Oh Halloween

Smokey ended up taking his trip to the PetCo the other day for the costume contest. Although he was not dressed as a pumpkin, at the last minute I was unable to locate the fabric (I'm convinced he'd hidden it). So I was forced to improvise and with some help from my mom (as I'm not much of a seamstress), we made him into 'Halloween Night.'
Of course once we got there, Smokey was his charming self, everyone wanted to pet him and he didn't mind a bit. No one had a bad word to offer, just lots of oogling and awing over how cute he was with his hat on. Although he was the only cat that showed up (along with about 13 dogs and 3 guinea pigs), he didn't win (had it been audience choice, I think he would have). Although one of the guinea pigs (Jake dressed as a commando) won 3rd place.

Speaking of this spooky holiday, with its arrival, I had a chance to complete the first in my line of Smokey Creations greeting cards. Usually when I begin working on something, any project really, I'll make sketches before hand, trying out several different ideas. This card however came to me pretty quickly and there wasn't much of a before hand process.

My original idea varied slightly from the one you see below, but with a few changes, I think it has a much more appealing look. And here you can see how my process went from a sketch, to the finished card.

Original Sketch

Finished Card