Guest Post: Bimini the Black Cat Extraordinaire 🐾✨

 🐾 A Note from Bimini: Black Cat Magic & a New Year Blessing

Hello, darlings.
My mom, VanGoghChica, has graciously given me a corner of her blog so I can chime in whenever I feel inspired—and trust me, inspiration visits often when you are a black cat.

With her help, I recently opened my very own eBay shop called BiminisBoutique. I’ve spent quite some time watching my mom create art, cards, journals, and all sorts of papercraft wonders. Somewhere along the way, I realized something important: I, too, have a creative flair. My other unique contribution? Black Cat Magic (BCM)—naturally.

Like my mom, I read tarot. Being a black cat comes with certain… perceptive abilities. My mom likes to joke that I live with one foot in the other world. She’s very astute that way.

To welcome the New Year, I pulled a tarot card for all of us and then created an ACEO (Art Cards, Editions & Originals) inspired by that. The card that revealed itself was the Ace of Pentacles

—and honestly, I couldn’t have wished for a better omen to begin 2026.

The Ace of Pentacles speaks of material blessings and fresh starts. It signals opportunities for prosperity—whether that shows up as money, a meaningful gift, new furniture, a refreshed home, or tangible support for a new project. This card is all about manifestation in the physical world, and it’s a wonderfully prosperous energy to carry into a new year. 

If you’d like to amplify your luck even more, you might consider one of my Black Cat Magic spell jars, each thoughtfully assembled to carry intention, charm, and a little feline mystique. You can read all about them in my shop listings.

And if you have comments, questions, or special requests, feel free to start a cat chat with me.
I know a lot. 🖤✨

— Bimi

Creating a Scene with Multiple Elements | Card making Tutorial for Beginners

This was a very fun card to make. I used stamps and dies from different sets to compose this scene. And my cat, Bimini, wanted in on it so she made an appearance in my card.

Rarely do I have the luxury to buy complete sets that include rubber stamps, dies and stencils. Those large sets tend to include a couple complete scenarios that you can choose from. 

Most of us have smaller sets; either single rubber stamp elements or just die cut sets. It is up to us to put these together to create a nice scene.

I used four sets to stage this whimsical scene of my cat getting into mischief. The hanging shelves were one set of rubber stamps. The planters with greenery was another set. My cat came from a die set and the champagne glasses came from yet another set.

Aside from visualizing how different elements will fit together, you will need to plan carefully. Work from the bottom up; so that the items further back are inked or glued first. Aside from overlapping elements, light shading adds to the three dimensionality.

Supplies

• Altenew Potted Shelves stamp and die set
• Altenew Sentiment Strip 2
• Kokorosa Cat with Telescope die set
• Bathtub scene die set
• Altenew pigment ink in Permanent Black
• Altenew fresh dye inks in Evergreen, Mocha and Espresso
• Altenew Solar White card stock
• Altenew glue
• Die cutting machine
• Tweezers
• Alcohol markers

1. Measure, cut and fold A2 card out of white card stock.
2. Lay out elements that you will use to make the scene and determine the order in which you will stamp and glue.
3. Stamp the shelves and table in mocha and espresso inks.
4. Use die cutting machine to cut all dies from white card stock.
5. Color die cuts with alcohol ink markers.
6. Glue all die cuts in the proper order so that the items furthest back are glued first.

I take you through most of these steps on my You Tube video here. If you visit my You Tube channel, VanGoghChica Studio, please help me grow by liking the video and leaving me a comment! Happy crafting!

 

07:19:25 Check-in: My Art Journal SD 480p

Here you can View my YouTube video that is a check in which focuses on my art journal pages. Here are pictures of my art journal pages that I show in the video.

Bimini ( my cat) as Bastet (ancient Egyptian cat goddess)

 I have been having fun with whimsical animal portraits lately; mainly cats. My Bombay cat, Bimini, fancies herself Bastet. Bastet was the ancient Egyptian feline Goddess. 

Both compositions show Bimini in a Sphinx-like pose. And she wanted to be surrounded or embody Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Image on the left is at work on paper (9”X12”) while the image on the right is a painting on 12”X12” canvas. I do not think I am done yet with Bimi's portraits; no doubt you will see some more of them if I do.