Beaded Cat Bookmarks are back!

Rocky here. I've been buried in emails asking for Artsy Catsy beaded cat bookmarks! Our plan was to make our bookmarks available after our e-commerce site, ArtsyCatsy.com, is launched. But due to such popular demand, we’re accepting orders now! You can choose from our traditional cat charm bookmarks, or we’ll create a photo frame bookmark for you with a picture of your kitty.

Every bookmark you order will help cats in need!
10% of all proceeds will be donated to the Rescue Farm, a magnificent organization working to become the "Best Friends" of the midwest, and another 10% will be donated to Cat Friends Helping Friends.

Cat Charm Bookmarks: $10
Photo Frame Bookmarks: $12
(plus $3.50USD domestic shipping/$4.50USD international) - FREE SHIPPING on 6+ bookmarks)

To order: Email ArtsyCatsy@yahoo.com and tell us:
1. How many bookmarks you’d like to order;
2. Whether you want gold, copper, or silver cat charms;
3. Your mailing address;
4. Whether you’ll use PayPal or send a check or money order.
5. For photo bookmarks (silver only) attach a photo, or tell us where to find it online.

We’ll reply with payment instructions, and the artists will start beading. Each one-of-a-kind bookmark is custom created just for you, but will be similar to those above.

Our bookmarks make unique, one-of-a-kind, personalized gifts for the cat lovers in your life -- for birthdays, Graduation, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day … personally, I think cat lovers deserve gifts every day!

From Pepper, Artsy Catsy woofie:

Why should cats have all the fun? Our human artists make bookmarks with dog charms, too, in case you know and love a woofie! Just tell us in your email that you want dog bookmarks.

Bookmark CATestimonials:
-- "I highly recommend these book marks, I ordered two and they are not only really useful but very, very beautiful too. I am ordering another four for my friends as presents." ~~Faz's meowm -- "Your bookmarks are a super big hit and will definitely turn into the next big trend!" ~~Icon Baxter Bentley
-- "We got our bookmarks and cell phone leashes today and the people LOVE them! ... Thank you so much - they're beautiful!" ~~Grr, Midnight & Cocoa
-- "We got the bookmark Bonnie sent us and it is just gorgeous! Please tell your human employees they are very talented." ~~Kaze

Cat Toys from Mu Shue!!

Rocky here. Today is a very special day at Artsy Catsy! The mailhuman brought us a HUGE box of presents from Mu Shue, Mama Laura, Lilly Lu & Iris too! We think it is truly magnificent of Mu Shue to do such a kind and thoughtful deed even when he isn't feeling so well!
Our human artists wanted to arrange the gifts artistically and take a picture for our blog, but my staff was way too excited to wait for that nonsense. So I gave them permission to tear into the box and have at it. Let me tell you, it was a cat free-for-all!

There were enough mousies and crinkle balls for us each to choose our own! And there was a Kookamunga Catter Up to hang over the door and create our own corporate fitness center: it has a fuzzball on a lo-o-o-ng string so we can do aerobics. There was a huge bag of NIP, and best of all ...

MY own personal bowl shaped like a crown with "KING" written on it!! Mu Shue Pooh King Cat sent it specially to me, a fellow king! Mu Shue, my man, you ARE da man, big guy!!

LittleGirl is in the V.E.T. hospital :- (

Update: The V.E.T. released LittleGirl at 5 p.m. today, and she's so happy to be home - but a little wobbly from painkillers and sedatives. It was a severe urinary infection, so hopefully she'll be all fine again after the antibiotics and antispasmodics she has to take (very reluctantly!) for a week. She finally went to the litter pan, and after all those IV fluids, she REALLY went to the litter pan!

Thank you all so much for your wonderful purrs and purrayers.

At 12:30 a.m. today, Artsy Catsy's LittleGirl was rushed to the emergency V.E.T. after she suddenly began hissing and screeching in pain and trying desperately to urinate, to no avail. Not even a drop. It was a very traumatic v.e.t. visit, because he SQUEEZED her tummy to force urine out so he could test it -- no sedation, no catheter, just squeezing the poor little thing :-(

The tests showed lots of blood and an extremely high protein count and white count in her urine. He thinks it's a urinary tract infection, but since LittleGirl is 12 years old, we're worried it might be a more serious problem with her kidneys.

The v.e.t. had to literally PEEL our terrified LittleGirl off her meowmie Suzanne to start her immediately on intravenous fluids and antibiotics and keep her in the hospital.

