Snarky Cat for Inkspirational 354

Hello,

It's been a long time since I tried to create or blog, but here I am. The past few years have been tough on my mental health, so I'm trying to get back into cardmaking to maybe help a little. :)  I figured I'd start with some Tim Holtz Snarky Cats. The image worked perfectly for the Inkspirational challenge since my kitty is wearing a knit sweater. 

I do apologize for my photo quality. I don't have any type of light box set up right now so I just had to snap one as my card was on my desk. The quality really decreased when I emailed it myself from my phone. Normally my phone camera is pretty good! Oh well.  I gotta relearn what I'm doing and come up with a better system. Baby steps. 

Rita

Cat Selfie Smiles

Hello! How's everyone hanging in there? It's been a long few weeks, huh? I've been doing more stamping and reading, but not so much uploading and blogging I guess. Oops! I made this one for my sweet friend Valerie who I met in my undergrad days. She's one of my favorite people and a fellow cat lover. I'm trying to make cards for specific people with themes I know they'll like in hopes of bringing some joy and smiles. This is the cute My Favorite Things Picture Perfect set. This was my first time trying to color this one, so I tried to copy Barb. I always like going off an already colored image to get an idea of how to color the first time around.

We've been visiting smaller parks to get out and walk during the distancing. Jason spotted this cool guy on one of our outings. We saw a lot of snakes there too. Laila and I also found a copperhead on our porch one day and had someone come to remove it to a better spot for it and us. So much excitement. lol  For big news, on Monday my brother donated part of his liver to my dad. They are both doing well so far, especially considering my mom isn't able to be at the hospital babying them. It was a scary time for that to happen, but my dad's health was getting bad and he knew a liver transplant wasn't going to happen except for this way. My brother is scared to death even now, but he's brave.

That's about it for me. I'm heading off to read a bit and get more cards signed and ready to mail.

Hugs!
Rita

Inky Paws 64

Happy January 31st! Can you believe it? It seems like a long month, but at the same time, it seems like we just rung in the new year a day ago. I haven't felt much like creating, but I did make this simple card for the Newton's Nook Inky Paws challenge. The papers did most of the work for me. Always nice when you can use a mix of them for most of your project, right?

I just love Newton and this cute set of stamps. Coffee plus cats? Yes, please!  :)

Laila has had a great week so far at school. She's made all her points for the day each day and has been so proud of herself. I wasn't sure about the program after the first few days, but she's really flourishing now and I have hopes that what she's learning will help her when she transitions back to her regular classroom. Her teacher has been over several times to work with her. The counselor and vice principal have also been over. She missed the principal's visit on Friday because she was out sick. It's nice they are working to maintain the connection with her. 

I ended up at the doctor today after 5 days of a constant headache. Sinus infection. I'm crossing my fingers that the medicine she gave me works quickly. I've been in bed most of the week and I'm so behind on everything. I hate that!!  I'm off to drink more fluids and rest...again. lol I think that's all I've done for days.  

Enjoy the last day of the month!

Rita 

Catalog Cat

There are so many wonderful products in the Stampin' Up! catalog that sometimes you need a nap after looking at them all!  :)  

Miscellaneous

I finally decided to redo and update my space at a local shop and I thought these candles might be a nice gift to add to my display.   Maybe they could give a teacher a break from receiving yet another apple thingy.   :)  

My next project was to add a few more packets to my Kids Card Kits. I made up three new ones with some old favorites, including my adorable sock monkey and crab.

Finally, I had a custom order for some bag tags.   I love making these so much.   They are quick and easy, but oh so adorable!  

Jason was nice and worked on making me a display to show off my bag tag samples.   I love it and can't wait to go hang them on there tomorrow!

Finally, be sure to check your orders very carefully.   I found a huge surprise in my last one!   :o)

Gotta love Bandit and his silly antics.  

Hot & Lazy

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I've worked on some cards for my design team and then totally got caught up in a book!   I love my Nook, but it can steal away much of my stamping time.   :)   I started reading The Lincoln Lawyer and couldn't put it down last night.   I think the battery finally died around 1:30am, so I had to come scramble to find the charger so that it would be ready to go when I woke up this morning.   After DH left for work at about 6:45, I started reading again and finished it.   I needed a nap after that of course. :)

Here are some of my bag tag samples that I made up this week.  I thought I'd add in a few designs and see if that would help my sales a bit.   I also did a couple custom sports ones and really liked them as well.  

With the temperature predicted to be 107 degrees today, there is not much going on here.   The kitties are all enjoying some good naps and I'm working on some ideas for next week's club cards.   I think I'm going to search for another book to read and then relax until DH gets home from work.  We have The Lincoln Lawyer here at home to watch, so that will be our together time later tonight.  I can't WAIT to watch it and hope it is as good as the book!

Bandit is enjoying some Stampin' Up! time today, as is his sister, Bella.   (They love to flatten out the brown packing paper and then nap on it).

Bailey likes to show off her petite figure by laying in the window.   She's the only one who actually fits there without a lot of extra hanging over the side.  :)

Hope all you folks on the East coast are staying safe!   

Halloween!

I thought I'd share my losing Halloween card today.   One of the benefits of being a demonstrator is an awesome monthly magazine called Stampin' Success.   It is filled with great articles and in the back, there's always a monthly contest.   I decided to submit a card last month and the challenge was Halloween.  I didn't win, but I did have fun making my card.   I love the little owl and hope he'll be knocking on my door for some candy.  :)    

This is a picture that was in the same folder as my Halloween card.   I'm not the only crafty creature in the house.   While I was away mailing my card to Stampin' Up!, Bandit decided to make himself a tutu.   Isn't it cute?  LOL   The bag was in our bedroom and I found the remaining part of it all the way across the house.  I'm guessing that there was a bit of freaking out once he got it stuck around him.   Silly boy.  He was happy to model it for me, so enjoy the fashion show.  

Have you seen my mojo?

Sorry for the lack of posts this week.   I won't even go into how many pieces of card stock I've mangled in the past few days, but I keep hoping to see my stampin' mojo come back soon.    In the meantime, I'm enjoying the sunshine with my fur babies.  :)    I hope everyone is having a good week.  

Need a cat bed?

Bandit highly recommends that you get a Stampin' Up! box for your kitty.   They are comfy cozy for those days when they just really want to stretch out and sleep in the sun.