Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Our Sweet Carl

Hey, everyone!

This post is pretty near and dear to my heart. It is probably no secret that I love cats, especially the sweet kitties that live at my mom's house. A few weeks ago, an irresponsible driver in her neighborhood took our beloved orange tabby Carl from us. We don't know who it was, but we know that our hearts are broken. It was so sudden, and some of us are having a rough go of the grieving process. So I created this nail art design to honor the memory of Carlito Bandito, as I liked to call him. Keep reading to find out more.


The first cat that my mom and stepdad adopted together, Carl was always full of sass and attitude. Like many cats, he was very particular about when it was acceptable to snuggle with him or give him attention. But if he decided that it was permissible, then oh my goodness, could he cuddle like crazy! He'd purr so loud that you could hear him from across the room. His face was always so full of fluff that it made his head look overstuffed, which in turn always made him look like he had happy smiling eyes. He loved his big brother, Reebok, and especially little sister, Ruby, and would always help give baths when they needed it.


I wanted to create some nail art that represented how Carl touched my family's lives. I started with two coats of OPI Where Did Suzi's Man-Go? on all of my nails. Then I used OPI It's a Piazza Cake to dry brush what looks like fur texture onto all of my nails. Next, I mixed those two colors to get a mid-tone orange and create some bands of darker fur color to imitate Carl's tabby fur. On my middle finger, I used white polish to paint the outline of a heart. Then I masked the area around the heart with liquid latex and stamped some paw prints using white polish and stamping plate hēhē 021. I did this because Carl left his pawprints on all of our hearts. I also stamped some kitty imagery from the same plate onto my thumb and pinky finger. I topped everything with a layer of topcoat.


Materials Used
OPI Where Did Suzi's Man-Go?
OPI It's a Piazza Cake
White franken stamping polish
hēhē 021 stamping plate 

When my mom told me what happened to Carl, I cried the whole way home from work and most of that evening. It will take us a while to accept what happened to our boy, but for now we will do our best to remember his quirky personality. Like how he loved to sleep in the sink, and how he kept my mom company while she got ready for her workday. If you have animal friends, take today to give them an extra love. Pets are more than just animals, they really are a part of our family. I'm sorry for the downer of a post, but I'm glad I had some time to create this little bit of art to remember Carl the Wonder Cat. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope everyone has a wonderful day!



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