Red Plaid Birthday

I hope you had a lovely Christmas! I certainly did. Despite all the busy-ness of the season, I managed to get everything done (and then some!). The only thing I didn’t do much of was craft, and that makes me a little sad. But the time spent with my family more than makes up for it.

I got to spend a little in my craft room tonight. I created a card for our Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrator Team Meeting, as well as a card for our Friday Stamp Off with Susan and Jackie this week. And I created this for my cousin’s birthday.

It’s a little Christmas-y, but it just reminds me of warm, flannel pajamas and a warm fire with hot chocolate.

To make this card, stamp the Buffalo Check stamp in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on a 3-1-2″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Real Red Cardstock. Next, stamp the evergreen tree from the Winter Woods Stamp Set (from the 2018 Stampin’ Up!® Holiday Catalog) in VersaMark ink and heat emboss with White Stampin’ Emboss Powder. (Good news! The Winter Woods Stamp Set, In the Woods Framelits, and Buffalo Check Stamp are all carrying over, at least through June 3.)

Die-cut Happy Birthday from Glimmer Paper (I used Silver, because that’s what I had, but Sparkle would work really well too), then use a Sponge Brayer and Real Red Classic Ink to color the Glimmer Paper. Add it to the front of the card with Mini Glue Dots.

Adhere the stamped layer to a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Basic Black Cardstock, then to a Whisper White card base. Easy! (Don’t forget to stamp a sentiment inside. I used the May Your Day Be as Wonderful as You sentiment from the Cake Soireé stamp set.

My plan today was to clean my craft room, organize all my new products, and create a week’s worth of projects. Instead, I got a text from my mom. Apparently, either someone dropped off a cat near their house or it ran away from its owners. My parents love animals – especially dogs – but they’re in their 80’s and not in a position to take care of a pet right now, although Mom really wanted to keep him. There are woods behind their house, and it’s not safe for a cat to be outside, and I can’t see either of my parents cleaning a litter box. (The image makes me chuckle.)

This Calico cat is very sweet, clean, and fairly well-behaved, and obviously used to being inside and with people (my dad, the farmer, confirmed that the cat was, indeed, a male). So I grabbed my spare medium sized animal crate, ran to WalMart for a second litter box, and headed out to rescue the cat.

This isn’t the best picture, because he is much more friendly than he looks here. And he’s so thin. Bless his heart; he wanted to go downstairs, and instead of going through the open door in the gate, he went through the bars. But he takes a little nip from General Max’s food every time he walks by (and has his own bowl of cat food downstairs), so we’re hoping he’ll put on a little weight soon.

He has been named – Sergeant Nowell (since we got him at Christmas, and Max is the General), so I guess we’re keeping him unless an owner steps up to claim him. The first few hours, Ashlynn watched Sarge (she’s not sure about him yet), Sarge watched Max (he’s not sure about a dog), and Max watched me hoping I’d give him a treat. Max totally ignores the cats; he just wants treats. Dogs, right?

We’ll all be heading to the mountains for the New Year celebration, so I’m hoping everyone will come home friends.

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Drop by tomorrow to see what Susan, Jackie, and I have created for our challenge this week! Have a lovely day!

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