Hi Friends!
Hope you are all doing well. After weighing Miss Lily yesterday morning and discovering that she had lost some weight, I decided to get her checked out at the vets. My BIL took us in the afternoon since I still can’t drive. Nothing obvious except some of her teeth don’t look so good so they wanted to take some blood to test. They had quite a time trying to get blood from her and had to try several veins, which resulted in several shaved patches on her neck and her arm. Results are due back sometime today.
Today’s art . . .
At the weekend I had an idea to make a journal for my ICADs to live in. In previous years I have used cardboard tea boxes that I painted but I don’t have any of the same tea boxes this time so my mind went to creating a book. I have a Cinch bookbinding tool that makes spiral bound books so I thought that would be a cinch (pun intended) but actually it turned out to be a little tricky as it’s not designed to do what I wanted to do lol. I wanted to use these strips of leftover green card that I have held on to for years and the machine is designed to use larger pieces of paper/card that can be pushed into the machine.
These strips are too narrow but I wanted to use them so where there’s a will, there’s a way and success! I had to make a jig that would enable me to slide the strips of card in, keeping them straight and it took a lot longer than I expected, but in the end. I have a book! The covers are made from amazon cardboard, you can see the inside of one on the left below. Initially I wanted to make a 61 page ICAD-size book but I realised once the ICADs were finished (lots of collage etc) they would not fit in the 1.25 inch spiral binding. So then I thought about two separate books, one for June and one for July, but I didn’t really want two books.
So then I thought I could make two separate books bound inside one overall book and that’s what we have below. There are two spiral wires instead of one long spiral wire which allows each ICAD page to be turned separately. I’ve added the ICADs I’ve done so far = 21 for the first three weeks. They are attached to the green card with temporary tape so I can take them out if I need to. Here’s how the cover looks.
It has more cat people on it so I am also linking to Matilde’s theme of People.
The ICADs or should that be ICATs?
And speaking of ICADs/ICATs, here’s a look at all seven week 2 cards, I’m sure you can see my theme represented in these cards 🙂 but just in case you can’t, I am using watercoloured rainbow backgrounds on my index cards, with collage clusters, paper dolls, cat heads (from food packaging), and words from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. This second week also uses the ICAD weekly theme of No. 2. Mixed Media. I really love the white gentleman sitting in the photo frame, he looks fabulous and I gave him gold glittery boots!
Full Deck Challenge Weeks 21-24
This is a year long challenge using 52 playing cards, one per week, for 52 weeks. Hard to believe we are almost halfway through the year already! The prompts for the weeks above were 21 puzzle, 22 cutout, 23 repeat, and 24 thread.
And for Tea Stands for Tuesday
I have another little cat visitor, this time the brother of the long haired cat I shared last week. This is his short haired brother taking a nap in Miss P’s cat kennel (she wasn’t impressed!). And also a photo of part of my garden that actually has some flowers. The yellow irises next to the pond are so tall, about 5 foot high! I picked some of the purple flowers, the lady’s mantle and some of the pink peonies so I could enjoy them before they get battered by wind and rain.
For tea, here is my favourite cat mum mug with my decaf coffee in it, next to my breakfast, which is carrot cake overnight oats. There are carrots, apple, raisins, cinnamon, walnuts, and a lot of seeds on top – yum!
Let me know what you think in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading, happy arting and happy T Day!
Ingredients
as above
Challenges
Art Journal Journey – People
T Stands For Tuesday – cat mum mug
Beautiful cats! Thank you for entering our challenge at Art Journal Journey.
Hugs,
Mia
Co-administrator for AJJ
craftartista.blogspot.com {My Blog}
I forgot to mention, I have a Bind It All, very similar to a Cinch.
Sorry I am late visiting. Please go here to see why I’m late:
https://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/2025/06/my-friday-five.html
Poor Miss Lily. I hope they learn what’s wrong with her.
I adore your ICADs. Those TH paper dolls are coming in handy and it’s great they come in the right size for these cards, too. Each one is so cute and clever. And your altered playing cards are fantastic. I LOVE the puzzle one. It is amazing.
I love carrot cake, so I wonder if I would like this version. I DO love your cat mum mug and how you seem to attract stray cats to your home. They just know a cat lover when they see you. Thanks for sharing you9r latest ICADs, playing cards, Miss Lily, and breakfast with us for T this week, dear Elle.
I think your breakfast sounds interesting – minus the carrot for me as i m not a lover of them, never was as a child but made to eat them “they make you see in the dark” was what I was told.
Love your iCad/Cat Journal. I was reading along and my mind went to iCat before you mentioned it. It is fabulous and your cat heads on people bodies are quite striking. I really do love them and wonder what the product was that you got them from. I am in awe of the thinking behind making the actual journal. I have a Cinch so I know the machine – well, I used to and you have made me think it’s about time I made a new journal with it. Now where are those instructions?
Thanks for the journey through your new journal, the iCads are wonderful and I am going back to look at them again..
Sorry about Miss Lily, I hope the results from the blood tests are showing normal for her. I am wondering how she reacted to all that fur being shaved and the needles? My Tabitha, when I had her, would have gone mad and would have had to be restrained. Give her a special tickle under the chin from me.
No wonder she was annoyed when someone else was sitting in her spot. How dare they!
Take care, sorry about the legs still being a problem.
Hugs Neet xx
I hope nothing worse happens to Miss Lily!
These are wonderfully colorful pages, fabulous with the cat heads. Beautiful posting.
Have a good weekend, hugs Elke
I looked up the carrot cake overnight oats as it sounds so delicious. I’,m going to make it tonight!
Your cat Icads look real fun and clever you to use the Cinch toi make a book for them. I also like the cat playing cards. Boy, you have been busy!
Sorry for being late (as usual),
Happy belated T-Day,
Lisca
The ICAT book is wonderful and a clever way to display your creations. The little brother looks very cute peeking out of the cat carrier. Hmm, next T Day, how about sharing your recipe for Carrot Cake Overnight Oats. That sounds very yummy
Miss Lily really looks skinny.
Your ICATs are fab!!!! As are the cards. Yes. So sad we´re half way through the year already!
I think you need more cat-houses outside! 😉
We have one black cat in the street that sometimes layed down for a cuddle but now does not trust people anymore, very sad.
Your brekkie looks good! Happy belated T-Day xx
Good luck with the health of the cat! Your “carrot cake” looks good.
Your ICADs look amazing, I bet they were fun to make ?. Your garden looks so lovely and I hope the blood tests come back ok. Happy T Day wishes ??. Hugs, Jo x