Wednesday, June 30, 2010

New Frida Cards! Ole'


Close-ups of the 4 designs


*** ETSY UPDATE ***

I have a BRAND NEW set of FRIDA KAHLO Note Cards in the SHOP now!
4 FUN designs of Frida & her Cats!

Send someone you love a cheery note with these colorful cards.
Frida makes everyone SMILE!

Matching envelopes included & FREE SHIPPING - YAY!

Hope you're having a wonderful day!
Oh by the way ~ I'm picking up new FOSTER BABIES tomorrow!  Will post stories & pictures soon!  PURRRS...

Sunday, June 27, 2010

New Painting & New Prints!

All American Dad now on EBAY!


New Prints in my ETSY SHOP now!

HAPPY~ HOT~ SUNDAY TO YOU ALL!

I have a NEW PAINTING up for grabs on Ebay now...
 "All American Dad" ~ a cute little 5X7 acrylic on canvas for July 4th or anytime

Also have an ETSY UPDATE...
2 new prints in the shop now ~ Frida & St. Francis

Check them out!

Have an awesome day & stay COOOL!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Feline Friday-Cat's Pee on a Gooseberry Bush!




YES ~ you read that right!
Is this the FUNNIEST thing ever?  My mom & I found this wine at the little Market in downtown Fish Creek when we were in Wisconsin on vacation last week.  We just CRACKED UP when we saw it!  And how could we resist buying it???  We got the last 2 bottles!
Isn't that label hilarious?  I love the pawprints on the cap!  Neither of us has tried it yet but I'm not picky about my wine so I'm sure it'll be quite tasty.  And though it has the same coloring, I just hope it doesn't have the same lovely fragrance as cat pee - teehee.

Have a wonderful weekend  ~ & may all your cat pee end up in the litter box or in a wine bottle!
xoxox - purrrs

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

BACK & Playing Catch-Up!

Eagle Bluff Lighthouse
Mom & I stocking up our wine cart!
Cute goats on the roof at Al Johnson's
Cana Island Lighthouse
Cave Point State Park

Gorgeous Bluffs by Green Bay
Beautiful Harbors

I MISS WISCONSIN!!! 
We had the most wonderful vacation week in DOOR COUNTY
It's absolutely GORGEOUS & the weather was PURRFECT ~ nice & cool 60s & 70s.  Ahhh...it's hard coming back to Kansas & adjusting to humid upper 90s sweat...drip...
I won't bore you with a bunch of stories & pictures but I'd like to just make a quick list of some of my FAVORITE things about our trip!  Here they are...

 Our lovely rental home in the woods of Fish Creek
Watching the deer come to the feeder in our backyard
Making s'mores & roasting hotdogs over our fire pit
Hiking the shoreline & wooded trails
Eagle Bluff Lighthouse & climbing to the top of Cana Island Lighthouse
Fish Boil at the Old Post Office restaurant in Sister Bay
The "Haunted Door County" Trolley Tour
Door Peninsula Winery & Stone's Throw Winery
Taking the car ferry over to Washington Island
Cherry Train Tour on Washington Island
Cherry Swedish Pancakes at Al Johnson's Restaurant - yum!
The goats on the roof at Al Johnson's - so cute
Relaxing on the beach at Whitefish Dunes on Lake Michigan
Seeing a mama & baby racoons in Peninsula State Park - so sweet!
Beautiful sunsets over Green Bay
Cherry-stuffed French toast at the White Gull Inn
So many neat shops & restaurants!
My favorite shop-Kitty Korner!  (more on that later)
Lovely COOL weather & flowers everywhere!
Quality time with my family

Well, that list turned out to be pretty long.  I could add several more things to it actually but I'll stop. 
Since I got home late Saturday I've been in catch-up mode.  I opened the SHOP back up Sunday & have had several orders in the last few days (yay) so I've been busy packing, shipping, updating & now I need to get busy CREATING new things for the shop! 
Today I'm spending some time catching up on all YOUR blogs, getting some inspiration & commenting.  All this "networking" is hard work isn't it? - ha!  People keep telling me to Twitter & I've been meaning to but ... good grief ... I have a hard enough time keeping up with my blog, shop, facebook & everything else.  Whew!  Someday soon I will give in & join the world of tweeting.

This post is getting long enough!  Thanks so much if your reading has made it down this far!
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY!!! xox purrrs

Friday, June 11, 2010

Feline Friday~Adopt a Shelter Cat Month!

Alvin is available for adoption from the Kansas Humane Society in Wichita!
FOLLOW UP:  Alvin (who's name somehow got changed to Reggie, was ADOPTED on the 12th ~ just a day after I posted this - YAY!!!

