Wednesday, January 30, 2013

CAS2 Homework - Day 3



It's homework time for Day 3 of the current Clean & Simple 2 Online Card Class. Today we learned several new techniques, including how to make a gradient image with only three colors of ink. Here's my card:


I used the chevron from the Paper Smooches Geographic set, and cracked open my new Paper Smooches Birthday Sampler for the sassy sentiment.

Ink colors were Distress Festive Berries, Ripe Persimmon and Squeezed Lemonade; and the bow die is from Li'l Inkers.

My fellow classmates will notice I've diverged from the class examples of cutting the top piece short and stamping the sentiment at the bottom of the inside of the card. This is largely because I thought I had a base of 4.25x11, when in fact mine was oriented the other way. To compensate for not being able to cut a strip off the bottom of the card front, I instead cut the stamped layer.

Then I destroyed the card base. Then I made a hamburger for dinner and ate it.

Later, to save the stamped layer, I cut it off the original base and applied it to the new base, so this card is kinda hefty. I might save it for a special someone and pay the extra postage myself. Sigh.

In other news, my Google Reader approacheth 800, so I think I'll tackle that this evening.

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used:
Paper Smooches Birthday Sampler stamp set (SSS)
Paper Smooches Geographic stamp set (SSS|EH)
Li'l Inkers bow die - Mini
Hero Arts white embossing powder (SSS | EH)
Versamark ink (SSS | EH)
Distress Ink - Festive Berries (SSS|EH)
Distress Ink - Ripe Persimmon (SSS|EH)
Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade (SSS|EH)
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)
Teflon bone folder (SSS | EH)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)
SU Tangerine Tango card stock
Scrap of Bazzill textured card stock for the bow

CAS2 Homework, Days 1 & 2


Yep, I'm taking another online card class, and so far I've kept up with the homework. :)

The first class was all about keeping your cards "clean", both in design and from ink schmears. I chose one of the sketches we were given and did it two ways. Here's my first one:

The banner was supposed to be at the bottom of the opening, but I cut mine too low, so this is just inspired by the sketch. I needed to try again, so I did:

The rows of stars here were an afterthought (all that white space, you know), and hopefully the red banner pulls your eyes away from the crookedness of the rows of stars. I put dimensional adhesive under the banner  and it covers up part of the sentiment, on purpose.

Now that I look at it, maybe I should have stamped the red banner with a background stamp and white-embossed it. Perhaps next time.

Tuesday's class was all about one-layer cards. I'm kinda skeered of one-layer cards, but I made this:


I cut the shape out of some masking paper, stuck it down on the card front, and sponged three colors of Distress ink over it in an attempt to make it look like part of a rainbow. I need to work on my blending skillz.  I stamped the sentiment over the image, then started adding stuff. First I colored some pearls with Copics and added them under the image, then I outlined it with a black marker. I'm still a bit twitchy about it, but I'm calling it done.

In other news, I'd like to thank you all for the warm welcome and good wishes on my ABNH gig. I'm still pinching myself. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

ABNH Meet The Design Team Blog Hop



Hello, and welcome to our little blog hop. If you've landed here from Michelle Liimatainen's blog, just keep on reading. Otherwise, you might want to start at the beginning over at A Blog Named Hero so you can meet the whole team! :)

I love sketch challenges, and sketches get me started with most of the cards I make. I like to do them literally and also twist and turn them to make them work for what supplies I have, or how my brain sees things. So you can imagine how THRILLED I was when Linda and Mary Dawn asked me to join the ABNH team as their Sketch Master (their words, not mine). I might have squeed.

On the 8th of each month I'll introduce a new sketch (drawn by the wonderful Chari Moss) and talk about ways to get the sketch to work for you. If you're intimidated by sketches, or can't get past a literal interpretation, I hope to ease your burden and show you how to mix it up. The sketches will not be a separate challenge; they will be an added inspiration for you to incorporate with the other challenges for the month.

