Lovely Letters Task #3

Don't forget to send your answers to your partner's questions from task #2! Task #3 is easy, just make a list of your 10 favourite things. If you'd like to decorate your letter accordingly, go crazy. EDIT: As a date was requested, I'm popping one in here, sorry I forgot before! It would be great if this letter is sent by November 6th, leaving a week for delivery before we announce the final task on/around November 13th.

That's all today, I hope the exchange is going well so far :) I've seen some great photos of letters on instagram and twitter, remember to use #lovelyletters so we can find them. Also remember you can upload photos to the flickr group too, there's a growing collection, check out the link here.

Oh! I almost forgot! Nat is holding a Lovely Letters giveaway over at Modern Buttercup, until November 3!

Kitty
xo

Dinosaur Party!

This is just a super-quick note to let you know the lovely letters post is on it's way, I just got caught up at an impromptu Halloween party in the Australian Museum amongst the dinosaurs. To be honest, it was impossible to say no.

Penny in a Frida inspired, PomPom Dia de la Muertos ensemble.
Me in my work attire : / (it WAS last minute) and kitty ears courtesy of Penny, severed foot... erm...
C as glampire

Our host, Mr Rex.

I have a squillion amazing photos from tonight, but it's way past my bedtime. The Lovely Letters task will be up tomorrow morning (in the next 12 hours or so)

I apologise for the brief delay my letter writing friends :) Happy Halloween!

On a more serious note, my thoughts are with all of my friends in the Eastern USA (and Canadian!) states. I hope you are all safe and sound, it was very sad to see the pictures today of places that I have visited and loved, places full of happy, caring and hard-working people. May you and your loved ones be safe and sound.

xox

Kitty & Buck Halloween Special 2012

Artwork by Frank Frazetta, The Sea Witch - Eerie Comics issue 8 (digitally altered)

Howdy, Kitty and Buckers

Kitty has spent all day digging me out from under the mysterious patch of loose soil behind the old McKillagutty Mansion, so that I can program a youtube playlist with the sounds that have most disturbed my supposedly eternal slumber lately. Your ghostly hostly has literally worn his bony digits to stumps to bring you...

THE HORRIFYING SOUNDS OF HUMANS!


The Kitty & Buck 2012 Samhain / Hallowe'en music mix.

There's a little something for everyone. Old people strumming wire pulled taught on planks of painted wood for the dinosaurs in the audience. And lots of glacially spooktacular beep-boops for the kids who grew up inside a locked house that only played 80's kid's movies on repeat.

It's Far out.

Also for your viewing pleasure I've hotlinked to this bat-erific comic hosted over on MONSTER BRAINS - it comes from the twisted mind of Junji Ito, who speaks a made-up language called Japanese and lives on the moon.

Before you go out to hustle candy from the cowering mortals in your neighborhood, be sure to dig these vintage Halloween safety videos. Oh, dread! For the love of the the wizards that live in the noses of fibbers - beware!
Part 1
Part 2

Because the cartoon special that used to be on youtube has disappeared like the Mary Celeste - I curse you generation of over-stimulated internet users to turn out all the lights in your dungeons and use your freakish imaginations to make the words in this story of the REAL story of halloween come to life in the theater of yer skulls! Ray Im-A-Ghost-Now Bradbury's The Halloween Tree!

On no! While you weren't watching this cat has snuck up behind you!

Boo.

Count Cae-daver

Thanks Count Cae-daver. May our little ghost-cat Chibi be in a place where she is not being eaten by man-pires.

Raven Kitty McNight - it's my goth name (points to the person who got that joke)

Meet My October Sponsor Team

I'm really pleased to introduce you to a wonderful group of sponsors this month. We still have the large sponsor group giveaway to come, which I bet you'll be really excited about! But for now, grab your tea and biscuits (not the American kind, the English kind) and settle in, because you're about to discover some great new blogs and shops.

