YAPPING CAT STUDIO

A Fun Day and A New Find....

Sometimes a girl just has to shop and eat lunch!  You know a day to catch up with a friend, grab a bite and renew the batteries, so to speak.  Especially if it is in a really cool tea room and both can be done all in one location.  LOL. 

Yesterday was such a day.  I met up with my friend Denise, whose daughter was married just Saturday night.  Missy Denise was in need of a little R & R and gal time and I was happy to oblige.  We hit the road for Waco.  Waco is a lovely little town about 65 miles or so south of our little town, so just in an about an hour we had reached our destination.  We "lunched" at Sironia, which is a delightful old 50's boutique which now houses not only a wonderful tearoom, but oodles of cute little nooks and crannies filled with wonderful goods for great shopping opportunities.  You can find anything from jewelry to soaps, tissues, hand-painted goods, cards and more.  From there we headed straight up the street to Spice .  Spice is fabulous for just "oodling and awwing" (and shopping).  A short trip up the stairs (or on the elevator) takes you to the Shops of River Square Center.  Here is another unique shopping/looking experience guaranteed to put a smile on your face.  From furniture, to clothing, baby, jewelry, candles and more, each little area is filled with delights.  But alas, time was running out and because we wanted to search out a new shop, we headed back onto the road. 

A ha!  Our New Find.  But first some background. 

I had noticed Amy's ad for Bloom and Bee Swanky in the back of Romantic Homes magazine before, but I was not quite sure where the town of Elm Mott was.  But it sounded, like my kind of shop.  Then, while reading over one of my favorite blogs, Garden Antique News, Theresa made mention of Amy and then I realized that Bloom and Bee Swanky might be closer than I thought.  And it was!  Just a short hitch off the highway on the way home.  How could we have missed the big pink and brown signs out front?  (Well, actually we didn't, but on the way down I was more interested in lunch than in shopping).  So, after a short little jaunt, we discovered more wonderfulness!  And what a little jewel this antique mall is!  Amy is blessed with talented dealers who know how to put together "a look".  There are goodies for the die-hard antiquer to the paper artist/scrapper, the home decor gal and more. 

For my home decor gal side. here's a beautiful booth, that I wished was really my living room!  All done in shades of white and browns and cream and just the right touches of silver and black.  I know the picture is grainy ($^%#$# CAMERA!), but that is a large clock on top of the wrought iron piece.  And I loved the touches of whimsy, like the little wood artist model and piles of sheet music stacked in a silver tray.  Just made my heart skip a beat.  And there were other such lovely booths and wonderful "eye"scape's.  Beautiful old roses paintings and furniture and wonderful hand-made, big floppy ticking pillows.  Some of the pillows had wonderful stitching on them with words like "home".  For my scrapper side I found scrabble letters, sheet music, old post cards, old millinery flowers, old patterns and so much more.  So much to see in such a great little space. 

Beverly, the lady working the register, was just a dear.  Delightful to talk to and very helpful.  She did mention that the shop would be moving in the near future, actually not too far from Spice. so something to keep in mind if you decide to make the trip to Bloom and Bee Swanky.  For now, they are located on 557 N. Connally Drive, in Elm Mott and are open Wednesday - Saturday or just hit http://www.beeswanky.com for more info.  You won't be disappointed, cause it's a dream!

    

Priceless.......

Amount of time eagerly awaiting last book:  2 years

Amount of time waiting in line to get said book: 2-1/2 hours

Cost of  book:  $18.35

Ending to a really great story:  PRICELESS

Bye Harry, it's been fun. 

Just Reading reading and reading...........

I must confess...since Friday night....this is about as creative as I have gotten:

Yup, that's it....a sad little doodle on an envelope as I waited on hold on the phone. 

Now Wednesday and Thursday I was painting like a maniac to try and get things ready for our booth at the store before Southern Living magazine dropped by to take pics.  But alas, another deadline missed.  Oh well, perhaps next time.  But I did get some cute things painted and am moving some pieces out of my garage (much to my dear hubs happiness).  Perhaps will try and post pics next week.

