MT Lane's Mardi Gras

The Mardi Gras kit from MT Lane Designs is another full size kit that I scripted down to tag with. I would almost call it a mini kit based on the elements (3 beads, 3 doubloons, 5 frames, 1 mask, 1 wine bottle, 1 wine glass & 1 word art), but you also get 11 papers, plus the Alpha which includes numbers 0 through 9 (but no symbols).

Personally, I think the Alpha is what makes this kit worth having. It's hard to find Mardi Gras alphas, although Southern Scrapz did release one with her Mardi Gras kit.

Both of these first two tags use posers from Billy at PSP Tube Depot.



The glitter streamers were something I created for use in the tag. The paper mask is from Wee Scots Design, as is the one in the following tag.

On the whole, and despite it being a very simple layout, I thought it turned out quite nice.



I like the jester's mask and several of the papers are very nice as well. The "label" was another creation, using another of the backgrounds, while the string tie is courtesy of the Scrappin' Cop.

Again - another reasonably simple and straight forward layout that worked quite well.

Of course, the best part of the Mt Lane Designs kit it the $0.00 price tag!



Of course, no one wears that mask quite as good as Khyra does. Most of the scraps for this tag came from the Carnival kit from Ivory's Designz. The Doubloon and the Jestermask are from the MT Lane Design kit.



For Marylin's tag, I used scraps from the Mardi Gras kit by Scrappy Weiss. I have to say, I was not all the impressed with the kit and once I'd finished with the tag, I deleted the kit. I have it on disk, should I ever change my mind, but in all honesty, it wasn't that good. The hat Marylin is wearing came from the "Carnival" Kit from Saxonia44. That's another kit that went into the delete bin once I'd finished with Pawti Gras.

Puppy Love (Part I)

Snowraven put out her Puppy Power kit - which is full sized - and the associated Puppy Power booster tubes which you can purchase at Magickal Scraps, just in time for me to get this project done. I knew these were coming, so I was planning on using them - although I did have a fall back, just in case. The fall back would not have been as cute though!

Much thanks to the super talented Snowraven for getting them out as promised.

Because the theme was puppy love, I used various Valetine's Day kits for the scraps, as detailed under each tag.

Asta



The scraps are from the very nice Kisses from Cupid collaboration which is available for free at The Goodie Loft with a $5.00 purchase. The Pink Heart alpha is courtesy of Delicious Scraps.

Dakota



I think coming up with 13 woofies would have been impossible if I didn't have the Ops Pack to provide me with three. The Scraps are from the Lover's Lane taggers kit from Scraps with Attitude. The Lots of Love alpha is from Michelle's Angels.

Eduardo



I wasn't completely happy with this tag, but I didn't have a better picture of Eduardo to use. The scraps are from the Blow Pop kit from Scraps by j0eswife, while the Lots of Love, as I mentioned above, is from Michelle's Angels.

Michelle's Angels has opened up their own boutique which debutes this weekend with a 60% sale. So many sales, so little time, but 60% is worth checking into.

George



This turned out just soooo sweet. The Scraps are from the "My Valentine" taggers kit from Connie's Creative Chaos, which is a blog freebie. The hearts in the upper left hand corner are from Krissy's Scraps Sweethearts Mega CU pack and her Sweethearts 1 CU pack. The Gold Chain is from Soxsational Scraps Valentine Pendants CU pack, and the CU Heart Alpha was Created by Jill.

The mask is from Wee Scots Lass. The masks that I used on the Asta tag and the Dakota tag are from Cameron.

Grete



For once I could match breeds! The scraps are from the Raggedy taggers kit by Soxsational Scraps. The Pearl Alpha is courtesy of Carjazi Designs.

This was another of Wee Scots Lass' masks. I like this particular one and have used it quite a bit.

Jake



When I sent this around, Dolores came into my office to inform me that "one of the dogs is a Boston Terror, just like my grandson!" LOL. The boxer looks kind of mean to I aded the bow to try to sweeten her up.

