YAPPING CAT STUDIO

Thank you!

A huge hug and thank you to the delightful and talented Jennifer at A Charming Life for this sweet award.  I surely appreciate it and I was practically beaming to be chosen alongside Holly, Heather Monica, and Dawn..  Aw, Thank you Miss Jenn.  I'm very honored indeed. 

From the start of my blog, beginning with my very first post (hard to believe almost a year now) I have voiced my insecurities and doubts about my artwork.  So, to be chosen that my blog/artwork makes someone's day...well as they say, "you've come a long way baby".  I cannot tell you enough how much that means to mean.

So speaking of doubts.  Not only do most days I doubt my own creativity, but another stickler of mine (and there are ooohhhh so many) is that I can't seem to find a particular style.  Yes, much like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, my style preference seems to bounce back and forth between light and dark.  Cute vs. sophisticated.  Yoda vs Darth Vader..ok, I just threw that in to see if you were really listening. 

And I guess overall, it's not a bad thing, to like so many different styles, but sometimes it just keeps me off kilter.  As my friend Shawna and I were discussing yesterday, when you like a little bit of everything, well, it does make it hard to narrow down your niche.  So with all lthis said, let me shut up and show you what I've been making:

From paper to painting.  Painting, painting, painting.  Bright colors...happy, happy. 

The tea towel was inspired by the wonderful Kari and Kijsa.  They had a wonderful post about giving new life to damaged old tea towels by painting them.  I had not painted on cloth in ages.   And while I did not have any old tea towels, I did have a bundle of .49 one's from Ikea.  I like the way this one turned out, even though I wish I had painted the word cherry in french rather than English.  But will still look cute in my kitchen, specially after I add a gingham bow.  And the flower pots, also inspired by Kijsa.  I love her silhouettes and I thought I would try my hand at it.  Mine are a bit clumsy looking to me.  But oh well, maybe a little practice is required.

Now that we've seen Happy Doc Hyde, let's move on to Dark Mr. Jekyll.

It all started with a wonderful bag of bits.  Metal bits.  From the awesome Beth over at Gathering Dust.  She sells the coolest junk.  Love to order from her. 

And this little thing.  Since I have a fondness for silver I seem to always pick these little guys up.  Are they coasters?  Well, I have a pile of em and I got the idea to do this:

Ohhhhh.  Dark.  : )  Ok, not that dark, but muted.

However,  I can easily see these being done in bright happy colors as well.  Maybe with a french theme or a fruit theme. 

And a frame.  I made a frame.  Well, I did not make the frame, but I painted and papered the frame.  And added one of Beth's cool metal bits.

And since we are on the topic of dark...I did not make this, I bought it.   But I just had to share it.  Isn't it lovely?  I love it and it's going to hang over a mirror in my entry way.  I found it in Canton yesterday.

And speaking of Canton.  Wow.  Wait till you see all the wonderful things I found yesterday.  Uh wee, did I ever get my "grotty" on.  I'll show ya those on Monday.  More tales form the "darkside" then.  : )

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. 

Bunny Hop

While trekking out in the wilds of Canton-ia several weeks ago, I happened upon an unusual site.  I spotted a herd of the elusive wild iron bunny. 

They cautiously watched as I approached.  Luckily, I was able to capture most of them with the use of my trusty Visa card.  I see why they say, "don't leave home without it".  Thank goodness for that sidearm, it's a life saver.  The bunnies were placed safely in a container so they could be taken back to home-camp to be "rehabilitated".

   

Once home, they watched, wondering what fate would befall them next.  Tentatively one peeked out further.

Uh-oh, he's making his escape!

Whew!  Gently and safely captured before he could get too far. 

After being removed from his container and rehabilitated, look at our little friend now.  He has been safely tagged as well.

Aren't they lovely?  Unfortunately, now that they have been handled by human hands, we've been unable to re-introduce them back into the wild.  They will remain in captivity until good homes can be found for them all. 

Thanks for joining us on this episode of "Wild Shopping Kingdom". No iron bunnies were harmed in the making of this documentary.  Thank you for watching.

Happy Wednesday!

 

I love a good challenge, part two

Rebecca (of RS Out of Hand) had issued the challenge.  Seemed simple enough.  Unplug.  Spend a day without out using anything that is plugged in and just focus on your craft.  (And I'm paraphrasing here) - Don't sit and gwarp at blogs all day, don't yak on the phone all day.  She even gave some great suggestions on how to focus on your art, try a new craft, push your creativity.  Hmmmmmm. Sounded good to me, especially for one day.  Well, that gauntlet was thrown down just before I got the sinus infection of all sinus infections.  (Maybe pain pills help creativity, er, no, they don't, lol).  By Sunday I will feeling a tiny bit better and I gave it a whirl. 

While I wasn't able to unplug totally...cause I found inspiration here (love that red/turq piece) and here (her pink book is adorable!).  And I did yak on the phone a wee bit.  And check some emails.  BUT I was able to put in at least a few hours of total uninterrupted time in.  Which was great.  I decided to focus on cards, cause I do like to keep a stack on hand for whatever I need personally.  Our favorite, downtown, local scrap store does a card challenge each month.  I decided to use this months sketch as a basis for all my cards.  Here's the sketch:

I enjoyed that feeling of just "doing" .  Just immersing into "play time" and getting in sync with my creativity.  Some of the things I was not happy with, some I love.  Some I feel triumphant for trying to break some of my own self-inflicted taboos.  Here's what I came up with:

Ehhhhhhh.  All of these pieces felt right, but hey just did not come together in a way that I had hoped.  Pity.  I tried some different techniques, but was not pleased with the overall outcome.  It needs to go back to the drawing board.  LOL.  And in critiquing myself, I'm not asking for compliments, but being objective about where I want my artwork to be.  But, I'll always take a compliment if you are so inclined.  LOL. 

(Oops!  Crooked!)  A little better...but still no pizazz.  The crown gets lost and I don't like the empty space on the right hand bottom side.  But hey, I'm enjoying the process.  No pressure here.  And that was the main thing that Rebecca wanted to emphasize.  Enjoy it. 

I think this card falls under the category of "the little card that tried too hard"!  LOL.  Part of being a good artist is knowing when to stop.  Or to follow Coco Chanel's rule, always take off the last accessory that you put on.  I should have not done the big gold scroll or the brown stamp.  For me, too busy.  But again, enjoying the process here. 

This one, I really had fun with.  This was scraps and bits left over from over projects.  And some merchandise tags (Two's Company) from the store.  A nod to Marilyn Healey for the black line art addition (see her wonderful red and turquoise piece - it was my inspiration).  I was happy with this one.

This.  This I love.  This one just felt right and all the pieces fell into place as if by magic.  I was happy with the mix of colors.  I didn't even mind the mix of cream with white (and normally that drives me crazy).  Another nod to Marilyn.  Those black and white pieces are off of merchandise tags from work.  Isn't that funny?  I just loved this one.  I think this would make a cute wall hanging too.

Ahhh.  Swoon.  I sooooooo love this one.  I love that it looks like an illustrated page.  I sanded the background to make the blue look paler, but it just got more turquoise looking.  I over chalked the birds and leaves to make the color super intense.  A few additional pieces that just felt right and I love it.  This one is for me.   To keep.

I have my own criticisms of my work.  And that's ok, cause that keeps me trying to get it how I want it to look.  It's my own "dangling carrot" and for me, that's good. But this little "push" to do something and to just focus was great!  So thanks Rebecca for the challenge, Marilyn and Dee, for the inspiration.  I'll keep trying. 

Mellow Yellow

Isn't it funny how one color, all of the sudden, catches your eye and then you seem to see if everywhere?  That's the way I feel about yellow. 

It just seems to be everywhere.  When I was clothes shopping about a month ago, I noticed it then too. 

So naturally, it seems to be showing up in my work too.  I've always loved yellow, such a happy color. 

When I was a teen, my bedroom walls were the most amazing buttery yellow.  Mom had picked it out and i loved it.   So, it's good to revisit an old friend.  I hope to do more with yellow next time I craft.

I was extremely honored to receive this award from Catny over at Tadpoles and Teacups.  I'm very touched.  I would like to graciously add that I am in much lovely company, for all of the other's picked, are extremely talented ladies.  I do have to keep doing that thing...you know, looking around to see if dear Cathy is not indeed pointing to someone else, only to see that it is me.  Then I have to point at myself and mouth, "Me? You really mean me?".  So, thank you Cathy.  Very much.  I am very touched.  I will mull over and post later on who to next bestow this lovely award to.

And I wanted to post one more picture from our store.  Our as being where I work.  Not mine, that I own it.  LOL.  That would be the other Cindy.  My dear friend put this display together and I thought it was so cute, she called it "MacGregor's Garden".  (I should have taken a wide shot).  Peter himself would be very enticed.

 

 

 

One last thought to pass on to you all.  Rebecca over at her blog, has posted a most interesting challenge, "A Day to Disconnect".  She asks us all to unplug for one day and focus on nothing but creating.  She offers several task oriented ideas to get your creative juices flowing.  Since I've been under the weather mentally and physically this week, this sounds like just the thing to do tomorrow.  Results on Monday.  I hope you can take part as well.  I think it will be fun. 

Happy Thursday.

What the Junk?

My friend  Shawna has one of the funniest saying I've ever  heard.  She says, "what the junk".  It's usually used as an exclamatory point, or sometimes in the form of a question or sometimes its just as a statement.   But each time she says it, it always cracks me up.  So I thought it would be an appropriate title for my junking post. 

Dad and I got out last week and enjoyed a warm, spring like day.  We decided to hit one of Dad's favorite junking sites, a rather large antique mall in Burleson.  We had a great time poking around in every booth (I'm way slower than he is) and harassing each other's finds.  He can't get over my peely-paint obsession.  In fact, anything that is peely, funky or grotty, Dad's typical response is, "are you sure you are my daughter?" or "when will you grow out of that phase?".  And just like when I was seventeen, well, I throw these things at him to keep him on his toes.  As for me, I just think most of his stuff is "unusual".  To put it nicely.  Ok, it's not my style.  But it works for him.  And as he says, "that's what makes the world go round".  But on mostly everything I show him, he always likes to frown and ask me, "are you sure you are my daughter"?  And I roll my eyes.  And say, "Daaaaaaaad!" in the whiniest voice I can muster.  As you can imagine, it's a fun day. 

Here's some of my finds:

I was really drawn to some different things.  Normally, I'm all about color.  But that day...the creams and soft colors seem to "speaking to me".  I found a huge bag of tatting threads.  Most were brightly colored, but I loved these cream ones.  I also found some lovely stained laces.  And a beautiful old necklace.  Or maybe it's a rosary.  I'm not sure which, but it's pretty. 

And Ironstone.  I was having an ironstone day for some odd reason.  Loved all of these, the only one for sure that says it is ironstone is the sugar pot on the right.  That one is going to stay at my house for awhile. 

I bought this book with velvet millinery, to actually tear apart and just use the flowers and such.  But I think I will look at it for a while.  The postcard was so sweet, loved the little robin.  Dolls heads are not my thing, but Sis loves em.  They were practically giving this one away, so I could not pass her up.  I thought her face was very winsome.  Here's part of that Dad/daughter convo: 

Dad:  "She can be put back together".

Me:  "That's alright, Sis likes em this way".

Dad:  "Her arms and legs are off."

Me:  "I know.  She likes em broken"

Dad:  (nothing, but I'm sure thinking, "this child is not my daughter").

These were my most two colorful finds of the day.

I loved this huge bag of tatting threads.  They were so pretty.  They just reminded me of Easter eggs, such lovely colors.  I think they will look fun in a huge bowl or urn.  And a large bag of old millinery flowers, ribbon and such.  Mostly yellows.  But that's OK, I'm into yellow.  Usually I never find such cool things.  I snapped it up, like it was gold. 

But as always, I have a great time out looking at junk with my Dad.  We hit the "Babes" after.  Oh my gosh.  That is some great fried chicken.  And mashed potatoes.  And biscuits.  And enough to feed an army, I might add. 

Hope you enjoyed the lookie.

 

Spring Swap

Lisa and I "met" when we both participated in Artsy Mama's Sweet and Sinister swap.  We were chosen to be each other's swap partner.  We had a blast swapping our sweet and sinister goodies.  So much fun, that well, we just decided to keep on swapping stuff.  We swapped with a Thanksgiving theme, which was too much fun.  Lisa is a talented gal and always sends me the cutest stuff.    We then got the idea of sending Spring wishes and all things with a birdie theme.  (Click on any photo to enlarge).

Since birds/nests etc, are pretty much some of my favorite things, this was a super easy swap to play.  This find, from an antique mall in the sweet town of Granbury, started my swap pile.  I loved the colors and it fit our "birdie theme" perfectly.

Then I found a vintage baker pan.  Now I know a vintage baker pan has probably nothing to do with spring, but I liked the pan and thought it would make a great container.

A bundle of spring goodies with said theme done in shades of turquoise and brown and buttery yellow. 

A little bird box.  Hey, that little guy looks a little peeved.  And this felty bird and journal. 

All wrapped up with lovely spring flowers and a sweet, song bird and nest.

And look at what Lisa sent me!  Wow!  She was too generous and I'm so not worthy!  LOL. 

So much prettiness!  See that jar!  Look at the little birdhouse!  I've already told her to sign up to do the birdhouse bling swap at Karla's or Beth's.   (I did sign up, I just still have "button" issues.)

Isn't that nest banner SWEET! 

 

And look at that bracelet, those tags and that sweet bird cut-out!  Didn't I tell you this girl was awesome?

Thank you missy Lisa for everything, I love it all!  Can't wait to see what our next theme is! 

Happy Monday!

Is Spring around the corner?

What a difference a day makes.  It was sunny and in the low 70's yesterday and today...well we re-visiting the 40's....brrrrrrr!  It's overcast and rain is coming.  Time for a cup of hot tea or two.  A nice, hot cup of Lemon Zinger always feels like Spring to me.  (And I can't let those Valentine cupcakes go to waste or would that be waist!) 

Speaking of Spring, spent the morning re-merchandising the booth.  I love to re-merchandise and add lots of fun new things.  It's always interesting to me how how just a few changes of goodies can make everything look totally different.

Before:

After:

I concentrated more on greens and little nests this time.  I loved the look, feels like Spring and really fresh.

Burlap, ferns, rusty little birds, green egg soaps and lots of garden signs.  I love Spring. 

I loved those little feather birds..too sweet.  'Cept he has a peeved off look on his face.  LOL.

These Lemon Verbena french soaps smell heavenly.  I love Lemon Verbena.  Smells so fresh.  And one of Sis's beautiful tags.

Here's a close up shot.  The stand is actually an old tea cart on wheels.  I'm surprised it has not sold yet.  It's really cute.

A few warmer tones.  Some more of Sis's tags.

Happy Little Zinnia's.  They always make me smile.  These are some of the best fakes I've ever seen.

Well, hope you enjoyed the booth update.  I'm off to try and get some tags and things of my own created.  It will be the perfect weather to stay inside this weekend and craft, sip tea and eat the rest of those Valentine cupcakes.  LOL.

I hope you have a happy weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's hoping that Cupid is not stupid,

And that you have alot of chance for romance.

Happy Valentines Day!

These two ATC's are from the 52 week challenge my niece and I started playing (a while back) and never did get to finish.  LOL.  Slackers. 

I hope everyone has a lovely, sweet day today!  Full of lots of love and chocolate!   

Blog Land generosity

One, meaning me, can only say, not only are the peeps here in blog land talented, but generous as well.  I'm in awe of other's blogs in seeing the wonderful goods they have either just received or are sending out.  Such wonderful, lovely things. 

