Monday, January 11, 2010

Birthday Raccoon



When I was in sixth grade, I read the book Rascal by Sterling North and fell in love with the idea of having a pet raccoon. The whole point behind Rascal is that the raccoon is a wild animal and must be released back into the wild. By the way, this makes it a much better story than either the movie Ring of Bright Water or the book/movie Old Yeller. My sixth-grade self couldn't handle either of those stories.

Neither can my 43-year-old self. I actually cried watching the commercial for Dog Town the other night. The spaniel with both front legs in green casts totally wiped me out.

But even in sixth grade, I was smart enough to realize that wild animals are, indeed, wild animals and shouldn't be caged or kept for my personal entertainment. Instead, I pretended I had a pet raccoon, and really, my Rascal was an outstanding pet who didn't eat or poop or tear up my bedroom.

As you might imagine, every time I see a raccoon now, I think of that library book I checked out in sixth grade. I bought this set from Hero Arts just for the raccoon. Isn't he adorable? I colored him with prisma pencils, a fact I noted on my calendar seeing as it's such a rare event.

I'm not sure about the black thread in the button. Af first, it had orange floss, but the orange wasn't an exact match for the rick-rack, and it looked funny. In changing it to black, I was hoping for a visual triangle of black, but now, I look first at the button, not the raccoon, and it feels distracting. I may change it to white and see what happens. What do you think?

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Palette Noir
cardstock: SU cool caribbean, PTI white
accessories: rick-rack, button, floss, dimensionals, prisma pencils

29 comments:

  1. Love the story and the card. The ads on tv for supporting the Humane Society are the ones that totally do me in. Very happy and cheery card.

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  2. I like the black thread. Cute racoon.

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  3. I love the card and the black thread. I think white on white would blend in too much with the white space. That's my humble opinion. Racoons are significant in our family, too. Our oldest daughter has a stuffed toy racoon, well-loved by her and now five nieces and nephews, who gravitate to it over all other choices. Luckily, Ricky is washable.

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  4. Very cute. I love the blue background and the button

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  5. Cute story and cute card! I like the black thread, I think it makes the raccoons eyes stand out...Love these colors too!

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  6. So sweet! I love that CAS can also be cute!
    On another note, thank you so much for your amazing comments on my cards on SCS - you're so encouraging to embrace the CAS style!
    x

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  7. Just leave it alone. It works this way. I saw the raccoon first as intended. Cute simple card.

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  8. The racoon's so cute, he's the focus no matter what else you do. My opinion and $1.35 gets you a frozen Mocha at Costco. :-)

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  9. What a cute card! Do you have charcoal gray thread? Since the thread is thicker than the lines in the image and the text, the black seems too thick and dark. But a charcoal gray (or even a lighter gray) might blend in more but also complete your triangle. But it's cute as is! The orange rick-rack is so fun!

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  10. The first element of the card I noticed was the cutie patootie racoon. I think the black in the button does indeed make everything connected. I really like the rick-rack.

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  11. Sharon D, I think you nailed it! Thanks!

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  12. I love this cute card! I also agree with Sharon D :) At first I was going to say white but I like her suggestion best.

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  13. I like the black thread but after reading Sharon's idea I think that might be better. I do like the rick rack, adds an element of fun!

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  14. The coloring of the little raccoon is awesome. I think he's the cutest little guy! And I love that reading is so powerful that a lot of years after reading that book, it still stirs up a bunch of memories.

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  15. I had never even heard of this book till now, so I for sure will keep it away from DD, she is on a serious pet aquistion kick right now.
    The card is great, the black thread was a non issue for me. I was too busy looking at the cute critter.

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  16. I like the card the way it is. Never saw the black thread til you mentioned it. Saw the cute raccoon and bright ric rac first.

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  17. I love it just the way it is, too! Although I was surprised to see a line image colored in by you!!! Quite a treat (and I love the story that goes with it!)!!!!

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  18. Very cute raccoon. I love the rick rack. I do thing the button is an attention getter. White thread may help. I do like the card just the way it is.

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  19. He is a cute raccoon. Every time I see one I think of the movie, The Great Outdoors. Too funny!

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  20. Love this Hero Arts set. Last year for Valentine's day I made a card with the raccoon and the skunk on a hill holding hands with tiny hearts above them and the sentiment "you make my world happy". It was a big hit.
    The gray floss suggestion is "right on" I think.

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  21. Try this trick that I learned on the net somewhere.
    Cut a thin, thin strip of the cool carib, run it through the button, glue it on the back and lose the flailing tails.
    I think?
    Gail

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  22. I think it definately creates that triangle. You will lose that with the white thread but it might make the button a less dominant feature. Regardless, I think it is awesome that you colored that cute little raccoon in!!!! I have been reading all of the Newberry award books and some of the honorable mentions - which includes Old Yeller....cried my eyes out!!!!

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  23. I read Rascal at around the same age as you, great book. And YOUR raccoon -- what a cutie! Maybe you should dust those prisma pencils off more often, your colouring looks fabulous!

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  24. I had actually never heard of the book Rascal until this year when 2 of my kids were reading it. And, come to find out, that Sterling North was from a little town about 20 miles South West of us. So in late October our school took 3 grades (about 60 kids) on a field trip to his boyhood home. It was pretty interesting. I of course had to have my kids tell me a little background of what we were going to be learning about before we went. They thought it was fun to 'teach' mom about something for once. :D

    Love the card; the raccoon is cute!

    Becky P. (SE Wisconsin)

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  25. I agree with the charcoal thread idea. I can't read books or watch movies about animals because if they get hurt in any way I cry for days! I love your blog. Thanks for the suggestion for people like me who copy cards exactly. It has inspired me to try to be more creative, even when I think I'm not!

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  26. I love your story, and your card is just darling!! Love that raccoon and your fun rick-rack! Looks like you already have your answer. *wink*

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  27. Don't you just love the stunned look on the racoon's face. He looks great with the ric-rac and button

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!