Bella Carta

Thank you! {Memorial Day 2010}

Thank you to all that are serving, and all those that have served.   

Friends Having Fun have a little challenge for all of us :-)

 It’s Monday again which means another Friends Having Fun challenge, but this isn’t any ordinary Monday. Since this is the 5th Monday of the month, we here at FHF are doing a special challenge. Since it is Memorial Day, we have decided to celebrate the day! We want to see what Memorial Day makes you think of. Is it the colors, picnics, a day off, swimming? Whatever it is that inspires you about Memorial Day, we want you to make a project reflecting that.

Red, White and Blue is the theme of the day.  I hung all my red, white and blue Americana outside for this weekend so I though I'd use those colors for my cards.  While making this card, I made several cards for the "Any Hero" program for Operation Write Home, these will get into the mail next week.

All supplies from Papertrey Ink (except the argyle embossing folder used for the kraft cardstock)
Stamps   Fillable Frames #1 (and matching die)
Cardstock:  Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy and Kraft
Ink:  Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy
Ribbons and Buttons:  Pure Poppy and Enchanted Evening

Cuter than most {inlinkz first card challenge}

InLinkz (a wonderful little linking widget) is having their first card challenge!  This card features stamps from Unity Stamp Co (Cuter Than Most} and paper from K &  Co. 

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Here are all the deets:

the party monsters, at almost six weeks old!

On Monday, my foster kittens will be six weeks old :-) and they're having the time of the their life.  I'm getting a little sad watching them since now we start the clock down to when they leave my foster care for adoption. 

Here's Blaze, washing his paw although this photo just begs for a caption.

Here's Twinkie, with her face to the sun:

And little Mudpie, always with a serious look on his face:

 

Friday ~ its sew sweet!

Yay, its Friday!

For my project I used the Unity/Cosmo Cricket collaboration of Material Girl Stamps and matching 6 x 6 pad.  The paper is die cut using the negative (the piece leftover from the Top Note die, I used it in my card on Monday).   I stamped the little dresses in different sheets from the paper pack (I love it, it all coordinates together!).  I used a  Copic marker to color regular twill ribbon to match, then stamped the sentiment.  The clothesline is twine, I used brads to hold it in place and the dresses are attached with foam dimensionals.

Details:
Paper:  6 x 6 Material Girl paper deck {Cosmo Cricket}
Stamps:  Material Girl {Unity Stamp Co} 
Cardstock:  Kraft
Accessorie:, silver brads, twine, Copic sketch marker YG11
 

Comfy Cozy Coffee Cozy ....

Say that three times fast!

Comfy Cozy Coffee Cozy
Comfy Cozy Coffee Cozy
Comfy Cozy Coffee Cozy

Its the May Papertrey Ink blog hop and the theme this month is FELT, and not just any felt, but the luscious 100%wool felt that PTI sells in their "perfect match" color line. 

When I saw these coffee cozies the other day on Dawn's blog, <---- click to go see the tutorial,  I knew I wanted to make one for myself.  Although I just had one color of the wool felt (black) and I don't "sew" (machine sew).  I have a Singer ... but we don't get along, lol!  I figured I could adapt Dawn's basic instructions. 

The wool felt from Papertrey Ink does cut like butter in your die cut machine (not like the acrylic fiber felt found in your craft store).  This is a product that really lives up to its advertising!   I decided since I only had one color (and I also didn't have any scallop dies) that I would cut one edge with a fancy die I did have.

I added a hand stitched running thread at the top with purple embroidery floss from DMC.   And I blanket stitched the edge on the side (use an embroidery sized needle).  Blanket stitch is a great, easy stitch for felt .... and it didn't take me any longer to hand stitch it then it would have taken to thread the needle in my machine.  And if you don't know how to blanket stitch, there are some great tutorials online <----- I used this one. 

 And I decorated with PTI buttons in Hawaiian Shores Plum Pudding, and Spring Moss. 

And a matching card:

Stamps:  Dot Spot, Handwritten Notes (PTI)
Ink:  Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist, Plum Pudding, Lavender Moon, Spring Moss, True Black (PTI)
Ribbon:  Plum Pudding Twill

I know you're here for the blog hop ... but if you have a minute, please check out the pictures of the kittens I am providing foster care for our local animal shelter.  They're really cuties! 

Blech!

Mudpie doesn't like Mondays!  (Neither do I, for that matter!)

Here are all the kittens on their fifth (week) birthday, I cannot believe how big they are getting!

 

Its sew sweet!

Have you seen the new Unity/Cosmo Cricket joint venture pairing Unity's stamps wtih Cosmo Crickets paper?    Material Girl, Material Girl Gets Scrappy and Garden Variety.  This is from the Material Girl stamp set, with matching paper in a 6 x 6 pad. 

I colored some button twine with my R24 Prawn Copic sketch marker in a color that matched the deck.  The sentiment is stamped on twill. 

Stamps:  Material Girl (Unity Stamp Co)
Paper:  Material Girl 6 x 6 pad
Accessories:  Twill tape, Button Twine, Copic Sketch Marker R24 Prawn, Top Note die

FTC disclosure:  I won the Material Girl 6 x 6 pad with Material Girl Gets Scrappy stamp set from Unity during their second anniversary.  This car

Laci's Story

*I'm working on several altered projects .... in the meantime, here's another kitten post:

I really have no idea what Laci's story is ... but I can tell you a little bit about the past five weeks.   Laci, approximately 7 months old, was brought to a local no-kill shelter, visibly pregnant.  She was tested for the two "big" disease - FIV and Fel. Leuk and tested negative for both.  This was good news for her, we made plans for to come to my house for fostering.  The "original" plan there was that she would come and have her kittens her, and that didn't quite go off as planned.  She had her kittens about two hours before I picked her up.   And (this is the sad part) she had five kittens, but only 3 survived.   Laci is really young, she's right around 8 months old herself, and really small - she's only 7 pounds (but I expect her to grow).  And while I don't know much about her before she came to the shelter, I do know that she's made a good mom, and that she has a sweet personality.  She loves to be held.  And while she nurses her kittens, she purrs and sticks her tongue out (its quite cute), and when they were really little, she would scoop them up with her paws and pull them up to her neck.  Some of my favorite moments were watching her "roll" her newborn kittens.  She takes her paw and very gently rolls them over, it helps stimulate their digestion. 

She's not a feral cat and since she's so young herself, I'm hoping she has a strong chance at adoption.   Oh, and Mudpie is her complete "carbon copy" - he has exactly the same coloring and patterns.   So, yes - all of them will go for adoption when the kittens are around 8-9 weeks.  

 
 


 


   
  
 
 

Tag team

One of the best aspects of raising foster kittens is watching them grow, learn to play, interact with each other and with me and the world around them.  Kitten wrestling starts becoming a past time around four weeks old, and then from there, its full out wrestle-mania!

Here are Blaze and Mudpie wrestling ... and little Miss Twinkie comes along and says "Tag Me In" :-), I want to join in the fun! 

 
 
 
 

Furry Friends

Made for a sweet friend who's cat Cooper recently passed away. 

The card features lots of Tim Holtz stuff .... I used Tim Holtz acetate masks and distressed inks in mustard seed and spiced marmalade.  The card also features the Tim Holtz "on the edge" file folder die.

 
Stamps:  With Sympathy, Loss of a Pet (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock:  Kraft  (PTI)
Paper:  Prima and K and Co.
Inks:  Distress Inks (Mustard Seed and Spiced marmalade), Dark Chocolate (PTI) and PTI Vintage Touch inks in chai and chamomille.
Accessories:  TH On the Edge File Tab die, brad from Imaginesce