some WMS inspiration!
ReplyDeleteA sketch always helps me! Your card is perfect and very easy to make multiples! Can't wait until I can order to get these sentiments!
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of challenge sites I visit and a few bloggers that always inspire. Usually CASE something to get me going again. Case Study, Runway Inspired Challenge, Play Date Cafe and CAS at Splitcoast each inspire me and I hope to learn how to upload soon so I can play along. Can't wait to see responses from other folks about how they get a jump start!
ReplyDeleteYour card looks pretty darn good for someone mojo-less! Love the heart on your button.
ReplyDeleteI find Pinterest to be the perfect place to spark my mojo these days - for some reason the kitchen design boards always get me thinking.
Tara x
Sweetness!! So glad you hear you recaptured mojo, hold on for dear life as it's been known to disappear just as quickly :/
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever idea to draw the heart on the button!!
Very pretty card. When I feel my creativity is lacking I do a variety of things--I blog hop to get ideas, I clean my area and find supplies that jump start an idea for me or I pull out sketches or other challenges to get me going.
ReplyDeleteIf I need some inspiration and a little kick-start, I usually CASE a card...the feeling of completing something that is pretty usually helps me to come up other ways to use the stamps and my own inspiration comes out. So happy to see you creating and your beautiful cards, especially love the houndstooth background.
ReplyDeleteGood to see you able to create such gorgeous projects again! When I get in a slump, I keep a stack of card magazines near my bed and desk. I pick them up and gleen what ideas and inspiration I can from each. I may use one creative element from 5 different projects! When I'm done, it's still all mine!
ReplyDeleteClaire, Try looking to nature. Its everchanging and full of beauty and color and texture. I think time and patience will help you, too. And I agree with the comment that if this is what you come up with without your mojo, you're doing very well!
ReplyDeleteClaire, I love your bright card - seeing something like that gets my mojo going. Sometimes it's best to just walk away from it and grab some inspirations out of doors. Take a walk or sit in the park - soak up all the beauty that surrounds you. Something will just grab hold of you and you will be UN-STOP-ABLE!
ReplyDeleteLove the bright pink card and houndstooth stamping The heart is so sweet.
ReplyDeleteAs for mojoless moments - I like to browse Pinterest too - landscapes, urban scenes, dresses, geometric patterns. I love to check out other people's cards and sometimes CASE them too.
I also like to look at advertisements - colours, layouts, that sort of thing.
A lot of times I'll pull out photos of my daughters (when I'm dealing with scrapbooking mojo) or, try and create a card for a very special person/occasion. Sometimes the joy I feel from that person gets me over the creative slump. But, for the record, I don't think your creative mojo has gone anywhere. Love this card!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful card! I usually stroll along through the blog-o-sphere to find inspiration and to get my mojo back =)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a sweet card, I love the bright, fun pink!
ReplyDeleteAs for mojo tips, I just force myself to make something, usually following a sketch and maybe a couple of other challenges, I'll just plonk anything on and normally I'll hate what I've made but it kick starts me into making things I like again! I hope that helps - and makes sense! :-)
Love Beth xx
Beautiful card Claire. Challenge sites are always a good one for me. Sometimes, if I'm really stuck, I take a few nights off from scrapping and cardmaking and look at past issues of papercraft mags. Something normally pops out and inspires me!
ReplyDeleteLove your sweet card! The yummy bright pink & chocolate brown look fabby together. And what a clever touch to color a heart on the button. Whenever I'm looking for inspiration I usually blog hop. Unfortunately, I sometimes then spend more time on the computer than I should! But I always find more than a few things that perk up my mojo and get me going!
ReplyDeletewell, it's difficult to tell from this lovely card that your mojo is any place but alive and well with you :) Love the pink and black and that fabulous sentiment...which, by the way, is in my hot little hands as of toda!! Happy "Royal Mail" came today and I love all my sets! Thanks for the extra roosters too and the sweet notes...your customer service is over the top! I need a new binder for all my WMS goodness! oh, when my mojo is MIA, I clear my desk and pull out some of my favourite items (paper, stamps, embellies) and just create what I love...no sketch, no colour combo, no publication call, just what I love...works for me :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that gorgeous button...
ReplyDeleteI'm inspired just knowing you drew that heart...
love it!! :)
And mojo...
when I have absolutely none...
I sort scraps of paper...
sometimes cutting out die cuts with it...
sometimes just weeding through it all.
Or I organize ribbons...
and imagine what I'm going to use a particular ribbon for.
Sometimes just cruising through the blog reader and seeing other creations gets me motivated...
or hanging out on Pinterest!
I have all kinds of ways to be "crafty" without ever actually making a single thing! :)
Thinking of you and hope you're doing well!
