Caturday: Big cats like boxes, too!

This week's caturday is unofficially brought to you by Big Cat Rescue. I saw this video on Pinterest and it's one of the sweetest things I've ever seen!

Big Cat Rescue is the largest accredited sanctuary in the US dedicated to abused and abandoned big cats. One of their most recent efforts was in Kansas, where eight cats (and two skunks) were abandoned in small cages without food or water. Big Cat Rescue worked with the local sheriff's office and other non-profits like the Humane Society to save these animals and place them in Sanctuaries.

BCR has a whole mess of videos of their cats on their youtube channel, but this one is my favorite- a montage of big cats playing with cardboard boxes!!!


If you think this is an important issue and feel so inclined, you can donate via paypal on the BCR website, or you can give through purchasing from their shop- they have quite an array of cat-related items and gifts for cat lovers!

Like I said, this post was UNOFFICIALLY brought to you by Big Cat Rescue. They have no idea I exist :)

More wine charms!

I'm having some nice me-time here at home. I've been bouncing around between laundry, crafting, reading, dishes, and working on the photos for this post all afternoon, ADD-style.

That light box came in handy again today.

I made these a while ago and I love them. Each button is different. But this project required making custom D-rings for most of the buttons- what a pain that was!

This set of four is Christmasy... Yes, I am aware it is june. I can't wait to use them in six months, though!

Here's another set with vintage buttons.

Tomorrow is another day without work! Hopefully I'll be as productive as I was today.

EEK

Lightbox! + wine charms

YAHOOOO I finally buckled down and finished my light box! I don't know why it took me so long, it was so easy! I took it outside to play today. I used a tutorial I found at Flax and Twine.

 Not much to look at... especially sitting on top of our cobwebby grill. But it seems to do the trick!

 I grabbed some wine charms I made recently. I've had these glass beads (the large ones, not the seed beads) since high school- like, eight years at least. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.

 I still have a lot to learn about my camera, etc. But this is a huge improvement, and a huge step in the learning process!

Here's another set I made after I ran out of the beads above :)

ANYways it is late here in CA. I had a late night at work and it is past my bedtime!

EEK

POST SCRIPT! In my haste to post this late last night I totally forgot to mention that I'm linkin' up with a couple bloghops!

The first is the Make the Scene Monday hop, from Alderberry Hill

The second I've hopped in before... the Bloglovin' hop over at Happy Kids Inc!

 Don't forget, you can find me on Bloglovin' here.

Caturday: SAY IT IN CATS.

This week I made the most amazing discovery ever via Neon Fresh: A website where you can type in whatever text you want AND IT SPELLS THOSE WORDS WITH CATS.

This. This is what the internet was created for. You can say whatever you want in cats here. It's a Japanese website (go figure) but it's easy to figure out. (the four options between the text entry box and the button that makes it go are size options- largest on the left).

Happy Caturday!

No patience

I have no patience for this photography thing.

It doesn't help that I took this on my dumbphone!

My skills have not advanced. And it's not for lack of resources. I have a fancy camera. I just haven't sat down to learn it other than point and shoot. Not to mention the bajillions of tips, tricks, and tutes out there on the interwebs. I also haven't really made an effort to create a space for photography. I did start making a lightbox with instructions from Flax and Twine today, but for some reason I am so easily discouraged when it comes to photography.

On the upside I spent some time working on organizing my workspace this week. It stretches along one side of the bedroom and consists of a large desk, a big metal cabinet, and a three-drawer plastic storage bin that doubles as my night stand. Aaaaaand I have way too much stuff! Not to mention I usually have three or four projects going on at once- my ADD brain works better that way, in spite of the chaos and clutter.

Hopefully soon I'll have that lightbox up and running.

EEK

A tisket, a tasket... fake pears in a basket!

The other night I sat down to crank out some wine charms but I just wasn't feeling it. I picked up my pliers and tried, but felt so uninspired. I sat for a minute and let my mind wander, and on semi-autopilot I grabbed my size P crochet hook and some jute and started crocheting.

Maybe an hour, hour and a half later I had this little basket! I really just let my mind wander with this one, and after I had finished the base I realized I was making a basket. Which I figure is great, what with Easter coming up! I didn't have any cute easter eggs (and eggs looked a bit small in the basket) so I grabbed some fake pears I had lying around and three fit perfectly.

Have you ever been in that semi-autopilot state? I've made some terrible crochet mistakes in different projects that way... but I've also made some pretty awesome things that way, too! Brains work in mysterious ways, no?

Linking up again this week with Meg at Happy Kids Inc! Her Bloglovin Blog Hop has really grown in the past couple weeks, especially with Google discontinuing Google Reader! You can follow poppyrocket here.

Happy THursday everybody!

Photos: 35mm film equipment

I may have mentioned I work in a small movie theater.

Tonight as I was waiting for the digital projector equipment to shut down I snapped a couple photos of the old 35mm film equipment. I just used my Samsung Flight- a texting phone with a very unfancy camera. They turned out surprisingly well!

The front of the projector with a flat lens

This one above is my absolute favorite. I used no filters and no flash, and did not edit them. They're a bit grainy, but they feel so nice and vintagy. Without a smartphone/Instagram, I have to make do :)

Meters on the side of the bulb house.

We went digital in December, so all of the old film equipment has been pushed against the walls in the projection booth

Film rings- about 12" diameter, these were at the center of a movie when the film was in use.

Going digital made my job a lot easier and a lot less stressful. With film projecting, there were a lot of little places where you could screw up. With every show, a manager had to go upstairs to carefully thread the film through the projector and start it right on time- not easy to do on a busy night! Now it's all automated (as long as everything is scheduled correctly).

This style of reel was before my time; not sure how old it is. It's huge- 3' diameter!

Still, I miss film even though I only projected for about seven months. Most movie companies are discontinuing film printings because it's too expensive- that was the impetus for our switch last year. Sadly, some theaters in the US will be put out of business because going digital carries a huge up-front price tag. I'm so glad The Vine will still be around!

Have a great week, everyone!