But now, I'm just wild about Harry.  That's all I've done since Friday night - read.  Page 487 is where I'm at now and the story is REALLY REALLY good.  And yes, I am one of those that reads the last pages first.  I do that on pretty much all the books I read.  Dunno why, just something I have done since high school.  I can't stand it, I just have to know how it ends. 

I will be curious to see what genre J. K. Rowling follows up with.  She writes so well and her imagination is just amazing.  While I am somewhat saddened that there will be no more tales of Harry, I will be looking forward to her future writings. 

Not #1, #2 or #3

So I was able to play around in the studio for awhile.  I started making a few more cards.  Here's one.  I painted the base and birds nest.  But I went back and added some stamping and then even some prisma pencil to the watercolor (well, actually very thinned down acrylics).  The inside of the card reads, "Man Friendship" but I put a little arrow thingy in and changed the word man to "wo man".....LOL.  But I'm not that happy with the way it turned out.

But I dunno back to the drawing board as they say.

Then I started messing around with some drawings that actually started out as journaling, but I began to wonder if they would make cute greeting cards. So this one, while it is done more like my journaling style, is just sooooooo dang boring.  LOL.  It has a pale pink pencil background, but its impossible to see. 

I want that kind of sloppy, "yeah I did this in a hurry" look, but was not pleased with the way the presents turned out.  But the cake is cool.  I'm happy with the cake.  LOL.    I'm always happy with cake.

Back to the drawing board AGAIN.

OK, insert your own saying here...as in, "Close, but no Cigar" or "Close only works in horseshoes and handgrenades" or however that second one goes.  LOL.  Anyway, suffice to say, still not happy with the outcome.  I went back to the watercolored paper, but did all the artwork in prisma pencil.  Again, I'm striving for that messy, hurried look that my journals have.  I like to add lots of dots and little scrolly things all in the background, except, LOL, looking at the little blue bird, it looks like he tooted and that he is being blown around like a balloon that the air has been let out of it.  LOL.  Ahhhhhh, I love a good toot joke.  Yes, I am a six-year-old at heart!  Toot humor cracks me up EVERY time.

Oh well, somethings just need "marinatin" and some time to add to and what-not.  This will go into the "I'm continuing to work on" file...also known as the trash.   LOL.  OK, not really.  But these were merely a diversion, for other things that I should be working on. 

Ya gotta love diversions. 

Back in the saddle again

Perk #7 of "My-job-that-I-love" is that I get to work with a wonderful group of gals.  (And I'm not just saying that cause most of em read my blog). LOL.  From the owner Cindy, to Sandra, Ruthe, Debs and Juju, they are not only sweet girls, but a collective group of creative and talented women that are not only fun, but pure inspiration on a daily basis.  From junk/vintage (estate sales) to food to scrapping to home decor, this group has it all covered.  There's always something fun going on in the gift shop and I am truly blessed to be able to be a part of this fantastic team.  Bff/artpeep is an honory member of the group as well.  (Actually we wanted her to come work with us, but she is committed to about 5,000 other things, so no room in her busy schedule).  So, with all that being said, here is the point of today's post.  From time to time we not only bounce ideas off of each other, but also lend a hand on various projects or ideas that one or the other might be working on.  So, I was quite tickled to be asked to help out with some props for a wonderful baby shower that Juju was helping her friend Sondra with.  I don't really understand the dynamics of gals involved past that point except it was for a very blessed Mom of twins. 

The theme was Peter Rabbit and just look at this lovely table scape. 

They did an amazing job and used a wonderful array of props including a small Peter Rabbit step stool.  (And doesn't the food look amazing?

Here's a tiny bit of my handiwork.  I was asked to hand print a copy of a sweet poem about twins and that was glued onto a copy of the actual invitation paper that was sent out.  Look at those adorable little rabbits that hold the poem.  I think Judy said they got those at the Target Dollar Spot for yeah....a dollar!!!!  Their little arms were like clips and so they held the poem perfectly. 

