Two dogs

The latest challenge at Twofers is Critters.  Now I don't own a dog, I'm more of a cat person, so the lovely dog stamps that came as a cover mount a few months ago have been sitting around uninked and I thought it was about time I put that right, so my critter is this shaggy dog.

My brother recently lost his beloved dog, which prompted me to start with a doggy sympathy card.

I used Versafine ink  and the Misti to stamp the dog,  sentiment and first set of pawprints, stamping 3 times to get a bold impression. Then I continued the line of pawprints, first with a single impression  and then, as they fade away, using the ink left on the stamp to give a much fainter image. I have to confess that even though I'm not a doggy person,  by the time I'd made those pawprints fade away like that, I seemed to have got something  in my eye....

Anyway, I needed cheering up after that and what could be more cheerful than Christmas?

This time I stamped the doggy with Memento ink and coloured him with Promarkers, then fussy cut him. Any other varifocal wearers, do you ever find that when you are fussy cutting, you end up tilting your head up and down like one of those nodding dogs that people used to have in car windows? The festive background was part of a recent magazine gift that I didn't think I would ever be using, but with a bit of modification it turned out to be just right for this. It came with lots of die cut decoupage,  but I used just one layer to add the baubles and garland, extending the garland out over the layers to the edge of the card. The Santa hat is the very last one from a Hot Off The Press pack i bought many years ago, and I added a die cut sentiment.

I am sharing both cards with

Twofer Card Challenge - Critters 


Shopping Our Stash - Dog Days of Summer 

2 Crafty Critter Crazies - September anything goes 

I am sharing the Christmas Card with Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge 

and the Sympathy Card with Little Red Wagon