Celebrate 365....check it out!

I just got a sneak peek at the back cover of the Halloween edition of Celebrate 365 magazine! I am thrilled to be one of the featured artists on the back cover...pretty darn cool! My spooky owl SnipPet is up in the right corner. I will be listing him in my Etsy shop soon. Many thanks to Connie Porcher for this lovely honor! AND many thanks to Suzanne Urban, the wonderful AHA leader, who urged all of us to submit our Halloween and Holiday creations to Connie.



I LOVE Lori Rudolph's fabulous graphics on the front and cover! You should definitely visit her blog and see more of her wonderful artwork.



I can't believe that Halloween is only a month away!!! I've got to get crankin' on some new spooks AND think about a creative costume for the big day. I think we might actually have a party to go to this year. Yahoooo!

As for kitty news, my 4 foster kittens are now ready for adoption. Here we go again! The past 5 weeks have flown by. I can't believe that it is already time for them to leave the nest. I can feel the tears coming on already, but I have high hopes that some loving adoptive parents will come along soon. The kittens are definitely keeping me on my toes. They have figured out how to get up on my art table and love to knock over my paints, steal my paintbrushes and rustle around in my shipping materials. Never a dull moment! Suki has chewed the thumb off of one of my WIPs twice already...eeeks!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Many purrs and warm hugs to all~~

Alabama Ellie!

I just finished up a special order for an Alabama themed Elephant munchkin! I think this is going to spark a line of collegiate themed mini mascots! This little guy was a lot of fun to make. My customer is giving him to her one year old for his November 4th birthday....apparently, he is an Alabama fan in training already :)!

I am a Tarheel (born and bred!), so my next mascot will be a baby ram dressed in Carolina blue with a Tarheel on his shirt. Super cute! And since my husband is a UK professor, I will have to try my hand at a Kentucky blue mini Wildcat. The possibilities are endless! If you would like to special order YOUR favorite school mascot in munchkin SnipPet form, just let me know. These could be fabulous little Christmas gifts for sports fanatics!

Skippy, Sammy, Suki and Oscar...getting sweeter every day!

I feel like I have been in blog world in forever!! It's only been a week, but still...makes me feel out of touch! I had a nasty cold all week which slowed me down quite a bit. I sort of plowed through it and tried to get some artwork done and tend to various cat needs, but nevertheless, I am behind on a lot of things. I sculpted several munchkins, a special order elephant and a holiday cat...stay tuned for the WIP pics. On the spay/neuter end, I was able to get a sweet stray boy kitty neutered and vaccinated and back to his caretaker. I wish i had remembered to take a photo of him because he was absolutely beautiful...another one of those "how could anyone have abandoned this cat???" situations. On a very sad note, we trapped a feral teenage kitten who had radial paralysis and had to be euthanized. It was awful, but I try to find some solace in knowing that she didn't suffer alone outside....goodness knows what would have happened to her on the street. My vet is amazing and loves feral cats. I always trust her judgment. When she tells me what the correct and kindest action to take is, I never question her.

At this very moment, I am STILL trying to trap the homeless blue point himalayan in our neighborhood. He simply will NOT fall for our trapping tricks. It's making me crazy because I want to help him sooo badly. He is so scared and confused. Keep your paws crossed that we get lucky soon!!!!

Well, the excellent news is that Sammy, Suki, Skippy and Oscar are doing GREAT! They have become the most loving, affectionate, wonderful little buggers. All 4 of them will be snipped and vaccinated tomorrow and Tuesday. Then, we can start the adoption process! Here are some recent photos....

Fantastically fun weekend!

My dear friend, Schuyler, came to visit this weekend and we had a blast! This was her first trip to Lexington since we moved here over a year ago. I have been waiting for her to come for SOOO long!!
Thursday night we ordered Chinese and watched Project Runway. On Friday, we had lunch at Alfalfa's (one of my faves) and then did some shopping and gallery hopping. That night some friends came over and we walked to the nearby Mexican restaurant, made pina coladas and then headed out to the bars for some late night dancing....too fun! Saturday began with a scenic drive out to Wallace Station for lunch (best sandwiches on earth!), a tour of the Wild Turkey distillery and a a quick jaunt around Keeneland to see the horses and racetrack. We went to A La Lucie for an eclectic French dinner....amazingly delicious! It was an all around purrrrrrfect weekend! The weather was clear, sunny and just plain gorgeous to top it off.

