Lady Catsby

I love this cat from My Paper Moon:

There is just something about the expression on her face that just cracks me up.  That store has some of the cutest cat stamps I've seen anywhere.  I used Marker Watercoloring and the Out of the Box techniques on the focal image, then tried to decide what to use for a background.  I ended up gluing whatever scraps I could reach onto a 3x5 card, then trimming it to size.  A few strips of tissue tape  covers the spots where the papers don't quite mesh.  There wasn't a lot of room for a sentiment on this card, but then, what would you expect Lady Catsby to say?

Challenges:

• Clear It Out - 2 or more patterned papers
• Shopping Our Stash - use only scraps
• Try It On Tuesday - feminine and fancy
• Fashionista - vintage
• Incy Wincy - animal antics

Clean/Dirty

I knew I needed one of these magnets for my new dishwasher, but nice ones are hard to find, or overpriced when you do find them, and they are never the right color for your kitchen.  It wasn't until I found a flat magnet in my laundry (my son picked it up from a take-out restaurant and never took it out of his pocket) that it occured to me how easy it would be to glue something suitable onto the magnet and make my own.

It was easy to find paper in my stash that coordinated with my kitchen colors, because I like what I like. I slapped it onto my dishwasher even before the glue was dry.

Challenges:

• Scrapping Everyday Miracles - celebrate something new (dishwasher) using something old (designer paper)
• Cheerful Stamp Pad - natural
• Get Inky - diecuts
• All crafts Challenge - something other than a card
• Dream Valley - no squares

Okay, I know, stop crafting and blogging and go empty the dishwasher!

Porridge again?

I thought this image from Dover was darling, but I had no idea how to use it on a card until I looked at it with Mother's Day in mind:

On the inside left it says:

Mother Bear felt vindicated when her family saw that someone was willing to break into their home in order to eat the meal they had snubbed earlier that day.

I thought it would be an amusing card for a girlfriend.  I colored the image using the Penciled Twinks technique.

Challenges:

• Digi Haven - Mother's Day
• Southern Girls - sentiment
• Vicky's Place - bears with food
• Rhedd and Rosie's - fantasy
• The Stamping Chef - Animals

Azalea paper

My azaleas are past their best - the blooms are starting to fall off, and then I remembered that there was something that I wanted to do with those blooms.  I gathered a few handfuls and smashed the blossoms between two sheets of white cardstock in my Big Shot, and got some very interesting paper.  As soon as it was dry, I set to work putting some on a card.

I thought that the sentiment might be good for Mother's Day - good for a lot of things, I suppose.  The sentiment is from the all for love stamp set by a•muse studio, and the sketch is this week's challenge.

Challenges:

• Sweet Stampin' - CAS
• Chocolate, Coffee, and Cards - for Mom 
• Totally Papercrafts - CAS
• Crafting for all Seasons - monochromatic
• Paper Shelter - Love
• Cardmania - Flowers

Bee's Knees

Going back to my roots with this card:

Nested rectangles with a touch of ribbon - that's how I used to make all my cards, until it got boring.  I like mixing it up a little, but sometimes all you need is a clean, basic card.  It's funny but the stamps set that has the sentiment (a springtime day) doesn't have a single bee in it, but snail&co does.  Both stamp sets are from a•muse studio.  It's a good Mother's Day sentiment - appreciative without being too mushy.

Challenges:

• Kenny K's - flowers
• No Matter Which - things with wings
• Corrosive Challenges - Mother's Day
• Sweet Stampin' - create a scene
• Alota Rubber stamps - bugs

Silly Bird

the altereddesigns yahoogroup has a monthly lottery, theme selected by the previous winner.  For April, we were to make a work featuring a silly bird, whatever that is.  I originally planned to go zetti, but I couldn't find my black or my white pens.

Except for the background, which is a scrap of Watered Crayon technique paper, everything else was cut from two pages of the JCrew catalog.  I then doodled away with my glitter gel pens.  Is it art?  I don't know, but it is a silly ATC.

Challenges:

• Crazy Amigo - crown
• Make My Monday - anything but a card
• Anything but a card - ATC
• Dream Valley - things with wings
• Pink Gem - going "green" (catalog pages)

I woof you

Can you guess what this card is for?

It's a Mother's Day card from a furbaby.

 Dog stamp is by Michael strong, and I used the Banner Card and Watered Crayons techniques from the TJ newsletter. The sentiment is from my computer; I love the handwriting fonts at Fonts for Peas, especially the ones I can color!

Challenges:

• ABC Challenges - Mother's Day
• Craftin Desert Divas - pun
• Craft your passion - text as focal point
• Paper Playtime - embossing
• The Squirrel and the Fox - furry friends