Always Jingle

I consider myself very blessed to have such a great relationship with my brother; especially because he is twelve years older than I am.  The older we get the more alike we are and we both have a sense of humor that leans on the darker side.  I made this Christmas card for him.

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Holiday Patterned Paper {from stash}
Katzelcraft Cats stamp set, #KZT152 {the image was already colored and fussy cut}
The Ink Road Happy Holla Days stamp set
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Die-Namics Stitched Circle STAX

I put this together in about 10 minutes, of course it helped that the cat was already stamped, colored and fussy cut.  So all I did was cut the circle out of white card. stamp the sentiment, glue the cat on, attached the patterned paper and let the whole thing dry.  Easy as pie!

I always stamp, color and cut out extra of whatever I am working on, it makes putting cards together SO easy {IF I can find the images; I have a horrible filing system that is basically a huge pile in a tray.}  I'm going to work on that.  I hope you like my snarky holiday card; I think this card is perfect for those who see things a wee bit skewed and my brother fits the bill.  Thank you so much for visiting! I'd love for you to let me know you were here so I can visit you back! Happy holidays! Christi

PS: I just have to share with all of you - it is incredibly hard for me to type out Christmas and not just type my name! You have NO idea! LOL

I am entering my Always Jingle Card in the following challenges:
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - #125, R is for RUDE Christmas

The Artistic Stamper - M, Christmas
Dies R Us Challenge - #111, Anything Goes Christmas
Animal Friends Challenge - #69, Anything Goes Christmas
Cardz TV - Anything Goes
Creative Friday - M, #220, Christmas Animals, entry #2
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Christmas
Shopping our Stash - #384, 'Tis the Season
SUYP - Meowy Christmas

A Morning Poem. . .

This card's sentiment is definitely one I can relate to; welcome to card #5 for the Cat Lovers' Blog Hop.   This card has caused me the need to vent a bit; unfortunately, the Man is a talker, and has a tendency to blather on and on first thing in the morning about an all manner of things - and I typically have absolutely no idea what he is talking about until I am on my second cup of liquid caffeine.  I often have to ask him questions like, "Did you say there was going to be 30 feet of snow tomorrow?" and he will grudgingly correct me, "No, dear. I said it is going to be in the 70's tomorrow". Well, I've told him a million times not to bombard me first thing and it's not MY fault if he continues to do it! Heck, he will even ask me if I have seen "so and so on the news" ~ HEY! Do my eyes look open?!? Do I look as if I am up to date on things?! I can't even find the remote, never mind actually turn it on! So, it's no shock that this card is a favorite of mine and again, the Katzelkraft Cat has the BEST expression! 

What I Used to Make My Card:
KaiserCraft Square Kraft Card Base, #CD509
Distress Ink in Ground Espresso
Katzelkraft Cats
Sentiment, Riley & Co., Coffee Poem, #RWD-539
Water Color Paper
Water Brush
Derwent Inktense Pencils
Light Brown Card
Lawn Fawn Love You Latte Stamps, #LF704
Spellbinder Nestabilities Labels Forty-One, #S4-468
MISTI
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black 
Dimensional Dots

I had my cat already stamped, colored and fussy cut out, all she needed was the right card to put her on and this one totally fit the bill! I used Inktense Pencils and a water brush to color her as well as Jet Black archival ink. She was put on the side to wait to be glued onto the card.  

I made my own background using the MISTI , the Lawn Fawn Love You Latte stamp set and Ground Espresso ink.  I just put the stamps I wanted to use in a

It's NOT crooked in Real Life, just in Photo Life

row, stamped, rotated the stamps one over, stamped and repeated the process until I was satisfied.  Since I knew my kitty would be hanging out in the left hand corner I didn't quite finish the background. To be honest, I didn't think the sentiment would cover so much of the background, but so it is.

I stamped the sentiment {that reads: A poem for mornings ~ Coffee, coffee, coffee. Coffee. Coffee, Coffee. Everyone shut up. Coffee.} on a lighter brown than the Kraft card, cut it out with the Spellbinders die and attached it to the card base with dimensional dots. Lastly, I attached the cat onto the card.  I know how this cat feels as I feel it every. Single. Day.  Could be worse I suppose and I do have to give props to him since he makes the coffee {if only he'd do it silently!}

I hope you got a chuckle out of my card and perhaps it inspired you to enter the Cat Lovers' Blog Hop AND share {and enter} my little giveaway?                               Art~Without~Anxiety

presents

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I’m having a small drawing on my blog.  All you need to do is click onto this post, chose the costume you like best & when I get 75 costume comments, I’ll draw a random winner.  Open Internationally! Please feel free to share!

EXPIRES Nov, 1. 2017

Thank you so much for stopping by - I hope to see you on the giveaway as well as the Cat Lovers' Blog Hop! Fondly, Christi XOXO

In addition to the Cat Lovers' Hop, I am entering my A Morning Poem card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Scrapy Land - #76, Anything Goes w/ a Die Brand they Sell
CCEE Stampers - #1743, Cat Day

Deck the Halls!

My family might not be the typical family, but one thing we have in common is the love of a good 
laugh, and I KNOW this card will get some chuckles at holiday time.  I figured after all the Halloween projects and cards I've been sharing it was time for a nice break, although I still have so many Halloween cards I'll be ahead of my posting for next year 'cause there is NO way I'm going to be able to blog all of them.  This card is also part of the Cat Lovers' Blog Hop. I sincerely hope you are playing along!

What I Used to Make my Card:
Dark Red Card Base
Tim Holtz Yuletide Paper, #TH93240
Distress Ink in Fired Brick
Distress Marker in Fired Brick
Katzelkraft Cats Set, # KTZ152
Sentiment from Riley & Co., #RWD-472
Spellbinders Nestabilities Curved Rectangle, #S5-006 {on sale $6.99!}
Watercolor Card
Derwent Inktense Pencils
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
MISTI

I love these cats.  The expression on their faces can be used in SO many ways and I can see characteristics of each of my cats in each of the stamps.  I started this card by stamping the cat onto watercolor cardstock with black ink and coloring him {why him? I dunno - looks like a him} with the Derwent Pencils.  I then fussy cut him out and set him aside.

Then I went through my stash of papers and decided upon a background using Tim Holtz' Yuletide collection.  I have found it easier to match a background paper to the card base then vice versa, so I dug into my cardstock stash and found this dark red that fit the bill for my card base brilliantly.  I trimmed down the decorative sheet and attached it to my card base. 

I stamped the sentiment using Fired Brick ink, then cut it out using the Curved Rectangle die.  Using the Fired Brick marker, I edged the sentiment to get rid of those bright white edges.  Lastly, I adhered both the sentiment and the cat to the card.  This is my kind of holiday card - I'm not a huge fan of the mushy ones.

Finally, I want to tell you about a small giveaway I'm having on my blog.  Here are the details:

Art~Without~Anxiety

presents

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I’m having a small drawing on my blog.  All you need to do is click onto this post, chose the costume you like best & when I get 75 costume comments, I’ll draw a random winner.  Open Internationally! Please feel free to share!

EXPIRES Nov, 1. 2017

I hope you find the time to enter and share about my giveaway!  Thanks so much for stopping by, I truly appreciate it! If you decide to follow me, please leave me a note in the comments with your blog info so I can follow you back.  Hugs! Christi