Roland and I have been hard at work and as promised, I'm here to announce some of the new features that will be making their way to this blog over the upcoming weeks! Obviously I still want Lady and the Cat blog to be a direct extension of my accessory line, in that I will keep posting updates and behind-the-scenes features for all of my handmade goods. But I'm loving the blogging aspect of Lady and the Cat so much that I want to build on its current format.
I've spent tons of time brainstorming over the last few weeks, trying to decide what type of content to add. My main goal is to create content #1 that I truly am passionate about and #2 that is unique and personalized to my readers. I also want to make sure that this blog produces content that isn't just Pinterest fodder...I really want it to speak to what I stand for as a brand.
With all that being said, the time has come to share what you can look forward to on this blog starting next month!
First, I will be featuring a Lady and the Cat reader every month as Cat Lady of the Month! This will start in December, and each featured reader will be profiled on the blog at the beginning of the month. Cat Lady of the Month will also receive a complimentary handmade Lady and the Cat one-of-a-kind creation for sharing their story! For the record, you don't have to be a cat or a lady in order to be featured, just have the heart of a crazy cat lady!
If you would like to be considered for December's feature, leave a comment below here (OR in a PM on Instagram to @j_kittenberg) with your name and email. Also, make sure to include "re: December feature" somewhere in the comment/message :) I will choose my December winner (via random drawing) on Wednesday, November 26, 2014. Once chosen, I will contact the winner with more details.
So exciting already, right?! But I digress...
I want to continue vlogging, whether it be day-in-the-life type stuff or even product reviews and testimonials. I am also playing with the idea of tutorials of some sort, whether it be a cat treat recipe or a simple felt cat toy. So far I've enjoyed the very small taste of vlogging I've gotten and can't wait to incorporate even more videos into Lady and the Cat! The more I experiment with vlog format, I'm sure the focus of what/how I film may keep evolving, but so far the format itself has already given me so many great ideas that I simply have to pursue it further!
And finally, get ready for the recurring "Celebrity Cat Report" and "Today In Cat History," which I promise will be as silly, fun and amusing as their names suggest!!! These features will cover my take on cats in pop culture, the media, and throughout time. And as always, I will keep sharing pictures and stories of my adventures with Roland.
Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you guys are as psyched as I am for what the future of this blog holds! As I said in my last post, comments and suggestions are always welcome, so feel free to leave a comment if you like ;)
Hope to hear from some of you potential December featured readers! Have a great week, everyone!!!
Hey ladies and gents! I have some exciting updates to share with you very soon, but before I do, I wanted to post this short vlog to ask you lovely peeps for some feedback.
I can't wait to hear your responses! As I mentioned in the video, you can leave a comment here, on my YouTube video, or via Instagram (@j_kittenberg). I love you all and can't wait to share my updates later this weekend!
In honor of Halloween, I decided to bust out my lack of vlogging skills and film my first video for this blog! Hopefully this is something you guys all enjoy, and I promise I will work on more/better written and video content to share here.
Hey everyone, there's not much going on, BUT apparently today is National Cat Day. And while I think it's silly that there are millions of random holidays that we never knew existed until social media and memes took over, I can certainly get down with a day that's dedicated solely to celebrating our favorite four-footed creatures!
So yeah...Happy National Cat Day!!! Give your kitty an extra hug or special treat to show them how cool you think they are
Many of you may be surprised to know that I wasn't always a crazy cat lady. In fact, I was raised in a household that strongly disliked cats all the way up to the day that we adopted our first Himalayan. And that didn't happen until I was 22 years old!
That being said, there are certain misunderstandings I think people have about the feline species, misunderstandings that I even believed until I became the cat lover I am today.
Hopefully today's post will shed some light on feline behavior for any of you who haven't had any kitties as pets, or anyone who claims to be "anti-cat." By all means, I don't expect everyone to share my love for the little buggers...that's not the point of this post. But I do want to clear up some common misunderstandings. Now that I've spent years of time researching my kitty friends, I want to try and set the record straight about what I find to be the Top 5 Things to Know about Cats. Let's get this party started...
#1 Cats are not dogs!
I've noticed that many "anti-cat" people claim to be so because cats don't react to humans the way dogs do. They don't greet everyone with a wagging tail or bark at the mailman. They don't necessarily act loyal 1000% percent of the time the way dogs do. They don't react to bones or play with the same toys as dogs. Why? Because they're NOT DOGS. This doesn't make any one species better than the other, it just makes them different. It cracks me up how many people allow themselves to be disappointed in cats simply because they don't behave like another species of animal. Variety is the spice of life, and this applies to pets also! Embrace the life spice, people!
