The Year of the Wedding Cake Topper

It seems my life and artwork has taken on a wedding theme this past year. I have a daughter planning a wedding, and I came up with a new style kokeshi doll wedding cake toppers. These toppers started out with the notion that I wanted them to be simple, sweet, cute and easy and fast to paint.
However nothing is that easy.
First of all the pieces for the blank figures, need a bit of work. I saw off the smaller part at the bottom to make them a bit stable standing up, and since they changed the sizing a bit, I now have to sand the top of the body so the head will fit.

The painting is my favourite part. I am a perfectionist and the face has to be just right. I like them cute and quirky. I first designed the bridal dresses to be very simple, the top of the gown, and the placement of the arms, formed a perfect white heart in the front and then a simple flower at the bottom added a splash of colour. The groom, simple as can be.

These caught on unbelievably quickly and they started being sold from my shop very fast. It wasn't long before I started getting requests for special details, hair, bouquets instead of single flowers, specific clothing, even non bridal wear.

 All very exciting. Then came the pets....
it's very obvious to me that pets are a very important part of families and they certainly are to many brides. I have to say, that as an animal lover, I really like this. I think it adds a very unique element to the wedding.

All the little fur babies.

I absolutely love the details and always do them to the best of my ability. I have very honestly been swamped this year. It is stressful at times, but I am so thrilled to be a part of all these weddings and to think that these little cake toppers may be a long lasting keepsake and memory in the homes on these new couples, is incredible to think of.  Brides can be very particular, but I have never met a bridezilla, just very happy excited ladies.

Oh...I almost forgot....then came the zombies, and incredibly popular theme last year.

Saying Goodbye to a Companion and Friend

Sadly, my dog Tira, passed away in our home yesterday. This is the dog that I have posted abput before. I am a bit too emotional right now to say much more, but I will give her a proper send off soon.

Books

I have always loved books. I can remember being so happy when I got a new Nancy Drew book, I remember sitting in my room looking throught encyclopedias (at the pictures) on a rainy afternoon when I was a kid. I love going to bookstores.
In my shop, I make bookmarks....here are a couple of samples

I have been wondering though, if people really use bookmarks anymore...I mean are books on the way out and kindles and listening to books online going to be replacing them? Especially in the years to come when my generation (the bookies ) is getting older, and the computer generation that loves their toys, takes over.

I read to my kids every night when they were little. My kids enjoyed the stories. My oldest daughter in particular loved books. She would come home from school with some of the oldest books they had. The real old ones with the stiff cracked cellophane book jackets. I thought maybe she just liked the old style illustrations (that was the artist in me that thought that). So I asked her "why do you bring home these old books?" Her reply made my heart sing, made me love her even more than I thought I could. It still makes me smile today. She said, "I get these books because I can hold it, and when I open it, I hear the crinkle of the old cover, and I know a story is about to begin." She loved the anticipation and the promise that something that she held in her hand would bring, and the sound of the cellophane was the start.

That's what I love most about books. It's a new world about to open up to you, you can hold it close,  peek inside like a treasure chest and then open it an explore.
I hope people still buy books, I hope they still read to their children and show them that they can take an adventure with them wherever they go. I'm going to keep making bookmarks. Keep my hope and love for books alive.

I'm a Zombie Lover and I'm Okay.

  Why do I love zombies?
  Actually I love horror in general. I love the movies, I love the books. Especially the atmosphere and build of of the story. We all know that many of these stories don't have a wonderful endings, but for me, it's getting into the main event that's the yummy part.
    Am I a weirdo? Undoubtedly, but that's beside the point. I have always had what you might call a dark side. I pull my hoodie up, try to look casual and go straight to the horror section of the book or video store. I rarely even look anywhere else, (except the science fiction section, but I'm not ready to face my nerd demons on here yet).
  I don't join bookclubs, don't discuss with my lady friends. It's a secret. I show no outward signs of this ...thing... inside me. I look like an ordinary, well balanced (usually) person.
BUT..a couple of days ago, I happened to find out that a lady at work, that I have know for a few years, has the same affliction as me! Thank the lord, I am not alone! Huzzah! Happy days! Yahooee! *slow clap*
   Okay that is a bit much, but I have to say it is very nice to be able to talk to another regular middle aged person (as opposed to teenage goth/vampire/sewer dweller) about my finds. My work mate, like I, doesn't relish the graphic violence, but we can tolerate it or brush past it if it is too much, and we don't like things that we really think could happen to us. It's best when it's a bit out there, not totally believeable. People in the Antarctic, in a bunker after the apocolypse, in a haunted house for a night, in the woods alone, trapped under an invisible dome at a lakeshore house, some creature living in a hole in the bottom of my sofa, that sort of thing.
  The need to read or watch horror almost feels like it is to ward off bad, scary things. Maybe it's to toughen me up in case there is something evil about to take over the world. So I could cope when it happens. Kind of like imagining the worst when you hear your child has been hurt,I think it's your brain trying to prepare you.
  I don't know what it is, but if the zombie outbreak  happens, you might want to hang around with me. I'm getting pretty knowledgable about this stuff.

