I've been doing a lot of couple + family sketches lately, and I have to say, they're quickly turning into one of my favorite types of custom art to create for people. They're so simple, and yet they say so much--there's something very sweet about capturing the essence of a person without actually spelling out every facial feature. Would you agree? 

Anyways, here are the two most recent couple sketches that I've done that have already been gifted and thus, are ready to be shared with the world. I've included the backstory for each below...

Sketch above: Brooke & Brad
This sketch was commissioned by Brooke's mom as an engagement gift for the lovely couple (who I know and adore). The inspiration image is from their recent engagement shoot, which was gorgeous--I love the use of the blanket! She sent this sketch to them as a surprise and from what I can tell, they were very excited to receive it :) 

Sketch below: Amanda & Iuri
This sketch was commissioned by Amanda's sister (and my dear friend, Jessica) as a wedding gift; she just gave it to Amanda at the bachelorette party that I attended this past weekend, and I was happy to actually get to watch someone receive their sketch for once (I always miss the unveiling). Good news: she liked it! ;) 

Oh, and just because I love seeing how couples use their sketches, here are two snapshots that a past commissioner recently sent me of their "welcome boxes" for out-of-town guests...so cute, right? 

Congrats to the happy couples above and all of you out there who have weddings coming up!

Learn more about my couple sketches here. 

I love wedding dresses. And I love painting dresses (as you know). And I love creating special, custom pieces of art for unsuspecting giftees. Thus, it's no surprise that I absolutely adore painting wedding dresses for people.

The weird thing about a wedding dress is that it's one of the most meaningful dresses a gal will ever wear, but then it's never worn again (obviously). This one item of clothing holds a special place in our hearts, but then life goes on and it's stuck in a closet or given away, and only shows up again in picture frames or on anniversaries when we share a wedding pic to Facebook.

Which is why I love wedding dress paintings! I think that a little watercolor of that special dress is a great way to honor this meaningful garment; whether it's hung in the bedroom, a bathroom, or even a closet, it's fun little reminder of an important life event and how the bride felt on that day.

So, I say all of this to explain the meaning behind a recent wedding dress watercolor that I did for a client--she gave this painting to her cousin as a surprise before her big day, and as you'll read below, it sounds like the gift was a hit ;)

You can view the inspiration images (pictures of the actual dress), an in-progress pic, and the final, framed version below (the client picked out the frame and I framed it for her): 

After the gift had been given, I received an email from the commissioner that said the following:

My cousin LOVED the painting. She just kept saying "It's so pretty, it's so pretty" and then started crying. Thanks again for doing this for us.

It's so wonderful to be able to create a gift for someone that illicits that reaction! I was thrilled. 

You can view more of my wedding dress watercolors here. 

{And a reminder: if you plan on ordering a custom painting for the holidays and want to be sure you receive it by 12/20, your order must be in by 10/31! Details + pricing here.}

If you asked me what the most playful, most whimsical, most "I cannot believe I am getting paid for this" and "If I told the little girl version of me that I would do this as a part of my job one day she would simply die" part of my business is, I wouldn't hesitate before answering: making wedding cake toppers. 

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: making custom wedding cake toppers has been in my bones since I was about 4, when I made Christmas Tree ornaments out of Sculpey with my mom.

The same skills that I now use for making these little custom items developed over the years in different forms; I honed them while making miniature dollhouse furniture and decorations in middle school, while making life-sized children out of cardboard boxes and fabric in my high school art classes, and later, in college, when taking ceramics classes as a part of my major requirement. 

Fast forward to the present moment and thanks to the booming DIY wedding business, the emergence of Etsy, and the custom Meerkat Cake Topper that I made for my own wedding a few years ago, I now have this small slice of my current biz. 

All of that being said, I recently completed a very fun custom Bird + Mouse Cake Topper for a couple who is getting married this week, and thought it would be fun to show you how the ordering + creation process works. 

Here we go...

1. Client sends me a private conversation on Etsy with the following inspiration images and a request for a quick turnaround time. I reply with my rate for a project that involves my creating the figurines out of clay (much more work than using plastic figurines, as I sometimes do!) + the extra charge for the rush order.

