YAPPING CAT STUDIO

Summer is Flying By!

Hard to believe that the middle of July is almost upon us!  Time is just flying by isn't it?  Summer will soon be over and the holiday's will be oh so near. 

I'm trying to wrap my mind around Christmas and Fall crafting, but a wee bit hard to do in 100 degree weather.  How are you inspired to craft this soon?  Some hum Christmas Carols, but to me, that's just annoying any time of the year.  LOL.  Turn the AC down and pretend its cold outside?  Good, but not energy efficient.  I guess one just has to wrap their mind around it and think wintry thoughts. 

But speaking of Fall and Christmas Crafting...I will have some fun, exciting news to share, hopefully in a month or so!  A year in the making and I can hardly wait to share!  But until then...

... since I have not been crafting this week what have I been doing?  Shopping!  LOL.  I do love Etsy.  And look at this great chalkboard tag I found at OliveRue!  Crystal does some of the cutest little chalkboard items you have ever seen.  And I'm such a sucker for chalkboard!
 
I bought these for Christmas gifts...but thought they would be great for organizing too!  Love this one for keeping my tea towels and kitchen linens all in one spot.  Handy for guests that feel the need to clean (don't I wish).  And this way, they don't have to rummage in my drawers.  LOL.  And I think a few of these cute tags will find their way into the studio as well. 

Go check out OliveRue and see what Crystal is up too, she has some cute stuff.

And speaking of Etsy and holiday crafting, check out my Etsy.   I'm having a "Christmas in July" shop.  I've loaded in some new ribbons and some fun craft things.  Anything to feel cooler and inspired in this wicked, hot, summer (which will soon be over) weather. 

Cute Ribbon!

Love this red and white polka!

Would these not be great mixed in with a garland? 

I sat and punched this one night from a huge stack of used vintage Christmas cards.  So hey, I'm "green" and re-cycling.  LOL.  Great old images, reminds me of my childhood. 

Hey, it's waaay to early to hum carols, in fact for me, always too early to hum anything.   But how about a cup of cocoa?  And we can turn the AC way down low!  And pretend to "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow". 

Think frosty thoughts and Happy Weekend! 

"Back in the Saddle Again"

LOL.  Sorry, could not resist a "Cowgirl" pun. 

And it has been hard to get "back in the saddle" of everyday life.  With all of the June Paper Cowgirl put to rest and then the Fab 4th (which was a "blast"...LOL, pun intended).  Well, now here we are, back to the hum drum of everyday routine, hence, back in the saddle again. 

I've not had anytime to work on anything new, so I thought I would show you what I taught at PC. 

I'd been playing with journaling.  And since I taught a hand-writing class at Paper Cowgirl, I threw a "little journaling" in, so students could use their new found penmanship skills.  I still have much progress to make, but I like the start. 

I loved the idea of using an old book (Reader's Digest Condensed - cheap! and usually plentiful).  Gluing a few pages together and gessoing over the text is a good way to start.  But then I found, I liked the page better without the gesso.  (Click on any page to see larger).

This page was fun to do, and I loved the quote.  I did a packing tape transfer (the chart).  The page is simply dry-brushed with an acrylic, dried and then I used Prisma Color Pencil on top of acrylic and hand-writing.   And for the little colored details and the nest in her hair.

This page was basically the same thing.  I love the printed page showing throw just a little bit.  And I love Emerson...love this quote, sounds like an "enchanted forest" to me. 

On this page, again, a light acrylic paint, dry brush, and then, stamping, gluing down paper bits and doodling.  This one incorporates a napkin transfer (one of my fave things to do).  Those can be painted over, scribbled over, or stamped over...once dry of course.   I hope to experiment more and more and become bolder in the pages that I do.  This, is just the beginning.  I'll share along the way.

Oh, another reason for that title is this:  Tee and I are working on a "mini" Cowgirl.  Yep, a special, one day event, to be held on Saturday, October 3rd.  Three wonderful new teachers and three new classes, a Beeswax painting, a Stitched Wristlet and a Crown Class.  We hope to have the details up on the Paper Cowgirl blog later this week.  Or Click on the Cowgirl button above, and like Dorothy's slippers, it will take you to the blog.  

Happy Monday.

All This and Shopping Too!

 

As promised, here are pics from the Vendor Show.  This year we had over fourteen amazing dealers.  I tried to get shots from each booth, but my stupid cam batteries were dying.  But hopefully this will give you an idea of what was shown.  

So many wonderful things to see, so many creative booths to shop from, it was a treasure trove of shopping and sugar (frosting shots).  What an evening.  By nine I was stumbling around in a daze from seeing so many cute things and a sweet overload (the Mint 3 Musketeers Shot was the best!).

Pinwheels made out of old book pages and lots of Bingo cards and old sheet music.  This booth of Marie's was adorable.   Her sister Maggie threw a few things in as well.  Maggie and I go way back and I had no idea that these two were related.  Talent definitely runs in the family.
 
Tina's  mannie stole the show with lots of soldered necklaces adorning her neck.

A lovely piece made by Dale of Sea Dream Studio.  We were blessed to have her this year again, as she taught at the first PC.  She is so very talented.  And cute to boot! 
 