#2 Cats can be and are affectionate!
One of the main arguments against cats, especially by self-proclaimed pro-dog/anti-cat people, is that cats aren't affectionate. Dogs are pretty well-known for being creatures of loyalty, which I think adds to the misgiving that cats are the polar opposite of that--unloyal, disinterested buttholes. On the contrary, while they might not always be attached to their owners' hip, cats have so many ways of showing love. I think the difference between cats and other animals is that you really have to earn a cat's affection. You have to let a cat scope you out from afar, sniff you out a bit, and see what you're all about before you can expect them to take any type of interest in you. Once you've earned a cat's trust and love, you will see that their affection knows no bounds. I've NEVER had a pet (or even a human) snuggle me as long and hard as Roland does when I get home from a long day at work. Does he want to snuggle 24/7? Absolutely not. Does he act like a jerk? Sometimes. But the many parts of his personality make me love him even more--cats are as temperamental as human beings, and we put up with humans all the time. Plus, cats are much cuter than people during a good old-fashioned temper tantrum.
#3 Cats are headstrong
This is one of the biggest lessons I've learned with Roland. When it comes to discipline, it is important to remember how stubborn cats can be. If they want to do something, they're pretty much going to do it. Yelling, spanking, or reacting in any way unfortunately tends to be null and void in the face of a cat. I have found with Roland that the best way to get him to stop being bad is NOT to react. When he was smaller, he had a tendency to attack our feet and keep us up all night, every night because he wanted to play and be crazy. I tried to yell at him, swat his little behind, and throw him out of the bed to get him to understand that I wasn't having it. This did nothing but fire him up even more. I felt like my cat was trying to sabotage me on purpose. Finally, I decided to ignore him completely. It was so hard at first, but once I just let him get the little bit of energy out of his system, it was like he got over it almost immediately. Since then, I have found that by ignoring him completely when he is behaving badly, he quits the behavior pretty quickly when he realizes that it won't get my attention.
Also, don't forget that cats are strong-willed because of their curious nature--they need to know, see, and smell everything within their territory. By denying them this right, they will want it even more, so you might as well just let them fulfill all their sensory needs. Nine times out of ten, kitty's interest in said unwanted behavior will wane almost immediately once they give it an uninterrupted whirl.
#4 Cats love routine, and you will too!
Another thing I've found to help with any small behavior issues with my cat is creating a routine. We all wake up as a household at the same time every day. We feed Roland at the same time, the same number of times, each day. We even play with him for a scheduled amount of time each day. I have noticed that the routine we have created has helped immensely when it comes to behavior and energy management! Cats are natural hunters, so it is important to schedule their day around hunting (ie PLAYING), eating, and resting. If not, you will no doubt see unexpected spikes in your kitty's energy, whether you are ready for them or not!
#5 Declawing your cat is THE WORST! (This is related more to cat owners than the cats themselves, but hear me out)
I recently read about a medical circumstance that made de-clawing in a cat necessary, but that is such an exception! Unfortunately, most people don't realize that de-clawing is not only unnecessary, but in almost all cases, downright inhumane. It is literally the equivalent of cutting off a person's fingers at the knuckle. It has the potential to cause a number of medical conditions that can affect your cat's quality of life. Not to mention, providing a scratching post, utilizing specific toys, regulating playtime, and products like nail caps, are all ways to overcome the issue of cat scratching without resorting to de-clawing. There is an amazing documentary on Netflix called The Paw Project. The Paw Project describes in depth the implications of de-clawing your cat and discusses the influence of culture and business/money-making on the practice itself. In order to not get preachy and annoying, I will leave you with the trailer for this film and highly suggest that you watch it.
Not everyone will agree with the things I just wrote about, but that's okay. If I can help at least one reader understand a bit more about my favorite furry friends, then it was worth it.
I had an entirely different post ready for tonight's blog, but I ended up using the sewing machine this afternoon to make jewelry, entirely on a whim, and ended up super happy with how my first piece turned out. So instead of my planned post, I decided to share photos of the kitty necklace I made.
I've been experimenting with a bunch of designs, but this necklace is the first piece I've actually completed. It's very "rough" if you will, but I'm completely in love with the general gist of it. The final product fully matches the mental picture I had initially, and I can't wait to make more and perfect the technical aspect of making fabric jewelry pieces.
Without further ado, here are a few photos of my necklace.
