Cat Gazing at the Universe

 

I need another birthday card.  Yes, I do have a stash of them, but certain people get cards made just for them.  Plus I want to play the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes and The Die Cut Divas Birthday challenges.  I used this Freshly Made Sketch for inspiration.

For the background I started with watercolor paper, sprayed it with some water, and then began spraying with Seedless Preserves and Unchartered Mariner Distress sprays and more water, drying, spattering with water, drying, repeating, sometimes letting colors move, sometimes dabbing up some of the ink until I was happy with what I had and then let it dry naturally.  Next I partially inked a swirly corner stamp from Inkadinkadoo, a cross hatched stamp from Stampin' Up's Timeless Textures set, and a script stamp, Sacred Spells from Lavinia and, without blocks, randomly stamped the background with black ink for texture.  I then lightly brushed Hero Arts white pigment ink through parts of a Feathered Leaf stencil from Lavinia to provide still more texture.  Lastly I swiped some silver metallic pigment ink from ColorBox along the edges and my background was done.  I thought about adding white splatters, but then thought they might take away from the swirly feel of the background.

I cut the "A" or top layer of the Prismatic Triangle layering die set by Birch Press Design to use to ground what my pointy eared darlings will tell you is the most important part of the card, a cat cut using a die from Spellbinders' Kitty Cats die set.  One of the things I love about this die cut is that you can wrap her tail through other die cuts on a card.  The sentiment comes from Taylored Expressions' Birthday Simple Strips set and is stacked on another strip of paper to pop it up.  Now I have a mixed media card for the Mix It Up Anything Goes + Mixed Media Optional challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

A Crazy Cat Lady Can Use Any Cat Die or Stamp on a Christmas Card

 

Every January I promise myself I will play the Christmas challenge blogs and make at least one  Christmas card a week to avoid the December card making blitz, so that maybe, just maybe, I can actually get them sent out before Christmas.  Alas, I always get distracted with making birthday, sympathy, encouragement, thank you, friendship, and you name it cards.  Seeing the Christmas in July theme on the Cut It Up and CAS on Friday challenges gave me the kick I needed to get started.  I checked the ABC Christmas challenge for this month and saw one of the letters is "N" for "non-Christmas stash."  As a proud crazy cat lady I can work a cat into any kind of card.  I still had the Cat Collage die from Poppy Stamps out after making this birthday card for my brother, so why not use it for a Christmas card?  The Peace on Earth Christmas challenge has a lovely mood board, so I went through my background stash and found one to pick up the blues.

When I am playing with ink or a technique, I will make lots of backgrounds and figure out what to do with them later,  this means I don't always remember exactly what I did on a particular one when I get around to using it.   On this one I ink smooshed with, I think, Dylusions Balmy Night shimmer and Tim Holtz Winter Frost mica sprays.  It is bluer than it looks in the photo.  I cut a piece of it slightly larger than the square I cut the cat from and, to pick up the silver in the above photo, swiped the edges with silver metallic ink from Color Box.  I cut the star from gold foil using a die from Memory Box.  I used gold embossing powder and a sentiment from the Stampin' Up set, Star of Light, on the front and a sentiment from Close to My Heart inside.  It says "A silent night, a star above, a blessed gift of hope and love."  Now I have one Christmas card for 2025!

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Birthday Glimmer Kitty

 

"Tis the season for birthdays!  Between family and friends I need quite a few this month.  I made this one for my brother, a crazy cat dad who likes to garden, following this sketch from Just Add Ink.

When I sit down to play with inks I will make a mess of backgrounds and figure out what to do with them later.  Sometimes I only use part of one and keep the leftover scrap for something else.  The background behind the cat was from a leftover bit made by smooshing Hero Arts Glimmer Inks in red, copper, and bronze on watercolor paper.  As you can see by the second image they really do shine when you tip them to the light!  The cat was cut using the Cat Collage die from Poppy Stamps and the vegetation with a die from Altenew's Leaf Mix die set.  I gilded the edges by holding the paper vertically and pressing the edges into a versamark pad and then gold embossing powder.  I stamped the sentiment with one from the So Many Sentiments set by Gina K Designs and embossed it as well.

I am also entering this in the Critter Crazy Special Birthday Bash Milestone challenge celebrating their 100th challenge and the Show Us Your Pussycats anything goes challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi and 

Happy Birthday Butterfly

I love this stamp, Indra, from Lavinia Stamps.  I have had it and used it for about four years but never posted a card with it.  Maybe it's because, although I make plenty of cards, I have often not had the time to photograph them and write a post.  I am going to try to be more regular in posting.  I saw that the Seize the Birthday challenge topping this cycle was use a silhouette, so I thought I would make a card featuring Indra and actually post it.  I am getting this in just under the wire.

I started with watercolor paper and sprayed with water, Distress sprays and lots more water, so the colors really ran and dried it with my heat tool.  Then I flicked on water, n mostly large drops, tilted the panel so they would run a bit, and then let it dry naturally which meant the ink that pooled at the edges of the drops dried leaving darker rings around them.  Next I used a swirly corner stamp from Inkadinkadoo and the Sacred Spells script stamp from Lavinia without using blocks to randomly stamp bits and pieces providing more texture.  I stamped Indra using black archival ink on the panel and on a piece of scrap paper to cut out a mask to protect her while I spattered white Dina Wakley Gloss spray around her. Lastly I inked the edges with black Versafine ink.  Now for the sentiment.  I planned on using sentiment strips from Taylored Expressions, but the card seemed too dark and needed contrast, so I ended up using a die from Gina K Designs which I cut three times and stacked.  The "happy" is a piece of one of those sentiment strips.  The larger die cut added the balance and brightness the card needed.

