Lucky Cat Beaded Charm Tutorial

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After far too long of an absence, here's a fun and easy craft tutorial.  

Lucky Cat Beaded Charms

I got the idea for these charms sometime after finding these cute cat bead at JoAnn's, but that was before they closed up. Sigh...

Don't worry, I found similarly cute kitty beads here at Amazon. So, on to the tutorial.

Materials needed:

• Cat beads or large novelty beads of your choice.
• Smaller round beads like these.
• Small bells. These ones from Michael's should work, also these from Dollar Tree.
• Eye pins, like these ones.
• Some phone charm straps. I got mine at Daiso, but these ones should worked too.
• A pair of pliers like these.

First slide one of your round beads and a cat bead head first on to a pin.

Use your pliers to bend the pin as shown. Just grip with the pliers, then turn your wrist to bend the wire pin, leaving enough space between the cat and curved part to slide a bell on.

Slide on the bell, then continue to bend the pin with your pliers to wrap the rest of the pin loosely around the top of the bell. It needs to be loose, or the bell won't be able to jingle.

Now just attach the charm strap to the "eye".  The straps I got use a lobster clasp, but some use a split ring. Either works. Now the next step...

...Is to make more!

Make plenty to give to friends and family. Maybe it will bring them luck.

Just don't forget get to save one for yourself. I love their cute little faces. 

That's it for now. I am planning to post another simple craft tutorial later. Hopefully, it won't be quite as late as this one.

Look forward to it!

Give it a try:

• 26pcs Ceramic Beads Lucky Cat Beads Maneki Neko Porcelain Spacer Beads
  
• Matte Glass Round Beads by Bead Landing
  
• 2" Eye Pins by Bead Landing
  
• Silver Jingle Bells by Creatology
  
• Crafter's Square Christmas Round Bells
  
• Phone Charm Accessory Mix by Bead Landing
  
• Bead Landing 3-In-1 Pliers
  

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Lace Rosette Tutorial and Kitties!

Finally, the next project on my list is done.  It's a video, and another one.  I meant to make one video but ended up making two.  Not exactly a bad thing right?

The first video is sort of a recap of a previous video tutorial I made (see Lace Applique Brooches: A Tutorial). 

It shows simply how to make these lace rosettes, something I find myself constantly making and using for several different projects.

And the next video is just for fun, a kitten playing.

I found a kitten years ago while staying with a friend.  We took care of it until we could find it a home.  I took photos and video of it playing and napping, and I finally did something with that footage.

 

Enjoy!

Here’s the updated list:

• dress
• hair accessories
• small bag
• pins
• clips
• doll clothes
• video

Five down, just two more to go.  The next one should be up soon.  Look forward to it.

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Wordless Wednesday: Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

Taken at Main and Center in Mesa.  The construction is near completion!

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Yay! Birthday Time!

That’s right.  Today is my birthday.  Age-wise it wasn’t exactly one I was looking forward to, but a birthday is still something to celebrate no matter what the number.

Technically I already celebrated it last Saturday with my closest friends, the hazards of a week day birthday.  We ate pizza and hung out which is always fun no matter what day it is.  I received several goodies this year, gifts from friends and from myself (it makes the whole aging thing easier).

First is these dice bags.  I have been dragged into the wonderful fanciful world of Dungeons and Dragons by my friends, so these will really come in handy.  They were apparently bought from a vendor at a craft fair, love the MLP print one.  Of course a new dice bag isn’t complete without…

…Dice.  I got to pick them out myself.  I think the colors go nicely with the bags, although that probably isn’t the most important part but it’s still fun.

Moving on, there was only one thing I really wanted to do for my birthday.  A trip to the Sanrio store. It was fantastic, one little bitty store packed with so much cuteness.  Even the plastic shopping bags were cute!

As a gift for myself, I got this Chococat laptop sleeve for my new computer.  Did I mention I got a new computer?  I’ll give more details on that later.  Anyway I needed a case for it and this one was on sale and too cute to resist.

Back view.

