A cat card that I prepared earlier for Jan's birthday

I do hope that you're feeling better than me today. I've caught a rotten cold and combined with sinus problems, I'm feeling really poorly and sorry for myself at the moment. Not sure how much crafting I'll do today (I'm always worried that I might pass on the germs through the card - is that silly?) but at least I'll be able to surf and pick up some inspiration.

For now, here's "one I made earlier".

Jan's hubby Ian commissioned me to make a card for him to give to her on her birthday. I checked whether he had any preference for colours and/or images and he asked for cats and for her favourite colour, orange.

Now we don't have many cat images in the current catalogue (which is a shame) but I make cards for a local pet charity occasionally and have a few non-SU cat and dog stamps that I use for those.

Recipe

Stamp sets: Loads of Love (sentiment inside), Vintage Labels (sentiment)

Cardstock: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla

Ink: Versamark, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust

Punches: Scallop Oval, Large Oval, 1/2" Circle

Other: Gold EP, Black Brads (collection), Pumpkin Pie Brads (Earth Elements collection)

Non-SU: Cat stamp (Paper Artsy), paw print stamp (old from stash), Wire flower (stash)

I started with a standard A6 easel card blank in Basic Black. For the central image I cut a piece chipboard to size, inked it with Versamark and heat embossed with Gold EP four times to build up a good deep layer. While the EP was still hot and molten I stamped into it with the cat stamp inked up with Versamark (so that it will come away easily from the EP). Once cold I punched holes into each corner with the Crop-a-dile and matted onto Basic Black card with Black Brads. The Pumpkin Pie card front was stamped with the little paw prints in Basic black and then the edges were sponged with Pumpkin Pie and Really Rust ink. The wire flower was added with a black brad and the cat image was popped up on dimensionals. The card front was adhered to the bottom half of the easel front. The Happy Birthday sentiment was stamped in Basic Black on Pumpkin Pie and paw prints stamped on either side. This was punched out with the Large Oval, sponged as for the card front and matted onto a Basic Black Scallop Oval. The sentiment was popped up on dimensionals on the top left corner of the card front.

Inside I simply stamped the Loads of Love sentiment and created a stopper bar for the easel card by matting Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black strips of card, decorated with brads and popped up on dimensionals.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Sara xx