A Cat-Like Curiosity

Caturday!

2013-05-25T10:00:00.000+01:00

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Hey there people and a very Happy Caturday to you! I hope you are well, wherever in the world you may be.
As you know from previous Caturdays, every Saturday I combine my grateful posts which I love to link up to the lovely Maxabella at Village Voices, with some feline fun. Hopefully this sounds as adorable to you guys as it does to me. And also hopefully it doesn't just sound BONKERS! Grateful + Cats = Catful :)
Let's see what I am thankful for this week :)

This Caturday I would like to be thankful for:

77. The fact that it is now half term! Yay!!
78. Finding new groups, communities and opportunities every day in blogland :)
79. Time to relax, and giving myself permission to rest a little (for once!)
80. Cool TV shows like NCIS.

Here's this week's round up of feline favourites too :)

These week's feline goodness comes from a new Etsy Team I recently joined. It's called Cat's Rule: The Truth About Cats. Here are some of my favourite cat goodies from my fellow team members :)

These handmade catnip mice look like fun. I reckon my cats would love them :)

I love this poster. And sadly it's true. You can easily buy a cat's love with food :)

Look at this crocheted kitty hat. It's adorable, right?

I love this kitty art. It's so dreamy and whimsical. Lovely colours and textures too.

Here's a little request from me - I am really trying to spread the word about this hop and invite more and more people to join together in appreciating the small things and celebrating kitties. I would absolutely love it if you would tweet to your friends and followers all about it as you link up. All you have to do is click the little button below and the message will be there ready for you to post :) I'd be so very grateful if you did ...

Now it's your turn - link up all things feline and all things grateful below. I can't wait to see what you have for me this week :)

Happy Aloha Friday!

2013-05-24T22:43:00.003+01:00

You can click on each of the hosts & co-hosts links and labels to easy follow them! If you want to go to their main blog and follow from there, click their link in the hop below!

You can also share any blog hops you are hosting by linking your blog hop post in our linky below! I love to join new blog hops, so please share them! We had over 400+ link ups!! Each name gets clicked on average 5-50 times so link up, get some followers!!

To ensure a follow back from me, leave a comment with a link to your blog!

An easy, quick way to follow each of the hosts is by clicking on buttons labeled "GFC" or "Bloglovin'" under each picture!

Grab our button!!

(Other button sizes {big & small} available HERE)

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.whatjeanlikes.com/search/label/aloha" title="Aloha Friday Blog Hop" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee419/whatjeanlikes/AlohaFridayBlogHopbutton.jpg" alt="Aloha Friday Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Welcome to WEEK 57 of the Aloha Friday Blog Hop!

Here's the extra special addition to our lovely hop. It's an oh-so-easy opportunity for you lovely participants of the Aloha Friday Blog hop to get some exposure to your blogs!! What do you have to do to enter? Just link up to the Aloha Friday Blog Hop Below!! It's that easy!! No extra forms or hassle, just link up! Each week we will pick a linker to featured at random and invite you all to say ...

<div align="center"><a href="http://acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Aloha" title="Aloha Hoapili" target="_blank"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4bM2HwNLY8/UKnx1zTR7aI/AAAAAAAAI1I/jrflm1VMyzw/s1600/Aloha+Friend+button.jpg" alt="Aloha Hoapili" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Aloha Hoapili translates as Hello Close Friend. So, without further ado let me introduce you to this week's featured friend...

Aimy Michelle at

The Ramblings of Aimy Michelle.

Aimy blogs all about books, love and life in general.

Want a little taste of her blog? Check out these posts to find out what you've been missing:

A Book Review and a Giveaway The Internet is Funny VoxBox Review

If you're interested in co-hosting future month's Aloha Friday Blog Hop, please email jean@whatjeanlikes.com for more info.

Want a chance to win $750 Cash?

Come enter my Big May Giveaway

Linking up to the Aloha Friday Blog Hop gets you an extra 10 entries into this giveaway!

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Link up to this week's hop.

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To guarantee a follow back from What Jean Likes, please leave a comment. Makes it easier and faster! :) [Still working on following everyone back from last week so don't worry, I will follow you back if I haven't already!]

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Lovelies: More Etsy Goodies

2013-05-23T10:00:00.000+01:00

Hey there people and happy Thursday to you!! I hope you are having a lovely day, wherever in the world you may be.
Today I wanted to share with you a lovely Etsy store I recently found. Welcome to Soul Brush Art. This is a store full of Modern/contemporary art, all original, all done with love and 'soul'. (Jocelyn's African roots run very deeply throughout everything she does.) Let's dive into some of my favourites shall we :)

I love the symmetry and the sense of movement in this painting. So unusual.

I love the tenderness in this picture - such a loving family unit.

Such joy in this picture. I love the playfulness of it.

There's such joy in this picture. The colours are so very rich.

I hope you enjoyed this little look around another store. It's so inspiring to discover new art work and new artists.Have a great day people!

Behind The Scenes: WOYWW

2013-05-22T10:00:00.000+01:00

Hey there lovelies! I thought I'd share a little of what has been on my work desk lately. I am linking up with lots of lovely arty blog hops for this post. You can check them out on my parties page :)

Today I wanted to share some more lovely ACEOs I created for my store. I enjoyed working on such a small scale for a change. And after my ATC experience from last week I really wanted to make more.

Here are some of my illustrations before I added any colour.

Some wonderfully whimsical girls. I love these little cards so much!

These ones are filled with secret style quotes. The perfect wish for abundance and a happy life.

Some little kitty designs, full of colour. I used a combination of pro markers, watercolour pencils and metallics.

This set is all about love and friendship.

And of course - more kitty love!

If you'd like to check these out in all their glory then feel free to visit the ACEO Section of my store. You can favourite them as many times as you'd like :)

Have a great day people! I hope there's lots of inspiring art and creativity on your work desks this week too!