The scraps for this tag came from the For Eternity taggers kit by DMK Designs. This is a really pretty kit, BTW. I got it on sale at Creative Scraps but I knew it was going on sale there and held off buying it until then. I'd wanted it early on.

As mentioned above, the Pearl Alpha is courtesy of Carjazi Designs.

So that does it for part one....oh no it doesn't what am I thinking. One more...

Khyra



I got Khyra to send me some pics so...I was able to include him and I've left overs for next time. I used the "So in Love with You" taggers kit from Designs by Helly, which is another really beautiful kit from her. But then...when does Helly not put out a nice kit? This is available in tagger only size at Cotten Candy Scraps, she didn't release it in full size.

The hearts along the left hand side were masked in using one of Cameron's masks. The Pink Heart alpha is from Delicious Scraps - see above for the link.

Okay...now we're done with Part One. I'll have Part Two for you either tomorrow or Monday, depending upon how I feel. I'm kind of in a reading mood right now, where I just want to curl up in bed and enjoy a good book. The book book on tap? The Perfect Lover by Stephanie Laurens. Well...it is nearly Valentine's Day after all. What better to be reading than a romance?

Country Cats Project - Part I

Given the number of freebie and/or PTU Twilight based kits that have come out, I should probably do a vampire theme...I know Victor would like that. However, Barnyard Pals had been percolating on the back burner for a while. I thought about doing a "Polar Pals" on as well, but felt that was too similar to the Snow Cats project I did in December.

I used four main kits for this one: "A Farming Life", which was a Xmas gift freebie from Voodoo Scraps, "Barnyard Friends" by Cinnamon Scraps, "Country Tomboy" by Tantrum Scraps, and "Down on the Farm" from Designs by Tisha, which was a full sized kit that I resized for tagging. I added in "Let me Bug You" from Creationz by Jo, for the odd "13th" tag.

Let's start off with Barnyard Friends, which is actually where I started out - with Eduardo:

Eduardo the Snuggle Puggle



The apple was part of Eduardo's picture. This tag came out really, really cute and I was tickled to death by it. The "Messy Denim" alpha is by Corine Papier.

Georgia



The "Funky Retro" alpha is by A Work in Progress. I liked it as it kind of livened up the piece, as if all those animals in the background were not lively enough.

Mickey



It's probably the wrong sort of hat, but I decided he was a gentleman farmer type. The Hat is, of course, from the Maltese Scrapper, while the "Old Barn" alpha is courtesy of Barbara Lee at Just Passing Through.

Moo - I'm a cow - Moo!

The next three comprise the fishing portion of the program, using the "Country Tomboy" kit from Tantrum Scraps. It's a nice kit and you can download it for free at the Definitive Side blog.

Meowza



My favorite of the piece. The "Cork Alpha" is by Claudi Designs and is available at the Digital Freebies boutique. The bubbles came from the now retired "Under the Sea" kit by Maria La France.

We may have to do more of a fishing theme one week.

Tinkerbell



Stinky Tinky is one of our Xanga buddies. The Country Cats project has 173 hits on the Xanga blog - I was stunned. I don't think we've pulled that many hits for one article since we were a featured blog during last February for Mardi Gras.

The Alpha Bandanna is from Free Digital Scrapbooking, the hat is courtesy of the Maltese Scrapper.

Puff



Once again, the hat comes to us from the Maltese Scrapper, while the alpha is from Barbara Lee. Cats really aren't set up to wear baseball style caps, however, this one didn't look too bad, when it was done at a jaunty angle.

Sweet Praline



She actually is a pampered pet, and likes it, which is why I used her where I did in the presentation. It was a bit of irony.

This is the tag done with the "Let me Bug You" taggers kit from Creationz by Jo. The alpha is included with the kit.

Look for Part II either tomorrow or Wednesday. I've noticed it gets confused with my Cats on Tuesday post, so I may not put it up until Wednesday!

