Author: Clare at CatsEatDogs

Let’s make jewelry

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When I am having a blergh day, I often pull out my beads and make something, anything to get me out of my fug. Allergies have knocked me sideways this week and I feel like laying down and staying there most of the time. Which is frankly inconvenient. So onwards I must go, via the beads. Here they are. I want to make a necklace with this. And a necklace with these. And a wire hoop or heart with these. Let’s go and make stuff! First, let’s check the peas growing in the garden.  Distracted?  Moi?  Little bit.  The sun was shining yesterday and the peas were popping out all over the place.  We decided to leave them to grow a little bit more before grabbing a few to eat.  Hopefully the bunnies will leave them alone. This first picture is the big fat garlic growing nicely.  Hopefully the bulbs look as good as the leaves and stalks.  Can’t wait to dig them up in June and roast our very own garlic. Here are the …

April photo a day 2013

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I cannot believe it is May already!  The weather is behaving in the usual Mid West spring way – bonkers!  We have had torrential rain, tornado warnings, snow flurries, sunshine, hot and cold.  A typical April then! Of course I have been taking a photo (or a few) every day following the prompts supplied by the lovely Fat Mum Slim.  Here is April photo a day.  I hope you like them. All photos have been taken on my iPhone 4 and some have filters and messing about and some are filter free. Day 1. Play.  Seals at the St Louis Zoo. Day 2. Blue.  A Blue Jay feather. Day 3. Something beginning with A.  Thanks to Superman for lending his arm. Day 4. This happened today.  I moved all of my sewing box into a new home, a vintage biscuit tin. Day 5. Something good.  Blooming trees. Day 6. Air.   Day 7. Dreamy.  Marshmallows. Day 8. On your plate. Day 9. Tiny.  Day 10.  A place.  A place for the Box Turtle to hide. …

iPhone filters on a Dandelion (roar) Clock.

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I found some cool Dandelion clocks while out and about last week, so I snapped a couple of pictures.  In fact I snapped loads and only got a few decent ones, they are tricky little monkeys to get to stay still.   I popped on some different filters to see how they looked. I thought I would share my results.  All of the filters and effects were added in Camera+ on the iPhone 4. These are the starting photos, no filter, no crops. I put this on into Camera+ and cropped it down and added clarity Crop, clarity, depth of field.   Crop and Polarise Crop, Clarity and Ansel. As part of a course I am doing by the lovely Jessica Van Den called ‘Set up Shop‘ I have to ‘play’ as part of one of the lessons,  and I intend to!  I might pull out my pens and a pretty notebook and have a little draw. I recently was introduced to the work of Kate Bingaman-Burt this week by Gathered digital magazine and have …

1977 Needlework and Crafts

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Happy Earth Day! Remember to recycle and reuse. Walk or bike where you can. Plant some vegetables or some flowers or some herbs, or all of them! May your trash can be empty, your legs be strong and your garden green! Talking of recycling, look at this fab McCall’s Needlework and Crafts magazine from Spring 1977.  In 1977 I was seven years old and into ‘Sindy’ dolls and ‘Spirograph’. These crochet flowers are gorgeous and check the fake soil and moss! Creepy or cute? Same question.  I quite like the gangly rabbit, but his teeth look like they want to eat me, or those mice.  Pick the mice Mr Rabbit. Of course I adore these macrame pieces.  I think they are a little bit cool, even the tiles they are photographed on are cool.  I love the statement on the opposite page ‘macrame jewelry is always right!’  Maybe I will steal that tag line for my catseatdogs jewelry! Now, here is something I want to make.  Peas in a pod which unzips!  That place mat …