DIY How To: Revamp a Shoe Rack

2013-05-21T10:00:00.000+01:00

Hey there people and Happy Tuesday to you! I hope you're having a great day, wherever in the world you may be.

Today I thought I'd share with you a recent revamp project I did on a drawer unit I thrifted for only £20. It originally looked like this:

Full of little wooden drawers, which I decided to remove and use for stacking storage on my desk.

Home for my pro markers.

Having taken out the drawers I decided to use some of my left over PVC material from the tee pee I made to line the shelves. I felt this would make the shoe storage more durable for wet shoes and the like. I cut it to size first of all.

Then I simply stapled it in place - so simple!

Here it is next to my lovely braided rug. I think it looks pretty good.

I was really happy with how this turned out. It gave us some much needed storage for our little entryway and it looks pretty too :)

Inspire!

2013-05-20T10:00:00.000+01:00

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Hey there people and Happy Monday to you. I hope you have had a lovely weekend and are looking forward to a great week. I am looking forward to my half term break at the end of this week, and having the time to complete my next big venture :)
Today I wanted to share with some more uplifting loveliness from the wonderful Leonie Dawson. Not only is she an extremely talented artist but also she's a business guru who just can't help but give away all kinds of things absolutely free!
A little while back Leonie posted a series of videos (again for free!) all about the 10 Rules we need in our lives. I wanted to share some of those ideas with you today, along with my responses to each rule. The videos were such an inspiration to me, and such a source of happiness I can't help but want to pass those feelings on to others.

Rule No 5: Be an arrogant idiot!

This one looks a bit weird - that's for sure. Why would anyone want to be arrogant? Well, when a touch of arrogance is the thing that makes you share your gifts and ideas with the world perhaps it isn't such a bad thing.
Having watched Leonie's video I realised kinda blissfully and also in an embarrassed sort of way that I don't suffer from a lack of arrogance!
I don't have to wait for approval or some kind of qualification before I set my ideas free into the world. I am often so excited to introduce them that I do so before they're even finished! I am so excited by new ideas and new art works I simply can't wait to introduce them into the world at large :)
I guess the message here is to be a little more arrogant and don't be afraid to fly your flag nice and high over the world. Get your message out! Share your creative ideas and inspiration! What's the worst that could happen?
Sing your song from the rooftops and sing it loud and proud! No one on this earth has the same gifts as you! You are unique, fabulous and your gifts are meant to be heard, seen and enjoyed :)
Such a joyful message to send out to the world. What would you share if you had the arrogance to do so?

Each week I highlight some sources of inspiration to me. They may be a source of inspiration for day to day life, for my art or for any other aspect of my life. I really hope these will inspire you too!

Now it's time for my featured linker of the week. I had lots of lovely linkups last Monday, but one of my favourites was this post by Day about her battle against kindness. She is asking for and receiving small acts of kindness not just for while she receives radiation therapy but for afterwards. She won't be able to touch her kids or anything or anyone else for a while after her therapy. The things I have never considered about undertaking such intrusive therapy. Here's to wishing her the best in her treatment and hoping she finds the support she needs to recover fully.

Grab a button if you were featured!

If you'd like to be in with a chance to be featured on ACLC then simply link up your inspirational posts below :)

Here's a little request from me - I am really trying to spread the word about this hop and invite more and more people to join together in inspiration. I would absolutely love it if you would tweet to your friends and followers all about it as you link up. All you have to do is click the little button below and the message will be there ready for you to post :) I'd be so very grateful if you did ...

Now it's your turn - link up all things inspirational below. Let's spread some lovely inspirational, light and love around the blogosphere!
Have a great day people - don't forget to be arrogant to make your creative dreams come true :)

Super Handmade Sundays

2013-05-19T10:00:00.000+01:00

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Hey there people and Happy Sunday to you!! I hope you have had a fabulous week, wherever in the world you may be. This week has been a busy one of behind the scenes works for my newest venture. Details to follow asap!
Just a little reminder for you, before I get to my handmade goodies ;)

Every linker will have their link featured in social media shout outs by me over the course of this week. So, if you want to get some sponsor-type promotion for your Handmade goodness absolutely FREE, just link up below! Blog posts, items and stores are all welcome :)

This week, I wanted to share with you some goodies from a lovely store I recently found. The store is called Marcia Beckett and is a mixed media world! Here you will find collage packs, magazines, postcards and vintage ephemera. In addition you will see some whimsical and colorful artwork for sale. Here are some of my favourites:

This mixed media work is just lovely. I really like the colour combination here.

This is such a clever idea. A PDF of drawing prompts to keep you inspired.

Need some materials to collage with? Look no further.

Loving this little guy too. Such an endearing little face!

Here's a new request from me - I am really trying to spread the word about this hop and invite more and more people to join together in sharing our handmade goodies. I would absolutely love it if you would tweet to your friends and followers all about it as you link up. All you have to do is click the little button below and the message will be there ready for you to post :) I'd be so very grateful if you did ...

Now it's your turn - link up all things handmade below. DIY blog posts, handmade items and stores. All very welcome :)

I'll tweet all about you if you do!

Caturday!

2013-05-18T10:00:00.000+01:00

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This Caturday I would like to be thankful for:

73. The fact that my newest venture is almost complete and ready to release into the world! I am SO excited about this and I can't wait to tell you all about it.
74. MHI putting up with my constant immersion in my idea and my subsequent exhaustion over the past week or two. He puts up with a lot :)
75. Some gorgeous new art work I received last weekend which is brightening up my home and becoming a part of my new mantra "She believed she could so she did". Amen to that.
76. Having a comfortable enough life that I have the space and time to create new ideas and try new things.

Here's this week's round up of feline favourites too :)

These week's feline goodness comes from some of my favourite kitty linkers to Caturday. Have a look, see if you've been featured :)

Look. at. this. teeny. kitten! The cutest kitten photo in the world!

