Cat card

Hello friends! 

Not feeling creative in the post-titling department apparently right? LOL

Just wanted to share a card I made yesterday. I got off schedule with my "Dear Ones" cards. Too much stuff going on and being away at the beach threw me off schedule. And I really wanted to send my husband's Aunt a card. She's also a cat lover. 

I'm sort of in love with this line of stamps from Stampendous - called Pen Pattern. Everything looks like a doodle sorta. And you know I like a good doodle :-) I found these 2 stamps - the background is called Pen Pattern Light and the cat stamp is aptly named Pen Pattern cat :-). I thought that cat looked so sweet and cozy - like my Westley (or my girl cat Willlie for that matter) - all snuggled up on a rug. So the colors are inspired by the rug we have in our family room. It's all grey, cream and red. I colored the cat, fussy cut him out and mounted it with some foam tape onto the colored background. I'm not going to lie - the background took a while to color - more of the decisions of what color where kind of thing. But I love the coloring - it really was so relaxing and enjoyable. And for this Aunt - I'd color all day long the most intricate pattern there ever was -she's just so dear to me. 

That's it for today kids. I am working on a few cards with an interesting twist I think. I'm just playing around with them a bit before posting and hoping for tomorrow. It's all about getting more from the stamps I already have - and can't we all use that? Yeah I think so. Have a good day!

Happy Birthday Little G

Today is my little niece's birthday. She is far away from me - on the other side of the country - but I sent along some presents and a bunch of handmade things that I hope she enjoys.

Back last year before Christmas I'd made my niece an apron to wear when she baked Christmas cookies with her mom (my sister). I think I posted a photo. Regardless, at the time I'd also purchased this cupcake fabric to make her an apron for her birthday. I thought she'd love the cupcakes and it would be fun for her to have another apron made just for her. This time I created one large pocket on the front (the Christmas apron had two pockets.) I used pink ricrac to trim everything and some wide grosgrain ribbon to tie at the neck and around the waist.

And doesn't a girl need matching potholders? Of course she does. (sometimes i get started on these little brainstorms and think midway - "what was I thinking?") And since I can't do anything really simply I decided I'd need to sorta quilt these little numbers and add more ricrac. They came out pretty cute but lets just say they were more involved than the apron. (between the batting, the ricrac and some stuff that i forget what you call it but its got some properties that help keep hands from feeling the heat - made for things like potholders - you sew in a layer of that inside....). They are pretty darned cute though so in my mind - time well spent!






Now I needed a card - i chose that Penny Black set again - so appropos for my niece.

 and some tags for all the different presents - i used the Enclosed flower die from PTI to cut them out and added some die cut leaves also from PTI. I stamped them all with lots of polka dots (to coordinate with this most cute wrapping paper i had)
Oh there was a lot of curling ribbon too. All so it would be nice and pretty for this little girly girl. While I'm typing this i realized I might have a little bit of fabric leftover to make her doll an apron too... hmmmmm.....
Okay - that's all for today!

A few things to share

I know I know - I've been awol on the blog for a little bit. I just checked and it's been a few weeks and for that I apologize. I've been busy doing various and sundry things. Lots of instagramming which is so fun, a little more craftroom purging, cardmaking and sewing, and scrapbooking. I've been trying to finish up my daughter's 1st year album (she's 24.... its about time right?) but there always seem to be distractions and other things requiring my time. I'm sure you can relate. I thought I'd share a few things I've made lately.
I made this birthday shaker card for my nephew's wife using an adorable Penny Black Stamp set. I know it seems a little... juvenile? for a grown woman but I'm tellin you the girl likes some pretty shiny sparkly stuff and I thought she'd enjoy it something to make her feel like a little kid again - and she did. (Note the little blue box bottom left colored up like a box from Tiffany - this inclusion was not lost on her. And what girl doesn't like to receive a little blue box? heck I've even saved the boxes :-))

I made this next card for a grand niece's birthday. I had ordered this adorable stamp set from Simon Says Stamp - Baby Animals. Oh the cuteness! I couldn't wait to use it to make this birthday card. Lots of masking and coloring so a lot of "work" but it was so much fun and I was very happy with the results. And so was the recipient (well her parents loved it... :-))

Finally here's another card using that same Baby Animals stamp set. When I first saw this stamp set I thought the little animals looked like finger puppets - so I figured why not follow that through and make a card. To simplify matters, I cut the hand using my Silhouette Portrait. I fussy cut the animals after coloring them with Copics. And after much deliberation I decided to leave it with no sentiment on the front - the recipient can't read anyway! (another grand niece is having a birthday... we've got babies all over the place in my husband's family!)