It sounds like so much fun, and I'm pretty stoked about it! :)

Okay, enough blathering! Here's my Hello card for the hop:

I added two strips of red washi tape to a piece of Neenah Desert Storm card stock, then ran it through my Big Shot with one of the Lifestyle Craft Zig Zag embossing folders. I stamped the Hero Arts My Type typewriter image onto Neenah Solar White, and cut it out, then stamped just the top of the image (the paper part) onto some more white, stamped one of the sentiments in it, then cut that out and stuck it onto the original. This seems like a lot of work, but I'd managed to schmear that part of the original impression, so this is actually a very clever salvage operation.

The whole typewriter image is popped up on dimensional adhesive.

I look forward to playing with sketches for ABNH! It's gonna be fun!

Next up, please visit Stephanie Britt!

Thanks for stopping by!

Here is the hop list:

Products used:
Hero Arts My Type stamp set (SSS|EH)
Neenah Desert Storm card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)
Teflon bone folder (SSS | EH)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)
Tonic scissors (SSS | EH)
Red washi tape
Lifestyle Crafts Zig Zag embossing folders (SSS|EH)
Hero Hues black ink (EH)
Corner Chomper 1/4" & 1/2" (SSS | EH)
SU Basic Black card stock

SOS #87 - Valentine/Love/Hearts/Red

Happy Tuesday! It's time for another challenge over at Shopping Our Stash. This week we ask you to follow the Valentine/Love/Hearts/Red theme - use any or all of them. You choose!

Being very anti-holiday* myself, I went for Hearts/Love and made this:

Almost all of this was remnants. Well, all of it was if you consider the base was a half-sheet of Hero Arts Punch paper from a failed card that destroyed the other half. The patterned papers were from the dwindling Heaplet, and the white banner was cut from a white cast-off from another failed effort. I have a lot of failure in my crafty world, it seems.

The heart was made from five die-cut hearts. It's important when you make this to use a symmetrical shape or it won't work. I die-cut five hearts, scored them and folded them in half, then stuck them to each other. The two ends were glued down to a red heart. Because it was made from an odd number of hearts, it folds flat for mailing, but can be easily puffed back up.

Oh, and I made my own button, too, since I couldn't find one to match.

Now it's YOUR turn. Go into your stash and get out stuff that's of the Valentine/Love/Hearts/Red variety, make a card, then come back to Shopping Our Stash and link us up so we can see what you've made.

Thanks for stopping by!

* I'm not anti-holiday, per se. I mean who doesn't like holiday food!? I'm just anti-make-cards-for-one-day-a-year. I prefer something that's good all year long. :)

Products used:
Hero Arts Punch Layering Paper (SSS|EH)
SU DSP
Hero Arts Pearls Large (SSS|EH) Medium (SSS|EH) and Small (SSS|EH)
1/2" and 1/4" circle punches
Simon Says Stamp Large Heart dies (SSS)
Paper Smooches Good Gab stamp set (SSS|EH)
Memento black ink (SSS | EH)
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)
Teflon bone folder (SSS | EH)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)
Tonic scissors (SSS | EH)


Sunday, January 27, 2013

A Little Paint Here

I've watched the TH video in this post several times, and I still can't get it right. I need more practice. A LOT more practice.

Here are two cards I've made that don't look like a train wreck. First:

(Yes, yes, the washi looks crooked, and maybe it is, although I did try to line it up with the grid paper.) I grabbed four colors of paint and applied them directly to white card stock. If you schmear it around with your finger while it's still wet it blends the lines so they don't show as much.

I cut my new memory Box Vintage Bicycle die out of black card stock and spent the next hour trying to get it to stick. I knew the paint would resist, but all adhesives? I finally got a clue and attached it with three black brads.

But look at this:


It looks goopy because I covered the back with Glossy Accents and it still won't stay stuck. Sigh.

I also stamped the sentiment in Distress paint - Black Soot:


It's a little messy, but then so is the rest of the card, so I'm good with that.

Important note: If you are going to layer your white panel onto black, you should probably cut the white panel smaller. Just sayin'. That explains my handsome faux stitching. *ahem*

The second card is much the same as the first, but different:


On this card I tried and tried to get the whole resist thing to work, and I failed. Apparently the only thing that resists for me is the adhesive. :(  I started by stamping the zig zag with Distress paint and let it dry. Then I stamped the IO Scratches background over it, expecting to be able to wipe it off the paint. Nope. I either used the wrong black ink or I deserve a prize, because that black ink is sure-as-shootin' stuck to the paint. Sigh.

