“Beauty of Friendship” Card Tutorial

Hi Friends! I hope you had a nice weekend! I had a bit of a stressful & emotional weekend. My 14-year-old kitty, Lewis, was having difficulty breathing so we had an emergency visit to the vet. Turns out Lewis had fluid in his lungs and also has an enlarged heart (partially due to his thyroid issue that we only found out about last month).

Lewis has dropped from 19lbs to 10lbs – in a month and a half – so his health took a turn really fast. He’s only been on his thyroid meds for a few weeks now. I wasn’t sure if he was having a reaction to the medication but alas, it turned out to be his heart and lungs. Poor Lewis couldn’t even lie down because it affected his breathing, so he was sitting all day Saturday and into the night, exhausted because he couldn’t sleep. He’d try to lie down and after a few seconds he’d sit up again, breathing through his mouth. I stayed up most of the night on Saturday, cupping his little head in my hand, to help him relax and sleep a bit (I was a crying wreck, not knowing if Lewis was going to make it through the night).

We were at the vet first thing yesterday morning. Lewis was given an injection to help remove the fluid in his lungs and then Brian and I gave him another injection at home and then switched over to the liquid meds. We were even up at 2 am to give Lewis a scheduled dose of medicine.

Today there is a big improvement – thank goodness. Lewis is breathing MUCH better and can finally lie down comfortably and sleep. He’s eating, which is good. This morning Lewis even purred, which he wasn’t able to do all weekend (because of the fluid). Now we’re waiting to get heart medication to go along with his thyroid medicine and he’s still on the meds to keep the fluid out of his lungs AND we need him to put some weight back on.

Oh My Lord. My furbabies are my WORLD, so I’ve been quite distraught. All my previous cats have lived to 18 – 20 years, and I just thought Lewis, though on the old side, had a few more years yet. So I’m hoping and PRAYING that he makes a good recovery. We’re also going away for two weeks next month so I’m also praying Lewis is better before we go.

So that was my weekend. Not fun. I managed to get this month’s card class pre-cut yesterday and ready for the mail. I needed the distraction but I also worried that if something happened to Lewis there would be no way I could concentrate on work! I also spent a couple of hours in my garden picking the rest of our black currants – which was good therapy for me. I’ll keep y’all posted on how Lewis is doing.

I’ve got a quick and easy card tutorial to share with you today, featuring the “Beauty of Friendship” bundle. While this is a simple card it is also very pretty. You could also kick it up a notch by running the Basic White card stock through an embossing folder. Or, make it a Christmas card, using blues and white and cutting the birds from gold or silver card stock!

Measurements:

• Crumb Cake: 5-1/2” x 8-1/2”; 3-1/2” x 5” (die-cut tree)
• Basic Black: 3-1/4” x 5-1/4”
• Basic White: 3” x 4-1/4”
• In Colors: scraps (die-cut birds)

Instructions:

1. Apply Adhesive Sheet to 3-1/2” x 5” Crumb Cake cardstock. Die cut tree image.
2. Die cut (1) bird in each of the (5) In Colors.
3. Stamp sentiment in lower right corner of white cardstock using black ink.
   Layer onto black cardstock. Attach to folded Crumb Cake card base.
4. Peel off adhesive backing on tree; attach to card front.
5. Attach (5) birds to tree using mini dimensionals.

Supplies:

• Stamp Sets – Beauty of Friendship(154983 OR BUNDLE 155834)
• Cardstock – Crumb Cake (120953); Fresh Freesia (155613); Polished Pink (155710); Evening Evergreen (155574); Soft Succulent (155776); Pale Papaya (155668); Basic Black (121045); Basic White (159276)
• Stamp Pads – Memento Black (132708)
• Misc. – Beautiful Trees Dies (155840); Mini Dimensionals (144108); Adhesive Sheets (152334); Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine (149653 / Mini: 150673)

Enjoy the day & HAPPY STAMPING!