LittleGirl could sure use your purrs and prayers -- and your advice. Have any kitties out there had similar problems? And does anyone know what can cause a kitty to have too much protein in its urine?

Rocky's Sunday Revelations

I got tagged by Mu Shue and Jeter, so I'm taking time out from a busy day organizing hair clips to bare my CEO soul:

A) Four places I have lived:
1. In the woods (for 1 day until I was rescued)
2. Indianapolis, IN
3. Terre Haute, IN
4. As Artsy Catsy CEO for life, I’m never moving again.

B) Four things I love to watch:
1. Humans making cat bookmarks
2. Humans doing anything
3. Callie (it makes her scream!)
4. Hair clips

C) Four places I have been outside my home:
1. The V.E.T.
2. The backyard
3. The garage
4. The park (got written up for that one!)

D) Four websites I visit daily:
1. Cat Blogosphere
2. Yahoo
3. Hit Tail (to make sure mine isn't getting hit!)
4. As many kitty blogs as possible!

E) Four of my favorite foods:
1. My homemade chicken cat food
2. Purina One Natural Blends
3. Nutro Gourmet Classics
4. Cornbread (fobidden, though)

F) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. In the middle of whatever the humans are doing
2. Outside
3. Kneading my human's face
4. Patrolling for hair clips

G) Four toys I have owned and played with:
1. Hair clips (They are MINE, not the human’s!)
2. More hair clips
3. My baby bottle (to indulge my inner child)
4. Even more hair clips

H) Four nicknames my staff have tried to assign me:
1. DammitRocky
2. LeaveCallieAlone
3. RockyKnockItOff
4. RockyGimmeThatHairClip

I) Regarding Catnip:
1. Love it
2. It's nice
3. Could take it or leave it
4. Don't like it or can't have it

J) Regarding Cat Grass:
1. Love it (but I prefer real backyard grass)
2. It's nice
3. Could take it or leave it
4. Don't like it or can't have it

K) First four things I'd buy after winning the lottery:
1. A huge fence around my backyard
2. An attitude adjustment for Callie
3. Doors that won’t close for every room in the house
4. All the hair clips in the universe

L) Four things I do besides eat, sleep, and litterbox:
1. Supervise every movement the humans make
2. Stare at Callie
3. Jump on Callie
4. Organize hair clips

M) Four things I want to do this summer:
1. Go outside
2. Make the humans finish ArtsyCatsy.com
3. Help the humans create art
4. Participate in Hair Clip Olympics 2007

N) My four most prized possessions that have limited value to anyone else:
1. My personal shoe string
2. Discarded Epsom Salts bags
3. Toilet paper
4. Broken hair clips

O) What I’m going to do before tomorrow is over:
1. Move my personal shoe string to 547 different places
2. Shred some toilet paper
3. Monitor all human activity
4. Organize my stash of hair clips

P) Which of the following is your favorite place to hide and play?
1. Behind a door (to jump on Callie)
2. In my human’s armpit while she tries to work
3. Under the sheets while the bed is being made
4. Under the vanity (waiting for the human to drop a hair clip)

Q) Four other "pets" your staff have kept with you:
1. Dustbunny, my rabbit bud
2. Noni, a sugar glider
3. Maggie, a sugar glider
4. Too many rescue cats to list

R) Four furiends I tag to respond:
1. Skeezix
2. Max the Psychokitty
3. Cheysuli
4. Cato ... and many more!

Okay, time to delegate. Copy this list and paste it into a new post, insert your own answers, pass it on, and leave me a comment. I personally read each of your comments. I’m the CEO, that’s part of my job. Now, some hair clips need my attention …

Formerly Feral Fifteen Friday

On Formerly Feral Friday, we present a brief history

of the fifteen felines at Artsy Catsy:

Rocky, CEO (Cat Executive Officer) was rescued in 1999 at one day old when he was orphaned in the woods after his stray mother and siblings passed over the Rainbow Bridge at the jaws of a raccoon. Recognizing his potential as a future mover and shaker, he was bottle fed and burped by the humans every three hours 24/7 for many weeks.

Callie (Catministrative Assistant) was rescued in 1990 as a 6-weeks-old feral kitten from a garage by brave members of the household wearing body armor, helmets and gloves.

