WIPs and a kitten pile!

It has been a slow week on the art end, but i did manage to get the sculpting on these 3 pieces finished. They should be completely dry by Sunday, and then I can bring them to life next week! I am ready for some COLOR! I have to head to the vet early Monday morning with 2 of my own cats and then, hopefully the rest of the week can be dedicated to SnipPet art!! Paws crossed that it will be a quiet week.

Vinny, Lulu and Meadow say hello! They are growing up so fast. It is amazing to see how hearty and healthy they have become. Vinny has turned into quite the artist's assistant. He begs to climb up on my lap and then onto my work table to help me sculpt and paint. He even dipped his white tail tip in my pink paint the other day!
We have a potential adopter coming to meet Vinny this weekend. I hope it works out!



Don't forget to enter my giveaway (see post below)!

Have a wonderful weekend, my blog buddies! It is going to be dry and sunny here tomorrow, so i am planning on having a BIG work day in the backyard. Can't wait!! I am savoring these summer days....

Good news and a Giveaway!

I am happy to report that Miss Gisele, the siamese kitty I posted about this week, was adopted yesterday!!! A fellow TNR volunteer in a neighboring county emailed me that his brother was looking for a special kitty. His beloved Himalayan rescue cat had died in June and he was devastated. He had adopted him 10 years ago and loved him dearly. So, apparently, Gisele caught his eye and it was perfect timing. He was ready for a new, warm, furry body to share his life with. When I delivered her yesterday, she got right out of the carrier and started adventuring around his house. When her new dad would pick her up, Gisele would snuggle up against his face. He was completely enamored! She will be the princess in his household for sure. I am SO relieved to find a wonderful home for at least one of my fosters.

I haven't had any luck at all yet on my kittens, but hopefully soon someone will come along!

I can't believe it is July 30th and I haven't had a giveaway!!! Well, better late than never, right?! I am offering up a KittySnip again...whoever wins can pick one out from my Etsy shop. Here is my personal favorite, Emma.



How do you win??? You must leave a comment on this post and give me an idea for a name for the sweet stray kitty boy who showed up at our house (see last post for a close up photo). I had been calling him "Jack" and my husband keeps calling him "Steve". So silly! We think that human male names for a cat are so funny, but neither of those quite fit. We need your help, so give us some good ideas!! I will choose a winner on Monday.
Jack/Steve has come back every afternoon to sleep in the bed on the porch. It started pouring rain the other night and when we opened the door, he came flying in. I dried him off and he curled up on the sofa with us for awhile. I am going to take him to the vet tomorrow and get him combo tested and get his vaccinations and deworming done. Here are some new photos of him as well as a few of our regulars, Magee and Missy.


Which kitty is the real one :)??

Jack Sprat came back....

Adorable Jack Sprat appeared again on our front steps yesterday afternoon as we were coming home from the grocery store. He had a snack and curled up on the bed i made for him on the porch. A few hours later, we went running, and he just sat on the ledge and watched us make our laps. He was rolling around in the grass on the edge of the yard happily. Jack is the cutest boy ever. I took some photos to email to the people in my neighborhood, but i know he doesn't belong to anyone. We live in a small development and I am familiar with everyone's cats and dogs. No one around here lets their cats outside anyway.

I am not sure what to do about him. Sigh. He seems content enough with using our front porch as a safe napping area and of course, he has cat food and fresh water available all day, but still.... I would love to bring him inside and find a home for him. If i can get homes for my current fosters, i can scoop him up and get him in here. I just pray that he continues to show up. I know that i will have a meltdown if something happens and he disappears.

Look at how handsome he is!!!



Making air biscuits....

Back to Cat Chat....Gisele, Jack and more....

