Saturday, 7 January 2023

A Tribute to Janis from Her Peaceful Garden


 With great sadness, I learned today the passing of our wonderful host and creator of 'The Cat Lover's Hop' , Janis 

Janis became a friend, not just to me, but to everyone who participated in her wonderful hops.

Janis and I exchanged many emails beyond the hops and the most recent just two weeks ago, and I wished her hugs and love and hoped everything would settle down soon for her.  She'd experienced family sadness and was preparing to welcome her granddaughter into her home. Despite this, she never let on how sick she was and as always sent light and love. 

Her generosity was unsurpassed with her time and with her heartwarming words, comments and chats. I will miss the Cat Lovers Hop and have played along with Janis since its inception 8 years ago, though our friendship went before that. Janis built a wonderful community based on our love of cats which is far reaching and I've made wonderful friends I so looked forward to our annual catch up and shared love of crafting. We will all be heartbroken, I know I am. 

Maybe somehow we can continue the Cat Lovers Hop in Janis' memory but for now, everyone needs time to grieve 

Sending prayers to Janis'  family with my deepest deepest condolences.

Notice on link below:

Her Peaceful Garden

xx

Saturday, 29 October 2022

Cat Lovers Hop Day 6 - Guest Designing - Stampendous

Happy National (International) Cat Day!!! 


Welcome back to Day 6 of 

The Cat Lovers Hop 

This is my second Guest Designer spot for this Hop and its been so much fun! 

This time with a focus on 

STAMPENDOUS

Here I've used  

Laurel Burch (Cat and Feathered Friend)   



&   Cat Sayings (SSC1222)



We were really lucky that Blackie was very tolerant of our cockatiel Maggie and our Sparrow Chirp. Chirp used to swoop over him as a tease... truly, Chirp did not know how lucky she was!  

Blackie's thinking was 'Nope, not, Im off'.  Chirp was so confident!



DAY 6 GAME: Where Do Your Cats Sleep? Do they hog your pillow or do they have a secret nest?

Usually on the couch or one of the lounge chairs... here almost on top of each others... LOL, so long as there is a layer of blanket between them!! 




                                                    There's been such fabulous projects shown over at 

The Cat Lovers Hop...


Hope we are seeing yours there.

What an amazing hop its been... and I heartfully thank 

Janis

from 'Her Peaceful Garden'

for the mammoth and super job organising and sharing this hop with us along with all the other guest designers and commenters and the beautiful creatives who have shared their inspiring work. 

 I soooo look forward to this hop every year (and its in its 8th year!!)

So thank-you,  I tip my hat to you

xx


Friday, 28 October 2022

Cat Lovers Hop - Day 5

 Cat Lovers Hop 

Day 5


Do you know that black cats are the least colour adopted out.. I cannot fathom why. Every black cat I've ever owned has been extraordinary in some kind of way.


My Project Life Layout.....

Everyday moments plus Yassi's visit to the vet.  Yassi has a heart murmur and a month after these photos were taken, she saw a specialist veterinary cardiologist.   Her heart murmur isn't troubling her at the moment, however she is being monitored and is soon to to have another echo gram to compare to her last one.   


Which brings me to the daily game:

DAY 5 GAME: Kitty Heroes and Zeroes!! 
  
and its this:

MR 'We-don't-need-a-cat


I think after Blackie passed, my husband saw me grieve so badly and simply did not want me to go through it again, so when I piped up and said out of the blue a year later 'That's it!  I'm off to get another cat!'  He said softly many times,  'We don't need a cat'.  (He's a farm boy, so any good cat is a good barn cat!)  
So my cat HERO is YASSI,  she won him completely over!  She worked and worked on him until he fell for her!!  I sit opposite him to this day and just giggle at how he spoils her!

 

There is still time to jump in and create some wonderful  projects!
Lots of wonderful sponsors and prizes....
Take a look 





XX

Thursday, 27 October 2022

Cat Lovers Hop - Day 4

 

Cat Lovers Hop

Day 4


Welcome back!  

 My layout today features my mum (85) and her new companion Gracie... they hit it off straight away. Gracie is 7yrs old and a quite the little 'lady'.  Suits my mum to a tee! 


And the Daily Game is a purrfect fit for the last part of my layout of Minnie and Yassi!

DAY 4 GAME:  Tell us a Kid-Friendly Cat Riddle or Joke! 

'What a cat loves to do after a fight............. is to hiss and make up!'

(lol, at times the pair are 'frenemies'!)


Join in on the fun, so many wonderful sponsors and prizes!

Pop on over to...




xx

Wednesday, 26 October 2022

Cat Lovers Hop - Day 3

 

Cat Lover's Hop...

