Just a quick note to say Happy Thanksgiving and let you know I have some great sales on my sites! At www.thecatspyjamas.com I have 15% off everything on my site! Then go over to www.thecatspyjamaspatterns.com to get $3 off any pattern or e-pattern! That means most epatterns are $3.50 and the instructions/recipes are only $2.50. That's a good price for stocking up! If you are looking for some jewelry (especially for gifts!), at www.tcpstyle.com , just about everything is 10% off. That makes a big difference, especially if you have been eyeing some of the higher priced pieces. Even the brand new pieces I just listed are 10% off.



Have fun shopping and have a Happy Thanksgiving! Prices are good through Monday and I will fill orders/answer questions on Friday.

I've been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY working on new jewelry! I have a few pieces listed at www.tcpstyle.com and hope to get all of it listed in time for Holiday shopping. Please check out what I've listed so far and keep an eye out for new stuff!!

New jewelry!

I've been working on new jewelry... I have several new pieces, but this one is my favorite so far! I used hand-dyed fibers, plus a mixture of old and new stuff to make the pendant and the necklace is a vintage rhinestone strand. Watch my website, www.tcpstyle.com for several new pieces. Also look for my designs in the current issues of Create & Decorate magazine.

Kitties all seem to be keeping me busy around here! I've been nursing a really bad eye on Dill for almost 2 months and it is just now starting to get better. Mr. Spock still has his good days and bad days. Just a couple of months ago I thought he wouldn't pull through, but he is doing okay again. He is a tough ol' kitty!

Fall E-Pattern sale--this week only!

This week only--buy 2 epatterns from my website www.thecatspyjamaspatterns.com and get 1 e-pattern of your choice     FREE! Buy 4 e-patterns and get 2 e-patterns of your choice FREE! Just be sure to mention that you saw this on my blog/facebook/twitter and tell me which pattern (or patterns) you want free. I will need the name and pattern number. Please be patient when you order. They don't come automatically, I will have to email each one to you. Thanks and get ready to stock up on patterns for your Christmas shows!!

Has it really been that long?

Wow...I REALLY fell behind on my blog, didn't I? I didn't realize its been 2½ months! Where does the time go?

My last post said I went on a last minute trip...well, I went to Virginia! I got to visit the Waltons Museum, the Natural Bridge and several other places. After I catch up on writing, look for the photo album with my pics in it.  Can't believe I forgot to share those on my blog!

We've been busy working on my studio AGAIN! We've also had some sick kitties. My oldest kitty, Mr. Spock, has had some really bad days and I have to give him fluids throughout the day and sometimes encourage him to eat. He's better now, but I can tell he has gone downhill a lot. It is sad to know he won't be with us much longer, but he has had a long & happy life. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

Today I'm scraping paint, trying to get ready to paint the outside of my house. I'll be so glad when its done, but scraping paint isn't my idea of a fun time. Ha! And it is hard to find time to create with a whole house needing to be painted!!

Summer Giveaway!!!



A winner has been randomly selected for the Itty Bitty Kitty doll--please check your email to see if you are the winner! I don't have a name but the winner's email address is p*********z@gmail.com. If you think this is you, contact me as soon as possible!

Road Trip!!

 Well, I decided to go on a last minute trip! I decided on Saturday to take off on Sunday morning and stay gone all week. I wanted to share some pics from my trip, but can't get them to download to my laptop, but I will definitely be sharing them with you when I get back. Should be home in a few days....July is about over, so don't forget to enter to win the Itty Bitty Kitty in my previous post!

Summer Giveaway!

Hope everyone had a happy Fourth of July! After the end of the month I will be having a giveway for the cute little "Itty Bitty Kitty" below! There are 2 ways to win...if you are already signed up for my email list (you can go to any of my sites listed below to sign up for my mailing list), you will already be entered once. And anyone who places an order from now until the end of July will also be entered to win! An order from any of my sites will be get you entered:

www.thecatspyjamas.com

www.thecatspyjamaspatterns.com

www.tcpstyle.com

So go ahead...do some shopping and enter to win the cutie below! If you want to make him NOW, go to www.thecatspyjamas.com to buy the e-pattern for only $3! I

Itty Bitty Kitty Pattern for $3!

Just listed the Pattern for this itty, bitty kitty....he's cute as a button and the e-pattern is only $3! Its so easy, you'll want to make a bunch. You are welcome to make it in any size you want too! I will be away from my computer tonight, so if you order, I will get the pattern to you as soon as I get back to the office tomorrow. Click HERE to order the pattern....hope you love her!!

Proud!!

