Happy Valentine's Day

May your Valentine's Day be filled with hugs & kisses.

Black Apple Print Fest

      I was lucky enough to receive a Black Apple white rabbit locket from my Mum for Christmas. It arrived just in time on Christmas Eve. Funnily  enough my Mum ordered it after I placed an order for some prints. And the locket got here before the prints.
     Anyway the prints got here yesterday and they really are stunning. I bought five prints:
Portrait With Cat Ears, Lillian and Licorice, Kitten Bandit, The Cheshire Cat and Humpty Dumpty. I also bought a Kitten Pals badge pack. My Mum bought two prints: The White Rabbit and The Button Collector. My Mum loves to sew and also has a big thing for buttons so this print was perfect for her.
        This was my first order of prints from The Black Apple and I have to say the quality is excellent. And I have to say I find it difficult to pick my favourite. I was fortunate enough to buy these during the holiday sale but they are definitely worth the full price. If you have been thinking of buying from this shop, I would thoroughly recommend doing so.

Boxing Day Bliss

Today is Boxing Day and in some ways I enjoy it more than Christmas Day. It gives you a chance to relax and really appreciate your presents. I don't go out to the sales, I'd rather have a pyjama day! I hope everyone had a great Christmas. It was my little kittens' first one and they had a great time too.

                                        

Some of the girls' Christmas presents

Ruby claimed the base of the new scratch post as her "throne".

Violet relaxing after playing with some of her new toys.

Ruby goes mad with the catnip Christmas tree.

This video is of Ruby's first taste of her "chocolate" catnip Santa.

Violet's Surgery

As I mentioned in a previous post, my little Violet had to go to the Vet's on Monday for surgery.
   I had been very worried because about four weeks ago, we found a lump on her side. After a few vet visits it was decided that she should have it removed, although we still didn't know what it was.
       Dreading the results, we were shocked but relieved to hear what it was. The Vet said it was, "An odd one". I don't think any of them have ever seen anything like it before and I couldn't find anything on the internet either.
       The lump was hair under her skin which was growing from the muscle. And to make it even stranger, the hair was white! The vet said that it might be congenital. And it may or may not come back. We have our fingers crossed!
        Violet has been so brave and happy throughout and she is recovering well. She is doing so well that she should be able to enjoy Christmas properly.

Another Late Night Shopping Trip

We went into town again last night for late night shopping. Just to get a few little bits for Christmas and it was much busier than I expected.

    My first stop was Lush. I am running very low on Lush products and I wanted to make sure I have something nice for my Christmas bath (I must say not my only bath of the year!). So far I hadn't purchased any products from the Christmas range. It seems to me one minute it was October and now it's December, so I am not quite as organised as I usually am.
       These four items came home with me...

Abombinaball is a new bath ballistic for this Christmas which has a mix of peppermint, vanilla and orange.

Also a new introduction for this year is The Melting Snowman bath melt which has a deep marzipan fragrance.

Cinders, which I have used many times before, has a spicy and fruity scent.

I fell for this cute and quirky Santa knot wrap. Which they had used as bunting in the shop which was a great idea.

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My next stop was Past Times. I bought a cute little catnip tree for my lovely little kittens. I also bought a very girlie catnip mouse, especially for Violet. I bought it to cheer her up after her surgery next week (I will go into detail about that later).

     Next stop was Waterstone's. Having had a bee in my bonnet about brushing up on my French grammar and verbs for a while, I decided to see what they had to offer. A very helpful man pointed me in the right direction of the French books and showed me some of the options. This is the one I settled on...

     Next the sweet shop. I got some of my favourite Rhubarb & Custard sweets. I also purchased some Beeches Violet Creams. I wanted something to enjoy while poring over my new book (they are also nice because they remind me of my little Violet).