Cute Jamie, not only organized the coolest paper swap, but had a wonderful array of vintage goodies to choose from in her booth, including these assorted letters.  Which I know I'm going to wish I had bought more of. 

Lovely bobbles of thread in old bins, all artfully displayed in her booth as well.  Was a delight to get to meet her.  And no, she did not look like Jo-Jo The Dog-Faced Boy (as she had warned she might due to a nasty case of poison ivy).

A flock of fancy, frilly, flamingo's frolic in Jan T's booth.

This wonderful jacket hung in Maggie and Marie's booth.

Frosting shots!  Little tubs of sugar overload.  Kept me dazed and confused.  Someone with wishful thinking was hoping for liquor laced frosting...but nope, just sugar.  These are strawberry and the chocolate!  Not shown, the peanut butter and 3Musketeers Mint (my fave!).  And yep, they are just little cups of nothing but frosting. 

Loved this sweet little bit of ballerina outfit in Joanna's booth.  She and Angela did a wonderful job of display all sorts of cute things. 

Ann-Denise (the Queen of Crepe!), her booth was a frothy, confection of glitter and fun.  As is she! 

Sweet boxes that look like tiered cakes.

Three cheers for the red, white and blue.

Nancy  had fun vintage cones and fun, vintage, Oriental paper lanterns.  (And check out the cool slide show on her blog - she's amazing). 

Carrie Gunning had some great art work in her booth. 

I especially loved this piece.

Tea Dyed ribbons and buttons adorn this booth.  All the vintage millinery was gone by the time I got back around.  Dang it! 

It was such fun.  And there were so many more wonderful areas to shop, but my batteries were dying and I was unable to get shots of it all.  Heat-felt thank yous to all that participated.  We sure did appreciate all your wonderful, hard work. 

I hope you enjoyed the vendor show tour.  Thanks for looking.

Happy (almost) Thursday.

A Day at the Paper Cowgirl Retreat!

We laid out the badges.  (Badges?  We don't need no stinkin badges! Which I believe came from the movie, "Blazing Saddles", appropriately enough).  LOL. 

Set up the welcome sign.

And put out the Freebies! Thanks Funky Finds! 

And in a short time, the lunches arrived.  And they smelled wonderful. 
 
Classes had begun.

And they sounded like they were fun!  (JT's Art from the Heart Canvas Class).

And the MAGIC began to happen!

Nancy's canvas during the class.  It (as well as all of the other's) were truly amazing works of art.
 
Classes in progress.

And this was from Tina's Soldered House class.  Magical.  Indeed.

And glitter abounds.  Dorothy (otherwise known as Ann-Denise) could click those glittery, pink, heels and wish herself home if she wanted!  But why would any Cowgurl, Rhinestone or Glitter, want to be anywhere else. 

Tomorrow's post.....the Vendor Show.  You won't believe your eyes!

Happy Tuesday!

My Hero's Have Always Been CowGurls!

With a nod to Mr. Nelson (thats Willie to y'all down in  Luckenbach), well, after this weekend, my hero's are CowGIRLS!, not Cowboys. 

I'll post more tomorrow...but for right now...I'm just plain pooped.  Between the non-stop weekend, and then today at work day at Dallas Market, whew.  Tuckered out. 

But it was a fantastic weekend, full of fun, creativity, wonderful gals, laughter.....and a great pair of GLITTERED Cowboy Boots!  Those were awesome Ann-Denise!

Happy (Yawn!) Monday!

What? Nothing?

Yep, nothing.  I'm sorry.  I wish I had some fantastic new thing to show you, but the the truth of the matter is, I've been to dang busy.  LOL. 

Well, I have been creating, but its a gift for my nieces baby shower.  And its just a little something and I did not want to bore you with that.  And then of course the weekend was busy with work at the store and Dad's Day.  And now I'm getting ready for 42 Crazy Cowgirls to hit town.

I had hoped to be able to post along as I prepared, but that's not gonna happen.  LOL.  However, I plan on posting later in the week, as everyone begins to arrive.  So you can see for yourself this wild group.  LOL. 

Until then, I'm going to take a few days off and finish getting prepared for these gals.   Can't believe Thursday is almost here.   Can't wait to show you how it all turns out.  Till then...

...Happy Monday.

All that glitters

Is this sweet little pink birdie.  She's all dressed up to go out.  But. 

Sometimes she likes to stay home.  "And in her nest, she was surrounded by the things she loved".  And what does she have in her nest?  Why a bit of this and that.

A bit of ribbon, a vintage pearl, a vintage bead, a button and a wee scrap of old seam binding.  She tucked in a vintage piece of flocked wall paper and a bit of broken china.

And she loves to read, so she even found a bit of an old book page.  She is all done up in shades of pink, in her jaunty, toile party hart, but her feet hurt and she decided to just stay home. 

She's at my Etsy.

Happy Thursday.

Yet, another mini book

If you can stand it.  LOL.  Finally finished this.  And I was quite pleased with the way it turned out.
 
I tried to cram (that would be the professional term) as much vintage things into this one as I could.

