The Kitty Returns & Day 11

Whew! Atticus is home and has survived the 1st day of Mommy giving fluids and meds. Last night I had to force feed home baby food as he refused to eat but this morning I awoke to his purrs in my ear urging me to the kitchen and his bag of food. By the time I was ready to give him his morning meds he had gone back for 3rds. Hungry kitty! He is on a painkiller derived from morphine, I call it 'kitty heroin'. I have a few pics of him stoned out, he looks kinda cute.



He seems to be feeling better, and even came for cuddles on the bed. And he is a purr machine! Even between doses of kitty heroin, lol. Elke (his 1 1/2 year old sister) isn't quite sure what to make of him. She is particularly offened by his smell and I don't blame her. He is a bit of 'dribbler' these days and though he does his best to clean himself he doesn't always get everything. The vet says that this should most likely go away, but there is a small chance he will remain a 'dribbler'. I am happy as long as he remains unblocked! We go to the vet on Monday for another look at his kidneys and to see how or if they have recovered. And to to talk about options if they I haven't. I am scared.



as for it being Day 11, I got a lovely surprise form paperscraps (Mary) with a beautifully altered composition book. I love the sparkly gold 'K'!

12 Days of Christmas DAY 10 & Sad Kitty News

I will start with the sad kitty news so I can close with something happier. I took Atticus to the vet yesterday to discover that his bladder was completely blocked. This often happens with male kitties (and occasionally female ones too), and the risk is that their bladders can back up and cause kidney damage. That, unfortunately, is what happened to my beloved boy. They say I caught it early but that he still had remarkable kidney damage and they are unsure if he will recover. They would like to keep him hospitalized a few more days but I simply can't afford it. So today I pick him up and learn how to give him subcutaneous fluids (meaning under his skin). He also has a raging infection, is in a fair amount of pain, and is refusing to eat. Cats when they don't eat often start using their stored body fat which can lead to a fatty liver which is deadly for kitties. So it looks like I will have to force feed him as well. I am hoping once he is in his home environment he will want to eat. I have quite a job ahead of me and I do it gladly for my sweet boy, but he and I could sure use your prayers if you are the praying type. Many thanks.

In happier news, I opened a fantastic gift from KatieV today! Using her binding machine she made each of us our own ATC holder! Here's mine:

12 Days of Christmas DAY 9 & Kitty News

Day nine brought pure yumminess from art4mysanity (Mireya) in Miami. Not only was the gift fabulous so was the packaging! She made a sweet pendant with beads and charms dangling off of it and the box it came in was altered by collaging stamping and painting! A couple of pics:





In other news, my beloved Atticus is not doing well. Starting yesterday he has been making sounds as if he were vomiting, but nothing is coming up. He also doesn't want to be pet (and he is normally a slut!), he's hiding, and most worrisome is he is growling randomly. Those that believe in prayer please pray for my sweet boy.

12 Days of Christmas DAY 6, DAY 7, DAY 8

I took a brief pause from posting my 12 Days gifties so I have a little catching up to do! I actually can't show ya'll day 7, because that was my day and so it was the day I opened the gift form the 13th player. I don't want to ruin the surprise for the other members of the swap.

Day 6 was a fabulous set of chunky book covers painted by Corrie! They are really gorgeous. I generally don't put covers on my chunky books so I am going to hang them as pieces of art in their own right.



As I said Day 7 I can't share with you yet, but I can tell you that the gifts I gave were altered cabinet cards. They were so much fun to make, I really enjoyed picking which card to give each person and how to alter it!

Day 8 was a delightful surprise! I received a hand painted canvas of a skull in one of my fave color combos--blue and orange from Original Youth! I also received one of her famous Tip Top Doll ornaments, woot!

12 Days of Christmas DAY 5

Oh yum! Today's gift comes from curbsidetreasure (Annie), who is the host of this swap. She is a talented collage artist and used her fab skills to collage a board book for me! It's WONDERFUL!

12 Days of Christmas DAY 4

WOOT! This has been a wonderful present opening day! Egrobeck (Elaine) totally outdid herself with 3 gifts for each participant and all were suited to each persons likes and dislikes. I guess Eileen did some profile reading before starting up! There are several pics today as most gifts are double sided! The 1st gift is an amazing glass slide pendant. Knowing that I love skulls and all thing anatomy related I received a gorgeous pendant on that theme, here's side 1:



And side 2:



Keeping with the skull theme Elaine made me a gorgeous altered CD filled with skulls. I had know idea that those pesky AOL CD's could actual become a thing of beauty. Side 1:



Side 2:



Last but not least is a wonderful altered bamboo tile doll. It is also 2 sided but I was getting lazy with picture taking so only one side is showing:



I am so thrilled with these gifts! How lucky can one girl get? (Don't answer that!)

12 Days of Christmas DAY 3

WOOT! Amyfaerie you are a goddess! Amy's gift for us today is a wonderful funky, chunky bracelet. Made with game pieces, buttons, old jewelry and ribbons it is stunning! See for yourselves!

12 Days of Christmas DAY1

WOOT! Today I opened the 1st gift for the 12 Days of Christmas Swap. It came from Adriayna (Dana) in Indiana. Dana made a wonderful painting of an egg in a birds nest, with her gift she included extra fibers, a bookmark, and handmade papers. Thank you so much, I LOVE all the goodies!

They're Here!

The 12 Days of Christmas Swap gifties have arrived! I am drooling over all of the delicious packaging. Our host Annie (also known as curbsidetreasure) was smart enough to include an extra gift that we could all open immediately--that way we are less tempted to open gifts early! She gave us tons of paper ephemera and little bobbles, perfect for this motley crew of altered artists! We don't get to open our 1st gift until Sunday and I have to practically sit on my hands to keep away from the little basket of treasures!

12 Days of Christmas

Yep, it's that time again! I have to admit to loving Christmas for the sheer joy gift giving gives me. It thrills me to know I have given the perfect gift to someone. This year i was invited to join a 12 Days of Christmas Swap hosted by curbsidetreasure at AFA. The pressure was on as this swap was invite only and filled with amazing artists. The goal of the swap? To give and get a gift a day from Dec. 14 to Dec. 26. How does it work you ask? Each participant (13 of us so you can open a gift on your day) were asked to pick a day, mine is day 7, 12/20/08 we were also asked to create 12 handmade gifts for the other participants and wrap them beautifully. The gifts are then sent to curbsidetreasure who distributes them to each artist. From 12/14-12/26 we open 1 gift each day. On the 7thday the other artists in the group will open my gift which is an ________ ___________ ___________ (I'll spill the beans after the gifts have been opened!). We were each given clues as to each artists preference so we could make gifts specifically for them, or we could make the gifts all the same. What I did, as well as most of the other artists, was to make the same type of item but personalize it with the artists favorite color. My gifts have officially landed at our hosts home and any day now she will be mailing a huge package to me! Woot! Here is a sneak peack at my wrapped gifties: