"Make a Mark" Birthday Card

"The cat lives alone, has no need of society, obeys only when she pleases, pretends to sleep that she may see more clearly, and scratches everything on which she can lay her paw."
                                                                       ------------Francois R. Chateaubriand


Hi, Friends.....

I am sooooooooo excited!!!  First off, this week continues the festivities for Jennifer Grace's big weekend blog event Focus Your Craft & Soul.  If you are not familiar with Jennifer's twice-yearly blog events, then you are in for a treat!  There are a bunch of giveaways and one big challenge link-up for all the wonderful things we make inspired by the awesome projects.  Did I mention prizes??....Whoa, Nellie!!  There are prizes and prizes galore!!!  

You will need to register by commenting on the welcome post in order to be eligible for the giveaways....so start with this link.  All the giveaways and challenges end May 24 at 10 pm BST....that must mean British standard time.  Who knows when that is for those of us who live on this side of the pond.....but I know I better have my stuff done by Saturday night!!!  :)

Okay, now what is really getting me excited (as if the blog event weren't enough on its own!) is that in this post by Jennifer, she used a photo editing site called PicMonkey.  I had never heard of it, but I checked it out and I am SO impressed!!!  Not only are they currently offering a Free 30-Day membership, but they offer FREE no-registration-required photo editing right there on their site!!  Yowza!!  You often see me bemoaning my lack of photographic prowess on this blog, but now I should be able to present you with better shots of my cards.  Yay!!!  So let's get started........

Monday was my dear son's birthday.  I was excited to make a "naughty kitty" card for him by curving the loooooong cat from my Waffle Flower - On My Mark stamp set (like I did here), but this time he is wreaking havoc with a big birthday present!!  :)

 
Here is an unedited version of the same shot.  See how much clearer and sharper things look in the one above?  In addition to adjusting the clarity and sharpness, I cropped, resized, and also adjusted the color to look more realistic.  These were all free options on the PicMonkey site. LOVE!!!  I didn't get fancy with overlays or such, but this is a huge step for me.  Thanks so much for the inspiration, Jennifer!!!! 





Here is a close-up so you can see how naughty the kitty has been in shredding the package!  lol....  He certainly has "made his mark"!!

I used my DCWV Burlap Paper Stack for the little rug that I cut free-hand.  The present is made from the DCWV Spring and Summer Print Corrugate stack.  I used a gold marker to make the lines on the edges for some depth.  I tore up the corrugate with a craft knife.....cats come naturally endowed with ten of these!  Please notice the little shreds of the "gift wrapping" on the rug.  :)

In order to get the "make a mark" phrase, I did a bit of stamp surgery using parts of "make a list" and "on my mark" from this same WF stamp set.  Fun!!  All stamping was done with Onyx Black Tsukineko - Versafine Ink.  The kitty was heat embossed with WOW! Embossing Powder - Primary Ebony Regular. 

Hope you enjoyed this card.  I had a lot of fun making it.  My son loved it.....especially since I used a black cat like his Othello.

Have a great mid-week!!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this into the following challenges:
1.  Jennifer Grace Creates - Challenge to be Inspired Linky Party  (Using Photo Software Challenge)
2.  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - X.Y, Z (I used an X-tra long, X-tra naughty cat plus X-tra teX-ture!) 
3.  FairyTale Challenge #117 - Use Corrugated Cardboard
4.  Sentimental Sundays Challenge #259 - Use a funny or Cute Sentiment
5.  The Paper Girls Challenge - It's Party Time 
6.  Craft Stamper Take It Make It May Challenge - Take a Stamp
7.  Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday - April 2015