YAPPING CAT STUDIO

Trying to Recover

Is there such thing as a "Creative Hang-over?"  You know, too much of a good-thing.  Drinking in all those creative vibes, overloading on eye-candy and just imbibing too much artistic goodness in general?  Well, I feel like I'm hung-over today.  One too many.  And I guess it's going to talk a little "hair of the dog" as they say, to get me right.  But, until I can stumble my way into the studio and create, I'll share this instead. 

Sweet Becks over at  Heart in my Hand   had so wanted to attend Paper Cowgirl.  She had previously met  Tina  in AZ, but she and I have yet to meet.  But the dear girl sent goodies in her place, as she was not able to come along.  Look at this cuteness.

I was thrilled with just the bag.  She could have just filled it with tissue and I would have been a happy girl.  But nope, look at this:

CUTE!

My own little comfort doll.  But I think I will utilize her as my "worry" doll, as in giving her all my worries, so I don't have to think about them. 

Loved this fun paper boot!  She used bits of my logo and bits of the paper cowgirl logo that Dale designed.  Course red, my fav color!

Love the details in this.  I'm always about the details.

There was chocolate as well...but well, that never made the photo shoot.  Alas.  But it sure was good!  Thanks Becks from the bottom of heart.  Hope to see you in June. 

I've got more photo's on Flickr from the event.  And I wanted to take a quick moment to say a huge Thank you, hugs, and kisses for all who taught, participated, helped, vendors on vendor night (Angie @ Quilly Silly , Julie @ Fabulous Finds Studio , Joanna Rangel, Jan T. @ Polka Dot Barn, Dale @ Sea Dream Studio (and Lori) , and of course Tee Dubya, artist wonderful and evil co-hort! .  The food by Two Sisters Lunchbox Cafe (sorry can't seem to locate a link to their blog) , and especially to The Crafty Scrapper  and Carolyn for providing us such a wonderful atmosphere for the classes, as well as great shopping.  Heidi, you're a doll!  Sherri (Sis) couldn't have done it without you. If I missed anyone, please forgive me.  But thank you so much for everything you've done.  We are planning another one in June. 

Cathy at Tadpoles and Teacups had this great quote on her blog this morning (as well as some hilarious answers to a quiz someone had sent her - she is so funny!):
    I'm tired of following my Dreams. I'm just gonna ask where they're going and meet up later. - Mitch Hedberg

Love that!  And so they way I'm feeling this morning.  LOL.  Cause.
It's Monday.

Gathered Creative Hearts

Without a doubt, last night was a blast!  The Paper Cowgirl Vendor show was all that and more.  From fabulous art, an overabundance of sugar, and putting names with faces and hoots of recognition...it was amazing. 
Here's a shot for Scrappy Jessi!    When I saw it in Jan's booth last night, I immediately thought of Jessi.

Cute huh?  So much fab art and wonderful goodies and creations.  I'll post more later and on Flickr...but right now, I'm late as usual and classes start at 10:00 this morning.

The experience (for me) sums up like this so far...sorta like the MC commercial....Art $26.00, Frosting Shots $9.00, meeting friends you've been emailing back and forth, for ages - PRICELESS! 

Nurtured Hearts

What is it about spending a day with like-minded souls that nurtures ones creative heart and makes them content?  At the end of the day yesterday my heart was content, my tummy was was too full and my creative well was overflowing.  Who could ask for anything more?  LOL. 

Here's a brief glimpse of the day. 

Tina arrived early and we hit the ground running to begin tying up details for Paper Cowgirl.   Now, Tina is one of those people, that from the get go, we clicked.  From day one.  I was Bawling on my Blog about having to constantly copy my one lone Bingo card and this sweet gal sent me a whole box of not only B cards, but game tid-bits and other goodies as well.  I've been the lucky recipient of her friendship ever since.  (And I've said a jilion times before, that is the reason I blog, to meet such wonderful people). 

Then we picked up Sis.   And the fun really began.

Since our (Tina and I) last intended trip to Pursley got way-layed by my nasty, nasty headache, we tried again.  Eureka.  Success. 

Pursley's is a hole in the wall of wonderment.  Buttons by the stacks!

Literally!  Cups of color coordinated buttons on shelves line the room even.  It is button heaven.

Need a zipper?  They got em!  Short, long, any color. 

Fabric?  Yes, please!  They have rolls and rolls.

Ribbon galore!  It is a shop to get lost in.  But no time to tarry, much to do.  After purchases...time for lunch.  We walked over to the Ben Franklin.  The last of the old five and dimes.  This one is updated and fun.  Lots of wonderful new goodies and things that remind me of when I loved to shop there as a kid.

They have an old fashioned lunch counter and is it ever good.

Deluxe Grill cheese and Tomato Basil soup.

Look at that monster!

Sis was in her "Happy Place" with this Chocolate Chocolate shake.  Our appetizer was a "big as my head" brownie" that was fabulous!  Full tummies indeed.

After a very quick browse around, back on the road.  We drove over to Plano for a visit to Stamp Asylum.  SA  is a great shop for stamps, of course.  And lots of artsy, fun things.  We managed to spend LOTS of money there.  LOL.

Of course, it was "monkey see, monkey do".  Sis and T. bought Shrinky Dink..I had to have Shrinky Dink.

And loved these little ephemera sheets.

Lovely charms.  (Buttons are from Pursley's).  Love that rose button.

And this seam binding (from Pursley's as well).  Yumm-ish! 

All in all, a fun day.  So much laughter and talking my jaw literally ached this morning.  We covered the gamut of topics from creativity to bodily functions (don't ask) and it was a hoot. 

Today we are off to prepare for the vendor show.  I'm jealous..Sis got to shop in Tina's trunk, while I cooked dinner.  LOL.  Oh well, such is life.  I'll have more fun to show you tomorrow.  Thanks for coming along.

It's almost heeereeee!

Alright gals!  C'mon down!  Paper Cowgirls is a mere 2 days away. 

I'm excitedly putting together last minute details, planning food and fun and getting more nervous by the minute.  We (Tina, the teacher's and I) are looking forward to meeting each of you and having a grand time, crafting and creating and hanging out.  Looking forward to the creative energy, putting blogs with faces and just having an all around good time with those near and coming from a far. 

As you can see the desk is neat and clean and ready for visitors.  LOL!  Sorry, no one is even taking a peep at that nasty studio.  No way.  No how.  I've been scrambling to finish last minute projects for the vendor show.  And from some of the things I've seen, it will be awesome.  And we are trying out a fun, new thing...frosting shots.  Should be interesting.  If not diabetic coma inducing. 

On a personal note, I have to mention the passing of another dear family member.  We lost our beloved Aunt Adelle last week.  She fought so very hard in her battle with lung cancer, but sadly lost that fight on September 16, 2008.   She was a creative, warm, fun person with an beautiful smile, wonderful laugh and the best sense of humor.  She and I shared a fondness for all things Martha S., decorating, our kitty cats and a love of reading.  She was a great Aunt, confidante and friend.  She will be greatly missed. 

And I wanted to send a huge thank you, hugs and kisses over to the lovely and talented Pam Warden.  Pam was kind enough to feature me on her blog, Faith, Folk, Cafe.  Thank you Missy Pammers!  I sure do appreciate all you do.  Thanks for the feature! 

Well, better dash.  Lots to do before TeeDubya arrives tomorrow.  Looking forward to seeing you all this weekend.  I'll post lots of pics as soon as I can.

Happy Wednesday.

Autumn Gathering Home Party

***EDITED to say....Oops!  Is my face red!  This was posted, via automatic post, on Sunday.  Since I was out of town over the weekend, I was not aware that Artsy Mama had changed the date!  Oopsie.  Oh well, such is life.  LOL.  Enjoy the decor anyway.  : D
 

Artsy Mama is hosting another party today.  Inspired by all the wonderful Fall mags (and I love em too!) she decided it would be fun to do an Autumn Gathering Home party. 

So, here's a cup of Hot Apple Cider Tea and I'll show you what I've got ready for the party.

I thought I would do a little crafting for my autumn decor.  So I started with an ordinary tray...similar to this one, but not this one.  Cause this is one of my old favorites.

Add a few coats of Chalkboard Spray paint and Viola! Instant fun chalkboard.  You can do any size (as in above pic).

While I had the old spray can out...I hit these old pumpkin buckets with a couple of coats of gold metallic.  I loved the gilded effect in the Country Living mag, but did not want to get that detailed.

So here is the finished result.  A lovely fun display for the autumn months.  The chalkboard tray would also be fun to count down the days to Halloween.  Also wanted Bittersweet to tuck into the gold pumpkin, but none available yet. 

Here's a little close-up on the tray.

And a little close-up of my jack-o-lantern bowl.  He was a fun piece to paint. 

Course had to add the old Trick or Treat saying...

yep, smell MY feet...lol

That'll work, specially if it is chocolate.  LOL.  Pumpkin head bowl is for sale in my Etsy shop (see Shop Yapping Cat button to the left).  As is the chalkboard tray.

Hope you enjoyed my wee bit of fall fun in my home.  Well, let's finish off that candy corn before you head to the next party house.  Thanks for coming by.

I've got things to "Boo"!

I love the word "Boo".  Not only fun for Halloween, but makes a great pet name.  You know, when you do the "baby talk" thing..."who's the little boo?..who's the sweet little boo?".  Yes.  Sad I know, but such is my life.

And I do enjoy making banners.  Almost as much as books. 

And I know what you are thinking, as you gaze at this little banner.  That, "it's pretty".  No.  "Oh, it's fun!".  No.  You are thinking, "Thank gawsh...it's not another sinkin book!".  LOL.   

You can't really tell from the pic, but the silver star is actually on a wire, so it pops out a bit.  As does the little bat above the moon's head.  These images came from Gail's (Shabby Chic) Etsy.  And that's a wee bit of vintage (I guess it's vintage, LOL) crepe paper at the bottom of the banner.

A little skeleton with this party hat on.

And of course, a kitty and a pumpkin.  And another little poppy bat. 

Now all I need is some candy corn.  : D

I'm on Glitter and Grunge

*** edited to say...SOLD!  Thanks Sandra so much.  I know you will give my little days book a good home.  I appreciate the sell.  -c

I'm so excited!  My page goes live on Glitter and Grunge today.  How cool is that?  I'm so honored to be amongst all of the talented peeps on there.  I truly feel like doing the "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy" Wayne bow.  There are some truly amazing artists over there.  So.  I had made a promise to myself that I would not show you any more books. BUT.  Ha, we all know, I fib to myself all the time.  So, I'm apologize in advance, but here's another book.  I promise, the last one.  (Yeah, right). 

Seriously, I really loved the way this one turned out...its the closet to doing something all vintage that I've gotten yet.  Needless to say, I'm very proud of it.  I showed you a sneak peek a while back, but since G & G goes live today, well, here's the goods.

As you will recall, this is what my desk looked like.  Yeah.  "Working miracles in two inches of space", as my friend  Ruthe likes to say!  Loved all the "sepia tones".  Tried to stay that way.  It was difficult believe me...color keep wanting to sneak in.

The cover.  In hindsight, I wish I had wrapped the cover in paper before putting the bingo card down, but oh well.  I had wanted to make the bingo card to be the actual cover, but it felt too flimsy.  Live and learn as they say.

I wanted this to have a feel of an photo album, but lots of cool little spaces to journal as well.  Love that little flippy piece with the nest on it.

Here's the other side of that little flippy piece.  I thought it was so sweet.  There is a transparency over the page on the left as well. 

I was so happy with these two pages especially.  The Many Happy Returns artwork is really a giant tag (for journaling) and underneath would be great for a photo or memento.  I used some old seam binding and an old locket piece at the bottom of the page.  I put an old millinery flower in the locket.  The other page was a journal piece that I sanded and inked and added a feather and a couple of tags.  The "all love is sweet" piece is a removable tag.

The long bookmark looking thing is a tag. 

I like to leave some things unglued so that a photo can be tucked under. 

These were also two pages I was quite happy with.  The top tag on the TWEET page is covered with an old dress pattern.  And I'm such a sucker for scrabble letters.  Loved the way the tags on the next page turned out.  and I stamped the word "Dream" on the seam binding ribbon.

Here's a little close up.

Here are all of the tags.

I really tried to stretch myself, by using bits of wire, old buttons, transparencies, and more vintage.  And while (to me) my work still has an "antiseptic" feel to it...(don't ask me to explain)   : D
this is the closest to what I've been striving for, over the past several months, to achieve.  I was very happy with the results.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

Thank you Becky!

I was the lucky recipient of a goodie package from Becky over at Wonder's Never Cease.   And look.

It's a book written by Becky herself.  Love the whimsical art on the cover.  And the story looks equally good as well. Can't wait to dig into what looks like a great read! 

And she also sent me a sweet, french tin and two awesome french post cards! 

Thanks Becky. 

2 bits, 4 bits

Finished the little cheer book.  Truly one of the cutest I've done yet.  Yeah.  I know.  I say that about each one.  Good thing I never had kids I guess.  Would truly think the next one was cuter than the first.  LOL.  Not good for a child's self esteem I reckon.  LOL. 

Ahhhhhh.  Fat and chunky.  Like me!  I love it.

What's not to love about 7Gypsies tags?  I adore their things.  Thought this would be so cute, especially for a gal that just made the squad...exciting for sure.  Under this "removable" tag is a spot for her to put her pic of herself in her new uniform.  Lots of pages and tags for jotting memories and thoughts.