Your card is so sweet! Sometimes I find if I just organize and clean up a bit I can get my mind working. Or I will be looking at a magazine and I will see something that catches my mine and I will go with
ReplyDeletethat .
I CASE! I go to my favourite blogs, or to my Pinterest boards, find something I adore, and cope it - either the layout, the colours, wahtever it is that speaks to me that moment. Sometimes it's a flat out copy (I try hard not to!), sometimes just a jumping off point, but it works for me!
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to include my name in your draw - I appreciate the chance, but someone else might need it more than this ribbon-hoarding girl! :)
I find using sketches just muddles my mind more when I've completely lost my mojo. What does help is to spend some time outside. I either take a walk or sit and pull weeds, with no radio or MP3 player...just me and the weeds or my walk and my thoughts, which go all over the place. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to just feel my mind empty, then start filling with ideas. If that fails, I take a nap -- tee hee -- and hope I'll dream up something good.
ReplyDeletewhat a pretty card! Behind every tear there are beautiful memories!
ReplyDeleteMy mojo tips: take your bike and take a ride in the nature! It's so lovely outside now. Read all the sweet tips here on this page. Love from Holland.
What scrummy ribbon and a beautiful card!
ReplyDeleteI tidy my desk when my mojo is hiding. If that doesn't work I blog hop and comment.
If that doesn't work then I follow a sketch and "make" myself make a card...
Anne
x
Such a sweet card Claire!
ReplyDeleteI often have no mojo and then I look around the blogs... case a card and the inspiration comes..or I case a card from myself..I have a box filled with cards which is my inspiration box..always love to see what I created in all those years..makes me happy to see it all!
Hugs Holly.
I love tone on tone stamping. And this pink really pops. How do I start my mojo? It's getting harder and harder of late. But, I will either pull out an old magazine (that I've kept because any day now I'll get to making similar cards) or pull up my Cards board on pinterest. Not that that worked last night. I know exactly what is next on my list but opted for a novel in bed after I got my kids to sleep.
ReplyDeleteMy mojo definitely goes walkabouts sometimes, so I know how that feels. I had a patch recently but then I bought some new stamps and although it was slow going at first, once you get started with stamps you love, the ideas soon start to come. I just play around with scrap bits of paper and stamp away without any particular sketch in mind until I hit upon something that sparks an idea that I just have to run with. New stamps are definitely a good trigger though!!!!! Happy stamping!
ReplyDeleteYour card is beautiful! As a very new card maker, my mojo hides behind my fear that I don't have the skills or artistic ability to pull it off. I'm usually inspired by watching tutorials then trying something similar. But lately it's been washi tape! I can always complete a pretty card with washi tape and a single sentiment.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cheerful card! Often I just need to get out my big box of WM stamps and look through to get the ideas flowing. The sketch challenge is also good for inspiration, as are blogs, especially Becca Freeken's, Clare Buswell's and Jennifer Holmes'. There's nothing quite like receiving a hand made card though, to spark the ideas and CASEing bits from various cards also works for me!
ReplyDeleteGood question!
Lynn Wild
Lovely card, Claire! Love the pink background and the button with the heart! This brown velvet ribbon looks gorgeous! When I'm out of mojo, I just go and read blogs, pinterest... I often just take my favorite colors and stamps and just let it go!
ReplyDeleteClaire, go blog. Hopping! Great Way to get the mojo back. N I also find that looking at galleries helps too. Be king to yourself.... Relax and have a coffee!!!!
ReplyDeleteClaire,
ReplyDeleteFirst your card is stunning! Love the beautiful simplicity of it - gorgeous button and ribbon and stamping.
For me sometimes playing soothing music and just shopping my craft room - looking at gorgeous stamps, paper or supplies can spark an idea. Sometimes I just start diecutting and an idea will come. Pinterest and other sites can spark an idea or looking at the forums of various sites to see what everyone else is making.
I think when I am really stumped a cup of tea and a walk in my garden can settle me....and just taking a break is always good - I don't always remember to do this...
Still thinking of you each day and keeping you in my thoughts..
hi Claire - lovely card! love the pop and the simple the better, right? when the mojo has a lack luster i just start CASE-ing like crazy. pick up a magazine, pick up a favorite card from my repertoire or head on over to one of the blogs that i admire and copy...at some point i realize that i deviate and start making it my own. other ways - color constraints, sketch challenges, or the WMS gallery or past blog hops ... yep one of my biggest inspiration places :)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for my bank balance, I shop! Usually stash and gadgets and that's why my craft room is overflowing! Glad your mojo is stirring again Claire - look at the beauties in nature and smile.
ReplyDeleteI know it's tough when you've a business to run, but step away. Go for a walk outside in the sunshine (or rain if necessary). Breathe. I find it helps get the clutter out of the brain so the creativity/energy can flow again. Love this card BTW.
ReplyDelete