A Splotchy Mystery is Solved!

At long last the mystery is solved.

Splotchy is a coyote.

For three years, we have wondered what the bizarre squeaking and yowling and chirping and trilling coming from this quirky little animal was. He does it at various times of the night and his favorite place to do it from is the little ledge on the eyebrow window thingy 9 feet off the ground. After these noisy sessions, he has high anxiety and will flop down on my neck with his little heart rate elevated and breathing heavily.

We looked for patterns. Oh, it's the full moon, we said.

He's looking for his mother, we said.

Today, he didn't eat lunch, and yesterday he did, we said.

We didn't throw the mouse enough, we said.

And then, this morning, we heard it.

A very faint conversation. It went like this:

Coyote: yip
Splotchy: yip
Coyote: yip yip
Splotchy: yip yip
Coyote: howwwwwlllllll
Splotchy: howwwwllllllll

I busted out laughing before I was even awake.

That poor little idiot has been talking to coyotes we couldn't hear. He's probably thinking "WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE ANSWERING THEM? YOU PEOPLE ARE SO RUDE! MADDIE HOW CAN YOU SLEEP THROUGH THIS??"

Poor little messed up orphan thinks he is a coyote. I forgive you now, sweet, confused little furry friend. And I'm going to go have a chat with those coyotes.

Hey - you know what else is splotchy? A giraffe!

I got a chance this week to take out Zoo Review - one of the sets I was most excited about in the new catalog, and so of course I haven't had time to touch it! Isn't that always how it is?

But, I'm starting to think that color challenges make me feel more creative. Because the TouchTwin color challenge today SCREAMED giraffe to me.

I sent this card off to a coworker who loves giraffes and their combination of graceful and awkward, which is so, so charming.

The greeting is from Blessed Mother, which was in the Summer Mini. 

Stamps: Zoo Review, Blessed Mother Paper: Crumb Cake, Crate Paper Accessories: ShinHan TouchTwin Markers: B143, B182, BR96, YR21, Y141 Scalloped Oval Frame Die, Big Shot

Here's where I put the colors.

Don't forget to play in their challenge - (use TTC02 as your keyword if you upload to Splitcoast) - you might win yourself some markers!

Oh, and I  have a little trick for you. Think you can't "see through" those Big Shot dies to use them on an image you've already stamped? Well you can!

Sometimes I stamp and color an image just for practice that I have no intention of using. But then when I'm done, I like it and I want to die cut it but how do I line it up?

Well I have die cut vellum for most of my Big Shot dies and I keep them in a little folder. When I got done with my giraffe, I put a little Dotto down by his feet, and I tacked the oval from the Oval Frame die onto him, lined up like I wanted it cut. Then I just lay that face down onto my die, lining up the top part of that vellum shape onto my die perfectly, and then running it through - and voila - my giraffe was cut just like I wanted it to be! Nifty, eh?

So what IS the correct way to impose a talking curfew on a coyote anyway? Got any tips for me? Because you know I love this little thing, but he needs to be a little less chatty.

Loveyameanitbye.