Hurray for Hubby (or...2 cards and a crazy kitty)

Lee discovered my camera cord in the abyss of his truck...which makes sense, since that's the vehicle we took camping.  haha

So, here are 2 cards and a crazy kitty...

A friend loaned me Pretty Peony and I made this birthday card for a co-worker (yes, another one :)  The 2-step flower and leaves are only 2 ink pads...I simply stamped off for the lighter layer.  And there's that topnote again...

And the inside.  I usually sell off my retired sets, since I can't demo them anymore.  But this birthday set (It's Your Birthday) is just too handy to get rid of.  So, I save valuable storage space by unmounting the retired sets I keep.  I heat the wood-mounted stamp in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds and then peel the foam (with rubber attached) off the block and apply Aleene's Tack-it Over and Over to the back.  It sticks to the acrylic block beautifully (you can see them on the left.  Also, I cut  the "Happy Birthday" into 2 words, which makes them more versatile.

Here's the second picture.  This was for Kristina's color challenge a while back, but I never posted it.  Lots of embossing on this one...almost everything.  I used my vanilla reinker and aquapainter to color in the large image and scallop-circle-punched image...man, that took forever.  The double-sided satin ribbon was from the Theatre Ribbon Originals in the last catalog, but it gives you an idea of what the new stuff looks like.

And here's the crazy kitty.  Finn loves getting inside of things.  When I set the lid aside to clean the litter box he lays inside looking out the door like it's a doghouse.  The other day I found him inside this box, which is under 2 other boxes (all empty).  So, I had my mom and sister pick up this cat tent while they were at Ikea today.  I sure hope the dog doesn't try to eat it.

Christmasy Convention Swaps...and a cute kitty!

Here are some more of the swaps I took to convention. The first was for a new catalog preview swap. The "new" is in the color and the sentiment stamp. This is 3 layers of cardstock...2 pacific point with a whisper white sandwiched between. The base PP is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2, the WW layer is 4 x 5 1/4, and the stamped PP layer is 3 7/8 x 5 1/8. I stamped the vine from Baroque Motifs in Pacific Point on PP, ran my embossing buddy over it and then stamped the vine again (intentionally offset), the burst "flowers" and the sentiment in versamark and embossed with white EP. (It think next time I'll stamp in whisper white craft and white EP to give a more solid image.) After embossing I used my 2-way glue pen to add dazzling diamonds to the flowers and sponged whisper white craft around the edges to soften it. I added the white taffeta ribbon (yum...simply LOVE the taffeta ribbon), mounted the stamped PP on the WW and then mounted that on the base PP. Voila! Ok, it really is much less complicated than it sounds. So much so that I'm hoping to include this in the Christmas stack in October (see my events calendar for details)

I also participated in a pin swap and made this domino pin to share. You can view a great tutorial for domino pins here. I embossed the snowflakes and, although you can't see it in the pic, added dazzling diamonds to them with my 2-way glue pen. I attached the black gingham ribbon with sticky strip and the pin to the back with crystal effects. Punched two holes in the card with my crop-a-dile to make the pin more "giftable."

And now for the cute kitty!

This is our newest addition. His name is Pippin (Peregrin Took from the Lord of the Rings trilogy). About 10 days ago he wandered into our lives. There was never a real question about IF we would keep him. Hubby and I never really discussed it..it was just understood that he was ours. He's adapting well to his new home, which includes 2 other cats (7 year-old Moe and 1 year-old Finnegan (Finn)) and a 3 year-old chocolate lab "puppy" named Bettis (yes, as in Jerome Bettis of the Steelers...no, we don't watch football. We adopted him when he was 1yo...name and all.) Isn't he adorable???

Christmas Card: Baroque Motifs and Heard from the Heart stamp sets; Pacific Point and Whisper White cardstock; Pacific Point Classic, Whisper White Craft and Versamark ink pads; stampin' sponge, white taffeta ribbon, white embossing powder, heat gun, 2-way glue pen and dazzling diamonds glitter

Very Merry Pin: Short and Sweet stamp set; Pacific Point classic, Jet Black Stazon and Versamark ink pads; sanding block; sticky strip; black gingham ribbon; pin back; crystal effects; matte acrylic spray sealer