Rebooting the blog

I created a blog to share all of my creative ideas about 2 years ago... that lasted all of about two posts haha. I decided to leave the two old posts for nostalgia's sake. It just didn't feel right deleting them. However, I decided to try and stick with it a little more this time. Maybe it's the steroids and lack of sleep talking but I think it's about time that I shared some of the things I make. (Btw, if you read more of my entries or know me, you know exactly what I mean about "the steroids talking").

A little while ago, I formed Kat & Mouse Designs. Kat & Mouse Designs is the name of my etsy store. I need to obtain rights to the name in order to say that it's also my design company (mental note: add that to the infinite to-do list). On my site I sell some cards and paintings. However, I do a lot more than that. I thought this blog would be perfect for all of my projects- whether they are created for my store or not. I've usually got multiple projects going on at once so why not share the craziness?!! I'm hoping it will also serve double-duty and encourage me to finish all those projects... haha!

I decided to revamp my entire blog with a lot of help from some free digital scrapbooking kits from www.twopeasinabucket.com.  I mixed and matched some elements make mine. I'm still not happy with it so I'm sure it will change a million times until I'm satisfied.

So enjoy exploring the new digs and let me know what you think!
Here's to trying to keep this blog going more than 2 posts! Here goes nothing! Stay tuned....

Cabin Fever Creations: Part 1

I have been sick the entire month of October, so I guess I got cabin fever and just started creating whatever I could think of.

Behold my first attempt at jewelry-making...
(Well first since the days of friendship bracelets.)

I'm not sure if I like it but it was fun to do nonetheless. Some of the beads on this necklace were taken from old jewelry that I didn't wear anymore. Try taking apart old pieces of jewelry and revamp them for a new look.

Trying out the new punch


I am not normally a punch/die-cut girl when it comes to paper crafting but when I saw a scalloped edge punch by martha stewart, I knew I had to have it. In the above card, I used it on the right side of the card then inked it so that it would pop more. I wish I would have thought to do the envelope as well.

Parfaits have layers...

One of my favorite things to do with art is layer, layer, layer. This can get me in trouble with baking and dressing myself haha but in art, it just adds to the texture. Oh glorious texture!
So behold! Here are two of my favorite examples of this...

"Faith to fly", Mixed Media

I found this quote and I was inspired by tattoo-like art in fashion that was starting to surface at the time.
Helpful tips:
- Sharpie markers can be used over dried acrylic paint. Who says sharpies are just for labeling?
- That textured background was formed completely by squirting paint onto paper towels and rubbing it on the canvas.... you know you want to try it.

"Ode to Magnolia", Sketches iphone App

What is an artist on the go to do when they feel inspired? Well, pull out their iphone of course! I was on the plane back home from NYC when I realized how much I would miss my daily magnolia bakery sweets and their sugary sweet colors.

Helpful tips:
- Sure the sketches app is a pricey $4.99... But You can do loads of cool things with it like import photos from your library and draw on them. Let the blackmail begin mwahahaha!