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,

 

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,

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,

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,