I've got 'Cattitude'

Lately I've been trying to push myself to enter more stamping challenges and contests, and I've been reaping some rewards from my efforts. Yesterday I won a card contest at a stamping show and received $100 to spend at the show. A couple of weeks ago I also won the first challenge on the Raisin Boat blog. (I won with my spinning hamster card.) The winner was selected randomly, so I can't really take any credit, but I wouldn't have won if I hadn't entered. And as my prize I got to choose a free Raisin Boat stamp set.

Believe me when I say that I thought long and hard about which stamp set I wanted. Almost every evening for a week I looked at the Raisin Boat Web site, debating the pros, cons and versatility of set after set. I would decide on one and then change my mind. My non-stamping sister was even subject to my deliberations (and she was no help in making a decision). But I finally chose a cute set called Cattitude. I received the set last week and had a chance yesterday to make a couple of cards with it.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^® unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Cattitude, Go Fish (Raisin Boat); Very Versatile (for inside greeting)
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Cool Caribbean card stock; Designer Series Paper (DSP) Patterns Pack - 2010 - 12 In Color
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Peach Parfait, Cool Caribbean, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Aqua Painter, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Beaded Squares Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders), Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, corner rounder punch, 1/16" hole punch, silver mini brads, Dimensionals

I love this image of the cat ready to catch a goldfish; it was actually what drew me to this set. I stamped the image on a piece of Whisper White card stock and then used an Aqua Painter to watercolor it. I was trying to decide which sentiment to use when I remembered the "Wish for fish" stamp from the Go Fish set. It fit perfectly under the image.

I mounted the focal point on a piece of die-cut Cool Caribbean card stock. (I used a 1/16" hole punch to manually make the holes in each circle on the die-cut.) For the background I embossed the card front with polka dots, added a strip of DSP with a little scallop trim and placed three silver mini brads in the lower right corner.

I like all the different circles on the front of this card. To bring a little of that to the inside of the card, I included a thin strip of the same DSP along the bottom of the inside layer. I kept the rest of the inside simple by just stamping the greeting.

For my second card with this set, I wanted to make something that wasn't cat themed, just for a change and to illustrate the versatility of the images. And the idea was one that I'd had before I even received the set.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Cattitude (Raisin Boat)
Paper: Melon Mambo, Whisper White card stock; Welcome Neighborhood DSP
Ink: Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: Plaid embossing folder (Sizzix), Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, 1-3/8" square punch, Tombo Mono glue, Dimensionals

You may be wondering, what does a gift-bag stamp have to do with cats, anyway? Well, the complete image has a picture of a little mouse in the center of the bag, and it coordinates with the sentiment "The cat's out of the bag." But for this card, I just carefully inked up the rest of the image around the mouse and stamped it six times: three times on Whisper White card stock and three times on different patterns of DSP. I cut out the entire images that were stamped on white, and for the others I cut out just the front and side of the bags. Then I glued the patterned paper on the white images.

After embossing the card front with a plaid texture, I punched out three squares along the right side. I adhered a layer of Whisper White card stock to the inside of the card and then used Dimensionals to adhere the gift bags to the inside of the card. (I kept the card closed to be sure I placed the images in the properly.) The final steps were to stamp a sentiment inside the card and then tie a ribbon around the card front.

There is one more blog challenge I entered in July (the SoShelli.com Creative Challenge), so we'll see if I can get a trifecta. I'll just have to think positive stampy thoughts!



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