Inspirations: Critter (Formentera)

Fly.

Always a cat picture!

Fluffy ones.

Bed occupiers.

High reaching snails.

Giant ants.

At first I thought this young one (a gull in its first year / winter feathers) was a herring gull (in german - Silbermöwe, this would be translated as silver gull, much more beautiful than herring ^^). 

But no, the wrong place for living... and as well a changed knowledge about the heritage of the different gull families. The mediterranean or yellow-legged or western yellow-legged gull (Mittelmeermöwe) was thought to be a subspecies of the herring gull until some recent genetic studies reveals otherwise...

You see how sad the little one looks down? 

*sniff*

But hey...! Now you are a full species with your own name! 

Larus michahellis! 

And it is a really big bird! Between 52 and 58 cm high... 

.oO(Okay... enough fan fotos... can I go now?)

(And yes... before you may ask... I am already sitting to long at this computer today... ^^)

Crochet bangle...

...or bracelet? Can I use both words or is one of them better describing this little crochet thing? :)

I made this one by crocheting around a plastic ring. I got the ring as I bought a scarf. The store was closing so you got also the stuff they used for hanging up the scarfs and other stuff. It fits perfectly as a bangle :)

The crochet was made really tight so I could create the little wave like structure on the outside. It reminds me of the fin around the head of a calamar ^^

This is Grusel, one of my little black devils. Every one of my three black cats knows that they get the best effect with their shiny fur by lying on bright fabrics! 

And yes, there is an egyptian cat goddess in the background. It was a present for me, an replica from a museum :)

The text on the base says:

Egyptian cat:

The ancient egyptian cat is sacred to Bast, the goddess of love, fertility and joy. These cats were characteristically upright, confident of their power and beauty.

Suits for my little (not so little for cats) ones :)

Inspirations: Cats (Malta 2008)

Already some time ago... I just stumbled over this pictures :)

But I love cat pictures... (Yes, my cats trained me very well ^^)

All of them being relaxed...

...with the exceptions of the ones made out of stone.

You see: Malta! With the red english telephone box!

Starting to be active at night...

...male one. No doubt on this ;)

Inspirations: Critters (Leipzig, family garden)

Just two little pictures. Nothing more. But I like them :)

Especially the cat next to the sign! ^^

Silhouette cards and tags... (I love aceton transfer!)

I just had to make some cards by aceton transfer now that I have some prints from a new laser printer (No, not mine *sniff*). I thought that the combination of the cardboard and the pictures you get with an aceton transfer would go great together.

And yes, in my point of view the old cardboard with the little bit rough structure of the surface and the worn out / rubbish (a little bit vintage, shaby...? don't know the actual nomenclature ^^) look of the black ink turned out to be a real good combination :)

I made a little collection of cards...

My crow stencil...

...you see my little mistake? The script is mirror inverted!

...of course the zebra isn't missing...

...one of my earlier loves from Karens graphics fairy!

To the left you can see the print after the transfer...

I tried several different methods (or better said a little bit different procedures...). I won't write them down just concetrate on the most important thing for the transfer:

Lay your print onto the desired surface (also wood or fabric is working quite well!).

Put a little bit aceton on a paper tissue and NOT on your print!

Now you have to be fast:

Press the paper tiessue with the aceton on your print.

And I mean "press"! It is only during the first contact with the aceton (or other kind of solvent you are using but aceton works best for me) that the colour starts bleeding. As soon as the aceton dries again the colour won't ever be transferable again (regardless how much aceton you would spill over the print). Also without the pressure the colour won't bleed into your target but stays in the print.

Look at the picture below: On the left side I used some pressure but put the aceton direct over the print. On the right side I used the procedure described above.

In short I would say: Pressure and aceton should be used at exact the same time!

And of course I used some of the tags I cut out yesterday ^^

You see how my skill improved?

The horse is an image from graphics fairy. I also made the cat and the swallow stencil from picutres from graphics fairy (Oh, I just love her collection!) The crow and the tree stencil are my own graphics :)

I have a lot more stencils and things I made by using them, just have a look if you like or jump over here for how to make your own one :)

December cats...

