Open House this Saturday!!

Guess what....it's finally here! Open house for my studio is on Saturday, Dec. 7. Although I'm not completely finished (not sure if I ever will be), I am ready for y'all to visit! Saturday will be my first day open so you can come look around, have some snacks and shop or just visit & browse. My studio is located at 520 Thomas St., Scottsboro, AL 35768. If you are from out of town, after you leave here, you can visit Unclaimed Baggage just down the road from me. Below is a link to a map and you can get directions from there. When you turn on Thomas St. from Cedar Hill Drive, it will be the 3rd house on the left. If you turn off South St., after you pass High St., look for my studio on the left. It's painted green with a screened in porch, almost at the end of the street. Or if you still aren't sure how to get here, you can call, text or email me. After Saturday, I will be here most days, but just give me a call first to make sure I'll be here. If you will be making a trip just to visit my studio, be sure to call in advance so I can make plans to be here. Hope to see you Saturday!

Map: http://mapq.st/IoU5Qu

Contact Info: http://www.thecatspyjamas.com/contact.php

Party Planning

Our annual Halloween party is this weekend...I said I wasn't going to plan one so I could concentrate on my studio, but I couldn't resist! I tried to keep it simple, but today I'm going to Momma's to pick out a place for our haunted hayride. It won't be anything elaborate or too scary since we have several little ones. Just a little spooky (think glowing eyes and ghosts). Then I'll spend tomorrow making my food and cat ears and paws for my costume. I'm pretty excited about it now!

 

I haven't written about my kitties in a while. I think it's because moved my office to my studio and my camera stays over here. I used to always have it at home and take lots of pics, but now I use my phone and post a lot on instagram. all the kitties are doing well right now. I don't think I blogged about it, but we lost Mr. Spock earlier this year. He was 17 and we've had him with us most of his life, so it is hard to get used to not having him around. Now Strawberry is close to his age. He has all but 4 of his teeth pulled (not all at once..) and just recently he lost one (and I found it!!). So now he only has 3 teeth! Besides that he seems to be well and spends most of his time in my lap whenever I'm home. We have 3 others in the house. Sissy, Pumpkin (in the photo) and Hadley. Rusty is still in my studio and there are SEVEN that live outside. Luckily none have shown up to stay since we got Hadley a few years ago. There have been some that I took to the animal rescue and they found new homes. There were 2 stray tom cats that I wanted to get fixed, but I guess they moved on before I caught them. I even had the live trap out ready to catch them, but they haven't been back. Studio is so close to being ready to open. I have a few little things to get done outside and I've got my flower beds starting to get full. Mostly I need to get my stuff put away inside. It will be such a relief to finally be done. But that won't last long...we have to get back to remodeling our home after this is done!

 

 

Jack-be-Little

 

I love these little pumpkins! I always thought they were just for decorating, then one year I discovered you could eat them too. HOW FUN!

 

I just cut the tops off and clean out the seeds, there aren't many. (For a bonus, toss them in the compost and you might get a surprise next year. I usually get a few vines growing in my compost every year.)

 

Add some butter, a shake or two of salt, brown sugar, nuts and dried berries. My favorite to use are walnuts and cranberries. Put the top back on and bake about 45 minutes. They are the perfect single serve size. If you want to get really crazy, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream too!

 

Watch for these on sale after Halloween too...they will be really cheap and last a while.

 

The EASIEST Baked pumpkin

I was SO excited when I learned this trick....no need to cut open a pumpkin & get out all the seeds before baking! I just put a pie pumpkin in the oven and bake at about 350. I'm not sure how long, maybe an hour, but it will turn a dark orange like the photos when it's done and if you touch it, it will feel soft underneath the skin. Whatever you do, don't skip this step....be sure to let it cool before trying to cut it open! I tried right out of the oven once and it exploded. It went all over me (ouch), the walls, all over the floor. It was a huge mess.I lined my pan with aluminum foil too in case any leaks out. When it's done and COOL, you can scoop it out, mash it and use it in any recipe that calls for canned pumpkin. My favorite is to put a little butter, brown sugar and toasted walnuts on top with a pinch of salt, or sometimes just butter and salt. Pie pumpkins are my favorite pumpkins because they are a nice, round shape and they are cook to cook. I decorate with them, then bake them after Halloween. And if they are on sale, I pick up a few after Halloween.  They will last a good while in a cool place.

