Two Challenges in One

Hey Stampers!
I'm curious... have you ever heard of card challenges in the papercrafting world?  Have you ever participated in one?  I have observed them from the sidelines for a couple of years now, not feeling like I had the time to think it through and participate.  With my new found unemployment?/retirement? I decided I should give it a go.  One challenge I particularly like is called Mojo Monday. Their challenge changes each Monday and revolves around a particular layout design that you are required to follow.  Another challenge that has intrigued me is a color challenge where you are to use specific Stampin'Up! colors.  Once I decided to go for it, I decided to jump in with both feet and combine both challenges... a Mojo Monday design with Color Challenge colors. Here's my card and then I'll give you some more details:

The Color Challenge was from Splitcoast Stampers Tuesday Color Challenge. This week it was black and Real Red. I needed a valentine for my hubby so that's where I went with it.   Here's a link to that site:

Splitcoast Stampers color challenge

The layout from Mojo Monday was very specific. Design layouts give you the skeleton of a design and you are free to incorporate what you want for a theme, colors, etc.  Here's the link:

Mojo Monday

I enjoyed my first attempt and plan on doing this some more... maybe several times a week if I can. My goal is to progress in my design/color/technique skills as an artist and card maker and pay more attention to what the rest of the world is doing in this hobby and learn from them.

Let me know if you decide to try a challenge!  It's fun!

Happy Stampin'!
Sarah