Our Little Surprise

We have been doing a lot of home renovations for a couple of weeks, as part of this, I have been using the carport in the front of the house as an area to paint moldings, and other things. Quite often when I went out the front door, I saw a tiny bird fly out of the hanging plant outside our front door. I thought maybe it was eating something inside the basket. When I looked inside today, I found a little surprise.

A perfect litle nest with three tiny eggs, the size of Cadbury Mini Eggs.

Cool beans

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July 25
.......an update

I stood on a chair took a peek in the planter and saw some wiggly black and pink things. I hope they're baby birds.
The mom and dad birds are acting like they are.They have both been in the nest and fly out and then come back with food, and they sure don't like anybody going near the nest. I haven't heard any baby noises yet though. When they were both gone I stuck my arm up to try and get a picture (the planter is a bit too high fr be to see inside it) and I just got the edge of the nest and can see a bit of a pinkish something  in it.

This is either the mom or dad on the edge of the basket.

 

On a side note, my plants are wilting quickly in this lovely summer weather, even though it is in a shady spot, but I can't really water the plant, for fear of hurting the babies. 

Too bad they're not ducks.

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July 26

Have a couple more quick (blurr) pictures I took while the mom is out looking for food.

 

There are some wicked looking little beaks now.

All Cat's Go To Kitty Heaven

Even the prickly ones.
I woke up this morning on my own, rather than to my cat meowing when she thought I should get up.
That should have made me happy, but it didn't. Not today, anyways.
Yesterday we had to have our 16 year old cat put to sleep. I found her lying on the floor, unable to get up. Her legs could move and she stretched out a couple of times, but couldn't even manouver into a position to get up , and didn't seem able to lift her head. She peed on the floor while lying on her side, and I knew that it wasn't going to be a good day.
We picked up my daughter, from her apartment (it had always been her cat, and when she moved out, she couldn't take it with her) and went to the vet. The vet was nice, and sympathetic, but honest and said it was  very serious, there was nothing we could do for her, it was either a clot in her head, or a tumor. So we did the only thing we could for her. My daughter was devastated. I was incredibly sad, but I have been through this before.
  Skittles wasn't a cuddly sweet cat to everyone. She had her own personality like all animals, especially cats, do.She was loving and affectionate to my daughter, she really lived in her room most of the time when she lived here. When my daughter left, the cat transfered that to me. I got to pet her and got the lap sits. She did mellow a bit when she got older, but she never really bonded with others in the household, not much anyways. That kind of makes me sad too.

I will miss you Skittles.

Wedding Season- Cake Topper Time

I have been noticing something in both of my shops lately. A trend towards people wanting customized wedding cake toppers. I have sold quite a few already.
It started out with the little owls. I am hoping to get pictures from more customers as their weddings happily happen, but so far I only have one.


It looks like a beautiful cake with big flowers down he side. As the bride noted, it's interesting that the cake decorators put the female on the opposite side as to how it was painted to be, an so instead of looking lovingly at her groom, she seems to be checking out someone or something else. The bride was actually okay with this , so all is well.

There are other sets, with different types of owls, and different colours that I have sent off to adorn other cakes and if I get more pictures I will post them here. I imagine they all have different ideas on how to display them. I know one was talkng of doing a nest on top.

Zombies seem to be a fairly popular request, with vampires coming in second.

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I have also had customers show me their little figures on their honeymoon, which I think is pretty darn cool.