Kitty Thanks

Recently, one of our cats, Barney, passed away after a long battle with renal failure. I wanted to create a thank you card to send to the doctor & staff at the vet's office where he was treated. I came across the "Cat with Butterfly" stamp from Rubber Cottage (discontinued) in my stash, which I have had for some years now. Since butterflies symbolize (among other things in different cultures) hope & bravery, I just thought this image was perfect. I paired it with one of the "Many Thanks" dies from My Favorite Things (discontinued). For the design, I adapted an old Operation Write Home sketch.

Because the cat on the stamp is a tabby, & Barney was a grey & white cat, I couldn't see stamping the image in a dark ink. So I pulled out my Fade-Out no-line coloring ink by Ink on 3. The stamp was a wood-mount red rubber stamp, which I had converted to cling mount, so you can't see through it. I didn't trust that I could use my MISTI & position the stamp correctly on the panel, so I used my Stamp-a-Ma-Jig instead. Usually with Fade-Out ink, I like to double-stamp the image to be able to see the lines better. But, due to the size of this stamp, I wasn't confident that I could re-stamp the image, even holding the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig handle in place when I lifted my block. Thankfully, I got a good enough impression on the first try!

Using my Prismacolor pencils, I colored the butterfly yellow (because, why not?), and colored the kitty to look like Barney. The white parts of his body were the most difficult, since I needed to add shading so they stood out against the background, but still make them look white. So I colored those parts just barely with a very light cool grey pencil. There is grass in the stamp, but I added more with a couple of green pencils, just to fill it out. I toyed with the idea of coloring the sky area, but thought it wouldn't look good in the end, so I just left it alone.

Since Barney has gone on to the Rainbow Bridge, where all pets go to await their (human) parents when they die, I decided to make the greeting in rainbow colors. I adhered strips of colored cardstocks to a scrap piece of white cardstock, then cut it with the thanks die. I glued that to a light grey panel, to echo the grey colors in the kitty. I added a black strip to separate the greeting & image panels, & used a teal blue cardstock to mat the panels.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments Challenge #281: "Anything Goes + a Sentiment"

Incy Wincy Designs Challenge: "Use a Card Fold Tutorial +/or Animals"

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Add a Sentiment"

613 Avenue Create August Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)