Friday 17 May 2013

K is for Kittens

Greetings from Magpie Heaven this bright Friday morning (well, the sun is shining at the moment but for how long?) Thank you for stopping by. Hello too to all the Alpha Challengers at the Craft Barn. Thank you, not only for running this challenge, but also for making it possible for 'newbies' to join in! Having only just started blogging  I was really excited when I discovered the challenge and learned that I would be able to participate without having been in right at the start. I dug out a discarded and rather tattered dictionary from our Magpie loft, which is brimming over with all our 'useful' but abandoned bits and pieces and I was ready to go! Here is my contribution to the Craft Barn Alpha challenge at http://thecraftbarnblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/alphadictionary-challenge-letter-k.html
'K' is indeed a challenging letter; but being a cat-lover it had to be 'K' for kitten!

Kittens just give me a warm glow, so I decided on a warm, vintage look. I used a tag made from a Tim Holtz 'Movers and Shapers' die and Paper Artsy Smoothy card and coloured it by swiping it through Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Dried Marigold, Aged Mahogany and Squeezed Lemonade spritzed with  water on my craft mat. I dried with my heat tool and then embossed a design from an old 'Non Sequiteur' stamp set, which echoed the globe on the kitten illustration I wanted to use on my tag, with copper embossing powder. I then collaged the vintage images of kittens onto the tag with Claudine Helmuth mat medium.
 The Tim Holtz tag comes with a little frame, which I used to frame the adorable kitty on the bottom right. She is Queen of Kittens with a tiny gold crown from Retro Cafe Art Gallery. I distressed my dictionary definition with Squeezed Lemonade and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. I embellished the frame a little more by painting it initially with Butternut Fresco paint and distressing the edges with Aged Mahogany, embossing with some copper lettering and then rubbing some Treasure Gold (Green Amber) over it in places.
 I also used small punched out circles with the letter 'k'; Spell-binders dividers and a  punched stamp coloured with Distress Inks and die-cut from warm brown Bo-Bunny paper. The rose is a Tim Holtz tattered pine cone die made from Smoothy card painted with Frescos in Smoked Paprika and tipped with Blood Orange. I finished off with seam binder coloured with matching Distress Inks and tiny topaz gems and Dresden foil trim. My daughter - now nineteen and a life-time cat-lover- has her eye on this tag on its little easel for her room, so I'd better post this blog without further ado!
 My camellia has been so glorious that I just had to include a bloom in the picture - the purrfect complement to Princess Kitty's charms. Thank you for stopping by and Thank you Craft Barn for the Alpha/Dictionary Challenge Challenge! Have a creative Friday everybody!

19 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous tag, and well done on this rather tough letter to interpret!!

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  2. Beautiful Julie..very very pretty!! I love cats too :D

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  3. This is a fabulous tag - I love the kitten with the crown on.It looks like you have this blogging well under control.I look forward to seeing your next tag.

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  4. Visiting from The Craft Barn - Soooo cute!! Welcome to the Alpha Challenge :0)

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  5. Oh, what a beautiful tag you've crafted for the challenge. I love the pretty vintage look.

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  6. Such a lovely tag, great details.

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  7. Great tag with the sweet kitten in a krown!!

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  8. lovely tag and such a sweet kitten

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  9. Great to see this in detail! Love the little additions around the edge! Chrisx

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  10. Appropriately I came by to comment about the Cat People film you mentioned over at mine (I tried to reply via email but realised just in time that your email wasn't attached to the comment - let me know if you'd like me to tell you how to do that, it's dead easy) Anyway - I hadn't heard of the film before but I love black and white films and I love cats... and I love spooky stuff so am going to hunt down a region 2 copy of this sharpish! Thank you :)

    As for your tag, it's gorgeous - I love the warm colours and the vintagey feel. Not surprised your daughter has claimed it.

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  11. What a gorgeous kitty tag...love the colour combo and wonderful vintage image...l:)

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  12. Beautiful tag and what a very cute Kitten!
    Sandy

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  13. Really delightful tag with such alot of detail. Janet

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  14. So adorable Julie! I LOVE the wee crown :). xoxo

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  15. Well I wouldn't say a warm glow, they are DARN cute, but ruffle my feathers a little:). Its a beautiful tag, lovely colors, love all the Ks all over,squeezed lemonade spritzed , is that REAL lemonade, if it is I'm gonna make some right away, great idea Mizz Magpie.All those colors sound and look delicious, lovely ribbon. Thanks so much for sharing and have a wonderful day.. I love to see what people create with the dictionary word, it's a great challenge, I'm happy your doing it..

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  16. Great tag, fabulous kitten details.

    Sylv xx

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  17. Lovely tag - great vintage style!

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  18. Beautiful tag!
    Thanks for playing with us at the Craft Barn
    Izzy

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