High on catnip!

My lucky cats! They think it’s christmas already. I have made some catnip toys, with a view to making some more for christmas presents and swaps. of course the protypes have to be trialed, and thats where my cats score. I made two mice toys first, just plain brown in colour, nothing fancy. One of my cats played with one of them all afternoon, despite being nine years old. The toy is holding up well, given the viscious kicking, clawing and biting it’s been subjected to. The yarn was Patons Sorbet, which is aran weight, although many class it as chunky.

These two mice are the same but I varied the strings, doing a straight cgain for one, and a bouncy coli for the other. I don’t think one works any better than the other, but the bouncy one is quite good if the mouse is hung somewhere and the cat bats at it. Probably more interesting for the cat.

Having achieved a modicum of success with mice, I then decided to have a go at fish. These were not so successful, in that I should have stuck to the stronger cotton. I swapped over to a double knitting cotton, but its not really as strong or firm, so future toys will all be made in the aran cotton.However, you can mess around to your hearts content with colour and design, so it will be fun to do some more at a later date. The fish were made yesterday so qualify for the count in NanKnitMo, a meagre 1500 stitches, but they all count!

Fun with ATCs

I have been having fun making more ATC’s for swaps and as ‘extras’ for my swap partners. I also made some bookmarks, remembering to keep them as flat as possible so that I could laminate them.

 

 

 

 

 

                      

And lastly some cat ATCs. I didn’t plan on making these…they just happened!!

 

                  

A challenge

Well, I was perusing  Cheryl’s blog, when she happened to mention a challenge set by Daring Cardmakers. Of course, being nosey, I went to have a peep and this is what I found. The challenge at the time was for a card on the theme of I am woman, with something feminine about it, but with no Tilda’s, Sugar Nellies or Bellas. Since I have no idea what any of those are…no chance of getting that bit wrong, so I thought I’d have a go. Having looked at everyone elses’ wonderful contributions, I can see that my style is very different, but…it’s me!

Meanwhile I have been busy with other cards, especially one that was to someone whose birthday I forgot!

                       

Wonderful artwork!

A few months ago I came across a photograph in Flickr which compelled me to look at all the others in the set. It was a drawing of a dog, coloured with watercolours, but with a fluency and skill I could never aspire to. Since then I have become a big fan of this artist’s work and recently purchased some original work from her Etsy shop.

The artist is C.J.Kurtzrock, otherwise known as Janey from Janey’s Journal,  http://janeysjourney.typepad.com/ . Recently she has embarked on a new project which she calls a zine (thing). Basically she is working very hard to produce little booklets of her art – prints of her drawings which she handpaints with water colours. The first one was produced in January of this year, and was called 15 Meows and 1 Woof. The second one which came out a month later is called 15 Woofs and 1 Meow. I have been lucky enough to purchase a copy of each from her Etsy shop and I an entranced by them.  Here are some random photos to illustrate what I mean.

                                               

 

 

 

I love Janey’s work and her blog is fun too. If you would like to know more about her, visit her blog http://janeysjourney.typepad.com ,

or her Flickr gallery  http://www.flickr.com/people/74473522@N00/

 or her shop at Etsy  http://janeysjourney.etsy.com/

Meanwhile Janey, thank you for brightening my world and making me smile 🙂

Hmmm…

I don’t think I was on top form yesterday. First I made a bunny tag, thinking of Easter etc. Not entirely sure I like it. Maybe I need to get a punch!

Secondly, whilst punching out I found a piece of paper that grabbed my attention immediately, and I had to use it.

To me, this fragment…(the dark bit in the centre)  of waste paper looks like two cats fighting. What do you think? Anyway, I used it for a card, my Cat Scrap Card…sorry about the pun (and you must separate the words, I’ve discovered!)…and this is the result. As I say. not my best, but good practice.

