Cat layouts with MME Meow

Hey Magpies, Rachel here to welcome you to March! I chose to use the new collection from MME, Meow this month. So here are 5 LO’s featuring my cat Taniwha! You may have seen some of these photos before but I just use what I have printed at the time and I don’t have kids, so I’m not scrapping for future generations, I scrap for me, right now, to make pretty things! Well…. I have to scrap to use the pretty things I buy cause then I can buy more and we all know that the shopping is the best part right!
Talking of shopping, I ordered everything in the MME Meow collection. I got it all and I’ve used it all too! I am going to re-order the Enamel Painted Pins cause those are so cool, I need to have some in my stash, they are a bit pricey but they’re really worth it. I don’t think that my photos of them show them to their full potential but they do add something really special to a page. And the Puffy Stickers are pretty freaking cool as well!
Did you guys know that Hey Little Magpie sells embroidery hoops? Have a look at them here. Following on from my circle LO’s last month, I ordered one of each size to carry on the circle-e-ness! This LO below is done using the 12″ Hoop and I plan to add it to the wall in my lounge. I love it and will definitely be doing more to decorate the house with!
I started with my hoop and trimmed my black cardstock to fit behind. I used papers from the 6×6 Paper Pad to layer behind my photo. I really wanted to add some machine sewing to the layers but the cat was asleep in his spot from the photo, which is on my craft desk and I didn’t want to wake him getting the sewing machine out! So I handstitched some circles with embroidery thread instead. I used a compass to draw the circles and then poked them with a pokey tool before stitching. Once that was finished, I did a border of Nuvo Crystal Drops in Caribbean Ocean. I so love my Nuvo drops!  I’ve embellished using chipboard stickers from the 12×12″ Chipboard Elements sheet, stickers from the 6×12″ sheet, one of the Enamel Painted Pins, Puffy Stickers and the Favourite HLM Flair Badge and some MAMBI Puffy Arrows. I can’t wait to get this on the wall now!

Here’s a close up cause there is a lot of dimension on this LO with stitching, Thickers (which I painted because they were rose gold and didn’t show up enough), flair, puffy stickers and Nuvo dots too.

Here’s a pic of the embroidery hoop on a little easel, that is the cat in the background in the position where the photo on the hoop was taken lol!

 

This next LO is super simple. I used the journalling cards from the Journal Card Pack and just cut a photo to the same size. I laid them out in a loose grid rather than getting all perfectionist about it and trying to get the exact same distance between each card lol! My title is one of the Chipboard Elements and I went over the ‘check meowt’ text with a black pen because it was white and it just didn’t show up enough for me. Then I layered up some of the 6×12″ stickers, more of the Chipboard Elements andsome Puffy Stickers. The LO was looking a bit boring so I added a border using the black & white striped B side of the Caturday Paper and that pepped it up a bit. I sewed around the edge with my machine and then dotted on some Nuvo Crystal Drops. I used Bubblegum Pink, Silver Lining and Bright Gold.

Just a little close up of the details.


Another super simple LO using the Journal Cards here too. This time, 2 cards and a photo in a vertical line. I added a border of the Polished Paper from the new Heidi Swapp Magnolia Jane collection. I had seen that paper and immediately wanted to use it as a border and I love it! Since I had sewed the last border on, I decided to do a border of Nuvo dots on this one, I used the Bubblegum Pink colour again. I did mess it all up in the bottom right hand corner when I was turning the paper around, I stuck my finger in a load of drops but I wiped them off with a tissue and re-did them and it was good enough for me! It was pretty hard to do this border because I’d badly bruised a finger and squeezing that bottle hurt! But OMG, I LOVE the effect, it is so awesome. Nuvo Crystal Drops are so cool, you’d never be able to make a border like this with proper enamel dots would you. But with Nuvo dots you can! My border is by no means perfect either, I can see all the spots where I’ve done one too small or one too big and then I’ve gone wonky a few times but when you see the whole border you don’t see the imperfections so much (thank god). I do need to say that my LO is straight in real life, it was just hard to photograph so the border looks a tad wonky!
My title is some old Thickers, I think they were from a Maggie Holmes collection. I made a banner from some old gold AC tape to go under some of the Chipboard elements on the top card and then used another of the Painted Enamel Pins under the title. Using Journal Cards on LO’s is a really easy way to get a LO done so fast. Use them in a grid, a vertical or horizontal line and chuck a photo on, embellish & done!

Detail shot to show the dimension, the border does look amazing on this LO (if I do say so myself) I will so be doing a border of dots again some time!


Next LO is another simple one (stick to what you know eh). I started with my photo and then used one of the cut off strips from the papers, along with another strip of paper. Then I used one of the Chipboard Elements as the title. I used some of the cats from the Die-Cuts Pack and then the little ‘meow’ is the logo off the bottom of one of the papers! I used some stickers from the 6×12″ sheet and more Nuvo Crystal Drops and was done.

A close-up of the dots and chipboard elements.


Last LO and I threw this one together in no time. I finally used a large photo I’ve had hanging around for years! So I put that on the background cardstock and then just did a little collection of embellishments. I used some of the Chipboard Elements and Puffy Stickers, sewed around the edge and then added the ‘love’ from the new Shimelle Thickers and some enamel hearts from the She Blooms Enamel Hearts Pack. Simple & finished!

Just a little close-up of the details.

 
Having a cat, I had to choose the Meow Collection to work with and I found the collection really easy to work with and create quick LO’s. The green and pink in this collection really reminded me of an old Making Memories collection which made me smile! I also loved creating a LO in the embroidery hoop too, I will be re-stocking the 12″ size of that in my stash for sure!