There's a rumor going around about us.
That we have a new kitten, that I'm gonna be a crazy cat lady. Are you nuts? Who needs five cats? That would make 20 furry feets padding my floor.... plus a dog and hens!
Kittens are destruction machines, they are needy and bothersome and oh so cute and sweet and tiny and lovable, with soft weedle tummies and cutesy wootsy widdle paws, with hidden razors that climb your clothing to hide in your closet, that pounce on your face in the middle of the night......
Darn! It's true! It's all true! Ok ok, I admit it!
Our rescue kitten is the fifth cat in our family. We named her Poppy. That makes two old cats and two one year old cats and one kitten. She's a wild monkey, with a ton of personality and rather smart. We think she could be 1/2 Maine Coon. Anyone care to enlighten us? It's hard to get a good photo because she's so ACTIVE! Giant ears, LONG leggs, stripes.
Sigh. We wuv her.
She wuvs us, totally. She doesn't love the other cats or the dog yet, but I think she'll fit in just fine. One of our young cats is very playful and wants to wrestle all the time, which the fat, furry cat doesn't care for, so I think Poppy will be his new best friend. Once she stops spitting at him, that is. He has been following her around and thinks she's quite nifty, so friendship will happen.
Sigh. Kittens. Damn their cuteness!
I'm having a great birthday! Thanks for the emails and birthday greetings. xoxoxoxo
Hugging Kitties. I wear this one on my charm bracelet for my two beloved kitties.
I have some fun new European beads charm designs in my shop, Charmish. European beads is the name for this style of charm bracelet, that's popular all over the world. Many people call them "Pandora Beads" because that's one of the top companies who make these styles. Its nice that all the major brands have standard sizing so everyone can mix and match their charm beads from different companies. 
Bracelets are IN!!! You can see the thick 4mm sterling bracelet, the enclosure clasp (great engineering to keep that bracelet closed) that also looks like a bead, and the first part of the bracelet with the threading. Threading allows the beads to twist on, the slide freely without falling off again.
Measure your wrist, and let me know your size when ordering. I add one inch to the length to allow for the beads. Start with one bead or a whole set! Very fun to collect. 
Fortune cookie charm. 6mm wide. Tiny with perfect details, and the "777" good luck fortune just peeping out. Love this one! 
Example of a fuller charm bracelet, including birthstone beads, dangles, locks and lettering beads.
I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of some new bead series:
Gnomes and Mushroom home.
Tree of Life series, with six different leaf styles, acorn, tree of life and leaf dangles.
Aussie animals, including some most Americans have never heard of!
A little later this summer:
Favorite dog breeds.
Yoga, meditation, kung fu, healing arts energy series.
And dun da dun! Right before the big "Talk like a Pirate" celebration day, I have a big pirate series arriving! So exciting!
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What's a Gold Star day? Some of you have heard me talk about a gold star day. It means I've sold something out of each of my three etsy stores on that day. It's really fun, and rather pleasing to sell an item from each store.
The Meet Your Maker indie craft show was so fun last night! Lots of my High Flying Easter Bunnies went to good homes. The crowds were constant, and people were so chatty and friendly. That's how we like it. It's fun to interact, hear people's thoughts, know if they have been in central downtown at the gallery tour, or just here for the wine bar, and hear what they like in my shop. Very fun to sell in person when folks are chatty and friendly. And I always love seeing my etsy vendor friends and meeting new vendors. We support one another and exchange ideas and fun.
Thanks for coming down!!!
xo
This is the scoop! Our new kitten.
We had to trade Sage in. He would not stop peeing in the house. We talked to the experts, took him to the vet, did all they suggested, and in the Cat Rescue people agreed, he needed a different home. He didn't bond with any of us, and didn't like the kids! I've never heard of a kitten who didn't like us.... but I've never had a Siamese before.
We were looking to replace him with another older kitten, but none were suitable. Mudslide Sydney, here, found this wee orange guy and we were all smitten. He was only six weeks old (pictured here) and spent much of his first week sleeping on the bed. He loves the kids and sleeps with them too.
We named him Lil Scoop, because he reminds us of a little scoop of sherbet ice cream. He's so pale and cute. Still has blue eyes, but gold in the centers. Will they turn gold or brown, do you think?
Scoopie is now 8 weeks old and quite the spunky fellow! He races around with Saffron though he's not even as long as Saffron's TAIL!!! Pounces and wrestles happily. He is getting to know the puppy and doing so well with everything! We adore him. Soon, he'll be big enough to be a proper playmate for Saffron.
My very handsome boy, Saffron! He's five months old now, and large for his age. Gonna be a big guy. Isn't he handsome? He's so sweet too. I've never had an orange guy, or picked my own kittens for that matter. Always taken in a stray.... and now I highly favor these sweet natured orange guys. Good thing 'cause we now have two!
Very naughty Girlz! If I leave the back door open, while they are having their daily walk about, Star leads Lacey right inside! Penny is the newest hen, and still rather shy. She's hanging back, keeping an eye on the big Girlz, while they greedily gobble down the puppy's food. Sheesh, Girlz. Go OUTside!
The beautiful is in nature, and it is encountered under the most diverse forms of reality. Once it is found it belongs to art, or rather to the artist who discovers it.
::: Gustave Courbet :::
There have been some requests for kitty update photos so here goes:
Sage: Three months old now. He's more than doubled in size. We recently discovered that he's a rare breed SnowShoe Siamese. They are characterized by the white feet, dark point markings, and inverted "V" starting at the nose. They are not sleek cats, but more of a sturdy build and med fur.
He continues to like the other cats, but not be very friendly to us humans who love him. We cuddle him and pet him very respectfully. Occasionally he purrs. This look on his face is typical. Does anyone with Siamese experience have any suggestions? 
Sage made a nest of the kitty bed. What a handsome boy!
Saffron attack!!!!! And I have the scratches to prove it. The kittens have been sweet little cuddlers at night, but last week they discovered the joys of racing across sleeping humans! Down the hall, up the hall, up and over the bed, down the hall........ !!!!!!
Saffron is the cutest, most lovey, perfect kitten one could ever want. Fuzzy orange boys are well known for this quality. He purrs when you just look at him. He greets us at the door with cute little mews, and loves being held and played with...... and.......
... can you see what's happening here? He's slowly become comfortable with the puppy! They play! Toli LOVES Saffron and is a little obsessed with finding him in the house and chewing on him. He especially likes Saffron's back end..... sorry....
... but they are very funny together.
I was taking photos of all the wonderfulness we were doing in the yard this weekend, and I put my camera down somewhere weird. I guess. Sunday, the kittens went from sleeping companionably next to each other, to sleeping all snoogled up and I searched the house shouting, "Cuteness emergency! I can't find the camera!" But no luck.
Now anyone who sells on Etsy knows how important a camera is! I MUST have it today. I'm finishing my NEW Hot chocolate cup cozies and can not post without the camera. URG!
Dear Readers, please use your artsie mind powers to LOCATE my camera and write to tell me where it's hiding? In the meantime, I'll share a treasury that makes me drool. I just love the colors. If you click the photo, it will get big so you can see it.
I found an AMAZING vintage mushroom cluster piece of fabric at a yard sale this weekend. I'm not sure what I'm going to make it with yet. I just love it! I'd show it to you, but need a little help finding my camera...........
Here's our new kittens, on their first evening with us. Saffron is the orange fuzzy fellow, and Sage is the 1/2 Siamese. The Cat Rescue people report them to be 8 weeks, but Sage is much bigger. Saffron is still kitten clumsy.
The KIDS had no idea where we were going on Surprise Thursday. Max said she needed to get some cat litter, and we'd have to stop there first. Both kids groaned. We walked in, showed them the cute window of kittens and said, "Surprise! That little kitty is ours, and we just need to pick out an orange fuzzy friend and take them home!" They were so happy. They've only been around older cats, so this was really lovely for them. We petted both fuzzy orange kitties and picked this lil fellow out. 
Sage is pretty mellow, and way more aloof. Maybe he came from a wild litter. All his siblings were white with extra toes. He's such a handsome one! His blue eyes are ringed with real lavender. He's very playful but doesn't purr when we pet him. He sleeps near us but not super snugly. He likes Saffron. Max assures me he'll warm up.
Saffron bonded to us right away. He purrs if you even LOOK at him. Loves snuggles and petting and feather toys. So horribly cute. I've always wanted a fuzzy orange kitty. I dont think I've ever picked kittens out. I've always had cats or kittens come to me. This was a real treat for everyone. 
What do the big cats think? This says it all. Tonka (left) and Grace (right) are Max's 13 year old cats, who are siblings. They've lived with many other cats and will be fine. Tonka is adjusting quickly, and is already sleeping on the bed with the kittens. Grace gave us her "butt" for a full day, and boycotted the bedroom/bathroom where we are keeping the kitties and where the big cats usually spend most of their time. You can see her body language in the photo as she watches the kittens play on the floor. .......
I've just sent the kids off to school, telling them it's Surprise Thursday. They didn't ask what the surprise was, because I was being vague, and they jumped in with their own idea that there was surpriseS already happening, and started counting every unexpected thing that occurred this morning.
I've actually managed to keep a secret - a HUGE secret since Sunday. It was very hard to keep.
I'm going to spill to you, but first let's look at my fantasy thought bubble. I have photos to illustrate. Keep in mind this is not MY puppy but looks just like him, and we don't have any kittens, but two older cats....REady? here goes the fantasy............
Isn't that great???? First they play all cute, then they snuggle up and sleep together on the couch. Ok ok, it's a scary colored couch. Don't worry, ours is purple! But you see the fantasy story. Now here's the surprise. After school, we are picking up Mackie and going on "an errand". We'll end up at the Dog and Cat rescue location inside PetSmart and be taking two kittens home! The grown ups have already chosen one amazing kitten and our fantasy was to have a fuzzy orange buddy for him. Low and behold, they have a litter of fuzzie oranges ready on Thursday, so we waited. Didn't tell the kids. Sooooo exciting!!!!
I realized how long it's been since I've had a kitten! I was 19, early in college, when my Zoey came along. I was at Saturday Market playing with the last member of a litter of "free kittens" when the woman literally snuck away! I took it as a sign for me and the kitty to be together. Zoey was actually too small to leave on her own, so I carried her inside my jacket to my college classes for the first two weeks. She didn't pee on me even once. It was very sweet and bonding. I could tell she'd had a rough start, and that regrounded her. She and I had an amazing 18 years together. She died two years + ago, and I still miss her. Now I'm ready for kittens again.
The concerns: we have two older cats who are 13. And we have our chocolate lab puppy aged 1.3. I HOPE he loves the kittens and they all play together. He wants to play with the older cats but they aren't so happy about that. We''ve had a year of hissing and scared kitties. They are finally starting to ignore him and not run away!
If anyone has great tips about introducing puppies and kitties, please comment!!!
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I'm off to the studio now. I always sew in the mornings. I'm making tiny zippy bags, I'm calling Bitty Ditties. They are so handy inside one's purse for organizing: change purse, moon time supplies, keeping all punch cards out of your wallet, etc, AND they are very nicely padded, thus a great place to keep your tiny camera, pad your phone, or roll up your iPod Shuffle and headphone cords. Cute tiny 5" pouches. The challenge is that my cute fuzzy padding has been lumpy and hard to control. Very imperfect. The first three have gone as children's presents. :-)
