Catberry Tails

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Fancy lettering that reads "sorry Chairman for betraying you by designing products for dogs!

A very well made box/package containing Doggie Waste bags.

This little booger of a box had to be designed and built from the ground up using very sturdy cardboard. Lots of fun when it comes to using an Xacto blade to cut it out, score it and fold it! Wheeeee! But, sweet Chairman, you should be happy because I had to load up the curse jar with lots o' cash!!

I promised a booty shot of Eve. Well hold your horses.

Extreme closeup of a very colorful and cure cat doll.

We spent some quality time together...just the two of us.

A human hand is reaching in and holding Eve's, the cat doll, paw.

Once I explained that a huge part of the fun of her community is being able to pose them, she said

"Like this?" and she struck a dainty pose indeed.

Eve turns and looks into the camera with her paws at her sides and her legs tucked femininely off to one side.

And here is the reason she's soooo easy to pose.

A photo showing the revised bottom for the cats so that the sit better. Colorful lettering states that this is Eve's New Booty!

Booyah! Ta Da! Mission accomplished!

 

 

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A dear chaiman note saying this post will provide evidence as to why I couldn't help him with his community building. The dreaded clients are to blame.

Beautiful bird artwork for fancy bar soap packaging.

These attached exhibits are for, well, one of those who shall not be named. They look odd here because they are on their dielines (these are the guides that allow the printer to cut and mount the artwork on a bar soap box).

Very colorful damask designs for bar soap packaging.

Abstract and fun, colorful flora patterns for bar soap boxes.

And here is how the above designs had to be translated to liquid soap labels for a pretty glass bottle.

The pretty bird, floral and damask patterns as applied to a liquid soap glass jar.

BUT WAIT! There's more!

SOHO DOG shampoo labels made for the holiday 2014 market.

That's right...I'm sorry Chairman but the dogs have kept me busy AGAIN.

SOHO Dog Subway Tough hang tag for a dog toy to be displayed on a peg.

And this isn't even everything! There's the matter of the Walgreen's dieline I'm not even going to get into but is filled to the brim with high intrigue involving a cast of tens spanning from China to California to Illinois.

The closing statement saying further evidence will be presented in several days along with a better photo of Eve 2.0's booty.

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Our Newest Cat Doll Model, The Eve 2.0

An adorable cat doll sits on a chair with its legs dangling over the edge of the chair.

Adorable cat doll sits on a white sheet. One leg is bent at the knee and she rests her paw on her knee.

Yowza! Check out the new and improved feet!!

Adorable cat doll sits on a white sheet with both legs bent at the knee. Her arms rest comfortably at her sides.

Closeup of adorable cat dolls paws resting on her thighs.

Hi Everyone! It’s me, The Chairman. Eve is very lovely and M.O.D.E.S.T. Seriously. She wouldn’t let me photo her new, improved, beautiful booty that makes it soooo much easier to sit. Kreatrix will submit photos whenever she manages to STOP WORKING FOR THOSE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED.

Day after day after day.

NONSTOP.

Even though said people pay her money, I would like to tell them to

“Back off buckos, I have a car that needs finishing and a community that needs building and…”

Uh-oh. Here she comes. Gotta go! Toodles.

Kreatrix here.  The Chairman’s got a point. He sits patiently watching me, IMPLORING me with his gaze while I work. His presence reminds me I have dreams and goals to pursue! And massive deadlines to meet from THOSE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED. (hint: clients)

The Chairman just hollered from down the hall

“For heaven’s sake! At lease take a photo of Eve’s new booty. Ya worked hard enough on it!”

Point taken.

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Our Newest Cat Doll Model - The Eve 2.0 is Almost Here!

Very colorful and fancy announcement from the Chairman. He invites us to join him next week for the debut of Eve two point oh, the newest member with the bigger booty!

Ginger is  jealous because of the attention I have been paying to Eve 2.0, the newest cat doll (and yes, cat doll is the keyword for the hungry spiderbots)! Whew!

Even though Eve has a nice, firm BIG booty (oh...my!) thus allowing her to sit firmly...I still don't find her as fascinating as Ginger. Okay? Ginger? Are we good?

 

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The Chairman's letterhead complete with his photo and pawprint.

Finally one of us cat dolls gets control of the mouse!

Look at us. We are meditating! More on that later.

A row of cute, colorful cat dolls sits crossed legged as they meditate.