DAY 3


Daily going-ons..... I love story-telling :) 



DAY 3 GAME: Kitty Limericks, Haiku, Couplets, or Short Free-Form Poems

Cat Poetry continues to be a popular Daily Game topic, so we will stretch our brains again and see what we can come up with:

Lets take one little story from my layout above.... this one:


Bang!
What was that!
Footsteps running
Litter's gone splat
Blank face greeting
'Fainted' says she
With a shrug,
 Hee, hee, hee.

------------------------------------


The wonderful Cat Lovers Hop is a community of like-minded creatives and its so wonderful reading the thoughtful comments and visiting blogs I've come to love! 

One of those blogs is KT Fit Kitty who has been with Cat Lovers Hop for the last 8 years too :) and is offering a wonderful kitty inspired prize, so take a visit! 

*** Cat Lovers' Giveaway ***


----------------

Lots to see and do and partake in... and lots of sponsors with prizes

Join the Cat Lovers Hop  HERE!



xx

Tuesday, 25 October 2022

2022 Cat Lovers Hop Day 2 - Guest Designing - Taylored Expressions




Hello all, and especially if you've arrived from



Thank you so much for stopping by my blog!
I've the privilege of helping with designing for Day 2 as a Hopper Helper :) 

One of the sponsors is 

so many beautiful stamp and die sets! 

The Stamp Set used here is called 'Whiskers' 
(I was lucky to win this set last year!!)



Its perfect for this created story of my feral cat Blackie who was re-educated,
 lived out the rest of his life as an indoor cat, yet at 18yrs was called away.  
He was certainly an angel. 



DAY 2 GAME: Time to Tattle on Your Cats.  Tell us about something VERY NAUGHTY they have done. 

I found this and how true!!
This certainly applies to Yassi and Minnie!

So it went in my page below!

The pair definitely know the definition of naughty!
Their crimes are - running under my feet to stop me from walking away from their empty food bowls... and I have to feed Minnie seperately because Yassi will eat hers then look for Minnie's  (Minnie is a grazer, so that makes it hard)  When Im not looking Yassi will try sneak into the room where Minnie's food is, and when I say 'YASSI!!!'  She runs away - guilty!! 

I've got another Project Life page for my album... they do feature quite a bit!
Yassi and Minnie start to get closer together.
AND my mum (85) gets a rescue cat... her name is Gracie :) 






Be sure to to jump in and share a project of any kind with a focus on a cat or cats
Wonderful prizes to be won! 
Pad your way over to where all the other cat lovers are gathering :)



Cant wait to see your creations!

xx

Monday, 24 October 2022

Cat Lovers Hop - Day 1 is HERE!


CAT LOVERS HOP - DAY 1


So happy to be here again, loving scrapping my kitties.

There are lots of prizes to play for and loads to gain from this wonderful cat loving community that has grown from its inception 8 years ago.  I'm proud to say, I've played along for every single one of them! AND how lovely it is catching up with these wonderful people and their creativity again!

All you need to do is have a cat focussed project of any sort (cards/scrapbooking/OTP, even sewing/quilting/anything created by you  - cats of any kinds (lions, tigers - no bears! Oh my!) so you don't even have to own a cat!  How great is that!

First off is:

DAY 1 GAME: Kitty Roll Call and In Memoriam :(

As usual, our Day 1 Game is Kitty Roll Call where we share with each other the names of each of the cats who call your home (or your back porch) their own....even if it is just a home away from home.  During Kitty Roll Call, you can tell us a little about your cats and you also may add to the roll call any that you have lost since last Cat Lovers Hop.  :( :( :(  Some of you might not have any kitties at home anymore, but please tell us about cats you have had in the past.

I think most of you have read about my beautiful Blackie who still features here and there in my projects, passed at 18yrs.  He was an ex-feral, re-educated and huge.  He also was a one person cat - and he owned and trusted only me.  I feel so privileged to have shared my life with him.  


Before Blackie, though did over cross lives with him, was Cosmo, our beautiful bi-coloured ragdoll who loved my family so much especially my three girls...  He also passed at 18yrs (8yrs before Blackie passed) and our vet thankfully came to our home to help him cross over. We were so grateful for that.  Blackie and Cosmo walked around each other at home and in the yard. Both acted as if the other didn't exist.  It kept harmony.


That brings me to now...  It took a year to think about another cat after Blackie and I suddenly out of the blue got such an urge to get another.  Rescue cat Yassi came into our lives, a mama cat who's 5 kittens were already adopted, and now it was her time, she was pretty shut down but I worked on her and she turned out to be a treasure!  She learned to walk on a lead like a champ!  She is now 4 1/2 yrs old


Fastforward another year, and I retired.  I saw a advert for a small black kitten (yes be still my heart) who had been dumped in a cage in the middle of winter in the middle of the night outside the door of the rescue centre. When the staff arrived the next morning, she was half frozen and within 48hrs gave birth to one kitten which did not survive.  

