Auction Finds

It's been slim pickings at the auction houses lately. Not sure why, but there hasn't been anything really cool (in my world) to bid on for a long time. Yesterday, I went to the auction house in Santa Cruz. Someone's collections of cat items were on the auction block so I figured I had nothing to lose by checking it out. While I was there, I was going head to head with another dealer for the kitty in the center of the top photo. Which was the best out of all the lots. I didn't stay for the whole auction, so I left some silent bids on everything else. It's always a surprise when I go back the next day and see what I've won.

Purrcy on the attack

I've told people that Purrcy does this "cowabunga" thing when we are out in the front yard. He hides behind these small bushes (as in the first photo you can see his tail and ear) and does what I can only call a "cannon ball" dive at me and lands on the top of the bush. I wasn't able to get my camera set on video in time for you to see the whole series of events happening. I think it's just too funny!

Sweet Tooth

I do have sweet tooth but really could you eat a cake that looks like this? Just looking at all that black frosting makes my stomach hurt. :) Now the little cake bites on a stick look good. It's little pieces of cake dipped in chocolate then topped with frosting to look like a cupcake. Bakerella does some really creative stuff cake, she must be on a constant sugar high! I'm going to give it a try (using brownies instead of cake) when my kids coming home for the holidays. I'll leave the turkey cake for a my cousin to try making. Here's the link to the recipe.

http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/05/cupcake-bites-made-easy.html

Tuesday Challenge

I wasn't a Domestic Diva this week - way too many classes going on and it's that time of year to make sure my antique booths are well stocked. Moving things out to make room for the Christmas items coming in. It's been slim pickings at the auction houses for the past 6 months. I don't think I've gone this long without loading up my truck and dragging boxes and boxes of good junk.
I did want to post my Tuesday Creative Challenge, which I will give some blog candy to the winner. Just create a card inspired by the this photo and link it to my blog by next week. Sorry but I lost track of who took the shot, but it wasn't me. I'm still searching for the person and will post as soon as I find my notes.

Another Card for Holiday Cats Class

This is the third card for my "Holiday Cats" card class. I've used this stamp by Paper Salon many times for the different holidays. The cat just has that look of getting into something. The arrow does move so you can point to what fits the person (or cat) receiving the card. "Naughty and Nice" is a computer generated font. I know there is a stamp out there, but I couldn't find it in my stash of stamps.

Full Moon

I was planning on going camping by the beach during this "full moon"phase but Doug is out of town and Purrcy is still on antibiotics after his run in with the neighborhood bully. Didn't want Purrcy to not trust his favorite cat sitters anymore. He really dislikes taking his medicine.

So I thought I would update you with some trivia crafting news. Micheal's has been sold to two equity firms for 4 billion dollars (I double check to make sure it wasn't a typo) and now the new owners expect the 1,000 plus stores to service the debt. I think we are already seeing the changes happening in the stores. Walmart is getting out of the fabric business which will help the smaller stores and they are reducing their craft section in favor of more electronic items. Again a positive thing for the small craft store owners.

Stardreams on sale

One of my very favorite card stock papers to use is Stardream Antique Gold and Bronze. It's a nice heavy weight card stock with a shimmer to it. One of my students emailed me and told me that Kelly Papers in Palo Alto (and it's only at this store location, I called to double check) has their Stardreams paper on sale for 25% off - what a deal!!! Kelly Papers is located on Middlefield Road. I would call ahead and make sure they still have the colors you want in stock. I know when I go in to stock up, I buy up everything they have. :) If you can't find any in your area, Marco's Paper in Ohio (headquarters for the Zindorfians) has it in stock too.

Andy Warhol Inspired Card

Another card for my cat card series inspired by Andy Warhol. The stamp is from Inkadinkado. I was having a hard time coming up with something using these small inchies stamps, when I thought this image looked like something Andy Warhol would have used. Used Copic markers (which was tricky not to get it to smear) for the background color.

Another Holiday Cat

Another card for my Holiday Cat series. Really can't tell the cat is cut out and pop dotted up in the photo. I need Michelle Zindorf's input in how to make the cat not looking like he's floating down the hill. I just couldn't get it right. I'm using more blue (thank you Lydia) as I try and work outside my box.

Cat Christams Card

Working on stocking my card rack at the store with Christmas cards. I didn't realize how low my inventory had gotten. The cat image by Stampendous is pop dotted up which you can't really see in the photo.

Emerency Room Visit for Purrcy

In our neighborhood all the cats get along. Most of them even stop by our house for a little snack everyday. There must be a new cat in town. Purrcy came in this morning and I knew something was wrong. Doug at first said he didn't think anything was wrong when I held Purrcy up to get a closer look under his neck. Doug didn't have his glasses on (which should have told me to have him hold Purrcy while I looked for any wounds) and said it looked like Purrcy just rolled in mud. While I was getting the cat carrier ready to go to our vet on Monday, I kept an eye on Purrcy who was sleeping in his favorite chair. When I walked out of the studio, Purrcy jumped down to follow me and he had a really bad limp and was meowing that "I'm not feeling well" meow all cats do. I loaded him up and took him to the veterinary emergency hospital. It was a long wait at the hospital, since they take the more serious cases first. From the amount of blood being cleaned up in the waiting room, there was some poor animal in much worse shape. After a exam and taking of vital signs, they shaved Purrcy's leg to make sure there wasn't anymore damage and sent us home with antibiotics. Lucy of course had to check Purrcy out when he came home.

Happy Birthday or 'tis the season?

Another one of those what title should I use for class polls. It's for the ladies at the Senior Center and maybe for the store, but I can't decided if I should post Happy Birthday or stay with the holiday theme - 'tis the season. What's your vote?