Cats with a Purpose

[Lorraine]

This is a combination of two photos. The sleeping cat under the tree was taken about 5 years ago. The cat attacking the tree was taken in 1985. I used the cat under the tree as the base for the photo. I cut out the attacking cat from the original photo and pasted her as a separate layer. Everything else, including the tree and the two other cats, are PSP tubes. The dollhouse tube was originally a PSP vector drawing I did to replicate a real dollhouse which I made from a kit. Ed's Santa tube is in the picture too.

After resizing, rotating and erasing parts of the tubes to fit the picture, I merged all layers. Added a PSP "Illumination Effect" of "soft light bottom" to create a look of a low night light. I then added the text. Resized the image and exported it as a .jpg.

[Doug Nelson]

Very cute! I see Ed's Santa in there, too

A shame it's a little dim. Would make an excellent xmas card.

[Ed_L]

Cool!! But how do you explain to the kids Christmas morning that Santa broke the ornaments?

Ed

[Lorraine]

Hi Doug and Ed --

Doug, I dimmed it on purpose to hide the artifacting That's the problem with trying to combine tubes into a photo. Tubes are more suited as .gifs. I've done a slight brightness/contrast adjustment on the original PSP image, and that perked it up slightly. But this one is just for fun, and I only spent about 20 minutes on it.

Ed, you buy only plastic ornaments when you have cats. LOL!!! My idea for this wasn't original, this is what my cats do to the Christmas tree. I stuck the dollhouse in the photo because my 20-lb. cat thinks she can fit in the real one and tries to get in it.

Thanks, both of you, for your comments.

Lorraine

[kathleen]

ah, the world as it was meant to be . . . kitties in control

nice job lorraine, idea and execution

[NJPatRN]

I Love it!

I guess cats everywhere (especially in NJ) attack Christmas trees! The twinkling tinsel and blinking lights get to them. Sheba thinks she can climb the tree---or tried to one year
This would make a nice Christmas card--even electronic.
Who'd have thought cats were so talented!

[DJ Dubovsky]

Love it Lorraine. Christmas in the eyes of a cat. Very creative and funny.
DJ

[Lorraine]

Thanks, Kathleen, Pat and DJ.

I've owned cats all my life. The two I used in the photo were adopted, but are no longer here. Both died of cancer. The one attacking the tree, Miss Kit, was my first cat after I was married. She lived for 14 years. In the photo I have of her, she was attacking our Christmas tree. The photo of the sleeping cat was taken on Christmas night. After the presents were opened, the dinner was done, and all of the family was relaxing, we found Dustin sound asleep in the box containing my husband's new sweater, a Christmas gift from my sister. Oh my!!!!!

Cats are amazing and wonderful creatures, as long as you know your place, and your place is to serve them.

This was a great challenge for me. I'm happy you all liked my portrayal of the way it is with cats.

Pat, my two sisters are RNs from NJ.

Lorraine

[CJ Swartz]

Such an accurate portrayal of cats celebrating Christmas! Quite lovely and funny.

Your story about Dustin's acquisition of your husband's sweater is so typical -- IF your sister-in-law ever found out, she should have been pleased to know that her gift received the "four paws up" seal of approval.

[paulette conlan]

Loved your picture. I particularly liked the soft look that it had. I was impressed with the way you incorporated the tubes into the photo-very professional looking picture. Time to round up my cat photos and be a copycat. Wonder where that name "copycat" came from?
Paulette

[jeaniesa]

Lorraine, I love the composition of this picture! You've captured the essence of cats.

I just have to share a story that happened with my cats yesterday. I had told my mother earlier in the day that I didn't think we'd be putting up a tree this year as the cats (new this year) would destroy it. She replied that she wouldn't let cats dictate whether she put up a tree or not. (She doesn't have cats now, but has in the past.) I just let the statement go and sat down at my computer to do some work. My husband had left a 5' ladder leaning against the wall of the office that morning after climbing into the attic - saying as he did, "Do you think this is safe here?" (Does this give you a clue?) Well, not two minutes after I sat down at the computer, I hear a slight commotion off to the side of the room and look over to see one of the cats on the second rung of the ladder. Afraid that she would tip it over, I ran over to hold it. I decided to hold it and see what she had planned. At first it looked like she was just going to jump down, but soon proceeded to climb up to the very top of the ladder - almost doing "pull ups" to get up there. I swear! So, the decision is made - no Christmas tree this year! (My mom lives down the street, so we'll share hers.)

Anyway, I don't mean to detract from Lorraine's masterpiece. Great job Lorraine! -Jeanie

[Lorraine]

Thanks so much CJ, Paulette and Jeannie --

Sorry I didn't get back here to respond sooner, but I'm going for yet another year with putting up my Christmas decorations with the help of my two current cats -- Samantha and Kitty Cat.

Oh, cats always want to help -- while we're decorating, and then after we've done it, they have to redecorate. I haven't put the tree up yet, but my cats are now busy redoing the garland on the stair railing and around the fireplace mantle.

Jeannie, I've only had one cat that went after the tree to the point that I had to tie it up so she wouldn't knock it over. That was Miss Kit -- the attack cat in the photo. But I have friends that won't put up a tree because their cats would definitely destroy it. I'm still finding hidden ornaments that various cats have stolen.

Also, I never put presents under the tree until Christmas Day. That would be a disaster, as I showed in my picture. Cats always help with wrapping presents. They love the ribbon and bows.

I'm so happy all of you liked my portrayal. Thanks everyone and Happy Holidays.

Lorraine