They tried hard to rehabilitate her, but was having no luck.  She was kept away from the main adoption area - she was in the Scaredy Cats section.  I could not resist and drove 2 hours to pick her up - she was listed as 'Foster to Adopt'.

 We called her Minnie as she was so small - less than a year old. Six weeks of hiding in my sewing room in a cardboard box with a towel in it (was not interested in the comfy cat bed) and with Feliway infuser going (that worked wonders!), she finally came out of the room and slowly began to trust until she saw the TV!  Oh my, that sent her ricocheting!  We had to desensitise her to many things bit by bit.  Now she is the most loving affectionate kitty.  She stretches up on her hind legs with her front paws reaching up like a toddler wanting to be picked up.... and wanting to be carried around!  She's come a long way! She is a little clown and sleeps like this in front of the fire!  She is now 2 1/2 yrs old



So project time!  
My little black panther!


Be sure you join in!  
Here's your link

xx
 

Tuesday, 11 October 2022

2022 Cat Lovers Hop....



 If you love a creative project of any kind with cats as the focus,

then head on over to

Her Peaceful Garden
I've been away too long and it feels so good to be back!  I hope to see you over at the Hop :)


 

Saturday, 30 October 2021

Cat Lovers Hop - Day 5

Day 5 of the 

Cat Lovers Hop! 


DAY 5 GAME:

 In a Room Full of "Identical" Cats, How Would You Identify Yours? 

 Weeeeell, that would be easy for my little black panther Minnie as she'd run straight to me, stretch up with her paws on me to be picked up like a toddler  with  the motion 'up'. I carry her around a lot of the day! She's so needy!

Yassi, weeeeell, she'll be racing all the others to the food, and cleaning up all the bowls! LOL, however, I'm sure she'd be in good company there, so next I'd have to resort her tuxie markings. Hahah!

How would you?

----------------------------------------------------


So, another page of my kitty  antics here .....


Thanks so much to the wonderfully sharing comments left, I love reading about your experiences here and when I've visited you too!  I've seen the most amazing projects from so many talented crafters.

What a hoot this has been! 

Have a visit and see!



xx


Friday, 29 October 2021

Cat Lovers Hop - Day 4

 

Day 4 on the Cat Lovers Hop!



Today game is:
What is the Funniest or Weirdest Trick Your Cat Does?
This would be Yassi, and how she runs inside meowing like a banshee all the while with a mouse in her mouth! Next she drops it at my feet, with  'here's your lunch!' 
If I dont respond straight away (mostly because I'm having horrors!!) she'll tap it towards me!!!
Tap, tap tap!  (Poor little mouse, I don't like them losing their little lives either!)

I have to pick it up and distract her by giving her some biscuits while I dispose of it so
I don't disappoint her by not lunching on it! 

She does the same thing with little lizards, but she does not harm these.
 I recapture them and put them outside!  
                                             I know I should feel honoured!


         And my project today is on how spoilt these my two cats truly are! 




                                   Jump in and join the fun, loads of prizes to be won!  

                                           Absolutely loving playing along!! 

                                                                       xx



Wednesday, 27 October 2021

Cat Lovers Hop - Day 3

 

 DAY 3!


Its wonderful playing along and its not too late!

Join in here!




Every day there is a game... and Day 3's game is:

Kitty Limericks, Haiku, Couplets, 
or Short Free-Form Poems

Cat Poetry : It might seem a little scary at first, but please don't be intimidated! Anyone can make up something about cats. Haiku are easy and follow a 3 line, 5-7-5 syllable form. Here's a great site to inspire you: Cat Haiku.

Here's my simple attempt:
Minnie

Look at me, I'm so small

Hiding curled in a furry ball,

Dark and silent as nightfall

In my new home I’m loved by all.


----------------------------------------------


So in photos, here's a layout of the antics of Minnie




Hope to see you there!!!!

 

Cat Lovers Hop - Day 2

 

Already Day 2 of The Cat Lovers Hop!


So the game today:

DAY 2 GAME - What is your favourite cat breed, or one you have always wanted?

 I guess I've always been drawn to an Abyssinian.  Intense and intelligent

However, as much as I'd love this, my heart lies with rescues.

Now onto my project for today,

Minnie! 


  If you'd like to join in, you can do any sort of project so long as its got to do with cats.

Loads of prizes to be won and join our cat community!

See you there.....


xx