Just a quick post as we're heading to Wisconsin for vacation in the morning.
I LOVE Pedigree's "Heroes" commercial that's out now!  It's actually about shelter dogs but I'm going to post the words & substitue CATS instead.  
Remember ~ June is ADOPT A SHELTER CAT month!

Pedigree's "Heroes"

Shelter cats aren't broken.
They've simply experienced more life.
If they were human we would call them wise.
They would be the ones with tales to tell
and stories to write.
The ones dealt a bad hand & responded with courage.
Do not pity a shelter cat.
ADOPT ONE!!!

Reminder:  My Etsy shop will be on "Vacation Mode" for the next week.

See you all when I get back on the 20th!
HUGS & PURRRS!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Carly the Calico


Carly the Calico

Our rental house in Fish Creek

I just couldn't help myself!  I had to make 1 more cat doll!
I'm falling way behind on my regular canvas paintings but once I started digging through all my fabric there was no stopping me!  I even have another one done (with the cutest bird print) but haven't painted the face yet.  It's going to have to wait.

We leave for vacation at the crack of dawn Saturday morning.  Picking up my mom in Kansas City & heading NORTH to Wisconsin!  The house above is where we'll be staying.  Isn't it great?  They say deer come from the woods to the backyard to visit.  I LOVE seeing wildlife!

A big THANK YOU to all of you for your kind comments about Zoolou.  She is doing FINE & acting her normal crazy self!

After tomorrow's "Feline Friday" I'll be "on holiday" from the blog for a week.
Thank you all my dear blogger buddies for visiting!  See you soon! xox & purrrs

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

It never fails!

Just when you're about to leave for vacation one of the cats gets sick!  ARRGGH!
They just have a way with timing don't they?  I think maybe they do it on purpose to try & keep you home.  Anyway, poor Zoolou made a yucky deposit in the litter box that had a bit of blood in it so that prompted a call to the vet & luckily I got her in right away (with her stool sample).  After an exam & poop test Dr. Bill thinks it's just a bout of colitis.  She has a few pills to take & should be fine.  Whew! 

Silly cat's never been sick a day in her life (aside from hairballs).  I was all panicky there for a few hours.  I couldn't imagine myself leaving for a whole week knowing my cat was home sick!  I always worry about our pets a little even when they're NOT sick!  Thankfully, I know she'll be fine & I can enjoy our family vacation.  She is not acting sick at all as you can see from the photo!  In fact, she & Markie had a pretty wild rough & tumble play session just this morning!  Darn cat!

SO...about our vacation!  We're headed to a little town called Fish Creek in Door County Wisconsin!  Door County is the little peninsula that sticks out on the northeast side with Lake Michigan on the right & Green Bay on the left.  It's dotted with quaint little towns all around the coastline & filled with gorgeous state parks & scenery!  Hiking, biking, beaches, lighthouses, fish boils, ice cream & relaxing are on our list of to-dos!  Oh & eating lots of cherries!  Can't wait!

Monday, June 7, 2010

At least the CAT likes it!




A few weeks ago I splurged & bought the cutest little child-size antique bed!  When I saw it at the shop it had a sign on it saying "This would make a great dog bed"!  I'd been looking for a good bed for our big 90 lb. Koda & thought it was perfect!  I could just picture it in front of our bedroom window with a cute quilt on it & Koda sprawled out snoozing happily or just lounging with a nice view of the front yard.  He's been sleeping on our king sized bed & I finally got tired of dirty paw prints on my nice cream colored quilt so I decided to get him his own bed & train him to use it instead! 

Wellll...you can see how that turned out!  HA!  Markie seems to think it's HIS new bed & is enjoying it thoroughly!  I can get Koda to jump up on it & lie down but he never stays there.  I think he just needs some more training & he'll come around.  Of course when you have a choice between a little crib size mattress & a king size Tempurpedic ~ and you're a 90 lb. dog .....

Oh well, in the meantime the cat's enjoying it & it is a cute piece of furniture!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Feline Friday: Feline-ality

Today's Feline Friday topic is Feline-ality
Make sure the cat you adopt has the right purrsonality for you!
If your shelter doesn't have a "Feline-ality" program, be sure & ASK what their purrsonality is!

The following article was taken from the Wichita Eagle newspaper:
May 28, 2010 4:00:26 pm
by Diane McCartney/The Wichita Eagle
Wichita Paws
Mike Hutmacher/The Wichita Eagle

Stacy Cleaves, an assessment supervisor at the Kansas Humane Society, holds Sweet Cheeks, a cat available for adoption. Feline-ality is a program the Humane Society uses for successful cat adoptions.

Choosing a shelter cat to adopt can be easy or difficult, depending on how you look at it.

On the plus side, there are plenty of cats to choose from — beautiful felines of all colors, coat lengths, ages and personalities.

On the other hand, how does a potential adopter make a choice from all the cute, cuddly kitties that need homes?