Halloween Party Ideas

 

Here are some pics from our party last year.....First are some monster cake balls. I just made some simple cake balls (bake cake, crumble, mix with icing, roll into balls), them iced them with bright colored icing. My favorites were the neon green ones! I used candy eyes I dound in the baking department and put the in little mini cupcake liners.

 

This platter has a mixture of bones and mummy pretzels. For the bones, I put a mini marshmallow on each end of a pretzel stick and dipped them in melted white chocolate. For the pretzel mummies, I drizzled melted white chocolate onto pretzels and added candy eyes before the chocolate cooled. The witch hand is something I found at Cracker Barrel on clearance one year!

 

 Closeup of our table--I drug out all my pumpkins, Orange & black Halloween serving dishes, etc. The skeleton head is one of my favorites, I use it to serve dip! I decorated with those black & orange wrapped peanut butter taffy candies. I put them in small ice cream dishes.

 

 

 This shelf held all our "fear factor" specimens. Everyone got to check everything out ahead of time and think about what they wanted to try.

 

These pics are making me excited about this year's party! Only a couple of weeks away, on October 19!!

 

 

Hocus Pocus!

Okay, I TRIED to blog everyday but failed on my second day! I started the blog but couldn't get my pics to upload, so I'm making up for it today. Last night we watched Cabin in the Woods and I made a pumpkin pie. The pie was yummy, the movie was just okay...

 

For our first night of celebrating Halloween, we watched one of my favorite movies, Hocus Pocus! I would love to recreate the costumes and go as one of the Sanderson Sisters one year, but I never plan ahead far enough. Besides, my nephew told me I need to quit dressing up like a witch every year, so I retired my hat for the last few years. Last year I was Bride of Frankenstein, the year before I was a scarecrow. I'm thinking this year I'll be a cat since I'm trying to scale back a little. My husband is playing music the night of our party, so I can't try to force him to dress up!! Last year he went as Napoleon Dynamite. We had an old mask with glasses and he had a "Vote for Pedro" t-shirt I found on clearance several years ago. I was already there when he came in and nobody knew who he was, including me, and I knew who he was dressing up like!

 

Every year we play "fear factor" at our party. Basically we just come up with food and name it gross stuff and make people eat it. We get everyone in a circle and draw a number for each person to see what they have to eat. Last year we changed it up and let each person choose what to eat and I think that was more fun because they all got to go check everything out. Even though I always tell them it's real food, some are really grossed out. My poor brother-in-law thought he'd be brave and play one year. His food was baby food (peas) and he looked pretty shocked when he tasted it. (Actually, I think he almost gagged!) To make it even worse, my sister had it on video and kept replaying it.... Another thing I did differently last year was make everything look like "specimens". I saw it on a blog somewhere, but can't remember where. I probably found it on pinterest! I took a few photos of our "specimens". I wish I'd taken pics of them all. I just saved up some old jars and painted the lids. On the computer I used an old typewriter font to make labels.  If you want to try this, just walk around your grocery store and use your imagination. Below are some of the things I made last year & what I really used. Some things didn't look like anything, but looked creepy, so I made them a "specimen of unknown origin" or something that sounds like it could come from a lab!

 

 

 

Teeth, unknown origin

 

I used water chestnuts and cut them into a vague tooth shape. I didn't get too detailed, just a rectangle and I left them in the juice from the can.

 

 

 

 

Stomach

These are artichoke hearts. I left them in the jar they came in, just painted the lid. I'm pretty sure there wasn't even a label on the jar.

 

 

 

Earthworms

I found a recipe online for earthworms using jello and some other stuff poured into a straw and chilled. I added some water and neon green food coloring to make them slimy and yucky. I wanted to fill the jar, but it was WAY too much work just for that little bit!

 

 

 

 

Eggs, origin unknown

pickled onions, also just removed the label & painted the lid, then added the label (plus they are pretty good to eat after the party!)

 

from Lake Expedition

In other words, I didn't know what this looked like. It's big pieces of onion slices boiled until transparent. I packed them pretty tightly and added the juice

 



unknown parasite, no. 4

I boiled some water and dropped eggs in strands into the boiling water to get this look. I added some chicken broth, I think, to get that cloudy look. I wanted it to look like it came from a lake  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sample from Roswell, NM

My favorite specimen!