...it is cold.

But my cats know how to use pillows and blankets. They really snuggle under a blanket and love to sleep this way ^^

You always have to be careful to look out for a cat before going into bed!

...sometimes being decorative is more important than being under the blanket...

...but is has to be very cold before Bisu wants to hide under a blanket. Most of the time he sleeps like this!

PS: The three first fotos are from Dean. My third cat Grusel tries to sleep on my lap when it is getting cold. Blankets are nice but why use a blanket if you can use a human insteadt? ^^

PPS: Although it looks like Dean is a short hair cat he really isn't. His hair is longer than 3 to 4 cm, it just lays flat on the body most of the time (same with grusel). But now with the winter coat / under coat the hair goes straight in all directions that is why he sometimes looks like a stuffed teddy ^^

All the flying cats! - new cards

The last few days there was something like a black hole inside of me where normally my creativity should be. You know this feeling? You want to do something... but... there is no inspiration in oneself anymore. Mh... I hate it! It is a little bit like standing beside myself, trying to reach it... but failing...

I know how I got to this point. The last few days I didn't take the time, even if it would be only five minutes, to make anything. This is not how my brain is working. To make a little bit everyday is what really brings more ideas out of me. They come out of their own without any effort. Never ever to stop is the important thing for me!

So... lesson learned. Again ;)

There are a lot of things going on around me, with family and friends and also with myself. And if I say a lot of things, you know, I don't mean the good ones. To create and make "stuff" is something which calms me and put my mind at ease. It is like taking a deep breath away from all the worries.

And here we are: With little flying cats!

(Yes, having three black not-so-little devils is also helping to calm down and smile. There are a lot of pics in my blog, you know how all the cat owners are a little bit crazy ^^ Just search for Bisu, Grusel or Dean in my blog to find them! :) )

The two black cats are from graphics fairy. In this blog certainly the most used cat picture! The white one is from an old magazine. Some ad I cut out but don't ask me which ad. I am collecting pictures all the time if I like them. 

The silver wings are cut out with a normal scissor of a can. It was an IRN-BRU can (I am addicted to this stuff, thanks that it is not allowed to be sold here in germany otherwise I would drink way too much of it!) and I wanted to use the images on it. But cutting though the metal I was surprised how thin it was and somehow got insprirated to form little wings out of it. Just paint a little wing freehand and cut it out.

Other used material:

cardboard, paint chips, white and silver laquer pen, old mascara (for the black effects!), silver, gold and brown artistic water colours, book page...

I am sorry that I didn't make any pictures of the progress. I forgot it...

Cat queen bee - picture

The collage: Cat queen bee.

Don't ask me why put having all this little stuff around me all the little pieces just went together. The background is black artistic water colour. I like to use water colours for bigger backgrounds because the are nicely irregular. The frame is painted with a lot of coffee and the pictures are mostly from the graphics fairy (Yes, the cat is known from my last few blog entries. I love this cat! .oO(you would never have guessed, hm...?)).

The dragonfly wings are painted on normal paper with a black waterproof pen so the colour won't bleed if it is overpainted. 

Coloured with artistic water colours (I love the silver!).

Glued on adhesive foil and cut out afterwards. I treated the small parts as well. Mostly I make a lot of them to have a stock of them at hand. especially to close envelopes ^^

Easy and fast and it gives a cool effect!

You can also make flower petals or other things this way.

Cat envelope

Another new envelope. Just take a picture you like (you remember this cat? I used it to make a cat stencil out of it ^^) and print it out. I could say I prefer just black and white prints but that would be only the half of the truth: I don't have a colour printer... ^^

Just fold the paper like an envelope...

...then fold everything apart again. You see, you have your lines which you need to cut.

Cut all sides with a sharp paper knife and a ruler (or freehand or with a scissor...). Don't forget to make two sides a little bit wider for the glue or the double-faced adhesive tape (a lot easier!).

...and cut some curves for the outside (I don't know how this part of an envelope is called)!

And now the fun begins! Stamp all over the envelope, colour it, add some paper pieces, write on it...

...and add more colour!

(...with my beloved artistic water colours :) )