The client replies and says LETS DO IT! I send her a custom order invoice and lots of questions about personalizing the cake topper (i.e. What length do you want the veil to be? What color should the bowtie be? Do you want lace around the bottom? Etc.)

2. Once I have all the details straight, I start creating the cake topper. I make the figurines out of clay first, and then cook them to allow them to harden. Once they've cooled, I paint them and add the details.

In the case of this cake topper, I also had to make wire feet for the bird and press them into the clay before baking. 

3. While I'm waiting for the paint on the figurines to dry, I make the base, the bunting, the veil, and all other details. Sadly, I didn't take pictures of these elements while in-progress, as I sometimes get too wrapped up in the creation process to think about anything else, let alone a blog post...I am trying my best to get better at this ;) 

4. While I'm waiting for the base to dry, which takes a couple of days (I did not use cookable clay for this part), I email the client a few pics of the in-progress cake topper and give her a chance to make any requests/tweaks. Luckily, in the case of this cake topper, she was happy and had no changes!

5. I finish the topper! Paint the base, glue everything down, add the bowtie + lace, and voila! When I'm done, I send the client a final pic to ensure he/she is happy, and then package the little topper up (VERY carefully) and ship it off.

Can you stand how fun this is?  Seriously, if you told me when I was 10 that I would still be making little clay figurines and dressing them up as a part of my "job" when I was 30, I wouldn't have believed it. Life is so funny in that way. 

Want to view some of my other custom cake toppers? Check them out on my painting website, here. 

Five years ago, if you had told me that I'd be selling weird little handmade animal cake toppers online, I would have laughed at the thought. But, believe it or not, and strangely enough, my cake topper business has started to pick up a bit lately [and let me be clear, by pick up I mean that I'm making approx 1 cake topper every 2 months, as opposed to 1 every 4-5 months, so nothing crazy!]. 

But who knew, right!? I've always been someone who likes to make tiny little things with my hands, but it's funny how it happened: I simply made a little Meerkat Cake Topper for my wedding a few years ago, put a listing for a custom cake topper on Etsy, and now, a few years later I've made 7 cake toppers for others and am working on an 8th. This is what I love about Etsy--no matter how strange a thing you make, there's always someone out there who wants something like it. 

My most recently shipped-out cake topper is the one pictured above, of two monkeys hugging. Yet another reason I love Etsy--the person who ordered this cake topper just messaged me with this pic (see below) and said, "Can you make a cake topper of this?"

Although it's been a long time since I've made any significant sculptures out of clay (nothing since college!), I said yes, because why not? And I got to work. 

I used air-dry clay and started by sculpting the figures. Once they had dried completely, I went back in with acrylic paint and painted on their + their faces, as you can see below. 

They're not exact replicas of the monkeys in the photograph, but I think they're close enough, and the commissioner seemed very excited to get them! 

It was really fun pushing myself out of my comfort zone to create these little guys, and I have to say, I became quite fond of my little clay friends...I was almost sad to see them go...

Oh, and speaking of little friends, I got to create a second Meerkat Cake Topper recently, which made me super happy! It's below:

What can you do today that makes you think in a different way, or stretches new mental or creative muscles? I urge you to say 'yes' to that weird request and see where it takes you...you may just have fun + learn something in the process!

You can visit my painting site to view the rest of my handmade cake toppers. 

[Also, you might have noticed that I usually post Love This! on Wednesdays, but didn't today. That's because since starting the podcast, which drops every Tuesday, I'm feeling like I have very few days to just share/write about what I want! So, I'm moving Love This! to every other week, just like Mat Matters (they'll alternate weeks). TMI? Perhaps, just wanted you to know that I'm not going rouge...because I would never!]

Months ago, I did a custom wedding logo for an engaged couple named Sandy and Brett. You may remember seeing them + their logo featured in a past blog post. 

Then, two weeks ago, I received an email from Sandy with a sweet thank you and some fabulous pics showing how they used the logo in their wedding...and um, WOW!  They got creative with it. 