I love the story of these two friends. With each other through thick and thin :)

When cats take over your blog. (They learn to wink, apparently!)

I love the story of these little guys - all making their own way in the world. Still stubbornly independent.

Now it's your turn - link up all things feline and all things grateful below. I can't wait to see what you have for me this week :)

Happy Aloha Friday!

2013-05-17T16:35:00.000+01:00

You can click on each of the hosts & co-hosts links and labels to easy follow them! If you want to go to their main blog and follow from there, click their link in the hop below!

You can also share any blog hops you are hosting by linking your blog hop post in our linky below! I love to join new blog hops, so please share them! We had over 420+ link ups!! Each name gets clicked on average 5-50 times so link up, get some followers!!

To ensure a follow back from me, leave a comment with a link to your blog!

An easy, quick way to follow each of the hosts is by clicking on buttons labeled "GFC" or "Bloglovin'" under each picture!

Grab our button!!

(Other button sizes {big & small} available HERE)

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.whatjeanlikes.com/search/label/aloha" title="Aloha Friday Blog Hop" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee419/whatjeanlikes/AlohaFridayBlogHopbutton.jpg" alt="Aloha Friday Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Welcome to WEEK 56 of the Aloha Friday Blog Hop!

<div align="center"><a href="http://acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Aloha" title="Aloha Hoapili" target="_blank"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4bM2HwNLY8/UKnx1zTR7aI/AAAAAAAAI1I/jrflm1VMyzw/s1600/Aloha+Friend+button.jpg" alt="Aloha Hoapili" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Aloha Hoapili translates as Hello Close Friend. So, without further ado let me introduce you to this week's featured friend...

Melissa at This Girls Life.

Melissa blogs all about DIY, food and the adventures of life!

Want a little taste of her blog? Check out these posts to find out what you've been missing:

Tips for Happy Feet
DIY Spring Wreath
Cake Mix Cookies

If you're interested in co-hosting future month's Aloha Friday Blog Hop, please email jean@whatjeanlikes.com for more info.

Want a chance to win $750 Cash?

Come enter my Big May Giveaway

Linking up to the Aloha Friday Blog Hop gets you an extra 10 entries into this giveaway!

Follow our lovely Post Sponsor!

Link up to this week's hop.

get the InLinkz code

Lovelies: Etsy Goodies

2013-05-16T10:00:00.000+01:00

Hey there people and happy Thursday to you!! I hope you are having a lovely day, wherever in the world you may be.
Today I wanted to share with you first of all a lovely Etsy store I recently found. Welcome to Kiss My Patootie!
Here you will find a huge range of handmade kids and adults clothing, gifts, jewellery and accessories. All of these creations are lovingly handmade in Australia by a very talented, creative and fabulous designer. Let's dive in to some of my favourites shall we?

These are gorgeous. I love the butterfly design :)

I love this top too. So colourful and interesting. And it's reversible. Two designs in one!

I love this design. Such a little cutie of a ring.

This twitter bird skirt is so lovely. I'd love to have a skirt like this, especially for the summer time.

What a lovely, varied shop eh?! I loved having a good look around. I like to find shops a little like mine, that sell lots of different items.

I also wanted to share a little event a good friend of mine has planned. She is the lovely Kim of Peaches and Pebbles fame. And she is holding an online auction of her gorgeous jewellery. Here are the details:

To access the auction site click here.

Just search for "Tophatter app" on your IPhone to get your discount :)

Have a great day people!

Behind The Scenes: WOYWW

2013-05-15T10:00:00.000+01:00

I joined in with an ATC swap over on Willowing (which is like a cool art club where we can share art and take part in online classes) and had a go at creating some cute little teeny cards to send to my swap partner Vivien. I am going to make some sets of ATC's available on my store very soon - I am kind of addicted to making then now :)

Here are some lovely sleepy looking Facecinating girls I made via my online class. I am experimenting with unusual hair colours at the moment :)

I also received some gorgeous art prints this week in the post, and they are there inspiring me as I work. This one is by the lovely Christine. I love the Owl and The Pussy Cat.

This one is from the lovely Shaun Petite. "She Believed she Could and so she Did." This is right above my desk, providing oodles of lovely inspiration :)

Shaun also sent some lovely little prints as extra special extras. You can also see my little thank you from Christine, pinned up to my noticeboard :)

I hope you enjoyed this little peek at my desk - have a great day lovelies :)

Tips and Tricks: Blog Spring Cleaning

2013-05-14T10:00:00.000+01:00

Hey there people and Happy Tuesday to you! I hope you're having a fabulous day, wherever in the world you may be.
Today I wanted to share some ideas for spring cleaning your blog. If you've been blogging for a while (I have been on the blogosphere for nearly 4 years now!) your style and layout for your blog will no doubt have changed as you've learned new things and gotten settled in your style and topics.
I was recently spurred on to perform a big spring clean for my blog by a newsletter article from the lovely Sarah at Yes and Yes. She outlined some tools and tips and made me think I should definitely do this for myself. Here's what I chose to do.
1. Check the links on all of my pages. You can use tools for this but I decided to check them all manually. A labour of love that was well worth it.
2. Add my animated signature to each page. For a time I had different signatures on each page (from all of the various times I have updated the way I sign off my posts). Now they are all the same :) It looks so much prettier that way.
3. Check and revamp pages where necessary. I have some shop guides on my blog which need to be regularly updated as the contents of my store evolve and grow.
4. Revamp your greatest hits page. It's always a good idea to have a link to your greatest hits. I revamped this page to include photos from the posts rather just having a set of text links to click. Simples!
5. Go through all of your posts. From the beginning. This was a very long job but also a fun one to be honest. It's like reading a book about your life :) Here are the things I checked and changed:

