Quick and Easy

Hello Crafty Friends!

I cant believe how quickly this year has passed! 

Today I want to share a cute and simple cat card I made for a friend whom is a fellow cat lady. 

Stamp Used:

Tuxedo Cats

Do you ever feel like you struggle to make a quick and simple card when you need? 

Me too!

Fear not, this stamp really does all of the work for you! 

I started by stamping my tuxedo cat stamp on white card stock with black memento ink. 

To color my image, I used a variety of alcohol based markers.

(Blick, Copic, and Spectrum Noir)

I chose to do a double mat to give more visual interest. 

I hope this gives you some ideas for a quick and easy card! 

I love that this stamp can be used for any occasion, and who doesn't love cats?!

Happy New Year!!!Stay crafty my friends

Monocle Mail Art Monday!

Hello Again Crafty Friends!

Happy Labor Day to all of you in the USA or just anyone wanting to celebrate!

Today, I will be sharing one of my favorite things...

Yep, Mail Art!!!

( And not just Mail Art... but Halloween Mail Art!)

Stamps used:
Monocle cat and pumpkin
Typeset scallop
Stitching
Stars

Starting with an A2 Envelope I stamped my "monocle cat" in archival - jet black ink. However if you are going to color with alcohol base markers like I am you may want to use Memento for this. My Memento needs refilled and I wanted the cat to be very crisp which is why I was okay with a little bit of smearing of my colors.

With the leftover ink I stamps the cat a second time on scrap paper to create a mask. I cut the cat out and masked him off.

Next using memento ink I stamped my scallop along the edge.

(And of course many of you know this is one of my favorites so it would have to be a prominent stamp on this envelope.

Next remove the mask from the cat and shows to color at the border and Cat with various alcohol-based markers. I wanted to see how they look before picking out my background color. Following traditional Halloween colors..  I went with of course: purples, oranges,yellows, and greens.

With my main images colored I am ready to create the background. I re masked off the cat and scallops.

The background was Inked with distress oxide in mustard seed and ripe persimmon. While everything is still masked off, I added my star details to the background (also using ripe persimmon distress oxide ink).

Of course the fun part is always removing the masks and seeing all your colors pop together.

Now for the finishing touches...

I added a Avery address label, used a black marker to trace the inner Edge oh, then finished everything off with my stitching stamp.

Thank you for visiting!

Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?

When I was around nine or ten my best friend Rita and I decided to hold a contest. Who could make the largest gum foil ball? Back then gum sticks came in a pack of five and each stick of gum was wrapped in a thin piece of paper stuck to an aluminum sheet. It took some patience but after stuffing each piece of gum into our mouth, we would carefully separate the foil from the paper and then roll the foil into a ball.

I honestly can’t recall how long our contest lasted, or who won, but I distinctly remember a huge argument over the accusation of cheating with Reynolds aluminum foil!
 

I decided to do a bit of research and found that our idea wasn’t exactly unique. Recently on eBay a vintage six pound gum foil ball sold for $299.99! I never received any money or notoriety from my ball, but am now having a bit of regret that I didn’t save it.
 

When I saw the adorable Tinfoil man stamp on the VLVS website I knew I just had to try my hand at making a real foil card. It was easier than I thought and I love the way it turned out.

Supplies



Miracle Tape



VLVS – Tinfoil Hat Man and Cat and Tinfoil it's not just for hats anymore.



Cardstock – white and gray



Silver Stickles



Black/White Patterned Paper



Aluminum Foil



Embossing Folder
 

I just made a simple greeting card and layered black cardstock on the cover. To emboss the tinfoil I used Miracle Tape to tape down the foil to a piece of cardstock. I then ran it through my Vagabond, cut the embossed piece to the desired size and glued it to the card. I added Silver Stickles to the stamped hats and then glued it to the card.

Have you ever made a tinfoil chewing gum ball? Or a tinfoil hat? The closest thing to a tinfoil hat that I ever wore was using a frozen orange juice can as a hair roller. Can you top that??

A day in a life of a cat

When I first learned I made it to the Viva Las Vegastamps! Design team, I started making a couple of cards, just to have on hand in case my mind went creatively blank. Luckily that hasn't happened. :) But I thought I show you the card I did.

I had some some photo paper that I had used alcohol inked backgrounds on. On white cardstock I stamped the 2 cats in black memento ink. colored the Crayon Kitty with prisma pencils.I then stamped the Excerpt from the diary of a cat on to the background but it smudge when stamping. after a panic moment, I stamped it on a piece of white cardstock. in black memento ink pad. All peices were attached the the background with Miracle tape. And attached to a black card base.

Items used:

Black cardstock

photo paper

alcohol ink

white cardstock

black memento ink pad

color pencils

Miracle tape

Stamps used:

Crayon Kitty

cat sprawl

Excerpt from the diary of a cat day 751