Handmade Monkey Wedding Cake Topper

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!]