Gelli cat

This was the first card I made this year and it took me way too long to come up with an idea for it.

The biggest problem was that I had set the bar really high last year when I made the Kitty Close-up card. That card was super-personalised, based on a photo of her cat, and I was really pleased with how it turned out technically too.

So with time running out and no blinding flash of inspiration incoming, I reverted to checking my list of techniques I want to try.

My starting point was this “Illustrated Ghosts” tutorial by Amy Shawley Paquette, though I did do a lot of things differently by the end.

I made my own cat stencil and mask, drawing it on the Mac and cutting it out with the Cricut Maker. I used them, along with a few other stencils, some acrylic paints and my Gelli plate, building the layers up until I was eventually happy with the result.

I trimmed it down and mounted it on some thin card with a narrow border, before adding it to a tall card — not a card format I often use, but it worked for this design. A chunky die-cut sentiment over the top finished it off.