The whole crew~~

The girls....Schuyler, Jill, me, Ginny, Maura

At Wild Turkey...exactly WHO is the big turkey??

The view from the distillery~~

Heading out for a yummy dinner~~

New SnipPet Spooks and a few fun kitty photos~~

These Halloween Spooks are my offerings for the September Spookytime Jingles update coming up on the 13th. I got them done a bit early because my best buddy from Atlanta is coming to visit on Thursday and we have BIG fun plans for the rest of the week and weekend!! Can't wait!

This first piece was created with an antique wooden clock frame that I found at a nearby flea market. It was just screaming for some polka dots and pizazz! And it purrfectly houses my little paperclay boo kitty! It was loads of fun to work on a mixed media vignette for a change.




And here's a frog wizard just waiting to make some magic happen!! As a little extra, he will be packaged in a paper mache haunted house box.



As always, a few kitty photos for ya! Happy Tuesday!

Some exciting news for the SnipPets!

I recently found out that my little Rosalie Rabbit Munchkin will be featured in the upcoming holiday issue of Romantic Homes magazine!! Yippee! I can hardly believe it! The editor contacted Sandy Wood, the wonderful Pfatt Marketplace founder and fearless leader :), and requested that the Pfatt artists submit their Christmas themed artwork. I am so honored and thrilled that my little rabbit was chosen...especially among such talented and fabulous artists!! Rosalie will be in the Shop Around section entitled "Creatures Large and Small: Handmade ornaments to add to your heirlooms." I will creating a limited edition of this piece.

Fun and furry Friday photo

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday weekend!!!!

Here are my Rooney and Heidi and our resident sheep. You just never know what is going to turn into a cat bed!

Sending SnipPets on their way and a kitty spay!

Fife the Frog and Alice's Rabbit just got wrapped up and will be on the way to their new owners today! To make things even sweeter, the sale of these SnipPet critters went straight toward this week's feral cat spay surgery and rabies shot! Woohooooooo for that!! Many thanks to my wonderful customers for helping me help cats in need :).




Minnie, the feral cat, has quite a TAIL to tell! I trapped her quite easily at the warehouse where she resides on Monday night. And her transport to the vet on Tuesday morning went smoothly too. Well, when i arrived to pick her up that afternoon, the vet had some news that definitely shocked me. When they opened Minnie up to spay her, she had 4 full term kittens that came out crying!! They brought a little box out and showed me the 4 wiggling, squirming little mini Minnies :). They are all tiny tuxedos...look like little penquins. TOO cute! Unfortunately, when they tried to put the kittens with Minnie, she rejected them....wanted nothing to do with motherhood. Thankfully, the vet and her vet tech are willing to syringe and bottle feed them for the next 3 to 4 weeks. That is a HUGE job, so I am extremely grateful!!!! I will keep you posted on their progress...fingers crossed that they all survive and thrive. Poor Minnie was so confused and I felt awful for her. It was great to release her back into familiar territory last night. I know she was relieved to be back in her own environment.



Here is the current foster kitten gang enjoying our Lotus cat tree!! They are really making progress. It's hard to believe that they were spitting and lunging at me 2 weeks ago. Last night, they were following me around the kitten room like baby ducks.

Whimsical Wedding Cake Toppers

Introducing my SnipPet Brides and Grooms!!! I think these lovely little storybook-ish critters would make a fun and whimsical addition to wedding and bridal shower cakes or for a special anniversary gift. They are all available in my Etsy shop now! Thanks for stopping by to take a peek :).

And they lived happily ever after....

Yaaaawwwwn....

I had to share this photo of my Teeny Weeny girl and Meadow aka KooKoo. Teeny was the kitty who started the cat craziness over 12 years ago. She is my first baby and quite the grouch these days, but amazingly enough, she let Meadow sit beside her for a few minutes. Meadow (our little 3 footed foster child) was at the end of a yawn in the photo....it looks like she is grinning....what a crack up!! (click on the photo to enlarge)

Stay tuned for a wedding cake topper post later today...oh, and another successful cat trapping "tail"! Woohoo!