 Shop // Blog // Facebook // Pinterest

favourite post: How to Wear: The Scout Tie

blog // twitter // instagram // tumblr

favourite post: Setting Forth: The Mothspit Guide to Vacation Planning

blog // instagram // pinterest // bloglovin'

favourite post: Jessie in Real Life

blog // pinterest // twitter // instagram

favourite post: Design Party: Making a Collage in Photoshop

blog // shop // facebook // portfolio

favourite post: A Walk

shop // blog // twitter // facebook

favourite product: Pink Three Strand Bow Headband

blog // twitter // facebook // pinterest

favourite post: Sweet Surprises

shop // facebook // pinterest

favourite product: Nine Places We Love

shop // twitter // facebook

favourite product: Wine Cooler Dress - Minty

blog // facebook // pinterest // bloglovin'

favourite post: Holiday Series: The Art of Gift Wrapping

blog // facebook // twitter // etsy

favourite post: Daily Outfit: A Touch of 40's

blog // bloglovin' // pinterest // instagram

favourite post: An Autumn Date

blog // twitter // pinterest // bloglovin'

favourite post: Red Valentino Fall 2012 RTW

blog // twitter // bloglovin' // pinterest

favourite post: Disney World 2012

blog // Twitter // Instagram

favourite post: Fun With Long Exposures

blog // twitter // pinterest // bloglovin'

favourite post: How Does Your Garden Grow

blog // Twitter // Facebook // Pinterest

favourite post: Maguba Clogs Giveaway

(quick! you still have a chance to enter. I love how pretty Fritha looks, and Wilf...what a cutie-pie!)

Blog // Twitter // Facebook // Bloglovin'

favourite post: Snippets of New York

blog // twitter // pinterest // bloglovin'

favourite post: 5 of My All-time Favorite e-courses

Nat is also now offering blog design services. You can grab 10% off with the code KITTYANDBUCK

Special Small Sponsor shout out (I don't normally do this, buy hey, it's October and I'll do what I want!)

Unlaced Heart // Fave post: Shop Update + Win Shop Credit

Peppermint Candies // Fave Post: Story of a Ring

Sarah Lucinda Bell // Fave product: e-book The End

Smoketabby // Fave product: Apricot Peach Flowers Hair pin

Megan Ta-Da // Fave Post: Weekend Waygone 18

Thank you to all of my wonderful sponsors, it has been a real pleasure having you. If you're interested in sponsoring Kitty & Buck, there is still a couple of days to get a special October discount, you can find the details here.

Kitty
xo

Guest Post with My Billie - Halloween Mask DIY

Hi! Some of you may know me, but for those of you who don't, my name is Melanie and I run the show over at My Billie. That's my design and lifestyle blog and also where I house my blog design services. I really love a good DIY, so today I wanted to share with you some cute and fun masks to make for a Halloween costume (or maybe a mask party or to use as photobooth props!).

After you've gathered your materials you'll want to create a stencil for the base of your masks. It's a good idea to do a rough sketch of each animal you want to make so you can reference it as your altering the face shape. After that you pretty much just cut out different shapes for each animal and glue them on! Check out the images below to see how I did mine:

The only thing left to do is cut out eye holes and attach your elastic thread! I used an xacto knife to cut the eyes out and then poked a little hole on each side of the face to string the thread through. Simple and fun! Happy crafting!

Thanks so much for sharing this DIY Melanie! I love Halloween and animal masks, so this is pretty much right up my alley :) You should definitely visit Melanie's blog, it's full of more great DIYs as well as some really helpful design related tutorials and lovely bits and pieces from Melanie's wonderful brain, you will love it!

