Sunday, September 29, 2013

I decided last night it was time
to change things up a bit...
so I went in search of some new backgrounds and headers.
I am not huge into Halloween...
back in my childhood
it did not have the negative connotations that it does today.
It's sad that kids now
have no clue what fun it was then.
It was safe, it was oodles of fun
and the smell of new fallen leaves,
burning leaves and pumpkins
along with the crisp chill in the air
(your costume had to be big enough to accommodate
your winter coat underneath--some most years-
I grew up close to the shore of Lake Erie!)
 
Anyway,
decided this would do--
along with a mini me on a pumpkin
(really not-but looks exactly like me!)
the black kitty could be my Inky
and, speaking of which,
someone who gets very little play on my blog---
Miss Dolly.
 
My chief catnip toy tester,
aka BAD CAT
is under the weather--we`re not sure what`s up--
other than being extremely VOCAL all of a sudden...
we took a trip to the vet Friday-so we shall see what the lab work says.
Anyway-I digress-
my chief catnip toy tester wasn`t up to par.
So I went to the B-string.
 
Catnip toys are my best seller at craft shows.
I have sewn an army of catnip mice---tired of them.
I have sewn a sea full of catnip fish--tired of them.
So was trying to come up with something new...
a new version of catnip MOUSE...!
This was only after one cup of coffee--
so these are just my test toys.
Bad Cat and Poppa Cat just sniffed, gave a little toss
and stopped.
But Ms. Dolly....oh gosh Molly Ms. Dolly!
I should have filmed a video---
just scroll down really fast and you'll get the idea...
























 
 She was thrilled!
I think I need to make a little flip book of these shots!
Pardon the background--
I didn't edit these as I am sitting on our deck
facing the sun and ocean
and can barely see the screen!
She even came in for a close-up...

Lol.
That's my girl!
The shape of the toy really doesn't matter all that much-
that is more people-pleasing/teasing than anything.
If you have great quality catnip
that's all the cats care about.
These I did out of felt-
and I don't think the boys really like the feel of that.
I've tried it before and even with the great catnip--
they seem to bypass it.
Anyway.
Not decided yet.
But the catnip toy stock is down to 0
so I'd better get sewing!
 
That's it for today.
Until next time,
happy stamping and scrapping.
Blessings,
 

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Swimmingly Saturday...a week later....



I am madly working to get ready for our seasonal craft shows
and I made this first for Theresa's birthday...

It's an easel card and the mermaids
are actually earrings...

I love the blue and white...
it mimics the sea so well...


I attached a little message in a bottle charm
I think I chose "calm" for her...she always is
no matter how rough the seas...


 
Then I needed a thinking of you card...
and I stuck with the sea theme yet again...

 
Switching up...
one of the CTMH consults hosted an ATC swap
The theme was autumn...

Although that girl looks EXACTLY like me---it's not!
It's a digital image I purchased on-line

I put a layer of burlap down on cardstock
added the image printed out on photo paper
and because THERESA SAID I COULD (: )
I cut out and popped up the fairy girl
I promise I did a much better job of cutting her out
than this pic shows-
this was my sample---first try---
where in the h*e*double hockey sticks Picassa put my good photos
I don't know.

I liked that it looked like the big pumpkin was in pain
from her sitting on him
and the other one snickering.
Some fairy fun.

Until next time,
happy stamping and scrapping.
Blessings,



Sunday, September 22, 2013


Lots of rain
(in a variety of forms)
around here lately...
The pic doesn't show the
highlights with Liquid Glass
but it really gives it a boost in person.
As does the silver glitter strip...
 
Despite feeling down
I did a lot today-
some of it I can't say just yet--
a belated birthday gift for the one reader
of my blog!
But I did put the finishing touch on this...
 
and here's another what I am calling
itty bitty art work pieces-this is just 4"x4"...
 
and this was the view from my craft room window
that looks out onto our back deck...
The guy you see sleeping
is Bad Cat
aptly named today...
it started raining HARD at 4:30 am
and a certain cat wouldn't come in last night
at bedtime...
nor at 4:30 am when I woke up
to his pitiful meows..
he came in not 5 minutes later however
for hubby.
That BAD CAT!
 
Time for more coffee
and a certain cat is now meowing
to play in the water (sink).
It's going to be a
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG
day...!
 
Until next time,
happy stamping and scrapping.
Blessings,





Sunday, September 15, 2013

Even tho all I really want to do is this...
or this...

I worked on this instead...

It's not quite finished yet
there is a beautiful bow that needs to be added
like I put on this one:
but I don't have the ribbon yet.
 
On this one I wanted the center to mimic
the chalkboard effect that is so prevelant
in all the artwork today
so I used some Brilliance white ink
on Close to My Heart cardstock
with several CTMH alphabet stamp sets
and yes, a stamp from a flower set.
What?
you don't see any flowers?

That line--under "are important"
is the stem piece from one of the older flower sets!
Stretched it out and it worked perfectly!!!

I of course had to use pop-dots
so I stamped, cut out and popped up the "YOU"


I HIGHLY SUGGEST the non-sharpened pencils
vs. the sharpened ones!
There were no OWIES in working with the unsharpened pencils
I still have sore spots from handling the first one!
 
This is going to my best customer's daughter
who is a school counselor.
Hope she enjoys it!
I got a good laugh at myself last night
while hot-glueing 4 1/2 boxes of pencils down
I also managed to hot glue my Corel ware bowl
to the wreath!
I was using as a guide to butt the pencils up against
and it got stuck too! 

The perils and pitfalls!
 
Until next time,
hope things are better in your world than mine.
This, too, shall pass.
 
Happy stamping and scrapping.
Blessings,