A crop party is a modern quilting bee. A group of friends gather to have girl friend time, sharing joys and sorrows while preserving memories and creating a special keepsake.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Naughty Kitty





There is a reason why we didn't have a Christmas tree last year.  I thought it would be safe to hang a few ornaments from the dining room light fixture; however, between the day after Thanksgiving and New Year's somebody grew.  If anyone knows how to share this with the motion on, please let me know.  She is jumping and the ornaments are swinging.  Needless to say, I had to take down the ornaments.




You know that when I saw that The Alphabet Challenge was "N is for Naughty" this incident and stamp came to mind.




This adorable stamp by Inkadinkado is perfect for a CAS card which aligns beautifully (purrfectly?) with the Addicted to CAS Challenge code word of creature and The Sweet Stampin' Challenge to feature an animal in honor of World Animal Day which was October 4th.  As you can see, if I placed the kitty where I wanted her to be in terms of composition, the branch would be at loose ends, so I used a journaling pen to extend the branch to the edge.  The sentiment is part of Hero Arts' Fluffy Stockings Stamp and Cut set.

Now to color the image.  I have never mastered alcohol pens, so I used my Prismacolor  pencils.  I recently discovered that they make a colorless blending pencil.  All I had to do was draw a heavy line of silver (I don't have a gray pencil) along the edge and then "color" with the colorless pencil in small circles to draw the color out into a fade.  I also used it to smooth away most of the pencil strokes after coloring the ornament.  I layered the panel on colored cardstock before attaching it to a card base because it needed the extra pop of a colored frame.  I hope it still qualifies as CAS.  In case you have noticed the sentiment in the completed card and the sample above are in different colors, I come from a family of crazy cat lovers, so I made several cards for Calli(sto) and her sister to send to their aunts and uncles.  Of course she had to supervise.




By the way, Calli is now 14 months old and is still naughty, although she prefers to say inquisitive or playful.




Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi




Monday, October 7, 2019

So Many Stars for Freshly Made Sketches





I really like this Freshly Made Sketch, but it presented a problem.  I had just gotten Stampin' Up's So Many Stars bundle and, like a spoiled child, I wanted to play with my new toys.  Unfortunately the sentiment didn't fit the sketch.



I finally decided to force it by using the sentiment with a star to create the medium square element and replace the "sentiment" with a trail of stars.  Where did I get that little star stamp?  I (gasp!) cut it from one of the star cluster stamps.  I when I edit stamps I avoid making straight cuts.  I usually cut stamps in a curve to make it easier to fit the pieces back together in proper alignment when I want to use the whole stamp.  The sentiment and white stars are heat embossed with white detail powder and the star trail and edges are embossed with silver detail powder.  To do the edges I stood the cardstock straight up and pushed the edge into Versamark and then my plastic tub of powder.  After I cut the silver foil pieces I put them through my die cut machine between two pieces of cardstock.  That eliminated the raise dots left by the holes in the small dies and gave the foil a softer shine like you get with silver embossing powder.  I spritzed the card panel with Hero Arts shimmer spray.  For the center of the large star, I cut two white and one silver small stars and stacked them to keep it from getting lost in the white filigree stamping.  Of course I had to finish my card with some sparkles.  

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi