I'm Happy Today

I'm really happy today. My cat Pawlie Newman (named after Paul Newman because of his intensely blue eyes) has been found.

Some of you probably know I am a cat person. Cats just seem to find me, except for Scrappy, who I actually picked up from the median of Interstate 30. You can read his story here, but be warned it is a difficult story for cat lovers, although it has a happy ending.

A few months ago Pawlie found me. He appeared to be a stray, although he is full blooded Siamese. At first I only saw him once in a while, then more frequently. I noted that one ear was folded down for some reason. I gradually tamed him enough that I could handle him and had him neutered and got his shots. The vet took care of his intestinal parasites and ear mites as well. The folded ear is due to scar tissue from an earlier injury that did not receive care. That ear is almost completely closed off with scar tissue and I doubt he hears well with it. He was very affectionate with me and loving.

Then he disappeared. He was gone a month. I feared that coyotes had caught him. One neighbor saw him up the road a ways and I immediately went there but couldn't find him. I was perplexed because he always runs up to me when I call.

Yesterday I handed out flyers with pictures of Pawlie and Callie. (Yes, my sweet mostly feral Callie was last seen Thursday). I located a neighbor who had seen Pawlie multiple times recently, but he stated Pawlie ran off when they called him. As I walked from their front door Pawlie came around the corner of the house. I called his name and he began meowing at me. When I called again he ran up. Now he's back at home and sticks to me like glue. He's obviously very happy to be here. He can't get enough petting. I guess he just went up the road and couldn't figure out how to get back. There's a pond and creek with a little bridge to cross.

Buddy cat is not happy about this. He glares at Pawlie like he is spawn of the devil.

I would like to find Pawlie a home where he can go in the house. We have indoor cats who are very fearful and can't have any more house cats. He tried to follow me into the house last night. He is a real lover boy and deserves a home where he can get lots of attention, without the competition of other jealous male cats. It would be hard to part with him but I would like to find him a place where he can get the attention he needs.

I'm going into the woods today and search for Callie. Plus, I'm going to hand out more flyers. She is so incredibly frightened of everything that I doubt anyone will see her. My next door neighbors sit out in the yard a lot and they have only seen her once or twice. She's really good at hiding.

Pawlie is in good shape. He hasn't lost weight. Many people here own cats and he has obviously been helping himself to their food.

Now if I can just find Callie it would be a perfect day.

Tutorial Monday-Etsy and Blog Banners

Today Tutorial Monday is a little different. Instead of a jewelry tutorial I'm sharing the the best of the banner tutorials I've found on the web. I've been kicking around ideas for my blog banner/header and my Etsy shop banner but haven't been sure how to go about creating one. I want a picture or two of my jewelry with the name of my blog. I also want something similar for my Etsy shop.

So far my favorite comes from Etsy Labs: Skill Share: Making A Banner. One of the reasons I like this tutorial is that it uses Photoshop and the directions are applicable to Photoshop Elements. I have Elements. I've taken a couple of courses in Photoshop Elements, but I don't always remember the facets of the program that I don't use often. Danielle goes over the steps and illustrates the process with some screen shots.

Brenda Smith of Serendipity Patchwork and Quilting has a good tutorial How to Create a Blog Banner, and well as one on Blog Buttons. Oh, and be sure to check out her blog.

Carole Casper has a tutorial for Blogger banners as well. Creating a Personal Header in New Blogger is a PDF file that you can download and print out for handy reference. She has other tutorials on creating a favicon, making links, and fabric art related tutorials on her blog A Stitch in Time.

Gabrielle Blair has a tutorial by Guest Mom Amy on Making a Blog Banner.

Paul Stamatiou has tutorial on HOW TO: Make a Blog Header Graphic.

You can get free graphics for your Wordpress header at Ten Free Cutline Header Images on Skitzo. For more on the Cutline Theme for Word Press see Chris Pearson. Captain Hops also has free graphics for Cutline.

More free graphics can be found at Blog Headers For Free Download. There are some very creative graphics here. All of the header graphics in this post came from here. Check it out.






Maybe you don't want to do it yourself. There are a number of people who will do blog and etsy banners, as well as website banners, for very reasonable fees. Here are some I've found:

Etsy Banners and Graphics by Jelene

Many of her banners have a colorful pop art style, but she also does some very close to what I had in mine for my banner. She has lots of examples to view. You can also buy through her Etsy shop Jelene's Pop Shop.

Callista's Graphic Design Studio

I really like the look of her work and she also does website and blog headers.

The Impatient Crafter Oo La La Collaged Pendants

I'm out of town for the rest of this week so I'm leaving you this fantastic video from Margot Potter, the Impatient Crafter™. I think this is my favorite one so far, probably because I have been working on some collage pendants myself. So far I'm doing digital collage but Margot makes the ink look like fun.

