Purrfect Day (Paper Smooches stamp/die)

Hello, everyone! One of my crafty goals for 2015 is to make more men's and boys' cards.  I really struggle with them so I tend not to make as many.  Then every time there's a male birthday, I have to scramble to make a card.  So this year I want to get a few made ahead.

Here's my attempt at a masculine birthday card.  I made this inky background yesterday while I was playing around with my new Distress Inks!  I used Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, and Brushed Corduroy, using the same technique as yesterday's card.

I am using my new Paper Smooches Nine Lives stamps and dies.  I decided to play along in Paper Smooches SPARKS Picture Perfect challenge (see inspiration photo below).  It's the first time I've played over there, so I'm excited about it!  I coloured the kitty with my Prismacolor pencils.  The image and sentiment were stamped in Brilliance Coffee Bean.

At the top of my card I added some stencilling with embossing paste and glitter using a Dreamweaver Stencil called Bare Trees.  Dream It Up has a birthday challenge this month so I'm linking up there as well.  I followed the sketch over at Sketch Saturday (see below) so I added some ribbon and trim to fit the design.

I would like to support the following challenges:
Allsorts New and Cute (new Distress Inks, new stamps/dies) 2/3
Card Mania Make it Sparkle 3/3
Crafty Calendar What's New (new Distress Inks, new stamps/dies)  2/3
Cute Card Thursday What's New (new Distress Inks, new stamps/dies) UE
DL.ART January Linky AG UE 1/day

Dream It Up Birthday UE
Fashionable Stamping Something New (new Distress Inks, new stamps/dies) 2/3

Hiding in My Craftroom Super Scraps Saturday (scrap of white used to stamp and die cut; the twine bow is a scrap) 2/3
Loves Rubberstamps Stamp in any Colour except Black UE
Natalie and Amy's Something New (new Distress Inks, new stamps/dies) 2/3

Paper Smooches SPARKS Inspiration Photo

Papertake Weekly It's All New (new Distress Inks, new stamps/dies) 2/5
Penny Black and More Stencils, Masks, Embossing Folders 2/3
Pixie's Snippet Playground Snippet of white used to stamp and die cut; the twine bow is a scrap 2/3

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday It's a Guy Thing 1/5

Simon Says Stamp Monday Inky Background 2/5

Sister Act (Cards Only) AG UE

Sketch Saturday Sketch #343

Sparkle N Sprinkle AG with Loose Glitter, Embossing Powder and/or Flocking UE

STAMPlorations Stamps and Ink 2/3

The Paper Girls Let's Sparkle and Shine 2/3

Word Art Wednesday AG w Uplifting Sentiment 1/5

Vintage Stamping with Flonzcraft New Year, New Stash (new Distress Inks, new stamps/dies) 2/3

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a joyful day!