Fast Fur-ward to Spring!

I'm happy to report that spring fever is still alive in the Midwest!  Not only that, but I recently received an unexpected massive haul of donated goods.  An old friend of mine mentioned a couple weeks ago that he and his wife had some jewelry and jewelry supplies to get rid of.  He asked if I'd be interested in taking them before they just tossed it all.  Of course I took him up on the offer, thinking I'd get a box of old necklaces, a few things a I could use here and there, whatever.  Little did I know, these beautiful, amazing, generous people literally unloaded their entire car of jewelry, beads, findings, display elements, books, and tools for me to use at my leisure.

I may do tons of complaining about life, but in this instance, I'm fully aware of the fact that I'm #blessed.  I will never be able to repay my friend for the generosity, and to think that they were just going to throw this treasure away!  I seriously have almost everything I need to continue making jewelry for years, and the best part is that it is all donated/secondhand, and there are plenty of finished pieces that I can de-construct...all keeping with the upcycled theme that is so important to Lady and the Cat designs.  I'm more thankful than anyone will ever know.

Here is just a small portion of my new haul...

Roland had to be involved, too.  As per usual.

It took an entire day to sort through and re-organize everything, but you guys know me...I'm the biggest dork, so I loved every second of it.

Another project I started this week is ceramic collar charms for cats...this is something I've only recently been thinking about, but executing these suckers has been surprisingly simple so far.  But get back to me when I start to decoupage...collar charms are way more delicate than the charms intended for humans, so I foresee the appearance of tweezers, a microscope, and a swear jar in my future!

This is my first batch of collar charms, shown after drying overnight and right before being sent to the kiln.  My only regret is that my own two cats refuse to wear collars, much less embellished collars.  But for all of you who have fancier cats than I, these charms will hopefully be purrfect for your babies!  If I can't partake in the excitement, I can at least create it!

I will say, though, that my felt cat toys continue to be a hit in the household...the few prototypes I threw together are forever MIA, as my cats keep stealing them from my (poorly chosen) hiding spots.  Best product research ever!  

I can't wait to show these new items for the first time at a show...these "for cats only" items are exactly what I needed to jump start my creative energy.  Between them and my beloved new treasure trove of upcycled goodies, I can barely contain myself.  It's refreshing to feel inspired again.  I hope the rising temps have all of you feeling inspired, too!

Thanks as always for staying updated!  I love you all and hope you have a great weekend!

Xo*

Jess

What the Cat Dragged In (Late Winter Update 2016)

It's officially March, and while my part of the Midwest has gotten more snow in the past week than we have all winter, I swear I can smell springtime in the air.  I've taken to driving with the windows down and nixing a coat most days, and the hankering for a vase of freshly cut flowers has never been so strong.

I've finally been super-motivated and inspired again, too.  Thank goodness for this, because I was truly getting concerned over the amount of Jersey Shore reruns I'd been tearing through all winter.  Now is the time to ditch the mass trash TV consumption (okay, okay...cut back) and get into the swing of things again.  I have a few weeks left until I submit photos to Hunt and Gather's curator for their summer show in June, and I really wanted to dig into making these cat toys.  I've wanted to do this since I started Lady and the Cat, but the whole jewelry thing took off and I haven't found myself able to re-focus on cat toys until now.

The good news?  These birdy toys are already a hit...before I even added wings or stuffed the first test pieces, my two Maine Coons were hounding the felt cutouts like their lives depended on it.  The bad news?  I now have to hide from my cats while I work, and then hide the finished toys so the cats don't hijack them!

This is just the beginning of my process towards getting a cat toy line ready for my next vendor fair.  I have to admit that they're more work than I expected, from the initial template design to bonding fabrics to the precise hand-stitching involved.  But what else is new?  I'm actually super happy with the end results, so I can't wait to keep working on them regardless.  Time and again, I tend to secretly love a rigorous, meticulous handmade process.

I've also started making more rings in brand new prints, but more about those later.  Now is the time to get into high gear for this summer market, so you can rest assured that like last year at this time, the blog will be filled with prep coverage from now until June.  I can't wait to post more as I keep working, and promise to share more details about my next show as soon as they become available!

As always, thanks so much for reading.  I hope you all have a meowvelous weekend!

Xo*

Jess