Monday Mojo

Hi everyone!! I'm so happy to be able to share my first Monday Mojo post with you!! It's very exciting to be part of the Scrapbudz Design Team!! There's some very talented ladies here!! And I'm very thankful to Eve for asking me to be part of the team!!!

For the mojo........Are you like me? Do you buy scrap products, and then realize that you already own them? Have you done that with inks and embossing powders? How about stamps? I have! I've even bought a Tim Holtz die that I not only own, but had already used!!! That's pretty bad!!

About a month ago, I decided that I really needed to get organized!! I started with my dies, and I'm still working on the stamps!! I've moved a bunch of stuff, so I had easier access to it, and I relegated the seasonal stuff to less desirable real estate. I'm sure that by now, you're wondering what this has to do with Monday Mojo.

Well....I'm making myself a Scrapbook Catalog!! In it I'll keep lists of various scrap products that I have, including dies, cartridges, inks, embossing powders and stamp sets. Of course, I'll have have a wish list in there too!!! Now, I could have chosen an everyday binder to put all this in, but what's the fun in that?!!! So here's what I've made....

I started with a kit, that I got on sale....

Here's the kit contents........

Of course I needed to add some more pretty papers to it.....

Love these gorgeous papers!!!! With some mini tabs, they'll become extra dividers. I really wasn't planning on covering over that ledger paper, but I had a misshap. Actually, I started stamping on the cover, and it turned out pretty good. Then I realized that the ink colors I'd chosen, just didn't match the look I was going for!! So I had to cover it. Here's what I did.....

Step 1

Choose pretty papers, and glue over your chipboard, I covered both sides and I used gel medium, but mod podge, or any glue will work as well. Let sit a minute, then sand the edges clean. Add some distress inks to the edge of the paper. If your chipboard is thick, don't forget to ink up the sides as well.

Step 2

Choose the colors and embellies you want to work with. Wait....maybe that should have been step 1!!

Step 3

This is where I start playing with placement. Start with the biggest embellie, in my case, it was the diecut strips, the flowers and the large leaves. Once you get the look that you're going for, go ahead and start glueing the bigger pieces. Here's a closeup of the left side......
Step 4

Now for the fun part.....start placing smaller embellies around your flowers or larger pieces. You want to incorporate matching colors, as well 'pops' of brighter colors. Those little pops, really invigorate your projects!! Once you like the pieces as well as the placement, go ahead and start glueing.

Step 5

Continue in this manner until you are pleased with the look. Hint: if you decide to add 'pops' of color, make sure you put it in several areas around your project, otherwise that one pop is where your eye will focus!! Of course, if that's the look you're going for, then go for it!! Here's a closeup of the right side.....

The title......

Love printing my titles on pretty papers!!! Do you see the transparency above? I didn't stamp that. Nope! You know how your stamps come with a little acrylic sheet to cover them.....yep!! A wonderful bonus to organizing my stamps!!! Check out the closeup, you'll see some more of these.....

The little leaves were made using another of those sheets. I used alcohol inks on the back side, and cut with deckle edged scissors.

Step 6

Now that your covers are done, and put together, go ahead and add some fibers, and ribbons to your binding. I also added some beads and charms to the top binding ring.

So there you have it!! This is a fairly easy project to do, although it can be time consuming. And the best part is, that you can go for any look, clean & simple, elegant, shabby, vintage or retro. You can use very few or lots of embellies. The choice is yours!! Me....I like the 'more is more' look!! But you never would have guessed that!!!

Have fun!!

Lynne