 I'm so proud of my nephew, Jeffrey, who graduation from high school on Tuesday and my niece, Tara, who will graduate from junior high school next Tuesday. They're all grown up now!!

Did I really need all this?

I just ordered a ton of new paintbrushes. I'm not sure why...I just cleaned out and cleaned off my desk and put all my paint brushes into containers and I have so many. Now I have enough to last years. Ha! I couldn't resist though and I do have some sets that I put together on my website now. I put together my favorite ones for painting dolls, so there's no guess work! Of course when I ordered those, I had to order some extras for myself. ;)

These are just some of the paint brushes I got together when I cleaned out my studio a while back. I'm sure they will be used though!!

If you want to purchase the doll painting set of brushes from my website, click here to check them out.

Lost my mailing list

 If you were signed up for my mailing list at The Cat's Pyjamas, The Cat's Pyjamas Patterns, Full Moon Folk Art or TCP Style, please sign up again. I lost my mailing list and have no way to retrieve it!! So if you still want to receive updates, please sign up again. This is NOT for the blog, that mailing list is still good. This is only for my websites. Visit any of these sites to sign up for my mailing list:

www.thecatspyjamas.com

www.thecatspyjamaspatterns.com

www.tcpstyle.com

Thanks!!!

Hadley a year later!

I was looking through my pictures and found one of Hadley just a year ago. I couldn't believe how much she has grown! The one on the right was taken this week, so you can see the difference. She is still full of energy and so much fun for all of us! After she recovered, the rest of the kitties still weren't feeling well and she didn't have any playmates. That was kind of sad! Finally she & Pumpkin had a wrestling match in the living room, so I knew things were getting back to normal!!! FINALLY!

I listed a few new pieces of jewelry on my website this week. Click here to see my new pieces. Hope you like them!!

New wool curls!

I have some new wool curls on my website....I have tiny wool curls for Santa beards back in stock, plus some new colors (nearly black, charcoal, silver and a brown/gray blend). Click here to see the new colors. Hoping to keep adding  to the colors soon.

I've had a lot going on lately. I live near where the tornadoes came through last month. Our house wasn't hit, but we were out of power for almost a week. That was hard to get used to! My parents, in-laws and my sister's properties all had damage. One sister lives in Rainsville where there was so much damage, so it barely missed her. We were the lucky ones....so many lost their homes and loved ones. Its so sad!

During the power outages I had some sick kitties too! Hadley started sneezing, then they all started getting it. Hadley wasn't too sick, but it was rough on some of them. All the male cats had at least one day they wouldn't eat and they were really sick. I don't know if that's a coincidence or not. Sissy was only sick for a couple of days, but Bilbo and Mr. Spock are still trying to recover after over 2 weeks. I know it was worse on them because Bilbo has heart problems and Mr. Spock is in renal failure. Pumpkin refused to eat and was dehydrated and had to spend one night at the vet's office. Bilbo had fluid (heart & lungs) so that was scary. Mr. Spock has an inner ear infection again, so I felt like all I was doing was giving medicines for a while! All are better, but Spock and Bilbo will take a little longer to get better, I think. After all this stress, I am needing a vacation, but don't know when that will happen!! Can't leave them now, that's for sure!

Water loving kitty!

I've told people about this kitty loving the water...now I have proof! Every time I water my plants, he comes running and chases the water. The other day I had a leak in my water hose and he LOVED it! I need to have a sprinkler system installed. I think he would LOVE it! I've had kitties that like the water, but never seen one enjoy it as much as he does!!

 
 

Dolly parts...

 I've been cleaning and organizing my studio....found all thise little doll parts. Wonder what I can create with these? The bad thing is, seeing them all together just makes me want more!!!

Luke & my garden

This is Luke...posing just a pretty as...well, a picture! ha! He looked so cute sitting out in the yard! He used to be such a skinny ol' kitty, now he's so fat. He still likes to play and you wouldn't think he'd run around like he does, so its pretty funny!

I've been working on my flower beds and vegetables in between all the rain! I have some tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, peas and beans started. I planted some asparagus too, but I'll be surprised if that works out! I planted 2 thornless blackberries and one is starting the grown. My fig tree I planted last year is growing and I have 2 blueberry bushes hanging on. Who knows, I might have a handful of fruit this year!! Enjoy some more pics of my kitties and my garden below!!

 
Peppermint and tomatoes

 
Our little pond

 
Purple irises

 
Luke was looking so handsome, I got a few good ones of him!

 

Baby stuff

I finally got a chance to visit with my new great-nephew the other day. It was fun, but he SLEPT the whole time I was there! I hated to leave, but had to pick up those darn taxes from the accountant! I did get to hold him and give him kisses. Maybe next time he'll be awake, or I'll have more time to wait on him to wake up!