Sandy and Brett's wedding was GORGEOUS (I think I spent a little too much time scrolling through all their pics...) and I just love how they used their personalized logo: they used it on their website, on their save-the-date (which was a dish towel!), on their water bottle labels, as temporary tattoos, and on cute little "do not disturb" signs that their guests got in their hotel goody bags. 

A. Dorable. 

You can take a look below, and if these pics don't make you want to start planning a wedding (or helping someone else plan a wedding) right this second, I don't know what will...

A huge congrats to these two! And a big thanks to Etsy for connecting us and giving me the chance to be a part of their wedding day :) 

Oh weddings, you are the best! 

As usual, this summer has been a summer o' wedding commissions. It's funny, as my custom painting/custom item business has grown, I've realized that it comes in two basic seasons: holiday gift season and wedding gift season.

I've also found that people seem to have no problem spending money on art for others (so sweet!)--especially when it comes to gifts for big events like a new baby, wedding, or holiday--but that they seem to have a much harder time justifying spending money on art for their own home. 

But you know what, you guys? You deserve art! Buy yourself that piece of art that you love and don't feel guilty about it. Commission a painting by a favorite artist or buy a print that goes perfectly in your living room and will make you happy every time you look at it, and you won't regret it. At least that's been my experience when buying art for myself ;)

Anyways, I've gotten off track, because today is all about sharing a few of the fun wedding-related commissions that I've done this summer. I can't share everything now, as there are still a few pieces that have yet to be gifted, but here's a small snapshot of what I've been working on over the past few months...

Above: A cake topper inspired by the couples' dog and cat. They sent me pics, I found figurines that looked like their pets, and then I painted the figurines' fur to match the coloring of their pets' coats. Simple and straightforward ;)
{Get your own in my Etsy shop.}

Below: A wedding gift from a sister to her brother and his wife--a painting of the church where they got married. 

Below: My second Dia de Los Muertos-inspired cake topper, customized for the bride + groom who purchased it! I used cloth from the bride's actual dress to make the skelington bride's dress (and made the dress in a similar style as the real dress), personalized the groom's clothing, and matched the colors to their wedding colors. {Get your own in my Etsy shop.}

Below: Sadly, the images of the next commission didn't turn out so well (I hate when I do that!), so you'll have to just picture the final product through two different pics--the first, details of each of the dresses (the bride's dress and a bridesmaid's dress), and the second, a zoomed-out version of the final painting, framed (with a slight reflection of me in the glass...whoops!).

The story behind this painting? It was the gift from a BFF (also a bridesmaid) to the bride, and it was a total surprise. Such a good friend!

Below: Lastly, we have a simple "Wedding Logo Sketch" that was commissioned by a couple who wanted to use these images as a part of their wedding materials. I love it that they had me include their three dogs! I gave them a version with the whole fam included, and then one version with just them and one version of just the pups ;) 

I love weddings! I love commissions! What a wonderful summer of painting it's been. I'll share the rest of my summer commissions as we move into fall and all of the surprise gifts have been given...

You can learn more about commissioning a painting here. 

When Ben and I got married WAY back in 2012, I drew a quick little sketch of our heads to use on our wedding program. It was on a whim--I wanted something simple and personal--and I didn't think much about it. 

At the time, I had no idea how to use photoshop (I have since learned), so putting our program together and transferring this little sketch onto our design was much harder than it should have been. It wasn't perfect, I didn't know how to "clean up" the little dots around the image from dust on the scanner, but it still made me happy  (imperfections and all), and that's really what mattered.

Flash forward to 1.5 years later, and I've become much more efficient at creating what I now call "Wedding Logos." I've made a few for other couples, the quality has become much higher, and I think they're a very fun way to add a personal touch to a DIY-inspired wedding. 

I now use my own scanner and photoshop to make small edits once I've drawn the sketches, I can change out the symbol in-between the two people (from a "+" to a "&" to a heart), and I give the couple 3 different sizes of the sketch. It's amazing what 1.5 years and a little bit of Lynda.com classes can do for you!

So, today I thought it would be fun to share my three most recent wedding logo sketches with you. I've included two of the photos that each of the couples gave me (most give me many more than two), so that you can get a little glimpse into the process. 

