Warm memories

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps Built and this week we have a fun color/photo inspiration challenge for you:

I made this card for my grandmother who's cat had to be put to sleep last week.  She's had the cat for almost 18 years and it had been her faithful companion since my grandfather died almost 9 years ago.  I'm sure she's taking this loss pretty hard as she now lives completely alone (don't worry, there is a lot of family living around her, so she's not all alone!)

I started out by measuring my "Dimond Deco, Sil (lg)" stamp and marking out a grid on my cardstock, so I could stamp the image in a nice, lined-up pattern.  I stamped it in a dark gray, stamping off on scrap paper first to get a muted color.  Then I stamp over it with "Sheet Music" in black.  Then I die cut it using a stitched rectangle die and inked the edges with dark gray to soften them.  I also used the dark gray (stamped off once) to stamp the strip of flowers and leaves and sponged the edges as well.    I used some silver Texture Gems (similar to liquid pearls) to dot the center of the large flower.  I really love how this card turned out!  I hope you will get a chance to play along with us this week.  Head on over to The House blog to see how this photo inspired the rest of the DT, you will NOT be disappointed!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions: "Dimond Deco, Sil (lg)", "Sheet Music", "Daisy Outline, sm.", "Leaf Outline, sm.", "Daisy Outline, lg", "Leaf Outline, lg", "Cat Sitting Sil." and "Warm Memories"
Dies: MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle; Spellbinders "Classic Standard Ovals, large" and "Standard Cirles, large"

Challenges:
Retro Rubber #58--anything goes (the music stamp, the cat stamp and the sentiment are all nearly two years old--in June)
{Pin}spirational #186--photo inspiration (I was inspired by the black and white colors and I added some flowers)

Sweet Stampin'--anything but birthday
Cuttlebug Mania--sketch

Dare2B Artzy--lots of layers
Divas That Cut--For the love of animals/pets
Scrapper's Delights #64--anything goes