I shall be back to show you some more things I'm making! Lots of birthdays mean lots of cards, gifts and tags. Thanks for stopping by!

when you want to make stuff

but life gets in the way!
It just seems like I have too many things pulling at me to get any time at my drawing table. Over the weekend we went to a family birthday party. Not in town. Unfortunately all our family is all over the map. And today - actually any minute now - overnight guests will be arriving. I've been cleaning, baking and cooking. I'm hoping to get to play along with some of the challenges at Papertrey Ink's Anniversary celebration maybe tomorrow. I've also got to seriously get on with the Valentine makin. Hope you're having a good one!

A Year of Thinking of You - January

Well those Year of Cards gifts went over well - so much so that one sister-in-law asked me to help her out with a little project of her own. She's got a friend who she'd like to send a card to every month - a Thinking of You kinda card. She asked if I'd come up with a monthly card - and why not? It's one of my favorite things to do - make (and send) cards. Let's share the "sending cards" love! What my sister-in-law really liked the most about my YOC's (which I'll remind you were all birthday cards)  was their seasonality. So, with that in mind, here's what I made for the January.
The sweater was created with the Sweater die from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment (from PTI's Keep It Simple: Thinking of You stamp set) was stamped on white cardstock cut with the Double Ended Banner die (also PTI). The patterned paper? - I created using my Silhouette. I used the Snowflake Fair Isle Background - filled it in with red - set it to No Cut and just printed it off. I think it makes a really cute sweater!
Okay - that's all for today! Have a good one

Keep You in My Heart

Here's a card I made for my son who is off on a new adventure in a far off state. It's pretty exciting really. But I'm not gonna lie - I'm going to miss this child.

When they hand you these little creatures in the hospital it is quite astounding - the instant love you feel. Something quite unbelieveable. Like nothing you've ever felt before. And then all through the years you run through a series of emotions. But this one - the feeling of excitement for him and sadness that I won't see him every day, listening to his crazy stories, feeling his strength and kindness through some pretty tough times, laughing so hard with him I'd cry... oh I could go on and on... this has been one for the books for me. 

I'm happy & sad all at the same time - crazy. 

But I'm truly excited to see what's next for him - and hey - for us too. 

Hope you're having a great day. Happy November!

Sprinkled with Sunshine Birthday Shaker Card

I'm back today to show you a birthday card I made for one of my sisters-in-law. Her birthday is coming up next week (I know... getting ahead here! yay!). I know from my own sister that just because your birthday is in October you don't want it to be about Halloween. You want it to be about your birthday right? Balloons, cupcakes, cake, streamers: yes! Pumpkins, witches, ghosts: NO!
I'd already decided I'd wanted to make it bright and happy and use those PTI Shakers & Sprinkles stamps and dies and sprinkles - a shaker card was in order. I'd chosen some Doodlebug Sugar Coated Cardstock in Tangerine (the color is gorgeous - I swear you could squeeze a glass of juice from it) for the die cut word on the front of the shaker. I cut that word out but added several diecuts cut from white cardstock to give it a little heft and make it stand on its own.  The background sunburst inside the shaker is patterned paper that came with the Shakers & Sprinkles kit. I added the stamped words ("I hope your day is" and "with sunshine" in Hawaiian Shores Ink. I decided using black ink would give it that Halloween look I was trying to avoid). I cut out the shaker frames and put it together using some of the "sprinkles" that came with the kit and also added some clear sequins I had in my stash. Finally, I tried a few different combos for that background the whole thing sits upon. I had been working on some scrapbooking and had a 6x6 pad of Hip Hip Hooray Doodlebug paper on my drawing table. There was one piece of paper that had orange polka dots I thought would work and I really liked the look - done.  I've made a lotta shaker cards in my time and I have to say this was probably the easiest one I ever made. The dies with the adhesive foam sheets (also PTI) really made it so much simpler. One last thing - I stamped the inside of the card as well as the envelope. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Keep it Simple: Birthday set and the sunburst and twinkling stars are from the Shakers & Sprinkles kit. I often am in such a hurry I don't stamp the inside so it was nice to do it for this card. And I love stamping the envelopes for my cards - kinda bumps up the anticipation for the recipient yaknow? They know something special is inside right? I think she's going to like her card.
Thanks for stopping by!

