Snarky Cats Birthday Card

 Snarky Cats!!! LOVE this set of stamps from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous! And how fun is it that they pair so perfectly with the Crazy Cats and Crazy Things Stamps? Today's post features a quick birthday card using them all.

Gather some Distress Inks, Distress Brushes, Sticky Grid, Distress Mixed Media Heavystock, and a stencil.

I hold the paper in place with Sizzix Sticky Grid, then align the stencil and tape it at the top so you can easily lift it to see your progress.

Stencil the various colors through the stencil. keeping if fairly light toward the center.

Here you can see what it looks like with the stencil in place.

Realign the stencil as best you can. Now you can see why you need to keep the center area light as there will be a little cross-over.

Stencil the other side. Taking care with the areas of overlap.

When you lift it up, you will wait until it looks like you want it to look.

Stamp your Snarky Cat and sentiment on the background. Stamp your Crazy Cat and Crazy Things pieces onto a second piece of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock. Gather some Distress Markers and a Waterbrush.

Watercolor the various accessories. Watercolor the cat on the background. The light inks of the background will lighten and blend in with the cat colors so if you kept the center light, you won't have to work so hard blending it in.

Cut them out and ink the edges.

Trim the cat's arms but NOT the paws. You want to make slits on the top and bottom of each arm to fit the milk bottles though.

This is what it looks from the back. You can see a corner of the bow tie, and the two bottles going through the arm slits.

Place the balloons in the top right corner and draw some string lines with a black marker.

Attach the hat, bow tie and thread the milk bottles under the arms before adding a tiny drop of adhesive.

I place the large milk bottle right under the cat's nose.

You can see the sentiment fits with the Crazy Things added.

Here is a close-up of the background.

That's it! Super fast, super fun!
Thanks for stopping by!
Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Spring - Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 1 Cottontail

Cottontail is such a great Bigz steel rule die from Tim Holtz and Sizzix. You aren't just limited to Easter with this die, because he is cute for spring designs, Valentines (honey bunny!) Disney scrapbooking (White Rabbit, March Hare, Roger Rabbit, Thumper, you see where I'm going here) clothing, babies, and friends who have pet bunnies!

Today's card was made for the Ranger Ink booth to show uses for Distress Inks and Oxides. The background was made the same way as both Funny Farm stamp cards on the previous post.

Take a clean blending foam, get a little bit of Distress Micro Glaze on it, and blend it into the foam on the Glass Media Mat.

Apply it to some Distress Mixed Media Heavystock through a layering stencil. I used the Flames THS091 Layering Stencil on this card.

Put some Distress Oxide colors on the Nonstick Mat portion of the Glass Media Mat. Spritz with water until it beads up.

Apply ink with the Wrinkle-free Distress technique that we have all learned from Tim Holtz, and I know many of us use it often.

Put the paper, microglaze side down into the Oxides,  lift it up, turn it over and dry.

Remember, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. Do not double dip. Put the paper in the ink once and then dry no matter what it looks like.

Tap the paper into the ink in a few places and dry, continue until you are happy with the look. You can add in a little bit of an additional color like I did here with the Dusty Concord.

This sample for the tutorial has more blue and green than the one on the card because they are all going to turn out a little differently, but that's the fun of playing with ink!  Plus, I think I may have added a touch of Wild Honey to the sample card background now that I'm looking at it, but just have a go at the Micro Glaze Resist Technique. I guarantee it is addicting! You won't want to stop making backgrounds.

I cut Cottontail from some natural color cotton canvas and then colored him with some Dusty Concord Distress Oxide. His bow was colored with Faded Jeans Distress Oxide. Then I stamped over them with the Script THS stamp in Ground Espresso Archival Ink

The sentiment was cut using a new alphabet coming out in April from Tim Holtz in his Chapter 2 release called Label. It is tiny and supposed to look like the raised letters from a label maker.

I tend to keep my cards fairly simple, so they are easy to make and can be duplicated quickly.  I hope this inspires you to try something fun with Mr. Cottontail

Thank you so much for visiting!
Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog and the ideas and tutorials I post here, and your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Funny Farm - Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous

 The Funny Farm stamp set from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous was a big hit at Creativation. They are very cute animal sketches with quirky, funny sentiments and they pair beautifully with the other stamp releases for January, Stitches and Media Marks.

 For the background on both cards, I applied Distress Microglaze to Distress Mixed Media Heavystock through the Heartstuck Layering Stencil. Then I went ahead with the Wrinkle Free Distress technique and the hearts were revealed because the Microglaze acts as a resist.

 I stamped the Funny Farm stamp in Black Soot Archival on Distress Mixed Media Heavystock and then watercolored with Distress Ink.

 I used the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique on a small tag, then stamped some of the border stamps from the Media Marks 1 stamp set.

 The background on the second card is made the same way, using Microglaze resist through a layering stencil,  this one was called Flame Layering Stencil and the colors were Distress Oxides.

 I watercolored the stamp and sentiment.

 To add a little interest, I added two of the Stitches stamps .

That's a stamp, not sewing with a machine!

That's it! These two cards are super easy and paired with the Media Marks stamps and the Stitches stamp , card making just couldn't get easier.

Thanks so much for stopping by the funny farm today!
Tami


The product links below are to two stores I am an affiliate with, Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog and the ideas and tutorials I post here, so thank you!