hOWLoween Owly Tutorial and.. I'm a WHAT????

Okay - I'm getting my spunk back, and I'm SO excited about this card, which I shouldn't even say, cuz I'll totally jinx how much you like it. But right before I fall asleep every night I dream up all these great cards in the twilight time that I SWEAR to myself I'm going to remember, and of course I don't. EXCEPT FOR THIS CARD!! I thought to my sleepy self - "Sleepy Self - you need to fill up that tree with OWLS" - and I DID!!!!

This card uses 86,000 techniques - paper piecing, rock n roll, direct to stamp, etc. Grab a snack - there is some earth shattering news at the end of this OWLy tutorial.

So here's how it comes together. Stamp that awesome tree from Season of Friendship onto the Ghostly Greetings DSP with the orange circles on it. Punch it with the SUPER sassy 1.75" circle punch. Stamp the tree again on the olive stripey DSP from the same set in Basic Black. Adhere the punched circle to the tree on the olive so it lines up. Add highlights to the tree with your white gel pen.

Now for the fun part. Take the owl from Halloween Frights and ink him up in So Saffron, then Rock n Roll him in Chocolate Chip and stamp him on a scrap. Ink him in Olive and use a Really Rust Marker to color half of him for your second owl. Do the same with Creamy Caramel and Bravo Burgundy marker, and finally Summer Sun and a Pumpkin Pie marker. Stamp these all on Whisper White and cut them out, leaving a thin white border. Use the fine tip of your basic black marker to fill in this white border - it gives them kind of a shadow that I like. Stick them all over the tree with dimensionals - see how cool it is that they are sticking up?

Using your GOGO BOOTS SIZZLITS DIES, cut out my new favorite word - hOWLoween - from the prints pack DSP (hostess benefit), making sure to make the word OWL in a contrasting color. Remember - when you are using the letters in your Big Shot, the pattern you want to see goes face DOWN on the die.

Then, stick that down to your card, on top of the Basic grey DSP from Ghostly Greetings that you've torn to make the ground. Finally, stamp "Happy" from Occasions Collection in black on Whisper White and punch with your Boho Blossoms punch. Accent with your Pumpkin Pie marker and pop up with a dimensional. Finish with a Pumpkin Pie mat, and a Basic Grey card base with white gel pen dots to mimic the tree and the pattern on the ground.

Fun. I think I'll send it in for the next creative challenge.

Now a few notes before the big news. One - the HOWLoween Frights set is double mounted. Not that I know anyone who called DS and asked where the rest of their wood blocks were or anything. I have no knowledge of anything or anyone that ditzy. Or of anyone who, while she was on the PHONE with DS noticed what "she" calls the "Doppelganger Sheet" in the set - you know, the sheet in forty languages that is always English side down in your stamp set that tells you it's double mounted.

Nope - don't know of anything like that.

Well, I know you want to know the news, so put down your drinks and remain seated. We took the kitties to the vet for their vaccinations now that they are big enough (M-bat 2 lbs, Splotchy 2 lbs 8 oz) and Splotchy found out...


HE'S A SHE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, he was just as surprised as we were.

As you can imagine, there is an identity crisis happening here. For those of you who live in Austin, you will appreciate that maybe the fact that the kitties were found on Congress should have been an indication that there might be gender issues with one or both of them, (stories of our famous Mayoral candidate at some point in the future) but I was CERTAIN Splotchy was a boy!! He's bigger, he's crazier... They were so teeny when they were rescued even the vet thought he was a he - we all missed that "he" was a tortie because they didn't have much fur.  I'm excited because I wanted two girls in the first place, and I'm super excited that I don't have to worry about inbred kittens before I get them spayed, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be calling him "him" for the rest of her life! Anybody know a good kittie therapist?

Don't forget - the Zindorf workshop is this weekend. There are still a few spots in the Sunday morning class if you want to come. For anyone who is balking at the price, you would not believe all the supplies we are getting included with the class fee. I've never seen anything like it. I set all the tables up last night and I'm so pleased at how generous she was with what everyone will be going home with. And Lisa Itatani is an angel.

Have a good day - I started this post last night but it's actually 5:03 AM and I gotta go to work.

:) L8R