Fracas (VP Sales & Promotion) was rescued in 2002 at 7 weeks old from the engine of a pickup truck at a yard sale. Never having human contact, he immediately began howling, mewling, talking, yowling, yakking, caterwauling, chirping and gargling, which he performs constantly to the present day.

Lucy (Spokesmodel) was rescued as a young wayward Ragdoll in 1992 when she was found walking the streets. Her twitchy little tail and beguiling aura of innocence seduced the entire human household into treating her as a princess on a pedestal.

Littermates Atlas & Somber (Corporate Bookends) and LittleGirl (Quality Control Manager) were rescued in 1995 at three weeks old from an abandoned house.

Bitsy (Director of Corporate Espionage) was rescued from the streets in 1996 as a kitten, and it was many months before she would allow human contact.

Ivan (Information Technology Director) was rescued in 2003 when he was one year old from an unhealthy pet store who was closed by city officials.

Oscar (Maintenance Manx) was rescued as a tiny kitten from a stack of firewood in the Artsy Catsy backyard, where he was born without a tail and abandoned.

BlackieBear (Security Manager) was rescued in 2004 as an adult during his illegal entry into the ArtsyCatsy household to steal kitty treats.

Casey (Corporate Controller) was adopted from a no-kill shelter in 2002.

Sibley (Student Intern) was rescued in 2006 at 7 weeks old from the raided house of a drug dealer.

FredBaby (VP Artsy Catsy Europe) and his Catministrative Assistant Holly Golightly were adopted from the Humane Shelter in 1997.

Pink Lady Lucy

I'm thrilled to announce that I've been invited by Daisy, Kaze and Tara to join their Pink Ladies Gang! This invitation spurred a flur of activity, in addition to my regular duties as Artsy Catsy Spokesmodel.

First, some power shopping to buy my official "gang colors," which involved many hours on the Internet as well as a full day of cruising the finest department stores in my new pink limousine.

Next, to prepare for my photo shoot, I had a hair appointment for a new do, then off to the cosmeticat surgeon for a few minor procedures, including a whisker nip removal and an eye booger lift.

Then busy, busy, busy, we had to sort through all my proofs for the best shot. Voila! Here it is, in all its Pink Ladyness:

And, as I vowed during my initiation into the Pink Ladies, I've been very busy thinking of good deeds we can do, and I've been practicing singing, dancing, being edgy and doing outlaw-ish things in the name of love ... "All you need is love ... ta ta-da ta-da ... All you need is love ... ta ta-da ta-da..."

Ginger Twosday

Vice President Fracas and his good buddy Casey, Artsy Catsy's CFO (Cat Financial Officer), declare a new eternal national holiday: Ginger Twosday. To celebrate its launch, they team up to form an infinity symbol

(with no concern whatsoever for the tiger that has them by the tail.)

Day of the Cat?

In Italy, yesterday was Giornata del Gatto, The Day of the Cat. That's a national holiday, so FredBaby and Holly Golightly, Artsy Catsy's European Division, were off work and out celebrating. Not so here in America.

Yes, while Fred and Holly were out dancing in the streets of Rome, imbibing fine wines and huge platters of pasta, generally living la dolce vita, I was forced to spend the entire day working my paws to the bone, micromanaging the production of cat jewelry and bookmarks. To make matters worse, my American feline staff objected to having to work on an Italian holiday. Callie called in sick, Lucy had a hair appointment, and Fracas organized a mass mutiny, so the remaining staff spent the day picketing and chanting, "1-2-3-4, we don't want to work no more!" and "Growl, growl, hiss, hiss, Rocky's a filthy catpitalist!"

I tell you, being the CEO of Artsy Catsy is about as easy as herding cats!

P.S. You can learn more about Giornata Internazionale del Gatto at Cat-a-log. We thank them for their research and agree that since this is an international holiday, we need to promote it in America and elsewhere. Here's to International Day of the Cat (IDOC?) 2008!!

Happy Valentine's Day to the whole wide world of kitties and their wonderful humans!

We luv you,

Rocky, Fracas, Callie, Lucy, Atlas, Somber, Casey, Sibley, Ivan, LittleGirl, Bitsy, Oscar, BlackieBear, Fred & Holly

Cat bookmark project completed

Rocky here, after a long weekend. I've been working overtime keeping our human artists focused on creating cat bookmarks. I'm pleased to announce that the project has been completed and I will have all 61 bookmarks in the mail tomorrow.

