Seeking Sweetness: Holiday Card Sneak Peek #1

CakeSpy Note: if you follow me on facebook or Twitter, you probably know I'm partial to observing (and sometimes adding) sweetness in the natural world and urban landscape. Here's where I post a daily feel-good photo or image, for no particular reason other than to showcase these sweet little nothings, in hopes that they'll make you smile.

Here's a sweet sneak peek at one of the upcoming 2011 Holiday Card designs in the CakeSpy line! They will be available online in a week or two; in the meantime, I'll post a different sneak peek every few days.

Seeking Sweetness: Daily Snapshot, CakeSpy Illustration in Taste of Home Magazine

CakeSpy Note: if you follow me on facebook or Twitter, you probably know I'm partial to observing (and sometimes adding) sweetness in the natural world and urban landscape. Here's where I post a daily feel-good photo or image, for no particular reason other than to showcase these sweet little nothings, in hopes that they'll make you smile.

Check out this sweet illustration I did of a happy jar of peanut butter for Taste of Home--it's featured in their current print issue! Go buy it.

Sweetly Intoxicating: CakeSpy Illustrations for Svedka Vodka

Are those Michael Jackson impersonator cupcakes? Read on...I've done a lot of interesting cupcake illustrations in my life.

I've done illustrations to go along with a marriage proposal. I've done illustrations of cupcakes in their underwear, eating soup and watching Dawson's Creek. I've illustrated a cupcake crime scene. I've explored cupcakes learning about the birds and the bees.

And now, I've done a series of cupcake illustrations for a vodka company. I'm totally serious. Not long ago, I was contacted by Svedka Vodka about being part of their "Walk of Shame" ad campaign, which focuses on the crazy and (well, sometimes dumb!) stuff people do while...er...imbibing. "You do know that I do illustrations of cupcakes, don't you?" I asked. Yes, they did. And they wanted me to illustrate some of the crazy stories coming in from the campaign...but in cupcake form.

Well, that sounded like fun. So I did it! Here's my work.

First: BIG WORM, pictured at the top of this post. The tale is as follows:

My friends and I went to a dive bar one night. Imagine my surprise when the place was randomly jam packed with Michael Jackson impersonators... Feeling more confident than usual, I decided to break into the center of what seemed to be 'a dance off'. The pressure was intense and the first move that came to mind was the WORM. Without hesitation and without holding anything back I went for it! Except, I attempted it feet first, and that didn't end well. Feet first didn't work so well, & I landed face first on the dance floor. Next thing I know, I'm getting helped out of the bar by bouncers and all I could hear/see was a sea of Michael Jackson lookalikes chanting 'Big Worm, Big Worm'... I had to go to work right after 'the incident.' After my coworkers harassed me for wearing sunglasses while working, I finally took them off and told them the story. They gave me a round of applause and dubbed me 'Big Worm.' That story will forever be logged in my personal log of shame.

Second, a tale of Vegas debauchery; here is the video-story, and here's my illustration version:

Third, a little ditty about "Fire Island the Next Day", which goes like this:

What do you wake up to after a double birthday party on Fire Island with a hundred of your closest friends... a pool swimming with empty bottles of Svedka among other things. ;)

...and here's the illustration:Fourth, a tale about being locked in a club overnight; here's the video-story, and here's my illustration:

...but wait, there's more! Fifth, a tale from a Facebook commenter:

I had a crush on a skater girl in 5th grade. I walked her home - she asked if I wanted to try her ramp (no wait you don't have to). I tipped the board off the lip and rolled down like a bag of potatoes. I held my composer with a shaky chin long enough to say goodby - she tried not to laugh. I cried my way like a newborn all the way back home... it's funny now. :)

and my illustration:

svedka6

and sixth, this tale, also from Facebook:

Sleeping over at my once "crazy summers flings" (now fiances) house on a weeknight. I had never met any of his family and I figured everyone would be goned to work and school by 9... I headed down the steps in my t-shirt and panties no bra to get a drink only to find his little sister and mom sitting at the kitchen table! His sister stayed home sick and his mom to take care of her. I never ran so fast up the stairs ever! I didn't come out of his room till his mom took his sister to the doctor. LOL

...and my illustration:

svedka7

...and finally, one of my favorite stories:

I had a heavy metal fiesta party. My roommate managed to break her foot and needed me to take her to the hospital the morning after. I take her in my full heavy metal fiesta costumed glory, and it wasn't until we left that I realized I had been in the waiting room with remnants of a pirate pinata on me and a fake tattoo that said "Nacho" in Old English smeared off on the side of my face.

...and here's my illustration:

Thanks to Svedka and their Walk of Shame campaign for including me!

More Sweet Art For Sweethearts: Custom Romeo and Juliet Pie Painting

This Valentine's Day, the artwork I did for Bleeding Heart bakery wasn't my only delicious commission!

I also created a very sweet piece for a celebrity piemaker named Kate Lebo in Seattle. This one did present a challenge--said piemaker presented the situation to me as such: "I am a pie maker. My boyfriend has to avoid gluten. Is there any way you can portray this with star-crossed lover slices of pie?".

The answer, of course: yes. Yes, I can.

So what I did was create a scene of two pie slices atop their family flours, with the Romeo-pie, even though he knows that delicious Juliet may be the death of him, saying "Thou art my flour, sweet Juliet!"

Now, that's a love story we can all agree is totally sweet!