My friends got me a grab bag.  This was one of the reasons I wanted to go in the first place.  I can’t resist grab bags.  It’s always fun to see what surprises await, and you get them at a fraction of their normal retail price.  Plus, if you don’t like the contents than you can give them as gifts or even sell them.  It’s a gift the keeps on giving. 

So what was in this bag?

On the right is a set of Keropi stickers with a “sticker book” and the left is a Hello Kitty bobble head and a stretchy bracelet with a thankfully removable Hello Kitty charm.  I say thankfully because I really don’t like the bracelet part.  I don’t care what anyone else says, orange and pink do not go together.  Beyond that, I think I faired very well with this pack.

And one last gift was these birthstone earrings from another store at the mall.  I know my birthday isn’t in June, but I got to pick them out and I just prefer the June stones the October ones. The color is more me. 

So overall it was a good birthday and now there’s more to look forward too.  Halloween! In just 2 more days.  Just wait until you see the costume I made.  Look forward to it.

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What’s in a (Pet) Name?

Whenever I go pretty much anywhere I have a tendency to spot animals all over the place be it a stray cat, birds, even horses and cows.  I also have a tendency to give names to the animals I see on a regular basis.  Basically the first thing that pops into my head becomes their new name.  This sometimes brings unusual results, there are two cats that I have dubbed “Fluffy Kitty” and “Friday”.  Anyway, to assist me in this naming mission, I have made myself a list of cute names I have discovered.  Many of them came from an excellent pet naming book I found at the library, I just wish I could remember the title.  I thought is would be extremely beneficial to post it here to inspired others in their pet naming endeavors.  So here’s:

My List of Cute Pet Names

• Nibbles
• Henny
• Penny
• Delilah
• Jack Be Nimble, for a cat
• Ozzie
• Tiptoe
• Tippy
• Brillo
• Bill
• Charmin
• Nutmeg
• Bonkers
• Cujo
• Gypsy (for a cat)
• Nibbles (for a rodent)
• Alfred
• Arnie
• Jezebel
• Jodie
• Lolly
• Magnum
• Miles
• Timmy
• Dickens
• Sweetie
• Cajun
• Sweetums
• Tootsie
• Jiffy
• Lipton
• Beauregard
• Kipper (Book and Cartoon)
• Nelson (Churchill’s Black cat)
• Artemis (Goddess of hunting wild things)
• Hermes (Zeus’ Messenger)
• Toutou (French for doggie)
• Kipling
• Opie
• Lavern and Shirley
• Cue Ball
• Sergeant Pepper
• Bentley
• Crouton
• Noodle
• Pringle
• Taffy
• Turnip
• Hickory
• Truffles
• Whiskers (my late gerbil )
• Plushball
• Friskie
• Bonbon
• Tom Thumb
• Jeeves
• Jeffy
• Scruffy
• Sunny
• Muffin
• Tootsie Roll
• Tiny (great for large breeds)
• Swiffer
• Spot (for a cat)
• Almond

I will probably add more as they come to me.  And if you know of a few good names feel free to leave a comment.

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Kitty Blankie and Another One

Been a little busy lately with class and stuff, but I have made at least a couple of things.

First off, some of you may be aware that last Sunday was my cat’s birthday.  Yay!  Midnight is now eight years old.  Is it really a problem?  Well, I have seen bags of cat food in stores formulated for “senior” cats that say “for ages 8 and up”.  They think my cat is a senior.  But she still acts like she’s two!  Anyway, for her birthday I made her a cat sized fleece blanket.  It’s one of those knotted ones.  Pretty easy and she actually likes it.

Next up is this dress, you can tell it’s a dress right?  It’s photos like this that make me really miss my camera.  Yep, still haven’t found it and still using the web cam instead.  Anyway, I’ve had the fabric in my stash since last spring.  For some reason I never got around to making a dress with it until now.  I had trouble deciding what to do with it exactly, in terms of patterns and such.  I finally sat down and started drawing a design.  I put a little extra effort in this one.  I used three different kinds of lace and plenty of ribbon.  In fact a lot of the lace and ribbon was sewn by hand.  Mostly while watching anime videos.  The problems I had with it was making the bodice fit, that’s always the problem. 