Handiwork # 2 was a hand-printed menu for the shower.  I tried not to drool as I wrote it all down, it sounded so wonderful.  Judy has some really neat Peter Rabbit post cards and I used one to cut out pieces from and then affixed it to the menu with pop up dots.  I just added some of the border to the top and bottom of the card. 

I put the whole thing on pink gingham and blue polka dot papers to carry along with the baby theme and to give it more color and to make it larger. 

I wanted to point out some of the delightful details on the table.  An assortment of Peter Rabbits dot the table and some are perched in these whimsical baby carriages, which knowing Judy and Sondra are probably vintage.  Look at the nest snuggled in, like a little magical forest.  Even though it was for a baby, I loved all the browns, golds and greens in the table setting.  It mixed in quite nicely with silver serving dishes.

I just had to taunt you with another photo of food.  Look at the yummy cupcakes in the background.  They look delish!

The devil is in the details.  An adorable little rabbit teapot and creamer is added in along with a miniature server and tiny rabbit plates.  A sweet tiny touch all atop a marble/silver tray. 

I told you, these gals have got it going on.

Which reminds me of one of my favorite quotes,

"It is wonderful what clever girls can do."

                 -Peter Pan

                                                                  

It Rocked!

Sorry, seems like no time to craft lately.  So...here's a make do post til lthen.

I saw this movie this afternoon.  We really enjoyed it.  Course, they left a ton of stuff out, but it was already a tush buster at two hours and eighteen minutes. (I have read all the books and am eagerly awaiting the last installment).  One of my favorite things about watching a movie (that is based on a book I have read), is to see someone else's version of what was in their head regarding the details of the story.  You know, what a room or office looks like, what a character wears and junk like that.  Don't know if that is just one persons job or perhaps it is a collaborative effort involving a set person, book author and director....I don't know....but I always enjoy seeing if it matches what was in my head as I read.  In the Harry Potter movies, I have enjoyed seeing Hogwarts castle get progressively darker and more gothic looking as the story has progressed.  In one of the scenes today, in Professor Snapes office, in the background where all these wonderful bottles of ingredients for potions and what not.  It all seemed so intriquing.  I loved the look of the old bottles and labels.  I found myself wonderingly later, what fun to locate all the bottles, have the labels made and such.  And the office for Professer Umbrdige was just so amazing...the cat plates, the doilies, the curtains...what delish fun to create that eye-popping spectacle.  It's that attention to detail, those little creative things that just add that special something.  Love that. 

Remember the movie Practical Magic that starred Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kiddman?  Victoria Magazine had done a wonderful article on the house that was created for that movie.  The article covered not only the building of the house, but the layout of the different rooms and what was in each room.  I always found that aspect of movie making fascinating.  What fun to take a character out of a book and "create" the look of her or his life....their home, what's in the cabinets, in the living room etc.  Almost like a story within a story. I also LOVE to look at the background scenes in old movies from the 40's and 50's.  Have you ever watched Green Acres lately?  Lisa (one of the Gabor's, never can remember which one) was the original Shabby Chic girl. 

Since I work in a gift shop, our tasks not only include helping customers, but receiving and tagging new mechandise as well.  Sometimes I get to put a display together and my sweet boss always says, "make it tell a story".  To me, it's the same thing as set design sorta, picking components that play off of each other and then, as a whole, tell a story.   It's always one of my favorite aspects of my job. 

When I used to do  windows for one of the local antique shops with my bff/artpeep and I told her that there was often a story or a character in my head for the window we were building.  She informed me that they have soft padded room and special medicine for people like me.  Hmmmmmmmmm.  Perhaps. 

But then again, someone in Hollywood is probably making the big bucks doing the very same thing.  LOL. 

Bluebirds, cherries and happiness........