First order of business are photos from our annual retreat and our class on using Bondo.

Since it’s been soooo long (ahem) I will remind you of  this:

Beaten up child's electric car with potential.

That's right, this is what passes for our World Dominationmobile.

ANYWAY, the CEO and the Prof led the workshop which we held outdoors due to Bondo fumes and my delicate nature with said fumes.

Three cute cat dolls, including the Chairman and CEO, are applying bondo to the hood of the car.

Here I am sanding the Bondo after it dried.

The Chairman sanding away on the dried Bondo.

And since I originally thought the Bondo workshop was going to be learning all about James Bond and how to be ultra sneaky, the Kreatrix put this together.

The Chairman cat doll's head replaces Daniel Craigs on the Movie poster for James Bond 007. The poster reads The Chairman is James Bondo in double oh seven.

Laugh all you want. I look good!

As for us meditating. I was inspired by a comment from our fan Candie on the previous post. She suggested I “ponder the meaning of life” while waiting for the Kreatrix to get around to my stuff.

Have you ever Googled “what is the meaning of life”? WOAH.

I did find this guy with a very long name – His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

Photo of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

I decided I like him (Note to self: why is it people who wear robes all the time have so much power? Judges, Priests, Monks, Dalai Lamas...)

Check this out.

The Dalai Lama is riding a ski lift with a group of men in suits.

The Kreatrix and I LOVED this article.  The story about the Dalai Lama riding the ski lift will make you smile AND he has something to say about the meaning of life!

Thank you Candie! This 007 cat doll is going to sit and meditate some more.

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A bright and vibrant digital painting of Wally, the real life cat.

Very much on the "to create" list here at Catberry Tails are fun and colorful ultra modern digital portraits of cats. This one is of Wally. The background is leftover from a digital textile collection of mine.

And the Chairman is NOT happy because of my massive deadlines that keep me from his community development.

The Chairman sits with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

The view of my computer screen as I juggle clients:

Photo of my iMac showing many colorful projects going on at once.

The Chairman is also not happy because we are expecting rain all weekend. He wanted to get his World Dominationmobile painted.

Perhaps I'll let him post his photos from the workshop he took on the art of using Bondo to repair his really beat up car. Poor little guy.

Stay tuned!

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A great deal of experimentation goes into finding your path as an artist. Because I do have the good fortune of making money commercially as a designer, I always have a lot of scraps of various projects laying around. When I have the time, I make little mini pieces of art.

Catberry_Collage2

...not much thought goes into these...just slap it down and move on!! And yes, those are rolodex cards. Many artists gravitate towards the metal vintage rolodex to display their small pieces of art. These are small steps that I can take in a busy schedule.

Catberry_Collage_Group1

A favorite phrase of mine has been

"How hard can it be?"

Well. Sometimes pretty hard. This new direction for Catberry Tails has been a huge undertaking and it's important to remember that small steps add up. They can add up to BIG changes. Or as the Chairman says:

"You created me. And. I. Am. Awesome."

I pulled this artwork out to review because many of these experiments led to painting large on fabric and creating the Chairman and his community. Which is a big change for me!

A bright modern art painting with a flower loosley stitched on it. A quote is on it that reads "Nothing is wasted...it all adds up."

Repeat after me:

Small Steps Big Changes

 

 

 

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The Chairman's letterhead complete with his photo and pawprint.

Ocean: a very LARGE bowl of water with the best ever kitty litter you can use for sand painting.

The Kreatrix and the Prof took Ginger and I to the ocean! It was part of our Catberry Tails Annual Retreat!

Remember this minor mishap?

The Chairman is using a backscratcher to try and draw designs in the kittly pan filled with sand kitty litter.

Because I was impressed with this:

A sand painting by Andres Amador.

Feast  your eyes, friends:

A sand painting made by the Chairman in the sand at the beach. It's a heart with Chair plus Ginger written in it.

Talk about romantic!

The Chairman and Ginger, two cute cat dolls stare out at the ocean as a flock of sandpipers runs through the wet sand.

I wanted the Kreatrix to get those birds in the shot to show Rudy, Melvin and Wally. They are HUGE bird watchers!

The Chairman and Ginger sitting in the sun on their beach blanket.

I will never be the same again. The Kreatrix says the ocean can do that to you.

Kreatrix pointed out all the stacks of rocks people had made.  She called it "the art of rock stacking." Just when I think I have this whole art thing figured out....

