Sleeping Minnie...

Yesterday was rainy and dreary here all day, so it was especially nice to crawl in the bed and snuggle with the furballs. Minnie was purr-ticularly happy and content....

Kitten and Cherries...

Yay!!! Just finished up the last one (for now). I'll be delivering these to Cradle Will Rock tomorrow...paws crossed that the owner likes them and that the customers like them even more :)!
This one is my personal favorite. Never would have guessed that the kitten one would be my top pick, right??!

FREE SHIPPING for Valentine SnipPets!

Hip Hip Hooray! One month until Valentine's Day!! I am offering FREE SHIPPING on all Valentine artwork in my Etsy shop. In addition, you will receive a SnipPet bookmark and another little Valentine extra :).

Kitty update....
Remember Miss Biscuits?? Well, i didn't have any luck finding a home for her here. I had one pseudo offer and let's just say, many red flags went up and i found myself clutching Miss B tightly thinking, there is no way that you are going to adopt this little lady! Thankfully, Good Mews in Atlanta notified me that they could take her. I was beyond ecstatic to get her to my favorite place in the world! So, Miss Biscuits and I packed our bags and headed to Atlanta on Monday. She was a purrfect little traveler and so relaxed when we arrived at Good Mews. The volunteers were happy to meet her. Here is a photo I took of her the night before our road trip. Don't you want to kiss that tummy??!!

Miss Biscuits and some Butch babies...

Just had to post a few new photos of our little foster girl. A wonderful lady is coming to meet her tomorrow. Our fingers, toes and paws are crossed that they fall madly in love with each other! I don't know how anyone couldn't adore her. I wish i could keep her permanently but my house is reserved for the oldies, the shy kids, the disabled/injured folks, the not so pretty kitties...you know, the "unadoptables". I prefer to call them quirky and unique. Those are the ones that truly pull at my heartstrings.

Miss Biscuits is purrfect in every way!




I have been busy working on some fun little Valentine creations. I hope to get them all painted by New Year's Day. I LOVE Valentine's Day!!!! It's my favorite...always has been.

I just finished two custom orders for a very special client. She wanted me to create a munchkin doll and an ornament in honor of her beloved dog, Butch. His favorite toy as a puppy was a purple and red gingerbread man, so I had to include that and it inspired his outfit too. She requested that one of the pieces feature a heart with "mom" on it, so I thought an angel version of Butch would be perfect with the little heart. Butch has had many health struggles but his mom has taken amazing care of him and he is doing beautifully! In fact, he will celebrate his 12th birthday in a few weeks!

I already miss Christmas!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! It seems like it came and went so fast, as always. My parents came to visit us on Wednesday (it took them 11 long hours to get from Raleigh to Lexington) and stayed until Sunday. We did some relaxing, a lot of eating and got out and about for some fun excursions. On Saturday, we drove to Louisville to eat at Lyn's Paradise Cafe. Brian and I had been dying to go there ever since we saw Lyn take on Bobby Flay in a Throwdown :)! Her restaurant oozes fun and whimsy! It is full of crazy lamps (some upside down), wild colors and wacky animals. The food is equally over the top and delicious!!




I MUST share with you the Christmas gift I got for my parents!! I ordered one of Susan Faye's fabulous pet portraits for them. I had been waiting ALL year for this, so I was thrilled to finally have this special painting created for them. You can read more about it on her blog, 365 Cat Ladies.



Well, our little black kitten's potential family totally flaked out on us, so she will be with us indefinitely! Another woman offered to put her out on a farm with some other cats and kittens, but there was NO way I could do that. This sweet pea is too tame and loving to be put out in the cold YET again. We had been calling her Miss Biscuits, but that name just doesn't quite fit. We have toyed with Holly or Molly....nothing is really working for me. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. She is SO docile and calm. I can carry her around and she sits on my lap quietly and purrs all the time. I have never had a kitten this subdued. She is quite amazing! I hope I can find her the purrfect home soon.

A turtle, a turkey and some chicks!

Shoowee! Where does time go????!!!! I have wanted to blog every day this week and each day has just flown by! I STILL haven't told you about my most recent TNRing and kitten rescues, and I promise to do that in the next few days. I have realized that I desperately need to work on my time management and come up with a more organized schedule for everything in my life! Otherwise, I just run around all day and feel like nothing gets completed.

I started sculpting quite a few new dolls last week...snow critters, caroling critters, holiday busts and a few custom orders. I just completed the special orders and thought I would share them with you. Here they are....a collegiate munchkin doll for some big Virginia Tech Hokie fans, a guitar playing turtle munchkin named Buckingham and a blue and green chick wedding cake topper for a very special couple!





And here's a sneak peek at one of my new little buggers, Gilly. Can you take the cuteness??? More about her later...

Princess Pekingese

Shoowee, i just got home from delivering little Lulu to her new home. It about did me in. I was a wreck all day and then started crying about an hour before i had to leave. Then, as i peeled her away from her brother, i lost it again. Ugh, why do i have to get so emotional???! Thankfully, Lulu's new family was extremely nice and fell in love with her even more when they saw her in person. I just get so worked up because there are never any guarantees when you let them go. You just have to use your best judgment and take a leap of faith. I'll never, ever forget that one eyed sweet pea and her tough tiny spirit!

As for my artwork....haven't been getting much of that done lately and need to get focused again! I did finish the commissioned pekingese princess piece that i have been working on for quite some time. I had a hard time getting decent photos of her because of the size and shape of the sculpture, but here she is anyway....

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!

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!

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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.

Does it get any cuter?

We have been snowed/iced in for days, so i have been very productive on my artwork...BUT i can't get ouside to take any photos of my new circus animals yet. So, I figured that I would just post a photo of one of my past kitten artist assistants. This is Miss Tiggy Winkle. How precious is she? She was one of our Atlanta rescues...she was in an animal control slated for you know what when i pulled her out along with 3 other random kittens.

Hope everyone is safe and warm right now!