Retro Kitty Countdown 11

Hi, everybody!  Today I'm sharing one of my retro kitty countdown cards!  I have been making a set of 25 countdown cards to be given in December as a Countdown to Christmas.  The recipient will open one each day in December similar to an advent calendar.  Note that I have not been making them in numerical order. This one is #11.

The cute mistletoe kitty clipart is from my friend Kym at By Vintage Design, and I adhered a die-cut bow (Poppystamps Lovely Gift Bow) at the top of the mistletoe.  I mounted the image on brown cardstock and layered it on a die-cut doily from my stash.  The vintage number is from Gecko Galz The 12 Days of Christmas, and I tucked it above a sentiment saying, "I'm the official mistle tester," from Scribbles Designs, die-cut into a banner shape (Gina Marie Designs Drop Pennant).  The candy-patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket Jolly By Golly.

My card design was inspired by Sketch 28 at {BYSHC} Sketch Challenge, and their link-up is in the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers Facebook Group.

I was also inspired by the following 9 challenges, for a total of 10:

Beccy's Place Month of Holiday Cards (M for Mistletoe)

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper November UE

Creative Fingers 242 AG 3/3

Creative Knockouts 478 Christmas Delight 1/3 C10

DL.ART November Linky AG UE

Gecko Galz November Retro Christmas UE

Taylormadecards4u Pink Christmas 1/3
The 12 Months of Christmas Link-up 94 AG Christmas Optional Patterned Paper 4/10

Word Art Wednesday 569-570 AG w Uplifting Sentiment 2/5 wk1

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a joy-filled day!

Retro Kitty Countdown 1

Hello, everyone!  Today I'm sharing one of my retro kitty countdown cards, which is part of a set of 25 that I started last year, maybe even the year before.  My goal is to finish off the remaining nine of these countdown cards before the end of November so they can be used in December as a Countdown to Christmas.  The recipient will open one each day in December similar to an advent calendar.  This is #1 but I have not been making them in numerical order.

Products used:

Cat Clipart:  PrettiePrintables on Etsy

Patterned paper:  Me and My Big Ideas 

Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Pine Needle Border, Gina Marie Designs Studded Numbers

Other:  Tim Holtz Bow punch, Doodlebug red doily, Dollarama poinsettia doily, snowflake sequin, self-made sentiment in Microsoft Word

I would like to join the following 8 challenges:
Beccy's Place Month of Holiday Cards (Complementary Colours, plus C for Cat, Christmas, and Countdown)

Christmas Kickstart 68 Trees, Trees, Trees 2/3 C8 (Kitty is under the tree, plus the pine needle border)

CRAFT 657 AG 1/2

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper November UE

Creative Fingers 242 AG 2/3

DL.ART November Linky AG UE
The 12 Months of Christmas Link-up 94 AG Christmas Optional Patterned Paper 3/10

Word Art Wednesday 569-570 AG w Uplifting Sentiment 1/5 wk1

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a joy-filled day!

Felt Tree Ornament

Hello, everyone!  Today I'm sharing a fun holiday card featuring Felt Christmas Tree by Unity Stamps.  I won this stamp in the September {BYSHC} Sketch Challenge (thank you, Crystal!).  The ornament is just my style as it reminds me of a cookie, and I love his cute smiley face!  I stamped and coloured the image with markers and then fussy-cut.  I also applied Copper Glitterific on the green part for some sparkle.

The pine tree branch is from Graciellie Designs Winter Blessings.  I have the digital but this is also a beautiful stamp set from Unity Stamps.  I printed it in green after duplicating the pine branch a number of times to get the effect of a tree.  Next I used a finger dauber with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink for some additional green on the pine branch.  I stamped the sentiment (also from Unity Stamps) in Mowed Lawn Distress Ink.  It's not the best ink to stamp with, so I made several impressions using my MISTI.  The white panel is die-cut with Kat Scrappiness Stitched Rope Nested Rectangle and layered on brown cardstock.  Lastly I adhered the felt ornament to simulate hanging on the tree. 

I was inspired by the following 8 challenges:

Allsorts 701 Sparkle and Shine 2/3 (the Glitterific is quite sparkly in real life)

Beccy's Place Month of Holiday Cards (jumping ahead to T for Tree)
Christmas Kickstart 68 Trees, Trees, Trees 1/3 C8

Dare 2B Artzy Non-Birthday 1/3
DL.ART November Linky AG UE
Unity {Show and Tell} FB Group Build Your Holiday Stash
We Love Stamping Christmas 1/3
Word Art Wednesday 567-568 AG wk2 2/5 

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

November Guest Designer - Cheerful Sketches

Hello, everyone!  I'm happy to announce that I have been invited as a Guest Designer over at Cheerful Sketches for November!  Yay!  Our sketch for the month is shown below, and I hope you will be inspired to join us!  

I made a fun winter holiday card:

You will notice I rotated the sketch counter-clockwise, as shown below.

The adorable image is Snowboardin' from SheepSki Designs. I coloured the image with markers, added Diamond Stickles to the white parts of his hat, and then die-cut with a pinpoint rectangle.  I die-cut a hexagon from patterned paper and layered the hexagon and pinpoint rectangle with green cardstock.  I adhered three strips of a darker green cardstock behind the image as per the sketch.  For the vertical element on the right-hand side of the sketch, I opted for a die-cut tree (Impression Obsession) in green glitter.  For the stars, I went with die-cut red-glitter snowflakes.  

The white panel is embossed with a snowflake pattern (Taylored Expressions Winter Flurry) and I stamped a sentiment (Your Next Stamp Hello Winter) at the bottom right.

Thank you to Cheerful Sketches for having me as your Guest Designer this month - it was fun!  