It's Fall Y'all

I don't know if I've mentioned over the years - probably have - that I was born and raised in New York and New Jersey. The beginning of my migration south started in college. I went to school in Maryland. At the time my family
thought I was going way far South - at least it felt like that to them. (Northerners feel anything past Delaware is the South LOL!  I guess you gotta be from NY or NJ to make such distinctions. Heck if you are from New Jersey you definitely distinguish if you're from Northern Jersey or South Jersey. It's a fact - ask anyone from NJ) And if your parents and family are all New Yorkers - well, going to Maryland for school - it was almost like going to a foreign country.

Now I live in the great state of Virginia - Northern Virginia to be exact. And while there are a few folks who are actually from NoVA - its quite a conglomeration of people from all points on the map - or at least that's the way it seems to me. It is rare to meet someone who was born here!

The reason I'm talking about North & South - well it's the "y'all". Never said y'all growing up. These little expressions started creeping in to the vocabulary - heck I don't know when it happened. But it is there. And you'll hear a lot of y'all-ing going on round here. And I kinda like it.

(Tracy - where are the cards? Can we get to the cards please?) Yes. There are cards - you know there will be cards.

I recently purchased some adorable papers and a few embellishments from Doodlebug. ( yes Doodlebug of the sugar-coated cardstock fame here on my blog).  I needed to make some cards to send to some family. I've got a list of people I try to card monthly - the dear ones I don't always get to see - some I rarely get to see (they're back up North ;-)). I wanted to use a cute little Papertrey Ink set  called Nuts for You. The set has this darling squirrel, acorn, and leaf.







I thought the papers Doodlebug came out with recently, called Friendly Forest, would be perfect.  I've got a few more cards to make but thought I'd share a couple I've got made here.

The "hello" on the first card was made using my Silhouette Portrait. I thought the big sentiment would look cute with those adorable Mini Doodle-Pop cardstock stickers. Oh they are cute. (can you see the plaid on the leaf - sooo cute. I love plaid in all of its shapes and forms) That little fox is so precious I'm going to have trouble mailing him off. (musn't hoard, musn't hoard...)

On the second card I used Papertrey Ink's Stenciled Alphabet Blocks Die to create the banner. I used some more of the patterned papers behind each letter. And the squirrel is sitting on sort of a crazy quilt of patterned paper but I love it. There are so many pretty papers in the pad I wanted to use them all.

 One last card - I used some more of the papers to create the last card. I used a sentiment and tree trunk die from Papertrey Ink's Trendy Tree Tops. (I haven't pulled that set out for a while - yay for using some older stuff). I did use a circle punch for the tree top and made my own little banner for the sentiment (I inked that cardstock up with some Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink so it would work better with the cream background in the papers).

Alrighty. That's all for today. Y'all have a good one!

30th Anniversary

I wish I could've gotten a better pic of this card but - suffice it to say it looks really beautiful in real life. Anywho...
It's that time again folks to share a card I made for my wonderful husband of 30 years. Really - 30 years - as of today. It is really hard to believe. On the one hand, it seems like yesterday. I can remember events in sortofa dream like way. Like a flashback on tv. Little snippets: getting pictures taken in the morning, the church wedding, taking more photos outside of church and again at the reception venue (missing the cocktail hour because of it ;-(), the reception - feeling almost in a daze and not being able to eat much, wonderful friends and family; going to see my grandmother in the nursing home - because she wasn't able to come, my husband and I drove over to the nursing home- me in my dress and my husband in his morning coat and all the inhabitants of the nursing home coming alive to see a "bride & groom" visiting - my grandmother so happy to see us all dressed up. It was a magical day. Thank goodness we have a lot of pictures to help us fill in the blanks :-)
And on the other hand - yes - it's been 30 years. A lot going on over 30 years.
30 years later - 2 children and life and death happenings filling in the intervening years.. I'm still feeling pretty darned lucky to have found this wonderful man to have spent my life with and hopefully grow old with.
Okay - that's enough reminiscing - on to the card.
This wonderful man loves travel and maps. And given that we spent 3 weeks travelling abroad this spring it seemed appropriate to pull out the travel and map stamps (Papertrey Ink Pack Your Bags and World Map; the Happy Anniversary sentiment is from Keep It Simple: Anniversary while the other sentiment is from Pack Your Bags ). I stamped and also heat embossed (gold suitcase hardware there) the suitcases. You'll also see some machine stitching on this card. And some foam tape to pop up those suitcases. And if you look really close you can see the wee little luggage tag from the set - I wrote in "30 years".
I know he will like it - there's a map! :-)
Alrighty, that's all for today. I need to get some things done today cos this girl is being taken out for dinner this evening and there's lots to do between now and then. Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for Petsitting

