Kits and canines

So, a reader was telling me that she had been creating cards lately by "cheating" and using kits. And I immediately replied that wasn't cheating and that kits were awesome. But, then I realized I had a kits or two laying around somewhere and I should use it to make a card. So I did.

The Lisa Bearnson kit I found was a RAK I received from a friend. I decided to do the Friend card first. Now, it's quite a simple process using a kit, and the card would have looked perfectly nice as it was. But you know me, I gotta put my touch on it, so I added a few things. Here's how mine turned out:

First off, I trimmed a teeny bit off the mat all the way around, because I decided to use a black card to mat it on instead of the thin white supplied card. I did cut a backing mat out of that white card, though, to go between the card and the colored mat. Don't ask me why...something to do with all those brads on the edges.

Then I punched little brad holes for all of the strips. I didn't want to use staples on 2 two of them and brads on 2. That meant I had to go try to match brads in my stash with the 4 that were supplied and of course I couldn't, so I used all brads from my stash.

Then I completed the card as per kits directions. When I was finished, it felt like it needed a little *pop*, so I looked for something small and white. Seems like I often go to these little Heidi Swapp chipboard flowers that I acquired ages ago, and so it was again. Pop pop pop. Done. Even with all of my little add-ons, I think the entire thing took 30 minutes...maybe an hour if I count bathroom time and getting coffee, etc.

Therein lies the beauty of a kit card: less brain drain, less prep time, less stress. And, I can definitely see these supplying me with inspiration for other cards. While I was making this one, I really got into the strips and then realized that I could use these birthday strips I've had forever on a card using the same layout. If you knew how many idle moments I've wasted staring at those strips and thinking, what the heck can I do with these? Here, you can stare at them, too, lol:

These would look great on a #10 business size, half-sheet, or even a 5.5" square card...

After card-making, I went out to feed Reggie dog. After he eats, he gets a chew stick treat like these:


Reggie luuuuuuuvs his treat. :-)

For some time I have wanted to document this daily treat thing in hopes of scrapping it, so today I tried. I soon found it to be quite a challenge. Dogs are creatures of habit to the max and Reggie, being a hunting breed, is no exception. He expects to see that treat within seconds of cleaning his bowl and from Day One he has chomped down on his treat and run into his doghouse to eat it.

Why in the world I thought he would stand still for me to snap the treat in his mouth, only the Lord knows! That's a blur of him instead.

Okay, I soon realized that I needed to hold onto that stick while snapping the shot. So today was his lucky day. He would get 2 sticks and I'd get another chance at a shot. This time it worked, barely. It's a little tug of war between us. You can see him ready to turn tail with his loot.

 I decided to follow him into his lair and snap a few of him chomping down. Yes, he lives in a Little Tykes playhouse complete with safety heater. We definitely don't spoil him, though. No air conditioning, winkwink.

I think I got enough photos to do a one-page layout, so I'm calling it a success. Of course, I can always do a re-shoot, because it's the same old story, different day.