Silent Nights

On May 18th, Smokey lost his voice. He has taken his required medication and yet still remains fairly silent. The good news is he has begun some speech again. From being one of the most talkative cats I know, to a quite creeper, has been hard adjusting to. Right now he's most vocally active when he really wants something, such as a treat or his food. Unlike usual though, his meows are quite, and slightly... off. So until he has fully recovered he is coming up with new ways to get our attention.

When he wants to go outside and I am heading towards a door, he will dash in front of me just to make sure he gets there first or if no one is around he will use his paw to bang the shades against the door. Its quite obnoxious. Now when he's hungry he's come up with a very... unique way of letting me know he's hungry. As you can see by his paws, he has strategically lined up bits of his food in some sort of pattern. And that look on his face means, "why are you taking my picture, you're suppose to be feeding me!"

We are still hoping his full meow will return soon. We are likely going to take him back to his vet tomorrow to get a check up and make sure things are still okay. I've got my suspicions that it may have something to do with his shedding. While we are transitioning from 'winter' to spring/summer I know that cats and other mammals are busy shedding their thicker coats. Strangely he seems to be shedding much more than usually and has itchy skin. Which has led him to more constant grooms. This of course has resulted in an unusually large number of hairballs for him. Probably 6 over the course of a few weeks.
I'm hoping that might be the reason for his 'sore throat' and that it will be an easy fix. I want to hear him meowing again, and I also really don't want to keep cleaning up hairballs all over the house!

I am still not up to date with any of my Smokey projects, as I have been busy with other art projects, classes and clearing out our house. I am planning to work on a painting of Smokey as soon as I find the room again to work on it. But as is Smokey's nature, he doesn't care what it is that I'm working on, he likes to be ever so helpful. Right now I'm currently working on 4 different blankets, and he likes to help out...in his own special way.

Thankfully he doesn't much care for chasing yarn and rarely does he like to gnaw on it. Cause you know, I really hate crocheting and all of a sudden coming across a wet, soggy bit of yarn. No thank you!



And one final note, mostly just to share a few more cute photos of Smokey. He has in the last month or so decided that cat beds are just not for him. Instead he's taken to sleeping in/on trays. We have several around the house and Smokey believes these to be his. No matter that they might have things on them, like glasses, cups, an iPad, whatever. He will either stare at you till these things are removed from his space, or simply sit down on top of them just to make a point.

There is a tray under his 'cat bed'

Size is never a problem

A Loss For Meows

Its been two months since I've had a chance to get an update on here. Was busy with work and have recently started a psychology course. However now I've got a little more free time due to the loss of my job. While I'm POed at my boss, I'm really glad that I'll never have to see her again. Worst person to work for. A total bully, likes to mentally abuse the people around her.

Anyway, over the past week I have also been taking care of my little Smokey (he's down to 19.4lbs!). As of last Thursday he has suddenly lost his 'meow'. All weekend was painful watching him open his little mouth to say 'hello' but nothing would come out. So like any mother, I Googled to try and discover what might be the cause of his problem. Of course this is not often a wise idea as I worried like crazy after doing so. All I got were 'take them to the vet ASAP!' and all these terrible things that could be the cause of his issue. So yesterday when I took him to the vet, I was thoroughly re-leaved when she told me that it seemed he just had an irritated 'sore' throat.

Who knew cats were able to get sore throats and lose their voices just like we can? Of course Google didn't tell me this. So now he is taking antacids and some other medications for the next week. The sad part is she said it may be 2-3 weeks before he starts to get his meow back. This is sad for him before he can't tell me what he wants. Its also bad for me as its made him much more silent and sneaky. He just pops up at my feet and has managed to startle me more than once. Quite as a mouse he is.

But it also means he'll complain less when I put him in silly hats!

Chuck Uping

Smokey and I have been in real creative moods lately. I'm not sure what's spurring me on, but for him I think its his new cat toys. I kept hearing about how great they are on "My Cat From Hell", and Smokey kept begging me to get one, so I finally broke down. Now he has 3! Though I think the one I bought him most recently at HomeGoods (they have amazing pet products for great prices!), is probably his favorite. Its amazing what giving them a little predator stimulation can do. I know he hunts rats at night, but I guess even during his 18hr nap time, he likes to play a little too.