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Strange Things My Cat Will Eat

This is a little something just for fun.  My cat has never be a picky eater.  The word finicky is unheard of around this cat. 

I started making a list of some of the human foods she likes to eat, at least some of the ones that surprised me.

Midnight the cat will eat:

• Tofu
• Nori
• Veggie Sausage, actually veggie anything
• Garbanzo beans
• Avocado
• Kroger Queso Blanco with Jalapenos
• Yogurt, fat-free
• Spaghetti
• Hard boiled eggs, only the yellow part
• Bean and cheese burritos

Please note that these foods only comprise a tinny, tiny percentage of her overall diet, the bulk of which is currently from Purina One dry food formulated for urinary tract health.

Remember, overindulging can lead to health problems in pets as well as people.  Anyway, what kind of things do your pets eat? 

6/8/2017 Update:

It’s been several years since Midnight has left me, but going through posts like this is a nice way of remembering her.  All is well.

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Good Bye Angel

Some of you may have heard from my twitter account that I had to take one of the cats to the vet yesterday.   It was Angel, he was completely blocked and in critical condition.  He had to be move from the clinic to a 24 hour emergency center.  It was from there that I got a call last night at about 10:00 pm.  Angel had gone into cardiac arrest.  It was a shock for us as well as the doctors, that’s not exactly the sort of thing that happens with urinary obstructions in cats.  In case it isn’t already obvious, Angel didn’t make it.  It’s hard to describe how I’ve been feeling about all of this.  Shock, fear, sadness, guilt, the list goes on and on.  All the what if scenarios keep on running through my mind.  If only I had done this, if only I had noticed that, etc.  My niece and nephew have been taking it fairly well, sort of.  My nephew was told that we “lost” Angel and misunderstood.  He now thinks Angel is just somewhere outside.  My niece gets it.  She has lots of questions too, and she now knows what epinephrine is and what cardiac arrest means.  Overall, I guess we are just hanging in there.  All we need is time.

Rest well Angel.  We miss you and will never forget you.

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Pouches and a Cat Inspection

First up, last December I made some cute tissue pouches (see Pretty Pins and Pouches).  Now those I made for gifts, not for me.  But now I need some too. 

So I made these ones. They look a lot like the other pouches until you open them.  These ones have a flap to make it easier to put tissues or handkerchiefs in them.  It also makes handy for other things or it would if I could think of another use for them.

I did say there would be two projects today, and the second is this cat bed.  The design is based on one I saw in a store years ago.  It’s basically a soft mat with some sides, I guess sort of like a plush tray.  The only difference it this one isn’t made from foam or tacky looking like the one I saw in the store.  There’s one problem.  When I showed to my cat, Midnight she walked away…

…Then he showed up.  Angel had to give his two cents.

Looks good to him.

But I made it for Midnight.

Don’t go Angel, you can have it.

Here’s the updated list:

• fabric car
• hankie holder
• birdies
• cat bed
• tiny mittens
• tiny stockings
• doll makeover
• blue dress
• knitted bag
• jacket

Five down, five to go.  Yay, half way through!

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All Ears

Less than a week until Halloween, so I made animal ears.  Now why in the world would I want to make these when I already have a costume?

First, they are so darn cute, especially the cat ears.  I didn’t put much effort in the bunny ears because I was just trying them out, they’re just scraps of white and pink felt glued on with a glue gun.  With the cat ears, I added some black lace to dress them up and a matching little black bow.  Super cute now.

Second, they are for backup.  It usually happens every year.  Some “accident” occurs leaving someone’s costume un-wearable, or my niece decides in the last minute that she wants to be something else for Halloween, or somebody insists that they aren’t going to dress up and then changes their mind.  For the most part, I’m prepared.

Here’s the updated list:

• Bags
• Bracelets
• Barrettes
• Doll pajamas
• Doll makeover
• Wristbands
• Red skirt
• Ears
• Costume
• Handkerchiefs

Nine down, just one more to go.  The next one will definitely be up by Friday, for a very good reason.