SO we collected some rocks and the gang has been stacking them all day. We are rock artists!

The cat doll community is stacking flat rocks collected from the ocean. They're doing a pretty good job!

Even Wally and Rudy tried to play.

Wally and Rudy, two real life cats, sit watching the cat dolls with their rocks.

Just when I thought I had the hang of it,  I googled rock stacking.

That Google! Can't tell you how many times it has burst my tomcat pride. Holy moly. I gotta get more rocks and learn how to do this!

Breathtaking display of stacked rocks.

Go check these guys out!

Unbelievably beautiful display of stacked rocks.

 

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Ginger has her own letterhead now! She is an adorable soft sculptured cat doll. Her letterhead features beautiful handwriting and a beauty shot of Ginger.

Or Big Butts and Curvy Tails

Hello sweet gumdrops! Ginger, feline reporter on duty!

During our first annual Catberry Tails retreat, I had the great honor of studying Body Parts and Whimsical Doll-making 101 from the Kreatrix. We were sooooo nervous because she gave us soooo much responsibility.

See this rascal?

Melvin, an adorable real life cat stares up at the camera as his favorite toy floats in the cats water bowl.

If you recall from a previous post he steals body parts and drags them around the house. Here he demonstrates the technique with his favorite toy. Yep. Into the water bowl.

We bribed Rudy to stand guard over the body parts and pattern.

Beautiful Rudy, a real life cat, sits on the table next to a lot of doll supplies.

Say hi to Denise. I call her Deni. She's my new BFF.  We all met her a few weeks ago.

Whimsical Cat doll made out of hand painted denim.

Dude has a thing for her but she told me she wants to play the field for awhile. HA! I tell her:

"Take a look around, Sweet Pea, there's not much of a field yet! And the Chairman is UNSHOPPABLE,  girlfriend!"

We worked very hard on the whole curvy tail issue. Straight tails are NOT an option when we have to interact with humans. Seriously Kreatrix? We ALL NEED to have curvy tails. Remember this fiasco when the Kreatrix was overly stressed?

Catberry_Pose1a

Dude is the only one who wasn't embarrassed by this event. But then, that's our Dude.

Here we are making positootly sure the tails are curved. By the way, check out my expression. We all had a bit too much milk at the mixer earlier in the evening and this was late at night.

Three of the whimsical cat dolls are cuting out curved tail pattern pieces.

This part is scary, so look away if you must. I had to learn how to use a machine that punches holes with a very sharp tooth. All in the name of creating more stable/big butts.

Ginger, a soft sculptured cat doll, sits at the sewing machine.

The worst part being I had to trust Deni. This was her job:

Deni, the denim cat doll, controls the foot pedal for the sewing machine.

Yes, Babushkas, that is what makes the scary machine go. Oy vey and quiver me timbers!

But we all got the hang of it.

Ginger sewing along quite nicely at the sewing machine.

Kreatrix asked us to pose like we were passed out exhausted so she could show it to the guys...ya know, how hard we were working.

Three soft sculptured cat dolls are laying with one arm flung over their eyes.

P.S. We made changes to the look of our World Wide Web presence! We will probably change it again. And again. Until we get it right. So...TA DA!

Love to all my Babushkas!

 

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High End Product Design For Cats From Catswall Designs

Colorful feeding bowls from Catswall Designs. Very unusual and elegant..

We are all about design here at Catberry Tails! From working as a freelance designer in the packaging and textile markets to creating art and soft sculptured dolls, design is a huge passion for me. And whenever the design involves cats, I'm in heaven!

Catswall Designs consistently creates beautiful but functional products for cats. They especially design for the multi-cat household!

Four bowl feeding station in fun lime green from Catswall Designs.

Love the expandability of this type of feeding station! The simplicity of design. The elegance. The color. Very successful end result!!

Amazing wall mounted playground for cats. Very modern and cool looking. Catswall Designs.

I'm speechless. Don't want to show this to Wally, Melvin and Rudy. There would be no sleep for the humans until this was installed.

Here it is in a very modern home setting.

Wall mounted playground for cats in a ultra modern home setting.

And if you're worried about your cat getting enough exercise, check this out.

Cat exercise wheel that looks like a giant hamster wheel. Very modern and cool.

Confused? Give up? It's an exercise wheel! This video explains it all!

The Chairman and gang are pulling their notes together from the first ever Catberry Tails Annual Retreat! Join us Friday for our first peek inside their busy week!