"Hey, if I had somewhere to go, I certainly wouldn't be in Cleve-Land." -Howard the Duck

Friday, April 29, 2011

So did you watch the Royal Wedding?

I did...and I thought Kate...oops...Catherine...looked quite beautiful & elegant.  A gorgeous gown fit for a Princess.  Two kisses on the balcony...apparently a first for the Royals...definitely a new generation of the British Monarchy.

Queen Elizabeth looked great in her yellow ensemble.  Someone on CNN called the color Marigold.  A yummy buttery yellow to my eye...I think of more fiery hot yellow to orange & red shades for marigolds.  Gotta love her matching hat, too!

Speaking of hats...oh good grief...so many hats!  Some of them seemed to defy gravity...they must have been pinned on with a ton of pins.  I wonder if the women at the Kentucky Derby will be copying any of them.

I had some friends here with me as I watched the wedding...
Little Taco...in the back...all gray with a touch of taupe...& Sweet Churro...gray & white with little touches of taupe.  Rescued Tuesday evening...and going to the shelter to meet up with their foster Mom this afternoon.  We can't keep these sweeties as our little old lady Sophie Cat is quite upset by their presence...but it's been an adventure to care for them this short while.  More on them soon.

Phil slept through the wedding...I was the one cuddling these kittens who were sort of sleeping in my arms...they were the perfect wedding guests.


Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!

No, this isn't a Christmas tree that is still up.  This is our faux palm tree that resides in our living room year round.  I tried to get pix of the entire tree, but with gloomy Ohio days, they simply did not turn out.  So here is a snippet of what our Palm tree looks like this Easter.

The pink flamingo is a Parma joke...because back in the 50s-60s, so many people here had those plastic pink flamingoes in their front yard.  My dear friend Kimber sent it to me one Christmas & it's one of the only ornaments that is lightweight enough for the branches on this tree.  I love the big round multi-color lights on the palm tree, and some spring cleaning unearthed a stash of plastic eggs that Mom had purchased who-knows-when.  These eggs actually had a small hole in the top of each one, so I strung some linen thread into them, making a hanging loop.  Added a layer of torn bits of kraft colored tissue paper, adhered with fluid matte medium...and painted the eggs in bright colors.  Then they needed polka dots...so a sponge dauber did the trick.  My idea of decorating for Easter is done!

I wish y'all a Happy Easter...may the Easter Bunny bring you a basket of sweet treats!


Friday, April 22, 2011

A Vintage Bunny Image to Share

This Momma Bunny looks a little dazed & confused...but I just found her in some stuff from an ephemera swap...and had to share her with all of you.  I figure you can right click to get a menu to save her...at least on a PC...I'm not sure how a Mac works.  She might just be the perfect touch as you get your final prep done for Easter.

Me...I'm painting some papier mache eggs to hang on our year round kitschy palm tree...the first few years we were here we used it as our Christmas tree & after that first Christmas, we just had to leave it up year round...so much better for us than a traditional lamp.  Pix of it in all it's Easter Eggy glory will be shared for Easter.

Happy Earth Day to Y'all...


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

More pretty ribbons...

So...one day I was talking to my my dear friend, Tracy...who has no blog, even though she's an amazing artist & should have one...***hint...hint...hint***

Anyway...Tracy was saying she wanted to find some 1/4" ribbon like the 1/2" ribbon that we've been dyeing.  Tracy also dyes ribbons & hers are completely different from mine, which is lots of fun & shows the diversity of an art supply in the hands of 2 different people.  Well, I ordered some 1/4" rayon ribbon...and now need to order more as that first 100 yards was dyed up in an evening.  The thinner ribbon is more expensive than the wider stuff...but it is just as much fun to play with.
Of course, I had to wind some of the ribbon onto some vintage spools that were hiding in a big old oatmeal container that I got from my grandparents' basement...complete with the spools inside.

The ribbons at the top & below are looped onto a "bone" ring...one of the many old sewing & crochet supplies I have around here...they are just so pretty to look at.
Right now, I'm enjoying just having my newest ribbons sitting around in my studio...and I'm contemplating adding some to my Etsy shop...although they would need to be at a higher pricepoint than my original ribbons.  What do you think?  I'm thinking I need to order some more ribbon!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

We have a winner!

You may remember this little Easter Giveaway that I posted awhile ago...
My random number generator...aka my sweetie, Phil, woke up in the middle of the night so I asked him to give me a number between 1 and 19...and he said 12...and Cher was the 12th one to share her Easter memory...so she wins!  Congrats, Cher...I'll send you an email so you're sure to see that you've won...so email me with your mailing info & I will get your Easter goodies sent out to you ASAP.

Here's what Cher wrote as her favorite Easter memory:
"Hi..one of my favs was the year my kids won an Easter Egg hunt... they were so happy! and surprised... had no idea what they were winning just thrilled to win... then we saw the prize... A huge basket filled to the brim with wonderful chocolates...all in different foils...so so pretty.. you didn't want to touch it... and along side of it? A 3 foot tall foil wrapped solid chocolate bunny.. we laughed ...as my kids were not much bigger than the bunnny! Needless to say...we had lots of chocolate to share and then some."

Well, I for one would have loved a 3 foot tall chocolate bunny as a kid...what kid wouldn't???  This little giveaway might not be as spectacular as a 3 foot tall chocolate bunny, but it is a fun little prize.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your Easter memories.  If you haven't gone back to read all the comments, you should...lots of great memories were shared.  Big bunny hugs to all...only one more week until the Easter Bunny visits...here...we've been eating Easter candy for awhile.

And Happy Passover to all my Jewish friends.  Passover begins at sundown on Monday, April 18, 2011.  As you celebrate Passover…may you be blessed with peace and happiness!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

New ribbons in my Etsy Shop

I've been busy today adding lots of new ribbons to my Etsy Shop, KittenCreates.  No long, wordy post today...just lots of pretty ribbons.  Please stop by to take a look.  My ribbon dyeing addiction & I thank you very much!
UPDATE:  The first 3 sets of ribbons shown are gone already!

Don't forget to enter a comment on the post below telling me your favorite Easter memory & you might win a goodie package...the Easter Bunny tells me some of my yummy ribbons will be enclosed.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

A Quick Easter Giveaway!

I couldn't sleep again last night...a common thing for me.  Since I cannot just sit there, I saw some Easter embellishments I had pulled out when I made my tags for the Red Lead swap & decided to make a little Easter matchbox. 
The little resin bunnies are definitely in love...all surrounded by pretty posies.

There is a resin Happy Easter egg on the top of the little matchbox, too.

You've seen this little charm in a previous post about my Spring Flowers swap...and I added one of these to the giveaway.
For the third item in the giveaway, I added this sweet vintage Easter card...given to me in 1957.  I'll probably throw in some of my yummy hand dyed ribbons, too, as a little bonus.

Since there's not much time until Easter, this giveaway will be limited to players in the USA.  To win, you just need to comment on this post & tell me one of your favorite Easter memories.  My fondest Easter memory is of coloring eggs with my Dad...Mom would hard cook the eggs & then one evening, Bob & I would "help" Dad dye the eggs.  We always used that oil based egg color kit, where you dropped the colors onto the surface of cold water, then took a toothpick & swirled them around for a marble effect.  Then you bent the little wire that supported the egg as it was slowly lowered into the bowl of water, dragging it through the colors as it went under the surface.  Then you had to blow to get any remaining dye off the water where you were pulling up the egg...and you had a little swirled marble-effect Easter Egg for the bunny to hide.  It was 1950s suburbia at it's finest. 

You only have through Saturday night to enter.  Whenever I get up on Sunday, I'll assign a number to each comment & pick a winner.  I will announce the winner here on Sunday & also email the winner so he or she can send me their mailing address & I'll get the prize in the mail on Monday via USPS First Class. 

I'm really looking forward to reading your Easter memories...and feel free to tell others about this giveaway...the more the merrier.


Sunday, April 10, 2011

Happy Birthday, Bob!

Happy Happy 55th Birthday to my Baby Brother, Bob!

It's hard to believe, but the cute little guy above is 55 years old today.  There are just the 2 of us kids in the family...and I was the first born.  Bob followed about three & a half years later. 
Now, it was no secret around here that I wanted a baby SISTER.  As the story goes, the day they brought Bob home from the hospital, I threw a temper tantrum & threw myself against the front door to block him coming in here.  Somehow, I never questioned that story!  Sounds like something this little Prima Donna of a formerly Only Child would do.  My Grandma had to pull me away from the door so Mom & Dad could bring Bob inside.  That's my maternal Grandma above...holding Bob...and you see I had to hog a lot of the picture.  Either I'm happy or screaming...it's hard to tell. 

As the years went on, it turned out that having a kid brother could be quite useful.  I was skillful at getting him in trouble...he got blamed for a lot of stuff I did because, well, I told them "Bob did it!". 
How could that angelic little Debbie do all those things?  heheheheeeeee!!!

Grandma lived with us & after she died & I moved into her room to have a room of my own, my secret was revealed.  One of my favorite ways to get Bob in trouble was that since we were in the same room, I'd sing in bed & tell stories to keep us both awake...I've always been a night person.  Mom or Dad would holler for us to shut up & go to sleep & my standard answer was "Bob's keeping me awake!"  Well, the first night he had the room alone, he went to bed & fell right asleep.  As you can guess...I was the one still awake & talking & singing hours later...to myself...and my secret was out. 

Now that we're older & both out on our own...I can't get Bob into trouble any longer. 
I kinda miss doing that!

Happy Birthday, Bobadillo!  May you enjoy many many more in the years to come.


Saturday, April 9, 2011

Spring Flowers Charm Swap

I've really been in the mood for SPRING...and it just refuses to stick around here in the Clevetown area...so I've occupied my time indoors by designing Spring Flower charms for a swap my friend Bev is hosting in the ArtCharms Yahoo group.  I'm not yet sure how many I'll need to make as you can still join in through April 15th.  Charms are due by May 15th.  If you want to play, join the group here.  Then you read the requirements & sign up in the Database.
The charms above are my Captured Flowers.  I love using these little glass bottles with corks for art charms.  They're from SkyBluePink.  I arranged tiny little faux leaves & posies inside & glued the bottle shut with Glossy Accents.  Added a very tiny little eye screw to the top for hanging & embellished the charm with a bit of pearl link chain & a tiny leaf charm.  Each one has different posies captured inside...a fun little art charm.
This little bouquet is another idea I've played with.  The flowers are constructed from seed beads & plastic flower parts & the leaves are also plastic.  Looks like spring to me.
This last design is lots of fun, too.  The Spring Daisy is a plastic "Lalique" flower shape that SkyBluePink is no longer able to get and her "Queen's Jewels", which you can find in MANY colors in her shop. I added the glass leaves...one to the bottom hole & one so it hangs in back...and all it needed was a tiny jump ring so that the larger jump ring would be facing the right way for attaching it to a bracelet or necklace.

I'm working on a bracelet made with a bunch of these Spring Daisies now...when it's done & photos have been taken, I'll put it up for sale in my Etsy shop. 

BTW...the beautiful embroidery background is a vintage cotton pillowcase that is a favorite of mine.  It was a gift to my Mom & Dad for their wedding in 1951.  She never used them, but I indulge occasionally.  They're too pretty to just sit in a closet.

Enjoy your weekend & thanks for visiting my little blog.  Be creative however & whenever you can...at least once a day is my recommendation!