This month is Adopt-A-Cat Month and Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month, and last Thursday the 4th was Hug Your Cat Day [though Humble has to put up with hugs every day]. :D Today is Best Friends Day, and when I saw this page on the Best Friends' site [LOVE seeing all the pet pictures!], I was so moved and immediately printed out one of the signs so I could take some pictures with Humble. :o) I'm really camera-shy usually, but here's one that I think still shows how much I love this little guy...
:o)
The other sign they have that you can print says "I saved my Best Friend." I really think Humble saved me, though. We've gone through a lot together [I adopted him over ten and a half years ago!], and he's helped me through many tough times, more so than anyone else. I really wish I could give him what he's given me, though I think I'd always fall short. I don't think animals get the credit they deserve for how much they help and uplift us.
My blog's been quiet, but I've still been making things and learning a lot. :D I've wanted to create my own Humble portraits for quite a while but wasn't sure what medium to try. I wanted something that would allow me to get a really soft look to his fur but still let me add a good amount of detail where I wanted it. I decided to try pastel pencils, and I've found myself a new craft love...
Humble's portrait in progress. :o)
I got myself a set of Conté pastel pencils, and I've loved drawing with them so much that I already got another brand of pastel pencils so I could have more colours to play around with [will talk/write more about these in an upcoming post!]. I love that you can smudge them to get a really soft look, smudge slightly for softened lines, and also draw with more detail if you like. They're so different from the other supplies I use in my crafting, so it's been really fun trying a medium that's new to me. I still love using my other colouring supplies, but drawing with these has woken me up from my regular crafting habits. :o)
I was so happy to find those two greens [to the right of Humble's portrait] in the Conté set! By blending those greens and adding a bit of brown for detail, I was able to capture Humble's eye colour quite closely. Hoo-hoo! The cat mug above my book there holds the other colours I'm using for Humble's portrait.
Since we're talking about Humble [my favourite subject], here's a scrapbook page I made back in April 2014...
Love is a Four-Legged Word. :o)
I WISH I could take credit for that sentiment...but I can't. :D I don't know who came up with it originally, but if anyone knows, let me know! I first saw it on a sticker from BoBunny and later in a Graphic 45 collection and just thought, "Aw, I wish I came up with that!" If I ever saw it in rubber stamp form, I would buy it in a heartbeat.
The picture of us was taken eight years ago -- how time flies! I don't look or dress like that anymore, but the love is still the same. Actually stronger. :o)
