Strange friends...laugh often

I have a friend who could definitely use a few laughs right now.  
Sometimes life just doesn't provide enough humor on its own to balance the frowny, hard times.

I'm hoping this card will brighten her day...a little.  

My friend and I are a little like this cat and dog... At first glance, we seem very different, but we always enjoy each other's company.*   

*Which is why I picked this particular (fun, quirky) sentiment from Paulette at CreateWithTLC.
I've had this wordart for quite a while...It just needed the right situation/card to go with it.  :) 

The two absolutely adorable images are both From the Heart digital stamps by Faith Skrdla.  Faith has a progressive "Stamp of the Month" challenge each month on the From the Heart blog (participation earns you a free stamp for the next month's challenge).
The cute "Kitten and Heart" is this month's freebie. It is also a part of the set, "Caught Your Heart".
The scruffy pup is from the new set, "Ali's Paper Hearts".
I love them both and they will probably make frequent appearances on my cards/projects!

Besides the stamps and sentiment, I got inspiration this week from a Sketch challenge and a Color challenge.  I know some people just love the challenge/thrill of stacking challenges...I just need the valuable nudge of inspiration that each challenge contributes.  :)

The beautiful CAS (clean and simple) sketch is from clean&simple stamping.

I love this blog because I am thoroughly a CAS gal (plus it's an inspiration-only blog)!!
For the third piece/element of the sketch, I added a house from a Silhouette cutting file (using the "print & cut" feature of my Cameo). I needed just the right bridge for these 2 friends and the house was perfect!

The color inspiration came from this week's Color Challenge (CC0128) over at The Outlawz challenges blogs.

I chose Rooster, Aqua and Slate as my Colors (the challenge was to pick & use 3 out of the 5 colors). The metal flower is my "twist" element (piece of metal) on the card.
I couldn't see what I wanted in my stash or at the craft store...but I found the perfect embellishment in the costume jewelry section of a dept. store.  I bought a pair of dangling earrings (on clearance, YAY) and cut them apart with pliers once I got home. Tada! New card embellishments.  :) 



Entry for the following Challenges:
From the Heart blog- Stamp of the Month January 2014
Clean&Simple Stamping- Sketch Challenge #277
The Outlawz- Color Challenge (CC0128)