I really need your advice...and my Finny boy!

Happy weekend, bloggy friends! I hope you all have some fun plans in the works :).

I am writing this little post because i truly need your advice. I submitted my artwork to Art Doll Quarterly magazine back in March and this week they wrote to say that they are going to publish my dolls! Woohoo! I am very excited indeed! However, i am TOTALLY waffling about which 3 or 4 dolls to send them. My husband said, well, why don't you poll your blog friends?? Great idea....alrighty then! So, if you have a few minutes and are willing, i would be so grateful if you would head over to my etsy shop and then lend me your thoughts.
Thanks bunches!!

My new mini photo studio arrived yesterday morning! Such fast shipping and it was free....gotta love that. I haven't used it yet, so i don't have any photos to share, but stay tuned.

I think I have written about all of my personal cats except one, so I thought I'd share Finnegan's story today. Our sweet Finny was abandoned in the same warehouse as Rooney (previously posted about him). Animal control trapped him and deemed that he was too feral for adoption, so they were going to euthanize him. My employer (a fellow rescuer) and I decided to adopt him, and he has now been with us for almost 3 years. He is a TOTAL scaredy cat and truly never would have been adopted. I think he was terribly traumatized from his past, but he has a very loving side. He lays low during the day and then every night when i got to bed and turn off the lights, he jumps up and spoons with me. I can't describe how excited he gets. I rub his tummy and he licks my face and snuggles as close as he can get. Sometimes he wraps himself around my head or drapes himself across my chest. I rarely get a full night of sleep, but it is worth it to give him those hours of bliss :).

The first photo is Finnegan shortly after we rescued him with some foster kittens from the same animal control. The second photo is recent....he is much plumper now...LOVES his canned food treats.

Fairytale Frog and Cat Temples

Oh my gosh, I thought that I would never get these two creations photographed and posted in my etsy shop!! These two pieces have a lot of hours in them with many little sculpted and painted details, so I wanted all of that to show well! I tried EVERYTHING to get good pictures of them and finally had to settle with what you see below. I went inside and outside...tried various backgrounds, lighting....nothing seemed to work. The frog looked SO dark and shadowed if I used a light background but dark tones didn't work either. So, a fern and the grass ended up being the best option. After all of this struggling, I went ahead and ordered a mini photo studio on Amazon.com. It includes a light box (20" x 20"), 2 lights and a tripod. I can't wait for it to arrive so that i can start experimenting!!

Presenting my fairytale frog and cat temples with topiaries.....both will be available in my etsy shop shortly. The frog and the cat are both about 14" tall. Also, i wanted to let you all know that if you ever want to purchase one of my pieces but just can't afford the full price all at once, I am more than happy to take payments in monthly installments...just shoot me and email and we can chat! snippetgirl@gmail.com

Feral cat trapping and Ozzie's new kitten friends!

It's time for some cat chat! We had our monthly feral cat trapping adventure on Friday night. Brian and I headed to the stockyards to try to trap Ozzie's mom, Smoky, and had absolutely no luck at all. She wasn't even slightly tempted to get in the tuna laden traps. Ugh. We even pulled out our foolproof drop trap and that attempt failed as well. Here is a photo of her (the dark torti) with one of her colony mates, Snugg Jr.


We also tried to trap another female cat, Maddie, down the street. She's smart and wary too....no luck there either. So, we decided to head down to the other end of the stockyards and tackle the group down there. Thankfully, there were several lurking around in the stalls and napping in the hay. After 2 hours of patient waiting and strategic trap placement, we were able to get 4 cats (3 super wild boys and 1 girl)!! Woohoo! Success!!

I got up early Saturday morning and headed to the monthly spay/neuter clinic in Georgetown. While I was there, I picked up 2 foster kittens from another volunteer. She had at least 9 that she needed help with, so I wanted to take a few off her hands, and I knew little Ozzie needed some playmates. Oh boy, are they cute!!! One is a longhaired orange girl, Odette, who reminds me of those troll pencils that you spin between your hands and it makes their hair stick out :). So funny! The other one is a solid gray manx now named Olivia. She is RIDICULOUSLY adorable!!! She has very thick, soft, woolly fur like a sheep...and that tailless rump...eeeks!! I got them all settled in with their new boyfriend and they all seem happy and content together. Unfortunately, by the end of the weekend, they seemed a bit down...lethargic and out of sorts. We headed to the vet this morning and they are all on antibiotics and should be on the upswing soon.

