With/Without, Before & After...

You can laugh...but our Bad Cat, by far, is the most "crafty kitty" of the bunch! He often hangs out with me in the craft room, seems to know just where that "thing" I just had and now can't find is, and offers good advice (by "cooing" or keeping mum!). Of course, he cons me out of more than his fair share of treats (not to mention catnip!) and keeps trying to negotiate a pay increase (never mind that he always takes the best chair in the room!) Lol. After our company left this week-end, I slipped into the craft room to try and unwind a little. I began the next batch of treat bags...and this is what I came up with (my apologies for the glare...and my thanks to my husband who saved the camera battery I managed to break!)...

While I was pleased that even after I colored the (clear) embossed image with black Sharpie (maybe Santa will bring me some Copics...?!), the face of the cat still showed up...the over-all outcome was just...well...blah. It needed something...Bad Cat of course insisted it was cat treats and/or catnip (no chocolate, momma!)--but I knew that wasn't it...

So I kept thinking and playing and...after looking at the moon, I decided it was what needed "perking up"--I didn't have a moon "face" that was small enough and I didn't want to detract from the cat...I also didn't want to have to outline, by hand, 24 moons-I would never get that to my Type A perfectionist satisfaction! Lo and behold, my swirl stamp set and "yellowy-orange" ink called to me! It really made the whole thing POP! Just that little bit of playing around made the difference! (MC-just so you know---I tried 3-4 different colored inks before I hit on the right shade! Lol!)

I only have probably two more treat bag variations to create-and then buy the candy to fill them (we won't discuss what happened to the first bag I bought!)

I want to close by asking for thoughts and prayers for one of our fellow stampers/scrapbookers named Julie. She is one of our "groupies" and a delightful, talented lady. After a long battle and a number of procedures, Julie's husband, Roger, lost his battle with cancer earlier today. If you've walked this path as Theresa, MC and I all have, you know what this "sister" is going through. She is a believer and knows that he is no longer suffering--but the sense of loss is still strong and will be for sometime. Prayers for her as she begins to grieve and, ultimately, heal to the degree any of us can from such a loss.

Until next time, happy stamping and scrapping. Blessings, Sharon

Happy Halloween stamp by Inkadinkadoo (ink used on image by Colorbox); Martha Stewart "Goo" punch; Moon-SU Circle punch (1 3/4" I think!); Swirl on moon: image by Rhonda Farrer, Sunflower ink by CTMH,; Cat on Broom image (cut out) -Canadian Maple Collections; Clear embossing powder-Stampendous; Black and white paper-mfms (misc. from my stash)