The White Rabbit takes flight...

...if the Cheshire Cat's mischief doesn't bring him down!!! This hot air balloon piece will be up for grabs during the Pfatt Marketplace update on the 10th.

I have been AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL about blogging lately!!! My apologies to all of you. I need to get myself on a blogging schedule. I have had lots of cat chat and art updates to share, and I really want to write about my vegan lifestyle (has been going on for a few months). Sooo, I need to get myself organized and re-commit to creative, informative and consistent blogging!

Hope you all are having a wonderful summer!
Up, up and awaaaaaaaay!

New Art and New Kittens

I still have the five foster kittens from Woodford Humane, and they are doing great. The little "Ds" were a bit sneezy last week so they have been on antibiotics, but their energy has been full throttle the whole time :)! They are WILD and crazy!

Last Friday afternoon, two more kittens came to me via a fellow cat lady friend. She had been called out to help a man who cares for quite a few feral cats. He had found a sick stray mama cat and five 4-week old kittens at his church (yet another sad story of waht happens when people don't spay/neuter!!!!). He did his best to nurse them all to health but sadly, three kittens didn't make it and my friend could see that the last two needed immediate vet care in order to survive. She took them to our wonderful vet and then brought them to me. Poor tiny babies were terribly anemic from fleas and barely moving. I bathed them, started them on antibiotics and a vitamin solution and syringe fed them off and on all night. By Saturday morning, they were already much improved! And now, they are eating on their own, using their litter box and trotting around happily. In fact, I can't get a good "after" photo of them because they won't sit still. Here is the "before" photo of Bugs and Bunny....



And what is on the table this week? A new hot air balloon! The White Rabbit is about to get POPPED by the Cheshire Cat. Bad kitty!

It's all about cake lately...

Cake toppers, cake decorating, cupcake baking.....my life seems to be all about C-A-K-E!! After cats, it is my favorite thing :). I started my second session of cake decorating at Hobby Lobby last week. It is the "Flowers and Cake Design" class. So far we have dabbled in making fondant and royal icing flowers. In addition, I am starting to make cupcakes weekly from my new vegan cupcake book, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. My husband, his professor colleagues, my cat lady friends, my art buddy and her daughter are all my taste testers. So far, so good...getting stellar reviews! And I just finished up another cake topper. One of my Cheshire Cat on the Mad Hatter's hat pieces for an Alice themed baby shower.

Here is a little peek at everything "cake"!



S'mores cupcakes in leopard print holders...



Chocolate with peanut butter icing....



Final cake from first decorating class...

Alice Madness on the table...

I finished up my Pfatt and STJ update pieces, but it is too early for a sneak peek, so I thought I'd share my other works in progress today. I have been working on a miniature 8" Alice doll for a very special customer. She requested this Alice to look like the original long necked Alice illustration, so she will be painted in black and white. This piece has been a good challenge for me! Paws crossed that it will turn out well in the end. I am also working on one of my custom Cat on the Mad Hatter's Hat cake toppers. It is for an Alice themed baby shower. Love that!

Hope everyone is having a happy, creative week :)!

Cat on a Hat Cake Topper

I was thrilled to create this custom Mad Hatter's Hat topped with the Cheshire Cat for a special cake! Don't you wish you could attend this wedding??!! People are getting so creative with their wedding decor and themes. I love it...so fun! I am truly grateful to the bride for choosing my artwork to be a part of her big day!

Mad Hatter Madness for the Spookytime Jingles Update!

When the clock strikes midnight tonight, new art will magically appear on the STJ website! Here are my offerings for this month.

Mad Hatter and Friends! This piece was the most fun I've had in awhile...especially creating that wild orange mohair wig! It seemed to take forever to finish because I was definitely caught up in the details and was nitpicking everything. And when I finally determined that it was completed, I realized that I had forgotten the Hatter's eyebrows!! Tee hee. I sort of felt like Alice getting my friends all spiffed up and ready for the tea party.







This is an ornament version of the Mad Hatter. I decided to change it up and give green hair. It seems to suit him well :).

The Evolution of a SnipPet: Sweet Tooth, Step 1 - Concept and Sketch

I thought it would be fun to take you through the steps of my design process. I will take photos of each phase and post them here along with a description of any supplies and techniques used. It will be sort of a SnipPet tutorial. I always say that I am a terrible teacher because I don't explain things well, so this will be beneficial to me as well.

In the past few months, I have started to sketch out my more complicated pieces. It is extremely helpful to map out the concept first and get the position and proportions correct so that I can build an armature based on the sketch. I used to let my designs evolve more organically, but I have seen a marked improvement in my work since I have begun to plan my ideas out a bit more strategically.