To make this necklace, I upcycled an old skirt and some vintage beads I had lying around. In Lady and the Cat's eventual jewelry line, each piece will incorporate different upcycled materials, so expect more unique designs like this one--as in, no two items will be the same! Every cat-inspired design will be 100% one-of-a-kind!
Later this week, I will be posting the original blog I had edited for today. I was just too excited with how my necklace turned out to not post some photos first!!! What do you guys think of my this completed design? I'd love to hear what you think, so feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me a line on Instagram @j_kittenberg !
Until next time, thanks for reading and have an exquisite Tuesday night!
When we hear the phrase "rescue" in relation to somebody's pet, the rescue usually pertains to the pet--whether the pet was previously abandoned, abused, or some other horrible scenario. In our case, our rescue pet is so because he rescued us.
Let me explain.
My husband and I recently quit drinking alcohol. Our consumption was to a level that scared me for longer than I'd like to admit, so quitting was simply not an option after a certain point. Not surprisingly, our lives did a complete 180 very quickly once we cut alcohol out of our lives. We had money, made long-needed home improvements, felt healthier, started working full-time again...literally everything changed for the better.
It wasn't until this turnaround that I finally understood how my alcohol consumption affected every aspect of my life. And so, while I was proud of my sobriety, I also felt depressed realizing that I have wasted so much time bumming around hammered when I could have been moving forward faster. There was also a sense of resentment that my husband and I can't drink like other people. I didn't know if I could ever get over these issues and the anxiety that came along with them.
Enter Roland, the coolest Maine Coon mix alive. I had been waiting for a long time to finally get a cat with my husband, basically since we first started dating. Rightly so, Matt would always say pets needed to wait until we had our shit together. Well, that didn't come even remotely close to happening until we had been sober for awhile. This past spring, we finally decided to start looking for a cat, and as if fated, a longtime friend of mine let me know she had a litter of kittens she was giving away. Within a few weeks, I had gone to visit the kittens and Roland literally walked into the carrier and fell fast asleep. I didn't pick him, he picked me.
Suddenly all of the negativity stuffed inside of me floated away. It didn't matter in the slightest. All of the struggling we went through became so worth it in the face of our adorable kitten. I immediately went into mom mode when I adopted the coolest cat ever. I understood that had I gotten him five months earlier, I wouldn't have even been able to afford cat food, much less vet expenses. I couldn't have been adult enough to do anything right for him if I were still a hot mess. Being sober made it possible, falling ridiculously in love with Roland sealed the fact that being a functioning adult is not an option. So thank you, Roland for rescuing me from future hot mess prospects.
My husband fell in love immediately, too, and I can see the change in him now that he's Roland's dad. He is a million times happier, and even seems more confident in himself and his sobriety--Roland has given Matt a reason to be his favorite version of himself. For that, Roland is a giant hero rescuer. He helped bring out the very best parts of my husband, the parts that I fell so in love with years ago.
Roland rescued my sense of home and family. Growing up with divorced parents, I would say I was definitely luckier than most kids in broken home situations. But even so, I never felt like I had a real home. I never ate at just one dinner table, or had one bedroom, or even just one address. From the time I was 7 until I was in my mid-twenties, I rarely spent even a week sleeping under the same roof. Even when I moved out of my parents' homes, I never felt I had a home of my own.
When Matthew and I bought our current place, I was so excited to create my OWN concept of home and by extension, my own concept of family. While we began to do this from the very beginning of our marriage, it took Roland's presence to truly make our house feel like a home. He greets us at the door when we get home, follows us everywhere, trills for attention, and snuggles with us every morning and night. When he loves on me, my heart of course melts, but not like it does when I see the love between Roland and Matt. They are truly best friends and they're both so cool, it just makes me feel so lucky to be a wife and cat mom to these two. We are a unit and this house is our habitat. I couldn't imagine my life any other way. I finally have my perfect home and perfect family, all under one tin roof.
I admit that the cheddar ratio in this post was quite high, but I really wanted to write a post that would begin to explain just why I'm so obsessed with my cat.
He rescued us, he deserves credit where it's due.
Oh, and Roland also rescues us from spiders. He likes to snack on them. So that's pretty cool, too.
I've received so many cat-related links, ideas, and photos from my loved ones lately. I'm stoked that sharing this blog, pictures of Roland, and the progress of Lady and the Cat has prompted people to send all the cat things my way!!!
Needless to say, my knowledge of all things feline keeps expanding, and as it does, I'm noticing that I'm definitely not alone in my kitty cat obsession. In fact, there are tons of celebrities and well-known people who share the love of cats. I decided to highlight just a few of these people in a picture post, because they make me smile super hard.
