While I Was Sleeping...

After I had 35 naps, 10 meals and 8 play sessions, I discovered that Mommy finished three "No-No" bracelets! Can you tell how shocked I was!

Who knew she could get so much done in 20 hours? Since she's a slow poke learning, each bracelet took about 7 hours to make which is way too long for a cat to stay awake. Eventually they should take 2-3 hours which means two cat naps. She finished her own bracelet first. It's more sparkly and pretty in purrson...

Then this one with purple (surprise!) hearts on it...

And finally this one...

Hey, wait a minute, there's a bracelet in this bunch that doesn't look like the others...

She must have snuck that one in although I'm not surprised it's purple...

She got a whole bunch more little bitty beads for us to play with to make more bracelets so it looks like a cat's work is never done.

If you have color suggestions please let us know since it seems like Mommy keeps gravitating towards purple. If you'd like a bracelet custom made for you in the colors of your choice, email us at beadedtail at yahoo dot com for more information.

We hope you have a great day!

Isabella

PeeS: We may be slow in commenting today because Mommy is at some boring tax update class and we aren't allowed to use the computer when she's gone. She's a party pooper.

Celebration of Gotcha Day (Conclusion)

Today, November 3rd, is the official 2nd anniversary of the Gotcha Day of Isabella and Angel. My previous two posts told of how both kitties picked us to be their forever home but as I noted yesterday, Angel was a 2.2 lb sick little 3 month old kitten so bringing her and Isabella into our home with our two dogs, Sadie and KC, was quite an ordeal. The dogs were not all that happy to have those two kitties come into their house! Although both dogs had been raised with cats, most recently being Panther, the prior cats totally ignored the dogs and if the dogs got too close, they'd get hissed and batted at until they retreated or the cats ran off. Because of this, cats were still a mystery to them and a form of entertainment since they made funny noises, boxed noses and ran away really fast. Now to have fragile little Angel and not afraid of anything Isabella come live here was overwhelming. Angel always wanted to sit next to Sadie on the daybed but Sadie wasn't sure what to do with that little white thing next to her.

Sadie and Angel 11-4-06

Isabella didn't have any transition adjustment at all. She felt right at home the minute she got here but we still had to confine her to our home office and a large walk in closet at night with Angel because Angel had worms and other ailments that caused everything that went in one end to come out the other. We took her to the vet right away and was given liquid medication that she had to have every 4 hours for 7 days. Those first few days I hardly slept and spent most of the night sitting on the floor of the closet holding them both. Angel's weight kept dropping and she got down to 1.6 lbs and we were worried she wouldn't pull out of it. It was very stressful and often times very overwhelming. But as the days passed, she did get stronger and has obviously rebounded into a very healthy, beautiful kitty.

Isabella and Angel 11-10-06

As I mentioned before, Isabella was named Miteeka but she quickly told us her real name was Isabella. Angel was too small to tell us her real name but we knew it wasn't Mia. One night as I was holding her on my lap, I noticed how the black markings on her head and ears looked like wings and since she had to struggle so much to get well, it was only natural that she'd be named Angel since she was obviously touched by one - one named Panther actually - and she had the wings on her head to prove it!

After about three nights of being confined to the walk in closet, they had the run of the office all the time and after another two days when Angel could get around better, they had the run of the entire house and things have never been the same since! Isabella is the diva kitty and has Daddy wrapped around her paw which I believe actually started that very first day when he opened her cage and she fell into his arms. Angel loves to play and be up as high as she can get - two things that she was unable to do with the other kittens at the shelter because she was too sick so she's been making up for it ever since! Both are the best kitties we could ask for and I am so thankful that they both picked us two years ago today!

Isabella and Angel 11-20-06

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To celebrate, we are offering 25% off ALL Bracelets in our BeadedTail shop! This offer is through midnight PST tonight, November 3rd. Please note, the sale is on bracelets only. When purchasing, put Kitties in the "message to seller" and if you pay with PayPal, I will refund your discount or you can request that I send you another invoice from PayPal.

Celebrating Gotcha Day (Continued)

As I posted yesterday, we are celebrating the 2nd anniversary of Isabella and Angel becoming a part of our family on November 3, 2006. Yesterday I told the story of how Isabella picked us and once she made it known that she wanted to be a part of our family, we had to go to the humane society to complete the adoption paperwork. While there I ventured around and walked through all the rooms with kitties. As I had said, I hadn't even been able to look at another kitty without breaking down after the loss of my Panther so for me to be able to see all the kitties in cages and stay sane was a big accomplishment.