This particular piece has been brewing in my brain for awhile. I wanted to do another blue cheshire cat on his way to the Mad Hatter's tea party with sweet treats galore surrounding him. Have you seen the movie Chocolat? It's my all time favorite!!! Well, if you have, think of the scene where Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina's character) finally succumbs to Vianne's delectable chocolates and ends up in the display window rolling around in the chocolates devouring as many as he can shovel in. That was another part of my inspiration for this piece. Then, i decided that the cat needed to be carried along to his destination, but wasn't sure how that would work. After I saw the Alice movie, I fell in love with the Red Queen's frog butlers and thought they would be perfect attendants for the cat! So, here is the sketch that I will work with to build the armature. The two frogs will be at each end but I did a forward facing sketch to allow me to get the sizing and shape right once i start sculpting.



Stay tuned for Step 2. I am hoping to get going on the armature early next week.
In the meantime, here is a teeny sneak peek at the Mad Hatter piece that I am finishing up for the Spookytime Jingles update. This little friend will be sitting on his head.

Mad Hatter and friends

Happy Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ready for my hubby to get home so we can head to our favorite restaurant and get the weekend started :)!

I just put this piece to bed for the night. It's a Mad Hatter candlestick. I have never EVER sculpted a human face before, so I was a bit nervous about it and still am. We'll see how it goes once I get him painted. He is going to have a fuzzy orange mohair "wig" so excuse his current baldness. I LOVED the makeup on the Johnny Depp version of the Hatter, so I can't wait to use my pastels to get a similarly fun effect. The Cheshire Cat is supposed to sit on top of his hat and the Rabbit will either be in one of his hands or sitting on his arm. I am also working on a Mad Hatter ornament and have sketched out a Cheshire Cat Sweet Tooth piece...cannot wait to get started on that one!!

Enjoy your weekend, my blog buddies!

Alice in Wonderland SnipPet Style!

Some of you will remember the Cheshire Cat I created during my wonderful week at the John Campbell Folk School. Well, i finally carved out some time to make a White Rabbit using the painting techniques I learned that week. I wanted the rabbit to be in the same style as the cat....bright, shimmering eyes and a wide smile with similar coordinating color scheme and details. I think i am getting the hang of using many sheer layers of acrylic washes and using pastels for shadows and accents. It really gives great depth and dimension to the figures.

I usually have NO problem parting with my artwork, but the cat has been a different story. I put so many hours and thought into him, so I sort of needed him to stay with me for a little while. But I think I am ready for him to find a special new home. I will be listing both the cat and the rabbit in my etsy shop soon. They are going to be part of a new category...a "Signature SnipPet Collector Series" or something to that effect. I am excited and anxious to keep adding to this line of characters.

So, here they are! The White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat on their way to a fabulous tea party!!

A journey of the imagination...my week at John Campbell!

I am back from my fantastically inspiring trip to the John Campbell Folk School! It was a wonderful week of focused learning and creativity. It's amazing what you can accomplish with no distractions, chores, responsibilities or electronics!!!

My mom and I both took Kathryn Walmsley's Animal Pull Toys class. She inspired us with her beautiful craftmanship and dollmaking techniques. We learned how to make an armature with foam and wire from our sketches and then layer paperclay details on top of that. The best part for me was her instruction on painting. She uses very diluted acrylic paints brushed on in many layers to create depth and dimension. Then, she adds shadowing and accents with pastels. I cannot wait to get a set of pastels and incorporate them into my work. They add such a soft, wonderful quality.

Kathryn showing us her painting techniques...


Me working on my Cheshire Cat....


My mom sculpting a Boston Terrier, inspired by her own rescue dog, Louie...



In addition to our excellent class, we enjoyed delicious food....3 home cooked meals a day!!! Heaven!! The meals are served family style and allow you to get to know the other students. It is great fun to hear about the other classes (woodworking, blacksmithing, weaving, knitting, cooking, etc.) and enjoy people from all over the country...one lady came from Alaska and another one was visiting from Greece.

And in true cat lady fashion, I happened upon a homeless kitten one evening on my way back to class after dinner. I saw it running down a path crying and crying, so I grabbed a can of cat food out of my car and followed it until it finally stopped at a place on the campus called "Mouse Town" (very fitting, huh?). He was very scared and absolutely starving, so he gobbled up his shredded chicken. Long story short, in the next 48 hours, he was letting several of us pet him and was enjoying being fed all day long by the passersby. I went to Walmart and bought a carrier and a bag of kitten food, and during lunch on the last day, one of the students agreed to give him a home. I named him Campbell and packed him up that evening and sent him on his way! Thank goodness for a happy ending!!!

Little Campbell eating a meal at Mouse Town...



And voila! Here are a few photos of our completed animal pull toys!

Kathryn's exquisite bird sculpture....inspired by a Dr. Seuss character. She even made the tail feathers by felting wool roving.


Our fellow classmate's whimsical turtle and mermaid piece...


Mom's homage to her beloved Louie! And can you believe this is the first time she has EVER sculpted with paperclay????!!!! Unbelievable!


My version of the Cheshire cat!