I dropped beaten egg whites in tiny strands into boiling water, then put it into some clear water with neon green food coloring. Neon green food coloring was my friend last year!!

 

There are other things I didn't get pics of, or things we have done in the past. Here are a few ideas:

 

Gross colored baby food-- can be any kind of "fluids". We used peas as "zombie fluids"

Boiled cabbage can be anything unidentified, unspecified, etc. Add food coloring for different effects.

Bat's blood -- Karo syrup, red food color and grenadine, if you have it. It looks more realistic if it's thick & dark.

Dried fruit, like cranberries or blueberries can be some kind of bug or beetle

Lychee fruit -- I haven't been able to find any, but have seen people use them as eyeballs. If you can't find them, I have used a melon baller to make canned pears into balls, poke a hole in the middle and add a blueberry in the center. Drizzle a little of the "bat's blood" over them in a jar.

Red peaches -- one year I was cooking some for preserves and they really looked like some internal organ, so I stuck some in the freezer for our party!

Don't forget to check the candy section--they have all kinds of creepy candy around Halloween

And don't forget to have something not TOO yucky that the little ones will eat if there will be kids there.

Use your imagination--I would love to hear what you come up with!!

Countdown to Halloween...

Since I'm SO excited about fall and HALLOWEEN, I'm planning to blog of ideas, decorating projects, recipes, etc. for Fall or Halloween. Hope this gives you some ideas! I've been doing a Halloween party at my Mom's every year for a long time. But these pictures are of our first Halloween party at our house. It was in our basement and all the kids (and some grown ups) dressed up. I don't remember a whole lot about it, but I do remember my little brother was too scared of all the costumes, so he had to stay upstairs and I remember bobbing for apples. This was around 1979....looks like we drew some pictures on construction paper to decorate the walls.

Here's an easy fall recipe that I made last year. I just melted Kraft caramels to dip some granny smith apples in with a bamboo skewer as a handle. You could get creative with the handle--I've seen them done with sticks and that was really cute. You could add nuts, drizzle chocolate over them, add sprinkles, or what about some of those candy eyes? I like my caramel apples pretty plain though, it's one of my favorite fall treats and I just can't let myself pay $3 or $4 at the fair for one apple!!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Wow...I feel like the worst blogger ever! I get sidetracked and forget to log in a blog!! We have been working SO HARD on my studio over the summer and I'm proud to say we are almost finished!! I still have a lot of stuff to put in place, but the major parts are about done. We have just a few sheets of tin to go up on the roof this weekend, gotta paint the floor of the front porch and touch up the ceiling in the kitchen and the big things are DONE! I laid out my flower beds in front, which was fun. I doubt I'll get much landscaping done this winter, but I will worry about that this spring.

 

I have some Snowman bells in the Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Crafts this year! Pick up a copy, or you can order the already made bells (I have a few left) at www.thecatspyjamas.com or get the pattern at www.thecatspyjamaspatterns.com.

 

I finished some fun witch dolls recently. (They are in the pic to the left) One has already found her home in England, but the others are waiting for a home. Click HERE to see them. I also have a pattern for them called "The Gathering". Go to www.thecatspyjamaspatterns.com and you'llsee the patternfeatured inthe top right corner of the site.

 

I have big plans for the next few months...I'll try to post some of our fall/Halloween things we do during October. And, of course, I'll be having our Halloween party. I have to cut back this year since I'm concentrating on my studio, but I still have to have one! I claimed I wasn't going to, but couldn't stand it and decided the other day to go ahead with it.

 

Tomorrow is the first day of fall, so HAPPY FALL...my favorite time of year!!! 

 

Patriotic Polly

Check out my newest doll in Create & Decorate magazine -- Patriotic Polly! You can find her in the July/August issue of Create & Decorate or if you can't find the magazine, order it from my site at The Cat's Pyjamas Patterns.