I'm always surprised and honored when someone takes the time to send me something.  To get a lovely hand-made goodie is surely a gift from the heart.  What can be more touching than that?  Two goodies that I got last week and have just now had time to mention:

Aren't these pretty?  Sweet Becky sent them to me.  Such charming hearts!  Love that red toile one, I'm a sucker for red toile.  And the little flower is crocheted.    And they smell so pretty.  The card is lovely too with lots of stitching and ribbon.  Thank ya miss Becky! 

Look at this awesome paper pack that came via Sis, from Donna at Under the Red Roof.

This paper is flocked.  Don't you love the colors?  And she's hand-dyeing ribbon!  Is that not gorgeous?  And I love the packing for the ribbon.

   

I'm so glad Sis opened her package from Donna cause I didn't have the heart to do it.  So I got to see hers (which is just like mine).  Such a beautiful array of vintage wallpapers.  Take a lookie here.  Sis said she had to open and touch and ohh and awww over each one.  And then she had to re-package them.  LOL.   Thank you miss Donna, absolutely beautiful. 

Dear Lisa tagged me to list 10 blessings in my life.  So, here ya go miss Lisa:

1.  My faith.  My faith sustains me not only during times of happiness and joy, but in times of sorrow and pain.  I owe my Mom much for passing this onto me.   

2.  My hubby.  Sweet hub.  Such a dear man, whom for over twenty years now (wow) has been the best friend this gal could ever have.  He's a rare jewel.

3.  Family.  Goober's, all of em, but mighty glad to have em.  My nieces and nephews are delights and keep me on my toes.  I have such dear SIL's and bratty brothers.  A dear Dad, that loves to go junkin with me.  But yeah, glad to have em. 

4.  Friends.  I could not have gotten through these past three, difficult weeks without em.  Seriously.  From food, to cards, to thoughtful things done.  Such love shown.  I am so blessed in the area of friends.  More than I ever knew.  They are my charming gardeners.  Thank you dears.

5.  My pets.  Furry, funny, kissy cats, Bean and Pea. 

6.  My job.  What is the old saying, do what you love and you will never work a day in your life.  That's often the way it feels at work, fun.  Wonderful co-workers and an awesome boss.  A beautiful enviroment to work in and lots of freedom to be creative.

7.  Health. 

8.  A Shower.  Thank you Mr. Plumber who was here last week.  Big time thank you.

9.  Creativity.  I love being able to be creative and hope to continue to have it grow.  And yet, my creativity is often eclipsed by my goofiness.  How many of you, have spent time wrapping a gift delightfully, pretty.  Only to realize upon finishing that you left the price tag on.  DUH.   

10.  To be able to love and be loved back, as evidenced by the above listing.  What a blessing indeed.

Sis! Tag!  You're it!  LOL. 

Horseshoes and hand-grenades

What's the old saying, "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades" or something like that.  Anyway, came "close" to finishing some crafts this weekend. 

This little guy just needs to be stuffed and stitched closed.  I was happy for the way he turned out, except for that big, "little orphan Annie" eye.  LOL.  I call him, "the bird and the bee's"..get it?  sheesh...my family often tells me I should take that part time job at the Comedy Club (big eye roll here).

This poor little thing also needs to be stuffed and put back together.  It's just a little re-covered journal.  See that wonderful metal piece at the top?  A lovely goodie from Beth at Gathering Dust.  Who, by the way, has a wonderful sale going on this morning.  I snagged some great vintage goodies and she makes the cutest tags and paper goodies too.  Clever girl. 

And sheesh lots of work to do today for the booth.  A ton of things came in Friday afternoon, much to our surprise.  So, looks like I've got some pricing and tagging to do this afternoon.  Oh joy.  Merchandising - fun...tagging - b o r e i n g!  Oh well, the good with the bad I guess.   

At Canton, I saw lots of the sage green and black and cream combo.  I'm leaning towards the sage with a wee bit of the turqs and creamy buttery yellow's mixed in and then a lot of rusty brown.  But, hey, that's just me. 

Happy Monday.