Down By the Bay..................

Our BAD, BAD kitties tore a GIGANTIC hole in our new goose down duvet. I walked into the room and it looked like Christmas. We had to shake everything outside.....snowing in MAY! I tried to sew up the holes with a needle and thread but the down kept flufting out from the entry wounds. After all was said and done, I had to close it all up with duck tape. BooBoo thought that was pretty funny. Coco said it was all Brother Bear's fault...he was playing "Duck, Duck, Goose". I am going to trade them all in for goats.

Image: "Scratchy the Cat is Waiting for His Quilt to Dry" by Cara and Pam

Hand-Carved Wood/Mixed Media

Backyard Touch Down

Whatever Gets Your Goat

We have been spending all of our free time on the "feather".....a beautiful walking trail near our house. I am obsessed with the sheep and goats and SHE has said that next summer I can get a few goat friends, if SHE can get chickens! I am SO excited! I have been looking at miniature goats (a friend of ours has some) and I think they would be great. I could make them wee miniature sweaters, miniature scarves, hats and tiny, little cupcakes for treats. SHE says that if I try and make felted hats for the chickens, I am on my own. She won't even drive me to the hospital. I wonder what size shoes chickens wear?

Someone Will Have to Let the Cat Out of the Bag

I did not get a wink last night. All 6 cats had the midnight crazies.

Paper towels shredded from one end of the house to the other....dirt and earth everywhere....they dug up my newly planted kitchen herb garden....they practiced their "so you think you can dance" routines across the bed....they swung from the chandelier.....(and we don't even have a chandelier)

I am drinking my 17th cup of coffee...watching the world through tired, swollen, candy floss eyes.

To the outside world I appear to be painting but actually I am plotting my attack.

Whoopi cushion in the litter box?

Cat food replaced with dog food?

Perhaps I will knit them all sweaters for a group photo.

Revenge will be mine.

Image: Papa's Moon by Cara acrylic on paper

A VERY SHORT STORY

Last year, I covered our bathroom walls with painted fish. Then, I decided to paint a short story on the wall so that people could have something to read. It is a very short story. I have had more questions about this story than I can believe. Visitors to our studio come out of the washroom and bombard me with questions. I am befuddled. Here it is.

A VERY SHORT STORY

Terence the fish was born on May 10th. On May 11th he had to pee. Thinking it terribly undignified to pee in the water, he flung himself on to the nearest pier. He died 5 minutes later. THE END.

Questions I am asked.....

Why was his name Terence?

Why May 10th?

How come he didn't have to pee until the 11th?

Which one is he, on the wall? (That is actually interesting, because there IS a Terence fish hiding in the washroom...exed out eyes....charming!)

What happened to him after he died?

So many questions that I do not have the answers to.

Sometimes a short story is just SHORT.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Spring is here and the flowers are playing peek-a-boo. The back garden survived the winter and is doing well though there seem to be some rather chunky monkeys in full bloom. It seems that Itchy, Scratchy and Fat Aunt Sylvia have all sprouted some extra "fur". We all tend to do that in the winter. Time for salad and leaves and all things green. SHE will not be impressed.

Neither will F. Aunt Sylvia who, I expect, will claw my screen door to shreds after 3 days of the diet. Life. Is. Hard.

Image: "Minnie's Sunday Dress" by Cara Kansala

Chunky Monkeys (left to right) ... Scratchy, Itchy, Fat Aunt Sylvia

I Figure, If You Want to Have Squid Dangling from Your Earlobes, How Can I Say No?

Last week, another customer saw the polka-dotted squidlies hanging in our studio and asked if they were earrings. Ahh....nope. They are hanging decorations. Well, said she... could I make them earrings?

Ahh....sure, said I.

This has happened quite often and I am realizing that there is demand for squiddy jewelery. Really? Is there, really?

Just for fun, I made some felted ones that aren't as weighty as the clay. They can be brooches or hair clips or earrings.

I'll apologize now, to the poor 16 year old who has to go to the mall with her mother who is wearing bug, fluffy, felted squid earrings....but to give me credit, I DID stop making the salt beef hair barrettes after selling out of the 10 I had made. I didn't realize there would be 10 people in the world who would WANT a wooden, salt beef hair barrette.

Thankfully, I nipped that one in the bud.

Image: Squidlies Hanging at The Devon House

Image: Giant Squid by Cara Kansala * acrylic on paper

Happy Mother's Day from Crazy Town!

BOOBOO just brought me my Mother's Day card. She turns 5 this year....that age when they ask so many questions. Bless her heart. It must have been difficult for her to hold the marker. What a little doll.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone, and big hugs to my mother and HERS!

Yes, YOU! (haha...it is a joke. Good thing Mother-in-Law Harman has a good sense of humour.)

Image: Aunt Hilda's Quilt by Cara & Pam

Hand-Carved Wood, Mixed Media

Mother's day Card 2010

High Cost of Modelling Fees A Cat-alyst For Change

Papa Luigi is becoming very popular and it seems the attention has gone to his fluffy, marmalade head. He has raised his modelling fees so much, that in future, I am going to have to work from old photos.

He is becoming rather su-purr-fluous. A catalyst for change, indeed.

Image: "Papa Luigi Sits in His Chair and Thinks About What He'll Have for Dinner" by Cara and Pam

Photo: Papa Luigi Sits in His Chair and Thinks About What He'll Have for Dinner

Just Browsing..........

Frantic! Frenzy! We couldn't be busier! I am not complaining but I did look in the mirror yesterday and realized that I haven't plucked my eyebrows in ages. They look very interesting. They look busy. I have been looking at other eyebrows today and have decided to let mine go.

Set them free. Run wild. SHE doesn't do anything with HERS, after all.

Our friend, Wee Clio has massive, bushy, gorgeous eyebrows.

They have character. Clio doesn't pluck. She lets sleeping brows lie.

So shall I.

Image: "Trinity Bay" or "Busy painting-no time to Pluck" by Cara and Pam

Hand-carved wood/mixed media

"Wee Clio" such a dolly!