Poncho's story

 

Poncho has a good story...he came here so scared and skinny and sickly. He's still "slim", but healthy and friendly. (That's why most of his pics are of him in my lap!) It was just last summer (I think....it seems longer ago!) that he was hiding in the shed next door while we cooked out. He'd watch us from afar and I'd cook extra hot dogs so I could toss him a few treats. It didn't long for him to start hanging out with us, then ON us! It took a while to clear up his sniffles & ear mites, but he was well worth it!!

 

 

Easter Patterns!

Looking for some last minute projects for Easter? Check out these Easter patterns on my website....

 Click HERE to see my Easter Patterns!



I hope you're having some nice spring weather! Its been pretty nice here, besides some thunderstorms. I have lots of flowers blooming and planted a few veggies. Can't wait to have my first vine ripe tomato of the season! My last project on my studio was putting up a wire fence to grown some vines on. I got that up and all my plants and seeds planted there. We tried to recycle as much as possible and did pretty well! All I had to buy was the wire. We had all the fence posts except 2 (they came with the property), someone gave us some they didn't need and we picked up the wooden posts on the side of the road. My next project is an arbor made from 2 metal gates that were here when we bought the property. I'll share pics as soon as I get all this done. I am STILL hoping to open in the fall. It looks like a lot of work still needs to be done, but my husband thinks it can be done by October. I hope so....can't wait to have my first visitors!!

Senior pictures

My nephew is a senior this year so I did his senior portraits. I was pretty proud of how they turned out! I took some of the rest of his family too....I've had my eye on several of these places to take pics for a long time and we had lots of fun, or at least I did! I love how they turned out, but it helps when you have good looking models! I wanted to share a few of my favorites. I've even had a few requests to do other peoples' photos, which I would LOVE!! I guess with my new nephew, I have another cutie to photograph too...Enjoy my other pics!

Smart Kitty

I'm thinking Hadley is one smart little kitty! She learns fast and I've taught her to shake & "give me 5"...so I was wondering what other tricks I could teach her. Any suggestions? I know you're supposed to teach them things they are already good at. (She was always pawing at me and reaching for me, so that's why I taught her that trick.) Lately when you try to walk into a room, she runs in front of you and jumps straight up and grabs the door knob with both paws. She'll hang there a few seconds waiting on you to open the door. I'm not too sure I want to turn that into a trick though! LOL!! I'd love some suggestions...never really trained a kitty before!!

New drawings...

Lately I've been in a "drawing" mood! I love doing these drawings on paper, just black and white. I may add color later, or maybe not! I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but have had some t-shirt suggestions, which I thought was a great idea! We'll see...right now I'm just accumulating a big stack of drawings! haha!

Besides drawing, I've been dealing with some sick kitties too. Mr. Spock (my oldest kitty) is having inner ear problems again. Last Monday I got up to find him wobbly again and barely able to stand. I got him some antibiotics hoping to keep from taking him to the vet because he gets SO upset when I take him. After a few days, I didn't think he was better so I took him to the vet on Friday. He has kidney disease too and I was worried he wasn't getting up to drink enough. He was dehydrated so he got some fluids, a steroid shot and is on 2 different antibiotics. He's still unsteady but seems to be getting better. He is definitely eating and drinking more now with his steroid shot kicking in! It surely won't hurt him to put on a little weight. He had lost from  18.5 to 11 lbs the last time we weighed him. Its hard to see him so small since he has always been a big, healthy kitty until about the past year. He is 15, so I guess it is just something I have to deal with....he has been getting plenty of extra attention and I'm sure he's enjoying that! He goes for a checkup tomorrow and I'm hoping to get some good news that his ear drum is healing!

Welcome Little Oakley!

I am now a GREAT AUNT! My great-nephew, Oakley Chandler Reynolds was born today. We are all excited he's here and ready to spoil him!!

Oakley's Mural

Today is the today...I'll be a great-aunt! My nephew's baby, Oakley, is on his way today. Can't wait to meet him! It seems like we've been waiting forever...while we were waiting, I painted this jungle mural in his nursery. I told them to tell him about me every time he looks at it. ha!

How spoiled is my cat?

I have been worried about Rusty because he stopped eating and has lost a lot of weight. (He needed to lose weight, so at least there was a good side to this story!) He has IBS and food allergies, so he is on a special diet and has enjoyed the food so far. The vet orders the food and he always liked Salmon & Green pea best, so thats what I have them order. It comes in a case, so he's had the same kind for a while.

