Did You Miss Us? Still Some Shopping to Do!
Yes, we were missing for a few days! First, I had my open house here last weekend, December 13-15, and in preparations and during I never really had the chance to sit down and post. But I checked and found that some time in the middle of last week, The Creative Cat had been hacked and was selling Japanese pillows and motorcycles! I was lucky, the hack was just a “cover” where the hacker’s pages simply sat in front of mine but all my content was still there. But my entire account was on lock down for three days while we worked on eradicating the malware and updating security. I had some older plugins that I still relied on, but not being updated, some for years, they are security risks. It could have been much worse—I was afraid I’d lost 10 years worth of blogging. My service provider did the most difficult part or weeding through my databases and content, and they gave clear guidance for me to inspect all my dashboard and finally set up SSL certificates.
Open House, and still time to order!
And finally, the open house I’d been planning to host as early as October came to be! I don’t advertise it publicly because I don’t want total strangers coming to my house. I actually have a mailing list and a backup email list so that people I’m inviting receive both something physical they can hang up on the refrigerator to remember the event and something in email where they can view lots of photos of what’s available. Because they are local, they get the sale first, then I extend it to everyone, including all of you readers.
25% DISCOUNT ON YOUR ENTIRE ORDER!
including sale items
• 25% OFF all Original Artwork
• $10 Boxed Dozen Holiday Cards
• 2 for $25 Gift Items
~and~
Use the coupon code CREATIVECAT25 in your shopping cart.
Expedited Shipping Option for Priority Mail
Up to close of post office business on December 21, the Post Office offers expected delivery of your Priority Mail package before December 25 (US only, within lower 48 states). Read more about Post Office deadlines for shipping on the USPS website.
Priority Mail shipping is an extra $5.00. It’s always available in your shopping cart, but you may have never noticed it. Now you can take advantage of it for the holidays!
My local Post Office closes at noon on Saturday, December 21. If I’ve got the item in stock and can pack it and get it to the Post Office before they close, I’ll ship it to you. If that’s not possible, I will let you know.
Priority Mail Express promises to get your package to you if you order as late as December 23. Those charges vary greatly depending on distance and place so I have to give a quote once I know your address. I don’t offer that option in the shopping cart because of its variability, but if you are interested in using it, please let me know.
Visit www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net and start browsing! I am currently adding the unsold items to my Handmade Gift Gallery, and making more items to replace what was popular and sold. You can also preview items in my Open House Newsletter.
Ornaments
Find these under Ornaments.
Accessory Bags and More
Find these under Totes and Bags
I love having people visit, hosting it at my home makes set up easier because I don’t have to pack it up and go somewhere, and because at least half of it is already set up. Then, I can leave it up as long as I like. The whole thing is much less wear and tear on me, critical this year with my hip replacement.
Kitties were part of the fun too, and we had some special visitors with treats for the kitties! Auntie Mary stopped by and Giuseppe gave her a nice back massage.
Auntie Carol stopped by with food for them too!
To my frustration right now my DSLR camera needs a repair and cleaning and isn’t working at all, so I was stuck with my little cell phone and many photos are blurry, colors are bad, but they are photos all the same. I missed a wonderful photo of Auntie Norma holding a very smug Giuseppe, and the wild party they all had when Norma and I gave each of them a brand fresh new mousie she’d made. But here is Mr. Sunshine hoarding them, at least the ones that hadn’t already been stashed into their secret places!
Mariposa says, “All these kitty things and not one of them looks like ME!” Right, Mariposa, I have to get on that! Tabby and white longhair coming right up!”
The shop room
The shop display is permanent: I always have merchandise and greeting cards on display in this room if you are local and want to stop by in between my sales and events. Just let me know you’d like to visit to be sure I’m here. It won’t be 25% off at other times, but nearly every item will be $5.00 off the prices you see on my website because I build that into my prices for shipping. Below is the beginning of what it looks like, though I’ll be changing and adding to it in the next few months as I do finish my studio renovations. Also, once I get the chance to replace some stock of handmade goods after the sale, I’ll take more photos.
Get on my list!
If you are local, please let me know if you’d like to hear about my open house events. These are separate from my other newsletters and mailing lists.
- Click here to sign up for email or snail mail open house notices.
- Send me an email at bernadette at bernadette-k dot com.
Marketplace
Mimi and Mariposa inspect my setup.
Take a look at other new merchandise and featured artwork.
Once a week on Thursday I feature something new in my “shop”, whether that’s here on The Creative Cat, in my Etsy shop, on my main website or even at one of the bricks and mortar shops that carry my work.
Read about creating custom items
Find out more about creating custom items for your own home using the images you see here. Visit the “Ordering Custom Art” page to see samples and read bout how to order.
Find out about events and festivals where you can find me and my work.
Sign up for my e-newsletter (below), check the widget on the sidebar on my home page, or sign up to receive posts on Portraits of Animals Marketplace. I plan on plenty of events this coming summer in the Pittsburgh area.
Donations
I designate four portrait certificates each year for donation to benefit animals, and also donate merchandise, prints of artwork and even originals to rescue and shelter benefits. If you are interested in a donation for your event, please email me with the details of your event and your organization.
It’s all done under the close and careful supervision of my studio cats!
Copyright
All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.
Subscribe to my e-newsletter
Subscribe to The Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter.
© 2022 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski
Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
Hope you did well on your open house.
Lots of cool items there.
Looks like that cats enjoyed it 😉 MOL!
Purrs,Georgia and Julie
Hope you made a killing at your open house!
I mailed the ginger cat tile that I purchased from you to my friend for her birthday; she is owned by two ginger cats.