Oh, and by the way, how adorable are these couples? I love in love people! So sweet and exciting :) 

Fun, don't you think?  Here's a cute example of how one of the couples used their sketch on their website:

The other couples have promised to send me images of their wedding materials with the logo once they have them--I can't wait to see what they're used for!

More information about ordering a Wedding Logo can be found in my Etsy shop, here. You can view more of my custom wedding-related items on my painting website, here. 

Three cheers for personalized weddings!  I'm SUCH a sucker for 'em.

On Sunday, Ben and I will celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary. Like woah. This past year = superfast! 

Last week, as I began to reminisce about the wedding--both the magical day and everything that went into it--I realized that I missed out on a fun post opportunity: The rejected dresses post. So, welcome to today's feature. Because lets be honest, who doesn't love a good insiders view of the outtakes/bloopers/behind-the-scenes? 

Sadly, I wasn't able to take pictures of every single dress that I tried on (most boutiques don't let you take pictures of the dresses, which I think is ridiculous!), but I do have a few awkward snapshots. Please try to ignore my crazy faces, unflattering poses, and all-around weirdness. 

Also, a big thanks to my dear Maid of Honor, Kelly, who traipsed all over Chicago and DC with me, taking pictures and helping me try on dresses. What a process!

When I found "my dress," it was love at first sight. It was comfortable, fit like a glove, showed off my better parts, and hid my not-so-better parts ;) 

When the wedding day rolled around, I was beyond excited to finally slip on my dress...

What a memory. 

Oh, and good news--one year later and I still love him as much as ever! ;)

Oh, why hello there, Skelington family! 

Bloggies, meet my newest custom cake topper creation. This crazy cake topper was commissioned by a couple who is having a Dia de Los Muertos-inspired wedding in Mexico next month, and I'm honored to have been able to make this unique, personalized wedding element just for them ;) 

Here are a few of the fun, customized details that we included:

• The couple really wanted their pet, "Bailey Lopez the Cat," to be a part of the cake topper. Making a skeleton cat was a BLAST.
• The skeleton bride is wearing a dress made out of a scrap of the bride's actual dress. The bride had the tailor cut it off and then sent me the leftovers to use = genius!
• The groom has an awesome beard, and thus, his skeleton counterpart does, as well.
• The papel picado (banner above them), the bridal bouquet, the groom's suit, etc. were all matched to their wedding's color scheme, as well. 
• They wanted sugar skull decorations on the skeletons, and thus, I got to doodle all over their faces.

I think a Day of the Dead wedding theme is super unique and can't wait to see their pictures. Creative, right? 

For all of my custom cake topper offerings, visit the Wedding Section of my Etsy shop...

You guys know how much I love totally whimsical, handmade wedding items, right? Well, meet my newest obsession: creating fun little cake toppers. 

I was recently commissioned to create a custom Dia de los Muertos-inspired cake topper (how great is that?!), and while working on it, I decided to make a few other little ones, as well.

I'll share pics of the skeleton cake topper soon (complete with a skeleton version of their cat!), but in the meantime, wanted to introduce you to the first of my recent, playful cake-topper creations, a mini deer couple under some little paper bunting. Aren't they sweet? I think this would be a perfect topper for a country or woodsy-inspired wedding. 

This little guy is for sale in my Etsy shop, along with a listing for a custom cake topper (you pick the type of animal "couple" and color scheme, and I'll make for you!). You can check out all of my custom wedding items in the "Wedding" section of my shop. 

I'm feeling SO grateful that I have the space in my life to play with making little things like this right now. #LifeisSweet.

I'm super excited to announce that I've added some fun new custom {wedding} items to my Etsy Shop, Starr Struck Studio!

Included in these new items? A personalized animal cake-topper (you pick the animals and the color scheme, I bring them to life), a custom wedding "logo" or drawing to be used on all of your wedding materials, and a custom mixed media wedding painting/collage--made using parts of your save-the-dates, programs, invitations, and theme (a great gift for parents of the bride and groom!).

I loved making my own wedding materials SO much that I've decided to start making them for others, as well. I'd love to be a part of your special day ;)

You can check out all of the new wedding items and my custom painting pricing in my Etsy Shop, here. 