Back to the feral cats....they all had successful spay/neuter surgeries, received their vaccinations, flea meds AND antibiotics. I released them all on Sunday night and they were thrilled to be back in the own environment. I feel such a sense of satisfaction and relief knowing their lives will be so much better now.

OK, here are some kitten pics to enjoy!
THE THREESOME~~

ODETTE~~cute gremlin girl!

OLIVIA~~fuzzy wuzzy baby!

OLIVIA~~look at that face!!

Fairytale Bird Towers

Just a quick post before the Memorial Day weekend begins! I finished these two little fairytale bird towers as well as the more elaborate cat and frog temple pieces i gave you a sneak peek at. Unfortunately, i am having photographic "challenges" with those two (ahhhhh....making me crazy!). Anyhoo, these towers are all done and available in my etsy shop.

Hope you all have a GREAT weekend! I will be out trapping cats tonight for the spay/neuter clinic tomorrow AND I am getting 2 new foster kittens in the morning...sooooo, make sure to check in for some good photos and stories very soon! Purrs to all!

ONE DAY only SNIPPET SALE in my Etsy Shop!!

Good morning to my beautiful blogger buddies!! I am celebrating my 9th wedding anniversary on this 20th day of May, so I thought i would have a 29% off sale in my etsy shop to celebrate!! Why not spread the love:)??? If you have been wanting to adopt a SnipPet animal, head on over to my shop and make him/her yours today. Instructions on how to receive your discount are at the top of the page in my shop announcement. Click here. Sale ends tonight at midnight.

Brian and I got married on a cliff overlooking the ocean on May 20, 2000. It was the best day EVER! We were surrounded by 23 of our closest friends and family members. It drizzled lightly as we exchanged our vows, but right after the ceremony, the sun came out and a HUGE rainbow and 2 kittens (seriously!) appeared as we all headed out of the tent to enjoy the ocean waves. Quite a magical day.... I am so lucky to have the most wonderful husband on the planet. Who else would support, encourage and love my art and cat craziness wholeheartedly? Thank goodness he does! I don't have any photos of our special day on the computer (I need a scanner!), so here is a recent beach photo instead.

Our family portrait and a wonderful invite!

On Friday afternoon, i was thrilled to have been invited to be a member of EHAG (Eclectic Halloween Artists Group)! I am truly honored to be a part of this amazing group of creative spirits. Yippee for a wonderful ending to my week!! You just never know what special surprises might be awaiting you :). Please visit the EHAG blog if you aren't familiar with this group.



I had to share our family portrait with all of you! I blogged about it back in February when it was completed, but it wasn't framed and hung at that point. I FINALLY had a frame made for it and put the whole fabulous piece up this weekend. Oh, i just adore it...makes me soooooo happy to see it every day! There we are...Brian and I with Rooney, Heidi, Finnegan, Gus, Rosie and Teeny. Susan Faye is the artist and if you aren't familiar with her cat lady portraits, you MUST visit her blog. Click here.

Friday WIPs and Ozzie Update~~

Here is what i have been working on this week....temples, towers and topiaries in progress! I am anxious to get these painted, but I need to sculpt some little birds and details first. It seems like i have been sooooooo slow this week...like molasses...maybe it's because of a certain furry critter that has me distracted???!



Uh, yes...little Ozzie bean is definitely a distraction! A good one :)! He has made big strides since Sunday night. He is now using his litter box AND I pretty much have him weaned. I started with feeding him formula and canned food from a syringe and then moved to putting it on a plate. I still have to sit with him while he eats and push him back toward the plate when he wanders off. He is starting to play with his toys, stalk imaginary friends, and attempt to scare me with the ever entertaining sideways shuffle crab walk. Veeeeeery scaaaary! Tee hee. Every night i bring him downstairs to watch a TV show with me. He quietly entertains himself by wobbling up and down the sofa and chewing on my blanket.

I checked in with Smokey's (Ozzie's mom) feral cat caretaker and she seems to be doing just fine...she is probably relieved to be free of her motherly duties. We will be heading out next Friday night to try to trap her along with a constantly injured tomcat and 2 other cats in need of spaying/neutering and medical care. Oh, i hope we can get them all taken care of! In the past 9 months of living here, we have fixed and/or rescued over 30 cats and kittens, but there are so many more left to do in this area. It seems to never end.

