A Message from Roland...

Majestic Roland says "Happy Caturday" to all of his Lady and the Cat reader friends!  I don't know about you, but this cool cat is ready to party.

Xo*

Jess

Kitty Ear Hair Clips? Yes, Please!

I've been wanting to design clip-in cat ears for a really long time now (see: long before the birth of Lady and the Cat), so I decided to finally try my hand at some the other night as a gift for Stella of A Kid and Her Coon fame.  This was the end result:

Pretty sure I scored a home run with these adorable button-bedecked felt kitty ear hair clips.  And surprisingly, these suckers were extremely quick and easy for me to whip together.  Needless to say, I had to have an arty nerd girl fashion show once I got my own pair on my own head.  I will spare you by posting only two of the ridiculous, overly-edited, shameless selfies that I took in all of my cat lady glory.  They're all embarassingly reminiscent of my 2008 Myspace profile pic, so you're welcome for limiting what I share here.

I'm officially obsessed with making more of these babies (the cat ears, not the over-indulgent selfies!), so definitely expect to see these kitty ear hair clips pop up any day now on my Lady and the Cat Design Co. Big Cartel shop.  I'm churning them out like a little mother trucker.  Beep beep.

Until next time, thanks for reading and I love you all...

Xo*

Jess

Lady and the Cat Big Cartel Shop!

Well....today was extremely productive for me!

Since I have been caught up on my complimentary pieces (for the lovely ladies who have allowed me to feature them in this blog) for quite some time now, I decided it was high time to get something completed that I can add to my Big Cartel Online Shop.  I chose to start with one of my decoupage ceramic kitty charms, since they have been turning out so beautifully.

After all the research, preparation, buildup, and anticipation...

...I'm pleased to introduce The Dinah Necklace.  The Dinah is sickeningly whimsical, was inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and is the first addition to my Lady and the Cat Big Cartel Online Shop.  Click on either of the above links to check out my shop, and if you feel The Dinah necklace is calling your name, place your order before someone else snatches it up!  And if it sells out before you can get to it, don't fret!  I plan to have more items up by the end of this week, so stay tuned to this blog!  I will provide links to more goodies as I add them to the shop!

At this point, I will shut up and let you all check out my shop links!!!  As always, I need to say thanks a million for the love and support!  I truly mean it when I say that none of this would be possible if I didn't have an army of cat ladies by my side, keeping this content relevant and in demand. And please don't forget to comment and share this blog on social media if  you are digging the content here!  I want Lady and the Cat to be accessible to cat ladies across all across the land of the interwebs!  You all are gems and I hope you have a terrific week.

Xo*

Jess

What The Cat Dragged In: Updates and Purrogress

Lady and the Cat's first accessory line is blowing my mind and consuming my life.  It's exhausting and challenging and basically a second, unpaid full-time job, but I would have it no other way.

Clearly, my skill doesn't lie in the area of rough sketching...I mean, this is literally rough sketching.  Really rough sketching.  But I digress.  All of my Lady and the Cat goodies are really coming to life, and while ceramic pieces were an unexpected addition, I have truly become obsessed with them.  I haven't had this much enthusiasm and energy for an original project in years, or ever, really.

There are a couple small kinks I'm hammering out construction-wise with these pieces, but I'm working away like a madwoman and if all continues to go as planned, my Big Cartel shop will be announced very soon!!!  

I will also be venturing out to a local craft and antique fair a couple towns away in a couple of weeks.  The Hunt and Gather Market, hosted by Old Green Shutters Antiques happens (I believe) twice a year in Crown Point, IN and seems to be one of the largest and coolest handmade markets in my area.  I am so excited to go browsing, because I really think that Lady and the Cat's items would work well in this market.  I am looking at this adventure to The Hunt and Gather Market as a combo ladies' night out/research field trip and can't wait to scope out the scene.

 Slow and steady, the proverbial ball of yarn that is Lady and the Cat is rolling away, gaining momentum like a little champion.  And I am one proud mama.

Xo*

Jess

Roland's New Photographer

The other day, my husband Matt and I were lounging around with Roland.  I had the digital camera out since I was working on a blog post, and randomly Matt decided to start taking some candid shots of Roland as he napped off and on in the living room.