So, without further ado...
PS...Seriously though, go follow @kittenxlady on IG. I dare you to peruse her page and NOT get the warm and fuzzies!!!!
I finally picked up my sewing machine! This bad boy belonged to my late grandma, then my mom, and now me. I haven't sewn with a machine since middle school, so God bless Pinterest and free Craftsy tutorials.
I have been playing more with the template I introduced in one of my earlier posts, and as my embroidery skills improve, I'm really getting into that aspect of designing. That being said, despite the hand-sewn detail work needed for each piece, the machine will definitely come in handy for perimeters and later on when I start making cat collars.
Mass cat loot production in full effect.
I've spent more time than necessary prepping my work room, but I'm actually fine with this, as it's finally turning into a legitimately inspiring space.
I can't wait to start re-acquainting myself with a sewing machine, and am even thinking of vlogging as I do so. What do you guys think? Would you want to watch me swear like a sailor as I attempt to wind bobbins and thread the old machine??? Maybe I will even sew my fingers together in a freak accident and go viral.
A girl can dream, right?
Updates on the progress of my work room soon, plus more design details as they iron themselves out!
For now, I'm going to snuggle Roland, who just got home from his neuter.
Today I purchased this kitty shampoo, as Roland is due for his first bath experience. In other words, he's stankin'.
The cat model on the shampoo bottle is wonderful.
So creepy and awesome. That cat is making the same face I do when I smell a cake baking.
Tomorrow we bathe Mr. Ro. I'm hoping his obsession with us taking showers means he won't have a meltdown when we try to give him his own scrubbing! Wish us luck!!!
I have had the busiest week, so I haven't been as productive as I've wanted to be with actual designing. That being said, I also haven't been able to fall asleep over the past several nights, because I keep thinking of ideas related to Lady and the Cat. Design ideas, blog ideas, to-do lists, questions about possible packaging, branding, research-related questions, and on and on. I literally am that crazy person who talks out loud to themselves all day long. Just rambling about my cat business, like you do...
#catladyproblems
My current obsession? Debating whether or not I should start working on designing actual backdrops, displays, and other visual merchandising elements that I will need to have together for future craft shows. On one hand, I haven't even BEGUN assembling a fraction of my actual pieces, so in that sense it seems crazy to focus on anything but production right now. On the other hand, everything needs to tie in together and I think that working on the individual pieces and merchandising elements together may very well inspire ideas for the product line itself. Plus, by having visuals like backdrops or "props," I can develop my brand cohesively. Either way, I have tons to do and need to just dive in more before my poor little brain bursts!
For the record, my goal by Sunday is to have my craft room re-organized. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but I've been sick, had a few exhausting work weeks, and just want to hang out with Roland and my husband 24/7. Plus, the task requires extra energy as my lovely cat thinks my craft room is his own personal playground, so I end up juggling between cleaning and getting Roland untangled from yarn or re-claiming faux florals that he's heisted. And he follows me everywhere, so I mean, duh, of course I have to let him hang out and help me clean.
Again, more #catladyproblems.
So yeah...I have to get my workspace back and functioning, because I'm ready to just go cat crazy and get this ball of yarn rolling and that's hard to do on my couch. I've had a pretty easy week at my day job, so I am not allowed to say I'm too tired :). Operation clean craft room is in full effect.
Okay. 'Tis past my bedtime. Goodnight, fancy feline friends.
Hey, feline fans! I've started making my initial jewelry pieces for the first Lady and the Cat accessory line. In order to incorporate something a bit unusual/unexpected into a necklace or a brooch, I'm working mainly with fabrics rather than beads or traditional charms.
Behold, my first experiment...
I was going for something bold and cartooney, which I think I kind of nailed to be honest! I also decided to utilize more of the upcycled fabric and make this piece reversible. Basically it's going to be the "charm" of a necklace that you can wear two ways...either with the cartoon cat face forward or a more simple silhouette with the upcycled print facing forward.
I have a lot of tweaking to do when it comes to hand-sewing skills and color palettes, and obviously this guy needs to be strung before it's complete, but I'm actually pretty psyched with my first cartoon cat necklace. I'm naming this guy Proto, as in prototype. Yep. I went there.
Okay, cat lovers...I'm super excited to finally announce the first set of details about my handmade product lines!!!
I'm currently working on two different product lines. One will feature cat-inspired accessories for human cat lovers. My initial run of products will include headbands, necklaces, and brooches. These items are all handmade by me and I am incorporating upcycled vintage fabrics in every single piece.
