What's LOVE got to do with it?

Here's our take on the age old question "What's LOVE got to do with it?"

LUV BUGZ - Two 4" x 4" hand painted wooden plaques. Acrylic on wood, with decorative ribbon for hanging. ($31.50 for the set)



1. Valentine's Day - Presenting the first ever Lisscat Creations Valentine's Day plaques. A cute way to celebrate the holiday that's all about chocolate... oh, we mean love! ;-)

ARMED WITH LOVE CARD -  5" x 7" hand crafted card. Featuring a print of the "Armed with Love" watercolor painting, set on black textured paper. Fashioned with a rhinestone between the 'love - hope' text. Comes with 1 white envelope. ($12.50)

2. This month, thanks to your great suggestions, we have made "To Write Love On Her Arms" the charity of the month! 

What does that mean? It means that 10% of all artwork sold will be donated back to TWLOHA.

We were so inspired by the hope that TWLOHA brings, we created the "Armed with Love" painting.

This original watercolor painting was such a hit, it sold within 10 minutes of its premier online.

So to help raise money for TWLOHA, and to share the hope, we created the "Armed with Love" card.

We'd love for you to pick one up for your friends, or for yourself and help share the hope!

To get your "Armed with Love" card and other great artwork, click here!

For information on "To Write Love On Her Arms" visit : http://www.twloha.com/

Be. Inspired.

  BE INSPIRED - Two 4" x 4" hand painted wooden plaques.

 Acrylic on wood, with decorative ribbon for hanging. ($31.50 for the set).

Just a quick post for you this week with some updates and questions for you all.

How has your new years been? Been sticking with those dreams/ goals? Don't let discouragement take you down, even for a moment. Its never too late to get back up on the horse and continue the journey!
In honor of the new year, and new dreams, I've just released our newest hand-painted plaque set titled "Be Inspired." Different style than our traditional holiday themed plaques but its received a lot of good feedback so far!

So today we are donating $20 to the Make-A-Wish foundation! This was raised with YOUR help last month as you purchased artwork and cards! On behalf of Lisscat Creations and the kids at Make-A-Wish, THANK YOU for your support!

If you are new to Lisscat Creations, we have a little thing we like to call "charity of the month." Every month we pick a great organization (nominated by you) and donate 10% + of the proceeds of all artwork sold to the charity!"

Who would you like to see Lisscat Creations give back to next month? We have had some amazing suggestions for "To Write Love On Her Arms" and orgs to stop human trafficking.

Let us know your thoughts! And be on the look out for new featured artwork all month long!

Love you guys, you rok!

Hard work, Risk, & Prayer

It is that time of year for beginnings. Risks. Resolutions. Goals. Shaking off the old and taking a big deep breath as you dive into something new.

                                            Happy New Years!!!! -2012-

Now can anyone tell me where December 2011 went? I am so thankful that I was blessed to be painting what seemed to be non-stop, up until Christmas. Thank you to each and everyone of you who showed Lisscat Creations some love in 2011. Whether it was purchasing artwork, reposting tweets/ FB posts, or just shooting us a sweet compliment, please know it was all appreciated! 

It's so crazy to think another year has come and gone. We shared with you the struggles of losing our beloved Bliss last year. I am still amazed when I remember all of the support and love that was received.

I'm sure your 2011 had its share of ups-and-downs too. But is a a new year! A time for a fresh start. It's not like there is something magical in the air that allows us to suddenly become productive and successful upon the new year.... but there is a sense of letting the past be in the past, and allowing ourselves to dream and be prepared to be better in the coming months.

Today I read a great post by the very talented, John Tesh. I posted this to our facebook page. (Click HERE to check it out!) It is about not being afraid to take risks. We can never really grow if we are living in fear. I'm sure this is something we can all relate to. So I know for me personally, and for Lisscat Creations, I want 2012 to be a year about taking risks. It might bring us up, it might bring us down, but in the end it will help us to grow and reach other people.

So I leave you with this - Figure out what it is you want this year. No matter how far away it seems, you can go after it with a lot of hard work, risk, & prayer! (Thanks J. Tesh for this!)

Blessings to you all and Happy New Year!

Special Delivery

In disbelief that it is already mid-November? So am I!

It's already that time of year for Christmas cards, sweet holiday scented candles, and BABIES!

I want to welcome my first and favorite niece, baby Rhea, to the world!

She came into the world weighing 7lbs 14 oz. (same as her Aunty was!) on November 9th, 2011.

Please feel free to gush over her pictures, as this little girl is already so loved and has already brought me so much inspiration!

Here are the personalized nursery room letters for Rhea, courtesy of Lisscat Creations. They were made to match the fun animals and patterns in her bed set. I've gotten a lot of good feed back on these and thoroughly enjoyed making them! If you are interested in a customized set for your own little one, or some one you know, please email me at Melissa@lisscatcreations.com

Also, here is a sneak-peek at the Christmas card collection premiering this week! Stay tuned....