A few weeks ago, he started leaving his food on the plate. I'd leave him all night and come back to find that his food is still there. I had to stay with him and pet him, stick the food in his face and coax him to eat. I had decided he was sick--went to Petco to get more food and bought a variety of canned food that is okay for him to eat and had planned to take him to the vet. But I just wasn't sure what was going on--he plays, purrs when you pet him, would even eat some samples of dry food that I picked up at the local pet store. I came home with the food yesterday and of course some of his salmon & green pea was still on the plate. I give him 1/2 can at a time and he never eats the whole thing. Yesterday evening I opened a new can of Venison & green pea and he ate A WHOLE CAN in no time! He just did the same thing this morning, so I now have a diagnosis....SPOILED ROTTEN!!! Ha ha!! AT least he's not sick!

Tweet Tweet!

I'm been in a painting kind of mood the past few nights. I did this little bird painting/collage last night. There are 3 others to match (2 birds & a flower). Click here to see all of them on my site.

I'll be spending the weekend painting a mural for my great-nephew who will be here in about a month! I'm hoping to finish it on Sunday and will definitely share pictures when I'm finished. We are so excited for him to get here and I definitely want his mural ready for him when he arrives!!

American Girl

Here's my latest Mixed Media art--just finished last night! I used a vintage doll (just like I found her, looks like she has her original clothing on), old domino box, dominoes, scrabble pieces, jenga tile, vintage patch, rick rack and a page from an old book. I do have a hard time parting with some of my vintage stuff (like the doll). I guess I get too attached sometimes. ha! And I love these little vintage dolls. I recently acquired a whole box of dolls and doll parts, so guess I should use them, right?

I would love to hear what you think of my new creation. If you are interested in buying this piece, or if you want to see more pics, email me or go to my website at by clicking here:

American Girl



Hope everyone has a HAPPY VALENTINES DAY today!!

Trash to Treasure

  I am ALWAYS interested in free stuff! I don't mind getting something off the side of the road that someone has left for trash. (I have even come close to getting my husband arrested for it, but that is another story!) Some of our neighbors were moving and couldn't take all their furniture with them. So they gave us an antique table, 2 night stands, a twin bed that I got for someone else and this chest-of-drawers. It wasn't bad looking to start with and all it needed was a drawer guide. My husband took care of the drawer guide and I painted it and I LOVE it now! I started by sanding it all over so it wouldn't be so shiny and the paint would stick. If it had been lighter, I'd probably paint it black first, but it was a medium brown. I painted it with a putty color paint, it took about 3 coats. Then I sanded it, especially on the edges to make it look old, then waxed it with "soft black" wax (which actually looks brown, so I don't know why its called soft black!).  It took me a couple of days to finish it, but it was worth it. I have it in my bathroom next to the claw foot tub where it looks great and gives me a lot of extra storage. I still have to paint the night stands and don't know what I'll do with the table yet.

Keep your eyes open--you may get some freebies that you could use in your house! I love the look of painted furniture, and especially love getting stuff for FREE!!

New jewelry displays

Friday I set up a new display at Talk of the Town (in Scottsboro, AL) with my friend, Michelle. Michelle does the boxes you see on the right side of the display. If you are in Scottsboro, stop by Talk of the Town and see my new jewelry! I tried to leave a little sampling of everything (dolls, painting, make-dos, collage jewelry and vintage/recycled jewelry).

Bertha Bunny

This is my latest pattern in Create & Decorate magazine, Bertha Bunny! She's really easy to make....let me know if you get the magazine and make her. Would love to see your version of my pattern!

I hurt my back a few weeks ago and haven't been able to blog (or do much else) for a while. I stayed in bed for almost 2 weeks. Now I'm slowly working my way back to working at the computer most of the day. Thank goodness for my husband--he took good care of me and the kitties while I was sick! He even had an extra kitty to take care of too. Cricket was inside with me for a couple of weeks. Her foot healed, then she had to have lots of teeth pulled because she has stomatitis like Strawberry & Rusty both have. She's outside now and doing well....and she was READY to go out! She's always lived outside, so it was a big change for her to be inside so much. Hopefully now things will be back to normal with not too much excitement.

 Well, we did have just a little excitement yesterday. The neighbor's cat slipped past me into my studio and I didn't know until I heard a big crash, then a big cat fight! Poor Rusty was so upset and when I finally got them separated, the other kitty ran to the door and right into the glass trying to scratch his way out! I let him out and didn't see him for a whole day. I saw him today and he is fine too, but I'll bet he won't try to get in here for a while! And before you ask...NO he wasn't wearing his head rag when it happened. I'm sure he'd really get some teasing over this. LOL!