I believe you'll be pleased with your bookmarks, because I made quality control a top priority for this important project. I personally supervised the creation of each one-of-a-kind bookmark, and kept a very close eye on every single movement of an artist's finger -- especially if it held a string!

I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to each of you for helping Mu Shue. Now it's time to chew the string out of my fur, nab some nip and catch a nap!

FANTASTIC Feline Family Friday!

UPDATE: In less than 24 hours, we have SOLD OUT of bookmarks in the benefit for Mu Shue! You, the kind and generous kitty community, have raised $660 to help Mu Shue, more than the entire down payment for his treatments! In your honor, we declare today "Fantastic Feline Family Friday"!

Although the bookmark benefit has ended, donations to Mu Shue and his mama Laura are still being accepted to help with the $1390 total veterinarian fee. If you wish to donate, please email us and we'll send you instructions for donating directly to Mu Shue.

Thank you all so much for helping us help Mu Shue!!

Bookmark Benefit for Mu Shue

ArtsyCatsy is worried about our new friend Mu Shue. As you may know, he’s very sick and needs treatment that will cost his Mama Laura $1200. She has already spent her savings helping him, and even had to sell the heirloom jewelry her grandmother left her.

With 15 of us kitties, our humans have been in the same situation, and our hearts go out to Mu Shue and Mama Laura. We ArtsyCats are very impressed by how this wonderful world of blogging kitties pulls together to help each other out, and we want to do our part. So we met for a brainpurring session and had an IDEA! The human artists are making hand-beaded waxed linen bookmarks to offer for $10 each on our blog and we'll send ALL the proceeds to Mu Shue and Mama Laura.

To order bookmarks to help Mu Shue, just email ArtsyCatsy@yahoo.com with your mailing address, the number of bookmarks you want to order, and whether you want to use PayPal or mail a check, and we’ll email instructions right back to you. (When you order, you can add a dollar or two to help cover mailing costs if you want, but you don’t have to. And, yes, we will ship internationally.)

We'll make as many bookmarks as we can from now through Feb. 22, and then we’ll send ALL the money to Mu Shue and Mama Laura. Just think – if we could sell 60 bookmarks, that would completely cover the $600 down payment for Mu Shue’s treatment! And don’t forget, if you don’t need a bookmark, the wonderful Mr. Hendrix is also helping to collect donations for Mu Shue.

Our heartfelt thanks to all you kind and caring cats and beans for helping Mu Shue and Mama Laura. We’re very proud to be a part of this beautiful kitty community!

NOTE: Your bookmark may not be exactly like the ones you see here (and please excuse our quick photography) because we’re hurrying to help Mu Shue so we're using jewelry supplies already on hand. But each one-of-a-kind bookmark will have a kitty charm, and we promise you’ll love it!

Casting Call for Literary StarCats

Callie, get out of the employee lounge and post this on our blog! Borders Books is seeking photos and stories about pets who were formerly homeless, but now own humans who answer their every need, for their upcoming book, Hopeful Tails: Stories of Rescued Pets and Their Forever Families. One lucky pet will be named the Borders Pet, will appear on the book's cover, and be featured in Borders stores and online. And the pet's owner will get a library of pet books. Even better, a portion of the book's sales will be donated to the ASPCA.

Let the cat blogosphere know this important info, so we can turn this pet book into a CAT book! Tell everyone they can enter here: Borders Pet Project. What? No, Callie, you may not take a break now. We have to submit stories and photos of the entire ArtsyCatsy staff to Borders, so you're working overtime!

CEO Rocky's Superbowl Savings

Such incompetence. The humans were rushing out on a Super Bowl party shopping spree without any strategic planning and no concern whatsoever for the bottom line. So, first I had to make them wait while I buried myself in the task of pawing through ads and clipping coupons, then I had to write out their menu and shopping list.

I was explicit: We wanted tuna catsserole on Super Bowl Sunday. But what do they come home with? Wings and weenies! Wings we might tolerate, but soaked in barbecue sauce? And weenies? What kind of perverse carnivores are these people? And what's the point of being The Decider if they ignore your decisions? So what if I'm down in the popularity polls -- I still have Executive Privilege!

Now it's time for my dinner, but nooo, my human is busy baking some kind of Colts cake. What's the point of watching a bunch of colts and bears bat around a ridiculous ball that doesn't even have feathers or bells or crinkles or catnip? Waste of time. All I can say is there'd better be some serious lap time tomorrow or, people, the fur's gonna hit the fan!