The Black Apple Original Artwork

Since joining Etsy, I have admired the work of Emily Martin from The Black Apple. I had yet to buy some prints, when I was reading the Black Apple blog. There was a post on the blog about the October Update that was going to be happening on the 27th October.
      Amongst the original artwork that was listed were four paintings of little kittens wearing ribbons. And of course there was a black one. The black one looked alot like Ruby, she had the same mouth. She was also wearing a ruby red ribbon. I decided I was going to try my best to get this little cat.
      The day of the update came and I was waiting by my laptop for the new artwork to be listed. I refreshed the page, the new artwork popped up, I put the little black kitten in my basket.  I was almost finished the payment process when a message came up say the item was unavailable, somebody had got there just before me!   I was so disappointed, I loved that little black kitten. I went back to the shop and there were two kittens left, my second choice, a ginger kitten wearing a mint bow was still there. So I didn't hesitate and I bought him.
     I have been eagerly anticipating the postman, waiting for him to deliver this lovely little parcel. I had been staying in for the postman for a few days but no luck. We went out on Satuarday and you guessed it we didn't stay in and wait for the postman and my parcel came. So now I had to wait until Monday to pick it up  from the Post Office.

As you can see he was well worth the wait (the pictures still don't do him justice). Included in my parcel were two gorgeous kitten badges and a lovely card. Although I didn't get my first choice I am so glad that I purchased this original piece of artwork. And I know I will be shopping with The Black Apple again in the future.  

Halloween Fun

I hope everyone had a fangtastic Halloween. Although my plans had to be significantly downsized at the last minute (garden party cancelled), we still managed to have a great time.
     Nobody was left out, even my little kittens got presents. These included a bat dangler toy, Halloween bubbles and matching pumpkin collars.

                                                                Ruby sporting her new collar.

Violet enjoys relaxing beside the gifts.

                                                   My little pumpkin meets a pumpkin.

Ruby gets into the spirit by donning her witches hat.

Ruby enjoys climbing over the pumpkin hurdle

Boris the bat joins the festivities.

These are just some of my photos from Halloween, I will post more soon.

Kitten Mischief

Just thought I would share a few pictures of my two beautiful kittens.

Violet is a very beautiful girl. This little basket is one of her favourite places. Although she is struggling to fit in it, the more she grows. But that doesn't stop her trying!

Ruby is much smaller and skinnier than her sister but she has a big appetite for most "human" foods. In the second picture, she has just finished sticking her head in my almost empty yogurt pot. But she still managed to get herself in a fine mess.

They are half Siamese, I think you can see it quite a lot in this photo. They remind me of the two cats in Lady And The Tramp. Everything about Ruby is very Siamese, her face, her build, even her habits. The only thing she doesn't have is the voice. Unfortunately she rarely speaks.
      On the other hand Violet is much more vocal but doesn't have as many as the physical characteristics of a Siamese. But she does look Siamese some of the time.

Let Me Eat Cake

It was my birthday yesterday and I was well and truly spoiled. I received so many lovely things. The best being three handmade items from my extremely talented Mum. And you would be right in thinking that black cats were involved in some of them (I will post about my presents later).
     We took a trip to St Andrews for my birthday, there are some nice little shops there. First stop was Bibi's Bakery  for some delicious cakes which we and my kittens thoroughly enjoyed.

Everything I bought was halloween related.

Ibought these items from the Breathless Halloween Range:

                                                                          Bunting

                                                                   Poison Bottle Labels

Paper Table Runners

                                                  Accessorize Haunted House Cake Stand

Both of these packs of cute napkins by Caspari

Martha Stewart Halloween magazine. The shop I usually buy this from had sold out but I was lucky enough  to get the last copy from WH Smith.


One of the shop windows had some really cool 70's framed wallpaper and some retro 70's packaging, patterns and even a vintage Sindy doll.

We had a great day and I was very lucky that the weather was on my side.

My New Kittens

I adopted my two kittens from Cats Protection. They were orphaned along with their grey brother. The girls who I named Ruby Rose and Violet Lily, came home on 7th July. They are settling well and full of energy.