Remember the movie "Sybil" with Sally Field?  Sybil is a psych patient who has a bajillion (ok, I think really something like 99) different personalities.  At the end of the movie she must "meet and embrace" each one of the personalities to be whole again.  Well, that's what I've done today.  No, not pretended to be Sybil (that's what I do on Tuesdays).  Embraced my "cute" side.  Gave into the "cute" side.  Yep, hugged the ol' cherries and gingham personality.  Yes, I know I've been trying to reach my "darker side" but today....well, I just needed some gingham and bluebirds.  Although, I did NOT put gingham on these, you can bet there will be some on one of em before it is all said and done, dang it! 

This is the  "Bluebirds, Cherries and Happiness" Wand.  Ta Da! 

I bought the wands a couple of weeks ago, to spite my dear friend Deb.  LOL.  No, not spite.  We generally have a track record of buying something and then never doing anything with it.  Well, ok....we took one soldering class and I don't think we've done that (soldered) again since the class.  But I knew she would understand that I have a "wand thing".  Even though we may both be selling them in the store, I'm sure they will end up looking different. 

Do you ever get stuck in certain color "modes"?  My current one is turquoise/pink/red.  I don't know why...just happens to be what I'm into right now.  You could even throw in a little dark yeller and some cobalt blue in the mix and that would be cool too.  So, the wand started with a light turq blue, a circle of old sheet music, a Tracy Porter blue bird sticker and then some pink dots.  On the back are hand painted cherries and more pink dots.  I went back and added a little jewel by the bird.  Some old tinsel, some cherries and leaves and red ribbon and viola!  There you have it.

The one wand still needs some ribbon and tinsel and such.  I think the handle needs to be painted as well.  I hand painted some tiny cherries by the one sitting blue bird and I bet that one will end up with some gingham ribbon before it is all said and done. 

I think the pattern would make some cute cards as well.  We will see.  I also painted some canvases, and some little boxes and made some cards.  Sorry, no pix.  Can only do what I can put in the scanner.  I keep meaning to think about ETSY, but so far, everything just goes in here in the giftshop.

Thank goodness no rain today, what a break.  But I bet we will get more tomorrow, that low is supposed to sit right on top of us.  Urgh.  Let's hope not.  We will hope for a day of bluebirds, cherries and happiness.  Wands at the ready?

Trying to get my ducks and projects in a row....

OK...while I do love rain suffice to say....enough is enough.  Even for me.  Yep, we are going to grow little webbed toes like ducks if it does not stop raining soon.  And now, it's just getting to be scary.  The creek at the end of our sub-division (Mustang Creek) got really really high tonight.  Consequently, the water began to rise at the end of the street (near the creek).  Also, there is a farm that sits adjacent to our back yard and the water began to stack up back there as well.  Scary scary to see.  DH assured me it would take alot more rain, but we got like 4" in an hour and the ground is so saturated...I was not convinced that it was going to take alot more to flood.  Plus more is supposed to be on the way.  So....Rain, rain, go away! 

Well, worrying aside....here's a little project completion.  Remember this?  Finally got around to completing the other side of it.  Here is what it looks like:

As I said before, had hoped to stay with a simpler color theme...but you know how that goes.  LOL. 

The whole little thing folds up to about a 2"x2" square and fits nicely into this little box.  These pics might be a little grainy (I do hope one day to get another digital camera).  *But I added bits of moss, cut up sheet music, ribbon and tulle to her nest.  There is a large glittery silver egg behind her and a turquoise glittery N on the front.  An old silver heart locket hangs from one of the pieces of the nest and a feather is tucked into the side.

The box is just one of those cheap paper mache' numbers and I painted it that teal blue and stamped around the bottom with ink.  Still thinking about going back and sanding it down some.  I enjoyed playing with this.  Would be fun to do a whole little series of themes.   So many projects so little time as they say.  So, off to finish another project.

Well, here's hoping where ever you are.....that the sun will come out tomorrow.  I know that is what I am hoping for.   

*Edited to say:  Sorry, no pics.  Could not get the camera/flash to work properly.  The ones I had taken were so dark you could not see them.  Perhaps I could get my friend to take a pic and post later.  Sorry about that.