Orphan Bill Update-Action Needed

Action is need immediately on the Orphan Works Bill, also known as the S. 2913 in the Senate and the H.R. 5889 in the House. For a detailed explanation of why so many artists oppose this bill go here or to this excellent blog on arts and crafts law. Even if you are not an artist please call or write your senator or congressman and oppose these bills. Do you take family photos? Then this bill will affect you as well.

It's really easy to send email to the House and Senate if you go to this website. Don't remember your representatives name? No problem, they look it up and fill in the required info automatically. It takes two minutes.

Right now once a work, including a photo, is created it is copyrighted. It doesn't have to be registered. If an artist wants to register works of art, he or she can register a body of work instead of having to register things separately. If this bill passes the photo or art is NOT copyrighted until it is registered. Each work must be registered separately. This is not free. In addition, the creator of a work will have to pay, probably multiple times, to again register their work in an unspecified number of data bases to keep people from using the work without paying royalties. And you know what? That probably won't work.

Tutorial Monday-Mei of Wirebliss

This week for Tutorial Monday I'm reviewing the Sparkly Crystal Ring Tutorial from Mei of WireBliss.


Lately I've been really interested in doing rings. This is a very lovely ring, and I purchased the tutorial on Etsy. The tutorial is delivered as a PDF. It's well written with lots of good detailed photos. I found it very easy to follow. The directions were clear and complete.

Here's a sample page from the tutorial. Remember that the resolution of my blog will not be nearly what the actual tutorial is.

Here are the first practice rings I did using the tutorial.

Mei calls for 22 gauge wire, but I wanted to start out learning with my less expensive craft wire, so I used a 20 gauge tarnish resistant wire in gold and copper, and some leftover beads that I had handy. This worked well, although the 20 gauge doesn't have the beautiful dainty look of Mei's rings. I also experimented with Czech glass firepolish in the center rather than using all Swarovski. Swarovski will definitely be more sparkly so I'll use that next. If you like to use heavier wire with rings I think 20 gauge is probably the heaviest wire that can be used with the small crystals, but 19 gauge might work. Now that I've had some practice I'm going to do some with 22 gauge sterling and gold filled wire. Pearls can also be used in this ring design, and Mei has a picture of a ring made with pearls that is very attractive.

This is a good tutorial for beginners as well as more experienced wire wrappers. I've never done any complex wire work so I consider myself a beginner. I found the directions easy to follow. The tutorial is also very reasonably priced at $6.00 USD.

You can view Mei's wire jewelry on her blogs, WireBliss Jewelry , WireBliss: Handcrafted Wire Wrap Jewelry, and her etsy store, Wirebliss. Be sure to check out her Wire Wrap Donut pendant tutorial that is available at Etsy.

Catching Up

We spent this weekend traveling. There was a family reunion the 4th of July at my cousin's home. The next day we went to a relative's 85th birthday party (Happy Birthday Buster!). We had a good time catching up with our relatives.

This coming week I will be out of town starting Wednesday. I'm meeting my sister-in-law and we're taking care of some family business relating to my mother-in-law's estate. I probably won't have computer access, but I've scheduled some posts so check back.

Look for Tutorial Monday-Mei of WireBliss on Monday. Wednesday I'll be posting another video. Hopefully I'll get something else scheduled.

I've been playing with my new camera, a Canon Rebel Xti. Here are a few butterfly pictures I've taken. I've seen few butterflies this year compared to last year.

Happy 4th of July

I'm always amazed as I think back over the history of our country that the founding fathers did such a good job with the Declaration of Independence, and particularly, the Bill of Rights. They could not have imagined, I'm sure, how much life would change in the 200 plus years that have passed. Yet they crafted a system that works still, and will continue to work if we don't do something stupid to mess it up.

It took courage to craft and sign the Declaration of Independence. If you study the personal life of many of the signers, things did not go well for them. Signing the document painted a big ole target on their foreheads for King's George's troups to aim at.

Whatever your feelings about the current war, remember that without those who were willing to give their lives for this country we would not enjoy the freedoms we enjoy now.

Remember, too, that in many other countries people are willing to DIE for the right to vote. Too many Americans don't bother to vote. If you haven't registered to vote please do so. Then exercise your right and go to the polls.

Update on Tonia Davenport

Since I just reviewed Plexi Class I thought I would post this quick update on the author, Tonia Davenport. She has just opened an etsy store. Check out the cute bracelets. I especially like "dark chocolate."

Also her bracelet project "Save the Trees" from Plexi Class is featured as a free project on MyCraftivity.com.