Watercolor Workshop at the Dancing Cat!

This past weekend I got to go to a watercolor workshop with a friend at the Dancing Cat in San Jose

While art was one of my favorite subjects in school and I was sure to try and take as many classes as I could, watercoloring is something I had absolutely no experience with so I was excited to try this workshop out. Not to mention that I haven't been to the Dancing Cat since they reopened several months ago and so I was excited to re-check this place out.

The Dancing Cat is like a cat cafe minus the coffee. It's really more like a club house for cat lovers which provides a comfortable home for several homeless and family-less cats while they wait for their new forever home. You can see my previous visits to this cat cafe here, here, and here. While they changed a few aspects of the place, the spirit of it remains the same. It was great getting to see all their cats running around freely and lounging away like there's no tomorrow.

As for the workshop, I thought it was very well organized. We arrived a little early and was able to grab some coffee at a nearby coffee shop before getting started. When it was time and we walked into the Dancing Cat, the large center table they have was decked out and ready with all the necessary supplies we would need for the event. The instructor Frances Marin was very informative and helpful keeping instructions simple and yet making it easy enough for us to feel comfortable to just jump right in. Once we got started and throughout the workshop she would come around to each of us giving us individual feedback, suggestions, and encouragement. Periodically she would give further instructions to the group in general to help us along in our work. While it seemed that everyone was working at a different pace, I never felt rushed or discouraged if I was at a different place or working in a different pace from the other students in the workshop. Frances Marin was great with leading this workshop knowing that everyone works at a different speed. Also, I don't think the cats played a small insubstantial role in keeping us calm or giving us necessary distractions when we needed it. The Dancing Cat was very smart as well in selecting some very nice calming jazz to play in the background during the workshop. 

Overall, I had a great time at the Dancing Cat and at this workshop! I'd love to do the workshop again if they offer it again in the future. In any case, I will be sure to be back for visits with the cats. 
 

The Dancing Cat, San Jose, CA

Colorful fun ambience at the Dancing Cat, San Jose

Art work and comfortable couches for the cats and humans at the Dancing Cat

Adoptable cats currently available

The table set up and ready for us for our watercolor workshop

Watercolor station for one

Kitty wants to join in

My watercolor station set up. My inspiration, my sweet girl Murkurie

Another cat says he's ready to join in

This one got tired. Says time for a nap

And a little bit of a drink

Lounge cats at the Dancing Cat

Look at that luxurious tail!

End of the watercolor workshop

Me with my masterpiece ;)

Murkurie on bed with Murkurie on wall

If you missed it, you can check out the Outfit of the Day post from this adventure here.

Making Hair Bows- A DIY Tutorial

Hello Kittens!

Today, let's start a DIY project... Hair bows!

1) Start out with a square piece of fabric (resting cat is not necessary but it is nice to have my Merk with me). I started out with a 6 1/2" square but this bow came out slightly larger than I expected so you can make it smaller or even larger depending on your preference.

2) Press two sides of the fabric about a quarter of an inch.

3) Fold the fabric square in half perpendicular to the pressed sides with the pressed sides facing outward.

4) Sew along the edges of this rectangle leaving a small opening by the folded side. I left a little bit over an inch unsewn.

5) Carefully turn this pouch you just made inside-out... this is where that small opening comes in handy!

6) Then, once the pouch is turned inside-out sew your opening closed.

7) Take another piece of fabric. This size will be determined by how big your first piece of fabric was... for a 6 1/2" square piece of fabric I am using a piece of fabric about 3" x 1 1/2".  For a 5" square you will probably want something slightly smaller... for an 8" square you will probably want something slightly larger.

8) As you did with the first piece of fabric press two sides of the fabric along the longer edge. I pressed about a quarter inch.

9) As you did with the first piece of fabric, fold the fabric over in half perpendicular to the pressed sides and with the pressed sides facing outward.

10) Sew this fold close only on the short edge and not along the whole parameter.

11) Turn this fabric inside-out

12) Now, taking your first piece of fabric, the pouch, fold it accordion style along the long side. When you fold make sure the two edges of the fold are facing the same direction and not one facing up and one facing down... the accordion fold should look something like this: /\/\/\ when looked at from the side.

Wolfgang wants to know what is going on.

13) Slip the second piece of fabric onto the first piece of fabric with the finished side of the second piece of fabric on the side of the bow where the accordion folds are facing down.

14) Flip the bow over and sew four edges of the second piece of fabric onto the first piece of fabric. This will keep the middle of the bow in place.