I Resolve...

To get these tags posted in a more timely fashion for the New Year. Yeah. Right.

1. Boni



Putting the flowers into the paper cup proved to be a bit of an experience, but everything else was straight forward. The Scraps are from the "2009" kit from Creationz by Jo. The After Dusk alpha is by Flower Scraps, and the "Celebrate" word art is courtesy of Evercila.

2. Bono



Bono is the newest member of Team Tabby. since I did Mindy and Mo the week before, it was his turn. The scraps are from the "Kiss me at Midnight" kit from DMK Designs except for the hat, which is courtesy of the Maltese Scrapper. The Purple Coat alpha was a FTU set from Scrap Alpha.

It wasn't the best hat, but it was the best I could do given the angle of his head.

3. Camie



There was a New Year's blog train, but I only snagged two kits off of it since I didn't need another huge New Year's collab. So the scraps are from Laura's Designs. The Fireworks were taken from the Taggers Scraps' "New Years Bash" Collab, while the White Grunge alpha is courtesy of Dreamsfulfilled.

4. Harley



Being a kitten, Harley was only allowed to celebrate with sparkling soda waters. The scraps are from another car off the New Year's Blog Train, this time from Funky Fever. The Foil Cap Alpha is from Snowmoon Designs.

5. Jake



Jake is celebrating using the "Teddy New Year" taggers kit from Soxsational Scraps. The green glitter alpha was a FTU set from 4 my Babies Scraps.

6. Jasper McKitten Cat



I returned to the Taggers Scraps "New Years Bash" collab for this tag. The "Satin Gold" alpha is from Free Digital Scrapbooking.

7. Joba



Joba was the troublesome little brat that drove Jeter Harris out of his home and into the snow The scraps, alpha and word art are from the "Celebrate 2009" kit by Heartbeatz Creationz, except for the hat, which I got from the Bluedream Design's New Years kit and recolored. The Glitter Splats are by Calypso Designs.

I do so lover glitter splats!

So that's the first seven of our New Years. Don't forget to visit Diamond's New Years Bash for this week's T-13: Country Cats!

Country Cats

Lacking a suitable topic now that the holidays are over, I decided to go with "Down on the Farm" for the January 8th T-13. So far I've got 8 of the tags done, but I got online just after six and decided to check Digi-free. I had purchases a kit from Designs by Tisha called "Down on the Farm" to use on the project and she had a matching alpha for it. Plus another designer had a "barn" alpha that will work too.

It's coming out pretty cute!

The above tag is not one of the group, and in fact was done using scraps from the "Cowboy Fun" by Scrappy Lover. The "rope" or twine "frame" is courtesy of Scrappin' Cop, while the Rawhide Alpha comes from Wenchd Graphix. I did use the rawhide alpha on one tag, lacking anything really "farmy". Too bad I didn't check Digi-free earlier.

The horse photo was from a pack of high-res horse photos I downloaded from Scrappin' with Barbie. I used two masks in this piece as well, one to get the fade out effect on Tristan and a second to get the worn effect on the round up photo.

Here is a sneak preview:



The scraps are from Cinnamon Scraps' "Barnyard Friends" tagger kit. The hat is from our fashion consultant over at the Maltese Scrapper, and the Messy Denim alpha is from C. Papier.

Despite my efforts, we ended up having to buy Photobucket Pro, although I still put the T-13 over on the new account. Not as many tags (yet). Besides, this makes it easier for the guest animals to access their tags should they care to use them on their blog. Once you buy pro, Photobucket no longer automatically links back to the Photobucket page for the image.

I have received some ideas for upcoming T-13s, but I'll need input on them, so perhaps I'll make that the subject of Diamond's post tomorrow.

Costumed Canines and Cats

Alfred is an honorary Kattonic Cat. He lives with the nephew that spoils them so well, and is almost 17 years old. He doesn't play much, but makes a great piece of cat furniture when he's visiting.

