Rain or Shine card

As you probably know, I follow quite a few blogs and I particularly love some of the challenge blogs, such as the Paper Players.  I fell in love with Jaydee's card from challenge #141.  It was so sweet and, best yet, used an umbrella so I could use my new Umbrella4You set from the Stamps of Life and the matching die.  I used a heart from a different stamp set from them called Sympathy4You to emboss my "rain."  I used some StazOn ink for the umbrella and was really pleased with how well it stamped.  I used a Color Box pad for the sentiment.  I was a little concerned about how well it would stamp because it's quite old, but I was really impressed at how well it stamped even after all these years.   I wish now I had added a little blue to the ink or to the embossing powder heart "rain" to make it stand out more, but that's the beauty of making cards, every time is an opportunity to learn.

All safe and accounted for...

It's funny how life goes...  Tonight, instead of doing one of a million things I should be doing,  I dashed off to my craft room for a few minutes to work on the next onesie, but instead got caught up in my e-mail and reading today's lesson in Learn Something New Everyday.  I found today's prompt really interesting.  I pulled out my journal and was just about to start writing in earnest, when I looked out the window in front of my computer.  It's not the best view (the old boat that will someday be off to a new home and our RV) but I do love the beauty of the raspberry vines (especially now that I don't have to go out and pick them all them time) and the bay leaf "tree" that started as a little whip that we planted long ago.  I was thinking I should go fill the bird feeder when I noticed something a little different. 

A small curled up kitty sleeping on the RV pad between the RV and the raspberries.  I thought one of the neighborhood cats must have chosen it as a napping spot, but then thought, "it looks a little like Tigger.  Wait a minute, it looks a lot like Tigger."  I called hubby in and then tapped on the window.  It was Tigger!  How the heck did he get out? 

For those of you who don't know, hubby built a kitty prison compound in the back yard.  They can go outside all they want, but they are confined to a safe space that gives them plenty of room to run around, hunt whatever birds or frogs are silly enough to venture into a yard patrolled occupied by five cats and just generally enjoy the outdoors safe from cars and predators.  Now every once in a while, a kitty escapes because someone doesn't latch the gate properly when going to the garden or the door from the house into the garage gets left open a moment too long.  But the gate was closed and the greys were both still inside (the usual escapees).  So I got out the treat bag and kept Smoke and Chewie occupied while hubby opened the gate for Tigger, who happily came back into his backyard.  Hubby walked the perimeter but didn't see any breaks that would account for Tigger's escape.  We eventually surmised that Tigger must have gone out the garage when hubby was taking the recently canned corn out to the storage. 

So that got me to thinking about what an amazing thing "coincidence" is.  I wonder how long Tigger would have been locked out if I hadn't decided to work on my class project, if I hadn't been drawn to look out while I contemplated what to write, if he had chosen anywhere else to lay considering I can't see but a small area from my window with my big old computer screen blocking the view...  So whether you think it was just a coincidence or part of a master plan, tonight I thank God that our little guy chose that exact spot to lay down and that I chose to goof off and go do tonight's lesson now before it got too dark, because that little guy has made a huge improvement in our lives since he bounced down the freeway in front of us three years ago that I don't even want to think about not having him with us for many more years to come.

So now back to the crafting at hand.  I'm a bit stumped about what I want to do for the next onesie, so tonight I have a card that I want to share.  I found the inspiration on Pinterest a bit back but knew I would have to make my own version.  No surprise, it's from Karen Thomas at Luv to Stamp again.  I was so completely taken by how cute the first couple of her cards were that I had to follow her blog and pin a whole lot of them! 

This one was super fun to make.  I used the chrysanthemum from the Silhouette Design Studio because it makes me think of fall. I used a cute argyle embossing folder from QuickKutz.  I switched out the ribbon for some baker's twine and I just loved this little ticket stamp from Inkadinkado combined with a little stamp from Studio G.  So perfect!  So thank you Karen for your constant inspiration...