Here is a photo of little Oz! He squirms a lot so my photos are all a bit blurry. I'll get some good ones eventually. Look at that spotted tummy...can you stand it??! Have a purrfectly lovely weekend, everyone!

New SnipPet Spooks for the SpookyTime Jingles Update!

It's my favorite time of the month...SpookyTime Jingles update day! These pieces will be available at midnight tonight on my STJ Halloween page.

I am starting on a tower/temple/topiary series that I am really excited about. So, i decided to create a Halloween version first. This Frog Temple is full of little spooky cute hand sculpted details....a frog, an owl, a mini moon, tiny perching blackbirds and of course, a happy jack o' lantern. The cone part of the piece was layered with paint to give it a mossy, aged effect, and I painted small creeping vines all over it.




My juggling circus animals seem to be the favorite in my etsy shop, so a black cat juggling pumpkins seemed like the purrrrrfect Halloween version! Esmeralda the Cat is having a fabulous time with her giggling pumpkins and her favorite pair of mouse shoes! Again, I used several layers of paint and stain to give her more depth and texture.

Giveaway winners and an itty bitty newcomer....

THANK YOU sooooooo much for sharing all of your wonderful pet stories with me!!!! I loved, loved, LOVED reading all of them!!! I read all of them at least twice :). I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedules to share your special "tails" with me. OK, so on to the SnipPet winners.....

