A Birthday & a Big Win!

Hi,

I'm a little late with this post because my birthday was in May and I'm only writing about it now! Anyway, I had a lovely birthday! My Mum made a huge cake covered in yellow roses and a heart-shaped rose swirl cake on top. Very pretty and delicious too! I had a rich chocolate cake with a vanilla buttercream frosting.
As with every year, we went to the Royal Agricultural Show and it was so lovely! This time my grandparents came too. I mentioned it in my last post but I entered my crochet project in the show and it won 1st Prize. Click here to see photos of my project!
Mum is generally too busy to enter anything but this year we convinced her to enter again. So, Mum made Blueberry Jam, a variety box of cookies, chocolate fudge and caramel fudge. All her hard work paid off because she did so well! The jam, caramel fudge and chocolate fudge won Special Prize which is higher than 1st and the cookies earned 2nd Prize! ;)
My Mum actually had the highest overall score and received a shiny trophy and a voucher!

Oh! I almost forgot! My brother bought me a Nikon D3400 camera for my birthday and my parents bought a zoom lens for it too! Both were quite expensive gifts, I'm so thankful for it though! I do love photography :)
Haha I love anything creative really, as I'm sure you know by now!

Singing off now!

God bless,
Sele’ha Mikhaila
♡♡♡

For more from Cats of Claridge, click the following links :
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How beautiful is this little guy?!

The Jam on display

Variety box of cookies

Chocolate Fudge

Caramel Fudge on the right

The trophy!

My beautiful cake

Look at those roses!

Inside

Yum!

The trophy up close!

Crochet Craze

Hello!

It’s time for another blog post! This time I would like to talk about crochet and all things in that area! So, I started crocheting like 2 years ago I think, not long! I had zero experience with it but my friend Renate started learning the craft so I decided to give it a try too! I had tried knitting before but I just confused myself with the stitches which made me wary of trying crochet. Thankfully, there are several tutorials on YouTube and I learnt the basics pretty quickly. It’s a lot easier than you think! So after getting to grips with the stitches and such, I jumped into crocheting! I really enjoy it! It’s relaxing :)

I still learn stitches along the way but I did two large scale crochet projects and entered them in the Royal Agricultural Show last year and this year. I’ve uploaded photo’s of my most recent crochet project. I decided to do a living-room scene this time and it was surprisingly quick to do! Either that or my hands are used to crocheting now so it felt much faster. This one also won 1st Prize, as did my previous one, by God’s grace.
I have tried following patterns and online tutorials but a lot of the items in my crochet projects are my own invention! Sometimes I just create it as I go along or I look at a picture of something that I like and try to replicate it myself.

So next time, don’t be afraid to try something new, you may find yourself enjoying it! That’s what motivated me to continue crocheting and now it’s one of my favorite hobbies.

Enjoy the pics!

God bless,
Sele’ha Mikhaila

For more from Cats of Claridge, click the following links :
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Blitzy's Instagram 
My Art Account 
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Here it is! I crocheted Joshy, Blitzy and Curly into the project too!

The couches were actually the easiest to do!

In the display case at the show.

First Prize!

I initially made these couches but decided to change it because they didn't sit so well and were quite small in size.

I crocheted these beanies for Renate's baby boy, Josua.

The little couch up close

Prismacolor Pencils

Hey,

A while ago, I ordered the Prismacolor Soft Core pencil set and I just started using it. Wow! These pencils are amazing! They're smooth, even and the colors are brilliant and bright, there are loads of colors to choose from too. I have the 132 set by the way.  I've seen other artists use these pencils and their artwork is amazingly good! I aspire to get that good too, one day! Practice makes perfect!

So far, I've just colored three pictures with the Prismacolor pencils, I actually love the result, it makes the drawing come to life!

God bless,
Sele'ha Dhew
♡♡♡

For more from Cats of Claridge, click the following links :
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Blitzy's Instagram 
My Art Account 
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Here is the 132 set of Prismacolor Pencils!

My first attempt with it! Bambi and Thumper.

The Fox and the Hound

A Hydrangea

An Artistic Approach

Hi!

Didn't think you'd hear from me again so soon? Hehe I thought so!

Today I'd like to share some of my recent drawings and sketches with you guys. Okay, so I started drawing as a child together with my brother Caleb but didn't actively pursue it for years, I just did it for fun. My Dad is an artist and is really good, my Mum used to do art too. I guess we're an artistic family. Hehe :)
So, a couple years ago, I started trying to improve my skills and I draw a lot more often now. I think every artist is harsh on themself, it's hard to be completely satisfied with each artwork, one always feels like it could have been better....at least that's how I feel! ;)

Anyway, these days I draw mostly Disney art and a few realistic drawings thrown in there too. I mainly drew animal portraits before but I'm branching out into different things. I'm most comfortable sketching animals though I would like to do human portraits too. As mentioned above, I do a lot of Disney art, that's actually a new genre for me! It was never something I considered before but animated art is much quicker for me to do so it motivate's me to continue. I will draw more realistic pictures in these coming weeks, I just need time for those. I don't like to rush it.