Then I moved on to the paint-over-washi thing. I put two pieces of text tape over the corner, then applied yellow paint to it. I schmeared it around so some of it is thinner (less opaque), and let it dry. Meh.

I then added some blue and some orange and schmeared it around so it wasn't too thick. This bicycle is cut from more of the velvet I used on my last card. It's self-adhesive and darn it if it's not sticking just fine.

The sentiment was stamped, cut apart, then stuck on with Glossy Accents.

I still need way more time and training to work with this stuff. I look forward to a ton of How To videos by people who are trained in how to make it work. Meanwhile, I'll keep playing. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used:
Dylusions Say What You Mean stamp set (SSS|EH)
Memory Box Vintage Bicycle die (SSS|EH)*
Impression Obsession Scratches background (SSS|EH)
Hero Arts Zig Zag Thanks (SSS|EH)
Distress paints*:
  Black Soot (SSS|EH)
  Weathered Wood (SSS|EH)
  Spiced Marmalade (SSS|EH)
  Forest Moss (SSS|EH)
  Mustard Seed (SSS|EH)
  Broken China (SSS|EH)
May Arts black twine string burlap (SSS)
Elizabeth Craft Designs XL Velvet adhesive sheets, black (got mine at my LSS)
Washi tape, text (maybe Tim Holtz?)
Freckled Fawn washi - Birds on a Wire (SSS)
Hero Hues black ink (EH)
Black brads
Memento black marker  (SSS | EH)
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)
Teflon bone folder (SSS | EH)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)
SU Black card stock
Glossy Accents (SSS | EH) mini (SSS | EH

*I got mine at my LSS

No Paint Here

Nope, no paint here. So far the score is Distress paint: 23,745, Leslie: 0. It's real purty, though, and playing is fun, but there's nothing to show yet.

So in frustration, I turned to laughter for a little release. I love Victor Borge, and that made me break my 50% rule to purchase the Feel Goods stamp set from SU. I also broke out a new die from yesterday's shopping extravaganza, and this is what came out:


One other new product used here is a self-adhesive velvet sheet. Yes, I said velvet, and with the metal shim, the die cuts it like buttah. After I'd added the sentiment and the bling, the card still seemed like it was missing something, so I added a few of the cut-outs back into the trellis, and it makes a huge difference.

By the way, that trellis die cuts to exactly 5.5", so it perfectly fits on an A2 card. I love that!

Okay, I'm going back to my paints, now. In the mean time, if you'd like to see what made me need them, just watch the video in this post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used:
Memory Box Trellis border die (SSS|EH)
Hero Arts mix note cards, Pool (SSS|EH)
Hero Hues Pool Mixed Accents (SSS|EH)
Elizabeth Craft Designs XL Velvet adhesive sheets, black (got mine at my LSS)
Hero Hues black ink (EH)
SU Feel Goods stamp set
Corner Chomper 1/4" & 1/2" (SSS | EH)

A Two-Trick Giraffe

One of my tweeps ordered a purple giraffe Valentine's Day card for her great-granddaughter (I think), and while making it I employed two tricks I thought I'd share with you. Here's the card:


This image from the Paper Smooches Zoo Crew set is adorable, and even cuter when purple.

For my first trick: the ribbon. I used a technique I saw on an OWH video. I know I've wedged ribbon under a brad in the past, but I really like this twist on it. Here's the step-by-step.

1. Position the ribbon:

Admittedly, this is a gratuitous and totally unnecessary photo, but I needed to show you the perfect ribbon (in my opinion) chosen from my Every Color Purple Ribbon But The One I Need collection. Oh, but I can point out that you should leave the ribbon long for this. Trim it at the end of the assembly process.

2. Mark where you'll punch the hole for the brad:


I do this to help me get close to punching in the right spot.

3. Punch the hole for the brad:


4. Spread the legs of the brad open:


One of my tweeps pointed out to me that stamping has a lot of sexual references. We mount stamps, spread the legs of brads. He may have a point, there.

5. Place the ribbon between the brad's legs (there it is again) and insert the brad into the hole you punched:


This works for most ribbons and brads. If you have a really thick ribbon, you may need to find a longer-legged brad.

