MY MOJO MONTHLY NOVEMBER-CHANGING FACES!

SEE THE NEW MY MOJO MONTHLY CHALLENGE HERE!

Welcome to November's My Mojo Monthly! A place for inspiration, arty thoughts and your creativity. HUGE thanks to October's artists - such fabulous creative entries. I'm all ready with the new theme "Changing Faces, and itching to get you inking and thinking. Whatever your crafty passion may be, feel welcome and enjoy making art. There's lots to see, a great prize, but I'm here all month, so meander at leisure. Firstly, let's talk to November's featured artist, the very talented Jo Capper-Sandon!

FIVE QUESTIONS TO MY FEATURED ARTIST...
There's just something very personal and artistic about Jo's work that will make you pause and linger every time! Fabulously creative, expressive and inviting... I absolutely love Jo's unique style. Colour, details, humour, nature and wonderful composition abound...

Who is Jo Capper-Sandon in five words?
A northerner living down south.
 Where are you right now as an artist? Right now I feel I've hit a bit of a lull and am waiting on my next 'light bulb' moment. Hopefully it's just around the corner!
Which of your creations is closest to your heart? I have a few, all for very different reasons, but if I were to name just one I guess it would be the card I made just before Christmas last year for my Mum who had then just passed away. She was a great fan of the cards I made and had even just started going to workshops herself. It isn't the best card I've ever made, but I felt it spoke volumes reflecting the emotion and emptiness I was feeling. You can read about it on my blog here.

Where do you find inspiration when feeling Mojoless? I am greatly influenced by nature so many of my colour combinations come from things I see when pottering about the garden or looking at the sky. If that fails, I splash colour onto an A3 sheet of thick paper, swipe an ink pad over the top and see what happens. I 'm a great fan of serendipitous crafting. 
You are going back-packing in the Himalayas for a year and may only take 3 crafting items. Which - and why? Well, that would never happen rofl...unless they have a series of hotels along the trail with room service and fluffy towels. But if I had totally lost the plot for a second and had been led to believe that the Himalayas was my kind of thing...

1. A Windsor and Newton field box set of watercolour pan paints that comes with a little plastic water bottle built in and a brush, those field sets are fab! Why? Well, the colours are so clear, its dinky, and any sketches can be pulled together with a quick wash of colour.
2. An 8 x 10" watercolour journal (can use as a diary, scrapbook and sketch pad. 3. Solid lead sketching pencil (the ones with no wood) great for detail and larger areas, plus a watercolour wash well for mono sketches.  
Jo's own amazing stamp range for Stampotique Originals can be found here, you can see her fantastic design work in the November and December Craft Stamper magazine and she has also been featured in Stampington! Wow! Check out her blog here.

Back at HQ....
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and art Jo. I am feeling very inspired...! So this month my theme is 'Changing Faces". What's that all about? Well, I thought it would be good to look at how different colours, inks and compositions can dramatically alter the mood and style of a piece...and the best way to illustrate that is by taking one style of stamps into the dressing room! I've chosen the fabulous Loverly London and London Underground set from Artistic Outpost.

MODERN. I wanted a bold look, so I started with white glossy cardstock. I applied a mix of Red Pepper, Stream and Lettuce Alcohol inks softening them with blending solution. I then stamped various images in Black Stazon ink which is the best choice for this surface. I deliberately chose male figures and buildings to emphasise the modern mood.

I then cut various pieces, mounted them on black card to create a tight-fitting collage, before gluing them to another piece of glossy cardstock.You expect the British red and blue...! The green ink is more unexpected but it works well as a contrast with the blue and red and definitely gives it a little edge. The sheen of the card and the one layer stamping adds to the clean look. A final black border sets everything off. I will eventually mount it behind glass!

VINTAGE. Here, we are in full vintage mode! Faded tones, shabby edges and lots of layers create a completely different look. I thought these two folk looked like they were having a bit of a tiff, so I went with the humour! I even added Big Ben at a jaunty angle!

I blended Distress inks onto card before stamping the Lady and Gent in Coffee Archival ink. Then I chose more images to help fill in the background, stamping the flag in Distress ink for a more faded look. Archival ink will give you a crisper image that won't bleed, Distress ink gives a much softer result. The frame is just plain cardboard cut to size, coloured with Vintage Photo Distress Stain.

I built up the layers from a stitched book page and various papers, mounting everything on an old envelope. Adding little things like buttons, string and a Memo pin with lots of distressing and inky edges give it a real shabby feel.

Monotone. We often think of Black and White but Monochrome can be the use of any one colour. I created a quick clean and simple card using just a few images and Vermillion Archival ink by Ranger. These images look right at home in red! Very patriotic. I stamped and layered the guards twice and cut the bunting from multiple stamps of the mini flag.

Just one Cheerio and I'm done! This would be a great card for someone off to study at uni in the big city! What colour would you go for?

Challenge, Nice Stuff and Info...

So there you go, some thoughts on 'Changing Faces'. Three completely different looks and moods. Which one are you? What style do you fancy trying out. Is it maybe time to try something a little bit different than your normal path??? Go on, play with your inks, papers and composition and see what you come up with!!!

SHOW ME YOUR CHANGING FACES! 

Remember My Mojo Monthly is all about the why AND the what! Have you got a great take on this theme, or other inspired artwork to share? I'd love to see and hear about your creative adventures...  

 I'll be checking in everyday to take a look at your work. Congratulations to October's winner Penny for her beautiful covers. Well done! This months Giveaway is a very versatile Sizzix Bird die (a great one all year round) plus a lovely new Crafting magazine called Mollie! I love it and...next month we'll be meeting the fabulous Linda Cain!!!

My Mojo Monthly welcomes all hand-made crafters and artists. A few guidelines on submitting your work:
- In the spirit of MMM please write a few lines in your post about your creativity and why you want to share your work.
- You are very welcome to share challenge pieces, just tell me a bit about your inspiration.
- Please link directly to your post and not your blog so I can find you.
- Please add a link in your post to My Mojo Monthly, thanks!
- Multiple challenge photos without description will be removed.
- Feel free to take the MMM button for your blog - please do!  

Phew...I'm signing off now, but My Mojo Monthly is open all hours, so do linger a while! Have fun, be bold, be creative, and above all be yourself! Thank you for calling by, hope you enjoyed yourself. I'll be seeing you very soon...

Sarah.