November Theme Challenge 52CCT

 Back in May my husband, adult kids and I welcomed a precious little maltese mix that we named Ziva into our lives.   At the first of September an emaciated cat settled on our front porch and the man who takes card of our yard asked if I had food and water (which I did).  As it turns out my neighbor has adopted this sweet cat and she is starting to thrive...That's how love works!    In the process of all this we met (I renewed acquaintance with her) with a cat lover in the cul de sac behind us.  She was going through that mini woods behind our fences looking for her cat a big yellow cat and Catalina is black and white.  She ended up finding her cat which we were thankful for.   All this leads me to share why a fox family picture card for this Winter Countryside theme challenge from Gill over at 52 CCT.   It seems there is a fox den in the mini woods and the fox suns him or herself in one of the neighbors in the cul de sac's back yard.   We think we have raccoons, we know we have deer, squirrels and rabbits.   People have spotted cayotes and we have a huge hawk.   This has all happened in the last few years!  When the leaves fall we can see the houses behind us.  The animal habitats continue to be invaded and they are doing the best they can.   Ziva at 10 lbs. always goes out on a leash and we keep a close eye on her, mainly because she loves to grab acorns, mulch and sticks in her mouth.   I perform mouth sweeps 2 or 3 times during an outdoor potty break.   

As for the card the sentiment is stamped (SU retired).    But the scene was built using the fox family etsy image, the trees digital from Jan's digitals (Copied and sized and then copied several more times as transparent images.  That's why they overlap.   The foxes were sized and then copied as transparent to the panel.  I was able to continue tweaking their size.   I printed an extra panel and cut and popped the fox family up.     I had in mind a card that is actually a newsletter on the inside where the family puts the picture on the front.    I also used the snowflakes to create a Currier and Ives look. I topped the snowflakes with green SU Elements from the current catalog.   It was a lot of fun and I'm pleased with the result.   It actually came together in a couple of hours (once I figured out what I wanted to use)   I was surprised at how easily I was able to use Word and Paint to layer the images.     

Once again I am grateful to all of you who visit faithfully and leave such encouraging comments..    May the Lord grant to all of you who will celebrate Thanksgiving this next Thursday have what you need and may we all look for ways locally to help those who are in need.   Love and prayers,   Kathy

the sentiment on my card reads:

May the Christmas season bring you

special moments & happy memories