Kittehs

It's Thursday. That means you need kittehs! Triana is turning into a teenager with lots of attitude, so I've been taking lots of photos.

Oh, and if you feel like browsing, I created a clearance section in my Etsy shop for all the sale stuff. And I marked down the retired pint glasses and soap dispensers to 40-50% off. In case you need something non-fuzzy to peruse.

These are my favorite cat photos that I've taken recently, but I have more on Flickr.

Triana got into our chalk line, and wound up with red chalk on her face and paws for about a week.

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Holiday Cheer

Today, I'm relaxing with the husband and the kitties, planning to eat a massive homecooked meal (based on the brunch at East Coast Grill). There will be video games, and a video chat with my family. It will be cozy, and we may even find some holiday music that we don't hate.

I want to wish all the best comforts to you and yours. I'm endlessly thankful to every single customer we've had over the past year, and every single person who's given me feedback or encouragement about what I'm doing. I feel like I'm connected to a much larger family with all of you.

Now, let's eat!

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New kitten!

 

We adopted a new kitten! Somehow, I thought that having a second little ball of fuzz and claws would help us be more productive during this busy time of year. Really, the point was to occupy our other cat, Rupert, who's almost 2 yrs. old now. He hates playing by himself, and insists that we entertain him constantly.

We picked this little muffin-face up at the Humane Society a few days ago, after a thorough screening to make sure she'd have the energy to keep up with Rupert and wouldn't be afraid of him. We named her Triana, and she's a dainty little thing at 3 months old.

The two of them are pretty fascinated by each other, and are getting along fantastically. They chase each other, play with shoelaces together, and Rupert likes to lick Triana's head. She's already a lap cat, preferring to sit in someone's lap to anywhere else in the house. We're getting a lot of work done, I swear.

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FREE LOLcat Book Giveaway!

Everyone knows that I love LOLcats. They make my days worth living, quite honestly. Not only am I thrilled to be receiving a copy of the newest print book to review, but I'll also be giving away a FREE copy to one of my faithful blog readers!

THE RULES: Simply leave a comment on this post with a link to your favorite LOLcat image from the icanhascheezburger site. Oh, and your shipping address must be in the continental U.S. to be eligible (sorry, everyone else!). I'll randomly choose a winner next Friday, Sept. 4th. Yay!

If you'd like to pick up your own copy of the book, you can pre-order them now and get a set of sweet limited edition icons for your computer, or wait until the book goes on sale 9/1. Get more info here.

If you don't know what the heck a "LOLcat" is, then you should probably head straight over here, and continue to click through the site until you find yourself ROFLing. If you still don't get "lolspeak", then here's a wiki page about it.

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Recycled Cardboard Cat Scratcher

Design*Sponge has a great tutorial on creating a cute round scratching pad for you cat out of recycled cardboard. I saw this when it was first published, and I immediately made one out of all the cardboard boxes I had laying around from the glassware we purchase.

Rupert loved it right away, but it was a lot of work to cut down some of the box parts to all be the same height. Also, I used duct tape, which just didn't stick to the cardboard very well.

Pint glasses come in a case of 24, and have these great dividers between them inside the box. After the first scratching pad project, I decided to save all the dividers to make a new one, which wouldn't require any cutting since all the pieces would start out the same height. I also used wide masking tape this time, which worked perfectly!

The d*s tutorial tells you to wrap the finished scratcher with decorative paper, but I'm just not fancy enough to have decorative paper laying around my house. I suppose I might have some holiday wrapping paper in a closet somewhere, but that just isn't my thing. Rupert gets the rustic look, and he seems to like it just fine.

This is a great afternoon project, and an inventive way to recycle some cardboard. Try it yourself!

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New Stuff at Magpie in Davis Sq.!

One of the very first stores we ever sold to was Magpie in Somerville, MA--back when they were in their old location. They carry a host of fabulous handcrafted goods, from all over the country. They have a special focus on local artists, and I was completely honored to be represented there.

Since we moved across the country last year, I haven't sent anything new to Magpie until today! Totally Awesome Alison from The Sampler is the new buyer for Magpie, and she placed a great big order of new pint glasses, shot glasses and ceramic mugs from us. They should be arriving on the Monday, if my Fedex tracking is correct.

Rupert had a fun time playing with the (recycled) styrofoam peanuts before everything was packed up. He was too timid to jump down into the "ball pit" of a box. I'm a little glad of that, since I think he would have gotten lost in there. It was a massive box.

The top photo is of the little cup inserts I make to go inside our glasses when they're in stores. (I sort of forgot to send some to the local shops I have things at--oops!! I'll be sending them soon.) Each one has a little story about how the product was made, and I have them in cheery red and turquoise. My favorite color combo right now!

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Now I'm Kinda Old

I had a lovely day of relaxing yesterday, and I accomplished my goal of not sending any emails. It was fabulous!

Instead of being glued to my workstation like every other day of the week, I read a few chapters of A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin, played some Marvel Ultimate Alliance for the new Xbox 360 I got, plus some free demos (I can not wait to get Ninja Gaiden II!!). I did some cleaning around the house just because I wanted to, which feels so much nicer than cleaning because I really have to. I played with the cat.

[Photo by Blonde Chicken Boutique]

In the evening, Sean and I both took over our little kitchen to make strawberry shortcake and strawberry jam. I made the jam, he made the shortcake. We listened to '90s grunge music, which brought back lots of happy birthday memories for me. The Smashing Pumpkins Lull EP has two songs that talk about June, and I used to imagine that Rhinoceros was my own personal birthday song.

I wanted to take pictures of the canning process, but everything was so chaotic, sticky, and dark (I didn't want to use the flash), that I decided to share other people's great jam-making pictures instead. Click the images to visit my friends' Flickr pages--they both have tons of other great photos. Enjoy!

[Photo by Leah Pellegrini]

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Rupert vs. Fire

Rupert is fascinated by the simplest things. Most cats learn not to play with fire pretty quickly, and he singed his eyebrows off during the first encounter he had with a candle. I took this candle away after I finished filming (he'd been batting at it for a little while without injury) and went straight for the nearest lamp to stick his face into. He also likes to put his toes into the heater grate.

I didn't realize until later that he'd singed his brow whiskers off again. No more candles around the house unless they're far away from where he can get his little face!

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Sleep is for pussies

I don't ever make new year's resolutions. Sure, I should eat healthier and exercise more. But "resolving" to do those things never changes the fact that I like fried foods and sitting down. I like healthy food and exercise too (luckily), and I go through periods where I'm completely on top of things.

This year, however, I'd like to try to sleep in less. As a chronic insomniac, I can't say that without some qualifiers. Since I sometimes go for days or weeks without sleeping more than an hour a night, I clearly need to allow for some catch-up time.

This January, I seem to be catching up in advance, for nights that I won't sleep in the future. I decided to start setting an alarm for the morning (set to one of the many obnoxious PDX radio stations with morning DJ's that I want to stab in the eyes with a fork--these guys have a "party bus" that is perpetually taking "winners" to a casino or similarly depressing locale, and the one guy calls all the lady-callers "beautiful" even though he can't see them). This morning was the first day of waking up within 8 hours of going to bed. Rupert couldn't quite handle the early wake-up, so after his (first) breakfast, he went straight back to bed--lion pillow and all. But I'm planning on going out for some exercise!

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Holiday Goodness

I had a few spare moments this week between making glasses and packing them, and I finally got to put up our Christmas tree! This tree belonged to my Nana and Papa, and I'm thrilled to have it now.

One of my favorite things about this tree is that it comes apart in three sections. Whenever I live in an apartment without enough room for the full tree, I just put together to top two sections and sit it on a side table!

I do really miss the smell of a live tree, which we always had at home when I was growing up. I have a really nice candle that smells like pine, which I burn every night that the tree is up. I also made cinnamon ornaments a year or two ago, which I have on the tree and in a dish next to the candle. It's great!

This is our first holiday with our own cat, and Rupert is having a blast! I was worried he'd try to eat the fake tree, since he loves to gnaw on all things plastic. So far, he's been really good, and only attacked the ornaments once. You can see more great pics of Rupert, the tree, and our other busy stuff on our Flickr site.

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Toxic

I seem to have caught some kind of super-nasty illness that poses as food poisoning. It's been a rough couple of days, but I'm recovering pretty quickly. I've been feeling really behind on a lot of things, but I think they'll get back on track real soon. Just as soon as I can eat solid food and my sleep schedule stops resembling that of a cat.

[This is a photo of Rupert sneezing, from a few weeks ago when he was suffering from some kind of kitty-cold. He's completely better now, but he looks kind of like how I feel.]

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Cats that Look Like Hitler

Also known as "Kitlers". Wow. Apparently, people have really mixed feelings about this phenomenon.

These cats don't even have to put on a costume for Halloween...

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Same LOLZ, New Location

The LOL Arts Show has moved to a bigger venue! (Also, check out my vase all big and shiny on their website... *swoon*)

The new location is Coffee Bar, 1890 Bryant St, San Francisco. Tickets are sold out, but you can still see the artwork online (to be posted after the opening, I assume). You can also purchase the I Can Has Cheezburger book, so you can show your favorite LOLZ to people who don't have the internet.

Oh, and sorry this post was late today. I was busy VOTING! Yeah, Oregon voters are lucky enough to all receive mail-in ballots, so we can vote from the comfort and privacy of our own homes, while drinking our morning coffee. I feel like I did something a little bit awesome today.

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LOLart: i does it!

I finished my submission for the LOLcats Art Show in San Francisco!

The show is being held at Varnish Gallery (77 Natoma Street at 2nd Street, in downtown San Francisco), and the opening is October 23rd. I'm not planning on going to the opening, since it's a bit of a drive for me, but I really want to!

I'm really nervous because I feel like I interpreted the objective less creatively than most people. A "lolcat" picture is basically a found photo of a cat in a silly pose (not known for its artistic merits as a photo) with some less-than-grammatically-correct-English text over it. So, to bring that to a 3-dimensional level, I took a found vase with little artistic merit of its own, and applied one of my favorite silly cats plus text.

May not be as original an idea as what some other artists are coming up with (although, I haven't seen anyone elses' work yet), I'm hoping it makes at least one person smile. It was really fun to make! And this is what I spend all my days doing anyway: drawing on glass. Very fun! ;)

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ROFLMAO

Okay, I know that's a really dramatic title for a little announcement post, and I'm not actually rolling-on-the-floor-laughing at all. :)

The big news is that I've been accepted into the LOLcats Art Show in San Francisco!! Yay! I don't know how many artists submitted proposals to I Can Has Cheezburger, but I feel really fortunate to be able to participate.

I'm hand-engraving a reclaimed vase with one of my favorite cat macros, the Interpretive Dance kitteh. I hope it turns out well, since it'll be displayed alongside some other amazing artists' work, and then auctioned off for charity.

Here are some progress shots of the vase, since it isn't finished yet, but should be this afternoon. I get to wear that super-chic respirator too, since I'm working with my face a lot closer to the glass dust than usual with this larger piece. Now you know how glamorous my work really is.

Studio Progress: I'm ordering my sandblasting equipment today (or at least, I'm talking to the saleswoman again), and I'm researching cheap glass kilns. My studio is going to need some rewiring for the voltage these big boys are going to need, but it will be totally worth it. The agreement with Urban Outfitters is coming along nicely, and I'll let you know when their glasses hit stores. Right now, I'm just trying to get all my stuff together for holidays, which are coming up like the pavement after a freefall from an airplane when your parachute doesn't open.

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Much needed mini-vacation

My parents are coming to visit me for the first time in Oregon! They're coming tonight and staying for a week, so I'll be on hiatus until Wed., the 1st of October.

This is their first trip to the Pacific Northwest, so we're crossing our fingers for sunny days. Sean and I will be showing them around the city (Farmer's Market, Saturday Market, lots of shopping areas) and driving out to the Gorge so they can see all those great waterfalls in person. If we have time this weekend, we might take a trip out to the coast, since none of us have ever been there!

If you have any suggestions of stuff to do in Portland, please leave a comment! We won't have a car for two of the days they'll be visiting, (since Sean needs it for work and I thought we could get around on Trimet and on foot). If you know of any good, relaxing stuff to see in the SE or on a busline, please share. We have some great ideas already, but it never hurts to have extra options.

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Lolcats Art Show

I saw this recently on i can has cheezburger, and just sent my submission in! There's going to be a LOLcat art show in San Francisco, opening October 23rd. The exhibit will feature 2D and 3D artwork inspired by LOLcats. My proposal is to create something etched onto a reclaimed glass vase. I still haven't decided on an image to use (or I could create my own), but I'm really excited about the idea!

Get all the info you need here, and make sure to send your proposal in by Sept. 19th!

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Mustache: The Ultimate Accessory

I just had an incredibly busy past two days, due to some great blog features (including Design*Sponge, USA Today, and Modish!!) so I haven't planned out much to blog about. In case you're wondering, this Mustache Pint Glass is what all the fuss is about. I've been making nothing but Mustache Pint Glasses for the past two days, but I have no complaints. I bought myself a taro bubble tea and a new bike helmet to celebrate today!

The only exciting thing (besides all this great publicity!) that's happened all week, is that I've started eating meat again. That's right. After 15 years, I've fallen off the wagon. I feel pretty bad about it, since I quit eating meat in the first place because I thought it was wrong for another animal to die just for a small meal of mine. I still believe this, which makes it difficult to change my stance on things, except that I'm tired of missing out on all the culinary marvels of the world!



I'm a humongous fan of Anthony Bourdain (tv, novels, non-fiction and all), and perhaps I can credit him for most of my new way of thinking of food. I want to experience bliss in the form of every amazing meal I can have. I don't want to live my life without the benefits of enjoying it fully!

Last weekend, I went to the Portland Farmer's Market and sampled as many interesting things as I could find. I had yak sausage, smoked salmon jerky and hot green bean pickles. I tried things I'd never even considered putting in my mouth before! It was a life-altering experience, and I don't regret a second of it.

My husband, a visiting friend and I brought home a buffalo brisket (and venison pate, among other goodies!), which we proceeded to grill with zucchini and potatoes for a delectable dinner. This video is a good example of my perfect afternoon: lounging in the backyard with a grill covered in farm-fresh food, watching the neighborhood stray cats.

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Busy Signals

Today, I've just got news for you, plus a video that makes me laugh out loud no matter how many times I watch it.

I'll be at the Division/Clinton Street Fair this Saturday, so come on by to see some new products: Flight of the Conchords pint glasses, various moustache items, and new designs on soap pumps and oil bottles!!

New fused glass pendants are in the works (as soon as I learn how to cut glass and possibly buy a kiln)! This will mean all new glass colors, but some of the same designs. This is really really exciting!

Still haven't gotten your craft fair fix? I'll be at the PSU Farmer's Market on August 9th until 4pm with other awesome artisans from the PDX Etsy team, and again (the next day!) at Crafty Wonderland on the 10th.

Please enjoy this entertaining video of cats on a treadmill, since it sort of reminds me of my life right now (and it's completely hilarious). If you're having a rough day, watch it a couple times.
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GIRL TALK NEWS:
If you're in Portland Saturday night and you aren't burned out from working at a Street Fair all day, you MUST go see Girl Talk at the Roseland Theater. If it's anything like this, you won't be sorry.

Mr. Gillis has a new album out, which you can hear on his myspace page and purchase/download for whatever price you think is fair! Make sure to pay at least $5 to get the single-track party mix, or $10 for a physical cd. I'm listening to the tracks right now, and I know what I'll be doing for the rest of the day now! My life just got better. :)

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Not Every Project is Destined for Greatness

I made this a while ago, but I thought of it again as I was sewing some pants today. I love Craft: Magazine because of the inspiring projects and diverse artist's stories, but I hadn't ever made anything from its pages before.

I'm not really a sewer, as I prefer to knit or crochet my fabrics. The only clothing I've ever sewn was a pair of hooded capes that I made as a teenager, and I've abandoned my fair share of cross-stitch wall-hangings. I admire embroidery, but I've never had the urge to pick up a tiny needle to attempt it. I usually only use my sewing machine for patching up holes in clothes (like today).


When I adopted my kitten, Rupert, I wanted to make him toys every day. After knitting and crocheting a couple balls that got lost somewhere in the apartment after only a few hours, I wanted to make something a little bigger. Plus, he likes to play rough, and have you seen the price of stuffed animals?? I'd just received some awesome pink fur fabric from a craft swap, and I'd been thinking about the stuffed monster project from Craft for months. Hence, the Pink Man was born.

I did a terrible job with the stitches, which are visible from the outside due to overstuffing, but it's only a cat toy. Rupert, of course, won't touch the thing, even after I stuffed lots of bells inside to catch his attention! I stuffed it with fabric scraps to keep with the recycling concept, and I think maybe the toy is too heavy and stiff for this picky kitty. Ah, well. It was a fun afternoon project! Maybe he'll grow into it. Maybe he's freaked out by Pink Man's eyelessness. Who knows?

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