Natotela

A friend of mine just graduated from nursing school.  Born and raised in Zambia, she became a U.S. citizen this last December.  At her graduation party, I knew there would be others from Zambia presenting her with gifts.  I wanted to give her something special to honor her accomplishment and heritage.

A set of "thank you" cards seemed natural enough.  But, why not incorporate the language of her home, too?  Natotela is Zambian for "thank you". 

You may also recognize another theme to this set...  Pink!  Her favorite colors are pink and red.  So, I picked out some of the best paper and color combinations and paired the pinks and reds with brown and light olive green. 

I picked out different fonts for the lettering of "natotela" and "thank you".  I used the Silhouette to merge the letters and created the offset shadows.  When it seemed appropriate, I used the same paper for the letters on different cards where the base and top sheet were also different. 

The top piece is chosen to coordinate with the base, then torn at an angle and the exposed edge inked in matching ink.

I will be using this design again.  Would be great to include other languages, too. 

Natotela sa na.  Thank you so much for looking at my site!

On the road again...

Back in June 2008, I made a special order graduation card for an 8th grade girl with a VW bus theme.  Someone saw that listing on my etsy site, and wanted me to make one for her daughter's high school graduation this year. 

She loves the peace and flower symbols.  And while her favorite color is red, I also wanted to incorporate her HS colors of green and blue. 

I used some pop ups to add depth and dimension to the layers of the card.  I also had the perfect prima flowers and stickles to complete the image. 

I just love a stroll down memory lane!



Frameable Scrapbook Pages

I finally broke through with another frameable scrapbook page. This one I just listed on etsy.com.

After completing the gift for a couple of friends (http://kittykards.blogspot.com/2012/01/celebrating-christmas-union.html), I knew I had to do more of these. They can be customized with select words or sentiments for whatever the occassion. I am thrilled with how this turned out and can't wait to make more. Once I find the inspiration for the starburst design, I will link it here.

The "Sisters Forever" can be for family or for sorority sisters.

"For Mom" can be special for Mother's Day or even Mom's birthday. I chose the Postcard font from a Silhouette portfolio.

I love using clear photo corners for this type of project. The photos seem to float on the pages.

More color combos to come!

Ringing in the New Year

A few posts ago, I reintroduced myself back into the blogging world.
http://kittykards.blogspot.com/2011/11/back-in-game.html

I included a great new pic of our two new kitties, Titus and Ptolemy. They are both so sweet, but with very different personalities. Titus is the oh-so-chill guy, already huge and not even one year yet. He reminds us of the Sam Axe character played by Bruce Campbell on Burn Notice. Loyal and sweet. Titus is a lover, not a fighter, but he will give a bruisin' if necessary. Ptolemy is the trouble maker. He flies from one feat of mischief to another. And he fetches (after waiting for you to throw) and buries items (under the rugs) like a dog. After watching Beginners with Ewan McGregor, we decided he reminds us of a Jack Russell terrier (like the one in the movie).

So, a card about these two additions to our lives was inevitable. But while you may get a dog to sit still long enough for a picture, your best bet for a cat is to catch them while they're sleeping. So, the drawn picture of them was perfect.

We figured Titus' laid back nature made him perfect to deliver the straight man response to Ptolemy's hyper rant.



Ptolemy: When does the ball drop? Is it midnight yet? Did the flash go off? This is going to be the best New Year's card ever!
Titus: The ASPCA is going to hear about this %#!& hat.



The embellishments are printed then cut using the Silhouette. The party favor lays flat, but the hats are popped up from the base of the card.

Still trying to figure out if these guys could be used in other card themes. Can't wait to find out!

Celebrating a Christmas Union

A friend at work was just recently able to exchange wedding bands with his wife after several years of marriage. They decided to keep them wrapped until Christmas.

To honor this occassion, I knew I wanted to make a scrapbook page, but one they could hang up.

I asked him for their favorite colors. His is forest green. Hers was pink or red. How much more perfect could that be for the holiday?!

I started with the paper. The base was whimisical and the heart-patterned paper was the perfect complement. I wanted their names on the piece, and the ribbon made the perfect background for the banner. The heart-shaped brushed metal brads are the perfect accents.

The banner pieces have alternating inset round corners with outside rounded corners.

The hanging holly is a rub on using the same paper from the banner piece with the edges inked in red and popped up from the simple white textured white cardstock. The "love" metal piece is affixed directly to the embellishment.

Clear photo corners are holding in place the two picture placeholders for a 3.5" x 5" and a 3" x 3" picture. Finishing the piece are four infinity clips to reflect the unity of marriage and echo the rings they were exchanging.

I had so much fun making this and have been wanting to do something like this for a long time. I think placing a scrapbook page into a shadow box frame would make a great gift for any occassion and can be custom made. So excited about this next step.