Planting out my Sweet Peas

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The baby Sweet Pea plants have grown big enough to go and live in the big blue pot. I put the seeds in toilet rolls to get them started.  The rolls disintegrate in the soil as the plants grow. I grabbed the green bamboo poles from the shed.  Ready to build the Sweet Pea climbing frame. Sweet Pea’s eye view of the bamboo wigwam. I got a bit carried away with these pictures, I think they look pretty cool! I tied the top of the wigwam with string, to make a nice climbing shape and to ensure no-one pokes out their eyes on bamboo poles. Sweet Peas are one of my favourite flowers, but I have not got many flowers off previous attempts to grow them. I hope this year will be different and I will get an abundance of sweet smelling flowers!  I have more seedlings growing, so they will move into the big blue pot in a few days too. What do you like to grow?  Any Sweet Pea growing tips for  the …

Morning smoothie and Grandma’s Biscuit Cake

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Somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I remember that protein is an ideal post workout foodstuff. With that in mind I often make a yum scrum smoothie after a kickboxing or spin or weights or cardio class.  Want to try it?  I have finished mine, so I can’t share, but here is the vague recipe. Post Workout Smoothie Half cup milk 2-3 dessertspoons yogurt 1 big dessertspoon almond or peanut butter 1 dessertspoon Nutella or drinking chocolate power I banana Whiz it all up with a hand blender or in a blender of your choosing. Confession time.  I had almost finished this before I remembered to photo it!! Ha. So here is a glass nice and full. This is my favourite glass and it used to be my Grandma’s. It is a teeny tiny glass which stands about two inches high and I think she drank Sherry in it!  I finished the last of my smoothie in it today.  Cheers Grandma! Appropriate then that I am also making and sharing Grandma’s Biscuit Cake recipe …

2013 Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal!

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Making the jewels for the bead party has been a joy!  The beads sent to me by Christie at Charis Designs are a gorgeous mix of glass, shell and semi precious along with a lovely selection of brass including a brass toggle fastener. This is the Bead Soup I had to play with, it is a beauty! As soon as I opened the butterfly, I wanted to pop it onto a wire wrapped ring and I love the way it has turned out.   You have to love a pretty butterfly which will sit on your hand all day long! The multi bead cluster rings are among my favourite rings to make.  They almost form themselves as I wrap on the beads.  Magic. I couldn’t resist a little cocktail ring with this stunning bead. This necklace was a blast to make, I loved it more and more as I made it.  Like the cluster ring, it almost designed itself as I added the beads and charms.  It is on a twenty inch suede cord so it …

Ten on the 10th April 2013

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It’s the 10th of April which means it’s going to rain as this is a new rule of Ten on the 10th 2013 apparently.   It has rained on every single 10th this year.  In fairness to the weather, it rained this morning and has stopped now although it is due to rain later.  It also means that I get to take and share ten photos. All of the photos have been taken with my Canon Rebel except the turtle which I snapped with the iPhone.  Messing about was done in Photoshop and Camera+. I took ten photos of the gorgeous tree blossoms on our street in between rain downpours this morning.  The blossoms are so pretty and very short lived.  They will be gone and the trees will be leafy by next week.  I have a love/hate with the blossoms as they are so pretty and photo worthy, but they make me sneeze like a crazy sneezing person! One of the Daffodils peeking up in our garden. This tree looks like it is a …

Sunshine, Peas, Cookies and Coffee!

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Yesterday was a tired, get nothing done kind of day. A day where I almost put a dirty glass in the freezer to wash it.  I am sure I will find the butter in the cupboard and the Marmite in the fridge!!  You know the kind of day. A pretty useless one. Today however is a different day altogether. I am feeling good, the sun is shining so I am wearing these I did a great class at the gym where I could hardly drink my water and breathe at the same time.  Lots of running, jumping and breathing. In my book that’s a good one!  The down side is walking to Michael’s and Whole Foods glowing red in the face! I  bought this massive crochet hook which is the size of a baseball bat and the brand ‘Crochet Dude’ cracked me up!!  Now I can embark on my maiden crochet project voyage – a nice chunky cowl scraf thingy.  Don’t worry that summer is hurtling towards us, it will probably take me until November …