6. Pull the ribbon straight, push the brad into place, and secure on the back:


And you're done. I trimmed the ribbon at this point, or you can wait until your card is assembled.

For my second trick, I was so happy with how I'd cut the scallop rectangle from my purple scrap, I had to show you this:


I left enough room at the edge that I could use the piece as the bottom layer:


It was a perfect fit, and now that whole remnant is gone. Go, me! :)

Okay, time for me to break into some Distress paint! I'll be back.

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used:
Basic Grey Offbeat 6x6 paper pack
Paper Smooches Zoo Crew stamp set (SSS|EH)
Miscellaneous ribbon
Miscellaneous purple textured card stock
Memento black ink (SSS | EH)
Copics BV02, YR23, C1
Spellbinder's Long Rectangles, plain and scalloped
SU brad
Martha Stewart Heart Confetti punch
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)
Teflon bone folder (SSS | EH)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)
Silhouette Pick-Me-Up pen (SSS)
Martha Stweart glue pen
Martha Stewart Mini Scoreboard (SSS|EH)

Saturday, January 26, 2013

What Are You Known For?

The current challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show is What Are You Known For? (for what are you known) You knew that was coming, didn't you? :)

I think this question should be considered and reconsidered each year or two, because I don't  know about you, but my style has morphed considerably. I used to be known for my snarky sentiments, and I still have a vast collection of irreverence, but I was also known for putting ribbon on almost every card. Today I think I'm known as the Washi Hoarder. While I still have Every Color Red/Blue/Green But The One I Need boxes of ribbon, I now also have Every Color of Washi Tape But The One I Need. Seriously, how can I not have navy blue washi with white dots? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!

*ahem*

So I've decided that for this challenge, I'm known for my washi tape addic...er, collection and my lingering irreverence. So this is what I made:


I've used the Play Date Cafe challenge colors again, and added a new sentiment I got today at my LSS during their Open House and enablement episode. Oh, the shop owner is always ready and willing to order whatever she doesn't have on the shelves, but the other customers might have talked me into other things I didn't need. We enable each other, and we excel at it.

Again, there's lots of white here, but I tried to cut it with the black striped piece of washi sheet (yes, I said sheet) behind the sentiment. I'll link to them below. I might have them in every color but pink. Sigh. You probably need them, too.

So there it is: washi + irreverence. I haz it.

Tomorrow I shall break into my new collection of Distress paints, and I'll be back to report how that goes.

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used:
39th Birthday from FrogsWhiskersInk.com (search for 39th Birthday)
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)
Teflon bone folder (SSS | EH)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)
Tonic scissors (SSS | EH)
Corner Chomper 1/4" & 1/2" (SSS | EH)
Memento black ink (SSS | EH)
washi tape
Shape 'N Tape (washi) sheets, black (SSS|EH)
1/8 Be Creative (Sookwang) tape (SSS|EH)

You Are My Happy

I played this week's The Play Date Cafe color challenge:


Largely because it's black + white with a splash of color. I love those! I saw an opportunity to dip into my washi tape hoard, and this is what I made:


It's my stand-by layout for washi tape, it seems. I got to use some of my newer blacks and a piece of bright green. All I added were the sentiment and some black pearls.

I need to go now, as all that white is making me a little twitchy. Look away ... just LOOK AWAY. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used:
We R Memory Keepers black washi (got it at the LSS)
Green washi (mystery source)
A Muse black pearls
Hero Arts My Happy stamp set (SSS|EH)
Memento black ink (SSS | EH)
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)
Teflon bone folder (SSS | EH)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Red-Orange-Yellow

This card formed in my grey matter as I thought about stamping this evening. I'd seen the Use it Tuesday challenge to use Red, Orange and Yellow, and this fell right into my second homework project for the OWH  ABC's of Color (Basic Color Theory). I chose to do a card using the analogous colors (next to each other on the color wheel) of Red-Orange, Orange, and Yellow-Orange, and made this:

I kinda stayed graphic like I did for my first homework card, mostly because I wanted to use my CAS-ual Friday's RAD stamp set again. You'll notice I made no attempt to color in the skinny letters here.

This is fun. I might do another. Tomorrow.

In other news, I forgot to tell you BOBRA WON! He did! He won Daily Cat of 01-20-2013 over at Evercats. Thank you so much for voting for him. :)

And thanks for stopping by!

