Kool Kitty Musings

DCM - A Walk on the Wild Side

Morning!

This week over on the Daring Cardmakers blog it's my turn to set the challenge.

And I'm inviting you to take a walk on the wild side by making a card featuring animal prints or a wild animal.

And here's my take...

Paper: Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes - Sweet Store (r)
Stamp: MFT - Big Birthday Wishes
Dies: PTI - By the Numbers, MFT - First Place Award Ribbon (r), Simon Says Stamp - Sentiment Labels, The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags

I purchased this tiger paper a while ago when it went on sale, knowing that if a certain someone was still very much into tigers come her next birthday, I would need to feature it on her birthday card.

Well, that was easier said than done, as the spacing of the tigers made it a bit tricky, they were almost totally obscured on an A2 card, but a slimline... well, there was a lot more space to make the most of that paper.

This is also probably the first time ever the First Place Ribbon die set from MFT that I bought eons ago has actually been used to create a ribbon rosette! I bought it for the fishtail banner dies originally and have used them time and time again.

But it seemed a great way to include the age on the card and have it take up some of the space on that slimline format.

The other tricky thing was coming up with a colour combo to work with that paper. But I think most first place ribbons are blue... right?

I cut the rosette bit from blue cardstock three times so I could layer up the ruffle by cutting into the indents. There was just enough space inside the rosette to add a glittery gold 5.

I also blended some cobalt ink on the ribbon tails for some subtle contrast.

Then I just needed to add a sentiment without hiding any of the tigers.

Thankfully, the Big Birthday Wishes set had one that fit just right, and I typed up the rest of the greeting so it would fit on the tiny tag.

Sadly, I couldn't space the text well enough on my typewriter to fit the dimensions of the tag, so I turned to PS Elements and my printer!

The little tag is suspended from the greeting with silver thread and can move freely just enough.

Make sure you check out the wonderful projects from the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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MFT - Big Birthday Wishes stamps Shop at: EH | SHC	PTI - By the Numbers dies Shop at: MISC	MFT - First Place Award Ribbon dies (r) Shop at: MISC	Simon Says Stamp - Sentiment Labels dies Shop at: SSS
The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags dies Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Cobalt ink pad Shop at: MISC	Versamark ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SHC	Concord & 9th - Assorted cardstock pack Shop at: EH | MISC | SHC
Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes - Sweet Story collection Shop at: MISC | SBC	Hero Arts - White embossing powder Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC | SHC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	EK Success powder tool Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC
Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC	Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Going Round in Circles

Good morning!

For this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge, I have definitely gone autumnal!

The challenge set by Jenny is to use circles. Well, although you can't see a very round circle on my card, there was definitely one involved in the making of this design:

Stamp: The Stamp Market - Scripty Sentiments
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Woodgrain cover-up (r), Hero Arts - Infinity Nesting Circles, The Stamp Market - Mini Autumn Leaves

I started out by selecting one of the last few Kraft card bases in my stash. I'm not sure why my Papermania square card blanks always seem so wonky when folded. They are a pain to photograph and despite folding down the spines over and over with my bone folder, these cards never lay flat... but that's another matter!

I needed another shade of "kraft" to stand out enough against the card base, and Neenah Desert Storm was just right for this. It's a buff shade of "kraft" and a great neutral.

I ran the panel through my Big Shot with the Stitched Woodgrain die for some seasonal texture.

I then die-cut 2x each of the mini leaves from The Stamp Market in tone-on-tone cardstock colours. This didn't take all that long in the end, as the dies work nicely in the Sidekick and are a great way of using up small offcuts. This is the colour palette I used as inspiration.

I die cut a circle aperture so that the sentiment would peek through nicely, but also allow the leaves to overlap the edges and create that circular wreath frame.

It's definitely a simple design, but I don't think it needed anything else. Those pretty leaves did most of the work. ;o)

Make sure you check out the lovely cards from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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The Stamp Market - Scripty Sentiments stamps Shop at: MISC	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Woodgrain cover-up die (r) Shop at: MISC	Hero Arts - Infinity Nesting Circle dies Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	The Stamp Market - Mini Autumn Leaves dies Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Slate ink pad Shop at: MISC	Neenah 80 lb smooth Desert Storm cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	The Stamp Market - Blush Pink cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Bubblegum cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Citrine cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Gravel cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Melon Orange cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Peach cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Rusty cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Sea Glass cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Slate cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Tropic Teal cardstock Shop at: MISC	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Oh the Romance!

Good morning!

This week over on the Daring Cardmakers Blog, Kathy is challenging us to embrace love and romance...

Here's my take:

Papers: Carta Bella - Flower Garden (r)
Stamp: Mama Elephant - Mixed Wishes Greetings
Dies: Mama Elephant - Oval Deco Frame, The Stamp Market - Postage Stamp, The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags

This card was actually created on a 5 x 7 card base, but trimmed down in height to match the scale of the oval deco frame.

I love how versatile this frame is. It's got that decorative detail, but doesn't make things look too busy, so it still pairs well with highly patterned papers.

I needed the sentiment I'd stamped on the largest die in the Tiny Tags set to stand out against those florals, so I used the smaller postage stamp die in the set from The Stamp Market to add some contrasting paper behind the tag.

Finally, I added a heart gem to the top of the frame for an extra nod to the theme of this challenge. :)

Make sure you check out the wonderful projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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Mama Elephant - Mixed Wishes Greetings stamps Shop at: EH | MISC | SHC	Mama Elephant - Oval Deco Frame dies Shop at: EH | SHC	The Stamp Market - Postage Stamp dies Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags dies Shop at: MISC
Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Taffy Shop at: AZ | EH | MISC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	Carta Bella - Flower Garden - Bloom & Grow paper Shop at: SBC
Carta Bella - Flower Garden - Lovely Floral paper Shop at: SBC	Lawn Fawn - Hemp Twine - Natural Shop at: SBC | SHC	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH
Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC