Quilt for the Cat

I have been avoiding it....but I can't deny it any longer.  I am turning in to one of those crazy cat ladies.  My family and I love our cat Suza (my 2 year old named her)  She had to be the ugliest kitten at the Shelter, and now she is gorgeous but I might be bias.  The white fur under her neck is super soft.  But  she seemed to be the sweetest during our visits to the shelter.  We made 2 visits just to make sure.  The shelter I went to had a bonding room where you can sit with potential pets.  Suza LOVES everyone in the house giving us equal love.  However she loves my daughter who is now almost 5 the most.  She sleeps at the foot of her bed every night...and she was so excited when my daughter moved out of the toddler bed.  She loves to lay on a window seat near a window.  We don't have a cushion on the bench because it tends to get full of cat hair.  I have put a towel on the bench but it looks funny.  I have also purchased a CAT BED from pet stores but she never really likes them.  I think she can smell that they are from china. LOL.

SO on to the quilt.  My favorite spot in my craft store is the fabric remnant bin.  I have found some of the best deals.

I found this cat fabric for .70 cents for just a little shy of a yard.
I then found the weird teal green from the back for $1.30

I took both fabrics cutting the teal green down to the size of the cat fabric, sandwiching some batting I had left over in the middle.  I pined the edges and a few pins in the middle and just sewed the quilt inside out.  So when i turned it to the correct side you could not see a seam.

I left about a 12 inch opening on one side of the quilt so that I could turn the quilt inside out.  I then fold the edges inside and made a hidden stitch, or invisible stitch. If you have any questions please ask...
The quilt was just a bit shy of 1 yard by 1 yard.

And here she is I put her quilt in the window seat..now she has a quilt of her own that can be washed... Pin It

TrueBlood GumBall Machine

Do you remember making these Gumball Machines in the 80's.  Well after lots of thought I was and trying to think of a teacher gift idea for Valentine's day I decide to revive this craft.  It is still as cheap to make as it was in the 1980's.

This is my personal gumball machine.  I will post the teachers gifts later...  I used the Trueblood stencils by the talented Andy Swist.  Please see Andy's webpage, his stensils are for personal use.  I love his paper dolls as well...you have to check them out....  He is so talented!  And so funny...if you get a chance check out his videos.

Materials for this craft.
stensil
clay pot (cost about $1.50)
clay pot tray ($.75cents)
glass bowl ($1.00 at the $1 store)
E600 glue (I already had from several other projects)
Acrilic paint( I already had from other projects but they are super cheap about .50-$1 a color)
Clear sealer (I already had)
Paint brushes (already had)
Wooden bead for the top...$.79 cents
CANDY....I am using lindor truffles because I love chocolate.

This craft was about less than $4

Instructions.
1.  Paint your clay pot.  For this one I painted the bottom black and the top white.  watch your paint strokes.  I went in an up and down brush strokes...the brush strokes show up.

2.  Find a stencil or pattern you like.  Using a pencil trace your design on your clay pot.
I used a pair of sharp small scissors but it would have been easier to cut with a craft knife.  This stensil was only 3x3.  I used some painters tape to keep the stencil in place.

Once the tracing was done I began to paint.  I painted the red lips, and tongue first.  Let that dry and began the rest of the painting.  I am not a talented painter....but this was pretty easy....I had to go back and touch up some shaking lines with white paint but I was really happy with how this came out...

4.  Once your paint has dried add a clear acrylic gloss over you work to preserve it....Once that was dry I used the E6000 glue to attach the little globe at the top of the clay pot.  I then attached the painted wooden bead to the top of the clay tray to make a handle and added a drop of red paint to look like blood.  I then added a clear gloss to the lid as well.

This project was really easy.  It was just time consuming, because of the time it took for everything to dry.  I painted the pot on the inside and outside....and the tray once day and let it dry...  The stencil I did the next dry allowing an hour to dry between the red and black.  I then added the clear overcoat and then let that dry.  The good news Is I am doing 5 gumball machines at the same time.  I am doing 2 teachers gifts, and 2 other Vampire or Gothic Inspired Gumball machines. It was alot easier to more at once...than one at a time...I am still working on the others.... I will post the rest soon.

I love how you can really VAMP out any craft....These things usually look cheesy.  Stuck in the 1980's
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Funny Vampire Commercial.

Here is a funny Commercial from Game Day

My Craft Cabinet

For the past 8 years I have been completely spoiled with a large walk in closet in a spare room as a craft storage space.  The entire closet was all mine.  I am not sure of the exact demientions...but It is the same size as my laundry room.   Almost Five years ago my daugher was born and again I have been spoiled.  She didn't really need to much of the closet space.  Now she is soon to be 5 and she needs the closet for her clothes, and toys.  I am also expecting a baby boy in May and most of his items will be in the closet as well.  I am so excited to have the room needed for my littleones.  BUT.......

I needed a storage solution for my scrapbooking and craft supplies.  I have open floor plan in my living room I guess the area could be used for a dinning table but we are not really formal dining people.  So I decided to look for a Cabinet for my crafts.  I love the idea of closeing the cabinet so no one can see what is inside.. I found a great cabinet at the goodwill for only $30.  It had a space for a keyboard and I removed that sliding shelf out of the cabinet completely...

I then sanded and cleaned the entire cabinet and painted it black...I then took shelving paper and added it to the entire inside of the cabinet.  The reason is because I would be removeing and placing items in the cabnets often....so I didn't want to scratch the paint...My plan is to replace the back with a white beat board from the hardware store.  I haven spent the entire day organizing and trying ton purge my scrapbooking supplies.  It is a really difficult process.  I will post photos of the ORGANIZED cabinet in another post with extra information on how to organize when I figure it out myself.  As you can see from the photos....The cat wants her own cabinet as well.