With a mix of new as well.  It all started with 7 Gypsies stickers.  Then I threw in some  Cosmo Cricket, and a little of  My Mind's Eye.
 
I wanted it to be a fun, sweet book on the "everyday" of life.  Not the vaca moments, not the BIG moments...but the little, daily things.

This time I put in a lot of little weird quarter pages...fun to turn, fun to journal on.

I like the way the edges peek out or over.

And I put in lots of "clip on" pages too.  Above is "with".

Here is "without". 

With. 

Without.

This is without its tags.  I wanted a funky, little pocket, where a person could stuff photo's or memento's of some sort. 

Here it is with the tags and stuff back in the little pocket.  (Sorry, blurry - ugh).

Another "one-quarter page".

Again.

I liked this one with the overlay.

And a pocket. 

My "artsy" pics always turn out crappy!  LOL.  I try and take from an interesting angle and it always seems to fall short.  Oh well.  Such is life.  Hey...I could journal that in the book, if I was keeping it.  LOL.    And I loved the last page..."things my Mother never told Me" is what the sticker reads.  But I had to add.  "actually she did tell me, but I didn't listen"....LOL. 

Well, thanks for looking.  I'm tossing this little guy into my Etsy.

Happy Wednesday.

At the "nest"

Someone (named Tina), mentioned that I had not posted on my booth or the store in quite some time.  Since we just got everything "prettied up" for our big home-tour weekend, I thought I would take a few snaps around the store,  and give ya a peek.

This is the front of our booth. 
 
Loved these pretty berries.  I won't be too sad if they don't sell. 

One of my own little paintings.  I'm always stuck on a bird/nest thing. 

See?  Just seems to be a common theme for my Sister and me.  But actually we have some kitchen stuff and beach stuff and other stuff in there as well.  Not all bird stuff. 

This is in the front of the store.  Looking up.  I love the summery, fresh look of the flowers that are entwined into the big, twig chandi.  Such an awesome statement, that chandi.  I wish my entry way was bigger.  And my budget.

It's great huh?

We've got the purple thing going on.  And lavender is such a natural for summer.  Love that scent.

And summer roses too!  Here we have a fun mix of Lollia, Kelly Rae Robetrs canvases and antique Rose Garden books. 

Back at the front of the store, more nests, cages and eggs.  Ha.  Go figure.  We do love our nests here.  Those books are actually boxes.

OK, I just love this.  Quite fun huh?  I think it would be great in a kid's room.  A circus theme with performing lions maybe? 

Pretty jewelry.  Many pieces hand-made by the gals that work here.  Sometimes it does make it hard to have a pay-check at the end of a two week period...that's for sure. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed the little tour.  I did not take as many pics as I hoped to, it got rather busy.  I'll have to show you more next time.  Thanks for looking!

A shop of a different color

On Saturday, I was lucky enough to be able to run over to Athens and check out the grand opening of a great new shop called Winnie and Tulula's. 

 

One enters through the shop Sweet Peas .  Which is not slouch itself when it comes to decorating and goodies to decorate with.  I've long been a fan of the bedding made by Gloria.  Her bedding is truly the stuff sweet dreams are made of.  Lovely in color and texture.  And "ahhh" factor.

See that gorgeous bedding?  (Click on pic to enlarge).  LOVED it. 

And this table was perfect.  Sweet Hub was less than impressed, but he does not really like "girlie". 

There were lovely, delish color combo's scattered through out the Sweet Pea store.  My current love is brown and apple green and there was plenty of that to be found. 

And you know I love me some red.  This little area was adorable. 

Once you head through Sweet Peas, you step into Winnie and Tulula's.  As they say in the blog, "this is not your mother's antique mall".  And indeed it is not.  And just look at the line up of "who's who":
Curious Goods by Donna & Rhonda,, Garden Antiques byTeresa Cano, and Mindy of Primitiques, Junk Palace by Lilly Bussey, and The Veranda by Maggie Lopez, Ethel's Just Junke, Talking Trash Debbie & Danny York, Country girl Collection's by Diane Taylor, Monochromatic Home by Liz Caudle, Simply Cottage by Pat Williams & Amy Seabolt, Virgins, Saints and Sinners, by Tina Bordelon and Donna Fussel, and Ruff by Margo Arrick.


Loved this odd colection of this and that.  Forgive me for not remembering whose booth I was in at the time.

Lit candles afloat in this old concrete birdbath were simply enchanting.

I just loved the patina of this old wall.  And the various wrought iron was set off nicely by it.

It was great fun to see Maggie( (The Veranda) ), and to meet Deb (Talking Trash) and her Cat Daddy.  I hated to miss seeing Teresa (Garden Antiques) (again).  I swear I don't think that gurl and I will ever get to meet.  LOL. 

The gals said that they had been hit pretty hard through the day and many booths were already picked over by the time we got there.  But still lots of awesomeness to see.

This is Teresa's booth.  It was quite amazing too.  Lots of little lovelies to look at.

And you know I'm a sucker for these.  LOL.

So if you get a chance to get over to the corner of Hwy 31 and Hwy 19 in Athens, Texas, do drop in.  You won't be disappointed.