15) Next, using a hot glue gun, glue an alligator clip to the back of your bow.

...like so.

16) And you're done!

A bit of personal flair!

"Different," she said, "with a special something and a very very personal flair."

LOL. Okay I get show tunes stuck in my head. Love "At the Ballet" from A Chorus Line. But I digress...

As some of you might have noticed I love my Chinese inspired velvet Mary Janes I got from Urban Outfitters over the Christmas season. They are slowly becoming my new go-to shoe for stepping out. They are flats which is my favorite kind of shoe to wear, plus they are furry on the inside which help keep my feet and toes warm even when it's cold and I'm not wearing tights. But at times, they could seem a little plain. So I got the idea to jazz these up a bit with hair flowers turned shoe clips!

I found these hair clips at Forever 21 and took them home for a whooping $1.50. I love Forever 21! While I like them as hair clips just fine, I figured they would be better served as shoe clips :)

And here you go! Pictures!

Why, Hello There Kitty!

Flower hair clips + velvet Mary Janes with furry lining = Fun new quick project!

Aren't They Lovely?

Side View

Top View

The Curious Case of C.C. Cookie with Wolfgang in the background

I love fun quick projects! Don't you? :)

The Chicago, the Ft. Lauderdale, and the NOLA

I had so much fun making my first cat sweater clip a couple weeks ago that this last week I made a couple more. 

These sweater clips are relatively easy to make and just require a few supplies from Etsy, Joann's, and a hot glue gun and they take only a few minutes to make.

Because each of these sweater clips seem to have their own personalities it got me thinking of what I would name them if I were to name them after a particular city they feel like they should have been born in.


The Chicago is a pink and white cat cameo or cabonchon with pink pearls. I think of Chicago in the 1950s when I see this sweater clip
 

The Ft. Lauderdale is a super colorful green, blue and pink cameo with flamingos and palm trees with shiney pink transparent beads... who wouldn't think of Ft. Lauderdale in the 1950s when they see this fun sweater clip!

The NOLA is a black and ivory cat cameo with a dark silver chain. This sweater clip is much darker than the other two and makes me think of the New Orleans of Anne Rice's books. It is just like my previous sweater clip from Cat Got Your Chain except the cameo is smaller and darker having an ivory colored cat rather than a white cat... even though the chain and style of cameo are exactly the same, this slight color difference in cat makes such a big difference in feel to me... if Cat Got Your Chain had a location name I would name it the San Francisco but this one is definitely the NOLA.

Cat Got Your Chain

Making sweater clips from earrings

As mentioned in other blogs Tim and I took a trip to Joann's where I picked up a few supplies for this project.

- a suitable chain

Oh wait, that's all that I needed. Yay!

What I had around the house:

-two extra small 1 inch alligator clips which I had left over from a past project
-a pair of large round cat earrings I bought in Alameda from Modern Mouse, a store which features Etsy sellers

I got together my supplies, chain, alligator clips, earrings, tacky glue, glue gun, and tweezers.

Comparing the chain length to other sweater clips I own I determined the length where I wanted to cut the chain in half. I did this manually by pulling apart the chain and twisting it, working it around where the chain links. Having the chain link open, I was trying to wind it through the hole in the alligator clip but the open chain link was too small so I simply placed it over the edge of alligator clip and glued it with tacky glue then waited a day for that to set.


While I was waiting, I attempted to take the backs off the earrings. This is where I ran into problems. Do I really want to destroy these earrings for the sake of a sweater clip. As a sweater clip I would probably get more use out of them... I've had these earrings for over a year and have never worn them. They are heavy on my ears and are so big... but they are cat earrings... maybe one day I would want to wear them... Ah! So I got the idea that maybe I can find the same round cat piece minus the earring backing from Etsy especially considering that the store I bought them from features sellers from Etsy. I was happy to find this guess to be true. So I waited a week for my cat cameos to come in the mail.

Now with the arrival of my cat cameos I am ready to complete this project.

I hot glued the chain attached to the alligator clip previously tacky glued on. In hindsight I should have just super glued it on in that beginning step and foregone the two glues. Also because the chain link which attaches to the alligator clip was so small it was kind of overkill to use the hot glue.

Last, I used the hot glue gun to glue the cat cameo to the alligator clip. I think here hot glue was probably the best thing to use since the alligator clip does not fit flat against the cameo.

 

Here is the finished project. Pretty spiffy if I do say so myself!