Use It! #21/Mojo #98

Hi friends! I have another set of cards to share with you today. I used the Mojo Monday #98 sketch:
Then I gathered up my supplies to fit the Use It! challenge, hosted by Melisa. She asked us to use this picture for inspiration:
She also asked us to a tool we hadn't used in at least 6 months and some alphabet letters. My first thought was "ugh." I wasn't a huge fan of the colors used in the ad, I didn't know which tool to use and I really have no use for alphabet letters. Putting my negative energy aside, I figured I should just suck it up and accept that this is in fact a challenge.

I used the Mojo Sketch to help me settle on some papers and embellishments. I used some sunny yellow paper by Colorbok, blue patterned paper by Stampin' Up!, and yellow patterned paper by K&Co. I also knew I wanted to use that smoky blue ribbon by Offray (one of my yard sale scores!).

I decided to use my heat gun for my "old tool." I rarely use anything that takes too much effort, and for me, plugging in my heat gun, doing all that goes with stamping/using embossing powder, and waiting for my heat gun to cool off is too much. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to making cards. :) So anyway, I had decided to endure all the effort, and use some blue Pearlustre embossing powder by Stampendous to make some coordinating flower embellishments. I originally planned to have them in the center of the circle, but then I ran into the problem of where to place my alphabet letters. Darn those letters! :)

I figured I should go LOOK at my stickers to see which sentiment to use, and I ran into another brick wall. The reason I don't use alphabet stickers in the first place is because whenever I need to spell something out, I never have enough letters. Spelling "hello" on four cards is nearly impossible. Soooo, plan B was to just spell "Hi". I grabbed some old Making Memories rub-ons and realized the sentiment would have to be my focal point since the letters were so big.

I knew I still had to use the flowers (to incorporate my usage of an old tool) so I decided to set them off to the side of my circle and balance out my knotted ribbon. Once I was done assembling all of my layers, I was embarrased at my poor attitude, because the cards came out really neat! In a million years, I wouldn't have come up with the color combo, metallic embossed flowers or use of the rub-ons, but I'm really glad I went outside of my comfort zone! :D I guess that's what the crafting community is all about, right?

So, thank you, Melisa, you sincerely gave me a challenge this week! Thanks also to Rae, who maintains a fabulous website where fellow cardmakers inspire and challenge each other to USE what we have! :D Hope you like this set of cards as much as I do. Thanks for popping in and bearing with my lengthy post!

-Suzanne :O )