Colorful Cats Happy Birthday

My wonderful cousin has a birthday coming up and she has been so instrumental in my life that she is one person I make sure I send a card to. Last year she was here in Colorado visiting and you can see the card I made for her here.  This year she'll be spending Christmas with us and I am so excited! But, on with the card:

She is also a cat lover so I know she will adore the cute cats I made using the Newton Nook's Newton's Antics stamps and coordinating dies. I just cannot stop playing with these adorable kitties!

How I Made this Card:
Purple Square (5 1/4 x 5 1/4) Card Base
Newton's Nook Designs Newton's Antics Stamps & Die Set
Fabric that isn't really Fabric (see my explanation here)
Purple Glitter Paper
Derwent Inktense Water Color Pencils
Tombow Blender Pen from SU!
Silhouette Cameo 
Cut File
Various Shades of Purple & Pink Cardstock
Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink
Purple Ribbon
Distress Ink in Dusty Concord
Spellbinders Petite Labels One, S3-205

I found the "fabric". already dyed, in my stash.  I have no idea what I used to dye it with and it's very picky about the things it lets dye it.  So I cut it down to work with the purple square card, glued it on and set it under the floor tile I keep on my desk for embossing and holding things together.  While I let that sit, I stamped and die cut the cats from the Newton's Antics set and colored them in with the Derwent pencils & the blender pen.  Set them aside as well.  

I then decided I needed a bit of bling, so I cut out the Happy Birthday using my

Silhouette Cameo and glitter cardstock (ok, confession time - I scraped away the little dot for the i, so I improvised with some loose glitter and glue - shhhhhh) and the shadow out of regular card.  I glued the 2 pieces together.  I used a sentiment also included with the Newton's Antics set, stamped that in Dusty Concord and die cut it out, along with the next largest die, using Spellbinders Petite Labels One set.  

After playing around with the placement of things, I decided I needed a ribbon.

Now I don't typically play with ribbons - I have a hell of a time making my own bows and most of the time the ribbon does exactly what I don't want it to do. But, I threw caution to the wind and went for it.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well it came out! It was a keeper.  So now I had all my elements cut, made, colored and stamped so I put the card together.  You can't really tell that that "fabric" is on the card in the pictures, but, in real life you can.  The card is already in the envelope and ready to mail since I am leaving tomorrow afternoon for about a week.  I am a terrific procrastinator, so the fact that I got this card done AND in the envelope means I get some chocolate ice cream tonight.  Well, maybe after I start packing!

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial.  Thank you so much for popping by & I hope to see you soon - fondly, Christi Also, if you'd be so find as to consider following me - I am about 15 followers shy from meeting my goal of 100 new followers in 2015 :)

I am SO thrilled that the Cat Blog Hop decided to remain open for the weekend - that way I get to link up my card! In addition, I would like to enter my Colorful Cats Birthday Card in the following challenges:
Her Peaceful Garden - Cat Blog Hop
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Sweet Stampin' - Use Dies and/or Punches
The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - K is for Kitties!
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Throwback (use a previous challenge, I used Stamp & Punch/Die Cut

Shabby Chic Valentine

In my quest to use my stash, I have had a both of the papers featured on this card for a while but this project is the first time I have used them on anything.  I adore DCWV paper stacks and on this card I used Burlap Paper and Adhesive Fabric Paper in Pink.  Not my usual style, but it was fun trying out some new textures and color combinations. 

What I Used to make my Card:
Vanilla Card Base
Scrap of Vanilla Cardstock
DCWV Adhesive Fabric Paper in Pink, 12 x 12
DCWV Burlap Paper, 6 x 6
Happy Valentine's Day rubber stamp (manufacturer unknown)
Brads from Making Memories
Distress Ink in Victorian Velvet
Wendy Vecchi Ink in Potting Soil
Silhouette Cameo
Cut File - Heart

The Fabric Paper from DCWV

I wanted to create something old fashioned-looking, sort of shabby chic if you will.  I started the card by choosing the 2 papers. I have never worked with either of these papers, and I was surprised that the burlap paper is truly burlap, but it is much easier to use.  I got out my sheet of burlap (they are only 6 x 6) and cut it to fit on the top of the card so it appeared that the entire card was made out of burlap (but don't attach it to the card yet!). I edged the burlap panel with the Wendy Vecchi's ink in Potting Soil to give it some oomph. I went to my Silhouette machine and found a heart, sized it down to fit

Close up of the Heart

on the card, and cut it out of the fabric paper.  That was an experience since I didn't know which setting to use, but I settled on the light fabric setting and it cut out fine.  I thought I might have to help the fabric heart stick, since it was burlap, but it grabbed on with no problem! At this point the burlap is still not glued to the card, you still need to work with it.

Then I chose to stamp the sentiment on vanilla card instead of white, white just seemed so stark next to the warmth of the card.  I used Distress Ink in Victorian Velvet and I think it matches the colors in the heart perfectly! I also lightly edged the sentiment with the Potting Soil ink.  I decided to use brads to attach the sentiment to the card and I found these light green ones in my Making Memories brad stash - I usually use plain old silver or gold brads, but these sort of matched the green in the heart,  and the other colors were just too loud.  Once I added the sentiment to the card, I then glued the burlap panel to the front of the vanilla card.  I stepped out of my safety zone and I am so glad I did! Thanks for stopping by and please consider following me as I am on a quest to get 100 followers! Fondly, Christi

Another peek at the final card

I would like to enter my Shabby Chic Valentine in the following challenges:
Artistic Stamper - January Challenge, New Beginnings 
Die Cut Diva's - January Challenge, Anything Goes
Silhouette Challenges - January Challenge, Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes 
Shopping our Stash - #186, Love Me Do