Day 5 Cat Lovers Hop - "Boo" Cats & Gnome

 

     This is my 5th and final card for the 2021 Cat Lovers Hop, where I was lucky enough to be a Guest Designer this year.  There's still time to enter your own projects and play along in the daily games.  There's a limit of 5 entries per person in the hop (entered on or before Saturday) but you can play all of the daily games and visit other players through next Wednesday.

     This card uses an image from KLM Designs and contains two of my favorite things - gnomes and cats.  I used ProMarkers to color the image, then cut it with a CUTplorations die.  I added 2 die cuts - a cat and a spider web - both cut with Cheery Lynn dies.  The card front itself is dry embossed.

          Challenges:

Art Impressions

CCC Digi Creations

Coloring in Scrapland

Creatalicious

Creative Craft Cottage

Creative Moments

Cupcake Inspirations

Double Trouble

Star Stampz

SUYP Cats

     Come play before it's all over until next year.  We love seeing all our Cat Lover friends.  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Crouching Cat - Day 4 Cat Lovers Hop

     As I told you on Tuesday, I was invited by Janis to be one of the Guest Designers for the 2021 Cat Lovers Hop.  I jumped at the chance!  If you missed my first GDT post on Tuesday, click this link to get there.  

     I was lucky enough to get to use two adorable cat images from Ike's Art and this is the second of them, called "Crouching Cat."  For more information about the hop (and about the fun images from Ike's), check out the main Cat Lovers post here.

     This is Day 4 of the hop and it runs through this coming Saturday.  You can enter each day and there are tons of prizes from many sponsors plus daily games to play.  You'll meet lots of other cat lovers, all of whom are fun loving and more-or-less obsessed with all things feline.

     Today's card is another rather CAS design (amazing how a bit of dp and a bow can make something look fancy!) and a sweet image from Ike's Art called Crouching Cat.  When I was getting ready to color the image, my sweet little Queenie (see the sidebar for a photo of her attacking the printer) jumped up on the table to "supervise" the creative process and I decided then and there to make this adorable feline a calico!  Yes, she's has white legs and tummy just like Queenie so...

     I cut the image with a QuicKutz die, inked the edges, and layered it onto the background dp (DCWV).  I tied a bowtie bow from black satin ribbon, added it beside the image, and it was done!  Talk about quick and simple.  :-D

     Challenges:

House...Stamps Built

Ike's World

Lil Patch of ...

Outlawz PAM

Penny's Paper-Crafty

Scrapping4Fun

Simon Says Stamp

Stamping Sensations

SUYP Cats

WordArt Weds

     Don't forget that you have until Saturday to enter your own feline creations into this year's Hop.  We're having so much fun and there are fantastic prizes to be won from more than three dozen sponsors.  Come join us before time runs out!  

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Day 3 - Cat Lovers Hop

 

     Day 3 of the Cat Lovers Hop 2021 (where I'm a Guest Designer on two different days this year) and the Daily Prizes are sponsored by Ike's World.   She's offering a complete set of Kristmas Kitties as an overall prize in addition to the prize for each daily challenge.  

     I've done a card which has a much more autumn (translate to "Halloween") theme.  In fact, the cat is named "Autumn" according to the notation written by my friend on the back of this image.  lol  I received this image from a dear friend after losing all my digi images in a flash drive crash last year.  She had printed it in grayscale and mailed it to me in one of the seven different packs of stamped/printed images she sent.  

     She was so afraid I'd quit making cards after losing more than 10,000 digis that she spent what must have been hours and hours stamping or printing onto white CS, cutting them into 1/4 or 1/2 sheet pieces, and mailing them in padded envelopes so they wouldn't arrive bent or wrinkled.

  

     It was from her efforts in printing grayscale images that I learned so much about coloring them.  I love that when you print a pre-colored image in grayscale, you get all the wonderful shading and highlights of the colored image but you get to choose your own color combos and do additional highlighting (or shading) as desired.

     I used my ProMarkers and polychromos pencils to color the image, blending with gamsol.  I chalked two sides of the image after I had cut it with a QuicKutz octagon die.  I cut the frame from a scrap of  burgundy CS using another octagon die 1 size larger.  

