I’ve always thought that God gives you only what you can handle. And, thanks to God, we are all tougher that we think. 😉 We are all doing what we can to help prevent the spread of this deadly virus

Earlier this month, the counties surrounding the county where The Cat’s Pajamas is located put in place a Shelter-in-place order and mandated the closure of all non-essential business. And, though we think stamping is pretty essential 🙂 we are happy to help fight the spread of the Coronavirus by sheltering in place until April 7.

So, while we are sheltering in place we’re having a 10% off SALE and FREE shipping for ALL orders shipping to the US and CANADA! We’ll ship all orders once the order has been lifted on April 7.

Please stay safe

Since Valentine’s Day is over I wanted to repurpose a tinsel wreath that I got over at the Dollar Tree and make it more of an all-year round kind of decor.

I thought it was also a great way to use my stencils! Stencils are CRAZY versatile and they aren’t just for walls or crosswalks any more. I love all the great techniques that are being released on the world now that crafter’s have them in their hot little hands

I particularly like them to personalize a simple wreath to give a custom message. Our alphabet stencilz have nice big letters and are affordable when compared to stamps and dies. Plus, if I don’t get the coverage I wanted with the stencil I can easily replace it and repaint.

So, for this wreath, I removed the tinsel from the heart and trimmed of all the “extras” (see video 😉 ) and painted the frame up to mimic rattan. Then, I wired in some pretty florals.

Then, I pulled out some burlap ribbon, white chalk paint and our Shakey Serif Stencilz. I stenciled up several different words so that I could audition them and have them on hand if I wanted to change out the word later.

Finally, I cut off the word “welcome” and hot glued it to the frame. What do you think? I’m in LOVE

But, I was not done there! I went to Pier1 and saw a floral bunny for WAY more than I wanted to pay. I knew I could make it for a TON less, so I gave it a try.

For this bunny, I used a tinsel covered bunny from the 99cent Store, but you could use any frame or even draw out a bunny on foam core and cut it out.  I unraveled the tinsel and chose my flowers and either pulled the heads off the stems or cut the stems very short.

Starting with the largest flowers, I hot glued them on the frame and filled in the rest with more flower, really packing out the curves so that the were accentuated. (all those flowers tend to make definition go away). Then, I added the “Hoppy Easter” ribbon that I stenciled earlier and topped it with a burlap bow.

What do you think? I really LOVE the bunny tail from white hydrangeas and the contrast between the pretty soft flowers and the farmhouse look of the stenciled burlap ribbon.

Check out the video for how I did these two projects and tips on how to stencil the letters.

I little while ago, I was inspired to create a pair of heart topiaries that I absolutely LOVE! I love everything about Valentine’s Day. What is not to love about hearts and flowers, candy and my Sweetheart!? I wish every day was Valentine’s Day, but I know that’s not possible. So, what do I do with decorations that are “heart-oriented”? Well, here’s what I did with the heart topiaries.

I removed the hearts and their “stems” and replaced them with these “lavender” topiaries and burlap ribbon bows. It’s a terrific way to repurpose your crafts and update them for a different look.

It’s easy. I may even change them out for a different holiday or season. Hope you like them.

Welcome to our January Blog Hop! I just love the very FIRST Release of the NEW Year. All week you’ve been (me, too) enjoying mini hops featuring our January Collection with The Cat Pack AND with The Coffee Loving Cardmakers 😉 This is the last hop of the month and if you’ve come here from Deborah Anton’s blog you have reached the end of the hop. If not, start at Kerry Urbatch’s blog.

For me our January Collection is all about NEW beginnings and the start of a year full of playing with fun, fun stamps. Like the NEW Hello Spring Stamp Set.  Such cute little fairies in this set, so I decided to create little fairy habitats.

You may remember, on Halloween, I made little lanterns and cloches with little witches. I reused the stands, and found a small glass cloche at Ikea and another one at Goodwill.  And at the Dollar Tree, when I found little fairy houses and accessories and such I took it as a sign to make more.

First, I stamped up the images from the Hello Spring Stamp set, and colored them with copies. Then, I fussy cut them and attached wire to the back of them, making sure that the wire went through the neck, to give the figures strength.

I painted the stands white, but used a bit of sandpaper to rough up the stands for a more comfortable look.  I attached a styrofoam block to the base, covering it with moss. Then, I added the fairy door, accessories. and the cute fairies. To the back of the door I inserted some flowers for color, making sure that they fit comfortably under the cloche. Lastly, the butterfly adds even more fluttery fun.

It came together so fast, I made another! You can see the styrofoam here, showing the different layering to give the little scene more depth and interest. I’ll cover the blocks up, shortly.

Finally, this cute little planter. Last year, my sister and I had a girls night out and we went to a class where we made cute hanging planters, like this one. My sister’s string promptly broke and a couple of months later I found out that her succulents died. ( I thought I had the brown thumb of the family. So, I found a plastic version of the hanging planter at the Dollar Tree and a slew of plastic succulents so I created this version for my sister.

I added more mushrooms here and am thinking and possibly fairy lights. Not sure. What do you think? I’m so happy that there is no way that she can,  kill it. Sweet!

That’s it for now. I hope you give these sweet little fairy houses a try.

Want to see The Cat Pack’s take on this collection again? Just click on the links.

Kerry Urbatch
Cristena Bagne
Julee Tilman
Nancy Thomas
Melissa Chipperfield
Beata June
Brenda Nakandakari
Wendy McGaffey
Deborah Anton
Alma de la Rosa– That’s me

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I picked a winner for Sneaky Peek Day #7 from Cat Packer, Melissa Chipperfield’s blog. The winner is:SLBT! Congrats SLBT. Please contact me at admin@thecatspajamasrs.com to claim your prize.