All posts filed under: CatsEatDogs

Consistency or not consistency? That is the question.

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Is it though, I mean of course there is consistency in the regularity with which I am making art but is the art consistent?  Is there a cohesion between the things I make every day? In some there is and in some there isn’t, maybe it doesn’t even look like I made it.  I think this often happens when I am following an instruction from a class or a tutorial.  I am trying to get the technique right so I wonder if I miss my own style for a beat or two while I learn something new? Or do we maintain our style and cohesion even when learning something new? Looking through these pieces, I see a style (I think) in most of them, but I think where it wanders off is in the flowers and I wonder if this is because I am following instructions for this class and I am learning lots of new things which haven’t got my stamp on them yet. These watery ladies are new to me and inspired by …

I made a giant book!

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I had a case of FOMO this week or keeping up with the Joneses or whatever you want to call it. I saw two different Instagram friends post two books they had made, one was super chunky and amazing, the other was a small pamphlet stitched book made with kraft paper and what looked like old book pages. Well, you know me, old books and bookbinding, I loved them both and wanted to make something similar to combine the chunky and the vintage paper. As this is the beginning of the season of play in the Get Messy art journaling community, I decided to go for it and make a basic structure so I didn’t loose my mind but make it nice and full so I didn’t run out of pages (ha! no shortage of pages here). I used a fancy paper bag as the cover which I reinforced with a cereal box and I cut and folded 17 signatures each with five sheets. The pages are from an old cookbook, an encyclopedia, an old …

Get Messy Season of Kindness Week 4.

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This season of Get Messy Art Journaling I seem to have hit on a winner as far as my most enjoyable page goes – simple, simple, simple with an extra shake of simple. I like a white background and I like colour but I am not good at layers or explosions of colour. Some people are amazing at both of these things, but through my journals and over time, I have come to realize that I am a simple art journaling soul! This two pages were made using collage components cut from gelli prints of vintage doilies along with some humans from old National Geographic magazines. I don’t often use red but I like it with the black here. If you are interested in learning more about Get Messy, click here. This post contains affiliate links which are at no cost to you my lovely reader. Happy Thursday x

The 100 Day Project 2018.

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Are you participating in The 100 day project this year? Have you done it before?  With success or did you find something else to do instead?! I did my first 100 day project in 2015 when I drew or made a mandala for 100 days , see those here. In 2016 I did 100 days of altered cards using old playing cards as my starting point every day. Last year I admit that I didn’t love my project choice, of course I thought it was a good one when I chose to do it, but as the days progressed I wasn’t really enjoying the process. So 100 days of creative ideas was a good idea (irony is not lost) which turned out to be not so great! I finished though and I do like the pile of cards and ideas I have. For this year’s project I thought about 100 days of altered photographs as I have a trillion vintage black and white photos. How about 100 days of drawing botanicals? Honestly I am not sure …

Get Messy Season of Kindness Week 2.

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  I am enjoying this Get Messy season so far, and working in my little hand made journal is a good place to be. However, I seem to have started a trend last season when I made a small journal and then I made a big one to give myself more options and ended up filling them both (bear in mind that I don’t put hundreds of pages in my books!). Following this apparent new tradition, I made another journal this season too!  I really do like to work in different sizes and on different paper when the mood/idea strikes.  For my new book I removed the text block from a children’s cook book and replaced it with hot press watercolour paper and a couple of pages of brown paper from a grocery bag. The new sketchbook (on the right) is a book I found in a thrift shop and it is the American version of my first cook book when I was a kid in England. I remember making food from it and I …

Taking Stock January 2018

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First stock take of the year.  Inspired by the lovely Pip at Meet me at Mikes blog, if you want to take your own stock, there is a blank list of starting words at the end of this post. These posts are a fun way to see what is going on and they are great to look back on and see what you were up to at the time. Here goes – Making :  Mandalas in my sketchbook. Cooking : Chicken tikka masala for dinner. Drinking : Nothing, but now I want a cup of tea. Reading: Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin and Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich. Wanting: A cup of tea, hold on while I put the kettle on….. Looking: At my kids doing homework as I write this. Playing: With my new/old typewriter now it has a shiny new ribbon. Deciding: What to wear for work. Wishing: My clothes ironed themselves! Enjoying: My part time job at the local library. Waiting: For the dishwasher to finish. Liking: …

Handmade sketchbook for the Season of Nature

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I am beginning to get a bit obsessed with making books!  I love to make all the sketchbooks with different papers in different sizes with fold outs and accordions.  The more I make the more ideas I get for another one or two or three. We are about to start the new season over in the Get Messy Art Journal community and it is going to be The Season of Nature.  I found a book called ‘A Field Guide to Animal Tracks’ not long ago and thought it would be perfect to make into a sketchbook for The Season of Nature. Once the pages were out I was ready to go! I made two signatures and stitched one to each inside cover of the book so they open away fro each other.  I used pamphlet stitch to fasten them onto the edge of the cover. I have made a pretty backwards book which started by stitching the papers onto the opposite side than expected, but I like the way the two books are working together …

Printing giant leaves.

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I was walking home from a successful trip to Goodwill last week and I spotted some huge palm fronds in my neighbor’s garden trash.  After checking that was ok with her I came home to get my garden snips and walked back to harvest a couple of pieces. When I got home I left them in water for a couple of days until I had a clear time slot and a clear table.  I gathered some large sheets of paper and some smaller papers including rice paper, corrugated cardboard,  brown kraft paper, ledger paper, book paper from a vintage garden catalogue and of course dry wax paper. I used a combination of gelli plate and adding paint directly to the leaves to print them, both worked well but I wish there was a giant gelli plate!!! See!  Very big leaves!! Once everything had dried, I wanted to make a book or two using my newly printed papers. One book was made with a single sheet of printed paper folded into an accordion.  I glued the backs …

Onwards and Upwards. I am shutting down my small business and I am happy about it.

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Last month I made the decision to shut down my small business, CatsEatDogs jewelry. It wasn’t with a heavy heart or a sense of failing that I came to this decision, more the opposite. Once I started to close everything down I felt more and more that I was doing the right thing. There was no ceremonials, no ‘closing down’ sale, just me edging everything over the side of the ‘I’m have made a decision to move on’ waterfall.  I love that waterfall, it is dramatic and gorgeous and exhilarating, especially when you are at the top looking out over it taking big breaths. I closed down my jewelry business because it wasn’t.  It wasn’t a business, I have no clue how to conduct a business, small or otherwise.  I bought beads, arranged them into something I thought was lovely and tried (quite badly) to sell the finished product. I wondered if once I made the decision that I would start to regret it.  I would have to close my Etsy store, tell everyone I …