Cat and Mouse Games

House Mouse stamps never fail to warm my heart and make me smile. Ellen Jareckie, the artist who designs the stamps, has created a little world of critters who are all friends. She has other lines of animal stamps, but the mice are my favourites.

Each mouse has a name and a personality. Mudpie, who's shaking the petals from the tree, is said to be lazy, and has a notched ear, due to his brother, Maxwell, mistaking his ear for a piece of cheese. Muzzy, who's enjoying the rain of perfumed petals, is fuzzy and has really long hair. The cat? The cat is a Friend. Only the mice have names.

There are several stamps with the mice interacting with cats, grooming them, giving them treats, bandaging a hurt paw. As one who loves animals, cats in particular, I love seeing cats and mice being friendly. The House Mouse world is an animal Garden of Eden, where mischief is often on the menu, but never a Friend or Mouse.

I made this card for the House Mouse and Friends Monday challenge HMFMC201. The current Monday challenge is Flower Power, or Anything Goes, as long as one of the House Mouse line of stamps is used. If you love the House Mouse critters, do check out the House Mouse and Friends blog.

Blossoming Friendship is the name of the stamp I used. I coloured it with Stampin' UP Water Color Wonder Crayons (retired) and Markers. The sky was sponged. It's an A2 (4 1/4"x5 1/2") size. Note: A base has been added to this card. It was originally a single-layer card, but I had neglected to note that the measurements of the stamp fit those of a 4"x5.25" layer, so I cut the extra bits and attached it to a 4.25x5.5 SU Blushing Bride base.

Signs of Spring

 The buds on the tree at my balcony promise the arrival of Spring and warm weather. I check them out every day, eager to see the first tender leaves unfurl. Green grass, bless it, arrives early,  when the first thaw begins. Grass greening up at the very edge of a melting snowbank never ceases to amaze and delight me.

The second picture shows another harbinger of warm weather, which some call Street Repair Season. Soon, the city's potholed arteries will be almost as easy to navigate as a mine field. Translation of the sign for the French-challenged; "Road Work/Saint Foy Road/May." I hope the calender's month of May and the city's have the same number of days. I shall try to think of street repairs as adventures; they make us discover streets I never knew existed.


In spite of street repairs and rainy, windy days, I love Spring, for the same reason I love mornings; they both speak to me of hope. They whisper to me that discouragement should have no place in my heart, because road repairs mean improvement, rainy days promise new blooms, and I've learned from Winter that out of death comes new and brighter life.

Of Cats, Mice, Tea, and Harlequins

The Harlequin Games card is one I've been planning for some time, finally made last week. The bg stamp is SU Print Pattern, the Harlequin is a bonus pattern from the February/March 2007 issue of Stampers' Sampler magazine, and the "inchies" are CS Designs digital stamps, "Harlequin Images", and "Solitaire".

The teapot was done for a challenge by the group, ATC Artists, "Tea with Royalty", in honor of the wedding of Prince William and Catherine. I was a bit cheeky in using Alice in Wonderland images!

The other cards are ATCs, made for ATC Artist swaps with the themes, "Cats" and "Mouse House". Being a House Mouse stamps nut, I used those images instead of creating two ATCs of mice houses. The last two ATCs were made to make up for my mistake. I just had to make a story of these last, with one lucky mouse making a friend of a cat, and the other cleverly escaping through the "roof" of his house.

Spring doth cometh???

Outside my window, the sun is shining gloriously again, and although the snowbanks are still piled high, one has reason to believe in spring!

Another sign; one of the two cats ventured out onto the balcony this morning, in spite of the thin layer of icy snow still there. He walked around, shaking each paw after it touched down, but stayed out for a good....two minutes.

The cats are better than any thermometer for telling me how many layers I need to put on before venturing out for a walk. When I open the patio door for them, and they squeeze their eyes, shake their ears, turn and run for a cozy spot, I don't need the weatherman to tell me the windchill factor! Today, then, I have no excuse for not going out and walking in the sun.

The ATCs were done for a swap whose theme was "Ageless Beauty". I did do one on cats, but wasn't satisfied with it. I wish you all a great day, or restful evening, wherever and whenever you are!