A program at the Kansas Humane Society aims to make that decision easier, with the goal of ultimately increasing adoptions and decreasing the number of cats that are returned to the shelter.

Feline-ality is a research-based program that fits adult cats into nine personality groups within three colors and tries to match them with potential adopters’ desires and expectations for a pet.

Some people want a cat that’s “outgoing, with a lot of bravado and personality,” said Jennifer Campbell, director of communications for the Humane Society. Others prefer a kitty that’s quiet and independent, “that just likes to hang out and be its own cat.”

Feline-ality, she said, helps predict a cat’s behavior in the first two months in a home, increasing the chance that the cat will remain in that home.

Instead of people adopting a cat because it’s beautiful, and then bringing it back because it hides under the bed all the time — ‘That’s not what I wanted; I wanted a cat that’s out and about,’æ” with Feline-ality, adopters are more likely to get the cat they want, Campbell said

Animal behaviorist Emily Weiss, of Benton, created Canine-ality — a similar program for dogs — in 2002 while working with the Kansas Humane Society. The program was later adopted by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for use in shelters across the United States.

Weiss went to work for the ASPCA in 2005 as senior director of shelter behavior programs, and working with a team there, created Feline-ality.

How does Feline-ality work?

Cats are observed in eight scenarios that measure how bold or shy they are when reacting to new stimuli — the “valiance scale” — and how open they are to social interaction.

A cat that scores “purple” on the valiance scale may be fearful, the type that “when the doorbell rings, may run away and hide under the bed,” Weiss said.

A cat with a “green” score, she said, is probably “right up there checking out who’s at the door.”

An “orange” score places a cat somewhere in the middle.

Feline-ality assessment begins from the time a cat enters the Humane Society. For the first two days, information is recorded on a data card — what was the cat’s body posture when approached in its cage, what condition was the cage in, did it eat?

Then the cat is taken into a quiet room with an evaluator, who observes how it behaves in several scenarios and records the information on a checklist.

Stacy Cleaves, an assessment supervisor at the Humane Society, demonstrated the process recently with a 1½-year-old female cat named Sweet Cheeks.

Based on Sweet Cheeks’ reactions to stimuli that included being stroked, being hugged and having the base of her tail pulled, Cleaves determined that she was a “personal assistant” in the orange category — a gregarious cat that will help its owner with chores, and “help you relax when we’re done.”

She’s pretty social,” Cleaves said. She’s not going to run and hide, but “she’s not all up on you.”

Cat adopter survey

People who come to the Humane Society to adopt a cat are asked to fill out a one-page survey to determine how much activity and interaction they expect from a cat and what kind of cat will fit best with their lifestyle.

Do they want a cat that’s talkative and likes to play games? One that likes to be in their lap?

Do they consider their home more of a “library” or a “carnival”? Will the cat be living with children or other pets?

Each adopter is then assigned a color — purple, orange or green — and can narrow the choices by searching for cats assigned the same color.

People do not have to adopt their color match, Campbell said, but the Feline-ality information can help them know what to expect from the cat they do adopt. If a cat is shy, for example, it “may just take a longer time to adjust,” she said.

Weiss said data shows that Feline-ality is making a difference at shelters across the country. It has increased cat adoptions by 60 percent or more, cut euthanasias by more than half and decreased cats’ stays in shelters by more than 20 days, she said.

Campbell believes Feline-ality is helping save the lives of cats at the Kansas Humane Society.

The program gives cats “time to adjust to being in a shelter” and “gives staff and volunteers new information that they can share” about the animals available for adoption, she said.

Cats have a really difficult time at shelters,” she said. “We want to see their adoption numbers go up.”

HAVE A PURRFECTLY MARVELOUS WEEKEND!  Meow!  =^..^=

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Another Doll!

Sadie the Siamese
Bonnie & Sadie

SADIE the SIAMESE is my 2nd art doll I finished last night.
I'm having so much fun mixing & matching all the different fabrics I have laying around! It's nice to finally put them to good use. Both art dolls are available in my Etsy Shop right now!
I think I'll have a whole collection of these kitties in the works before long!

Need to get busy on my next painting first though.  Just wanted to share Sadie with you!
HAVE A GREAT EVENING!

Sophie Got Adopted!



YAY!!! 
My other foster kitty Sophie was adopted yesterday from the Humane Society!
I'm so happy she has a loving new forever home now!
I was surprised that she was the last of her litter to be adopted but I'm just glad she & all her brothers & sisters have wonderful homes now.

I wish I could foster more kitties now (there are LOTS needing it!) but we're leaving on vacation soon so I'll have to wait until we get back.

Just wanted to share my good mews!
I made another CAT DOLL yesterday & will post pics later today.  It's a Siamese!

HAPPY HUMP DAY!