2 little cats for a happy little girl

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It was my niece's birthday over the weekend: she turned 9! Time flies, I cannot believe she is that big already (I will say that again for the next three months for my other niece's and nephews' birthdays...you have been warned!).

 

She came to me two weeks ago and aske me if she could have a picture holder with a cat as a present. I admit I laughed a lot as I am really bad at modelling/sculpting and I had never made a cat before. So I looked for excuses: "if you are a good girl and don't get punished next week, I'll make it for you" I said. She got punished the following day (haha) but was good for the rest of that week lol

 

So there I was, trying to make a cat. But then I thought one cat on its own would be boring and sad. I got crazy and decided to make two!!



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Of course, you can't have cats without wool lying around for them to play! 

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I put the cats and their toys on a piece of wood that I've painted and carved my niece's name on it (note for later, carve and paint afterwards! the smell is better)

 

I am very happy with how the carving turned out considering it is the first time I write and carve on wood. So just for you, here is a close up for a better look :-)

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Still need to work on this whole sculpting thing though: as you can see from the first picture and the one below, the cats look like they've had a bit too much catnip lol

 

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My niece was happy though! She also had a wonderful cake made by her mum, my sister. I suggest you to go and take a look at her Instagram to see it and check out the others she makes too. I'm warning you...you'll be hungry after that!

What time is it?

Not everyone can plan their retirement with as much style and fun as Obama did. Whether you liked him or not as a President, you have to admit that this guy is cool!

For those of us who are not President of the United States and are about to retire, there are, fortunately, other ways to say goodbye and get ready for this next chapter in our lives.

Some people like a discreet exit, some will just have quiet farewell drinks with their colleagues, some will make crazy parties...at the end of the day, everyone does what they feel comfortable with.

And sometimes, you come across this person that makes this impression on you and you know you will never forget after all these years working together or sharing an office with. Depending on the relationship you've built, you may have shared more than that: life experiences, the joys, the pains...

So when the time comes for those special people to go, you want to do something special for them.

My sister had such a colleague and she wanted to do something special for her retirement: she came to me and asked me to think of something, keeping in mind that she did not want anything fimo related, that she liked the colour orange and that I had two weeks. Talking about a challenge!

As always, I turned to the internet for inspiration. I found a few ideas and submitted them to her, hoping she would go for the one I had my eyes on already: a retirement clock. And it was exactly what she chose.

Now that she has given it to her, I can show it to you
 

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Crafting is...dangerous

Maybe I am being a bit overly dramatic here, but hear me out and you will understand where I am going.

 

My fellow crafters, you know the deal: you work on a project, then you think of a way to add something to it. Or you see something that inspires you online and then start looking at how it is done and how it would fit in your current hobby. There are so many reasons which can lead to finding something new that it is almost impossible to stick to only one sort of craft. Well...at least for me.

 

I did explain in my previous post that I had learnt the basics of embroidery over night in order to add a nice personal touch to my best friend's baby towel.

 

The obvious thing to do with the leftover fabric was to practise of course. And as I had some thread at home from other projects I had worked on, I already had everything.  Browsing through the Internet for something fun to practise on, I found a picture of a character I knew from my childhood, Mafalda. She was the main character from an Argentinian comic strip. Me though, I got to "know" her once it got adapted for TV (if you don't know her, you can check out the opening credits here).

 

It reminded quite a few memories and one in particular: my older sister. She loved Mafalda and still do. As her birthday was coming a few weeks later, I decided to make this my next project and her birthday present.

 

This project made me realise that cross stitching takes a long time. A very, very long time. I thought I would never finish it on time. But a few weeks later, I did (the night before the birthday party lol). I framed it, wrapped it and boom! She smiled when she opened it so it was worth it. And this probably marks the beginning of other embroidery projects...

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Now if you'll excuse me, I have to spend time on YouTube watching opening credits from all of my childhood programmes. Thank you Mafalda!!