Re-size the pictures in your post to the same size (as much as you can!) This is so easy in blogger as you can simply click on large or extra large and make them the same. Do check the quality of the picture though when enlarging it. If it comes out all pixelated it might be best to keep it at the original size rather than deal with a fuzzy image. You could choose to replace the image, but I didn't want to re-write my blog so I kept the image at the original size where necessary.
Name your photos. This will make your photos show up in google searches (therefore making it easier for people to find your blog posts!) This also makes your blog accessible to those who have a visual impairment, which is definitely a great thing to do :)
Remove links from photos (unless they link to somewhere useful!) This is something I always do (as I hate it when you accidentally click on a photo on a blog and are confronted with that black screen and a big version of the photo there!) Here's an informative picture to help you do these little photo jobs :)

Check the links you have in your posts. I went through and removed links that were broken and tried to fix them as much as possible. It's important (I think) not to re-write history here (as with the tips above). Unless you are wanting to overhaul your blog I wouldn't alter too much or sweat the small stuff. Some of my links (especially to Etsy items) are still there even though the item has been sold. They still show you where to find the store you linked originally though, which could well be handy enough! I focused mainly on fixing links to my own pages and posts and didn't worry overly about external links. On the whole though, the majority of the links on my blog are now up and running and good to go!
Justify all of your text. This is an aesthetic choice I suppose. I personally prefer having my text justified rather than have the raggedy edges of a left alignment. I really don't like posts that are centre aligned. Everyone will have their own preferences here. The thing that I wanted to achieve though was consistency. Whichever alignment you prefer, go through and make all of your posts the same.
Add your current blog signature to all of your posts. When I first started blogging I didn't always sign off my posts at all! Shock, horror! But by going through all of my posts and adding in my signature I am making my blog much more consistent and also visually appealing.

This took me about two weeks to accomplish all of this, and was quite a labour intensive task I have to say. I did do it whilst watching TV for company though, so it wasn't all bad. Ghost Whisperer marathon anyone?!

I hope these tips might prove useful to you lovely blogging ladies (and gents!) - have a fantastic day!

Inspire!

2013-05-13T10:00:00.000+01:00

Grab a button and link up below!! If you'd like a different sized button click here.

Hey there people and Happy Monday to you. I hope you are
Today I thought I'd share with you some more inspirational goodies from the lovely Leonie Dawson. I know I talk about Leonie and her works of wisdom a lot here on the blog. That is because she is such an inspiration to me. I have signed up to her wonderful free E-Zine, and receive so many goodies and so much wisdom via this little slice of emailed goodness.
This week I received an email with an updated version of her Biz and Blog Star Workbook contained within it and I was absolutely blown away by it. I have read it before of course, alongside lots of other free goodies that Leonie regularly gives away in her E-Zines. However, on reading it again something shifted inside me. I had one of those magical moments of awakening and realising a wonderful gem of an idea was right there waiting for me to develop. What was the page which gave me that awakening? It was Leonie's own success story that gave me the hint.
Let me explain.
I took some screen shots of the pages that made that shift in my brain happen, along with some of my own words from my own experience. I'd literally LOVE it if this experience of mine might spark a little light of recognition and spark of inspiration for you too :)

The first page with all of the juicy details of what's contained inside. And the lovely Leonie there, encouraging you along your way :)

This is part of Leonie's own story of where she started with her own business. She did the sums and worked out exactly what she needed first of all. What she needed to make working for herself a possibility. I think this is such a valuable activity I think. It really focuses the mind on what is necessary and allows you to break things down realistically and look at your goals in the light of where you are now and where you'd like to be in the future.

Here is the genius step. Leonie walks through what she currently has for sale and works out how she can make her dream figure of $100,000. Have you ever done this? Sat with the figures of what you currently have to offer and literally worked out how much you'd need to sell in order to achieve your financial goals? It's an eye opener for sure. I do this when setting targets for my business and I have financial and sales targets for my year. It can really make you realise just how much good stuff you have offer the world!

Wow. This was the moment for me. I thought about my own goods and gifts and saw a way I could make this style of selling and this way of offering up your gifts to the world work for me. And I'm so very happy about it! I am now facing into weeks of intense hard work in getting this off the ground but I literally could not be happier! I am so excited to share more of this germ of an idea with you guys as I go along through the process. For now, all I'll say is that it is an opportunity for me to share my gifts, create a gorgeous community of like-minded souls and provide invaluable support to my blog sisters. Details to follow asap!

Now it's time for my featured linker of the week. I had lots of lovely linkups last Monday, but one of my favourites was this one from Barb. The main mantra from this post? Let me share it with you:

"Living life to match a number on the scales or in your clothes is not living."

Amen to that Barb! Don't forget to head over and check out the whole post :)

Grab a button if you were featured!

If you'd like to be in with a chance to be featured on ACLC then simply link up your inspirational posts below :)

Here's a little request from me - I am really trying to spread the word about this hop and invite more and more people to join together in inspiration. I would absolutely love it if you would tweet to your friends and followers all about it as you link up. All you have to do is click the little button below and the message will be there ready for you to post :) I'd be so very grateful if you did ...

Super Handmade Sundays

2013-05-12T10:00:00.000+01:00

Grab a button and linkup below! If you'd like a different sized button click here.

Hey there people and Happy Sunday to you!! I hope you have had a fabulous week, wherever in the world you may be. This week has been a shorter working one for me, but still full of activities and things to be done.
Just a little reminder for you, before I get to my handmade goodies ;)

Every linker will have their link featured in social media shout outs by me over the course of this week. So, if you want to get some sponsor-type promotion for your Handmade goodness absolutely FREE, just link up below! Blog posts, items and stores are all welcome :)

This week, I wanted to share with you some goodies from a shop I've recently discovered. Let me share with you some of my favourites from the store Pat's Bead Hive :)

The colours in this piece are really lovely.

This watch is pretty and sparkly too :)

This glass necklace is really special.

A lovely Mother of Pearl necklace.

