Snow Day!

Koda deciding if he really has to go or not!

Kayla was on the very left end (but can't see her here)

Kayla riding the Metro (subway) for the 1st time!

Kayla, Shelby & Abe!

Kayla's group with silly Father Ben

Kayla & friends at the White House

Kayla & Shelby ready for the March!

Shelby & Kayla at Gettysburg

It's a winter wonderland here in Wichita, KS! We have our first snow day of the year & the kids are thrilled, especially it being Friday.

I've posted a few pictures from my daughters' trip to Washington, D.C. last week for the March For Life. You can't see her, but my youngest Kayla said her group made their way up to the very front of the crowd (of thousands) & helped hold the big "March for Life" banner that LED the entire March! She's on the very end though & cut off in all the pictures. We DID see her on the tv coverage though! She even looked up to the camera & waved! What a great experience & memory for my girls!

It's a great day to stay inside & cozy up in my studio but unfortunately I have to get out at some point & mail a few Etsy purchases from yesterday's sales. That's a good thing though! Have a wonderful wintery weekend y'all! xoxox

A Crafty Sunday

I've had a busy day with the sewing machine today. Made another set of pillow ornies (still need to attach the ribbon hangers) & a cute pillow cover that I'm really tempted to keep! I just LOVE pictures of vintage looking cats & can't resist when I find some cute fabric! Don't you love the dancing cats on the pillow fabric block? So sweet.

Hope to get these in the shop tomorrow after a few finishing touches. I've been having some camera issues that are holding me up a bit. I'm using my hubby's fancy schmancy big old camera with a million different settings (ugh!) when I'm used to my daughter's little "easier to handle" camera. She & my other daughter have been in Washington, D.C. for the March For Life & she took her camera with her. They get back tonight so I'll be able to take better pics & post some pics of their trip too! Can't wait to see them! Happy Sunday!

Cat Adoptions are UP UP UP! WooHoo!

Carly, just 1 of the many kitties from KHS adopted to a forever home! Is that not the sweetest face?

My heart is SO happy right now! Since our new Humane Society facility opened last June adoptions steadily continue to go UP! To quote an e-mail from a staff member last week:

"You will be pleased to know that our adoption numbers continue to be very good ~ yesterday (Sat. 1/16) we only had 6 cats/kittens to adopt out!"

Is that not AWESOME or what??? Our adoption floor has 3 Kitty Cities that hold 8-10 cats/kittens each. When I was there on Thursday they were all EMPTY! We also have 21 Kitty Condos with 1-2 cats each & at least HALF of them were empty! Even the lofts in the back (all 6 of them with 21 cages each~where kitties stay until there is room on the adoption floor or until they are healthy enough) looked like a ghost town. I actually was able to go cuddle with EVERY cat there for the first time! Looking at our website this morning I counted only 17 cats on the available list. It is just so heartwarming. I wish every city could have a shelter as wonderful as ours! I encourage ALL of you to go volunteer at your own local shelters! Click HERE to visit our Kansas Humane Society.

Happy weekend to you all! meow

New Pillow Ornies for the Shop!

Just wanted to quickly post a pic of these cute little kitty pillow ornies I finished yesterday. I thought this fabric was just adorable & HAD to make something with it!

This set of 3 little cuties is available now in my Etsy Shop!

And GOOD NEWS ~ The Cat Napper I donated to the Craft Hope for Haiti Etsy Shop was listed today & has already sold! I'm so happy to have been a part of this amazing event! I'm sure all of you have heard of Craft Hope by now. Go visit their shop HERE!

Happy Hump Day everybody!

For YOU Valentine!

Valentine Painting available on Ebay right HERE!

Here is my first Valentine painting for 2010! I hope to do 2 or 3 more in time for the big day. I'm also working on some cute new vintagy pillow ornaments for the shop that I hope to get listed in a day or 2. I found the sweetest fabric with vintage kitties on it! Also thinking about doing some pillow covers. SO many ideas. Only it seems like I spend more time planning my projects than actually creating them!

On that note, I'm gonna go cut me some fabric! TTFN! Happy weekending!

Frosty Morning

A few days ago we woke up to the most beautiful scene outside! It was foggy & cold & everything was covered with what they called "Hoar Frost". I'd never heard that term before. (a strange word for frost if you ask me) Anyway, I looked it up & it's defined as "frost that forms when water vapor condenses out of the air & immediately freezes on surfaces that are chilled below 32 degrees." There is your science lesson for the day - ha. I heard the newspeople calling it "frozen fog" too. I think I prefer that name. It was just gorgeous though! My pictures I took behind our house don't do it justice. It looked as if everything had been sprayed down with that artificial snow in a can ~ so fluffy & pretty!

Last week we were in the single digits ~ this week we've had 50 degree days! That's Kansas for you. I want some more SNOW!!! Happy Thursday blogger friends! xoxox

Heeeeere's Frida!

Check out Frida on Ebay right HERE!

FRIDA KAHLO has the honor of being my very first painting for 2010! She's BIG, bold & beautiful in her snazzy dress & matching tote bag to carry her kitty. This is an 8 X 16 canvas & seemed to take forever with all the details but it was really fun just making up her dress & all her accessories as I went along! I still need to apply a varnish & take more pics but then hope to get her listed on Ebay tomorrow.

All our pretty white snow is melting with the temps going up today but at least maybe I won't worry so much about the homeless kitties out in the freezing weather. Hope everyone's having a happy Monday (despite it being Monday)! xoxox

Sneak Peek at my WIP

Work in Progress!

Here is a little slice of my first painting for 2010! I decided to start the year with something full of COLOR & FUN & a bit different & a LOT bigger ~ this one is 8 X 16. It's strange for me to work with a canvas that's 3 times the size I usually do. I also realized it's going to take a LOT longer than an afternoon to finish!

Anyway, you can guess who she is. She's Frida. She's funky. And I think she'll be Fabulous! (and of course she'll have her cat with her!) Hope to get her done & listed by the end of the weekend.

Have a Fridalicious weekend & stay WARM ~ it's fa-fa-frrreeeeeeezing here! xoxox

Someday I want to do THIS!

Phillips Bridge~west of Rockville, IN
Bridgeton Bridge in Indiana

Turkey Run Inn

Inn of the Six-Toed Cat

Six-Toed Cat Lobby (with a cat of course!)

My Dec. issue of Midwest Living had a 7 pg. article about covered bridges in Parke County, IN & Madison County, IA complete with wonderful snowy pictures & ideas for planning a trip. It sounded like the PERFECT relaxing getaway after all the hustle & bustle of the Christmas season!

I can just picture driving down a deserted country road winding across a beautiful woodsy winter landscape covered in a blanket of snow looking for the next covered bridge. It would be peaceful & quiet except for the tires crunching on the snow & the rattle of the bridges. We'd have a big thermos of hot chocolate & the radio off! We'd stop at one of the little towns along the way for lunch & later spend the night at the Turkey Run Inn near Rockville, IN or if we're in Iowa, the Inn of the 6 Toed Cat! Aaahhhhhhh..... Where's my calendar? I'm going to mark that trip down for next winter! Do you have a favorite winter getaway?

New Cat Nappers for 2010!

Just a few pics of the new Cat Nappers I've been working on over the weekend. I found some really cute fleece & sewed little matching stuffed toys to go with them. Check them all out at my Shop right HERE!

The more I look at the pastel colored ones, the more they look like baby blankets - ha. Maybe if they don't sell as cat beds I'll list them as baby changing pads!

Happy Monday everybody! It's our last day of Christmas break. We're taking the tree down today & I'm dreading it. Waaaaahhh!!!

HAPPY MEW YEAR!!!

A quick Happy New Year to all my blogger friends (just a day late)! I hope you all had some kind of special celebration. After all the craziness of our Christmas get-together I just wanted a quiet evening so we had a nice dinner out & then took a drive to look at Christmas lights ~ something we hadn't had a chance to do yet. We even found a house nearby with lights choreographed to music you could listen to on your car radio! It was amazing!

Today I worked on some fun new Cat Nappers & matching toys. As you can see in the picture above, Zoolou had to help out with the fabric cutting. (ugh! She can be a pain!) Her eyes look yucky in the picture. I think she was in the middle of a blink.

Anyway, hope to get all these Nappers into the Shop tomorrow & then start on my first painting for 2010! I just can't get myself to say "twenty ten" like everybody is. I'm going to say "two thousand ten". It's only 1 more syllable anyway! And I think it sounds better.

Ok, it's late. I'm tired. Goin' to bed.