I came to an enclosure which had concrete brick walls up to about half way and then windows to the ceiling. This room also had a glass door to enter but I stayed in the hallway and looked in. In one corner there was a kitty tree which had four or five tiny kittens playing and fighting on the top level and the next level had another two kittens on it. I was thinking, "oh my, look at their energy. Good thing the kitty we picked is nearly 10 months old and already past that stage!" Remember, my cat Panther was 18 years old so kittenhood had come and gone long ago for us.

I went over to read the bios of all the kittens in the room that were taped to the glass door. I was able to match up all the kittens to their bios but one - a white female kitten named Mia. I looked and looked and didn't see the kitten so figured she was adopted but then I looked off to the side and she was sitting away from the other kittens with her eyes closed but occasionally she'd look up at them playing but then close her eyes again. Of course I immediately felt that this kitty needed me but we already had decided on adopting Isabella. I stood there and watched her and as I was about to leave, she looked over at the door, looked up at me and came running to the door. That sealed the deal - she picked me too! I went to find my hubby - he was waiting in line to fill out the paperwork on Isabella and he didn't even argue with me when I showed him the kitten because he could tell I had already made up my mind! We were picked by two kitties on that day!

Angel weighed just 2.2 lbs and had several health issues so she was not a well kitty when we brought her home. This made the introduction of both Angel and Isabella into our home with our two dogs, Sadie and KC, quite an ordeal. It was not an easy road and ...

To be continued tomorrow!

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We're Celebrating Gotcha Day!

We adopted Isabella and Angel on November 3, 2006. Isabella was two weeks shy of 10 months old and Angel was just 3 months old. Both of them basically picked us as much as we picked them so I'll share their stories starting with Isabella's today. (All photos in this post were taken on November 3, 2006.) I had lost my 18 year old kitty, Panther, on August 29, 2006, and was unable to even look at the neighbor's cats without breaking down so the thought of getting another kitty was very far from my mind. Although I couldn't go into the humane society at this time, we often donate items to a local thrift shop that benefits our humane society and they have adoptable cats in the front of the store. We donated several times after the loss of Panther but we'd take our donations to the alley entrance in the back of the store and I'd sit in the car crying since I knew there were cats needing homes in the front and I was not ready to face that.

On November 3rd I decided I was ready to go in the front entrance so we walked in and went into the room with the cats in it. I bent down and was looking at a black and white cat named Katie while my hubby went to the cage above me, opened it and Isabella, then known as Miteeka, literally lifted up her front legs and fell into his arms when he went to pick her up. When he went to put her back into her cage, she hung on tightly to him and pretty much made her point that she had made up her mind and we were to take her home. Needless to say, she got her way! In order to complete the adoption for Isabella we had to go to the humane society to fill out the paperwork. While there, I ventured around and...

To be continued tomorrow!

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Etsy's First Annual YART SALE!

Etsy is having a YART sale - a yard sale for art! - and we are participating! From now until June 20th we will have a sale section in our shop with jewelry at least 20% off regular prices - and a few surprises from time to time! Be sure to check it out!

As always, a portion of the proceeds will go to animal awareness causes. We're making tails wag!!

Eye Popping, Sales Making Photos - Oxymoron? Not necessarily.

So many times it's discussed in the Etsy forums that in order to sell jewelry our shops must have great photos. Boy, that is sure harder to do than it sounds. I just spent several hours re-taking photos of several items in our shop and I can assure you, it's a constant work in progress. (Click on photos to see entire listing in our shop).

Give me a waterfall any day and I can photograph it but a bracelet or earrings is a whole different story. For one thing, lighting is the absolute key but it's only perfect about 1% of the time. I've tried lightboxes and ended up with photos with an orange tint. I've tried direct sun, no sun, in the rain (I live in Oregon by the way) and each attempt left something to be desired. I spend hours photographing jewelry and then downloading them and attempting to make them better on the computer. I usually end up with about 25 pictures per item just to get 5 decent ones for a listing. I spend a lot of time photographing our jewelry to try to make the listings in our shop pop!

My point to all this is, when you are looking at an Etsy shop and admiring the talent on display, notice the photos of the objects because I can assure you much work went into them and it's part of the entire package. We all love to create our jewelry or soap or scarves or whatever it may be but a necessary evil in presenting them in our shop is those photos. So many times with an online store they are the deal maker or breaker but the money shots are so elusive. Take notice of great photos and realize the heart and soul that went into creating the item and then presenting it to you. We do it because we love what we do and want to provide the best for our customers. Now, I'm off to take more photos!