Fundraiser for Beau and Moki ... and Callie, too

Monday update from Rocky: Callie is scheduled to see the vet Wednesday, so I'll update everyone as soon as we have news. Thank you all so much for your purrs & purrayers and help!

Also, kinda suddenly, Mr. Milky moved into his furever home yesterday with his new dad Stan, even before we could have a going away party for him. But I'm planning a newhousewarming party for him soon, just as soon as we get Callie taken care of. I didn't get to go along, but I hear that Mr. Milky's new home is purrfect! He has a wonderful 3-level house by a lake and beautiful gardens in a secluded area with no traffic, and a big deck and patio where he can lounge in the sun. Plus, he's now an only pet, so he gets ALL the attention from his adoring new dad Stan! My mom will have pictures for you soon ... right now she's a little sad, 'cause she misses Milky, but she knows this is for the best.
..................................................

Rocky: Our furriends Beau and Moki need some help with their vet bills. They're such loving, generous kitties that when Deb & ML's Auctions raised some money for them, they donated it to Criz to help Janice! All of us at Artsy Catsy are so honored to be a part of this kind and wonderful Cat Blogosphere family!

To be honest, we could use a little help, too. My Catministrative Assistant, Callie, needs to go to the vet and this economy thing is putting some big biteys on my human artists. Callie is 18 years old and has been losing lots of weight even though she eats all the time. Here she is just a few months ago, all plump and floofy ... But here she is today, and my human artist is getting very worried ...

So I've decided to offer some of our new Artsy Catsy products at reduced prices this week, and give 20% of the proceeds to Beau and Moki, and then get Callie a checkup. Here are some samples of what we have, and you can see them all HERE.

Kitty Charm HAIRBANDS










and KEYCHAINS for Kitty Lovers:

We hope you'll go see them all on our Gallery Blog, and if you see something you like, you'll be helping Beau and Moki and Callie, too ... and get some Christmas shopping done early!

And I tell you what ... on every order of $30 or more, I'm gonna throw in a FREE Artsy Catsy bookmark!

If you don't need keychains or hairbands, but you'd like to make a small donation to Beau, Moki and Callie, 100% of your donation will be used for their vet bills ...

~~ Thank you so much for everything you do! ~~

P.S. Don't miss the auctions the ever-wonderful Miss Peach is having to help Beau, Criz, and Callie, too ... including these adorable calico kitty pins ...

Finally Friday

Whew! It's finally Friday! I've worked so hard this week I have goobers in my eyes and my mom says I need to wash my face. No time for that!

First, I want to thank all the kind and generous kitties and beans who helped us raise funds this week in our Cat Jewelry Fundraiser and our Cat Greeting Card Clearance. Thanks to you, we'll soon be sending some much-needed green papers to Project H.A.M., to Cat Friends Helping Friends, and to Lilly Lu to help pay for her surgery.

Both sales end Sunday, so it's not too late to help. We still have a few beaded items (cell phone charms, bracelets, necklaces & bookmarks) and some cat greeting cards available. So for this final weekend, we're reducing all prices a little bit more on the few remaining items to try to raise as much money as we can for our kitty friends!

I also want to thank Zoolatry for this beautiful graphic they made of me in honor of my friend Lilly Lu:

Lilly sent me the gizzy quilt as a gift, and pink is her favorite color, so Zoolatry did an absolutely perfect job on my graphic! Lilly will be having surgery soon, and I dedicate my graphic to her to let her know she's in my thoughts constantly and I have my whole staff purring for her.

Now I must turn to my work for the weekend. I'm hosting Carnival of the Cats this Sunday, and I need to prepare for the big event:

Fracas, do you think this is something we can use for the Carnival?

Hmm, let me give it a whirl ... Uh, maybe this one is the wrong size ....

Fracas: Um, Rocky, maybe you need to cut back on the Temptations!

Rocky: Shut up, Fracas. I can squeeze everybody in for Carnival of the Cats #208 ...

All they need to do is submit their post HERE!

Cat Jewelry Auction for Churchill

Our new friend Churchill, the abandoned kitty with a broken leg, is having surgery today. The surgery is very complex and expensive. It was recommended that Churchill be "put down" but, fortunately, his new parents, Michael and Rhiannon, had already fallen in love with him, so that was not an option. One look at this handsome guy, and you'll fall in love, too!

We're charmed by Churchill and his loving new family, so we're auctioning some Artsy Catsy kitty charms to help pay his vet bills. 100% of the auction proceeds will go to Churchill - we'll pay the postage.

So that we can get the funds to Churchill's family quickly, the auction will run for three days only - today through midnight Friday. To bid on an item, just leave a comment with your bid and the item number. We'll contact all winners on Saturday.

# N-1 Necklace with gold Laurel Burch cat charm

# N-2 Necklace with silver "Cats Meow" charm #N-3 Necklace with silver picture frame charm
(We'll add a photo for you, if you like.)

#B-4 Bookmark with gold cat charm

#P-5 Gold & silver cats pin
(Not handmade, but we love it!)Thank you so much for helping us help Churchill!

Toiling on Tuesday

Rocky: C'mon staff, let's get these orders ready for shipping so they'll get there by Christmas! I'll help the human artists put necklaces, bracelets and bookmarks on Artsy Catsy display cards ... Fracas: Hey, Mr. CEO, remember your own rules ... "The staff shall not chew on or deposit cat spit upon Artsy Catsy products"! Rocky: Hey, I'm the CEO and you're just the Vice President, so stop telling me what to do ... and knock it off with the dirty look or I'll write you up! Callie: All this macho posturing wears me out.