All kitties seem to be doing well around here. We have a new one that has been hanging around. I caught him one day to get him neutered, but he got away and he's a little suspicious of me. (Imagine that!!) But he is starting to trust me again. I've been petting him and he let me pick him up, kind of, yesterday. I'm hoping by the first of next week, I'll be able to get him to the vet. The old white kitty from down the road has been coming to see me. To start with it was about once a week. The day before yesterday, she was here in the morning, then at lunchtime, then still here in the evening. She seemed to be starving and I thought it was strange because I know her owners feed her. I tried to get her to follow me back to her house but she wasn't interested. Later her owner stopped by and said some dogs had her cornered in the garage, so I guess she came here to get away from them. :( So sad because she's pretty old. We just let her stay here whenever she wants and she eventually went home that afternoon. At least she knows where she can run & hide if she needs to.....we're hoping not to have any new kitties show up for a while. There was another but he took off before I could catch him. Who knows, he may be back sometime!

Christmas Paintings

I found these photos from a few years ago...my nephew asked for a "Nightmare Before Christmas" painting, so I did this for him. My younger nephew wanted a painting too. I wasn't too excited to paint the Spiderman he asked me for. It took longer and was a lot harder. I don't know about the first one, but I know Tyler still has his Spiderman painting hanging in his room!

I know you're probably read this before, but I think it is the funniest thing!


DOG DIARY

8:00am - Dog food! My favorite thing!

9:30am - A car ride! My favorite thing!

9:40am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!

10:30am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!

12:00pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!

1:00pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!

3:00pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!

5:00pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!

7:00pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!

8:00pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!

11:00pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!



CAT DIARY

Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am. Bastards!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means, and how to use it to
my advantage.

This morning? I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow-- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The
dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be
more than willing to return. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective
custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now...

Don't pick fights!

I don't know if Smokey will ever learn...He got in a fight with a stray and had a huge infected sore above his eye and one in his ear. Poor guy--I could just imagine that cat having him by the eye and ear and not letting go! Apparently this isn't his first fight. When he came here, his ear was folded back as you can see in the photo. He is so much better in this picture. It was taken a couple of weeks ago so he is well now, just has a little bald spot above his eye where he is growing back some hair. I'm trying to trap the stray to get him fixed without much luck. I had a virus and was sick for over a week, couldn't even get out of bed for a few days! When I woke up with a temp of 103, I figured I better get myself to the dr. I'm better now, but you can really get behind in just a few days, can't you? I'd love to take a hint from Little Bit (below), but just don't think I have time to lie in the yard right now. Maybe soon.....

Oh, hoping to get the new countertops sealed this week so I can get the sink installed this weeked!!

Ceiling Fan Makeover

As I promised, here is one of my projects for my studio. I really, really wanted to find a vintage chandelier & spray paint it hot pink for my kitchen. I looked & looked and just never found one like I wanted. A while back I bought this inexpensive white (boring) ceiling fan at wal-mart. After I got it, I never really loved it. I tried to sell it on craigslist and never could, so I decided to use it. I only paid $20 or $25 for it, so I couldn't really do too much damage, I figured. I took it apart and spray painted the metal parts with Antique Bronze spray paint. Well, first I primed it and I should have sanded it. But it should be okay since it will just be hanging there. ;) I painted the blades black, then did a top coat the color of my cabinets, a kind of putty color, then I sanded & distressed them. I used the same globe that came on it when I bought it. Then, I got a round mirror that I bought at Salvation Army many years ago for $5.00. I broke out the mirror and luckily it has a backing on it. I painted it all black, then the color of the blades and antiqued it too and used it as a ceiling medallion. I was pretty proud of myself for even remembering I had that frame!! A little secret--the frame is plastic. But you can't tell after the paint. I love how it turned out! I really wanted to redo my ceiling with pallet wood, but my husband would have had to do all the work and he didn't think it would work out. :( Maybe some day we can do that.

I can't find the exact picture of the fan before the makeover, but this is pretty much the same except for the globe. It was just all white & shiny.

Related articles

Studio update

Baby shower tables

Ceiling Fan Makeover

What I've been up to

Lots of things have been going on and my computer was down and I couldn't even blog about it! ;) I had a virus on Saturday. I spent the night at Momma's and didn't get home until Sunday night, so I tried to work on it myself Monday. Finally I took it to be fixed and brought it home Thursday. $195 later & it still wasn't working right. I worked on it for a few more days and I'm back in business now!!