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7 is Old?

Today is Midnight’s birthday.  My dear cat is now 7 years old, the age marked on bags of “senior diet” cat foods.  Well, she doesn’t seem to care so it shouldn’t worry me either.  She’s a healthy, active cat with no problems.
And what every healthy, active cat needs is plenty of toys to keeping her healthy and active.  So I made plenty, not all of them are for her though.  I thought it would be good to have a few extra, maybe to list in my shoppe or give as gifts.  Plus they are fun to make.  They are all made with scraps of fleece and are supposed to be shaped like fish.  It’s not because Midnight eats fish (fish really isn’t very good for cats to have too often anyway since it can lead to steatitis), I think the shape makes it easier to play with for people.  I can easily hold the tail end and wave it around while she aims for the head, and that way my fingers don’t get bitten.  These would be especially useful for kittens since that’s more of a problem in younger cats.  Anyway, Midnight will be having loads of fun today.  Plus for dinner she’s getting one of four different flavors of these pouches I got.  They are turkey and giblets, beef and gravy, tuna with sauce, and chicken.  I still not sure which one to give her.  Which seems more “birthday” appropriate?
Here’s the updated list:

• Hair elastics
• Acorn pins
• Tiny shoes
• Tiny purses
• Dress
• Pencils
• Cat toys
• Tiny dresses
• Cloth doll
• Tiny accessories
• Green dress

Seven down, four to go.  The next project will be up by Monday.

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Pjs and a Long Awaited Photo

So I posted last Friday and then disappeared.  Oops.  I had a test in Chemistry on Monday that I sorta kind of forgot about until the day before.  Thankfully the test covered stuff I had down already.  Not much need to study and I’m confident I did well one it.  Sort of.

Anyway, I finished my first major assignment for my sewing class.  A pair of pajama pants.  Simple right since it is a basic class.  Except that I have never been very good at making pants.  Something always seems to go wrong.  In this case, that worked out well.  It has a drawstring waist and I accidentally made the holes for the drawstring on the inside instead of the outside.  The pants actually look better that way.  Who knew?

Here’s the updated list:

• Needle case
• Mug cozy
• Pants
• Hair accessories
• Brooches
• Necklace
• Other jewelry
• Food
• Top
• Skirt

Three down, seven to go.  I’ll get the next one done by this weekend.

Bonus!  Sometime ago I mentioned that we got a new addition to our household (see All Done, Finally!).  I never did post any pictures until now.

This is Angel.  Isn’t he pretty?  He’s pretty quiet most of the time and spends way more time napping during the daytime than Midnight.  I think it’s because he still hasn’t fully adjusted to life indoors.  Out-door cats sleep during the day and come out when it’s cooler in the evening, so it makes sense.  Oh and that is a paper clip hanging from his collar.  My niece put it there and I didn’t notice until after I took this picture.  Luckily Angel is very tolerant about small children.  Poor thing.

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All Done, Finally!

I got my craft supplies unpacked (mostly) and finally finished my list.  I still feel bad that it took like a month longer to finish than I planned.  But at least it’s done.

First up, I thought I had been neglecting Midnight craft-wise.  It had been a while since I made anything for her.  So I made this simple sundress for her.  I would have got a picture of her in it but for some reason the second I picked up the camera she disappeared.  She’s never been one to sit still for a camera.  Anyway, the dress gathers at the neck with the ribbon ties making it fairly adjustable if I want to put it on a larger cat.  Speaking of larger cats, we have a new member of our household.  One of the stray cats that hung around our old place got pretty attached to us, and we got attached to him as well.  So we took him with us during the move.  His name is Angel, he is larger than Midnight and much quieter too.  He is pretty laid back and easygoing.  I’ll probably post some photos of him later with more details.

There have been times that I wished I had a needle and some thread in my purse or a more convenient way to carry sewing supplies while traveling.  A travel sewing kit is the perfect solution for this.  I made the case with scraps of red and white fabric.  It closes with a loop of elastic that wraps around and over a button.

