Wednesday, May 20, 2015

"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

26 comments:

  1. LOVE this card Janis - what a great idea to curve the cat like that, love all the texture and the little detail of the scratched packaging was inspired!! :o)xxx

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    1. Thank you, Annie!!! I appreciate your visit and your sweet comment!!!

      <3
      Janis

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  2. LOL! What a PURRFECT card! That´s such a lovely, cute and creative idea! Thank you for joining us at Fairy Tale Challenge. Bianca XX

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    1. Thank you, Bianca! Your kind words made my day!!

      <3
      Janis

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  3. OH MY GOSH!!! I just love this card to bits!! (kind of like the little bits of torn paper that your naughty kitty left on the rug...ha!). This is so clever and the little burlap rug, the corrugated gift (how perfect is this to shred?!!!) and your very flexible kitty! Where's there's a will there's a way, when it comes to cats. A crafty catastrophe to end all cat-astrophes!!!

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    1. Thank you so much, Karen!! I totally am having too much fun with this cat stamp!! lol... Thanks for mentioning the corrugate. Our cats love scratching on that stuff! So I thought it would work for the shredded BD gift. :)

      <3
      Janis

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  4. I like your naughty kitty card and thanks for the info on Jennifer Grace and photo editing.

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    1. Thank you, Sue!! So glad to share abt Jennifer's events.....always lots of fun!!

      <3
      Janis

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  5. Too cute, love that naughty kitty!

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    1. Thanks, Davi!! I appreciate your sweet comment!!

      <3
      Janis

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  6. Adorable card. Such a cute image. Thank you for joining us at Fairy Tale Challenge.

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    1. Thanks so much for stopping in. It was fun using the corrugate!!!

      <3
      Janis

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  7. Now this is clever!! Any cat lover will love this little scene you've created, I just love it! I think I'll give PicMonkey a try, I've been looking for a better photo program. Thanks for joining us at Sentimental Sundays this week!

    AJ - DT, Sentimental Sundays

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    1. Thank you, AJ!!! I have a lot of naughty kitties at my house which give me plenty of inspiration for cards like this!! lol.... Your comment made my day. :)

      <3
      Janis

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  8. Very original and great fun card Janis. Great job.

    Hugs and Blessings
    Jim

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    1. Thank you so much, Jim! I appreciate you taking the time to stop by!!

      <3
      Janis

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  9. I found you thanks to Jim (Irish Cherokee) and I'm so glad I did! This is such a cute card! FYI, Idaho is 7 hours behind BST (British Summer Time), so the deadline for the giveaways you mention is 3:00pm MT on Sunday x

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    1. What a delight to have you visit, Em!! I didn't realize Jim had given me a shout-out until you commented. Sweet! Thanks so much for the info abt BST....British SUMMER Time! Of course! Now I know how long the challenges last, too. Hooray!! :) Have a lovely weekend!!

      <3
      Janis

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  10. This is sooo much fun! I love it. Thanks for sharing this with us at Sentimental Sundays x

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    1. Thank you so much,. Rachael!!! The challenge was such a fun one!!

      <3
      Janis

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  11. LOVE the beautiful stamping ! Thanks for joining in the TIMI challenge at the Craft Stamper!
    xxx Ellie xxx

    PS when you do replies on your own blog (thanking everybody for their comment) , nobody will see it... as I assume there is nobody subscribed to receive comments from your blog.

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    1. Thanks so much for your help and for your nice comments!!!

      <3
      Janis

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  12. This is such a great card, I love the naughty kitty! I am glad you are finding PicMonkey helpful, I love it! Thank you so much for joining in with the Focus Your Craft & Soul event! x

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  13. |Perfect birthday card for a cat lover! or anyone with a sense of humour at all! This is great. Thanks for playing along with my challenge at PaperGirls!

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THANK YOU so much for taking the time to leave a comment. Your kind words encourage me so very much!!!

Have a lovely day!
<3
Janis