As always, thanks for your constant support!

This morning, I woke up to my 6am alarm clock, bright-eyed and bushy-haired, ready to take on the day. I was sprawled across the entire bed, luxuriating in a way that felt just downright ridiculous (as if I was auditioning for a mattress ad or something), and I realized that I had the entire place to myself. Our one bathroom, our one sink, our one mirror, all mine. Similarly, last night I had free reign of the covers, of all 4 pillows, and was able to control the apartment temperature--I felt like a queen.

Why, you ask? What could possibly make me feel this way? 

The old hubsters has flown the coop. He has  gone out of town on his own for the first time since we got hitched in October, and I'm playing solo girl in the city for a few days. I know I'll start missing him any moment now, but I'm definitely going to enjoy this feeling of freedom while it lasts. 

So, since Ben has jetted out out of town for a long weekend in Cape Cod, I think now's as good a time as any to discuss my thoughts on marriage thus far...

Here's what I've observed/how I've noticed things have changed (or not changed) in the past *almost* 8 months that we've been married (8 months already?!? Whaaaaattt???):

• Marriage really is different than living together. It just feels different. It feels like we're a team, like we're a unit and we're in this together for the long haul. You would think that I would have felt that way after 7 years of dating and 3 years of living together, and I did, but getting married took it to a whole different level. It's a really nice feeling.

• Just because I'm married now does not mean that I will suddenly start wearing sexy pajamas. I thought I could turn over a new leaf after the wedding, I really did, but I just can't. Can you throw me my sweats?

• Ben still calls me his "GF" on at least a weekly basis. Often, I have to remind him that "No, I'm not your girlfriend anymore, I'm your wife." To which he often replies, "Oh yeah, cool!!!" Old habits die hard, I guess. 

• It's really fun to introduce people to your "husband." All of the sudden, I feel like a legit adult. Weird how marriage does that to you.

• When you're married and you see your "husband" hold a little kid or snuggle up to a puppy, you see him in a completely different way than you used to. Or at least I do. Now, the idea of him being a father is real, and that's really strange. Does this mean that I actually have maternal instincts, and that they're actually kicking in? Oh-em-gee...

• Just because we're married now does not mean that Ben will learn how to be the handyman around the house. That's still my job.

• Having combined bank accounts is fabulous. I spent the first 3/4 of my twenties on my own, supporting myself, stressed about money, and now I can finally relax a little bit because I'm no longer alone when it comes to finances. Now if only someone would start picking up my Lululemon tabs, we'd be rich! ;)

• Making decisions together has taken on a whole different meaning. Before, we hardly ever made decisions on our own, simply because we wanted each other's feedback and input on things. But now, we not only want each other's input, but feel that it's necessary. Like I said before, we're a team, and we need to function as a strong unit. It's us against the world! (At least that's what we say when one of us if having a bad week ;)

• We need a bigger bed, bigger cabinets, and two bathrooms. Then there will be nothing else to quarrel about. Oh, and maybe a personal dishwasher/loader/unloader? We go through WAY more dishes than any other household of two does, I promise. [Ben eats a LOT...and so do I.]

Does that sound about right to you, fellow married readers? 

Bottom line: Marriage = way awesomer than I'd ever thought it could be. Why did I shy away from it for so long, again? 

Although I'm not a huge fan of real mustaches on people under the age of, oh, 45-50 or so, I am a big fan of fake mustaches, Movember, and almost all types of mustache paraphernalia. Because there's just something fun about wearing a mustache--especially when you're a girl--isn't there? Maybe that's why guys (read: Ben) think they're such an amazing thing to grow...who knows? But anyways, in celebration of the last week of Movember (a month where men all over the country grow mustaches to raise awareness of men's health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives), today I thought I would share my mustache chronicles from the past 5 months or so.

If you remember, it all started at my girl's weekend/bridal shower/bachelorette party back in June. Our "big night out" began with adhesive mustaches, and only got better from there:

To commemorate this magical evening and the sheer joy that our faux-mustaches brought us (and everyone who we encountered that night), I decided to bring the mustache theme back for the wedding, primarily through our wedding party gifts. I stamped each card, gift box, and gift bag with this amazing mustache stamp that I bought on Etsy:

I also purchased these fabulous pink mustache knee-socks, and these adorable stamped pink mustache bags (handmade and also available on Etsy) that I filled with my bridesmaids' jewelry for the wedding:

Surprisingly enough, I wasn't the only one wanting to bring back the mustaches. The day before the wedding, my bridesmaids gifted me with these amazing mustache finds (and a few more that aren't pictured below!):

So you see? The mustaches live on...

Oh, and here's my all-time favorite mustache pic from the wedding, featuring my Maid of Honor, Kelly:

No idea what's happening here, but whatever it was, it must have been absolutely amazing. Every conversation gets better when an unexpected faux-mustache is flashed ;)

You can read more about my thoughts on facial hair, here. 

Happy Movember!

Namaste,
Mary Catherine

Welcome to SJOTW! Because this week has been an extra hard one (especially since I landed in GA on Wednesday evening), I've decided to make today's edition all about our wedding pictures--the one exciting thing and the biggest simple joy that I've experienced during this rather tough week. 

We received our pictures yesterday, and it was a really special surprise, as I was able to look through them with my dad and stepmom while sitting by her bed at Hospice Atlanta. The images and slideshow brought all three of us a lot of happiness on a day that had otherwise been filled with tears, and I'm very thankful for that. Although there are still hundreds where these came from (literally, 809 to be exact!), today I'm sharing a selection that I pulled from the photographer's blog. 

Our photographer, Amy Arrington, was simply amazing. I am blown away by these pictures and the hundreds more like them. You can take a look below for some of the highlights, and can also take a look at a few more on the photographer's blog and in this slideshow (which includes lots more, but get ready, because it takes about 5 minutes to watch!). 

So, here's my biggest simple, sensory joy from the past 7 days. I know it's only one thing, but I think it's a big one ;) What brought you happiness this week? Fond memories definitely count...

My BEAUTIFUL bridesmaids!

I was thrilled with how the shoes turned out!

Exchanging rings.

Ben high-fiving his Grandfather ;)

My brothers...re-enacting what they did before walking back down the aisle after the ceremony. Love these pics!

Down-dog assist!

We decided to go with donations instead of favors...

Remember when I made all of these pie stands? Loved seeing it come to life.

More DIY details. I was so happy with how everything turned out...

Bridal party entrance.

Rapping "Shoop" (with my Maid of Honor).

Ben's got moves!

Life is simply amazing, isn't it? The good, the sad, the amazing, and the difficult, all wrapped into one. Looking at these pictures brings me SUCH happiness, and I feel so lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life. 

Having an Atlanta wedding? Here are the vendors that we used that I would highly recommend (I haven't listed the ones who I wouldn't recommend...):

Venue: Cator Woolford Gardens
Caterer: Sun in My Belly
Photographer: Amy Arrington Photography
"Day Of" Planners (who did so much more than just helping on the day of!): We Tie The Knots
String Duo: The Wedding Players
Pies: Pastries A-Go-Go
Flowers: Candler Park Flowers
Hair & Makeup: Rebecca Powell and Paula Xiong (For contact info for these ladies, email me! They were both fabulous.)

To close, I wanted to share a poem that was read aloud by Ben's grandmother during our ceremony. I think it perfectly describes the ups and downs of life that I've experienced this week, while also capturing the power of love and relationships...

Thank you for being a part of this intense month of my life, and for sharing in both my joys and sorrows.

You can read more about my wedding (Top 10 Memories + non-professional pics) here, check out my recent Photography Sneak Peak (featuring 3 more fun pics) here, and see how I made many of the DIY touches pictured above here.

I hope your week was *full* of simple, sensory joys.  SJOTW will be back in full swing next Friday...

Namaste!
Mary Catherine 

Look! We got 3 pictures from our fabulous wedding photographer today! They're just a sneak peek of what's to come, but they made me super excited to see more AND took me right back to our amazing day...

Can't wait to share the rest as soon as we receive them!

Namaste,
Mary Catherine