Because of his advanced age, his Halloween costume is a little laid back.



I seem to think his namesake from Batman served as a sitting duck from time to time as well.

This used the Spooked freebie from KayJay Designs which is available at Digital Arts Cafe. The duck mask is courtesy of The Maltese Scrapper.

Speedy of course is a full fledged member of the Kattonic Cats, being the man cat of the family.



The Southwest themed scraps are from The Maltese scrapper, the alpha is from Free Digital Scrapbooking (as is the one I used in the Miss Peach tag, below.

The other scraps from Soxational Scraps Halloween Fun freebie.

Hanging out west for a moment, we find Phantom, from The Chronical of Woos trying to Woo the babes.



The had is from The Maltese Scrapper, the tag & the button are from Sparkling Special Designs, and the Copper Alpha is from Janel Scraps.

The rest of the scraps are from Scrappy Lover.

And last, but certainly not least, we have the darling Miss Peach. It's kind of redundant to ask what kind of witch she is, because we all know she's a very, very good witch.



This uses the Creature Comforts collab kit from Jennifer Lieberenz & Danielle Fenning which I've been "collecting" from Scrap Outside the Box.

And a non-related bonus:

Tom Turkey (Chipboard Style) was one of the characters of the Day from Scrappiles of Digi Style and is (c) 2008 by Tiffany Kennedy.



I used the October Collab kit from Scrap Happiness to do the layout.

I'm sure the cats will agree that he looks just delicious!

Rudy and Diamond

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I am still trying to puzzle out what sort of puzzle a Rudy Cube might be, and if it's hard to solve.

In any case, Rudy is an eight-year-old Orange and White Domestic Long Hair. He was one of Puff's three kittens and while the other two went off to great homes, Puff's family fell in love with his free-spirited ways and fetching good looks. So he stayed around.

He loves adventure - when he's not napping of course - playing with Puff's tail and mucking around in the bathroom sink.

He hates to be groomed, but loves being the center of attention. Despite being a big mancat, he has a little tiny meow. So much for roaring like a lion!


Click on image to enlarge

Diamond Doggie is five-year-old German Shepherd/Jack Russell Terrier mix. He was adopted through a Kansas City Dog Rescue group by the name of Second Chance Adoptions. He'a very friendly woofie who loves his kitty siblings and never seems to be in a bad mood.

Like most woofies, he adores eating. He also likes napping on the bed, going for walkies and his green "Buddy-Monkey" toy.

Both pieces use a kit called The Beauty of Old Stone by Kyra who has an absolute ton of freebies on her blog. Some really good stuff too.

For the lettering I stuck with the Aged Embossed Alpha from Free Digital Scrapbooking, which matches the lettering done on Powder & Puff's layouts.

Samson - Scourge of the Seven Seas

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Samson is the only one of the east coast crew that could legitimately be called Captain, as he's done some sailing in his life. I worked this up for his Pikapet profile.

Lady Keesie, his Pikadate says "You are the best Pirate that I have ever seen! Very handsome, too!".

I used Digital Freebies' ArrrMatey kit on this one (obviously). Yes, I'm having a lot of fun with that kit.

Caution: Contains Peanuts

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Peanut is Misty's pup, although she's quite grown up now. Much like her mom, she's quite the sweetheart. Peanuts and chocolate just sort of go together, don't they?

She's currently six years old, a Rotty/American Pit Bull Terrier mix. She loves chasing geese in the park, her bones, her tennis balls, socks, shoes or anything else left on the floor.

She is also known as Peanut the Poop Monster, I'm sure you can figure out why.

I used Raspberry Road Designs' Mocha Love kit which is a freebie. It was done as a favor for a friend who wanted the Pink and chocolate colors only in the kit. My initial feeling was what would I use it for, but it seems that it has some potential after all.

