iluvcats and scraps: June 2016

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Until one has loved an animal

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."

This is a quote by a renowned late 19th century French poet, Anatole France.

When I first read this profound quote it struck the middle of my heart because it is so perfectly stated.

The very moving and tender photo for this layout was shown to me by a sweet young lady, Carrie Williams. Since we both love cats, she shared this fabulous heart-pounding Pinterest photo with me! It brought a joyous tear to my eyes and I knew that I finally had the perfect photo to fit the quote.

The paper I chose is from an old collection - DCWV Le Tres Chic. The color of this page and the words on it immediately grabbed me. Words like: Friends, Simple Pleasure, Happy, Cherish, Love Always, Together Forever, Memories come true, Inspire. WOW!!!

I somewhat mimicked the pattern on the old woman's shirt by stenciling a simple floral design using white modeling paste mixed with Lindy's Stamp Gang mica powder color "Frenchy's Pink Pouf". Then I accented random areas of the stencil design with a Sharpie Accent Liquid Highlighter in a deep purple color.

The lovely Dusty Attic Decorative Frame #1 was heat embossed with

Stampendous Fran-táge embossing enamel color Aged Wine.

What a gorgeous deep purple with gold flecks!

Such a perfect way to display the title of this layout!

I opted to keep things simple so that the wonderful sentiments on the paper could compliment the photo.

Gorgeously detailed purple tone roses from Wild Orchid Crafts made beautiful decorations to help frame the photo. I painted the edges of white roses in a soft lilac color using white gesso and just a touch of LSG mica powder Frenchy's Pink Pouf. After they dried I sprayed them with my favorite Glitz Spritz from Lindy's Stamp Gang - Scintillating Silver. It adds just the right shimmer! Check out the sparkle! WOWZERS!

The beautiful orange tabby cat in the photo is in itself a huge pop of color to this layout, but I decided to add a tiny touch of the same color. Colorbox fluid chalk ink in Amber Clay is phenomenally an exact color match to this gorgeous kitty! I used a dark purple ultra fine point sharpie pen to fill in the script word 'love'.

Thank you for dropping by!

I hope that the title quote stirs something deep within you as it did me.

Have a wonderful week! Lisa : )

Products used:

DCWV paper collection - Le Tres Chic

Bazzill linen texture cardstock - Lilac

Prima 6x6 Stencil - Fluttering Flowers

The Dusty Attic chipboard -

Decorative Frames #1

Page Pebbles #9

Stampendous Fran-táge Embossing Enamel - Aged Wine

Wild Orchid Crafts Roses

Purple Wild Roses-40mm

2-Tone Lilac Hip Rosebuds

Large White Wild Rosebuds

Petaloo Chantilly Velvet Leaves

Lindy's Stamp Gang -
mica powder Frenchy's Pink Pouf in the Beauty School Dropout Magicals Set
& Glitz Spritz spray-Scintillating Silver
Liquitex Professional Flexible White Modeling Paste
ColorBox Fluid Chalk ink - Amber Clay
Sharpie - Accent Liquid Highlighter & ultra-fine point purple pen
Hobby Lobby - Lilac ribbon; white scalloped trim

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Roses are Red

I love photographing my flowers!
This one was taken on 5-16-16 of several mini red roses, all in full bloom,

that grow in front of my 2 foot tall Virgin Mary statue.
She is made of white resin and is such a beautiful addition to the front yard garden.

She is surrounded by pink & yellow gladiolas behind her and pink & red miniature roses in front of her.

I felt this photo deserved a simple, but dramatic layout.

Quite a striking contrast between the pure white and beautiful red.

The paper is by The Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby that I bought quite a long time ago when I was scrapping my daughter's wedding album. It was perfect for this photo!

Wild Orchid Crafts beautiful mulberry roses are truly divine!

The Tattered Lace dies "Ornate Leaves" has a leafy rose stem die that is just gorgeous.

In the close up below, check out the fabulous embossed texture in the paper!

Well, that's it for now. Your visit is much appreciated! Have a great day, Lisa : )

Products used:

The Paper Studio paper - Embossed Medallions
Kaisercraft papers:
Key to my Heart collection - "Charmed" (backside used for leaf die cuts)

Remember Me collection - "Margaret" (Backside used under photo)

Tattered Lace Die - Ornate Leaves

Wild Orchid Crafts Roses

Open Roses-20mm

Rosebuds-4 mm

Monday, June 13, 2016

Miss Gali

Well hallelujah!! I finally captured a nice photograph of Miss Gali, Lucy's MaMa!! YAY!