A few more cards…

I have been making cards again. I seem to be in the grips of a paper crafting frenzy. This is, in part, due to a promise I made to myself, that March will be a writing month. I want to continue with my novel, the one I started for the NaNowriMo challenge so I am going to devote some focused time to it.

Meanwhile, with Mother’s Day approaching, I have made some cards which are a little different from my normal designs. Two differences. One – the colour schemes are not the combinations I would normally choose to use, such as pink and green, and two – I have tried to use leftover bits of paper. Not just any bits, but bits which have been extensively punched and have been left with an interesting pattern. Sometimes it’s a repetitive pattern, and sometimes something that is just an interesting shape.

                  

 

 

I have also made a couple of more card toppers, featuring my ‘Bear in the Garden’. This time he is in the garden at night, admiring the night sky, and then playing hide and seek.

I have two friends who have birthdays soon, and I have made them birthday cards which reflect their love of purple and flowers.

Now all I have to do is create some Easter cards!

Tagged!

I opened up my blog today and found that I’d been tagged!
Not one, but two of my dear friends, were keen I should take part
As I scanned the page and read the rules, my enthusiasm sagged
I’d done this once before I thought and for a repeat I had no heart.

Six unimportant things about me, is what I have to blog.
Last time it was weird and wonderful, what will it be the next?
Oh well, here goes, number one is safe, my love of cats I’ll log.
If I had to live without my cats , I’d be very sorely vexed.

Number two is how I miss my dog, she was a dependable friend.
She’s been gone five years, but none of us will ever forget her face.
Unimportant it may be but both my little pinkies bend,
My mother worried, no pianist me, but this was not the case.

That’s half my quota, oh come on …think! There must be more than this.
I know…my love of purple, lavender, or mauve, violet and pink.
Which leads on to my bag obsession. Kiplings I never miss!
And most of my bags are purple of course! Well what other colour did you think?

One more to go…gosh, what will it be. Perhaps it’s my poetry.
I try to write, with some success, and published soon will be.
So that’s it folks. Please no more games. A party pooper me!
Oh alright…perhaps. When the next time comes. You’ll have to wait and see!

So thank you Sarah and Kell76  –  I think!

 Now, these are the rules .

1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your blog entry.
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs.

I now have to nominate six people. Help! Change that to four!

(For some reason none of the hyperlinks are not working, but you know who you are)

Trisha

Catherine

Becky

Jeri

 

I think that will do!

Catching up!

Well, I have finally had enought time to be creative and make the second set of gift cards which were promised to the winner of prize no 2. Here they are…

I also made some bookmarks today.

It’s been a colourful few days!

The Year of the Rat

   

Apparently this will be the year of the Rat, presumably when the New Chinese year begins. I love pet rats, though I am not enamoured of the feral type. I decided to celebrate the humble rat and have done some designs based on a drawing I did of a rat. As I will be away for a week or so, I’ll leave you with these ratty designs.

 

Discovery

Whilst surfing through the art groups that I belong to in Flickr I stumbled across an invite to a new art forum, which I hurridly checked out. ‘New’ is the right word as it has only been in existence for a couple of months and they are desperate to attract new members. The forum is called Animal Artists and can be found here. After a short perusal I decided I’d like to join as it would be fun to join an art forum at the beginning of it’s life, and , more importantly, the people running the forum are very friendly. That counts for alot in my book. I cannot tolerate forums where everyone is happy to be offensive and rude and take it as normal, and either the moderators see it as normal, can’t cope with the number of offences, or just don’t care.

Anyway, back to Animal Artists. There is some lovely work on there already, mainly horses, from some very talented artists. I added my Scottie and Jemima and will add some more today. They are planning to have competitions and galleries etc when there are enough folk, but at the moment there are only 10 of us, so if you are interested, why not take a peep and join up. All craftsy people are welcome, so those of my friends who make wonderful cats in various forms would be welcome too. Please visit and help promote a forum that is friendly and safe and all about animal art 🙂