Found #33

This week, I thought I'd focus on some Halloween flavoured items, since I don't really get to celebrate Halloween here in Australia. Well, I do, it generally comprises of C and I getting all excited, decorating, me baking, him creating some incredible pumpkin carving (I scoop out the pumpkin) and then getting dressed up with candy ready. We watch some spooky movies and get a mix tape of halloween music going. Then we wait. And wait some more. Never any trick-or-treaters. (except that one time our neighbours kids found out we had free candy and came over to get some. Mind you, they didn't bother dressing up or anything.) So sad. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I don't care how old I am, I WILL go trick-or-treating one year, in America. There will be leaves on the ground and perhaps a little fire pit to make s'mores over. And there will DEFINITELY be a maize maze adventure. Oh the fun I shall have....

Tooth Cupcakes via: Erica's Sweet Tooth

I almost squealed with delight when I saw these 3 recipes by Erica. Teeth things! And I love the fact she has a sweet food blog whilst studying dentistry. I bet she drums up a lot of clients by tempting them with sugary food and then offering to assist with their dental problems ;P hahaa.

Erica's teeth moulded in chocolate via: Erica's Sweet Tooth

Vampire Caramel Apples via: Erica's Sweet Tooth

John Kenn's Monster drawings on post-it notes are amazing! C sent these to me ages ago, they are perfect to share for Halloween. Who doesn't love post-it notes? Who doesn't love monster drawings? A match made in heaven. His beautiful illustrations remind me a lot of two of my favourite illustrators, Edward Gorey, and C himself!

via: John Kenn

Edward Gorey alphabet Illustration via (original source: Edward Gorey's brain)

You can also get awesome silver jewellery and other great items at the Edward Gorey House shop. How cute is this bat?

via: Edward Gorey House Store

This post would not be complete without some amazing jewellery from Blood Milk. These are two of my favourite pieces.

via: Blood Milk

Flatte Black Nail Polish via: KO

If you subtracted a couple of characters, and added some crazy stupid dancing to spooky tunes, you'd have a pretty good visual of our Halloween celebrations right here.

via: The Black Apple

Instead of the blog post of the week, I've picked out a couple of fun Halloween costumes. The dog one made me laugh so hard I almost wet myself. (sorry if you've seen these before) <- If you know the original sources of the top two, let me know and I'll give credit. Images like this just go out of control from sharing an it's virtually impossible to find who owns them. 

via: hahamag

Are you celebrating Halloween? What are your traditions? I hope to carve my pumpkin tomorrow, and I'll let you know if anything more exciting than that happens around here: )

Kitty
xo

I've announced the Moheda clogs giveaway, you can see the winner here. (Congratulations, I have emailed you!)

November Sponsor Discounts!

We're on the home stretch of 2012, can you believe it? Everyone is saying it, so it must be true, this year has gone way too quickly for my liking. There's 2 months left though, plenty of time to get lots of things done, right? I'm going pretty well with my 2012 goals, but there is still a tonne of things I want to get completed before the year is out.

Down to business. I'm working on some changes around here, not content-wise, just planning on tidying up a few loose ends with my layout and introducing a couple of new elements to keep things interesting. It has been a super-busy month here and I have updated my stats and interviews/features on my sponsor page. Even if you're not looking at advertising, you should check out some of the awesome blogs who have featured and interviewed me, they are all lovely and I'm incredibly thankful for their support. I'd love to repay their kindness by sending some of my lovely readers in their general direction :)

I'll be changing my sponsorship prices in the new year to reflect the lovely (thank you!) increase in readership since I set them. I work really hard on this blog, and use my sponsorship earnings to support other blogs and hopefully soon, my Etsy shop getting properly off the ground.

Because October is my birthday month, I've decided to give you a present. I really love giving presents more than receiving them, is anyone else like that? For some reason I feel a little awkward when someone gives me a gift. So for you, I have some coupon codes valid until the end of October, which will give you 15% off a Large or Small ad:
Large 15% off code is passion
Small 15% off code is petite passion

I also have an ongoing 17% discount if you purchase 3 consecutive months, just enter '3' in the quantity box during the purchase process.
Large 17% off for 3 consecutive ads code is kitty3fer
Small 17% off for 3 consecutive ads code is kitty teeny3

