Crazy Cat Lady

I have always told my kids that when I grow old I'm going to be the crazy cat lady. Well, they already know I'm crazy, so it won't be that far of a jump. Because I love cats so much, I have quite a collection of cat-related items, all of them in my studio, which really isn't all that big. In the interest of showing parts of my work area (and of not doing any actual work), I thought I would share some of my cat related items.

Below is one of the many shelves in my office, which has, starting on the left, a little metal lady with magnetic kitties stuck on her (appropriately titled "The Crazy Cat Lady"); a picture of Willow and Sammie; Bastet, the Egyptian goddess and protector of women, and a kitty pin given to me by a friend (I get a lot of cat gifts. The frame here was given to me by my husband.)


A kitty clock. The tail is supposed to swing like a pendulum but I have never been able to get it to work.


One of my wall groupings. Starting at the top and going clockwise is a sign that says "Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. They have never forgotten this.," a picture of a siamese cat that was taken from a calendar, a lovely little card with siamese kitties that I framed and, lastly, a watercolor by Rachel Parker. This particular picture is from a calendar, but I also have several prints by her. I love her renditions of siamese cats. You can check out her work by clicking on her name, above. I highly recommend it.


This is the right side of my window seat. On the bottom are pillows, one with a siamese cat embroidered and another that says "Try to be the person your cat thinks you are." Above are two more prints by Rachel Parker.
Below are the newest additions to my collection, which I bought today (along with the plaque pictured at the top of the page), even though I shouldn't have. I couldn't resist. The clock in the middle represents Willow, a seal point Siamese. On the left is Joey, who was a blue lynx point Balinese and who died in 2007 at age 19. Lastly, on the right is my fat cat Sammie.


Oh, and the real thing as well. My father-in-law made me a bird feeder for outside the window of my studio for Christmas. I wanted it so the cats could watch the birds and squirrels and, as you can see, Willow loves it.


I have much more in my collection that I won't bore you with, including some lovely ACEOs by endlesswhimsy of the Etsy Maine Team. My sales fairy, Seraphina is holding a kitty and I have a lovely kitty ornament hanging on my computer that I got in our Etsy Maine Team holiday gift giving thingy from Kirsten of anabelfuzz. And right now I am drinking coffee out of a mug that says "Crazy Cat Lady". Yup, that pretty much sums me up.

Looking for Some Last Minute Gifts?

If so, come visit me (and a few other artists) at the Maine Grind tomorrow, Saturday, December 19th from 9:00 to 2:00. I'll be there with my jewelry and I know there will be some beautiful paintings there, but I don't know who the other crafters/artists will be, but there is sure to be something for everyone there. And you can warm up with a cup of coffee!

Irrational Fears Challenge

Fellow Etsy Maine Teamer DreaBunny issued us a challenge: to make something that represented an irrational fear we have. I thought about it, but wasn't sure if I wanted to do it. How in the world would I depict my irrational fears:

Fear of people not liking me
Fear of people laughing at me
Fear of making a fool of myself
(obviously, I have issues).

So I thought about it some more and even mentioned it to my therapist, which prompted a discussion about WHY I have these fears, and I remembered a certain incident that happened when I was in grammar school. So for the first time, my therapist set me homework and told me to do the challenge.

And here is what I came up with. But bear with me, there's a bit of a story to go with it.

When I was in second grade I had a teacher who did not like me. I never figured out why. I was a pretty good kid and always did what I was told, didn't talk back, etc. She was mean. And scary.



So one day we had a project to make houses out of milk cartons. We had a lot of fun painting and decorating them. Some people even put them on stilts.

Then Mrs. Crowley spread some newspapers on the floor in the back of the room so the houses could dry. The problem was she had stuck me in the back of the room and had put the newspapers and houses so close to my desk I barely had room to move. I asked her if she could move them a little but she said there was plenty of room.

Well, this scared me. I was sure I would do something to the houses. I am, and have always been, a klutz.

At some point I had to get up. I don't remember why, but I do remember putting it off as long as I could. I tried to balance myself and walk carefully through the little space, but I was so afraid something would happen. And it did....

I lost my balance and fell on top of all the houses and ruined them!


Some kids laughed at me, but most were mad because I had ruined their projects.

Mrs. Crowley was really mad at me and yelled.

It's funny the things we remember, isn't it? Most of grammar school is a big blur, but this incident is very clear in my mind, even these many years later.



The kids are made from wooden figures covered with polymer clay. The teacher is all polymer clay. The school stuff (map, chalkboard, books, milk cartons and newspapers) was downloaded and printed from a site that makes printables for dollhouses and stuff. I made the desk and shelves out of toothpicks and mat board. The tiles and wallpaper I designed on the computer and printed out. It's all set up in a cardboard box diorama.