Her official name is Galadrial, which we never use because she likes Miss Gali best : )

She is so shy & timid. She and Lucy are best friends >^..^<

The Blue Fern Studios page named "Fascination" is really gorgeous with its pale blue background.

It coordinates fabulously with Miss Gali's eyes.

I am really going to work hard to get more photos of her because she is such an outstanding beauty!

I'm entering my layout in the Blue Fern Studios June 2016 Sketch Challenge.

The design began by stenciling a similar style flourish that is printed on the paper.

I colored white Liquitex Professional Flexible Modeling Paste with

Lindy's Stamp Gang mica powder "A Bit o' Bubbly" found in the Magicals Set "Drink Me Silly".

I always save the scraps, no matter how small, of my Blue Fern papers....just in case. Plus the fact I can't stand the thought of throwing them away! They really come in handy to use behind the photo on your layout or for making tags and flags. The papers I used are listed at the end of this post.

The doily made the perfect area for a flower, butterfly and pretty prills.

All of the butterflies were punched using scrap papers as well. I handmade the antennae and added Want2Scrap tiny rhinestones in Mother of Pearl color.

Pretty light blue bling in the stenciled areas & prills near flowers & the title added some interest & texture.

For some drama, I chose to add touches of black paper and also BFS oh so yummy gorgeous Imagine Ink embossing powder color Celestial. Originally I used Ranger Glossy Accents to coat a custom cut title chipboard, leaving it natural color. It just didn't thrill me, so Celestial color was heat embossed and WOW what a stunning statement it makes now! This is a technique I will use again because I love the 'rounded' look better than just flat.

This stunning black has glittery color specs of red, green, yellow and blue. WOWZERS!

The gorgeous BFS chippie "Whimsy Flourishes" was also heat embossed in Celestial color. It looks doubly fantastic with the golden & pale yellow, pale blue and blush pink flowers!

Thanks so much for visiting and have a great week! Lisa : )

Products used:

Blue Fern Studios - Serendipity collection - Main layout page

Blue Fern Studios - Serendipity papers used behind photo and punched butterflies:

Blue Fern Studios - chipboard - Whimsy Flourishes

Blue Fern Studios - Imagine Ink embossing powder - Celestial

Prima 6x6 Stencil - Flourish

Martha Stewart punch - Monarch Butterfly

My Favorite Things Die-namics Dies - Decorative Doily Duo

Want2Scrap - Mother of Pearl rhinestones

US Artquest - mini prills - Rock & Roll set "Baby It's Cold Outside"

Lindy's Stamp Gang - mica powder A Bit o' Bubbly - Magicals Set Drink Me Silly

ColorBox pigment ink - Charcoal

Thursday, June 9, 2016

You melt my heart

Gorgeous Lucy was sitting on the breakfast table enjoying the view and listening to birds.
I captured the essence of this relaxation in a close up photo taken 6-6-16.

Her eyes are very relaxed and not the usual huge perfectly round ones you see in most of her photos.

Her eyes seem to look right through to your very soul.

They certainly always melt my heart.

Blue Fern Studios stunning Tranquility collection page named Calm with its beautiful blue and white floral print was so perfect for this gorgeous Lucy photo!

I used crackle texture paste to apply two different floral stencils for this layout.

You can see that blue tone tiny rhinestones are in some of the stenciled flower centers. Crackle is so 'yummy'!

The custom chipboard quote was made by Want2Scrap.

I first heat embossed it with Lindy's Stamp Gang color Golden Pumpkin Blush which is very pretty but was too soft and hard to see; so I topped it with color Adobe Fire which is copper with a green shimmer.

Check out the green shimmer I told you about!

The Dusty Attic adorable hearts were heat embossed first in Lindy's color Lapis Lazuli Blue Gold and then selected areas were topped with color Madonna Robe Blue Gold. You can see the two different colors and they really look great together! Now check out the gold shimmer in these hearts!

A couple of flower clusters full of beautiful Wild Orchid Crafts exquisite flowers balanced the centered photo. I absolutely can't say enough how very much I LOVE my Tattered Lace Ornate Leaves dies! WOW! Here are some photos of the flower clusters and close ups so you can really see the die cut leaves! They make any flower cluster so much more interesting and realistic!

Thank you so much for dropping by to take a look! Of course, there will be more of Lucy and Miss Gali to come! They are my most inspirational and favorite subjects to scrap!
Have a great day! Lisa : )