Now, I need to say that my husband has always tooted his horn regarding his photography skills.  And while I have never denied his talent, I also have never really seen him in action.  All I can say is WOW.  I am so impressed with how beautiful our cat looks in the photos Matt took that afternoon.  Obviously I know our cat is an extremely good-looking boy, but I personally have never been able to capture it behind a lens, at least not in the way that Matt did.  So needless to say, he has now been deemed Lady and the Cat's official photographer!  I'm actually really excited about this, as the product photos that I've taken thus far haven't had much of a wow factor at all.  And I was blaming the camera, since our Canon isn't exactly the newest model.  Not to mention I have a slight tremor and no tripod, so taking a non-blurry photo is next to impossible, even if I prop my arms up on something stable.  I spend a great deal of energy taking mediocre pictures, and here Matt is able to pick the camera up casually, snap about fifteen photos in a matter of minutes, and all of them turn out amazing.

I'm telling you guys, he needs to pursue this further.  If you agree, leave a comment so I can show him!  Freelance photographer Matt is going to become a thing, I swear!

So without further ado, here are some of my favorites that Matt took of Roland the other day.

I was amazed at the fact that Roland literally seemed to be posing for Matt as he snapped these pictures.  Amazed and also jealous, because the dude absolutely hates it when I try to take a picture of him.  He seriously gives me the "Really, mom?!?!?!  Give me some privacy!" look as soon as I bust out a camera.  Sometimes he even retorts with an angry trill when he realizes I'm taking a picture.

For example, I tried to get a good photo of him yesterday as he napped in a grocery bag.  Because what is cuter than a cat in a bag?  As soon as he saw I was taking his photo, he yelled at me, attempted to escape the bag, and then admitted defeat and gave me the big stank eye as I continued to Instagram him.  Poor chap.

See what I mean?  And this was using a crappy iPhone...no flash or camera noises involved, and he still hated his life.  But when his daddy took his picture, by George, he turned into a regular Marcus Schenkenpurrrg and acted like he's been modeling professionally forever.

So yeah, credit where it's due for sure.  My husband is pretty much a phenomenal photographer and Roland clearly prefers him, too.  Matthew, you're hired!

Thanks for reading, cat ladies!  Don't forget to subscribe to this feed so you can stay in the know about my product line, my latest featured cat ladies, and all things feline!

Xo*

Jess

The Cat's Meow--Online Shop Coming Soon!

Happy Valentine's Day, cat ladies!

I hope you're all having a romantic Saturday.

I'm back on Blogger, as I've been having some serious technical woes back on the old .com.  And since blogging has become a huge and important part of my life and this business venture, I couldn't let any of those issues get me off schedule.

But sheer habit aside, I also have some exciting news to share!

Last week, I got my first batch of ceramic kitty charms back from the kiln.  If you follow my .com blog, you may remember that I started toying with handmade ceramic pieces to see if I'd be able to make them into jewelry.  Basically the goal was kitty head charms embellished with upcycled papers (tissue paper, magazine clippings, and book pages), sealed with matte medium.  I wanted to give the final products a textured look rather than simply glazing them.

These are a few of the charms before going into the kiln, and obviously without any embellishment.  I did share a sneak peek of one of the finished products on my Instagram, but I really want to hold off on sharing any final products until they're 1000% done.  But let's just say you can expect items to be online and available to order by the end of March, with a giveaway for my followers when the shop is fully stocked in April.  I would love to release everything sooner, but I have to work out some of my aforementioned technical kinks before I have a final online shop location to share with you all.

In the meantime, expect more blogs at this location and more sneak peeks via Instagram!  

My apologies for any potential confusion with my switching back to this URL for posts.  I promise I will keep you guys updated with any changes regarding web locales for this blog, and I sincerely appreciate anyone who has stuck by me since the birth of this blog.  You truly do not know how much your cat lady loyalty means to me...hopefully my upcoming giveaway in April will express at least a small fraction of my appreciation for you all!

Now go snuggle with your cats.  It's the day of love, for goodness sake.

Xo*

Jess