I took pics of my niece and her date for the prom. That was fun, but I can't believe how grown up she is now. It seems like just yesterday we were having a tea party at her little table I painted for her. (I even got her some vintage Moss Rose dishes for tea parties!) I posted more pictures on my facebook page at www.denisewhitephotography.com. I also have some pics of my nephews' birthday parties. One is 5 and one is 2 now.

I spent the night with Momma & Daddy while Jackson was there and we colored eggs. We found an egg coloring kit with monster stickers. They were pretty fun and I even got a pencil and added mustaches and eyebrows to some of mine. Jack loved them so much, he didn't want to eat them. On the way home he said, "wouldn't it be awesome if I had an egg collection?" I figured that meant he was starting with our Easter eggs. haha!

All the kitties are good...the outside ones (like Luke in this photo) are glad spring is here so I'll be outside more! I have some plants started, like tomatoes, squash & herbs just waiting to be put in the ground. The studio is coming along and I'll share some photos of that process soon. We are still working on the kitchen, but its the last room to finish. I'm really  looking forward to moving in!!

Be sure to check my website at www.thecatspyjamaspatterns.com. I'm having a sale on all my original patterns. 25% patterns or epatterns. I know its time to start thinking about Spring shows and getting new designs for your customers!

Update on painting!

Had to cancel the last auction & relist it. It is exactly the same, it just has PHOTOS now!! So, the new link is below...thanks!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=281085933756

Breast Cancer Awareness painting

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=281085891473

I painted this  picture for a Breast Cancer Awareness event a couple of years ago. I found it the other day and thought I'd give it an update and list it for sale with 25% going Susan G. Komen for the Cure Chattanooga. Please take a look and let everybody know...the money will go directly to them once someone pays. I always love to hear you feedback too--comments or emails are welcome. Click here  to bid!

And Happy Easter to everyone! Hope you get to dye lots of colorful eggs, my favorite part of decorating for Easter. ;)

Here I am!!

I knew it had been a while since I'd written on my blog. But today when I looked back, I couldn't believe the last time I wrote was Oct. 8. So I apologize for any of you who have been wondering about me!! We've had a lot going on--of course all the holidays, birthdays, remodeling my studio (still!) and we lost our 17 year old kitty Mr. Spock. I spent a lot of time taking care of him last fall and into the winter. He died a couple of weeks before Christmas and I guess I'm still adjusting to being without him after so many years.

I was thinking that since we are doing a lot of remodeling and DIY projects, maybe y'all would like to see that here on my blog. Let me know your thoughts--you can comment here or send me an email. I do some updates about my etsy, magazine articles, etc. on facebook if you want to follow me there, but I will try to include them more on here now. I have had some projects in Create & Decorate & in Prims magazines if you have been watching for those. I have new patterns & supplies at www.thecatspyjamaspatterns.com I started dying my own wool curls, so I have some new colors available. I have new artwork at www.thecatspyjamas.com too. I've been doing more paintings lately....

We are SO CLOSE to having my studio ready on the inside! I think my husband may have gotten a little carried away in the kitchen. I was thinking we could just paint the few cabinets in there now and put shelves on the one bare wall. He was on a job and saw someone had thrown away some cabinets. We were at Home Depot one night to look at some sinks because I HATE the sink that was in here and I wanted to pick out a sink and faucet. (The faucet was worse than the sink....) While I was looking, he mentioned there were cabinets and a sink. So we took off to look and the sink actually looked really good and so did the cabinets! It was really cold, so we went home, got bundled up, cleaned out the van and got all the cabinets, sink and can you believe it had a good faucet on there too? Maybe not the one I would have picked, but it still looks good. The sink & faucet are practically new. We got a set of 4 big cabinets to hang on the bare wall. The two in the middle have glass, the other two are open. Then I got a smaller set of 4 to go above my desk, one base cabinet that fits perfectly in a spot where we didn't know what to put there and another that my husband made an island bar out of, with casters so I can move it around. After that, he built more cabinets--corner cabinets, shelves, cabinet for my broom, mop & trash can. I finally had to say I thought that was plenty of shelves. Ha ha! He still has to make doors, then I can paint them! Then I talked him into making me a wood counter. We've made light fixtures, fireplace from old wood, made over the front door. We've just been so busy. As soon as I can, I will get some pics on here for you to see what we've done so far. I am looking forward to getting in here to work, then of course, getting outside for some landscaping and gardening projects!!