He got to adventure last week when I brought him into work with me.He just came for half day this time. Of course he was thrilled about the elevator ride, he's never gone up one on a leash before. So many new sights and smells. Once he got to the office, he settled in at my feet for a nice long nap, sort of. All the patients wanted to see him, especially this little girl when she heard there was a kitty in the office. He's just a big old tease though and would duck under the desk whenever someone wanted to pat him, then pop back out the minute they stepped back and start purring. So obnoxious!

I've actually had several people ask me lately if I do any pet photography. While I never went to school for photography, I did take some classes in HS and have always had a passion for. That mixed with my love of animals... I love taking Smokey's picture, he's a great model, as well can Tessa be should the mood strike her and she doesn't want to be sitting on you instead. I've turned all of my pets into glamor models at some point.

To fully answer this question, yes, I do pet photography. I am working on a small portfolio of some of my work, but for those interested, you can see some of my adorable pets here. Or.. you know, closely related pets of friends and family.

Panda

Scout

Smokey

Leia

Tessa

Peter

Smokey and I have also joined up to help a close friend of ours, Cindy Waggoner, with her new non-profit organization John R Hamil Animal Wellness Foundation Inc. They are located in Blount County, TN. 

"Our "main" goal is to subsidize spay/neuter/vaccinations for the pets of qualifying low income families in Blount Co TN. We are also branching out in humane education as we have had several children bitten by dogs so we are currently raising funds to purchase dog bite prevention dvds for elementary school teachers here in Blount Co."

We've offered to help out in any way we can, including helping with a 'logo' so people remember them, making collars, or evening going up to help out. Anyone interested in finding out more about them you can contact Cindy via her facebook.

Keep Up!

Life is good for Smokey. His health is doing awesome, he's even lost 5lbs! Which is great news for his Diabetes. He thinks he's a kitten again, and is getting into everything. Which, isn't the best, but some how he makes it cute. When he's not out and about, he spends his time napping on my bed.

Its good to have him around, because while it might look like he's sleeping, he's also helping me brainstorm ideas for now things to work on. As the greeting cards were starting to wear me down, I've decided to put them on the back burner for a little while. Smokey has suggested I perhaps do some work to help raise money and awareness for animal charities. Such as the Humane Society, ASPCA, and other local, smaller animal rescue agencies.  I'm happy to hear any ideas, or if anyone has a non-profit they'd like help getting the word out about, please let me know. We're happy to help!

Some of these things will be going a completely new direction, such as my new business card:

Smokey likes the way he looks in silhouette. So right now I'm leaning towards this for possible stickers, bumper sticker, car magnets, etc. He really wants me to start with an awareness ribbon for feline diabetes. I have that one in the works now. We make them for ourselves, we should have them for our furry family members too. Everything else is still a work in progress, hopefully I'll be able to get some work up soon.

Right now I'm applying to go back to college for Psychology. Maybe I'll go into pet psychology. People aren't the only ones with problems.

As a final word, I wanted to share a story about Smokey's friend (my aunt's cat), Pepe. He's just recently taken to eating bread, and lots of it! Now while I always knew Smokey enjoys a table scrap now and then, I'd never heard of cats going after bread. At least not to the extent of ripping open bags, getting on counters, etc. So I looked into it and apparently its a much more common thing than you might think.

Here are a few threads about it: Bread Eatting, Where's My Bread?, International

Cat Whisperer

 While Smokey may not be worlds most well mannered cat, he's certainly no cat from hell. For any of you cat lovers who have not discovered the wonders of the show "My Cat From Hell", you should check it out. It airs on Animal Planet and is a fantastic show. You can check out the show and the cat whisperer, Jackson Galaxy on his website.

It's very inspiring getting to see people who think they could never love a cat, let one into their hearts. Couples and families that are at their wits end, because they love their cats so much, but just don't know how to handle them. You get to watch them transform, its a great show for those who may need a little cat training. Not everyone can be so lucky to end up with a Smokey. You know, if you put aside his nagging at night and banging on doors....

I think he likes to watch the show while I'm at work to pick up on some pointers, only the good ones I hope.

We plan on reading his book Cat Daddy, when it comes out this May. And for those interested, for every copy of the book that's preordered, $1 will be donated to helping save shelter cats. Just email Jackson a copy of your receipt.



Check him out! It's worth a look.