Now it's your turn - link up all things handmade below. DIY blog posts, handmade items and stores. All very welcome :)

I'll tweet all about you if you do!

Caturday!

2013-05-11T10:00:00.000+01:00

Grab a button and link up below! If you'd like a different sized button click here.

This Caturday I would like to be thankful for:

69. The fact that I seem to have recovered some of my missing energy from these past few weeks. Yay!

70. I have had so many lovely grateful comments over on my Curiously Gorgeous Giveaway post. It's nice to read what others are grateful for :)

71. I am sketching and drawing and creating more than ever. I have more ideas than I have time to execute!

72. I have a fantastic idea for a great opportunity for all of you. I will keep you posted, but let's just say for now that communities will be built, awesomeness will be shared and we will all share the love together. SO excited!

Here's this week's round up of feline favourites too :)

These week's feline goodness comes from good old Etsy once again :) I picked out some kitty goodies from my favourites.

I love this quilted cat mat. It seems so cosy. It would be covered in fluff in no time at our house though.

This cat cushion is the cutest.

These kitty charms are adorable.

This kitty card is absolutely gorgeous too.

This kitty magnets with moustaches are the work of genius!

This kitty watercolour is really adorable too.

Now it's your turn - link up all things feline and all things grateful below. I can't wait to see what you have for me this week :)

Happy Aloha Friday!

2013-05-10T10:00:00.000+01:00

You can click on each of the hosts & co-hosts links and labels to easy follow them! If you want to go to their main blog and follow from there, click their link in the hop below!

You can also share any blog hops you are hosting by linking your blog hop post in our linky below! I love to join new blog hops, so please share them! We had over 370+ link ups!! Each name gets clicked on average 5-50 times so link up, get some followers!!

To ensure a follow back from me, leave a comment with a link to your blog!

An easy, quick way to follow each of the hosts is by clicking on buttons labeled "GFC" or "Bloglovin'" under each picture!

Grab our button!!(Other button sizes {big & small} available HERE)

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.whatjeanlikes.com/search/label/aloha" title="Aloha Friday Blog Hop" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee419/whatjeanlikes/AlohaFridayBlogHopbutton.jpg" alt="Aloha Friday Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Welcome to WEEK 55 of the Aloha Friday Blog Hop!

<div align="center"><a href="http://acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Aloha" title="Aloha Hoapili" target="_blank"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4bM2HwNLY8/UKnx1zTR7aI/AAAAAAAAI1I/jrflm1VMyzw/s1600/Aloha+Friend+button.jpg" alt="Aloha Hoapili" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Aloha Hoapili translates as Hello Close Friend. So, without further ado let me introduce you to this week's featured friend...

Karina at Mom In The USA.

Karina blogs all about charities, decor, jewellery and much more!

Want a little taste of her blog?

Check out these posts to find out what you've been missing:

Giving Back In May Good For You Did You Know?

If you're interested in co-hosting future month's Aloha Friday Blog Hop, please email jean@whatjeanlikes.com for more info.

Do you want to be part of my Big May $675+ Cash Giveaway? Click here for more info on how to get involved:

Big May Giveaway

Brand spankin' new giveaway from your lovely co-host Sarah:

A Curiously Gorgeous Giveaway

Some exciting contests Jean's co-hosting that you may want to enter:

Win $500 VISA Gift Card (ends 5/10) | Win $100 Cash (ends 5/10) | $230 Cash Giveaway (Ends 5/17) | $100 Visa + Jewelry Giveaway

Follow our lovely Post Sponsor!

Want your link to be one of the first people see? Sponsor What Jean Likes by purchasing an ad space!! All Sponsors are automatically linked up! More info on becoming a

sponsor {here}

50% off ALL ads this month! Use code: MAY

Link up to this week's hop.

get the InLinkz code

A Curiously Gorgeous Giveaway for May

2013-05-09T10:00:00.000+01:00

Hey there people and Happy Thursday to you! I hope you're having a great day, wherever in the world you may be.

As promised, today is the day for my first ever Curiously Gorgeous Giveaway! SO exciting. I have lots of lovely prizes up for grabs and there will be a winner for each prize! My lovely sponsors have been very generous in their giveaway items and I have joined in too. There will be ten winners altogether - just because I love to spread the giveaway love as far and as wide as I can :) So just enter the individual rafflecopters for a chance to win each prize :)

So, let's get our party on people - here are my lovely sponsors giveaway prizes for you (just click on the pics to visit their stores/blogs):

a Rafflecopter giveaway

No Rafflecopter for me - just leave a blog post comment telling me about something you're grateful for at the moment. I really want to know what makes you happy :)

This gorgeous giveaway is open worldwide and will run until Monday 13th May. Happy entering people and have a great day :)

Behind The Scenes: WOYWW

2013-05-08T10:00:00.000+01:00

First up this week - my brand new gadget the Slice! It is so awesome. My lovely MHI bought it for me and I love it already. It cuts fabric, card and paper into all kinds of designs.

It also comes with all of the tools you need to get started.

This was the first word I cut out with it - such a lovely design. I can't wait to collage these cuttings into my art work.

I had a little play, to make sure all of the design cards worked with it. Not a bad haul. I cut out all of these in maybe 10 minutes maximum. Which is awesome :)

I also started the facesinating girls art course this week. These stamps arrived to use and modify and I've been having fun playing with them ever since.

Here's a girl in progress. I can't wait to share her with you when she's finished :)

I hope you enjoyed this little peek at my desk this week.

Have a great day people!

The Secrets of Etsy Success

2013-05-07T16:00:00.000+01:00

Hey there people! I am so excited today to continue my Secrets of Etsy Success series on ACLC.

In this monthly series I will be interviewing some fabulous Etsy store owners and picking their brains about how they made a success of their small business. The aim with this series is twofold: 1. To bring some of their lovely items to your attention and 2. To inspire you in your own Etsy Success Story.