If you'd like to purchase ad space, just head to my Sponsor page. If you have any questions at all, please email me: kittyandbuck [[at]] gmail [[dot]] com

Thanks for reading that involved post, I'm looking forward to November, I have more of the same, some photography, hopefully one or two fashion related DIYs (there are NOT enough days in the week to post all of my ideas!). I also have at least one new feature coming, which I hope you'll enjoy but for now, it's a secret. I love holding secrets as much as I love giving presents! I hope you've had a great October, and a huge warm welcome to all of my new readers, and a big hug to all my regulars :) Thanks for visiting me, I'm surprised and excited every day :)

Kitty
xo

p.s. There is just one of the two XL ads available for November, and if you miss out and would like to lock in one for December, you can purchase now and be put in the queue. Passionfruit Ads are cool like that :)

DIY Tutorial Dip-Dye Painted Garden Pots

I thought I'd be adventurous the other day and do a little DIY in my garden.This project is super easy and affordable too, if you're hoping to dress up your garden or balcony. Even for those of you heading into winter, this is a great way to add colour while your flowers sleep!

Some plain plant pots
I used these ones from ikea, they have a nice stone feel and are cheap as chips
Paint
I chose a Dulux colour and had it mixed in a cheaper brand, using a gloss base, in a sample pot size.
Small bucket or container
This needs to fit your largest pot inside. I found a great paint storage bucket at the hardware store, which I can use to store my leftover paint in.
A drill (optional)
If your pots don't already have holes and you need drainage for your plants.
Paper towels
Bottles
Tall soda bottles or something similar to rest your pots on while they dry
Plants
Some pretty flowers or herbs to plant in your shiny new pots!
*Maggie Cat assistant is optional

I was excited to paint my pots first, so I drilled later, but I think it's probably sensible to drill some drainage holes first up. I used a masonry drill and actually, I used a larger drill bit than pictured here. Let's be honest, I went to borrow my dad's drill and HE drilled the pots for me. Thanks dad!

Fill your empty bucket with paint, a little lower than the depth you want the colour to be on your pot. Think about high school science class and apply your knowledge of displacement of liquids to determine how much you need to compensate (I just guessed, it's not a precise art in my case!) Make sure your paint is thoroughly stirred first, even once mixed the pigment can separate a little.

Decide which end you'd like the colour on. I chose the top rim. But it would work equally well (better?) on the base, it's totally up to you. Once you know where you want the paint to go, simply dip it very gently into the paint bucket. This is where it would have been better to drill my holes first! I had to go very slowly to avoid putting a big air bubble under the pot, which in turn would splash the paint out in a bubble paint-eruption. I did pretty well, just one failure, but I was very patient and didn't just dunk the pot in, I lowered it slowly.

Once the pot is submerged in the paint, you can gently remove it again and let the paint drip off as much as possible. I then blotted my pot on some paper towels to reduce the amount of excess paint.

Time to dry the paint. This part was a little trial and error. In hindsight, the best way to do this would be to suspend the pot in some way until it is completely dry. I used some soda bottles and balanced the pot upside down on the top of the bottle. You need to have a surface underneath that you can throw away that will catch any excess paint drips. Do not turn the pot to have the paint at the top, gravity is NOT your friend here. As you can see below, this is the pot that had the escaping air bubble. I made matters worse by turning it upright after letting it dry for about 30 minutes. The paint started sliding down the pot, making ugly blobs and smears. No DIY is perfect folks, and I'm here to show you my mistakes so you don't make them as well!

Once the pots are thoroughly dry, you can pot your beautiful plants! I just bought a random selection of flower seedlings from the nursery, I can't wait until they are in full bloom! They look pretty now anyway, I just love the splash of turquoise paint against the stone pots, it looks great and really brightens up our garden.

I'd love to see pictures if you get a chance to do this DIY, feel free to share below :)

I hope you enjoy my pretty flower pots! Hopefully in a month or two I can share more pictures once all of my flowers are in bloom.

Kitty

xo