Friends Furever - cats meet dogs - a pop up

For this card I not only made a pop up on the inside, but I also incorporated some cats into the picture. I know cats and dogs traditionally do not like each other, but I have seen some beautiful friendships between these animals.

Card Front:

The card base of Early Espresso is layered with  Smokey Slate card stock embossed with the Dot to Dot embossing folder.  At the bottom is a strip of Wood grain DSP with a 1/8" strip of Early Espresso at the top.

Two dogs punched n Early Espresso using the Dog punch,  face each other between a friendship sentiment contained in a Tailored Tag punchie.  Notice I changed the word "forever" to "furever"

Inside:

Open the card, and ---surprise, a pop up I! -- two dogs and a dog house.  But the cutest thing is what is peeking out at them through a window!

The Pop Ups

Using the stamparatus, one of the dogs was stamped with brown spots; the other dog on Crumb Cake card stock.  Both were punched with the dog punch and set aside.  The dog house was stamped with Cherry Cobbler ink, with Black Memento details on top.  It was fussy cut.

The 3 pop ups, were made using a non Stampin' Up die. The dogs and dog house were adhered to these pop ups.

Below the pop ups is the sentiment, with paw prints moving off to the side.

Cats in the Window:

The cats were stamped using the stamparatus and punched using the cat punch.  Only the top half of the cats were placed in a window created in the Woodgrain DSP with the Stitched Rectangle framelit and window sheet. It looks like they are watching the dogs below.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Nine Lives, Happy Tails
Inks:  Black Memento, Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler, Cajun Craze
Papers:  Early Espresso, Smokey Slate, Crumb Cake, Woodgrain DSP
Accessories:  Dog punch, Cat punch, Tailored Tag punch, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Window Sheet, Dot to Dot Embossing Folder, Dimensionals.

Cats in a Crate

I miss my two cats.  I had them for almost 17 years and their loss still hurts.  So working with the Nine Lives Stamp set and coordinating Cat Punch today was bittersweet.

I designed a Z-fold card with a wooden crate in the middle, and in the crate are several cats.

A 4 1/4 by 11 piece of Thick Whisper White card stock was scored at 5 1/2 and again 8.  It was folded in a mountain fold at the 8" score and a Valley fold at the 5 1/2" fold folding a Z-fold.

Snuggled in the fold in the center is a wooden crate.  Two pieces of the crate were die cut using the Wood Crate framelit die  and the  Wood  Grain DSP.  Prior to its construction, the bottom was trimmed off. This allows the crate to fold flat during mailing. In addition two inserts were adhered inside the crate allowing the cats to be adhered to these strips. Some embellishments were added to the crate front. It is attached to the card at both the end piece and one of the long pieces.

The stamparatus was used to stamp cats of different colours and colour combinations, and the cat punch punched them out.  Four cats were placed in the crate; two on the front.

Each of the panels is layered with Basic Black card stock, followed by Botanical Butterfly Gala DSP. On the front the Whisper White art piece die cut with the stitched rectangle framelit is matted with Grapefruit Grove foil paper and then added to the checkerboard pattern DSP.  On the Whisper White piece the word "meow" is stamped randomly a number of times.  Two cats are adhered side by side, with the multicoloured cat adhered with dimensionals. A red bow is attached to its tail, and a butterfly punched from the Botanical Butterfly Gala DSP was added at the top right.

Part of the sentiment is at the front of the card; the entire sentiment is on the back portion.  The Whisper White piece is matted with the foil paper and below the sentiment is a foil rooster.

Supplies Used:
Stamp:  Nine Lives
Inks:  Black Memento, Smoky Slate,  Early Espresso, Basic Black marker
Papers:  Thick Whisper White, Whisper White, Basic Black, Botanical Butterfly Gala DSP, Wood Grain DSP, Grapefruit Grove Foil
Accessories:  Cat Punch, Duet Butterfly Punch, Wood Crate Framelits, Stitched Rectangle Framelits, Dimensionals

You're the Cat's Meow - Show Us Your Pussycat Challenge #38 & Tuesday Morning Sketches #487

I have heard that having a cat for a pet reduces stress and lowers blood pressure.  Two good reasons to have a cat for a pet.

