The tree is up and I have some new cat christmas ornaments to share with you! I shared some of my collection with you last year. You can read that post here. This year our tree is a little smaller than usual but it’s very full, very healthy and hardly dropping any needles at all! The cats have been good too, much better than last year; no climbing, and no grabbing of beads or ornaments.
This ornament is Jake’s Lucky Cat ornament. It was a Christmas gift from his friend Charlie while Jake was sick with renal failure. Charlie also had a renal deficiency and it was his wish of good luck and good health to Jake. Sadly Charlie passed away a few months before Jake did. I know that both of them are enjoying each other’s company at the Rainbow Bridge.
This is a pretty Delft Blue cat I found on Ebay. I have a couple other Delft Blue ornaments that we picked up in The Netherlands years ago but I always wanted a cat ornament.
This “purrfect friends” cat ornament was a gift from my parents last year.
We’ve been to Hawaii on vacation a few times recently and I really wanted to find a Hawaiian inspired cat ornament. I was lucky to find this Lucky Cat wearing a lei of Hawaiian flowers!
You all might remember this cat ornament that I picked up a few months ago on my trip to New Orleans, LA!
This is a new stoneware cat ornament from Jonathan Adler. I have to admit I’m a hopeless collector of his porcelain cats. I discovered he designed a more affordable line called Happy Chic for HSN this year and offers a darling menagerie collection. The stoneware collection looks almost identical to his pricier porcelain menagerie collection. You still have time to purchase your own cat ornament off the HSN website.
Finally I made some new photos ornaments for the cats from photos from 2010. The Elf.
The Princess.
And Micky!
I added this funky new cat to my collection. He matches with my office really well. He’s probably from sometime during the late 60s I’d guess.
More kitties to crave! I want!
Jonathan Adler online
After trying to make due with the bookshelves I had for 6 years and my office space limitations, I finally got new bookcases. These are from Ikea and I added drawers to the bottom row for more much needed storage space. It was a great opportunity for me to do some summer cleaning and get things reorganized. As you can see, Micky thinks the new office way cool. You might remember I remodeled the opposite side of the room a couple years ago. Here is that post.
There is space for my fabric, books and office supplies plus much needed additional desktop space.
The space doubles as another sleeping surface for cats, as if they didn’t have enough places already!
My latest Ebay acquisition… Pretty cute guy. He’s not an actual Lisa Larson I don’t think but he’s done in a similar pottery style to hers. He’s a bank too. I like the splotch on his face. 
I need to stop collecting cats but I doubt I will…
I haven’t posted any items from my cat collection lately so here goes. This is a wood relief carving that looks like it was created in the 60s sometime. This unique piece is nearly six feet wide and a foot high. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It doesn’t have any markings anywhere hinting at where it’s from or who might have created it. I happened to nab it on Ebay about 5 years ago. Now these happy mid-century cats hang in my office keeping me company.
I’ve shared a few examples of the cats I’ve collected over the years and it just occurred to me that it might be fun to share more of my cat collection on this blog. I’m a fanatical cat collector. I guess the upside is that I satiate my compulsion with collecting cat items and not actual living cats! My favorite things to collect by far are cat figurines although I do have a few other cat objects such as jewelry, artwork and housewares. I always love seeing interesting and unique cat items other people have found for themselves.
Crafted at the height of pop art in the 1970s, these delightful sculptures are the work of Brazilian artist
Abraham Palatnik. Recently his pieces have become more popular as interior decorators such as Jonathan Adler showcase his resin sculptures in the homes they design. These two cats are typical of his kinetic work and are made of polyester resin colored from within. You can learn more about
Abraham Palatnik at
this link. I especially like the second kitty that’s cuddled in a ball. He reminds of Micky a little bit.
How cute is this clock? It’s…
• Made of Metal
• Cast-Mold Construction
and best of all
•
Makes Cat Sounds
It’s available at
Target!
My
Jonathan Adler cat collection is finally complete! I’ve lusted after his Tall Menagerie Cat for a couple years now but I couldn’t bear to spend the $$$. Well now he’s mine. He was the very last one left in the Montana Ave. store!
Here is the lovely Medium cat. She was the first in my collection.
You all know my lovely Adler Cat ornament I got 2 years ago…
And the salt and pepper shakers I received both last year and this year… so I exchanged one set towards my latest cat collectible.
This is probably one of my first cat ornaments. I started my collection after I adopted Jake. This is a custom made ornament of Jake.
Jake’s ornament turned out so nice that a few years later after we adopted Micah, I tracked down the artist to create one of Micah.
One year for Thanksgiving we had the then little girl from up the street watch the cats for Thanksgiving while we traveled back East. When we got home we were delighted to find these ornaments that she made for each cat taking tiny polaroid photos of them. The ornaments have 2 sides. Jake’s ornament says hungry cat with a photo on the back because that describes how he used to be when people would cat sit him.
Micah’s ornament says
sleepy cat on the back with a photo because he didn’t like being cat sat and pretended he was sleeping every time she came to visit him.
Jake & Micah’s Angel Ornaments.
I tear up when I put them on the tree now.
This is one of my vintage looking cardboard cat ornaments. I have a pretty extensive collection. These are great for at the bottom of the tree along with the wooden ornaments that able to stand up to swatting by curious paws.
This is one of my collection of MFA Boston hand painted glass ornaments.
This is one of my collection of Purr-fect Little Angels kitties from Bradford Exchange. They have lovely wings made of real feathers.
This cat is from Victoria, Canada. I found him in the Butchard Gardens gift shop.
This is Jonathan Adler’s mod cat ornament.
I found this Maneki Neko lucky cat in Japantown in San Francisco.
This is Jonah’s first Christmas ornament that he received last year.
Fionna received her first ornament this year…
Along with Micky, my shining star!
So those are a few of my cat ornaments. I have many many more, made from metal, wood, glass, porcelain and paper. Each year I look for new ones to add – as tasteful and unique as I can find. So every year when we trim the tree we remember the cats of Christmas past and all the lovely places we found wonderful cats.