Products used:
Hero Arts Lattice background stamp (SSS | EH)
CAS-ual Fridays RAD stamp set
Hero Hues black ink (EH)
Memento black ink (SSS | EH)
Copics YR09 (red-orange), YR68 (orange) and Y38 (yellow-orange)
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)
Teflon bone folder (SSS | EH)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)
Tonic scissors (SSS | EH)
Corner Chomper 1/4" & 1/2" (SSS | EH)
SU Basic Black card stock

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Awesome

There it is again ... another one-word title. I think my brain is tired.

I had some happy mail today as my new CAS-ual Fridays stamps arrived. Whoot! I might be in love with their font. I waited for the stamps to come back up to room temperature after being outside all day, then started playing with the RAD set.

I tried about four different things before this came out:


This is NOT what I set out to make; it just happened. I almost didn't share it. I almost threw it away. I actually wrote a whole whiny post about how much I didn't like it, then I took out all the whine and got over it.

I was following this sketch from Unscripted Sketches:


... but I had it on my desk like this:

so that's what I made.  Okay, one more time:


The first thing I noticed is there is no vertical element. I think that's what's bugging me the most. But other than that it's okay.

I used Hero Hues black ink for stamping the black stuff. That row of circles? I went over a few of the open parts with a Copic, then over those with my Versamarker with the intent to clear-emboss just the orange-red parts. Guess what? The black held the EP, too, so the whole thing is shiny. I hope you are taking notes.

The arrows were stamped with Versamark and embossed with white EP. I kinda like those, so you'll be seeing them again. The set comes with both outlines and solids.

And now I know why my pal June buys the original Copics and not the Sketch or Ciao. I destroyed several iterations of this when I attempted to color the letters with the brush tip. You really do need the fine point end for coloring these skinny areas. Instead, I used my Inktense pencils and just didn't add water.

I like these stamps, so maybe a different sketch will get me over my meh.

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used:
CAS-ual Fridays RAD stamp set
My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary Jack & Jill papers (SSS)
Derwent Inktense water color pencils (SSS) I have the 72, but they come in smaller sizes.
Hero Hues black ink (EH)
Versamarker (SSS|EH)
Hero Arts white embossing powder (SSS | EH)
Clear EP
Copic R05
MFT File Tab die (SSS)
Tonic scissors (SSS | EH)
Teflon bone folder (SSS | EH)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)
Corner Chomper 1/4" & 1/2" (SSS | EH)

SOS #86 - Ribbon

It's Tuesday, and time for another Shopping Our Stash challenge. This week we ask you to use your oldest ribbon on a card.

Ribbon? Oh yeah, baby, I have ribbon. I used to use it on almost every card, but I've cut way back lately. I guess my style has morphed. But I still have my Boxes of Every Color But The One I Need:


The box on the top right is my Miscellaneous box, mostly WHAT WAS I THINKING ribbons that don't fit one of the plain color categories. I decided this challenge was the perfect opportunity to pull out a few, and these are The Chosen Ones:

I decided to use the three polka dotted ones, and make three cards. I used this old sketch from Retro Sketches:


and made these:

The nice thing about the three cards is all I changed was the ribbon, which has me thinking I could disappear the three rolls of ribbon and make OWH cards since the cards are pretty flat. Here's the orange one:

 and the green one:

The brown heart was cut from felt, another collection in my craft room. I also opened and used my new-to-me Lifestyle Crafts embossing folders. I love that pattern.

The brown rectangle shapes were cut from my remnant box, and I'm almost out of brown. Yay!

Now it's YOUR turn. Go into your stash and dig out some of your oldest ribbon. Then use it on a card and come back to Shopping Our Stash to link us up so we can see what you've made!

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used:
Miscellaneous ribbon
Hero Arts Essential Messages (SSS|EH)
Spellbinders Labels Seventeen
Spellbinders Circles
Lifestyle Crafts Zig Zag embossing folders (SSS|EH)
Memento Rich Cocoa ink (SSS|EH)
Corner Chomper 1/4" & 1/2" (SSS | EH)
Tombow Mono Multi glue (SSS|EH)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)

Monday, January 21, 2013

OWH Homework, Lesson 1

The fine folks over at the OWH blog are giving us a Design Bootcamp. This is especially handy for those of us who haven't attended design school and know not their complementary from their analogous, or their hues from their shades, and (like me) have been stamping without a net. I love these people!

