House for the Kitties and Down at the Beauty Salon

I made two cards for special people in my life. One is an amazing helper in my work life who loves her two kitties. The other is a sweet woman who fancies up my hair.

Check it out.... (and be sure to count how many kitties there are on the outside and inside of the card... the number was specific) :)

The little house is a Magnolia House. Tim Holtz Lamp Post. Die-Namics fence.

The little barrel, plants and saying are are Rubber Necker. 

The bench and mailbox stamps- unknown. The grass punch is Martha Stewart. 

The die cut kitties are a mix of Poppy Stamps and Impression Obsession.

I even made the gate open and latch closed! (I used dried Mono Liquid Glue to make it latch)

 Brown kitty is in the flower bed barrel. Purrr.

I also had fun making the flame in the lamp.

Inside the card, I put these two kitties in a window wondering where their mom was.

(Window die is Poppy Stamps)

And then I gave her a little mini envelope of kitties (with a vellum window). 

I drew the details on this kitty... not bad for a quick sketch. :)

So, did you count the kitties? 9! as in 9 lives!!

This kitty card was submitted to 

Crafty Card makers Punches and Dies 

Here's the other card I made for my hair stylist.... 

As she applied the perfect amount of highlights to my hair I realized I had to make her this card... 

Here's the outside.... 

(Stampin' Up Deco Labels framelit die and Itty Bitty heart punch)

Here's the inside... 

Yup, I finally used one of my Girlfriends stamps set from Art Impressions I picked up a year ago. 

I love all the sayings too... Pamper yourself! Definitely a good thing to do!

 The "I think your Lovely" and "Live Happy" sayings are Stampin Up.

"Dream your dream" was from a roller stamp- unknown company.

The top cut on the card was made with the Stampin' Up! Adorning Accents Edgelit die.

The crown was made with SU! gold paper and the SU! Pinking Hearts Border Punch.

Touch of Pearls for some class on die cut leafy branch from Cheery Lynn Designs.

I made the dried Mono Liquid Glue latch in the shape of a heart. She noticed it right away. 

Of course I added glamourous jewelry - pearl earring and ring and gold bracelet and earring!

The little hearts came from the SU! Pinking Hearts Border Punch leftovers.

The Word Bubbles are a Stampin' Up! framelit die set.

And lastly, she told me about her little doggies. One of which loves to have her hair blown dry.

So I had to use a couple of doggies from Ailee Busby's Paw Prints.

She said these dogs were just like her doggies. Nice. 

These two cards took me all afternoon and into the night... but it was so much fun. 

And both of the women loved their gifts!

That's what makes it all so worth it!

LOVE to all,

Makani

Oh what to do with a wreath!

At first I thought I wouldn't buy the new Stampin' Up! Wondrous Wreath and its matching framelit Dies Wonderful Wreath because I have toooo many (is that possible?) Christmas things. But the big cursive Joy and Noel got me and I bought them both as a bundle. Here's a link to the Stampin' Up! (SU!) Holiday Catalog. (If you want anything, please do send me a message- I don't have a merchant page with them... but I can order things for folks and dropship them to your homes easily!)
http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ItemList.aspx?categoryid=1995

Then the next task was to use my new stamps and framelit dies... and that's when I realized you can do ~~anything~~ with a wreath! Here are few of the wreaths I've made so far (I have a bunch more in my idea file to be made later). :)

They all have shiny bows thanks to painting on SU! Crystal effects. 

Two card color layouts. The flowers were made using  the Itty Bitty Flower Punch 

on flowers that I got from SU! Perfectly Preserved. 

Two card color layouts. The leaves were pulled off a leaf garland made of leaves and wire.

The snowflakes came from an edge punch by EK success. 

I sparked them with my clear/sparkle Gelly Roll pen.

The hearts are popped up with a big blob of Liquid Crystal

Half wreaths work perfectly for a garland!

I also used SU! Filigree Frame Embossing Folder and Labels Collection Frames Framelits.

I also had to play around with using the big cursive "Joy" framelit die. Of course I also wanted to use those totally cute little houses from SU! Holiday Catalog: Holiday Home, the matching Homemade Holiday framelit dies, and White Christmas.

Here is a gate card that I call "Christmas Neighborhood Village" 

The house is the "latch" to close the gate card. To allow ample room for "Joy", 

I made the dimensions so that the gates were scored at 3.5 and 9 on an 11.5 x 4.25. 

This awesome red is the Cherry Red Cobbler paper. 

I fussy cut out Santa's sleigh so he could be on the roof top. 

I bent the photopolymer stamp of the reindeer to fit in the moon and stamped those first.

(As much as I've resisted Photopolymer stamps- the Stampin' Up! ones are good quality and I like the things you can do with them (like bend them).)

I like making "latches" for my gate card doors.

Put a dab of Tombow Mono Liquid Glue (green + white bottle) on one side of the little house that is on the gate fold front seam. Let the glue dry- and it becomes re-positionable! (aka re-openable)

And here are the little Fall cards I made for my stamping buddies

I love the SU! Lovely as a Tree stamp set... and hope it never retires. 

I used the old oak as a fall tree by dabbing some Cajun Craze (rust) ink in the leaves (Old Olive) 

I love making motion lines with dots.... only one more leaf to fall.. 

This is a color wonder- I only use one color- Cajun Craze ink drops on a dish and a blender pen.

I like how there are so many hues as a result! 

(sorry for out of focus- I already gave it away, so no retakes!) :)

Thanks for looking! 

Makani