The cat craziness continues....a few new kitties have arrived and we are still trying to find homes for the foster kittens! Vinny and Lulu were spayed, neutered and vaccinated this week. They had a bout with coccidia (ick!), but they are healthy and fat now. I posted them on petfinder and sent out an email blast about them, but haven't had any bites at all. Oh, i hope i can find them good homes....would love for them to stay together. Their mama, Murphy, is now staying with a cat lady friend of mine. She is doing great....playing and enjoying being safe and well fed!

Here is Vinny showing his tummy!


Meadow, the older kitten with only 3 paws, is still with us too. She had coccidia as well, but has bounced back beautifully. She loves whizzing around with her kitten roomies. Her feral-ness is almost gone. She doesn't run when approached and loves to be rubbed and scratched.

So, here is our newest addition, Gisele. Miss Gisele was found by my friend in a feral colony. According to the colony's caretaker, she showed up about 3 months ago. Gisele is a pure bred lilac point Siamese. We figure that someone got tired of her and just dumped her out like trash to fend for herself. Poor thing is as skinny as a rail, had a fractured tooth and an abscess and was, of course unspayed (probably was used for breeding). She had the works done on Thursday...spay surgery, pulled tooth, vaccinations, fecal testing, dewormer, etc. Gisele is recovering comfortably in our guest bedroom. She is the cutest, funniest thing! I have never actually been around a Siamese cat at all, but I knew that they were very vocal and loving. Gisele is without a doubt, THE most affectionate kitty i have ever known. All she wants to do is snuggle up close to you and make biscuits and rub her face against yours. I can't imagine how sad she was being left outside alone with no human interaction! Ugh, makes me sick. I hope we can find a home for her where she will be doted on and adored forever.




And then, there's Jack. This handsome and super sweet boy was sitting on our front porch when we got home on Friday night!! At first, i didn't even see him because he fit right into our black and white porch color scheme. He looked like part of the decor :)! My heart sank when i got out and called to him and he came running toward me, flipped over to have his tummy scratched and meowed like crazy! I don't know if someone dumped him at my house or if he wandered here from somewhere. They really strange thing is that he is neutered and appears to be eartipped (which in always done ot feral cats when they go through a TNR program). Really odd. I don't have anywhere left inside to put him, so I had to let him stay outside (you have no idea how much this pains me). I sat with him for quite awhile and loved on him, I wanted to do SOMETHING to help, so i put some flea meds on him. He ate dinner and sat our porch and then took off awhile later. Thankfully, he returned last night for dinner during the rainstorm. I put a bed out for him to curl up on. I don't know what to do about Jack!! I am so stressed out about finding homes for all of my current fosters and i want to help him too.
Here he is....these pictures don't do him justice. He is SO cute.



Joe and Magee...our regular porch feral kitties.


Ok, i better run!!! We have to clean this house from top to bottom, and i need to get some artwork done...ahhh!
Have a great day, my blog friends :)!

SUPER Summer SNIPPET SALE!!!

I am having a midsummer sale as promised! Select SnipPet dolls are 25% off and my SnipPet paintings are 50% off! Click here to go straight to my etsy shop sale section. Some of your favorites just might be listed :)!



I have a new rescued foster kitty that i will be blogging about this weekend! She is quite the character....a very chatty lilac point siamese girl! I've never ever fostered a siamese, so this is new to me.

Have a GREAT weekend!!! Many purrs to all of you!

New Munchkins in my Etsy Shop!

Ta Daaaaa! I just finished up 4 new munchkin cuties. They are available in my etsy shop. I am offering free shipping to my blog followers and facebook friends! Just let me know if you want one, and i can reserve it for you and change the shipping to zero :).

ENJOY the little lineup!

A bit in limbo.....

I am trying to get back into the swing of things here. I have a few munchkins on my desk that need to be painted, a very special commissioned piece to finish and other various odds and ends. I am just waiting for my paperclay shipment to arrive so that i can get a move on!

It's also definitely time for a July giveaway...i can't believe the end of the month has snuck up on me so fast!! And I am thinking about having midsummer SnipPet Sale...so stay tuned for more info on both of these.

In the meantime, I thought i would share a photo of 3 Lion King miniatures that I created for a wonderful doll collector named Jo Moore Stewart a few years ago. She has an EXTENSIVE collection of dolls and miniatures (and that is an extreme understatement)....thousands of them...and they are all grouped in themed mini "rooms" that she has developed. The entire collection is called MiniLands. It is truly an amazing world of creativity, history and whimsy. I was reminded of Jo and her fantasy land when she emailed me last week about a feature that the Atlanta news did on her miniature Michael Jackson tribute.

Jo had me sculpt a giraffe, a zebra and a cheetah that were exact miniature replicas of the characters from the Broadway version of The Lion King. Costume designer, Julie Taymor, is a genius...the way she seamlessly transformed the human actors into animal characters is amazing! OH, how i would love to see the show in person!

Back from the Beach!

We returned from our wonderful beach trip yesterday evening. It was fantastic, as always! I truly think that i was born to be near the water...i am a Pisces after all!
Maybe one day we will own a little cottage by the sea :)....that's the big dream anyway!

I really needed a break from the cat madness, but lo and behold, guess what showed up on the deck at the beach???!! You guessed it, kittens! On Tuesday, two feral kittens came out of the vegetation on the dunes. We didn't have any cat food, of course, so I put out some turkey and bacon and fresh water. By the end of the day, we saw 4 kittens and once it got dark, the mama arrived! I was putting tuna in a bowl on the deck and she came right up to me. It was pitch black out there, so i nearly jumped out of my skin. I could just see two eyes glowing back at me. Over the next few days, I kept watch over them and fed them. It appears that they had been living under the house in the shade. That's where i found mama most of the time. Brian got up at 5:30 one morning to watch Tiger Woods, and he saw 5 kittens plus the mom and another adult cat (probably the deadbeat dad :)). The kittens appeared to be about 10-12 weeks, and it really looked like the mom was already pregnant again. As you can imagine, it killed me not to be able to trap them all and at least get them spayed and neutered and vaccinated. We flew there so i didn't have my traps with me and wasn't equipped to do anything for them except feed them and worry relentlessly. I just emailed a rescue group that is a few miles off of Oak Island to see if they might have a TNR program. It would be wonderful if I could get someone to help them.
Anyway, here are some photos for you guys to take a peek at.

First little one creeping up to the trail of food...

The pretty torti mama!

Mama and baby enjoying a canned food treat under the house...

The gorgeous view!

Heaven!

Me and my parent's pup, Louie....cutest dog ever. He was an Atlanta rescue that had been terribly neglected and now he is spoiled rotten!

Precious pic of Lulu and Meadow before we left for our trip.

Calling all animal lovers!!!

Make sure you head over to Spookytime Jingles on the 13th!!! It is the STJ one year anniversary, AND we are raising money for the ASPCA and local animal groups!!! SO exciting! Many of the STJ artists are giving a percentage of the sales of their Halloween and Christmas creations to cats and dogs in need! 100% of the sales of two of my Halloween munchkins will go toward the animals and 15% of all of my other pieces will be donated. I can't wait to see everyone else's wonderful work! For more details, you can visit the STJ blog. Scroll down to read several informative posts.

Hope all of you have a super duper weekend!!!! I am OUT.....

Munchkin sweeties in my Etsy shop!

I finished up these two cuties and just listed them in my Etsy shop! I was dying to get these done before i hang it up for the week. I LOVE cupcakes and cherries, so I decided to add them to their little clown outfits. Pure sweetness!



I'll probably post one more time tomorrow before we head to Caswell Beach in North Carolina on Saturday. I am SOOOOO excited!!! I am ready for some sun and sand and rejuvenation. My mind and heart need a break from the cat craziness before I hit it hard again when we get back. My next adventure involves TNRing 40 cats at a correctional facility here. THAT should be quite the "tail"!!

Holiday Munchkins and Alice's White Cat?

