Cats, Books and an Abstract Background

Hello everyone. Today is the start of a new challenge at Allsorts and Helen is hosting. For her optional theme she chose "Animals". Lots of options there but you can also go with the "Anything Goes" option to be entered into the prize drawing or to be selected in the Top 7. We have prizes from Lavinia Stamps.

Last month for my birthday I treated myself to a few new Lavinia stamps and thought this challenge was the perfect reason to ink some of them up. 

I've loved these cats - Hocus and Pocus - from when they were first released last year. I also knew I needed this book stamp - Wizardry - when I first saw it on someone's card a few months ago. Then on the background I used the stencil called Abstract also by Lavinia. You can purchase these stamps directly from Lavinia if you are in the UK and there are several stockists here in the US as well, I love ASC Supplies as they offer free shipping. Not sure how they can do it with the constant rise in postage fees but free shipping is so appreciated these days!!

I first started by stamping the books and cats onto my card front and stamped the books onto a post it note and fussy cut to make a mask. With washi tape and the mask in place I inked up the bottom portion using a Lawn Fawn stencil and Tea Dye Distress ink. After removing the washi tape I inked up the rest of the card using Lavinia's Abstract stencil and Mustard Seed Distress ink. 

I thought the card needed something more so I decided to stamp  Field Grass also by Lavinia around the books with the book mask in place. 

For the sentiment I chose "Have a Purr-fect Day" from the set Fun Felines by Penny Black.  I added a few black enamel dots as embellishments, matted it onto light brown card and then a white card base. 

This post does include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for your support!

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I plan to share with these challenges:

• As You Like It Challenge - Cats or Dogs and Why (I choose cats, I have 2 cats and they are my favorite domestic animal)
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils
• Krafty Chicks - AG
• Simon Says Stamp - AG
• Sisterhood of Crafters - Stripes and/or Dots
• The Paper Funday - Fun with Stencils
• The Male Room - Cats or Dogs
• TIME OUT Challenges - Choose 2 : Torn, Transport, Star, Stripes, Rainbow, Book (I chose Books and Stripes)

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A Girly Birthday Card for Four Seasons August Challenge

It's so hard to believe that August has arrived and that means this is the last summer month of the year at the Four Seasons challenge blog! I hope you have more summer crafts to work on and share with us as we'd love to see it! As always we have a fun mood board to inspire you but it is optional as "Anything Summer Goes". 

August means it's "back to school" here in my part of the world and I chose this cute image which reminds me of a little girl going back to school but I will be needing a girly birthday card very soon so that is what I made. I was inspired by the balloons on the bottom right along with some of the colors from the balloons. 

The image is from the Penny Black set Let's Play 30-468, stamped with Memento Tuxedo ink on Xpress It blending cardstock then colored with my Copic markers. I chose a gingham paper from my stash. I probably had this for almost as long as I've been papercrafting and I thought the colors were a perfect fit to match some of the markers I used. 

I embellished my card with some pretty butterflies made with a Martha Stewart punch. I also added some shiny gems and lots of sparkles. You can never go wrong with a sparkly bicycle, don't you agree??

Related Products:

This post does include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for your support!

The sentiment is from the set by Veggie Stacks by Colorado Craft Company. I really like this pretty font for a girly card. I almost forgot to mention, but I used a Tim Holtz stencil set on the background from one of his "stamps and stencil" combo set. 

I plan to share with these challenges:

• AAA Birthday Challenge - Birthday and Sport (biking)
• A Perfect Time To Craft - AG
• Ally's Angels - AG
• Classic Design Challenge - AG
• Crafts Galore Encore - AG
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils
• Creatalicious Challenges - AG
• DL.Art Linky Challenge - AG
• Do-Al(l) Kreatives - AG ?
• Double D - Cards for Kids
• Krafty Chicks - AG
• Paper Shelter - AG
• Passion For Markers Challenge - Dies or Punches (I used a punch)
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Use PB Stamps
• Simon Says Stamp - AG
• Sweet Stampin - Anything but Square
• The Creative Crafters - AG
• The Paper Funday - Stencils
• TIME OUT Challenges - Pick 2: Torn, Transport, Star, Stripes, Rainbow, Book (I chose Transport and Stripes)

Thanks so much for visiting!

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