I mentioned we were away last weekend - went to a nephew wedding. It was a really lovely weekend (except for the travelling part - 10-1/2 hours in the car each way. I guess we could've flown but there were 4 of us and that would've been a little cost prohibitive dontchaknow). Anyway - of course we engaged our favorite neighbor to kitty-sit. She is the best kid around - seriously. Wonderful girl, loves our two silly furballs (the feeling is mutual - they love her too.) When we returned I quick made this card for her. Using Papertrey Ink's Pack Your Bags stamp set and Herringbone Impression Plate. Not only does the stamp set have those adorable suitcases and luggage tag but it has an assortment of wonderful sentiments like the one here. Actually that sentiment is three sentiments put together so you've got a million options (well... maybe not a million but a whole bunch o'cute ones!). Okay... I think I've got a few more cards to share in the upcoming days - come on back k?

Year of Cards: June

If you've been following along with my progress on the Year of Cards gifts, you may have noticed I'm not making the cards in any particular order. I look at the Papertrey Ink Birthday Classics stamp sets I've gotten thus far and pick a month at random - whatever I'm feeling like at the moment. I had been holding off on June's edition til now just because I knew exactly what I wanted to make. (It would be quick and easy and I could hold off til I had 5 or so months already completed was my reasoning.)

When the June set came out it was released with another stamp set called Summer Sweetness. I've used that set a lot since I got it. I just love the popsicles!

Anyway, Nichole Heady had created an adorable card with both sets as well as the Background Basics: Super Chevron set. And that's what I'm recreating here. I don't often recreate cards by others stamp for stamp, but this one was just perfect: it was simply designed, quick to execute and bright & happy.

I did make some changes - the color schemes - I wanted to try out all kinds of combos.
And I wanted to usethe Sugar Coated cardstock by Doodlebug for the popsicles. It adds a lot to the card I think.
And finally I used the Linen & Canvas Impression plate on the background cardstock. Just a nice little added detail.

 

 
Here's a pic of all the cards so you can see - none are exactly the same. I kinda like that. (Kind of like my Valentine Rak-a-rama cards - the snowflake effect - no two are the same.)

Okay - I'm moving on to May next. After that I'll probably be going in order: September through January. And finally fill the boxes with all the cards and come up with some kind of labeling. Should be fun. Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!

Thank You Glasses

We took a visit up to Baltimore to visit my husband's Aunt and I wanted to send her a thank you. She's one of my most favorite people in the world. When we visited, we went to lunch at a restaurant right on the water, then took a stroll around. She grew up in the area and knows so much of the history. It was a wonderful afternoon. We stopped back at her place and were getting ready to head back to Virginia when I realized I'd lost my clip-on sunglasses. I truly am lost without them - my eyes and bright sunshine don't get along. We looked a little but had to get on our way. Don't you know she called me the next day to let me know she found them and a few days later they were in my mailbox. She's a sweetheart. So I decided to combine my thank yous and made this card. I cut the glasses using my Silhouette portrait. The flowery printed paper is actually Hazel & Ruby wrapping paper - so pretty. I cut the scallop & banner with dies from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is from the Banner Sentiments stamp set from Papertrey Ink as well.