Things are a bit busy around here, so i used the random integer generator on the internet to choose my giveaway winners. Congrats to 23 and 12....Lyndy Ward and Jenn McGlon!! Lyndy will receive my "Ducks in a Row" painting in honor of her kitty, Midnight, and Jenn will get my Itty Bitty Circus Kitty doll in honor of her cat, Mazzy. Many purrs to you both!

~~~~~~~

Next news....i rescued a tiny kitten out of the nearby stockyards last night. The colony's caretaker called and said that Smokey (the female that has eluded my trapping exploits for months) had been bringing one kitten out over the past few days. She was concerned that it was blind or sick because its eyes were cloudy. I just couldn't stand the thought of her sole surviving kitten being out there and possibly ill or injured, so i headed over there last night. All 5 of the bobtail adult cats in the colony came out to eat, but there was no sign of the kitten. Then finally, i started nosing around in the stalls and saw that Smokey was huddled in a haystack with him. I trudged into the manure (in my flip flops no less...why didn't i wear my trapping tennishoes?? Idiot :)) and easily grabbed the little one and rolled him up in a towel. Smokey was upset, of course, but it was important to get that kitten out of there and away from the multitude of dangers that lurk in the stockyards. Plus, now we can go ahead and try to trap Smokey again and get her spayed.

I have already named our tiny newcomer...Ozzie! I think he is about 3 weeks old. We'll find out for sure at the vet this afternoon. He isn't weaned, so i am bottle feeding him...haven't done that in awhile! He doesn't appear to be sick at all....just lots of eye goop. We will do everything we can to help him grow into a strong, healthy little boy. And so our love story with Ozzie begins..... I am already head over heels (as always!).

I tried to get some photos of him but most of them were blurry because he is constantly moving around. I let our Rooney meet him for a brief moment. Stay tuned for Ozzie updates.

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Just wanted to send out my best wishes to all the moms out there! I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating the amazing job you do each day. Many purrs, woofs and hugs to you~~~

In honor of today, i am sharing a furry mom photo :). This is a picture from our kitty foster archives. Miss Potter was a stray at an apartment complex...she had six kittens--Jeremy Fisher, Johnny Townmouse, Tom Kitten, Flopsy, Mopsy and Miss Moppet. They were quite a crew!



If you haven't entered my blog giveaway, please do! The winner will be posted tomorrow.

SnipPet Giveaway to Celebrate YOU!

When i woke up this morning and checked my blogger dashboard, I had hit 100 followers!!! WOWEE! I can't quite express how much my blog friends mean to me. You guys keep me motivated, encouraged, inspired and feeling connected. So many of you have lifted me up when i have been feeling down...especially when it comes to disheartening kitty situations. Your kind, supportive words often restore my hope and faith in the goodness of humanity. THANK YOU for being there! And your enthusiasm and special comments about my artwork fills me with pure glee :). Soooooo, it seems like it is the perfect day for a big giveaway to honor you!

In order to have a chance to win, please leave a comment on this post and tell me about a special pet (past or present). I love hearing about other people's furry or feathery or scaly friends :)!

There will be two prizes...my three ducks in a row painting and an itty bitty circus kitty! I will be plucking the winners' names out of the hat on Mother's Day night, so make sure you sign up by 10 pm on Sunday!

Sweet Peas and WIPs

Magee and Joe B (named for local restaurants) are 2 of our back patio kitties. Their mom is Missy, the kitty I wrote about a few days ago. How cute are these buff tabby boys??! They appeared with Missy on our front porch when we moved here last July. They were only a few months old then, and scared to death of us...always running across the street and hiding in the drain...which scared me to death! Thankfully, they are full grown and healthy and super sweet. As you can see, they are very bonded and love to snuggle together and bathe each other. I adore them all, of course. If we didn't already have 6 inside, they would be in here too! I do my best to spoil them with beds and toys and treats and lots of TLC.



I am sure i will have somd good photos and cat stories in the next few weeks. I will be on feeding duty at 3 cat colonies nearby while their caretaker is out of town for 2 weeks. The May feral cat spay/neuter clinic is coming up soon too.

I better get back to the sculpting table. But first, here is what i have been working on....a cat in a witch's hat with mouse slippers and a large mystery hand. I am not sure what that hand will be doing, but i have some ideas....might be creepy rather than my usual cute :)! Maybe....

My Teeny girl, a sneak peek and a sheep!

Teeny's centerfold spread!!! Tee hee...


I realized that i have not yet written about my Teeny girl! She is the one who started all of our cat madness 12 years ago. She doesn't have a wild and crazy story like the rest of my gang members. It was pretty simple...we adopted her at the Atlanta Humane Society as a kitten and she has been utterly spoiled ever since. She has developed asthma and a particularly grouchy demeanor over the years. Teeny hoped to be an only child and instead gained 5 adopted siblings and a constant barrage of furry foster chidren. She loves ONLY one creature...her mama....and i love her to pieces.

NEWEST ARTWORK~~



This sweetly spooky frog will be available on the Spookytime Jingles site on the 13th.



And Daisy the Sheep will be posted in my etsy shop later today.

Beep! Beep!

A Sheep and a Chick are on a joy ride!!!

I FINALLY finished this piece....i kept working on it, setting it aside, staring at it, changing my mind, tweaking....and now it's done!!

Stay tuned....I also completed another sheep as well as a frog for the SpookyTime Jingles update coming up on the 13th. I'll be posting a sneak peek at those tomorrow.

HOPE YOU ALL HAD A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Toot! Toot! The SnipPet Chick Train has arrived!

Yippee! These sweet little feathered friends are kicking off summer already!! Head over to my etsy shop for details.

Those chicks may be partying, but this chick has gotta get back to work :)!

Before....

and after....

Creative displays and SnipPet SALE reminder~~

As I wait for a layer of paint to dry on my current creations, I thought i would remind you about my Super SnipPet Sale. Many of my circus critters are 40% off in honor of Mother's Day!! This sale will end on May 10, so head on over to the SnipPet shop soon!



Now for some fun display ideas! Last fall, I bought 3 antique wheel molds at a local flea market. I thought they would be the perfect, unique, sculptural accent for our family room. Of course, since i am not a minimalist (and have to embellish everything!!!), I decided to paint the wall within the molds in a sky pattern and use them as frames for my circus themed artwork and special finds (the carousel horse is an ebay treasure). And then, it hit me! This was meant to be...a 3 ring circus on my wall!!! I love when things magically fall into place like that.



Here is another whimsical spot in my house.... these carved wooden deer are my best bargain finds EVER!!!! I saw them online and in Atlanta at one of my favorite shops selling for several hundred dollars each and fell in love with them. Then, months later, i went to the Ballard's Design outlet warehouse, and they were desperate to move merchandise out that day. I almost fell over when i saw that they had the deer sculptures marked down to $20 each!! I kept asking the manager, "Are you suuuure???? Really??" I never get THAT lucky. The manager wanted me to take the 5 that they had, so he ended up giving me an extra 20% off of the sale price. Unbelievable. So, here they are living in a little painted forest on my stairwell.