For Sterile Feral Craft Sale

I embroidered up several dishtowels and packaged each one with a nice little ceramic spoon rest (or tea bag holder) from August Ceramics. This will be my donation, and hopefully raise some money for Sterile Feral. I have a cat colony (approx. 8 cats, but probably more once winter sets in). Last winter the cats were allowed access to our garage due to the severe cold. We also set up heat lamps. This year we are hoping that straw-filled igloos will keep them warm as it is kind of messy to open the garage up to animals...as well as the occasional opposum made himself at home in there, too! (I have had a racoon up on our deck once that I know of just a few weeks ago...so we can't have all kinds of wildlife in our garage). We also purchased a heated water dish, as well as a doghouse for a 70 lb dog which should be large enough to accommodate the cats for their feeding station. They usually come up individually or maybe 2 at a time to eat. Probably wouldn't hold all 8 at once. So anyway, that is the plan for the winter comfort for these cats. All but one have been trapped and neutered. Shame on the people who turn these poor animals out to fend for themselves. And shame on those who  call Animal Control. This results in sure death as a feral animal is not adoptable. I have to say you do get attached to your colony cats (well, I am mad at one right now since she always lashed out and slashes my finger with her needle sharp claws as I put food into the dish)....but for the most part, they don't hurt anyone. The sad thing is, they crave human attention, and yet are too afraid to get close. They might crouch at the sliding door for hours gazing in...like they remember a prior existence where they had a nice warm home...but now they are in a limbo..not really a wild animal, and yet not capable of being tamed either. Well, at least "my" cats will be fed and watered and provided shelter. It is all I can do.

Halloween...Better Late than Never!

Just cranked out a couple of Halloween cards. These were quite easy. I used an "Eye Chart" download that was featured on Tater Tots and Jello. Printed it out and trimmed and adhered to card base. Used a bit of twine, and some of the Tiny Tags (cut with PTI die). Pumpkin face was from Spooky Sweets (PTI). I think these eye chart designs are very cool! Wish I were that clever!

Baby Boy Giraffe Card

This card goes along with a blue fluffy baby blanket embroidered with feet, as well as a little embroidered bib. I used an old SU set for the giraffe which was stamped and colored with Copics. The background paper is from a Debbie Mumm pad. Sentiment is with PTI's Congrats All Ways.

Pink Fluffy Baby Gift

It is always fun to make baby gifts. Heather ordered this for a baby shower. The tag was case'd from This Pink Rooster. Tag is diecut using PTI Tag Sale #2. The little baby clothes are also from a PTI die, Hanging Out.

Christmas Planning

I received my first skinny notebook several years ago from my sister-in-law, Bonnie. I just loved the cute design and the usefulness of this gift, and was inspired to start making some myself. I believe I originally saw the notebook idea on Michelle Wooderson's blog. She has made lots of them over the years as you can see from her blog link. I always get good ideas to CASE when I browse her blog!

The notebooks are lots of fun to make, and lend themselves to all holidays and occasions. This one was made for my friend, Linda, to be used as a holiday planner. I made a cute little reindeer tag to go along with it.

The notebook base is kraft paper. The jar is a PTI diecut. The green dotted paper with the pinked edge is also a PTI diecut. The peppermint stickers were purchased at Hobby Lobby. The snowflake was punched out and I put glue on the ends and dipped them into coarse MS glitter. The inside features a skinny notepad.

The tag is Tag Sale #2, from PTI. The reindeer was stamped and then  cut from cork and colored with a red copic. The set is new from Hero Arts/Sizzix and features reindeers, snowflakes and trees. The dies are "open" which makes it very easy to stamp and then cut.

Boxes

These cute boxes were made using an Accucut die. It is a 2 3/4" box, so that is a nice size to hold a small gift, or even a muffin treat. I used these for my granddaughters' Halloween treat...I put a tiny My Little Pony (halloween ponies) in each. The paper was a pad of K & Co. 12 x 12 halloween prints. Tied a little bakers twine around it and affixed a spider (also K & Co.), and it was done!

Party Bird

Here is a new design from Urban Threads. I have stitched this twice now and it is kind of a fun design. I normally use textured microfiber dishtowels, but with a "sketch" type of design like this, it requires a flat dishtowel. I found some at Target which are very similar to towels I used and loved from about 7 years ago. They are not exactly the same, but pretty close. 


Note to Heather: if you are reading this, this one is yours! Happy Birthday!