I would also like to join the following challenges:

Allsorts 701 Sparkle and Shine 1/3
Beccy's Place Month of Holiday Cards (jumping ahead to S for snow, snowman, snowflakes, snowboarding, sketch, sparkle, scarf)
Colour Crazy 44 AG 1/2
Crafts Galore Encore November AG 3/3
Crafty Catz 613 AG Optional 3 or More Layers 1/3
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper November UE
Creative Fingers 242 AG 1/3

Digi Choosday 44 AG 1/2
DL.ART November Linky AG UE

Gem of a Craft 23 AG 1/2
Penny's Paper-Crafty 533 AG 2/3

Polkadoodles 45 AG 1/2
QKR Stampede 455 AG 2/3

SheepSki Designs Challenges 68 Gems, Glitter, Sparkle 1/3
Simon Says Stamp Monday Christmas 3/5
The 12 Months of Christmas Link-up 94 AG Christmas Optional Patterned Paper 2/10
Through the Craft Room Door Oct.25 AG 4/4

Wednesday's Creative Inspirations November Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle UE
Word Art Wednesday 567-568 AG wk2 2/5

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a peaceful and carefree day!

Cat Lovers Giveaway WINNER

Hello, everyone!  Today I have the pleasure of announcing the winner of my Cat Lovers Giveaway!  Woot, woot!  First, I would like to thank everybody for their kind comments on my cards during the Cat Lovers Hop, and especially for your sweet words on Brian's cards.  It really meant a lot to both of us!   I thought it was the best hop ever!

Cat Lovers Giveaway

Here's the list of entries in the order they were received, including an extra entry for those who shared the giveaway on their blog:

I wanted to involve Brian in the draw so I asked him to pick a number between 1 and 26.  Here's the number he picked (drum roll):

15 - Janis

Woohoo!   Janis, you're the winner, and I'm very happy about that!  Please send me your mailing address and I will get the package sent out early next week!

Thanks again to everyone!

Snowman Greetings

Hello, everyone!  Today I'm sharing a cute snowman card!  My favourite icons for winter holiday cards are gingerbreads, snowmen, and cats, so that's what I plan to focus on this month!  

Today's card features Newton's Nook Snowman Greetings.  The set comes with several greetings to stamp on the board, and I chose Let it Snow.  I coloured the image with markers, fussy-cut, and popped it up on foam tape.  So sorry for the poor quality of my photo as we've had some dull days lately.  If I can get a better photo, I'll come back and add it later.

The white background is embossed with Memory Box Snowy Forest, and I adhered a snowy landscape (Lawn Fawn) to create a little scene.  I adhered some trees and a cardinal from Newton's Nook Forest Scene Builder Die. The trees are die-cut from a scrap of Doodlebug Polar Pals 6x6 paper pad.

My colours were inspired by Newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge 185, which asks for Coral, Wine Red, Denim Blue, and Caramel Brown.

In case you haven't seen it yet, Beccy's Place is hosting her Month of Holiday Cards, and I've already fallen behind LOL!  I think Beccy is on the letter C, but with my card I'm going with B for blue and brown. 

I was also inspired by the following challenges:

ABC Christmas U for Unusual Christmas Colours UE
Allsorts 700th Challenge Celebration Any Occasion (Christmas) 2/3

Colour Crazy 43 AG Colouring 1/2
Crafts Galore Encore November AG 2/3
Die-Cut Divas November AG 2/4
DL.ART November Linky AG UE

Penny's Paper-Crafty 533 AG 1/3
Polkadoodles 44 AG 2/2

QKR Stampede 455 AG 1/3
Simon Says Stamp Monday Christmas 2/5

The Outlawz Festive Friday Oct.28-Nov.10 Christmas 1/3

The 12 Months of Christmas Link-up 94 AG Christmas Optional Patterned Paper 1/10
Through the Craft Room Door Oct.25 AG 3/4
Word Art Wednesday 567-568 AG wk2 1/5

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a fun crafty day!

Guest Designer - Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge

Hi, everyone!  Before I get started, I would like to welcome my new followers - papierelle and Roberta Stevenson - thank you for joining me!

Happy November!  I am excited to announce that I am a Guest Designer at Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge this month!  Yay!  

Our theme is Holly, and there is an awesome prize up for grabs!  One random winner will receive a $25 gift code to Topflight Stamps!  Woot, woot!

I hope you'll be inspired to head over to Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge and play along!  Just link up a newly created Christmas card with at least one holly image.  Your card can be Coffee, Tea, or Hot Cocoa!  The challenge starts today and runs until November 25.  

My holly-themed card was made using Your Next Stamp - Tea-riffic Holly Day.  I coloured the image with markers and added some details with a white paint pen.  I added Star Dust Stickles to the white part of kitty's hat and Yellow Stickles to the poinsettia center.  I fussy-cut the image so I could pop it up on foam tape, and stamped the sentiment in black below the image.  It says, "Have a TEA-riffic Holly-Day!"  I added die-cut holly leaves (Nicole Silhouette) in sparkly green cardstock and embellished with several small red sequins to represent holly berries. 

Thank you to Amy and Lisa at Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge for inviting me to be your Guest Designer!  I'll be back mid-month with some more inspiration!

I would also like to join the following challenges:
Allsorts 700th Challenge Celebration Any Occasion (Christmas) 1/3
Beccy's Place Month of Holiday Cards - H for Holly and Holiday
Colour Crazy 42 AG 2/2

Crafts Galore Encore November AG 1/3

Die-Cut Divas November AG 1/4
DL.ART November Linky AG UE

Polkadoodles 44 AG 1/2

Simon Says Stamp Monday Christmas 1/5
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday AG 3/5
Through the Craft Room Door Oct.25 AG 2/4
Word Art Wednesday 567-568 AG wk1 3/5

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