I'll end off now, thanks for taking the time to read my post!

God bless,
Sele'ha Dhew
♡♡♡

For more from Cats of Claridge, click the following links :
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Cats of Claridge Instagram
Blitzy's Instagram 
My Art Account 
Google +
Amazon

Enjoy my art :)

P.S. I've just recently received my Prismacolor pencil set so look out for a post on that soon!

Quick Hello Kitty sketch

These are super quick to do!

A bunny cartoon

Jock

Not so pleased with this one but one learns from their mistakes I suppose!

Inspired by Little House on the Prairie!

A squirrel and an acorn.

Flower the skunk

A wolf

Timon and Pumbaa

Marie

Gary the Snail

Goofy

Flounder

Alice

Dumbo

Tweety

Inspired by the Beatrix Potter animal tales for children.

Gus

Cookie Monster

Baloo

It's Been Ages!

My dear readers.....

6 months?? Yes it has been 6 months since I updated this blog, I apologize for the hiatus! I'm ashamed, I meant to take a couple days off blogging but here I am over 180 days later. Sorry!

Okay apologies aside, there has been  a lot going on in life! Though, I now plan to make time for this blog, I will post more regularly. I used to do it weekly but how about twice a week? I'll do my very best not to miss a post! Promises, promises eh? ;)

Alright then, let me try to update you a bit....

Last year, my family launched a new business!
We have a natural skincare and health product manufacturing company called Dewrain Health.
Lately, we've been busy with our US brand, Marinel'la. My brother and I have been doing the graphic design work and we created a website for that brand too. We wanted to bring
forth an all natural skincare range that is free of harmful chemicals and preservatives. 
Click here to visit our website!

Now to the furry ones in my life...

Blitzy is happy and healthy as usual. We let her out every morning and she is promptly back in before breakfast. It's been pretty cold lately so her time outside is short, by her choice of course. She will turn 7 (in human years) soon but she still hasn't grown beyond the size of a 4 month old kitten. Adorable though!

Curly has had a bit of a rough time. Well she has healed from her extensive dental surgery last year but since it's Winter, her gums have been sore, especially at night. She's been brave about it though, somewhat. She also had a bit of an eye infection not long ago but she's all better now! Old age seems to be slowly creeping up on her, even if she won't admit it. All in all, she's still pretty active for a senior dog. We bought her a fancy new dog bed! She was skeptical at first but now she loves it. If Curly is missing, you can be sure she's snuggled up in that bed!

Joshy had Biliary a couple months ago and it slowed him down a bit but he has since bounced back. I didn't mean to give you every negative/postive update concerning them but I thought you should know! I don't think I mentioned this on any previous posts but we got into contact with Joshy''s previous owner and heard that he is actually about 11 years old! We were under the impression he was around 9 or so. Apparently he was the naughtiest kitten of the litter! We knew he had a brother named James, he was unfortunately knocked by a car. However, he had 2 sisters too. I think they mentioned that the one sister passed away as a kitten and then the other one ran away from home or went missing as was the case with Joshy's mother, Nala. It was nice to have a bit of history concerning Joshy. 

Okay, that sums it up pretty much! Oh, since I will be posting more regularly now, I will cover a variety of topics, not just my furry friends. I'd like to showcase my art and crochet projects too, also share some updates along the way.

Thank you for sticking through all these years or if you're a new reader, then welcome! I hope you enjoy your stay! :)

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila Dhew
♡♡♡

For more from Cats of Claridge, click the following links :
YouTube 
Pinterest 
Cats of Claridge Instagram
Blitzy's Instagram 
My Art Account 
Google +
Amazon


Enjoy the photo's!

We bought new beds for Blitzy and Joshy too! This is the smallest one and it's still too big for her!

Pretty!

They may look completely different in appearance but they are sisters and sisters stick together...especially at meal times! Haha!

Joshy lost his chubby belly when he got sick.

Blitzy on the way to the vet for her yearly vaccinations. She's not pleased!

Sniffles and Lassie, our daily visitors!

How perfect is this photo?

Brother and sister

Beautiful Gaura flowers

White roses

White Gaura up close

Not sure of the name of these flowers but they're pretty! I love the contrast of mustard yellow against powdery white.

Interesting bug, some sort of beetle perhaps?

We harvested Dragonfruit a couple months ago!

A Blue Pansy butterfly

Blitzy's eyes are so intriguing!

Joshy on his new bed. They really love it! 

Krispy Kreme has entered South Africa and into our mouths! My parents tasted it in America but it has finally arrived here.

All the flavors are delicious, there are even some South African themed donuts! I hate to follow the crowd but I have to admit, the Original Orange Glazed donut is simply the best! 

Beautiful sleeper

Paws in the air!