cat fun Archives – DashKitten.com

A Middle-Earth Movie Cat Adventure!

August 8, 2017 by Marjorie Dawson 22 Comments

A Monday cat adventure? It’s the start of the week, it’s back to work day, and we make get busy making movies? Oh yes!

We guess you want to know why it’s a movie Middle-Earth Monday – right?

A Cold Cat Adventure or a Warm One?

Readers will know that the seasons are upside down here! Europe and the USA enjoy summer, while Australia and New Zealand cool their heels.

The weather has been chilly and damp, with very cold nights, and, as we live in a valley sheltered from the strongest winds, it can get frosty too. So, you can imagine how we all felt enjoying a day of warm sunshine! Mum and dad were out in the garden tidying up and planting, and I enjoyed some sunshine time too.

Mum made a fun mini movie using her iPhone. She thought it would encourage those entering the #DKVideo challenge. You don’t need fancy equipment whether you are in Middle-Earth, Minnesota or Manchester to have fun.

Would you like to know how we put a movie together? Let us know in the comments.

Miranda Kitten
Cat Adventure Blogger
on Middle-Earth Monday

Colouring in with Angus the Cat

August 6, 2017 by Marjorie Dawson 23 Comments

Meet our colouring in visitor Angus. As you can see he is, like Cooper Murphy from The Cat on my Head, and Sammy from Two Spoiled Cats, an awesome ginger tabby.

His real name is unknown, so rather than call him ‘our ginger visitor’ or ‘that ginger cat who comes in to say hello’, we gave him a nickname until we are properly introduced.

Colouring in fun!

Angus was helping Mum do some mind mapping to introduce our movie challenge, although we think he would prefer to be colouring in one of our books from BZTAT (who does the coolest colouring books On The Planet!)

Join us, and our wonderful friends at The Cat on my Head, as we celebrate the Sunday Selfie and, if you are fans of the blog, join in our make your own fun pet movie challenge!

Happy Sunday guys!
Miranda Kitten

International Pet Bloggers On the World Wide Web

January 26, 2017 by Marjorie Dawson 36 Comments

Sponsors are excited about the worldwide reach achievable with the help of international blogs. Local writers are close to the pulse of a country, able to utilise native languages and idioms, tapping into the local spirit of the times, or zeitgeist.

These blogs are outstandingly good and a lot of fun to read! We have a popular series spotlighting worldwide bloggers – many of whom have attended pet blogging conference BlogPaws®. British bloggers such as Erin the Cat Princess, and Bionic Basil are heading across the world to see, and be seen, by sponsors and learn how to extend their own reach.

The team at Dash Kitten is always keen to spotlight how BlogPaws has helped us as bloggers, and influencers, but we also want to show just how positive international pet blogs can be for sponsors. The outcomes can be beneficial for everyone.

Blogging with a Worldwide Reach can bring Fresh Ideas to Bloggers, and Sponsors

World-wide bloggers can spread the word to readers in their own countries, in their own languages, spreading a brand’s identity and helping a company consolidate its global reputation. Our friends the Swiss Cats reach blog readers in four languages!
Continental Europe and Australasia can give you, the influencer or sponsor, a different viewpoint and perspective on pet issues.
Pet bloggers worldwide can develop, introduce and confirm trends including whether they will last or fade as they circle the globe through different social environments.
Overseas influencers can help a sponsor get noticed in other countries in local time. Google Translate helps all of us to read and understand blogs we previously would have ignored.
Overseas bloggers encourage curiosity in their USA readers. Having friends around the world is seen as a cool thing — differences and similarities allow us to learn new ideas and products in a positive environment our pet blogs.

Worldwide Sponsorship and Things to Think About

The world is connected by people who love their pets. A positive note about a product written in Hamburg will reach all over Germany, then Europe. A post from a cat in Devon has impact through its UK readership, before bounding off to the middle of France and Spain. Local companies can make world-wide impact with small niche products. Worldwide bloggers also help to share the importance of education in pet care and safety, and continue the drive for a better world for our pets; for TNR, cat health and safety, and cat rescues.