Artsy Catsy International Catvisory Board

Fracas here. I was finally able to get our CEO Rocky to take time from his busy schedule (eating, napping, chasing cat bookmark strings, thwapping Callie, staring into space, etc.) to approve my selections for our Catvisory Board. And now we're pleased to announce our illustrious International Catvisory Board! Yes, Catvisors have come forward not only from all over the United States ... but also from Australia, Austria, Canada, England and Germany!

Everyone here at Artsy Catsy is so excited that these highly qualified kitties are going to share their wisdom and insight with us as we build our web site and launch our business. And we might even let their beans give us a token opinion now and then :-)

And now, please give a big round of appaws for ....

The Artsy Catsy International Catvisory Board:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Bad Kitty Cats

Cheysuli

The Crazy Meezers

Derby Sassycat

Dragonheart

Faz

Kashim & Othello

Kaze, Latte & Chase

KC & Missy

Kimo & Sabi

Lilly Lu

Marie the Defender

Mia & Ghost

Mr. Hendrix

Oscar the Puppy Cat

Parker

Samantha & Tigger

Sanjee

We are so honored that you've joined our effort to share our human artists' work with the world and share our proceeds with cat rescue organizations to help fellow kitties in need. With your help, we believe we can make a difference!

We Thank You All!!

Fashion Friday Auction for Lilly Lu

FRIDAY NIGHT UPDATE:
Oops. I'm running late getting photos and bidding instructions up, but Rocky is up and about tonight and he promised to do it for me tomorrow morning. This CEO stuff is too hard! I'm going back to being the Spokesmodel!! ~~Lucy

Hello from Lucy! Rocky still isn't feeling well, so he has put me in charge of organizing an event to help my fellow Pink Lady Lilly Lu. As we Pink Ladies say, "All for one and one for all!" Lilly is having a very difficult time. She has serious liver and kidney problems, and if medicine doesn't help her liver within 48 hours, it will be even more serious and her Mama Laura will have to decide whether or not to put Lilly through a liver biopsy.

So I'm planning a special Pink Fashion Auction to help pay Lilly Lu's vet bills so she can get all the care she needs. I've checked Artsy Catsy headquarters for everything pink. I found lots of pink beads, so the human artists are making some pink bookmarks, cell phone charms and KEY CHAINS. We'll have photos of them on our blog by tonight.

Then I looked through my own things, and I want to contribute my very own Pink Lady headband/collar/toy.. Here I am modeling it as both a collar and a toy ... and humans can wear it too: And I'm going to give up my pink blanket for the auction, too. It's only been used for one day, and my mom has washed it, so it's as good as new.

I'll keep perusing for pink, and we'll post pictures and bidding instructions later today, so please come back and see me. In the meantime, Pink Lady Tara is having a commentathon to help Lilly Lu, and has posted a beautiful message on her blog, so please visit her today!

If any other kitties are having events for Lilly Lu, please let me know so we can all link to each other!

First Foster Cat Friday

Thank you, thank you, to all you wonderful, generous cat bloggers! We're so excited to announce that today Artsy Catsy fostered our first Best Friends cat with proceeds from the bookmarks you've ordered since the benefit for Mu Shue.

We gave Rocky, our CEO (Cat Executive Officer) the honor of selecting which kitty to foster. As you know, Rocky has been in political mode lately, and that influenced his choice. He wanted to show that the world has more than just BAD Scooters so he chose a GOOD .....

Scooter

Scooter was born in 1997 but, sadly, he was born without back legs. He used to be a 'clinic cat' in Arizona, keeping the vet staff company and greeting patients. But some of the clientele were disturbed about the poor little guy's appearance so Scooter got fired from his job as a vet greeter.

But he got a great new job at Best Friends as the greeter at Kitty Motel, and now he's very happy ... especially when visitors come. He gets all excited and scoots as fast as he can to be a good host, his huge eyes almost crazy with enthusiasm when he gets petted. They appreciate Scooter at Best Friends, and they love the way he looks!

And, thanks to all of you, Scooter got a pay raise today! Thank you so much for helping us make life easier for special kitties.

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 …

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!!

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!

Hey there, your cat Fracas here ...

... but you can call me Frack or Frackywack or Frickyfrack or even Frackles ... just as long as you CALL ME! (lol, haha, chuckle, chortle) Executive Vice President in charge of Sales, Marketing, PR, Product Development, Company Morale, Keeping Callie under Control ... whatever, I'm your man!!!! :-)

I'm here today to get you revved about what I've got my humans doing. You gotta tread softly with these artistic types (Focus, people, FOCUS!) but I had some good raw material here. Take for instance my human, Sharolyn. Man, she's a pawful! (AwfulPawful, I call her behind her back.) :-) But is this girl good with gourds, or what!! Check this out, dudes:
I used my purrfect PR skills to get her an interview in Crafts Report Magazine awhile back: http://www.craftsreport.com/september02/onlineexclusive.html

And, man oh man, am I primo or what? :-) I put that girl down in history when I got her a gig as an artist involved in the World's First Gourd Quilt:
Yessireebobcat, that quilt is made entirely of 4" pieces of gourd!! Here's the piece my girl AwfulPawful did:

You can read all about it at http://www.americangourdsociety.org/quilt.html Anyhoo, I've got her working on some absolutelyfantasmagorical gourd artwork for you cat lover types out out there. She's also into beaded cat jewelry, bookmarks, cat memorials, wall plaques ... you name it! You cat lovers want it, we got it, all coming up soon, so stay tuned!!

But wait!! There's more!!! So I'll keep my tail in your door and we'll catch you later with hot news about my other artsygirl, Suzanne, and my main art man, Jason, and give you a sneak peak at their ArtsyCatsy work.

Later, babe! Luv ya!!!!!!!!