Birthday Gift for a Cat Lady!

It's no surprise to anyone who visits here that I'm a cat person. Or maybe it is. In either case, I am a proud cat lady. I love kittens, cats, and wild cats. If I could, I'd have a house filled with them. But alas, I can't for a variety of reasons, the biggest being that I'm actually allergic to the critters. Yep. It's true. I prove my love for my kitties by taking a plethora of allergy meds every.single.day.

As a paper-craftin' cat lady, I collect cat stamps, cat cutting dies, and cat punches. So, when I saw the cat image on the Cats and Buildings stamp sheet (Stampingback) at  I knew that one day it would be mine. It didn't hurt that I also really love architecture, have visited The Netherlands, and fell in love with Dutch architecture.

Since I'm still celebrating my birthday, I've been making lots of birthday cards. This is one of them.

When I first saw the Cats from the Cats and Buildings sheet, I immediately thought of the Cat Lady Starter Kit meme that's been circulating on the 'net for ages. I thought that I should try to make a birthday version, especially since one of my cats, Duchess, is crazy for boxes.

Cats from the Cats and Buildings sheet was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts) and colored with Copic markers. I felt like using unrealistic cat colors, so I did. When I was done coloring it, I fussy-cut the top bit of the cats, then used a Black Pitt Pen (Faber Castell) to edge them.

Thin cardboard was trimmed, scored, and folded to look box-like. All cut and scored edges were sponged with Black Soot Distress ink (Ranger) to look battered like the packages that arrive here. Colored tissue paper was torn and adhered to the back of the box and to the separate flap/front of the box piece.

An address label and a postage stamp from the Aeropostale Sticker Book (7 Gypsies) was roughed up and sponged with Black Soot Distress ink. In a very rare event, I wrote the address on the airmail label with a Sharpie pen. I rarely write on my cards and such because I'm hypercritical of my handwriting. "Fragile" and "This End Up" are from a very old Fortunes rub-on sheet (7 Gypsies). "Par Avion" is ancient rub-on by QuicKutz, and the arrow is from a Remnant Rub (Idea-ology).

A leftover scrap of textured Kraft cardstock was sponged with Fired Brick and Black Soot Distress ink. Washi tape was adhered to the center of the card front.

Another scrap of Kraft cardstock was die-cut with a Happy Birthday (Elizabeth Craft Designs), Celebrate (Elizabeth Craft Designs), and a tag die (QuicKutz). All the die-cuts were sponged with Fired Brick Distress ink. A heart die (QuicKutz) was used die-cut another scrap of Kraft cardstock and sponged with Fired Brick Distress ink. The sentiments were adhered vertically along the sides of the card front.

Equally ancient "For You" rub-on was applied to the tag and the heart was added. A pewter eyelet was hammered into the tag's hole. Postal-looking baker's twine was tired around the flap of the image panel/box and threaded through the hole in the tag. The image panel was adhered to the card front, which was then adhered to a 5" x 7" kraft card.

So, if you like the Cats stamp, you should check it and all the other stamps at I Brake For Stamps. Click on my badge below to be whisked over there to check out their fabulous images! Best of all, if you buy something, use this code: SAVE10KATHI  and you'll get 10% off your purchase.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:

• Crafts for Eternity Challenges: Handwriting
• Southern Girls Challenges: Layer It Up 
• Scrapy Land Challenges: Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges: Die Crazy