Sending a little sunshine

Hi there.
I mentioned I was away on vacation for a week. When I got home I listened to voice mail and discovered that a family friend was in the hospital. Not exactly the news you're hoping to hear when you first return home. However, a few phone calls later I was happy to find that he's in much better shape and is on the mend. I wanted to send him a little card so he knows I'm thinking of him. (I wish I could visit but it's many states away so I shall have to bombard him with cards :-))
Here's what I made this morning. I went back and forth on whether or not to include the clouds but I decided I liked it better with them. I am a little obsessed with this stamp set from PTI called Hello Sunshine. It's an oldie but a goodie and the sentiments are just so perfect. And the rays of sunshine are just so fun to play around with. I used those stitched rectangles from Lil' Inker Designs again too. The cloud dies are also PTI.
I'm hoping to get a little more stampin/scrappin time in today. While I was away I missed it so. It's good to take a break now & again but I'm so happy to be amongst (is that a word?) my stuff right now. Fingers inky and all. Have a good one!

I'm baaaack..... and a thank you

I've been on a little vacation - at the beach house in Delaware. And it was wonderful. Family and beach, good food, games - a truly wonderful time. But I gotta admit I was ready to come home. I missed my house and my kitties.
Speaking of kitties - they don't do beach. But they have the best time with our neighbor - well actually she comes to them LOL. She's the best kid and the best kitty sitter ever. She loves to play with them and I always feel they are in good hands while we're away.
So they (I LOL) made her a card. To say thank you. The kitties (Westley and Willie) also love to stamp so they hauled out my stamps, inks, cardstock. The die cutting is a little tricky but they managed it. Here's what they came up with to thank their favorite friend. No surprise they picked the Cat's Meow stamp set from Papertrey Ink as well as the Keep It Simple: Thank You sentiment set, right?  That's Willie (short for Wilhelmina) on the left and Westley on the right.  They colored the images with Copics and Prismacolor pencils. We all think she'll like her card. Okay. I need to get back to the piles of laundry that have accumulated over the past week. Thanks for stopping by!

Watercolor Thinking of You

I made another card with the images I watercolored the other day. This one is a "thinking of you" - I always need these. I send cards to my dear aunts as well as one or two close family friends - the ones that don't get out too much. They appreciate them so and I love to send them.
The image is from the Botanical Blocks II set. The sentiment is from the Banner Sentiments set and I also used the Double Ended Banner die. All from Papertrey Ink. When I finished I added some Wink of Stella - just adds a little bit of sparkle, yaknow?

Welcome to the world baby girl

You're right - the card says "Welcome to the world little angel" but it tis pink and it tis for the newest baby girl in our family. We're two for two this year - two little girls and I couldn't be more excited. This family is jammed packed with boys - and they are precious as can be - so every once in a while, when God sends us a cute little pink bundle - well it's fun (I mean who doesn't like to buy girly baby clothes?)
This child is a grand niece. My husband's nephew's baby. This is their second - first one was a boy (of course LOL!) and, if she is anything like that sweet little boy - well her parents are blessed.
Okay - details. The die is from Papertrey Ink. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on that background (my favorite-est ever - swiss dot). It's a shaker card filled with some clear iridescent sequins (I got from Joann's a million years ago i think). They've got just the right sparkle you know?
Okay on with today's show. The weather here in the burg is absolutely gorgeous - it seems more like end-of-September or early-October rather than the end of July. It's actually cool - unheard of in these here parts and I am lovin every second. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Year of Cards - July

Hi there. I'm busy working on some card sets I intend giving for Christmas gifts to family. When I first saw Dawn McVey's Birthday Classics stamps at PTI I thought this would be a perfect gift for each family. I've been getting one set each month since they debuted in February but I hadn't had the chance to begin making the cards until today. As I mentioned the other day we've got a bunch of birthday's in July to celebrate and I needed one more - then I made 8 more for the gifts.
Here's the one I made for a family member. I'd seen a really cute example from Dawn McVey (scroll way down to see it) where she used a stamp from a flower set to create fireworks on her card. I really loved that idea but didn't have that flower set (although I'd love too LOL!). I'd recently been to a stamp store and when you spend a certain amount you can pick a free stamp from a basket. I looked through the basket and found a Memory Box stamp I thought I might use for backgrounds so it came home with me! And when I started these cards I thought it would be perfect to make the fireworks on my cards. Here you'll see I did the fireworks in 3 different embossing powders (silver, red and holographic). The holographic one doesn't show up that well but it is pretty. When I went to create the July cards for my gifts I decided to eliminate that embossing powder - it makes the cards a little more focused - less is more and all that. But I do like how sparkly it is for this card.