World Spay Day

 
While I've been lax on my post recently, I did come across this World Spay day and felt it was most appropriate to share with everyone. As all of my pets, except for one have been spayed and neutered. There are so many animals out there now, without homes, in shelters and on the streets that need homes, that need love. Having them 'fixed' is a great thing. Those animals, cats, dogs, bunnies, you name it, they need homes and they need love. And if we just keep having more, they'll never get their chance to know what your love could be.

World Spay day will be this Tuesday, Feb 28th, it is presented by The Humane Society and their affiliations. As an added note, till the end of February, all animals at Humane Society locations that have been there for over 180 days are free for adoption. So go out and find a new friend, so them someone does care.

The best ways to help are to get evolved, whether with local activities or by fundraising. A great and easy way to fund raise is by voting:

SMOKEY and KAI

They have both been entered. While you all know Smokey, Kai was another kitty of mine who sadly passed anyway. Both are entered to help raise money to will be donated to help spay and neuter pets. Votes can be free or you can donate as low as $1. Each $1 donation counts as a vote (I have started them both out with a $10 donation).

We're not looking to win or lose, just hoping that we can help by raising some money for these non-profit organizations that have helped us so much. All of my cats have been rescues, except Smokey, he was a second generation rescue. 

Please vote, have fun and get involved! And if you have any pets you would like votes for, let us know! The more the merrier!

SmokeyCreations plans on working on some pieces that will hopefully be sold to raise money to donate to such charities. Please stay tuned for further updates.

Hotidays

With the temperatures  peeking at about 80 every day, its hard to convince one's self that Christmas is coming up this weekend. Despite the weather, I have been busy getting ready for the holiday. Smokey has been eagerly awaiting the season, and was thrilled when he saw the tree come into the house. He took the time to get up from his nap on his Christmas blanket to go check it out. Sadly its looking a bit like a "Charlie Brown" tree this year. Smokey has yet to bed down under it as he often does, since its a bit smaller this year than our usual trees. I also have not yet placed any packages under it for him to try and dig into. The outside is decked with glowing lights, next to which Smokey has made a little nest in the mulch to keep a watch on.

Holidays are exhausting

With the bustle of the holiday, sadly Smokey's card line has taken a temporary back-seat. Though many have gone out as Christmas cards to family, friends and some patients at the office. My digital work has been replaced by tons of crocheting work. Lots of hats, scarves and blankets to be given as presents this year. Of course Smokey is helpful with this activity, making sure to lay on my balls of yarn and attacking the moving yarn as I try to work with it. Wet, cat drool yarn is not my favorite to work with.

He has also recently taken up residence in a basket near the stairs, just to make sure he keeps an eye on all the comings and goings.

Crazy Antics

Trying to get anything done seems like a snowball effect (or an avalanche?). You start with one thing, then it turns into another and another, until you have SO many things to do, you want to scream. I get that quite often, too often!

Halloween came and went in the blink of an eye. Smokey did come in to the office with me and was just as well behaved as I could have hoped. While he spent the majority of his time sleeping soundly at my feet under the desk, he would follow me around whenever I got up to file, or get water or what have you. He was also happy to get a greeting from the few patients we had in that day. I don't think it was till about 10 to 5PM when he decided to check out one of the other rooms in the office where Wade spends his time. This was short lived however and he came running back to the desk to get in a few more winks before we headed home.

Being TOO adorable while I was trying to get work done.

He was also a great help when it came to getting out the Halloween decorations, but was less help when it came to actually putting them up. He spent Halloween night with my mom and me on the couch watching really bad, scary movies (in between my running up and down the stairs to greet trick-or-treaters.) He did manage to avoid putting on his costume until my boyfriend stopped by, at which point he felt like showing it off. And his giant paws.

A break from the trick-or-treaters.

Smokey showing off his costume.

Thanksgiving is coming up, not Smokey's favorite Holiday, since there aren't a lot of boxes to get into, ribbons to chase or wrapping paper to attack. However he does enjoy a piece of turkey should someone be kind enough to share with him, or perhaps a little gravy. His dislike for the holiday comes through in the card I'm STILL trying to complete. While it was one of the first sketches I had completed, its probably going to be one of the last cards I get done. (Along with New Years). I've found coming up with ideas for the other holidays wasn't too hard, there are lots of things one can use for pretty much any holiday to add some pizazz.  Now while granted you can use turkeys, cornucopias, corn, pumpkins, or... I'm sure something else, putting them together to make something worth looking at is a completely different story. In the end I imagine this card will bare little resemblance to the one I have posted below. In this case I think I might have to turn to my boyfriend for some creative input.