Two Quickies

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I don't have a lot of pictures of my older pets, in part because I didn't have a digital (or perhaps they weren't invented yet). My mother always felt taking pictures of the pets was a waste of film and I was generally busy shooting other things.

In any case, in an effort to do something different for their Pikapet profiles, I figured I'd dress up the few pictures I do have.

And since I sent Diamond to the beach, no reason Phantom couldn't go as well!

The glasses are from Gretchen at Gretchen's Paw Prattle, the I otherwise used the Pam Lafors Designs' Beachnick Mini Kit and Oceans by Butterfly kit. A couple of pieces of eight are from Digital Freebies' ArrrMatey kit.


Click on image to enlarge.

ArrrMatey also converted Tavi into the Dread Pirate Tavi, although I should point out that being the coward she is, she probably would scare herself in this get up.

Avast there and plot a course to port! She's got treasure to seek!

I guess I could piratize Samson next...

Maysie Baby

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This Quick Page came over as a freebie today on Digi-Free and it was pretty much what I was looking for in regards to Maysie. I only have a couple of shots of my little Poodle, died young. She was very sweet and intelligent and I still miss her very much.

It was created by Bridget at Freebies and Rest. She markets her designs at Bits2kits.com and this one looks pretty cute.

As I didn't have the kit, I added a couple of things from RetroDiva's Be Mine kit from Digital Scrapbooking Freebies.

Rutgers

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Rutgers was the former Mascot of the Fort Myers Miracle. He was "traded" at the end of the 2004 season to Hudson Valley Renegades of the New York Penn League and more or less retired from mascoting in favor of a person in a smelly, furry suit.

He was named for Rutger's University, his owner's alma mater, and he was the fourth in the line of Goldies the Miracle used as mascots starting in 1992 with the legendary Jericho, who was Rutger's great, great grandsire.

You can find more about Rutgers on Diamond's Blog which was the reason I did this piece in the first place.

This was done using Scrap Girl's Afican Beat Collection for no better reason than because I'd just purchased the kit and wanted to use it. I might have to redo it because I see a few errors, and I need to rescan the big pictures of Rut, so they are not so grainy. It's a little hard, working on the smaller screen at home to see what I'm doing.

I get Misty

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Misty is a 9 year old Rotty/German Shephard mix who lives with Peanut, her daughter, and Smokey, a Lynx-point Meezer, in Far Rockaway, New York. She was adopted from the North Shore Animal League and had one litter of 9 puppies with her Mom, Rose, before she was fixed. She is the Alpha Dog of her pack and is very protective of household, despite being a big mush (as she calls it) at heart.

I used Raspberry Roads Designs' Java Joe kit on this, which is a really nice freebie kit you can download from them.

Misty is one of the Pikapet Crowd, and got one of the posse badges, which was an idea that sort of fell by the wayside. We might pick it up again later, but I'm afraid that half of the Pikapet Crowd is a little too young for duel role playing (role playing your pets who will be role playing). And Rose would be running three characters which isn't really fair to her.

Bluewater Tavi

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Riki-Tiki-Tavi was my Husky/St. Bernard/Timber Wolf hybrid and she was a very nice dog, for a wolf. Not much of a guard dog though, as she was scared of her own shadow.

It would appear that Pet Places has closed down, so you can find more on Tavi on Pikapet.

I used Shabby Princess' Moody Blues kit on this one. The flowers are an element add in from Free Digital Scrapbooking.

Handsome Samson Sourmug

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This is my old bulldog, Samson, who I owned quite some years ago. He is not longer with us, but he was a fun fellow when he was around. He didn't just slobber on you, he slimed you!

Made with Shabby Princess' Sweet Serenity kit.

Tony the Irish Pug

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I'd been sharing the collages with the girls at work, and so I decided to do one with Joanie's Pug Tony on it. The whole thing was done in Photosuite, and I had one of her friends write back and ask me about digital scrapbooking. Now I have a blog I can refer her too.