I have been inspired by reading some of the pearls of wisdom in these posts and I very much hope you will be too. So, have you got yourself a notebook and pencil? Then let the learning commence! Today I would like to introduce to you the lovely Olga from the gorgeous soft creatures store Wassupbrothers.

{ BLOG }{ SHOP }

Tell us a little something about your store and what you sell

My name is Olga Zamyatina and I am owl addicted softie maker based in Moscow, Russia with my beloved husband Igor who is a photographer, who always supports me and takes beautiful photos of my creations for my shop, Wassupbrothers.

I try to re-purpose, recycle and reuse different materials as often as possible.

Basically I make my softies without patterns, just taking the pieces of cloth and watching how they come out. It's like magic to see how small scraps, vintage buttons, sweaters or old dresses turn into soulful creations. My softie business is what I'm doing everyday and almost every night for the last 1 and a half years.

What made you decide to start your store?

I always knew I could sell my works, but from the start I wasn't brave enough for that. At first I just couldn't imagine how I could give my creatures to somebody else. But after making toys for a friend of mine I realised how many positive emotions my toys give and how many people want them, I decided to go ahead, and do what I love to do, in my eco recycling way.

Where do you get your inspiration from for your products?

Everything besides loud music and phone calls . I love silence or relaxing background music. All I need are just my fabrics, scraps and buttons.

My inspiration comes from the nature, animals, pieces of fabric, strange colors combinations and our wonderful funny dogs.

I never know what I will see in the end, that’s why I do not use patterns mostly.

What is your definition of success? Did/do you have a set number of sales/items listed that you aimed/are aiming for?

My first goal was to open an Etsy shop. At that time I had no idea what I wanted to sell. Well, I have my shop now :)

My name can be found on google without any problems.

My second goal was 100 sales. Well I have done that and I'm moving onto 200 sales now. Yes it makes my head dizzy but I still have lots of things to do.

I didn’t realise how successful my Etsy shop was until I became a featured seller on the site in October 2012. Not long ago, I couldn’t even imagine that I would end up on the main page of Etsy and be there for a few days in the same list as so many remarkable sellers, crafters and shops! I make friends on Etsy and Facebook. Now I know personally the people who inspired me for a long time. Yay! That is so wonderful .

If you have achieved your definition of success, how long did it take you to get there?

I am still moving towards it. I love this phrase:

'' Success is a journey not a destination.'' Absolutely, 100% true.

I hope my softie business will grow and I can live without all this money issues I have now and I can live and make my little friends day by day. I want to be more organized and more focused and productive in what I'm doing . I love to give new life to what were useless old things, and I want to make them for as long as I can, and share my ideas with others.

What would be your top tips for:

Marketing

I promote my shop on treasuries and joined teams on Etsy, I post on my blog and Facebook business page. I also use Twitter.

I hold giveaways regularly on my blog or others blogs, which brings new people to me and my work.

For now most sales are made on Etsy. Offline I have only a few of my creatures in 2 stores in Moscow, Russia.

Networking

I think networking is the biggest part of my business. I have a blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest . Mostly I use Facebook for now. I think it's the best and fastest way to show my works in progress and new finished creatures, news and giveaway info. My husband is a photographer. And when he has time he takes funny and lovely photos of Wassupbrothers owls, cats and others . Sometimes I think I post too many photos on Facebook. He he :) But I cant stop. I want to share them with friends and customers :)

Encouraging sales

Good photos on Etsy. It is very important. Great, full of light photos are still number one on Etsy .The secret is not only in great quality photos, but in having a style. They have to be interesting and catch your eye at the first moment. Now I feel like I need to refresh some of the item's photos. Spring refreshing is always nice :)

Right Tagging - always important.

And always try something new. I love to make owls, but I never say to something new. Custom frog? Ok, let's try :)

Elephant? No problem- ?I will make it.

From time to time I make sales using some discount codes or special offers for some of the items.

Keeping your customers loyal

I include a discount code coupon with every purchase, a little handwritten postcard and simple cute packaging are included too.

I answer every email and message as fast as I can. I know all the worries when we purchase something on the internet from the other side of the world and have no idea what is going on with our package. I am the same, I feel more happy when I have news and updates from the seller. So I try my best to keep my customers informed. I think it's always important to say the truth. And even if I have some problems with finishing the order in time, or my post office changed working hours, it is better to say it like it is. I had a situation, when I ordered some supplies and the seller said it was shipped on one date, but later I saw on the tracking info and parcel's stamp info that it was sent 2 or 3 weeks later. Naah! Not good.

Anything else you have found invaluable

Stay positive. Stay truthful. Try your best to make your customers happy! What can be better then happy customers who became friends. I always make a happy dance when my customers sending me photos of my creatures in a new house :)

Its like hearing a''HI'' from my kids :)

Pick an item to feature from your store – it could be your favourite, your newest or a best seller. What do you think is so special about that item? Sell it to us!

I love all of my creatures . Some of them have a higher price and not everybody can afford to buy them.

But I have a great offer: Grab bags for one or 2 little owls . It is a wonderful surprise for you or your loved ones. Each mystery grab bag contains unique handmade little owls at a great friendly price.

What a great interview Olga - so much wisdom plus many cute pictures of her gorgeous softies.

Have a great day people!

Lovelies ...

2013-05-07T10:00:00.000+01:00

Hey there people and happy Tuesday to you!! I hope you are having a lovely day, wherever in the world you may be.
Today I wanted to share some lovely internet goodness with you here on the blog. So, sit back, grab a cuppa and enjoy a really good read!

My Favourite things about Mayra's Blog:

She speaks from the heart
She's occasionally bonkers! But in the good way of course ;)
She's such a supportive and genuine blogger

My Favourite Posts:

Five things

I Feel Myself Slipping Away

A Name for Nameless Artwork

My Favourite things about Christine's Store:

She creates artwork full of whimsy and warmth
Her about page is full of loveliness and bliss
She offers custom work as well as ready made loveliness.

