Uh Oh! • 2 Comments

The Kreatrix • April 20, 2014

(From time to time, deadlines will dictate I take you along on my crazy journey towards pleasing clients and meeting their deadlines. Just know that I'm thrilled to be making a living artistically but still frustrated to be pulled off course from my new journey with Catberry Tails. Hope you'll forgive and still enjoy my life in pursuit of these goals!)

A client backed a truck up to the house and unloaded lots of work!

ok. NOT a truck. A BMW. A big BMW.

Here are boxes I designed 3 years ago.

Don't remember which store they were sold in BUT a brand new national chain store (can't mention who yet...oh, espionage...oh top secret...oh exciting) wants to run a huge series of products with this look.. FIrst up are storage boxes that look like books.

My client left me book box samples to assist in my own design process.

Storage boxes that look like big books and have images from the Saturday Evening Post on them. — Samples for me to examine...

Here is my adaptation using the basic design elements from the storage boxes I designed years ago.

Lovely floral book box with Eiffel Tower Postcard. Beautiful purple trim with gold detailing. — This will be the large size...

(ignore the little blue lines and where it says FRONT - those are dielines used by the printer)

Beautiful floral book with different Eiffel Tower Postcard. Trimed in Green and gold detailing. — This will be the medium size...

P.S. Had to ditch the girls that were on the older boxes. This particular company has a very diverse ethnic demographic. Can't just feature only white women on packaging. So we went with a travel (Eiffel Tower) theme. Had to gather vintage images and some of my own stock of hand painted backgrounds to place the Eiffel Towers on.

A lovely floral book box trimmed in deep red and gold detailing. — The small book box...

I'll continue with the process this coming week. I hope to keep you entertained even though the Chairman is NOT happy. More on that later.

Then this happened.

"Stop the massive deadline you are currently working on and do this EVEN MORE MASSIVE DEADLINE!" says the frantic client with sweat beads pouring through the phone onto my desk.

"We need labels for liquid hand soaps infused with scented oils! NOW!"

These were fun to design! Modern with a twist. STILL...it's hard to be interrupted on one assignment and switch gears to be creative on a completely different brand, with a completely different look.

The Chairman, per my suggestion, is watching the grass grow. Not sure if he's having fun but does claim he's becoming enlightened and now wants to take Yoga classes with me on Thursday nights.

The Chairman cat doll is sitting by the pot of cat grass. Some sprouts are starting to show. — Claims his steely concentration is making the magic grass grow...

Purrs from the land of art and Catberry Tails. I hope you all had a fabulous holiday weekend!

Bad Bunnies and Angry Chickens • 3 Comments

The Kreatrix • April 17, 2014

Dear Humans,

Do help me understand something.

What does this

Or better yet…WHAT DOES THIS

Have to do with this?

Rabbits don’t lay eggs. They’re B. O. R. N., people. NOT hatched.

SO, I’m just going to have to assume there's a lot of this goin' on lately.

AGAIN.

If you saw this hopping through your front yard

WHAT WOULD YOU DO PEOPLE?

I’m thinking this:

So you all have fun this weekend. The Kreatrix has so much work to do that I’m hoping she won’t have that giant, scary bunny come to our house!

Do have a fabo Easter.

Keep your doors locked.

And watch out for angry chickens.

Here is a non-scary, non-thieving bunny Kreatrix made several years ago.

Meet The Press and The Magic Grass Seeds • 3 Comments

The Kreatrix • April 13, 2014

It all started Sunday morning when I told the Kreatrix I wanted to watch a program on TV named Meet The Press.

I thought it would be good for me to learn how to...well...meet the press for when I’m big and famous. Kreatrix says

“I think you’d have more fun watching the grass grow.”

Grass? Ok. I’m up for a good time. So I asked to grow some grass instead and Kreatrix gives me some seeds to plant.

“ It’s magic grass made especially for cats,” she tells me.

My cat could use some magic grass! Grass watching is going to be fabo!

I found this cool watering can to use. It has a Catberry Tails design on it and I will use it for my project.

Dirt goes into the pot first.

Then seeds. Then water. Then...

“WOAH, WOAH, WOAH NELLIE!”

Melvin and Rudy started circling us like sharks in treat infested waters!

I tried to protect the precious magic seeds but Rudy made off with a couple.

There was a lot of chasing and hollering and finally the Prof (the Kreatrix mate) snatched up the pot of seeds and that pot must’ve been pretty scared cause it peed pot water everywhere INCLUDING ON MY LEG!

“I DO NOT LIKE WATER!!!! Especially not POT PEE. I don’t care how magic it is.”

Kreatrix dried my leg and made sure I was ok. Now I’m going to go have a chat with Eve 2.0 seeing as she’s been sat on and has kept it all together just fine. If I'd just been allowed to watch Meet The Press I might have known how to handle this!

Bionic Pets

The Kreatrix • April 10, 2014

If You Love Animals...

I saw the most amazing show on PBS last night. My Bionic Pet.