Yesterday, i finished up 3 holiday munchkin snippets. They will be available at the Spookytime Jingles update on the 13th! I have 5 Halloween munchkins (posted those awhile back) ready for STJ as well. Today i am trying to squeak out a spooky cute frog and a few other non-holiday munchkins.

Shoowee! It has been crazy around here because I am getting ready to leave for a week at the beach on Saturday. Meeting art deadlines and getting my cats and foster kitties all taken care of has kept me busy for sure.

The last photo is a special order for a wonderful customer. She wanted a white cat version of my "Alice's White Rabbit". I thought that was a purrfect idea!!

Things are jingling in July!! PFATT update!

Make sure to head over to the Pfatt Marketplace on the 10th to see lots of wonderful and whimsical handmade holiday creations!!!

Here is what i am offering up....a few elf critters and a santa pig door prize!

Wild Goose Chase

Oh me, Sunday night's cat trapping adventures was nothing short of a wild goose chase. Thank goodness i have a patient husband who was willing to sit out there for 3 hours and help me!! As you know, we were trying to trap 3 females....2 at the stockyards and 1 down the road from there at a warehouse. We did manage to trap Murphy, the mother of my current foster kittens. Poor thing was dumped into the feral colony with those kittens about 2 weeks ago. I was SO relieved to get her out of there. Unfortunately, the other female, Smokey, was being impossible!! We tried our regular traps and the drop trap but she was not falling for it...not even close. She normally comes out with the other 5 cats (all of whom we have snipped), but she wouldn't budge from the stall. I honestly don't know how we are going to get her. Sigh. We finally gave up and headed to the other location which was even more frustrating!! We put 2 traps out along with the drop trap and it was one debacle after another. The target kitty, Maddie, would sit beside them, then run off, then come back, then get spooked again. Next, a mother raccoon and her 4 babies came out and proceeded to get in the traps several times. I just kept having to let them out and re-bait. They would saunter off looking sheepish....cracked me up....and then come right back for more. This went on and on and then FINALLY, we reconfigured our drop trap strategy and Maddie went in. Well, total drama ensued. Brian was holding the drop trap down while she jumped around, and i had to get the regular trap butted up against it. You have to work super fast and do your best not to get your hand in the wrong place if you know I mean. I was being so careful and then somehow, she escaped. I can't begin to tell you how upset and disappointed i was!! I just wanted to kick myself in the head!! And then all we could do was laugh because the night was so full of crazy antics....it just wasn't meant to be. So, we'll keep on trying!!
For now, i am just concentrating on Murphy. She came through her spay surgery and vaccinations ok, but I am going to take her to my regular vet this afternoon for a full evaluation. I put her in our upstairs bathroom last night and realized how terribly emaciated she is. She is losing her hair, has scrapes and scabs and a runny eye. I just cried when i realized how pitiful she is. On top of that, she is THE sweetest cat i think i have ever seen. She just wanted to curl up and make biscuits and purr. I know I am a broken record, but i simply cannot fathom abandoning a cat like that and expecting him/her to survive. It kills me. I pray that she will be ok and that a lot of TLC will bring her back to health.

Many THANKS to all of you who have written and given me words of encouragement!! I truly appreciate it.

Here are a few photos of the kittens and Murphy...sorry for the terrible quality...she kept moving and i couldn't get a clear shot.

Munchkin Madness!

Just a short little Friday afternoon post...I am a bit cross eyed at the moment. I need a good catnap :)! Here are the munchkins I have been working on this week...pigs, frogs, cats, rabbits and elephants in their happy hats and finest frocks. I think they will need to do some sunbathing this weekend in order to get them dried out and ready to paint next week.

I hope all of you have a wonderful July 4th weekend!! We will be having some fun tomorrow night with our friends...pizza and ping pong and maybe a few fireworks. Then, Sunday night, we will be out cat trapping!! Fingers, toes and paws crossed that we get those 3 furry ladies!