On the inside is a section for pins and needles that’s clearly labeled and a flap with pockets for thread that I wrapped around cards.

The last bit has some elastic to hold a small ruler and a pair of scissors.  I wanted room for a decent pair of scissors, I can’t stand those cheap tinny tiny little scissors that come in store bought kits.  Those always break on me and hurt my fingers.  Now I have a simple sewing kit that’s ready for action.

I found this tutorial for making a cute bunka doll and wanted to try it at least once.  It was a little harder for me than usual since the tutorial is in Japanese.  The assembly was fairly simple, it was cutting the pieces that I had problems with, not sure if I got the proportions right. 

What I like about it is how much it reminds me of those old Holly Hobby dolls.  I never had one at least that I recall, but my older sisters had several.  They have a certain charm you don’t see much in dolls anymore.  I’m not sure how to describe it.  Anyway, I will probably try this one again soon, she did come out so cute.  Maybe I could make little bitty ones.

Here’s the updated list:

• Case
• Skirt
• Pink Dress
• Cat dress
• Altered t-shirt
• kit
• bunka doll

Seven down and out.  I still need to finish unpacking everything else though.  Darn.

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It’s Cat Day Again

Today is Midnight’s birthday, yay!  She is now 6 years old, and totally oblivious to it.   I wish cats were more aware of these things, although it does makes surprising them easier.  I started the day with dressing her up and attempting to take her picture.  Not a lot of luck with that, I only got two pictures of her holding still.  This one wasn’t too bad I guess.

 

Here’s the better photo, she is not looking at me at all, but at least you can see the rest of her.  She is wearing a dress I made for her years ago, I forget what it was intended for originally.  It is made from a satin-y material and embellished with little bows.  I made a little wreath for her head, but Midnight hates have things around her ears.  I think she looks really cute in pink and she doesn’t seem to mind the dress at all except in warmer weather.  The rest of the celebrations will include playing with all her favorite toys, snuggling while watching movies, and a very special treat.  I found a coupon for a free Fancy Feast appetizer while clearing out my coupon file. I had completely forgotten about it, so it was great timing to find it a few days before her birthday.  What a lucky kitty.

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…And Found

So yesterday I mentioned a kitten I found.  Today I am proud to say she is doing well.  I took her to this great non-profit animal shelter in Gilbert, AZ called Friends for Life.  They have already placed her in a foster home with a really nice lady.  It was hard to leave her there, but at least she will be taken care of beautifully.  It was strange going home from there on the bus with an empty pet carrier, people kept on asking what was in there.  I think it would have been funny if I tossed in a stuff animal and showed it to anyone who asked.  The looks on there faces would have been priceless.

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Lost

As I was leaving this morning, I spotted a small furry face by the dumpster.  It was a kitten, the cutest little black cat you’ve ever seen, not including my cat Midnight of course.  I haven’t managed to get a picture, but she does bare a striking resemblance to Midnight, this is a picture of Midnight.  Too bad she doesn’t like the kitten.  She hisses at her whenever she gets close, I hear it’s a natural reaction for cats.  I’ve always found it odd, you see Midnight use to live with a family that had a ton of cats.  And for a cat that came from a multi-cat household, she doesn’t seem to be too good with other cats.  Anyway way, the kitten is so cute, but she was really scared when I found her.  It took a while to get her inside and I ended up being late at the clinic.  She is eating okay and seems to like me very much right now, too bad I can’t keep her.  Wish I could so badly.  I will have to take her to a shelter sometime tomorrow, I’m still trying to decide which one.  For now she’s in good hands.

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Kitty Ruffles

There’s a contest over at Ruffles and Stuff for projects that have a ruffled theme.  You can make them with any material, but you have to email photos before tomorrow.  I decided to make a cute little collar ruffle for Midnight.  It has two layered ruffles and little white bows for accent, and it’s made to slide on to her regular collar.

Here’s picture of how cute it looks on her.  Of course she couldn’t care less about that, except that she gets a lot of attention when wearing it.

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