Here is the trailer.

The world is so full of violence and bad news right now, that we often forget there are amazing people doing some amazing things. In this case, they are helping animals live happy, productive lives. In years past, these very animals would have been euthanized.

I especially love the sentiment given by one of the makers of the prosthetic limbs for animals -

"Why not help them? They are not a possession like a piece of furniture. Rather, we should view ourselves as their guardians."

You can watch the full-length version here (56 minutes) or clink on the PBS link in blue below the video. You'll be redirected to the PBS website.

She’s Up To Somethin’ • 5 Comments

The Kreatrix • April 8, 2014

Hi Doodle Bugs! It’s me, Ginger, Feline Reporter Extraordinaire!

Take a look at this!

Kreatrix is always trying new things. Usually she says

“How hard can it be?”

And then ends up feeding the curse jar.

We had high hopes for that very thing to happen. We could use the cash. But this time she’s on a very exciting mission.

Do you suppose she’s going to do this on some of our community?

I found this in the Kreatrix lair.

She told me it was made by a well known artist named Helenn Rumpel, who lives in New Mexico. Kreatrix mother bought it from her friend Helenn and then gave it to our Kreatrix! It comes from WAAAAAY back before the turn of the century, Sweet Peas! It was made in 1991!!!

Legend has it that this doll is made from an old shawl from India and Helenn did some fancy stitching on it.

Stay tuned while I snoop around some more! In the meantime, here's some more of Helenn Rumpel's work...all collector's items now!

Purrs to all my lovelies!

Oops! • 1 Comment

The Kreatrix • April 8, 2014

So Sorry Folks

Thank you for the emails regarding the broken comment link! There have been some problems with the site. We're working on it!

AWESOME CATS AWARD – Chien Pei-ling

The Kreatrix • April 6, 2014

Peggy Chien (or Chien Pei-ling) and The Stray Cats of Taiwan

PLEASE NOTE: I HAD TO REMOVE A VERY LOVELY VIDEO ABOUT PEGGY. IT WOULD NOT STOP PLAYING. I WILL BE POSTING A LINK SOON THAT WILL REDIRECT YOU TO A PAGE WHERE YOU CAN WATCH THE VIDEO!

Peggy is married to a veterinarian and is a former piano teacher. She became moved by the plight of stray cats in Taiwan and now works as a photographer bringing attention to their cause. Peggy has won top awards in a photo competition in Japan’s Tashirojima Island, where people worship cats as gods (don’t tell the Chairman!) .

One village where she has taken photos of strays is a small mountainous community 20 miles north of Taipei. The tiny village experienced somewhat of a boom by reinventing itself as a cat lover’s paradise all thanks to Peggy!

"I hope to convince people that rescuing cats does bring happiness. When you buy cat food and feed a hungry cat, you get more satisfaction than using the same money to buy yourself a meal," says Peggy.

Just this past week, Chien Pei-ling was busy photographing the interaction between the abbot of a Buddhist shrine and a dozen stray cats under his care. She loves to capture the interaction between the people who watch over the strays.

Thank you, Peggy, for all your work!

Methinks I Was Heard! BOOYAH! • 5 Comments

The Kreatrix • April 3, 2014

So much for Rome, baby!

Kreatrix doesn't know I took this picture from inside the house.

Booyah, BOO...YAH! Gettin' ready to paint!

Lookit me smilin'

Ginger took my photo and then wanted to do a selfie...GIRLS.

Sorry crumbly buildings of Rome but my World Dominationmobile isn't gonna look crumbly much longer!!

What’s Rome Got To Do With My Car? • 7 Comments

The Kreatrix • April 1, 2014

Sooooo. Here’s the HOOD OF MY CAR, my beloved World Dominationmobile…

...hold me back. And. As you’ve seen much, MUCH earlier…I do have the seats covered.

I tell the Kreatrix.

“Righto…love the color BUT WHERE’S THE REST OF THE CAR?”

Know what she says?

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, little buddy.”

What?

For real?

What!!?

YOU HUMANS ARE KILLING ME!

I am spending waaaay too much time on Google these days. HOWEVER, I now know what "Rome wasn’t built in a day" means BUT-

This is Rome.

Not built in a day? REALLY? Well, I never…

Let me put some perspective into this equation:

If I may “drive” my point home, look what happens when you neglect Rome too much:

IT FALLS APART!

Eve 2.0. may have gotten crushed physically by a human hind quarters but I feel crushed emotionally.

I’m going to go bond with the hood of my car.

Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium – Awesome Cats • 1 Comment

The Kreatrix • March 30, 2014

Imagine if you weren't allowed to have a cat where you lived.

I've been aware of the growing number of Cat Cafe's in Japan and Tokyo. They're very popular because so many people cannot have cats in their apartments and if you love cats...what to do, what to do? You go to a cafe or tea house and visit with the resident cats!

Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium opened in London on March 1st of this year. And it is a huge SMASHING success!