I am also entering this card in the Critter Crazy Birthday Bash, which is celebrating their 100th challenge, and Retro Rubber Stamps challenges to make a birthday card.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Trellis Kitties

 

This card which makes me think of cats sitting on a trellis looking out on a garden using this sketch from the Try a Sketch on Tuesday challenge.

I started with watercolor paper, and began spraying it with Distress sprays and water, drying, spattering drops of water, drying, sometimes spraying more and repeating until I liked what I saw and then let it dry completely.  I inked an assortment of stamps without attaching them to blocks, stamped off, and then touched just parts to the paper to get partial images to add texture.  I then lightly brushed ink through random parts of the Feather Leaves stencil from Lavinia Stamps.  Background pretty much done.

Next I cut twelve frames using the Essential Squares dies set from Ellen Hutson and stacked them in threes to make four squares.  I then cut three each of the cats using my favorite cat die from Impression Obsession and stacked them.  After I glued three squares and kitties on the background, I cut up the last square to make the "post."  I decided the background needed some brightening, so I covered up the cats and whacked a Posca paint pen with a ruler to make the splatters.  I ran a black Versafine ink pad along the edge of the panel to give it definition.  After attaching it to a white card base, I attached a cut up sentiment from Taylored Expressions.

I am also entering this card in the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge to use die cuts and/or stencils and the Cut It Up challenge to use die cuts on a card with a Critter.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Happy Birthday in Rainbow Colors

Happy Birthday to my not so little brother!  I started with the AAA Birthday prompt to use rainbow colors.   I smooshed Broken China, Wild Honey, and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks on different sized acrylic blocks, spritzed them with water, and one by one smooshed them onto watercolor paper.  I let each one sit for a bit to allow the color to seep into the paper.  Now what?  A few years ago I saw this card on Darlene Pavlick's blog and was inspired to buy the Oriental Screen die from Tutti and to fill in some of the openings with the negative pieces to create interest.  It has become my favorite background die.  I cut one from black and one from copper paper saving the leftovers for another card.  I used a CZ Design die to cut the sentiment once from copper paper and twice from black to stack.  I then cut the shadow from black.  I have to warn you that the shadow die cuts the openings in the b, d, and p's which on a busy background is distracting.  Because I used Hero Arts Color Hues Premium Pitch Black cardstock which is thick, completely matte, and has a black core, I could pop those cut out pieces back in without it being obvious.  You have to know what you are looking for to see the edges.  There was also, despite careful placement, an issue with black lines from the background cutting through the spaces between r and the t, and h and the b which looked klutzy and, again, distracting.  A pair manicuring scissors took care of that.  All that was left to do was attach the finished panel to a card base and stamp a sentiment inside.

In addition to the AAA Birthday Rainbow or Rainbow Colors, I am entering this card in the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes, and Creative Crafty Uncles Happy Birthday challenges.  You can visit these blogs to see more birthday cards to inspire you and maybe enter.  All three will be active for a few or more days.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Trying a New Technique With a Never Used Embossing Folder

 

For this card I used a new to me technique featured in this Jennifer McGuire video.  You emboss a piece of watercolor paper, spray it with your favorite ink spray and water, let it dry, and repeat until you like how it looks.  Then, because all that water will somewhat flatten out the paper, you emboss it again.  Embossing before spraying encourages the ink to pool in ways that enhance the design.  I needed a birthday card for my husband, so I flipped through my embossing folders for something a little masculine and found a Tim Holtz 3D Texture Fades folder that I have had for something like five years and had never used!  How did that happen?!  I am sure y'all never lose track of what you have...  The folder is called Foundry and I used Tree Lot, Frosted Juniper, and Antiqued Bronze Distress Mica sprays.  I used A Paper Rose die to cut the sentiment twice in thick black cardstock and once in Copper Foil paper and stacked them.  The cats were cut from some brown metallic paper from Michael's using a set from Impression Obsession and stacked on more black cardstock.  I found they faded into the background, so I used some Pebo Copper Guilding Wax which is a new addition to my craft collection, I mean stash, to give them more dimension and make them pop out.  Our pointy ear darlings would tell you that is how is should be because the cats are the most important element.

Here is the inside of the card.

I stamped a sentiment from Close to My Heart twice using Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide ink and then dabbed a Copper Color Box pigment pad on some of the edges of the stamp and stamped a few times.  I love my MISTI!  It doesn't show well in the photo but shines in real life.  The strip at the bottom was leftover after trimming down the front panel.  My water color paper is 9x12 so I start with 4.5x6 paper.  Tim Holtz embossing folders are 6 inches inches long to accommodate standard the card size in the U.K.  I like having trimmings to play with.

I plan to enter this card in the Cut It Up challenge to use a new product, tool, technique, etc., the Die Cut Divas challenge to use a never been used item, Seize the Birthday challenge to use embossing, Color Hues Challenge to use copper and green, and the Mix It Up challenge to make anything with the option of mixed media.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi