18 years!

Today marks my husband's and mine 18th wedding anniversary. We married young and we were completely broke, but very much in love.

I have really good memories of our wedding day. Since money was scarce, we relied upon friends and family to supply the setting, much of the food and even the entertainment.

My dress was a 1920's drop waisted gown that I found at an antique store ( along with the pearl choker) and my veil (which I fell in love with) was found at a second hand bridal shop.

My aunt had a huge backyard that she generously welcomed us to use for the setting. The fare was simple... my mom and I went to a local, mom and pop owned Italian deli and purchased trays of meats and cheeses. A talented friend made the wedding cake.

With over 100 guests we were grateful to have 3 D.J's in the family which provided plenty of music for dancing.

I have always been a bit of a romantic. I think that is why so

many of my clay characters are shown happy, lovey-dovey settings like the guys below.

I hope you have happy plans for Valentines Day tomorrow. To celebrate, I modified the image below for you to you use as you please in your Valentine's day tag or card making. Feel free to download and resize as needed . To download, left click the image and choose "save as" (note that this image is for personal use only).

Happy Valentine Day!

Storybook inspiration

As I have oft mentioned, I absolutely adore vintage children's illustrations. Some of my favorite Rose Bowl flea market finds included the lovely books below...

These books have already found a happy home snuggled between the stacks of volumes in my cozy studio.

Every now and then, when looking for inspiration, I'll pour over these illustrations whilst sipping on a cuppa something good, warm and sweet.

Little Miss Muffet pictured below was in my head for more than a year (thanks to the brilliant mind of old school animator Ray Harryhausen) before I finally took the time to render her in clay.

I created the tree and "tuffet" (what is that anyway???) out of newspaper which was wrapped in masking tape and covered with handmade paper mache. I then formed the little five petal flowers out of paper clay (using a gum-paste cutter and a paintbrush) and attached them all over the greenery.

Little Miss and her charming spider friend were sculpted from paper clay over foam, wire and wood. The little spoon was made with floral wire covered in paper tape.

Foregoing the usual box, I chose a wooden tray (found at the Goodwill) to paint and polka dot to arrange the scene. I am so happy with the way these guys turned out. I hope you like them too! If you would like to purchase them they'll be on offer at midnight tonight over at PFATT marketplace.

I'll be back on Sunday with a free Valentine's Day card/tag image for your printing pleasure!