Pikake Mermaid

I'm on a roll with the mermaids! Here's my latest:


"Pikake" which is a type of flower.



She is very curious, and lots of fun to photograph!

Ke'alohi Mermaid

This is Ke'alohi, she is Lokelani's sister. You can read all about Lokelani in earlier posts, but this is the unveiling of Ke'alohi, which means

"the brightness".


You can probably tell by looking at her that she is out for a good time. She is much wilder and not nearly as serious as Lokelani, but they do have fun together, when Lokelani loosens up and decides to play.

Twin Sock Monkey Cake Topper

This cake topper business is so fun. I got three orders last week for custom made toppers, and this one is a new style and certainly a personal favorite...it's "Twin Topper"!

I decided to make this a regular listing in my shop, for all of the twins having silly, whimsical sock monkey birthdays out there.

Alice Cullen From Twilight Necklace

My daughter is a Twilight fanatic. Her favorite vampire is Alice Cullen, and she's not messing around. She has the books and the posters like every other good fan, but she didn't stop there. She got an Alice haircut. And then she needed an official Alice necklace.

I was a beader and jewelry maker for 15 years so I took on the challenge, and made her one yesterday. She loves it!



If there is some interest I'll make a tutorial on how I did it, and you can make your own.


This is the picture we were going from, Ashley Greene as Alice wearing the necklace.

Creepy Man Eating Frog

I decided that this sculpture is a product of sculpting so many happy little sock monkeys lately. I just had to take a walk on the creepy side to balance things out.

Here's the story:

On the remote island of GrotenRa scientists have discovered a giant man eating frog. This frog has the unique ability to swallow a human whole, in one gulp. The frog will then digest the human’s body, however the human’s head and brain is left intact and continues to function inside the frog. The man inside the frog can apparently live for 200 years in this frogified state. It is unknown what effect this has on the human brain. Does the human begin to think for the frog, or does it desire to be free of its captor?





You can find this sculpture in my Etsy Shop.

Peacock Paradise

Last Sunday my husband and I took our mothers to Green Pastures for Sunday brunch as an early Mother's Day celebration. This venue is where we were married, and it is known for it's peacocks, including some rare white peacocks.

I went out back to nurse Baby G after the meal, and this is what I found.

What an amazing display of opulence put on by these anxious male birds. It was spectacular!

What was really amusing is the way the hens casually strolled around the cocks, as if they didn't even notice.


All the while the peacocks are screaming "LOOK AT ME!!! LOOK AT ME!!!" with their feathers spread wide, who could miss them?



Baby G enjoyed the show, and we all felt blessed to be in the presence of such decadence.

More Wedding Bliss

This set of matrimonial monkeys left for their new home in Idaho yesterday.
The wedding flowers are freesia and dahlias. Making a polymer clay dahlia is more difficult than I expected it to be, but I'm happy with the result.
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This is my first long tie on a groom, I'm used to bow ties. I like the way it turned out.

I just love these cake toppers, and it seems that sock monkey cake toppers are not a choice that any bridezilla would make. All of my bride clients have been delightful to work with!
I think you would have to have a great sense of humor, and not be one to take yourself too seriously to order a sock monkey topper for your wedding cake.

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Did I tell you I have a new website? It's under construction, but you can take a peek.
Check it out: http://sockmonkeycaketopper.com/

Monarch Fairy

This little butterfly fairy has fluttered in to remind you to smile and have a bright day.

She is one of a kind, a mixed media art doll made from a primitive doll form, polymer clay, beads, a glass turquoise scarab, wire, feathers, and the wings are glazed paper.

I started this doll as a studio cleaning project. I would clean for a while, then take a break and add something new to her that I uncovered during my cleaning. She truly helped me get clean and organized. Maybe she will do the same for you!

Monarch doll is 9" tall (feathers to toe)and 5" wide.
She is in my Etsy shop.

Sock Monkey Wedding Cake Topper

Here's a fun family gone bananas on this wedding cake topper!
I love the flower girl and the little two year old ring bearer. Aren't their colors fun too? I'll be sending this one off tomorrow.

Happy Earth Day!

I almost didn't get a post done for Earth Day, but I'm sneaking it in last minute since baby G just went to bed.

I watched Oprah today and she said there is a trash heap the size of Texas floating in the Pacific ocean. It is mostly made of plastic. Plastic bags, bottles, nets, containers of all shapes and sizes, toys, you get the picture. The animals are eating it, getting stuck in it, and it is giving the whales breast cancer.

I would love to find a way to help get it cleaned up. Right now there are a few little things I do that I want to share with you because we can all do them.

My daughter has food allergies, so she must take her lunch to school every day.

I send her lunch in a nice reusable lunch bag that is going on it's second year.

I use Tupperware containers and a thermos for everything in her lunch box. I have been phasing out plastic baggies, and due to my recent purchase of reusable snack and sandwich bags from Mamamade on Etsy (snack bag pictured at top; she is sold out but takes custom orders), I will now be able to end the use of plastic baggies in our home completely!

When I do use plastic bags I wash them out and reuse them several times for food. When they are too beat up for food I clean them again to use in my art studio.

I also send metal silverware in the lunchbox, not plastic disposable stuff. I have a few forks and spoons that I don't care about, and they are the official school lunch utensils.

We don't buy paper napkins or paper towels. I have a stack of rags and a stack of kitchen washcloths and towels that serve as napkins and paper towels.

I always put reusable shopping bags in my car for grocery shopping. I put them back in my car immediately after unloading the groceries so they will be there the next time I need them.

I also use those shopping bags for art supply shopping and all of my other errands. It just takes practice to get into the habit of having them with you every time.


There are some very cool bags called "Chico" bags (above) that I love to give gifts in. They are light weight nylon and they fold into a little attached pocket and they have a clip so you can put them on your purse strap or key ring. I keep one in my purse so I always have a little back up bag in case I forget my shoppers.

I heard that Ireland started charging 33 cents for plastic bags in grocery stores and the use of plastic bags dropped by 94%... wow! We need to do that here.

I also use Craigslist to buy just about everything I can. I get all my baby stuff on there, and I sell things I'm finished with. I also get free shipping supplies from people on Craigslist and on Freecycle, another cool reuse site where everything is FREE!

I hope you get some inspiration from this. It's easy to take a few steps toward a greener tomorrow!