My Favourite Items:

The Owl and the Pussycat plus a guitar!

A Beautiful Farming Harvest

An Award Winning Kayaking Print

My Favourite things about Abusiti's Store:

She uses gorgeous African patterns in her designs
She has a lovely range of items available
She uses really bold and lovely colours

My Favourite Items:

Total African Village

Gorgeous African Prints

African Safari

My Favourite things about Chelsea's Blog:

She designs lovely free desktops
She says it like it is - no pussyfooting around
Her blog is a lovely mix of pink and sparkly - what's not to like?!

My Favourite Posts:

Finding Time for Life

A Lovely May Calendar

The Skinny on Skin

My Favourite things about Angel's Blog:

She gives away a lot of candy each month
She's very funny about day to day life events
The lovely art work she shares on the regular

My Favourite Posts:

Blueberry Muffins - yum!
April Candy - a cool giveaway :)
Playroom - some cool ideas.

My Favourite things about Tess' Blog:

She blogs about goals and plans
She blogs from the heart
She has a sense of humour

My Favourite Posts:

A Tender Heart
How to get what you want out of date night
Funny Breakfasts

My Favourite things about Holly's Blog:

She blogs about lots of lovely craft projects
She supports charities
She participates in kind hearted blogging hops :)

My Favourite Posts:

May Day Spring Mantle

Make a Wish Foundation

Banana Cookie Goodness

My Favourite things about Sabz Blog:

She has such a pretty pink blog :)
She's funny and to the point
She posts the cutest videos of her kiddies dancing!

My Favourite Posts:

Closing of the Circle

Kids Activities

Some Halloween Goodness

My Favourite things about Allie's Store:

She makes the most beautiful colourful art
Her work is full of whimsy
She combines great words with inspiring art

My Favourite Items:

Not Before the Coffee
Giraffe Art
Life as a Daring Adventure

These lovely blogs and stores are brightening up my sidebar no end for the month of May. Don't forget to check these lovely ladies out!

These lovely ladies will also be participating in my first ever Curiously Gorgeous Giveaway! This will be live on the blog on Thursday - don't forget to pop back to enter and win :) LOTS of lovely prizes for you lovely readers!

Have a great day people!

Inspire!

2013-05-06T10:00:00.000+01:00

Grab a button and link up below!! If you'd like a different sized button click here.

Hey there people and Happy Monday to you. I hope you are having a lovely long bank holiday weekend (if you're here in the UK) and are looking forward to a great week. I have had a lovely weekend full of creating art for my online class and trying out my new slice gadget. Pictures to follow on all of those projects. I also picked my wedding dress and the dresses for my bridesmaids - cuteness!
Today I thought I'd share with you some more inspirational goodies from my Taking Flight book by Kelly Rae. This week's session was all about Facing Your Fears. Maybe we all have a set of fears that kind of hold us in place, or keep us from reaching out to people we'd like to work with, or keep us from trying new things at all. They may be fears we are aware of, or they may be lurking in our subconscious. Wherever they may be, they can really hold us back from reaching our potential and achieving what we'd like to achieve.
My fear? Creatively I am afraid of messing up. I am wary of just having a go and creating for fear of wasting materials and having nothing to show for it. This really stops me from doing new things and trying new things. I feel like I might just mess up the materials I have and then be disappointed afterwards. It's a very limiting fear.
"We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears." Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We all need to focus on taking a small step towards our hopes and dreams, whatever they may be. Putting aside our fears and working towards what we want and need in our lives in order to feel fulfilled is our most important job and our most important purpose on this earth. It's the only way we can really live a soulful and fulfilling life.
So, what would I do if I wasn't afraid? I would create things, waste paper and paint, be free and uninhibited in my artistic life. There would be messes aplenty but also lots of wonderful new and exciting artwork and other things. Which sounds like fun!
So now I must try to remember how it felt to be fearless. Back when I was a child, was I ever fearless and able to create uninhibitedly? I honestly can't really remember how it felt to create things as a child. I really don't have the best memory, to be honest though!
I can tell you how it feels when I let myself create and let go of the need for perfection now though. I am already much less afraid of making mistakes than I ever was. I try new things all the time. Sewing new items for my store, making new necklaces using my art work. I feel so happy when I try these new things. The fear is still there though - and I feel a strong sense of relief once the outcome is a successful one.
Here are some more inspiring quotes from Kelly Rae's books that resonated with me when I read them:
"Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see." William Newton Clark.
"The death of fear is in doing what you fear to do." Sequichie Comingdeer.
"Do one thing every day that frightens you." Eleanor Roosevelt.

Now it's time for my featured linker of the week. I had lots of lovely linkups last Monday, but one of my favourites was this one by Jessica Sporn. Just take a look at her finished Journal art:

Jessica had to start this wonderful project by destroying a book. By having the faith to make a mess she is left with a wonderful piece of art work in it's place. It reminds me that making a mess could well be necessary - destroying something could be necessary in order to create something more amazing. Lesson learned!

Grab a button if you were featured!

If you'd like to be in with a chance to be featured on ACLC then simply link up your inspirational posts below :)

Now it's your turn - link up all things inspirational below. Let's spread some lovely inspirational, light and love around the blogosphere!

Have a great day people - here's to making a mess!

Oh, and ps!! Don't forget to pop back on Thursday for my first ever Curiously Gorgeous Giveaway! LOTS of lovely prizes up for grabs :)

Super Handmade Sunday

2013-05-05T10:00:00.000+01:00

Grab a button and linkup below! If you'd like a different sized button click here.

