I Brake For...Buildings!

Hello, my faithful Sunday followers!

Today's card is coming to you using a stamp that came from a previous set I have showcased here. Do you remember my cat card I posted a few weeks ago? That sheet of rubber contained not only these ADORABLE cats, but it also contained two building stamps. Today I am using one of those building sets! 

This card, using the Cats and Buildings set, was such a fun card to put together. I imagined that these buildings were probably in some Italian city, perhaps Venice, and because of that I knew I could color them any colors I wished! I LOVE beautiful and unique buildings. I colored these buildings in with Copic markers and then fussy cut them out, it was REALLY easy and fun! 

For the background, I went with a "galaxy" type of sky. I had recently taken a watercolor class on galaxy and moon techniques, and I was excited to practice those skills on this card. I used a combination of pan and tube watercolors. When it was dry I used a combination of a white Gelli Roll pen and white ink to create the stars. I ran this panel through my die cutting machine to create the stitched edge and finally, I found a sentiment in my stash that I loved and white heat embossed it.

This card was such a breeze and so relaxing to color. I absolutely LOVE this Cats and Buildings set, I will most likely be using the other building set in the near future. :D I strongly encourage you to play with this set, and to search similar terms to see what related products I Brake For Stamps has, with well over 3,000 stamp sets there are SO MANY to choose from!

I Brake For...Cats

Happy Sunday!

I've got a super cute card for you! I needed a birthday card for my aunt who loves cats. Sometimes I just search random words in the I Brake For Stamps search engine to see what it gives me, I'm always surprised by the extensive library. I was searching cats one day when I found the perfect stamp for my Aunt's card! 

There is a rubber sheet (maybe it is a half sheet) that contains three stamps. You can't buy the stamps individually, but all 3 stamps are REALLY great and worth having. I'm talking about the Cats and Buildings sheet. There are two stamps of BEAUTIFUL buildings lined up and one of a bunch of cats. I super loved these cats at first sight and I HAD to acquire them! Today's card is using those cats, I can't wait to use the two building stamps!

For this card, I stamped the image using StazOn and colored it using Zig Real Clean Color Brush Markers. I then found a speech bubble die in my stash and cut it through the painted panel AND through a layer of fun foam at the same time. Doing this ensured that the decorative edge of the speech bubble aligned perfectly with the foam that I used to give this card a touch of dimension. I then colored the paper with my Zigs.

I found a FABULOUS sentiment in my stash, even though it doesn't reference a birthday I can still either stamp a "Happy Birthday" or just write it in my message on the inside. I stamped this message in black ink and then again in Versamark to emboss it in clear embossing powder. Then I colored the inside of the letters with one of the colors I'd used in the cats.

At this point, I glued the speech bubble to the fun foam using Tombow glue. The fun foam was still much larger than the painted panel, only the decorative edge had been cut down. I fussy cut the other three sides and also fussy cut any extra hanging out amongst the scallops.

Using my tape runner I taped the cat part to my card base and using my Tombow glue I glued the sentiment part to my card base. And then I was done!

I just love how clean and beautiful this card looks!

This was a really fun and easy card to work on, I got such a giggle painting the cats because their expressions are all so different! I really suggest searching random terms in the I Brake For Stamps search engine, it is such a fun thing to do. You'll find really inspiring stamps to add to your card, and to your stash!

I Brake for Cats

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I'm a cat person. Or maybe it is. In either case, I am a proud cat lady. I love kittens, cats, and wild cats. If I could, I'd have a house filled with them. But alas, I can't for a variety of reasons, the biggest being that I'm actually allergic to the critters. Yep. It's true. I prove my love for my kitties by taking a plethora of allergy meds every.single.day.

As a paper-craftin' cat lady, I collect cat stamps, cat cutting dies, and cat punches. So, when I saw the cat image on the Cats and Buildings stamp sheet (Stampingback) at  I knew that one day it would be mine. It didn't hurt that I also really love architecture, have visited The Netherlands, and fell in love with Dutch architecture.

Since I'm still celebrating my birthday, I've been making lots of birthday cards. This is one of them.

When I first saw the Cats from the Cats and Buildings sheet, I immediately thought of the "Cat Lady Starter Kit" meme that's been circulating on the 'net for ages. I thought that I should try to make a birthday version, especially since one of my cats, Duchess, is crazy for boxes.

Cats from the Cats and Buildings sheet was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts) and colored with Copic markers. I felt like using unrealistic cat colors, so I did. When I was done coloring it, I fussy-cut the top bit of the cats, then used a Black Pitt Pen (Faber Castell) to edge them.

Thin cardboard was trimmed, scored, and folded to look box-like. All cut and scored edges were sponged with Black Soot Distress ink (Ranger) to look battered like the packages that arrive here. Colored tissue paper was torn and adhered to the back of the box and to the separate flap/front of the box piece.

An address label and a postage stamp from the Aeropostale Sticker Book (7 Gypsies) was roughed up and sponged with Black Soot Distress ink. In a very rare event, I wrote the address on the airmail label with a Sharpie pen. I rarely write on my cards and such because I'm hypercritical of my handwriting. "Fragile" and "This End Up" are from a very old Fortunes rub-on sheet (7 Gypsies). "Par Avion" is ancient rub-on by QuicKutz, and the arrow is from a Remnant Rub (Idea-ology).

A leftover scrap of textured Kraft cardstock was sponged with Fired Brick and Black Soot Distress ink. Washi tape was adhered to the center of the card front.

Another scrap of Kraft cardstock was die-cut with a Happy Birthday (Elizabeth Craft Designs), Celebrate (Elizabeth Craft Designs), and a tag die (QuicKutz). All the die-cuts were sponged with Fired Brick Distress ink. A heart die (QuicKutz) was used die-cut another scrap of Kraft cardstock and sponged with Fired Brick Distress ink. The sentiments were adhered vertically along the sides of the card front.

Equally ancient "For You" rub-on was applied to the tag and the heart was added. A pewter eyelet was hammered into the tag's hole. Postal-looking baker's twine was tired around the flap of the image panel/box and threaded through the hole in the tag. The image panel was adhered to the card front, which was then adhered to a 5" x 7" kraft card.

So, if you like the Cats stamp, you should check it and all the other stamps at I Brake For Stamps. Click on my badge below to be whisked over there to check out all the fabulous images! Best of all, if you buy something, use this code: SAVE10KATHI  and you'll get 10% off your purchase.

Thanks for visiting today!