Now on to the cards for the Year of Cards sets.
You may think I'm crazy making all these card sets but I think it'll work out pretty well. I'm making one design basically and changing them up slightly with positioning (of elements) and colors. Not one is alike - and we know how I like to do that: my valentines being the prime example. It's a little challenge for me and it keeps the process from getting boring you know? And once you have the basic design the rest is a piece of cake (and we KNOW how much I love cake!)
These really did come together quickly. I like
embossing a lot as well as the assembly line. I didn't take pics of the envelopes but I did a little stamping on those as well (just some stars).
So July is done. I'm going to backtrack and start making the cards for February through June and then continue on through December as I buy each set. January will need to wait til next year :-)
Hope you're having a great weekend!

Cool & Sweet

Two cards to share today.

My husband has a large family and there are several during the month of July. And for July birthday cards you kinda think summer-y stuff right? Popsicles are summer-y 

I love PTI's Summer Sweetness stamp set - it has great sentiments and the cutest popsicles (yes... there are not as cute popsicles out there in the stamping world. really. ;-) By nature popsicles are cute - you're right- but in the greater popsicle world - these have the highest cuteness factor).

By the way there will be quiz at the end of this post regarding the number of times I have included the word popsicle.

I cut those cute popsicles out of some glitter paper I purchased at Hobby Lobby (It's Doodlebug!). This card uses the "coolest" sentiment. The second card uses the "sweetest" sentiment. It's a nice little feature of this set - being able to easily swap out those words. (The two lines in black are one stamp - the words "coolest" and "sweetest" are separate stamps)

I used Papertrey Ink's Background Basics: Super Chevron for the backgrounds on the frames (which were cut with the PTI Monthly Moments Instant Photo #1 die). I also used the Herringbone impression plate from Papertrey for the base on the second card. I got my inspiration for both cards from .... darn I can't recall which design team member it was! 

Anyway that's all from me for today. Hope you have a good one (and ... it's 7... the number of times i said that word..;-)_

Sorry I'm Late Tag and Ballerina Card

Can you believe it? 3 posts in as many days?
I had mentioned that I've still been making things even though I haven't been posting.
I was talking to my sister earlier today and she mentioned something about a card I'd sent to my niece (her daughter). I went and looked in my photos and sure enough I had taken a pics so I thought I'd share.
I'd made my niece a birthday card (inspired by one made by Nichole Heady) using the Ballerina Beauty stamp set & die from PTI. I'd colored the ballerina to look like my niece (brown hair and dressed in a pink tutu). In the background I'd used a die from Anna Griffin (it is just the most beautiful flourish ever) - I'd glittered up that flourish as this niece is the one who loves all things sparkly! My sister had told me she was going to put the card in a frame to hang in her daughter's room as she'd loved it so much (awww - happy Aunt here).

Now these little packages - were for my niece and my sister. I'd sent them along with the birthday card but they weren't actually birthday presents. Inside were little St. Theresa medals I'd purchased for them in Italy (matching one I'd bought for myself.) St. Theresa is my saint - and my mother's as we share that name. The medals are something we all can wear and think of my mom :-)
Anyway - I made the pillow boxes (using some PTI patterned paper ) on my Silhouette Portrait. The little tags were die cut using the PTI Tag Sale #9 - I love that die.


And the wee little snail? Well it's Tucker from Purple Onion Designs and it is THE cutest thing you ever did see. And Tucker needed to be pink and girly for my niece so I colored him appropriately and added some more glitter.
Too stinkin cute for words! Tucker looks a little more like Tucker-ella, right? Then I tied it all up with a little bit of bakers twine.
Oh and obvi- I just wrote in the "sorry I'm late" - it's a snail... get it?
Ok.... that's all for today.

Kitty Birthday Card

Finally, I got this card to cooperate and upload. This is the card the kitties made for my husband for his birthday (well.... they had a little help ;-))
We used PTI's Cat's Meow stamp set - sooo cute!
The black cat is a dead ringer for our little Westley - he was colored using Prismacolor pencils. The "yellow" cat is supposed to be our sweet little Willie (short for Wilhelmina dontcha know) - who is a beautiful buff colored kitty. We colored her using Copics.
They decided a birthday banner would be cute on their card and we stamped "DAD" using an alpha set (i believe it's an old Hero Arts set). The "happy birthday" is from PTI's Keep it Simple: Birthday. The patterned paper is also from PTI.  Okay - that's all for today. Have a good one!