Today's lesson was The ABC's of Color (Basic Color Theory), and after reading the whole post and trying to absorb some (or any) of it, I bookmarked it and dove into my homework.

I chose the Complementary option, and turned my color wheel to Red-Orange (I might be in a Poppy rut), and the opposite, or Complementary, color is Blue-Green. Um, YUM! This is my go-to color combination these days already.

In my blurfing, I had bookmarked this post from one of the Hero Arts blog hop days (yeah, I'm a bit behind ...), because I planned to CASE her second card. Here is my version:


I LOVE IT! I love the crisp black-on-white PLUS the idea of coloring selected stripes PLUS using my favorite two colors. The original I linked to above used a bunch of colors, but I'm liking this version. I'm also thinking: mass-production for OWH.  Mmm-hmmm.

Wow, I made a card in like ten minutes after a grueling work-a-day after a fractured-sleep night. I think I'll go link this baby and quit while I'm ahead.

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used:
Hero Arts Tweed background stamp (SSS | EH)
Copics BG23 and R05
Hero Arts Many Birthday Messages (SSS | EH)
Hero Hues black ink (EH)
Corner Chomper 1/4" & 1/2" (SSS | EH)
Teflon bone folder (SSS | EH)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)
Tonic scissors (SSS | EH)
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Congratulations, Again

For my next trick, I looked at the pieces of washi tape left on my desk from my last card, looked at the current Cardabilities sketch:


... looked at the red doily I'd cut for another failed project, and this is what happened:

It's a little busier than I'm used to lately, but I did use up all the washi remnants, and got the red doily off my desk, too. That piece of white twine was also on my desk, and now it's not.

Along the way I was looking for the star dies I knew I had but couldn't find in the jumble of miscellaneous Shaped Dies section, so I took out all the loose ones who'd lost their packaging, took out the teeny tiny ones still in their packaging and took them out of their packaging, labeled the backs with a Sharpie so I'd remember who made them, stuck them to magnet sheets, then re-filed them. I was tired of looking for the stars. I did find them, and now they are no longer lost in an organized jumble. And by organized jumble I mean they were in the Miscellaneous section somewhere, not mixed in with the obvious Circles, Ovals or Rectangles sections. I need a bigger box.

In other news, Bobra has a modified craft room perch. I was tired of him flying through the air and landing on my score board, creating a crashing sound and rendering it useless to me as long as he sat on it. I have a mini score board that fits on my drafting table, so I really didn't need the larger ones* out. I removed them, put a carpet no-skid pad down in that spot, put a small fleece blankie down for him, and he's adopted it as a new bed**. See:

He's not frowning; he's trying to keep his eyes open. Also, I cleaned that window this weekend, and yes, those are new nose prints. Sigh. And that ream of paper is my Neenah white card stock that now lives in the space of the dwindling Heaplet. It's all about reclaiming space.

Okay, I need dinner. Thanks for stopping by!

* I started with a Scor-Pal, then got a Martha Stewart one, then got an SU one. I use the MS one the most, so it was on top. Now they all live under a cabinet. I should sell the two I don't use.
** Every fleece blankie in the house = cat bed. He has 4 so far. He also has a little cat cave that I'm pretty sure he doesn't use. Well, except for the time he barfed in it.

Products used:
Neenah Solar White card stock 25 sheets (SSS | EH) ream (SSS | EH)
Tonic scissors (SSS | EH)
Spellbinders Circle dies Large (SSS) and Small (SSS)
Fiskars paper trimmer (SSS | EH)
MFT Big Greetings (SSS)
MFT Dizzy Doily Duo (SSS)
MFT Stacking Star dies(SSS|EH)
We R Memory Keepers washi sheets 6x6 sampler (SSS) Also available by the 6x6 individual sheet. I got a 12x12 pack online somewhere else.
Martha Stewart Mini Scoreboard (SSS|EH)
Teflon bone folder (SSS | EH)
Corner Chomper 1/4" & 1/2" (SSS | EH)