Recycled Cat Food Can

I've often been inspired by our neighborhood cats, so I was excited to be able to help out my neighbors this week by feeding their sweet felines. The first time I fed them I knew I just had to alter one of the cute little cans!

I used cat food packaging for this entire project, from the can & lid for the box, to the outer cardboard for the book pages. Everything is covered with paper or ribbon, except for the outer parts of the can lid (because any embellishment on those parts impedes the opening of this fun box, which I know from experience.)

My husband figured out how to flatten the can's interior edge, using a spoon & a can opener. I covered the inside with a burlap ribbon that I bought at a rummage sale at the church across the street.

I made the paw-print pattern using the Catty font by Anke-Art. I converted two of the letters into cut files in SCAL and made the round frame for the front. It was cut from the same woodgrain-patterned paper I used throughout this project. I printed the "2015" in brown on a textured yellow paper using the same font. I think it look a bit like a flower! To finish the cap, I simply wrapped the top side with a green ribbon.

The cat cut file is from the My Family set by Bird. The cats are cut from textured papers to represent the colors of the featured felines.

The pages are bound with an orange ribbon. I wrapped more ribbon around the book, adhering it only to the front so that it easily unwraps. To secure it, I used a tiny key charm from Cousin/Designs By Me.

I had so much fun making this, and I got the best hugs from my neighbor when I gifted this to her!

Challenges/Inspiration:
2 Creative Chicks Challenge #25: "Anything Goes" (No Cards)
All Crafts Challenge: Anything But a Card
Open-Minded Challenge #34: Recycle (2nd entry)
Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-Invent April Challenge: Recycle
That Craft Place: Alter Something

Update: This received an Honorable Mention for the Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-Invent April Challenge.

Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,

Thank You at UnstampaBelles

The UnstampaBelles January challenge is Thank You, with the fun optional twist of incorporating something from just outside your window and blog about it.

You can link up your projects until the end of the month, but remember that you can't use ANY STAMPS (digi or otherwise)!

We live in Baltimore city, and my view from our backyard is of Marian House, a temporary residence for women. During most of the year we all enjoy a bit more privacy thanks to our over-hanging mulberry tree, but the leafless Winter opens up a clear view of the gray-brick building (plus a lovely view of the stars). 

This Christmas season, they decorated some of their windows with lovely hand-made decorations and lights, which inspired the colors on the card's window. As the holiday ends, the windows are re-populated by their resident cats. I cut this cat from a sheet of Graphic 45 DP. I'm not sure I've ever seen a Calico up there, but it would definitely be good luck!

The window is cut with a Sizzix/Susan's Garden die. I created the "Thanks" letters in SCAL using the Harrington font. I colored the windows with Smooch & Wink of Stella glitter inks, and coated the whole thing with Glossy Accents to give it a glass look as well as reinforce the die-cut letters.

I recently won a gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp, and one of the goodies I got was a brick wall stencil by MFT, which I've been itching to use. I applied a generous amount of gel medium over the stencil, removed the plastic stencil, and covered it with silver embossing powder.I found that I need to let the gel dry a bit before I could easily heat-emboss it, but I'm happy with the rough texture I ended up with.

Since it's pretty barren here in Maryland, I added white & brown leaf ribbons to the scene. When this post published on January 4, 2015 it was rainy and gray and those beautiful lights were still up. Love my neighborhood!

Inspiration/Challenges:
DRS Designs #155: Stencils (brick wall is made with a stencil)
Top Tip Tuesday: Make Your Own - something that's not store bought (background & letters)

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at UnstampaBelles,

Stray Cat Strut

Like many of you, I'm really enjoying playing with the Clean & Simple (CAS) style of cardmaking... I guess we all find our "simple"!

This design was sorta inspired by our neighbor's cat Max, who I caught walking our fence this morning. He's not a tabby, but we used to have a tabby who visited the yard from time-to-time and actually took to spending rainy afternoons on our front porch. I haven't thought of that cat in several years... our house is pretty much staked out by our neighbor's cats now. We can't have cats due to allergies, so I love having neighbor cats!

The cat and the sentiment are from the Just Sayin' set from Rogue Redhead Designs' Essentials Range. I won this set through Rogue Redhead Rebel Challenge #8; thank you!!! I've seen such gorgeous projects using this set, and I'm totally impressed by the design and quality.  

I didn't do much to this; the images are stamped in Memento brown, the blue piece is embossed with a Sizzix folder, and the punched "fences" are slightly ink-distressed with Ranger Tea Dye distress ink.

Thanks for visiting!

Inspiration/Challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #44: Pattern, Image, Sentiment

DRS Designs Challenge #16: CAS

Gingersnap Creation Challenge #142: Spicy Supply Challenge - Border Punches

Feline Thankful blog hop stop #5

**This Blog Hop is now closed**

Hello there, and welcome to your next stop in the Feline Thankful Blog Hop! I'm so lucky to be part of the great team at Feline Playful, where 500+ challenges are tracked each week. If you're not already one of their over 1800 members, now's a good time to start!

If you stumbled upon this post, please go the Feline Playful blog to read all about this big party; there are so many fantastic prizes to be won, including two right here on my blog.

I just want to take a moment to thank all you crafters & Challenge hosts for not only helping me grow as a crafter, but for always adding a bit of sunshine to my days. I'm certainly thankful for ya'll!

There are three ways to win prizes during our party, which runs Sept. 21 - 27 (winners posted on the 28th):

1. Visit the Feline Playful site (be sure to be a follower) and enter your name into the Linky list. You only need to enter your name once to be eligible for daily prizes, as well as a Grand Prize.
   
   
2. Visit all the blogs on the Blog Hop and keep track of the Secret Letters provided on each one. Once you have all the letters (in order!), e-mail your answer to felineplayful@gmail.com.
   
   • Your letter for this stop is: E
     
     
3. Leave a comment on the blogs as you hop along for chances at extra prizes.

All winners will be chosen randomly, and announced on Sept 28 at Feline Playful.

Your next stop on the Hop: Christi's Creations

Here's my "Thank You"-themed project:

Free-standing Pop-up Card Tutorial: Splitcoast Stampers
Stamps: Inkadinkado, Hero Arts
Paper: Recollections, stash
Tools: Martha Stewart punches & scissors, Fiskars papercutter, Cricut & SCAL, stamp block, Sew Easy, needle, Crop-O-Dile
Supplies: ZipDry glue, Recollections embossing powder, Versamark inks, Copic markers, Pink Paislee baker's twine, stash eyelet, acrylic gems

This card is very much inspired by one of my favorite cats of all time, Blue, our neighbor's tom. Although he's the toughest cat on the block (I caught him hunting a raccoon once!), he's also a big sweetie & lets me give him a scratch now and then. Just one of the many things in my life for which I am very thankful!

Your next stop on the Feline Thankful Blog Hop: Christi's Creations