You Are the Potter

Hi Friends!

I am sure by now that most of you are aware of the devastation in Texas and my hubby, Dave and I are praying for all of Texas!  We have many "virtual" friends that live in Texas and know that they have a long road ahead, especially those in the Houston area.

We hope that everyone is safe and will continue to pray for you.

In addition to the sadness in the news, today was a bit stressful for Dave and I as well as for both of my sweet kitties!  It was their annual dental appointment and they were not happy “campers”.  Between having to “fast”, the car ride and staying at the vets most of the day, they are getting re-acquainted with one another this evening and we are hearing quite a bit of "hissing" (sister "kitty" owners are fully aware of what I mean :-)).

A very rare moment in 2015
when they sat together on the same chair :-)

I know, many of you probably think we are a bit crazy- why would you take a cat to have their teeth cleaned?  In the past, we did not take our other four kitties (all are now at the Rainbow Bridge) for yearly dental cleanings since did not have the $$ to do so.  After our last male kitty passed away in 2008 at age 12 from cancer (he was a stray we rescued at age one and he already had poor gums/teeth),  we found out that Banfield Hospital (located in our PetSmart store) offers yearly dental cleaning as part of one of their Wellness plans. 

We made the decision to sign up on the Banfield monthly billing plan with our two “girls”.  We hope by doing so that the yearly cleanings may help avoid dental issues that could develop into more permanent health concerns.  They are now 12+ years old and we want them to stay alive and healthy as long as possible (our oldest kitty lived to be 18 so we are hoping at least 20 for these two :-)).

While the "girls" were resting and recovering from the vet visit, I had a chance to create a card using Potter’s Clay from Verve Stamps for the Viva La Verve SketchAugust 2017 Sketch Challenge.  I just love Julee Tilman’s sketches and wanted to sneak this card in before the deadline!

I am also participating with the Simon Says Wednesday “Anything Goes” Challenge.  If you have not had a chance to visit either challenge yet, I hope you will do so- wow, what fabulous inspiration from all!

To create this card:

1). Trim three pieces of patterned paper (I used a retired pattern from Stampin’ Up!) into 1” x 4” strips, distress the edges and mount onto the stitched rectangle die cut from espresso cardstock.

2). Trim a piece of vanilla cardstock, mount onto an espresso card front and adhere to the white card base.

3). To create the horizontal portion of the sketch, trim another piece of the designer paper, distress the edges and mount onto espresso cardstock (trimming close to the edge).

4). Ink the sentiment from Potter’s Clay with ground espresso distress ink, stamp onto vanilla cardstock (I used my MISTI® Tool and stamped three times).  Apply clear embossing powder and heat set with a heat tool.  Die cut with a stitched circle die and layer onto another circle die cut from espresso cardstock.

5). Use a stencil brush to add brushed corduroy distress ink over the edges of the all of the panels and sentiment.  Ink a splatter stamp and stamp onto the panel and sentiment with ground espresso distress ink.

 6). Layer the horizontal strip directly to the card front, add the pieced designer paper panel with dimensional foam and mount the sentiment (using dimensional foam for the portion that hangs off the side of the dsp panel).

7). Ink the clay pot images from Potter’s Clay using distress ink- tea dye, rusty hinge for the smaller pot, ground espresso and brushed corduroy for the tallest pot and bundled sage with brushed corduroy for the vase.  Apply clear embossing powder on all, heat set with the heat tool and fussy-cut the images (FYI- Verve Stamps has a coordinating Potter Die Set but I do not own that yet :-)).

8). Mount the pots using dimensional foam to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets: Potter’s Clay (Verve Stamps), Timeless Textures (Stampin’ Up!)

Ink/Medium: Tim Holtz™ Distress Inks- Rusty Hinge, Brushed Corduroy, Tea Stain, Bundled Sage, Ground Espresso

Paper/Cardstock:  Very Vanilla, Early Espresso; retired Outlaw DSP

Accessories: Big Shot™, MFT Stitched Rectangle and Circle STAX, Spellbinders™ Circles Dies, Embossing Buddy®, Stampin’ Emboss™ Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Hemp Twine, Distressing Tool

Thanks again for taking the time to visit! We are praying for all of Texas!  We hope that everyone is safe and will continue to pray for you as we know that Texas has a long road ahead.  Hugs and God Bless!