     The background piece was made from a leftover watercolor scrap to which I added two corners of scrap dp (Doodlebug) to cover holes in the watercolor scrap.  I had used tiny dies to cut some things for a previous project but the remaining paper was so pretty I couldn't toss it out.  Can't tell you how happy I am about that decision now.  :-D

     I printed and fussy cut the sentiment (another scrap), then tied a bow using shiny satin ribbon (also a scrap) and my bow maker.

I chose lemonade/mulberry/& sangria + gold

from color board #466 at CMH Color Dare.

     Challenges:

As You Like It  (Although I always prefer using 

                           animal images over people because I like

                           coloring fur better than skin, since

                           this card is for the Cat Lovers Hop, 

                           it had to be a cat!  :-D ) 

Colour Crazy

Crafty Creations

Crafty Gals Corner

Creative Inspirations

Lemon Shortbread

Pixie's Snippets

SUYP Cats

TTCRD

     Come play in the Cat Lovers Hop this year.  Or at least visit us.  You'll find lot of fun games each day and if you want to enter, just make something featuring cats!  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Basket Kitty - Day 2 Cat Lovers Hop

      

     I was so honored this year when Janis reached out and asked me if I would Guest Design a couple of days on the 2021 Cat Lovers Hop.  I jumped at the chance!  I was lucky enough to get to use two adorable cat images from Ike's Art and this is the first of them, called "Basket Cat."  For more information but the hop and about the fun images from Ike's used in the hop, check out the main Cat Lovers post here.

     This is day 2 of the hop and it runs through this coming Saturday.  You can enter each day and there are tons of prizes from many sponsors plus daily games to play.  You'll meet lots of other cat lovers, all of whom are fun loving and more-or-less obsessed with all things feline.

     On my card for today, I kept it pretty simple and had fun adding a bit of humor.  However, any cat 'parent' (defined as someone who is owned by a cat(s) and required to feed, clothe, house, entertain and pay the doctor bills for the cats) will know that although humorous, the sentiment also reflects compete truth!  lol

    I colored with ProMarkers, and cut the image with a stitched die from Die-namics.  I used the same die to cut the DCWV dp and inlaid the image into it.  The sentiment was printed and cut with another Die-namics die.  I dyed one of my hand-sewn, signature bows using a ProMarker and added a scrap of punched CS to the center of it.

     Challenges:

Colouring in Scrapland

Crafty Sentiments

Creative Inspirations

Digi Choosday

Ike's World

Lemon Shortbread

SUYP Cats

TTCRD

     My second GDT card for the Cat Lovers Hop will be posted on Thursday so be sure to check back.

Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Day 1 - Cat Lovers Hop 2021

   

 

     Well, here it is the last weekend of October and that means it's time for the 2021 Cat Lovers Hop which starts today and will run through Saturday, October 30.  I've been playing in the hop each year for at least 5 years but I honestly don't remember if I started in 2015 or 2016 but it's become an annual ritual in my creativity routine.  :-D  This year I was invited by Janis to be one of the Guest Designers and I did GDT cards for Tuesday and Thursday so be sure to check those out when they post here on my blog.

     For today, I did a card using an image from Hetty Clare which I think is absolutely adorable.  I colored with my ProMarkers and cut the image with a die from QuicKutz.  It's 'framed' by cutting an aperture window in the card front (card base was made from flocked CS by Doodlebug) with a larger QuicKutz die from that same set, then attaching a square of charcoal-gray CS inside the front, and layering the image piece into the center of the gray.

     The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.  I tied a quick bowtie made from lace and wrapped around the middle with satin ribbon.  The butterfly is machine embroidered.  I did a dozen or more of those last summer and tossed them into my stash, forgetting they were there until just yesterday.

     Challenges:

Ally's Angels

Cardz TV

Colour Crazy

Crafty Catz

Crafty Hazelnut's

Creations in Pink

Creative Moments

LeAnn's World

Paperbabe

SUYP Cats

     I hope you are signed up for all the prizes and are going to play in the hop each day between now and the end on Saturday.  Obviously, you need to have one or more cats on your entries.  There are daily games and lots of wonderful inspiration so please come and join us.  Every cat lover will have something to share and those of you who are new to the Hop will find a ton of new 'cat crazy' friends.  :-D  

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie