Mojo Monday

I went in search of mojo and found this great MoJo Monday sketch.  I didn't follow it to the letter.  Operation Write Home cards tend to be a big on the simpler side.  But I think this has just enough to make it fabulous and not too much to be busy.

What I liked about this image was the large circle as a focal point.  That seemed a great way to showcase some of the beautiful Echo Park papers I have been hoarding.  So I first selected the butterfly print as my focal.
I started with a kraft colored card base and a front in Rich Razzleberry.  That color was just a bit too bright for the EP paper line so I inked the edges with Tim Holtz Tea Dye.  And stamped my favorite large script, also in tea dye.  That brought the base down to a softer feel.
I just love making my own background papers with Perfect Pearls or embossing or stamped images and decided to do that with the side panel here.  I started with a piece of yellow faux parchment.  Next, I cut out butterflies from the coordinating EP paper with a Martha Stewart punch and glued them down.  Then I ran that concotion through an embossing folder.  The finished look is as if the butterflies are part of the paper.  Really sharp.
The butterfly paper I selected as the focal point was cut with a SU 2.5inch punch. I layered that on a pointy nestabilities die and one final time on the slightly larger brown. I didn't like it just on the pink or just on the brown and this combination seemed to give the best effect.
While I like the circle and pennant on the original sketch, all my attempts just felt like to much on an OWH card.  Though I could see using it for a fellow cardmaker.  I needed to tame it down, keep it flat enough for the USPS and stay with my kind of mellow color pallet.  So I punched holes and threaded the bow through.  I really like that.  Originally, I had thought about adding another butterfly, but when I did it was just too cutsey.  (Heaven forbid!)  Which meant the ribbon on the bottom would be two fibers, which I rarely ever do.  But the punched sentiment gave it that horizontal fee.  In hindsight, maybe I should have layered on the circle and the side panel.
This kraft card base needed a white liner on which I added a little bit of the DP and stamped butterfly.
So - my Monday Mojo toned down made 4 (not so quick cards) for OWH.