Cake Toppers

Wedding planning is truly in full swing and I had my first stress dream the other night.  It was horrible!  The power was out in Storyland, the caterers and DJ didn't show up on time, and on top of all of that I had neglected to put together my centerpieces and bouquet.  I was furiously arranging paper flowers in my poofy dress FREAKING OUT and yelling at my mom to let the guests know that it wouldn't be too much longer.  Fortunately, this will not be happening in real life; but if it were to, I could rest easy knowing that I have some killer cake topppers!

I didn't make these beauties; my incredibly talented friend Amber did.  Amber and I met at while we were both selling at the Freret Market back in October.  I instantly fell in love with her gorgeous little figures and asked if I could commission her to do my cake toppers.  She agreed!

Amber and I both have Etsy stores so we sent messages back and forth with updates.  I started off by sending her a picture of Nate and I and a sketch I did of what I was picturing based on her work.  I wanted them to look some what like Nate and me and I included what I decided out distinguishing facial features would be.

After she had the pieces all built up with the air drying clay she uses, she sent me an update with the raw forms.

I squealed with excitement, told her I loved them and she got to painting.  When she had them all painted up she sent me this update and asked if I wanted the crackle glaze.

I had a small heart attack of excitement and I said yes, crackle them!  We made arrangements for me to pick them up.  Once I had them in my possession, I had a photo shoot with them on my kitchen counter.

Could they be any cuter?!  I don't think so.  Amber did a fantastic job and I can't wait to have them sitting a top my cake come October.  To check out more of Amber's work, mosey on over to her Etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/amberleilani?ref=pr_shop

Watch a Painting Come to Fruition

I recently did a commission piece for the new Wild Lotus Yoga Studio that's opened up in the New Orleans Healing Center down on St. Claude in the Bywater.  I took some step by step photos documenting the process from blank canvas to finished painting.  Enjoy!

New Stuff

So I've acquired my permit to sell in Pirate's Alley and I'm going to get my feet wet on Sunday.  I've been working my ass off in my studio to get a huge inventory to sell.  I've got my alphabet originals that haven't been sold yet, some paintings of Mardi Gras beads hanging from oak branches, and some paintings inspired by Mardi Gras floats.  Here's a preview of one of the float inspired ones:

And because his goblet says "Supah Fly" he has to have some of these babies on there.  They haven't been glued on yet but they will be tomorrow.  I've been using liquid gold and silver leafing to jazz up the float paintings.  It's really wonderful; it gives it an almost glow in the dark quality in dim lighting.

Last but not least if you head over to my website, I've added some new pieces to both the body painting and skeleton albums.  I've also started a twitter so that I can let the world know of my where-abouts while I sell my art!

Selling in the French Quarter

I've applied for my permit to sell in Pirate's Alley.  I'll have it by next month in time for festival season!  Hooray!

I've been working on new paintings, all Mardi Gras float inspired, so you can "take a piece of Mardi Gras home with you."  Nate has been hard at work cutting and sanding some beautiful wooden pieces that I will be painting.  Look for us at Art in Palmer Park in March and April and I'll be at Freret Fest on April 2nd.

...and I'll be better about updating my blog.  I promise!

This Saturday

I'll be oot and aboot at the OCH Art Market.  Come check it out if you can!  There will also be a "slow biking" contest.  If you win you get a bike.  Pretty darn cool, if you ask me...

DIY - Decorating to Impress the Fam at Thanksgiving

So I hosted my first Thanksgiving in our tiny house last week.  While it was hectic, it was also, fantastic!  Nate and I own our double and my sister Erin rents out the other side.  We split up the cooking duties and dined al fresco in the back yard.  Nate and I wanted our house looking fabulous for my family so we did a couple of home improvement projects.

I've been saying I wanted to do this for awhile and I finally did it! 

Looks adorable, no?  It took FOREVER with me standing on a ladder to get that done.  I did it all free hand, impressive, I know and I used my favorite paint, One Shot.  This was by no means an easy project as One Shot is a very unforgiving paint but if you're feeling adventurous you could spruce up your facade the same way!  And look at the fun shadow it casts on the inside of the house...

Nate's domain is the backyard and he loves doing art projects together.  So we came up with this great lawn decoration...

Here's how you do it!  First things first you're going to need a piece of wood.  We used plywood which wasn't as great because it's thin pieces of wood glued together.  If you can find a solid piece, power to you!  You're going to want to draw your pelican on said piece of wood:

Next you'll need to get your handy boyfriendo or some one who feels comfortable using a jigsaw to cut her out!

Maybe you're wondering why Nate's fingers are blue.  This is because we wanted to dye our pieces of coral fun colors.  At first we tried clothing dye with not much success.  Then we used tie dye and BAM colorful coral.

You'll also want a Gypsy dog to chew on your pieces of scrap wood as this brings her much joy.  Then Nate will tell you she shouldn't be chewing on it because of the glue in the plywood and you'll have to take it away from her :(

The cutest!  Anyway.  So over the next couple of days you have to get your coral to stick to your pile on.  By the way, the pile on is just something we found on the side of the road.  We can't resist awesome trash.  It was a hard process with the gluing of the coral so we got a thick coat of goo on the back then taped it while it dried.

Have you forgotten about our pelican friend?  I haven't.  You're going to want to make him or her look like more than just pelican shaped wood now.  I used acrylic paint and then sealed it up with a spray lacquer.  And it went from this...

TO THIS!!

And there you have it; wonderfully fun and unique decorations for making your house a home.  Needless to say the fam was impressed and I am now exhausted from a long week of entertaining.  Freret Market is this weekend and I've got a lot of work to do to finish up my inventory for the weekend!  Wish me luck!

Etsy

I finally started listing on Etsy!  Check out my shop :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/shnnnklly