I have since removed the pie, but I'm still stuck on the right direction.

For the time being I've been trying to get my Easter card completed and I'm maybe 95% of the way there. Granted its been giving me a bit of trouble as far as how it looks and just the technical details I still need to work through, like his face. Like my previous cards this also started as a sketch that went into Illustrator and then exported to Photoshop. Like my completed Christmas card (which I'll post), I have been introducing some real textures into the piece. I feel some may be a little more successful than others.

Close to finished, but as you can see there are still some technical
issues I'm trying to resolve, some textures to add, etc.

When I finally get this completed, I'll have a totally of 5 completed cards, with 3 more to go. My holidays are quite out of order. Completed we have: St. Patrick's Day, Easter(95%), Fourth of July, Halloween, and Christmas. Which leaves me with New Years, Valentines Day and Thanksgiving. I've got the line work and color done for two, but New Years is still in the sketch phase. As Will had suggested a kitten might be more appropriate because of the new years baby, or something.

While I had hoped to have these completed before this Christmas to put on sale, at current it doesn't look promising. Perhaps I will sell the ones I've done as individual holidays until the full set is ready. When they do get completed they will most likely be available via etsay, through here or at local stores (if I can find any who would be willing to sell them). Fingers crossed, Smokey isn't a cheap cat!

Completed Christmas Card
Thanks to Will for the suggestions on layout and colors.

Gearing Up (10/15/11)

While Halloween is coming up, I actually find myself working on cards for other holidays. I'm currently working on redoing my card from last Christmas. I found that next to my more recent cards, while I like it, it just didn't hold up. I've gotten a little input as well from my boyfriend on how to redesign it, as well as advise on how to give it a more unique look from a friend.
I started by taking it into Illustrator as I've done with the last few cards. Here I created the line art, and added the flat colors. I then took it into Photoshop to add the background and details. I've begun adding in realistic elements to give it a slightly different feel. I think it definitely adds something.

With the holidays comes a changing of the seasons as well, of course. While we may be in FL, there is a change in the air. You can start to feel the subtle changes in the tempter, its almost chilly in the mornings and at night. Of course for Smokey this means more time to be spent out-of-doors. Rarely will you catch him just lazing around the house now (except for his nap time between 10-5). He enjoys napping most with his best buddy Will. I think these two could sleep the day away if given half a chance.

Smokey is gearing up for the house to be decorated for the holidays as well. He loves to help with putting up the decorations by being under foot, sticking his head in every box/bag/container, and chasing after strings of lights when you're not looking. He will also be making an appearance at my office for the Holiday. I'll be the witch with my little witch cat. I'm excited to have him in. Nothing is better than a warm cat at your feet, supposing he doesn't wander around the whole office making friends with everyone who happens to come in!

(Sorry this post got SOOOO delayed. Been super busy with work and life to have it up sooner!)

Celebrate Your Way

Got this finished in time for the 4th of July. (Although as its not too holiday specific, I guess it could vary for  any patriotic holiday.) I probably had the most fun with this piece so far. When I started I had hoped to complete the whole bit in Illustrator, as I enjoy how flexible vectors are, verses pixels. However, I realized the fireworks weren't going to work out and so moved to Photoshop.

I did make a bit of a step by step of how my process worked for this one. Its simple, but very effected.

This was my starting sketch, very small, quick.

I put the sketch in Illustrator, here I added the lines.

 

So long as all lines connect, you can use Live Paint Bucket

to add solid color.

I then exported the life to Photoshop where I added shading.

Add a background color (separate Layer)

(New Layer) Add in your fireworks- these came as brushes.

Make them look convincing.

 Step two, creating the line work, is what will take the longest. Depending on how precise you want your lines to be. After that, its all pretty much fun work and goes by pretty quickly. As long as you remember to do your separate layers, always the most important point! without those layers, you'll drive yourself crazy trying to make any changes to your piece. I think I ended up with about 20 layers for this card.

What matters is you have fun with, its art, its your own style, so nothing you do is wrong. There is never a boundary, like staying in the lines. My style, while a bit catroonish, is fun and expressive. I don't want my works to be too serious and weighted. I think this certainly shows it.