I'm absolutely still in the "rough draft stages," working on prototypes and designs. The photo above is a fetus version of the kitties I eventually want to incorporate into jewelry and hairpieces.
I've been posting additional random "behind the scenes" photos of my creative process on Instagram, so if you're into spoilers, make sure you're following me @j_kittenberg!
But that's not it...besides cat-inspired human goodies, I'm creating a line of handmade products for cats! Yes, you will be able to buy custom swag for the special feline in your life. Handmade cat collars and toys will be available when Lady and the Cat officially launches, and like my accessory line, cat goods will be constructed using upcycled and/or vintage fabrics and textiles. I'm also in the very early stages of playing with recipes for homemade organic cat treats. I had a sort of epiphany when I realized that I love my Roland to the point of creative inspiration, and decided that the best way to show my love for the boy is to make items for him! Which obviously led to the idea of handmade/homemade goodies for ALL cats. Now if that isn't cat lady dedication, I don't know what is!
So that's the scoop. As I've said, I still have TONS of development to do. I'm just so happy to finally have a streamlined, inspired idea that caters to a specific audience. Thank you so much to anyone who has been reading this blog thus far...I realize I'm a giant nerd and possibly this won't be taken seriously by some, but the fun I'm having creatively is so worth it! Plus I have the perfect guinea pig!
Anyway, that's all for tonight...I can't wait to continue sharing the process of launching Lady and the Cat original designs on this blog, so stick around for more updates!
This Sunday, I will start releasing details about my first official handmade product line on this blog! I am SO excited to start sharing some of my ideas and concepts, and really start getting to work on sample pieces.
My goal is to have enough of each item line made by summer 2015 so I can start hitting up the Midwest craft fair circuit.
So antsy to share my cat-inspired lines here and explain more about how I decided to choose the products I will be debuting.
I hope that my fellow cat-lovers and cat ladies are equally excited for cat-inspired products that are made with love and legitimately one-of-a-kind. One spoiler I will share here is that every single item will be made using some sort of upcycled or re-purposed fabric/textile, and while lines will be cohesive, no two items will be alike.
I would keep ranting, but I don't want to spill all the beans here!!!
Follow my Instagram @j_kittenberg if you don't already, and remember to re-visit this blog this Sunday (9/14/14) for my first big announcement!!!
Last night, I stumbled across a pin that highlighted 40 different cat manicures. Seeing as my own nails have had paint flaking off them like dandruff for weeks and a few digits legitimately resemble crack nails, I figured why not give one of these cat-inspired numbers a whirl.
So here is the finished product...
On the left is actually my right hand, and I basically replicated the cat and paw from one of the photos I found. They turned out surprisingly well, and I may have gotten a little cocky, because I tried to get super elaborate on my other hand. I wanted to freehand a little fish on my left pointer finger and a cartoon-style fishbone on the thumb.
This was the result...
A whopper of a fail, ladies and gents. I went on to "repair" the flaws in this design, just creating massive paint blobs more or less.
I gave up on the fish design, started over and hence, the final cat's "meow."
Sometimes you've just gotta stick to the hits.
What overall grade would I give myself? Mmmmmm B+.
The revelation that my five-month-old kitten Roland is the perfect muse has led to the birth of this blog and finally, a sober attempt to make a business out of a hobby.
I've wanted to get the ball rolling with some type of handmade business for years, but as great as sites like Etsy and Pinterest are, they have made crafting hugely trendy over the past decade--a fact that is both a blessing and a curse to a lifelong crafter as myself. "Original" ideas are replicated en masse, which means that as a seller of handmade goods, you really better come up with something quirky and cool, something with a personal twist, and run with it before eighteen other handmade sellers launch their own versions of your great idea and take over your newsfeeds.
Until now, the items I've crafted have been pretty and get complimented, but that's about the extent of it. I've owned failed Etsy shops, done commissioned projects for next to nothing just to try and get my name out there, and made half-assed attempts towards a couple of creative business opportunities only to realize they weren't for me.
I know this is going to automatically place me into crazy cat lady territory, but little Roland has become an unexpected catalyst for some really awesome creative ideas. Finally. Thanks to my kitty, I've started developing a few different top-secret product lines that I'm confident about and SO EXCITED to share, but will refrain for the time being, at least when it comes to specifics.
This blog will be used as a springboard for ideas, a portfolio of sorts, a journal, vision board, and personal workshop for me as I venture towards my first *legit* attempt to take my crafting hobby to a business level.