Little things to tuck photo's under, so that it looks more custom. 

Addicted to the transparency page!  Thanks Brook-with-no-E!   Glued the little "I-heart-2-cheer" thingy on this one.

Other side sez "Squad".  Loved the star page.  Found that in a sale bin at The Crafty Scrapper, our LSS (local scrap store). . 
Too fun.   And love the way it hangs out over the edge.  LOL.

Just love the chunky, funky way every thing piles on top of the other.  This was my favorite pages.  Especially loved this bit of fun. 

This was one of those fun pieces from the "mum-making-area" at The Hob Lob.  Got it, thinking I could use it in some way.  Ended up using it as a tag.  Fun-ctional.  LOL.  I'm on a roll...how many times can I use the word "fun"?

Backed with paper...I think it works well.  And fits nicely into that little pocket page.

Another fun page and of course more tags.

Loved the colors.  So I hope some little gal will get this as a great gift and enjoy it immensely.  I always hope that someone will use their little book.  Add photo's, jot it, make it there own.  I'm just happy to provide a foundation for lots of wonderful memories.

And since we are on a "blue, brown, black and cream" theme.  Thought this photo was appropriate.

Yeah, this contented, little, furry one has decided that "my donut" is perfect for a pint-sized, feline princess.  Yes.  What's that old saying, "in a cat's eyes all things belong to cat's"....yes, even a hemi-donut.  Sorry.  TMI I know.  : D

PS:  I'm slowly adding lots of new things to my Etsy.  Please click on the "Yapping Cat Shop" on the left to see all the new goodies.  Well, actually one new one.  LOL.  But more coming.  Thanks for looking.

Have a great weekend. We hope to as well.  If it is "Ike-less".  We are awaiting to see how windy and rainy it gets!

Imagine if you will...

...wasn't that always the way "The Twilight Zone" started?  LOL.  Not that this is Twilight Zone.  Frantic zone maybe?  Ever just feel like you dash from one thing to another and instead of doing any one thing right...you are just slap dashing it together.  I hate that.  Because I'm slow.  I love to piddle.  Love to be slow and enjoy my craft time.  This is not the time of year for me to move in my trademark "Cindy Time Zone".  Because it all has to be done NOW.  LOL. Realized I put a birdie in the mail for Becky and did not put a card, tag, wrap or anything.  I'm sorry Becks.  Just call me Twitter head. 

That is one of the many reasons I have not blogged.  The other reason...is well, I just have run of the mill junk to show you.  Nothing fab.  Nothing over-the-top.  But feeling the need to catch up.  So while it's nothing to write home about, I'll just show you what I've been twittering around with. 

Decided to "horn-in-on", er umhmm invited myself to give my friend "Shawna-What-the-Junk" a few things for a little craft show she is taking part in.  Yeah, nothing like a butt-insky friend I always say.  LOL.  Hey, never miss a chance to promote yourself.  I always say that too.  So, I am throwing together a few "fat scrap books" together.  This one I'm working on is for Cheerleaders.

Fun.  I hope to have lots of little twists and turns in this one.  A juicy, little, "fat scrap book".  These are truly little labors of love.

Fall.  Still thoughts of Fall.  And the cooler, rainy weather has certainly helped.  Not to excited about Ike coming to visit though.  Not at all.  Depending on where he lands, may give us the possibility of tornadic activity, high winds and possible flooding.  Yeah.  NOT wanting Ike to come visit.

Back to thoughts of Fall.  One of the reasons I love fall so much, the colors.  I am so naturally predisposed to reds, golds and browns...Fall is just my season.   I think those fall leaves and mums will be going into this basket here. 

See that maroon basket to the top right of the pic.  Yup.  Gonna be painted black.  And I think those fall flowers will look purdy in it.  On my front door maybe?  Maybe.  Or, might just sell it.  This is my last Canton trip stash.  Getting ready to head to the booth. 

This was my favorite find.  This little bead board cabinet.  Was a green.  But I've already painted it a nice shabby white.  Too cute huh?  Am so tempted to keep it myself.  But alas, I won't.

Here's a few other fun Canton finds.  That cream colored blob is actually a felt pumpkin.  He has berries and twigs on top.  Too cute!  And cheap too.  Loved the "Boo!" sign.  Yeah, I could have painted it, but it was so cheap, what the heck.  And that little pumpkin dude in the center?  Love him.  He came from Linda's Willow Nest.  Isn't he a cutie?

Little pumpkin dude. 

Well.  Better get back to twittering.