What's Up Pussycat?

Hello friends...

Thank you for all your visits to last week's post, all your lovely comments and sweet words mean so much to me and I appreciate every single one of them!

Today, we are starting a brand new SSS Monday Challenge and this week our theme is called We're All A-Buzz and we hope you'll join us and play along with our fun theme.

For my project this week, I decided to have some fun and used a few inking and stamping techniques to create a one layer card using everyone's favourite Snarky Cat Stamp set from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous and combined them with a few older, and much loved stamp sets to build a little scene which has definitely sent this little pussycat into a buzz!!

So, let's get started because the new challenge has begun and I would like to introduce you to Mr Scaredy Cat!

To begin with I started by creating some layers for my main image and cut a card base from brown pearlised card measuring, 20 x 16cm in size. I then cut a piece of blackout card, slightly smaller in size and sanded the edges to reveal the kraft layer before mounting it onto my card. 

Moving onto my scene and I cut a panel of Distress Watercolour Card, 16 x 12.5cm and after choosing my favourite cat of the set, I began by stamping him, or her onto the card panel using Black Soot Archival Ink onto the smooth side of the card. After re-inking the stamp, I then stamped the image again onto a post-it note to create a mask, fussy cut around the outline of the cat and then placed the mask/post-it note over the top of the image stamped onto the card panel. Using the Tiny Toadstools stamp set, I inked up two of the toadstool images and with the mask in place, I stamped these either side of the cat. Remove the mask and hey presto ~ the toadstools will appear behind the cat and I can start building the scene.

I watercolored the toadstools and the cat using Distress Marker Pens and a water brush and then gave it a blast of heat to make sure it's dry. When it came to the grassy verge, I slightly elongated it on either side, just scribbling a few more lines to look like the grass and then added some shades of green. 

At this stage, you can apply a layer of Distress Glaze over the top of the stamped area to protect the images which I do recommend but I will admit, I didn't do this ~ I just replaced the mask over the cat and then using a blending tool, loaded with Stormy Sky Distress Ink, I carefully inked around the sky. Now that I have my base layer of colour, and with the mask still in place, I then applied some Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky Oxide Inks to my glass mat, spritzed with water and then dipped my card into it, picking up the colour on the blue sky area of the card panel.

Just build up the colour to however deep or light you want it to appear and once happy, I would just give it a blast of heat to set it

Now for the base ground area and I created this exactly the same as I created the sky ~ I used a combination of Distress Inks, starting by blending Frayed Burlap and Pumice Stone over the entire area, then adding some more layers of Pumice Stone and Old Paper Oxide Inks over the top.

I inked around the edges of card with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and then machine stitched a border around the outside, leaving strands of cotton loose and hanging down.

I added some shading to the scene, adding shadows and highlights where needed and then taking the little splatter stamp from the Tiny Toadstools set, I inked it with Frayed Burlap Oxide Ink and stamped some texture onto the ground, creating dimension and creating a little path for the pussycat to follow.

To complete the scene, I stamped the 'what if?' quote from the Crazy Talk Stamp Set and placed this just beneath the toadstools on the left. To complete the quote, I added a Small Talk sticker below ~ "never give up".

Matt the completed scene onto silver metallic kraft card, followed by a panel of Fog coloured cardstock, each time leaving a border around the outside. For the final layer of card, I cut a panel of kraft card and then using one of the Mini Media Marks stamps, I stamped some the little circles in white ink to create a pattern that you can just see around the outside. I machine stitched another border and then matted my layers onto the stamped kraft card.

To complete the artwork, I added two index clips to either side and placed Hardware Heads onto them clips. Each metal piece is altered with a little Distress Paint, Evergreen Bough, Picket Fence and a touch of Rusty Hinge before sliding them onto the panel, giving the appearance that the panel is clipped into place. I then mounted the finished scene onto my covered card base using foam tape to create some dimension.

Now to add those important little finishing details...

...I took the bees from the Entomology set and stamped five onto watercolour card. I then watercolored them with the Distress Marker Pens before cutting them using the dies from the corresponding Sizzix Die Set.

After shaping the wings, lifting them slightly to give the appearance the bees are flying around the pussycat, I attached them, by their bodies only onto the panel ~ placing them to swarm around him.

Now with all those bees buzzing around, you can understand that this little pussycat is slightly worried, and because of it, I gave him a few beads of sweat that are flying off him. These are cut from silver metallic kraft card using the Media Marks Die Set and then attached with Matte Collage Medium.

I also added a few stitches, again cut using the Media Marks Die Set but this time cut from blackout card. I added these to the top, and bottom left hand corners and one in the bottom right corner.

Finally, I stamped a label, complete with number and added this to the top right hand corner, stitching it so that it appears to be attached to the panel and then placed a Mini Pin onto the label.

So, that's my card finished and I hope this has bought a smile to your faces, it was definitely a fun piece to create and I loved bringing this little scene to life and telling the story of this cat, who is slightly perplexed at what might happen next....

Don't forget, if you would like to see more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $25 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to win. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today ~ stay safe and well, and see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Field Notes, Entomology, Snarky Cats, Tiny Toadstools, Crazy Talk, Mini Media Marks
Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Entomology Framelits, Media Marks
Distress Inks: Frayed Burlap, Pumice Stone, Stormy Sky, Hickory Smoke
Oxide Inks: Old Paper, Pumice Stone, Stormy Sky
Distress Paint: Evergreen Bough, Picket Fence, Rusty Hinge
Distress Marker Pens
Tim Holtz Archival Inks Set 3

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Mini Pins, Small Talk Stickers, Index Clips, Hardware Heads

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Hero Arts Unicorn White Pigment Ink Pad

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Stash, Watercolour Distress Card, Blackout Kraft Stash, Fog Cardstock, Kraft Card

Glass Media Mat

Big Shot

Heat Gun
White Posca Pen
Brown pearlised card and button from my own stash