Hey there people and Happy Sunday to you!! I hope you have had a fabulous week, wherever in the world you may be. This week has been a quieter one for me, with the major project being the garden. LOTS of lovely plants planted and ready to be enjoyed come summer :)
Just a little reminder for you, before I get to my handmade goodies ;)

Every linker will have their link featured in social media shout outs by me over the course of this week. So, if you want to get some sponsor-type promotion for your Handmade goodness absolutely FREE, just link up below! Blog posts, items and stores are all welcome :)

This week, I wanted to share with you some goodies from some gorgeous Etsy stores. All with a lovely floral garden related theme. Enjoy!

Isn't this card gorgeous! I love the design and the little girl sniffing the lovely blooms :)

Aren't these sunglasses fantastic! I can imagine myself relaxing in the garden with these, drink in hand and surrounded by flowers.

I am looking forward to having some sweet peas in my garden someday. They are so lovely to cut and have around your home - such a gorgeous scent :)

I love this little brooch. So sweet and such lovely toning colours.

This sweetpea necklace is really lovely too!

Now it's your turn - link up all things handmade below. DIY blog posts, handmade items and stores. All very welcome :)

I'll tweet all about you if you do!

Caturday!

2013-05-04T10:00:00.000+01:00

Grab a button and link up below! If you'd like a different sized button click here.

This Caturday I would like to be thankful for:

65. I should have wedding attire sorted for me and the girls this weekend :)

66. I started a fantastic online painting course this week - I can't wait to get properly stuck in over the weekend :)

67. My coolest new gadget has arrived - I will so enjoy experimenting with my new slice. Photos of my projects will definitely follow!

68. The weather has been lovely - it needs to be this nice in July too.

Here's this week's round up of feline favourites too :)

These week's feline goodness comes first from a fab site I found recently, where you can make all kinds of kitty art out of actual kitties! Welcome to Neko :)
It's so easy to use and a lot of fun. Here's what I made:

Thanks to Neko I've made some lovely kitty art in little to no time at all. The site also has a blog with many cute kitty pics on and an upcoming opportunity to make pet fonts from your own animals. How cool would that be? That is providing my kitties would allow me to take so many photos. Le sigh.
Here's a new request from me - I am really trying to spread the word about this hop and invite more and more people to join together in appreciating the small things and celebrating kitties. I would absolutely love it if you would tweet to your friends and followers all about it as you link up. All you have to do is click the little button below and the message will be there ready for you to post :) I'd be so very grateful if you did ...

Now it's your turn people. Link up all things feline or all things grateful. Or indeed both!
Have a great Caturday everyone!

Happy Aloha Friday!

2013-05-03T13:40:00.000+01:00

You can click on each of the hosts & co-hosts links and labels to easy follow them! If you want to go to their main blog and follow from there, click their link in the hop below!

You can also share any blog hops you are hosting by linking your blog hop post in our linky below! I love to join new blog hops, so please share them! We had over 429 link ups!! Each name gets clicked on average 5-50 times so link up, get some followers!!

To ensure a follow back from me, leave a comment with a link to your blog!

An easy, quick way to follow each of the hosts is by clicking on buttons labeled "GFC" or "Bloglovin'" under each picture!

Grab our button!!

(Other button sizes {big & small} available HERE)

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.whatjeanlikes.com/search/label/aloha" title="Aloha Friday Blog Hop" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee419/whatjeanlikes/AlohaFridayBlogHopbutton.jpg" alt="Aloha Friday Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Welcome to WEEK 54 of the Aloha Friday Blog Hop!

<div align="center"><a href="http://acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Aloha" title="Aloha Hoapili" target="_blank"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4bM2HwNLY8/UKnx1zTR7aI/AAAAAAAAI1I/jrflm1VMyzw/s1600/Aloha+Friend+button.jpg" alt="Aloha Hoapili" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Aloha Hoapili translates as Hello Close Friend. So, without further ado let me introduce you to this week's featured friend...

Ann at Cairn Cottage.

Ann blogs all about cottage life, including decor, gardening and lake living.

Want a little taste of her blog? Check out these posts to find out what you've been missing:

Time for Tea to Warm the Soul

Renovation: A Before and After

Two/Too Cute Chi's

If you're interested in co-hosting future month's Aloha Friday Blog Hop, please email jean@whatjeanlikes.com for more info.

Do you want to be part of my Big May $300 Cash Giveaway? Click here for more info on how to get involved:

Big May Giveaway

Some exciting contests Jean's co-hosting that you may want to enter:

Win $500 VISA Gift Card (ends 5/10) | Win $100 Cash (ends 5/10) | Cash & More Mother's Day Giveaway (ends 5/5)

Follow our lovely Post Sponsor!

Link up to this week's hop.

get the InLinkz code

To guarantee a follow back from What Jean Likes, please leave a comment. Makes

it easier and faster! :) [Still working on following everyone back from last week so don't worry, I will follow you back if I haven't already!]

get the InLinkz code

An Instagram Home Tour

2013-05-02T10:00:00.000+01:00

Love for a lovely home :)

Hey there lovely people! I hope you're having a great day. I thought I'd share a little sneak peek of my home via some instagram snaps I too recently. If you'd like to follow me via instagram that would be cool :)

One of our lovely sideboards from our living room. This one only cost £19 - a real thrifted bargain :)

Murphy, perched on the edge of our old sofa. New sofa pics to follow when I post a full home tour :)

Here's some of my art hanging above my lovely light filled desk.

We spent some time in our new garden recently, cat-proofing it and doing lots of planting. I planted roses, violas, plus lots of seeds and bulbs.

My new braided rug in it's position by the door. I thrifted and revamped the shoe rack too.

My new desk sits in a recess in our bedroom and we have put up curtains to hide it for bedtime.

Our new kitchen, complete with curtains, table and St Bridgid's cross :)

This little cane footstool was only 50p! We bought the cushion for the top of it and keep trying to convince Darla she should sit on it. She is having none of this however.

I hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek tour. I'll be back with a full tour asap - I promise!