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!

FINALLY, the first glorious day of my favorite season has arrived.... FALL!

There is nothing better than crisp Autumn air, cinnamon, pumpkin spice latte's, pumpkin muffins, vibrantly colored leaves, and Halloween Candy. This weekend I've been haunted by more advertisements for pumpkin spice lattes. After searching 4 stores, there is no pumpkin coffee creamer out yet! Come on International Delight and Coffeemate, get with the new season, I beg you!

Anyway, I couldn't be happier to welcome in this new season. Especially after this draining summer, I'm ready for a change!
So in honor of our first Fall weekend, I bring you the first official Lisscat Creations Halloween decoration.
Check em out and let me know what you think!

SPOOKS! - Two 4" x 4" hand painted wooden plaques. Acrylic on wood, shiny clear varnish. With decorative ribbon for hanging. ($31.50 for the set).

These are available now so email me (melissa@lisscatcreations.com) or comment below if interested!

The Ecstatic Joy of Heaven

This is my card 'studio' (aka the corner of my bedroom). It's been a pretty lonely place lately. It's been just over a month since my sweet little kitty, Bliss, lost his battle to cancer.
Every Friday, we had a tradition to sit on my floor together and bust out some new Lisscat Creations cards. Well, thinking back, I did most of the work, while Bliss would oh so helpfully chew on paper, ribbons, paint brushes, and whatever else was necessary in the making of that card.
In Bliss' absence,  I taped a picture of us to the wall in the corner. The only problem was, it didn't help inspire me, but only reminded me of how much I missed him.

So, needless to say, the card 'studio' has been quite neglected. For those of you who have received cards in the past month, its miraculous those ever got done!

Whats funny, er, not funny, but ironic is.... The night before Bliss died i started writing a blog (it was never posted). I was grieving, but was ready. I was ready to let him go, and ready to let his constant playful joy in life inspire me to keep actively following my passions. But as soon as he was gone, any joy I thought I would have was overshadowed by grief, loneliness, anger... all those feelings no one likes to feel. So sadly, I confess, I let myself grieve, and ignored my art that I had wanted to create inspire others.

Then on Wednesday I received a text from a friend. The preview of the text read "In memory of Bliss".
When I opened the message, I saw this....

My dear sweet friend and her amazingly talented husband thought to draw this out for me. I was floored! Aren't you? Its so freaking amazing and beautiful!
For the first time in a month, I was reminded of how a little drawing (made with a little love) could evoke such joy. When i opened the text, i smiled. Really smiled, like one of those big cheesy grins that make your face sore. :-)
So.... THANK YOU so much to Laura  and Marco Garcia for the beautiful picture, and for digging out a part of me that needed to breathe.

On a final note: Since he was young, Bliss endured so many surgeries, procedures, medications, etc. But he was a fighter, and he chose joy. Despite all the pain and sickness, he was always playing and NONSTOP purring. I want to be like that. I want to ignore the circumstances, and CHOOSE JOY.

bliss  (blɪs)
— n
1.	perfect happiness; serene joy
2.	the ecstatic joy of heaven

Glow

I feel like I have 1000 thoughts buzzing through my mind. They all want to explode out onto this blog as one massive deep thought...BUT all of those thoughts must have bottle necked because that one massive, deep thought is not here yet!

I've spent alot of my free time lately trying to nurse Bliss back to health. When he's sleeping I am finding time to paint or read or pray. All the things I need to and love to do, but dont seem to find just enough time for.

I just finished a book called "Heaven is for Real". It is about a 4 year old boy who went to heaven during surgery, and later tells his parents everything he saw. There were so many parallels in this book that mirrored my situation with Bliss. Just from the stress and struggles of caring for a sick one, to the unknown, to  the miraculous outpouring of emotional and financial love from friends and family. Somehow this book acted as a comforting reminder of God's love for me.

The book also talked about how many colors there are in Heaven. It sounds AMAZING! So I was inspired with this weeks painting. In the midst of life there are always gonna be dark days. Things we dont understand. But like a cooling summer breeze, God's presence is weaving its way in and around us while we  struggle to stand on our darkest days.
This is a mixed media painting on canvas with everything from spraypaint to latex paint, acrylic and watercolor. The dark texture in the back was back from layers of spraypaint and droplets of acetone.
I then layered vibrant strokes of watercolor over the top to give off the colorful glowing effect.
This painting is titled "GLOW" - 7" x  9" and is available for $35 (free shipping). If its for you, send an email to melissa@lisscatcreations.com.

Also, thank you to all of you who helped with Bliss. He was doing better, but now is not feeling quite him self again. Healing prayers are still appreciated! :-) Hope you all got your cards that "he" sent out out this week too!