Through their blogging reach around the world, influencers and sponsors can make a huge impact. A sponsor working with overseas bloggers impresses for their foresight and flexibility. Our major sponsors Petcube, Tabcat and Sureflap reached out to us and we delivered posts worthy of achieving Finalist status in the BlogPaws Nose to Nose Awards, 2017.

[tweetshare tweet=”#Blogging is #international. This is why #worldwide bloggers matter to #sponsors” via=”no”]

We blog, you blog, the world blogs and spreads across borders, so we learn, and we discover. New people, and products, medical and technological developments to help our pets. How many positive things do you think our continental friends can bring to the blogging and BlogPaws world, working paw-in-paw with our colleagues in America and Canada? The potential is huge, and the benefits to bloggers and sponsors considerable – think worldwide and let your potential grow.

Silver Kitten
Tech Editor and International Blogger

The Hunt for Inspiration

January 14, 2017 by Marjorie Dawson 7 Comments

When you get stuck, where do you hunt for inspiration for your blog, or your writing?

We have some great tips to get you looking in new and different places for a spark that generates your next idea, blog post or rescue promotion concept. Our wellbeing as bloggers depends on being focused and unstressed as we work, and we have tips to make the hunt for inspiration easier.

Hunt for Inspiration Online

For pet people searching for ideas, the BlogPaws website is packed with inspirational messages on planning, and seasonal prompts to sharpen your focus.
For pictures Carol Bryant of FidoseofReality a dog blogging colleague, is a strong advocate of Pinterest for both promotion and inspiration. It is a strongly visual site and for ‘picture people’ can inspire new ideas to kick-start a new project.
Look on Instagram for powerful quotes to make you think.
Local news, in paper and online form. Find local news that you can include as links or to use as the basis for blog post or a design idea to develop.
Find a groups of like-minded people. This can be a group of ‘masterminds’ such as bloggers, artists, computer creatives, or a group like the Cat Writers Association.
Bouncing your ideas of a fellow creative can really inspire! Just look at the work of Savannah’s Paw Tracks, Nerissas Life and ourselves in the award winning Adventurcats series.

Hunt for Inspiration in Print and Words

Read printed articles in magazines. The shift in perspective from screen to page is small but might shape your concept differently.
Video may be the main focus of the year, but most people get their an important part of their visual knowledge from printed material, schoolbooks, drawing materials.
Brainstorm your idea as a mind map. Pick up a pad and pen and using a single focus word, add words it brings to your mind.
Look through old notes, and jottings. An idea discarded months ago may hit the spot now. Also, look at bookmarked online pages you saved for ‘later’.
Seeing pictures in print is different. It inspired mum to start working out a design for paper or fabric – look at our example.

How an image inspired us at Dash Kitten

Mum loves looking at the stars. Here in New Zealand our view of the heavens is clear and sharp, and improves even more when we visit the wide open spaces of the less populated Wairarapa region.

One group of stars we see here, seen worldwide, is the Pleiades (M45) in the constellation of Taurus. In New Zealand their arrival in the night sky signals the Maori new year Matariki. These young stars inspired mum to create a pastel sketch. This is a ‘first thought’ done using inexpensive pastel sticks so many scribbles have not blended well as ‘smudges’!

Your own ideas will develop from inspiration, sometimes way beyond your initial thoughts!

If the Hunt for Inspiration Fails

It might be your mind and your body quietly asking you to take a break. Words of encouragement and support from friends can be balm for your struggle but sometimes just listening to your mind’s appeal for quiet is just what you need,

Step away from your project, or deadline, or blog post, and spend time refocusing on something different.
A post can go up a few hours late – the world won’t end.
Switch off so your mental batteries can recharge and refresh.
Go for a walk, bake a cake, sit or read a book.

Relaxation is as much a part of the hunt for inspiration as active searching.

None of us are super women or super men – we are human beings not 24/7 machines. What has inspired you this past week?

Harvey Button
Hunt for Inspiration Specialist