 I had 2 cats for a while and I adored them, and they me.  They were both very interactive and even talked to me (well in cat language of course)  They are both gone now and I miss them very much. There was nothing more 'calming' that to set curled up with a blanket with a cat snuggled up on your lap. 

So when I saw the "Nine Lives" stamp set and coordinating punch in the new Occasions catalogue I was excited.

The snow is really coming down this morning, so it's a great morning to be creative.  So, I pulled out the "Nine Lives" stamp set and created the card below. In going with the Nine Lives theme I used up the second life of some retired DSP.

I am submitting this card to the following challenges: Show Us Your Pussycats Challenge #38 here and Tuesday Morning Sketches #487 here

Using the stamparatus and the "Nine Lives" stamp set,  the cat was double stamped - first in Black Memento followed by Cajun Craze.  I then punched the cat using the Cat Punch and added it to a Very Vanilla die cut circle  This circle was matted with a Scallop circle in Cajun Craze.

The card base is Cajun Craze, layered with Very Vanilla and then the retired "Festival of Prints" DSP (blue with white circle pattern).  Along the bottom is a 2 1/4" strip of Cajun Craze card stock which I embossed with the new "Dot to Dot" embossing folder.

Above this strip, to the left is a 2 3/4 by 2 1/2" piece of the opposite side of the DSP (Cajun Craze zig zag).  This is matted with Cajun Craze.

The art piece is adhered over all these layers slightly to the right.

The sentiment is from the 'Nine Lives' stamp set.  I stamped it using Cajun Craze ink on Very Vanilla, then matted it with a blue card stock followed by Cajun Craze.  A double bow using  1/8" white organza ribbon was added on the zig zag DSP to the left of the art piece with a glue dot.

Supplies Used:

Stamp:  Nine Lives

Ink:  Black Memento, Cajun Craze, Smokey Slate blendability

Papers:  Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, Festival of Prints DSP (retired), Pool Party

Accessories:  Layering Circle Framelits, Cat Punch, 1/8" white organza ribbon, stamparatus, Dot to Dot embossing folder

I have also submitted the card to the following challenges:

• Crafting By Designs  - layers
• Craftycreations  Anything goes
• The Crafty Addicts - Anything goes

Spooky Cat

The new Holiday catalogue is officially LIVE today.  You can now officially order the products from this publication which is chock full of everything you need for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween.

This week I am turning my attention to Halloween, and particularly the Spooky Cat Suite. The Spooky Cat DSP, combined with the Cat punch and the coordinating stamp set,has endless possibilities for making  cards and projects.  One of the design page is totally covered with Orange and Black cats, cats that can be punched out using the new Cat punch.

So, I went to town punching out cats, first making a wall swag (a catalogue case as well) by adhering two punched cats together along a strip of Baker's twine.  The resultant décor item will be gracing my book at shows up to Halloween.  Picture to follow.

I had several punched cats left over, but I wanted to use the stamp set as well for this Halloween class card.

This middle cat is punched out of the DSP; one cat is stamped with black memento, and the other card is embossed with white embossing powder.
After arranging the cats on a piece of Very Vanilla card stock, I added a Halloween hat that I had stamped and fussy cut.  This hat had a tiny spider hanging from the tip, but this was so small I couldn't cut it out, so I stamped the spider separately, as well as above the cats, and hand drew the spider strings using a black tiny nib pen.
And what's a spooky card without rats!
This art piece was matted with Basic Black card stock before adding it to the card front using dimensionals.

The basic card is Pumpkin Pie card stock, layered with Spooky Cat DSP.  In the middle is a strip of Very Vanilla card stock which has 2 pieces of black trim (new).

Underneath this strip is a piece of Cajun Craze card stock which nestles the art piece on the left side.

The sentiment was black embossed on a piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock, which was notched at both ends and adhered to the art piece just above the had.

Supplies Used:
Stamp:  Spooky Cat
Inks:  Black Memento, Versa Mark, Pumpkin Pie
Papers:  Pumpkin Pie, Spooky Cat DSP,  Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Cat punch, Black embossing powder, White embossing powder, Black lacy trim, Dimensionals.

Here is a partial picture of the cat swag that I cased from the Holiday catalogue.

Each cat has a hat (sounds like a Dr. Seuss book), which I fussy cut from the Spooky Cat DSP.  Yes, there's an entire 12 by 12" page devoted the hats as well.  There are a total of 14 cats on this wall hanging.