Cat Gothic Arch

I did not play in the Gothic Arches Challenge last week as the theme was patriotic and my feeling of nationality is very confused. Officially my passport says I'm British, but really I live in Scotland and by birth I'm Dutch. I'm no longer sure who deserves my loyalty!

But this weeks' theme was irresistible as it is Cats and I have combined it with the July Image challenge on the Lost Art Creations Yahoo Group where we are given an image each month and it's up to us what to make with it. The image was of a vintage boy, dressed in a sailors' suit.

It made me think of ships and of course ships used to have a ships' cat to kill the mice and other vermin.

The background for this arch is watercolour paper and I added the top layer of a sea-themed paper napkin, using Mod Podge. I cut out the vintage boy which I had printed out onto photo paper and stuck it on with the same Mod Podge and I added the sailor's hat to his outfit. This too came from the same napkin and was applied in the same way. The cat was cut out of a vintage book and placed underneath the boys' hand. I added a shell German Scrap border (from Alphastamps) and some star fish which were adhered with Diamond Glaze. The whole arch was then stitched onto felt to give it more substance.

The text: Jolly Jack the sailor boy and the ships' cat was added with a Dymo writer.