iluvcats and scraps

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Pets Memorial - Centerpiece

I have begun creating my Pets Memorial wall hanging!

Let me start from the very beginning....

My male BFF, Danny, knows my love for scrapbooking & card making.

He had some Oak fencing that he cut into about 27" long pieces.

Each plank is 5-1/5" wide.

He said that he knew that I could come up with something creative using some pieces

and offered to help me, once I knew exactly what I had in mind.

Danny is a professional painter, so I asked him to put together 4 boards

and then lightly white wash them.

With his help, my vision has begun by starting with the Centerpiece.

My idea was to frame a favorite photo of each pet that has been a huge part of my life.

Of the seven pets on my Pets Memorial, three didn't belong to me,

but touched my life in very immeasurable, profound ways.

They are -

Ginger (the family pet from the 1970's) - the smartest dog I've ever known!

Lena (my daughter's & then my Dad's Calico cat) - the SWEETEST kitty in the world!

Greta (my daughter's glorious German Shepherd) - the best natured dog you could ever meet!

Each pet's frame will be decorated with their name included.

Let's take a closer look at my vision.

All frames are spray painted with Rustoleum color "Satin Silver Lilac", which matches my new couch!

Here are a couple of photos showing the wall hanging.

Taking a closer look at the Centerpiece,

I started with The Dusty Attic's "Paw Prints on my Heart" chipboard set.

It comes with the words, as well as the paw print heart.

I decided to have a beautiful eggplant color as the background.

Using linen textured cardstock, I adhered the words & heart to it.

The words are heat embossed in Aged Ivory that has gold flecks in it.

The heart is heat embossed in a distressed Fired Brick color.

The top of the frame is decorated with The Dusty Attic's "Heart Attack Panel #2".

I simply inked the piece, which I snipped from the larger panel piece, with gorgeous ColorBox color "Raisin".

The sides of the frame are decorated with GORGEOUS "Baby's Breath" by Creative Embellishments.

I'm ordering MORE of those!

I heat embossed the flowering parts the same as the words (in Aged Ivory)

and then inked the stems with Tea Dye Distress ink using a craft nib.

49 and Market & Wild Orchid Crafts flowers are used for the bottom of the frame.

I'm so pleased to get started on this very meaningful project!

Thank you for dropping by and I hope your holidays are very happy ones!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Lisa : )

Products used:

The Dusty Attic

Paw Prints on my Heart

Heart Attack Panel #2

Creative Embellishments

Baby's Breath

49 and Market

Violet

Twilight

Wild Orchid Crafts

Sweetheart Flowers

Rust-oleum

Satin Silver Lilac

Stampendous - Fran-táge Embossing Powder in Aged Ivory

Ranger - Tim Holtz Distress products

Tea Dye ink

Fired Brick Embossing Powder

ColorBox Pigment Ink -

Beacon 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue

Thursday, December 19, 2019

2019 Christmas Cards

I designed my 2019 Christmas cards in June and started creating them in August.

They might look simple but they sure took quite a bit of time to make.
You will read later in my post how cleaning off glue from the shiny gold was imperative.

Here is the front of my Christmas Card.

I was excited when I purchased the new Spellbinders 3D Nativity Set earlier in the year!

There are three dies in this set.

And this is what the 3-layer fabulous die set looks like glued together!
Isn't it gorgeous?!

Here is the process....
Adhering each of the three layers of the Spellbinders 3D Nativity Set together.
The bottom layer is solid; the middle layer is the shining star; the top layer is the Holy Family.

I chose Navy Blue cardstock because I really love how the Gold Foil cardstock looks with it.
Including the word "Peace" really added much more to this card!

Adhering delicate dies is very tricky and to be honest,

I had to throw away a number of cards because if the slightest touch of glue gets on the dark navy card,

it sticks out like a very sore thumb.

So, I used extra care and a good pair of tweezers that I cleaned in between making each card.

Here is the beautiful Border die for the front of the card.
Painting on Mod Podge glue to the backside.

Each card is marked at the exact center spot on opposite edges,
so when the glue filled die cut is placed, it's perfectly aligned on both sides.
Almost like having an imaginary level tool.
See the gold dots I made on each side as markers to show where I needed to lay the fancy die cut.