Fabulous Finds Friday: The Cats’ Meow

Today, I’m obsessed with cute cats.

Here are two quick and easy cards using two different kitties:

I love this playful cat set from Waffle Flower. Above is just one of the cute kitties from Flora Cat Play.

I die cut the Stitched Journal die from Lawn Fawn then painted a soft blue watercolor wash rectangle. I stamped the kitty in black VersaFine and lightly colored in the images with a bit of grey. Gel pens added color to the cat’s flowers and a Wink of Stella added a touch of glitter.

The background was stamped in Hero Arts Unicorn white pigment ink using images from Spellbinders Designer Series Feather stamp and die set. When everything was dry, I mounted the cat panel with foam dimensional tape.

I’ve always loved Laurel Burch designs, so I was delighted to find that Stampendous! has licensed her images for stamps. This was also fast and easy, and came about as I was playing with the stamp, testing it out. (This cutie is from the Indigo Cats set.)

I stamped the cat on watercolor paper with VersaFine black ink, then colored with a mix of Ranger Distress yellow and mustard markers (which I first scribbled on my palette, then picked up with a watercolor brush.)

I added some color with sparkly gel pens. I did a light wash of blue watercolor around the cat and decided it needed more interest, so I used the stencil that comes with the stamp set to add a bit of Ranger Distress blue ink. I trimmed the panel, edged it with black permanent marker and attached it to a top-folding yellow 4Bar card. A few sequins finished the deal.

Have a great weekend! Meow!

Fabulous Finds Friday Typewriter Die

Yes, yes, I’ve been away a while… but here is a Fabulous Find that maybe makes up for it!

The journalist in me loves anything having to do with newspapers, typewriters, and all the things associated with writing. And I love dies. It’s a magical mix. Naturally, I went nuts for this typewriter die from Spellbinders.

I love how easy these cards were to make:

The typewriter was cut from a scrap piece of black paper. The background paper is a monoprint, made using acrylic paint on a Gelli Plate. The stencil is ColorBox Art Screen Jumbled. (I’ll have more on monoprinting with Gelli Plates in an upcoming article in Craftideas magazine.)
(My journalism friends went nuts over these!)

Two similar cards, using background paper by Basic Grey, from the Carte Postal collection:

Thanks for stopping by!

Dog-gone it!

I don’t use a lot of animal images in my card making, but this dog-reading-a-newspaper stamp from Stampendous! caught my eye for various reasons — first, as a former news reporter, I love anything newspaper related, and second … well, do you SEE the expression in that dog’s eyes? Credit Stampendous! owner Fran Seiford for the wonderful artwork. Perfect for a Fabulous Finds Friday stamp pick!

The image was stamped in Ranger’s Wendy Vecchi’s Archival Potting Soil and colored with watercolor pencils, then blended lightly. The background paper and the darling center piece die cut (stitched journaling die) are from Lawn Fawn.

In the next card, I finally found something to use on this stenciled background I made a while back (featured here and here.)

Same process. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. Have a great weekend!

A Shoe to “Die” (Cut) for…

Do you love shoes? Check out this beautiful shoe die from Tattered Lace:

The paper on this top-folding card is Graphic 45. The arched die cut is Spellbinders Arched Windows One, edged a bit with Old Paper Distress ink; the tiny pearls on the shoe are Hero Arts. I used Elmer’s Fine Line glue pen to attach the shoe and Therm O Web’s supertape to attach the ribbon.

And did you notice the darling bow tie at the top? That’s a die from Cheery Lynn and I am getting such a kick out of using it.

After I cut out the shoe, I notice the negative space left from the die and decided to use it as a stencil:

And here’s the result (again with the bow tie):

The dotted background paper is from Simple Stories’s Snap collection; the dies are Spellbinders Label 8 and that adorable Cheery Lynn bow tie.

More Stencils

Yes, we’re still on stenciling. When I’m in the mood to stencil, I figure I may as well do several at a time!

Here’s what I’ve done with three different stencils from Gourmet Rubber Stamps.

(I think I used Distress inks and a foam applicator on all of these! I used Ranger Dimensional Pearls on the butterflies.)

That’s it for today! Thanks for stopping by!

Scintillating Stencils

On Friday, I showed some new large stencils. Today, let’s get card-sized with some of my new favorite stencils.

Here’s a little beauty from Gourmet Rubber Stamps.

Using Ranger Distress inks and a foam applicator, I pounced color through the stencil.

Ta-da!

And put it all together….

…trimmed the panel and layered it to brown cardstock. Added a die cut bird and cage (Tim Holtz/Sizzix). I also stamped a text image to the bird’s body — you can barely see it in the photo. (I need to fix the wing. I may glitter it.) I’ll eventually get around to adding a sentiment.

I’ll have another in my next post.
Thanks for stopping by!