gofigurette

Long time no post!

2010-11-26T18:27:00.000-08:00

It seems like a long time since either Diane or I have blogged for gofigurette! . Diane has been super busy with continuous wedding orders and I've been dabbling here and there on different projects. I've been making a lot of figurines compared to flowers and just wanted to share some of the things I've been doing.

Funny how when friends hear that I work with clay, they think up ways that I can help them with their kid's school projects, lol. The first project that I was asked to help with had to do with a book report on Terracotta Soldiers. This was way off the norm for me since it wasn't a cute figurine, but I thought I could give it a try. I had 2 days to figure this one out!

The next project that I was asked to help with was a set of 4 fairies, which each had to be different and in accordance to the book that my coworker's daughter was reading. I had fun making the fairies since this was more my style as far as making cute figurines.

We had quite a few custom orders on gofigurette!, one of which included a request for a feather headpiece with a birdcage veil for a bride owl caketopper that I had made. Another bride requested a set of large penguin cake toppers with the groom in a top hat. The bride also wanted her penguin couple to be holding hands, which I thought made the topper look really sweet. We also got 2 birthday requests. One was for a 1 year old's birthday whose mom was having an owl themed party for him.
For another birthday request from a special client, she asked if we could do a sock monkey for her husband's birthday which I've never done before, but thought I would give it a try.I was glad to know that our client's husband was quite happy with how it turned out!

Moving on to the holidays, Diane asked me to try putting figurines in glass orbs. Well, my first response was "Do what?", but she said to go forward and give it a try. So glad my instructor/good friend has so much faith in me!

Hockey playing Christmas penguin Minion with Christmas tree
Caroler

Little boy with snowman

Eskimo and seal celebrating the holidays :)

This one is my favorite. I call her "Snow catcher" since she's trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue after making her angel print in the snow.

Guess that's it for show and tell right now, lol. We hope to post more in the future and suggestions for new figurines are always welcome :)

More Cupcakes!

2010-08-10T19:36:00.001-07:00

Check out Diane's really stunning flower cupcake!Flowers are her specialty and critters seem to be mine.

Wouldn't these make super cute caketoppers? More holiday cupcakes and other items to come!

New Cupcakes listed on Etsy

2010-08-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

It seems like ages since I've written on this blog. I know that Diane has been super swamped with wedding orders and today she has her Garden Art Party with Debbie Friedrich of Zenatona. For those of you who haven't checked out all the gorgeous creations that Diane has been making, check out her blog for her original designs! I know she'll have great pictures from the party too to show off Debbie's artwork as well.

I've been a bit busy and just recently finished working on my Curriculum 3 projects so I can attend Decoclay classes in California for October. Now I have no excuse but to get back to creating cute figurines. This is a made to order cupcake for a wedding cake topper or keepsake item. I made a similar cupcake back in April for a custom order and liked it so much that I wanted to make it available again. The bride is complete with a sequins topped, scalloped-edged veil and interested customers can request their color choice for the cupcake bottom, flowers and ribbon. Isn't the cupcake stand too cute? (Sorry, the stand is not included, lol.)

I've been hearing more and more that we should start listing items for upcoming holidays, Christmas in particular. Christmas already? But before Christmas is Halloween :) I LOVE Halloween. This little cutie is a trick-or-treater dressed up as a chubby pumpkin. She's even got a stem hat to complete her costume!

I have a couple more new designs that I'm putting the final touches on, so check back soon!

Special Cupcake for my 10 Year Old Niece

2010-05-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

My niece is turning 10 this weekend. It's hard to believe that she's going to be 10. Seems like just yesterday I was holding her in my arms as a baby. She's such a beautiful young girl, smart, athletic and has a great personality.
After we started gofigurette! she saw our figurines and asked if she could have it for her birthday. She wanted me to teach all her friends how to make figurines. So she gave me specific details as to what color she wants her cupcake as opposed to her friends' cupcakes. As I was making the cupcakes, the idea came to me to make her a special one. She's in competitive gymnastics and I believe her favorite event is beam. So I decided to make her a little cute pink penguin on a balance beam with the perfect score of 10 which so happens to be also be how old she is this weekend! Hope she likes it.

It'll be interesting to see how the party goes. Hopefully I can take photos and share them with you. My first kid's birthday party teaching kids how to make figurines. So wish Myrna was here to help me! :)

Custom Cupcake with Owls

2010-04-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we got an inquiry for a custom order for bride and groom owls, but this order combined a few other things. The couple is having a destination wedding and thought it would be fun to have their bride and groom on a cupcake. In addition to this, the bride-to-be requested that their wedding colors of aqua and bright pink be incorporated in the caketopper. She totally knew what she wanted and asked that the cupcake bottom be aqua and that a ring of flowers in bright pink be placed around the bride and groom. Another detail that she wanted was the initial of their last name placed below the owls, which I did in the same aqua color.
Lastly, a request was made to have a veil on the bride owl and flowers to adorn her head as well, which was done in a super miniaturized version-these owls are only a little over 1 inch tall!
Congrats to the bride and groom and thank you for letting gofigurette! be part of your happy day!

Gofigurette! joins the Garden Art Party

2010-04-24T20:24:00.000-07:00

For those of you who keep up with Diane's blog, you'll know this is her Garden Art Party weekend with her good friend Debbie Friedrich of zenatona. In addition to featuring Diane's lovely flowers and Debbie's amazing art work (Diane and I proudly own several pieces), they also discussed having some figurines from gofigurette! at their party.
Of course owls were number one on my list of what I would make and I wanted to incorporate the garden theme, so I made flowers with each arrangement.

Focusing on other animals, I made a bunny in the middle of a head of cabbage surrounded by carrots.And lastly I created a couple of racoons with a tiny blue bird, complete with flowers surrounding the tree stump. I'm sure Diane and Debbie are having a very successful party. Watch for an update from Diane on her blog :)

Another Custom Penguin Pie Topper

2010-04-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

While Myrna never gets tired of making owls, I guess I never get tired of making cute penguins. My large size penguin cake toppers have been gaining popularity. I have had 4 requests for custom cake toppers. This particular client however is buying it for the bride and groom. She wanted the aquamarine body of the penguin, but instead she requested them to be larger (3" tall) and if she could have a medium blue striped tie and have a crown of medium blue flowers for the bride. The bride is Swedish, so I accented the flowers with a bit of yellow glitter in the center of each flower. The client also said that the couple won't be having a traditional wedding cake but rather pie because they are pie fanatics. This was a fun one. The client was quite happy with the end result.
Myrna and I are always coming up with fun and unique ideas, but she may be the one executing on a lot of new ideas since I'm swamped with my flower business for the next few months. But I am sure I'll need a creative release from my flowers and make some new figurines. My husband suggested a hula girl penguin! Hmm......

More Owls-Hoot!

2010-04-11T18:47:00.001-07:00

One thing I don't think I'll ever get tired of making is my owls. Just something about them makes me smile. We got a custom order for a set of bride and groom owls in a shade of green to match the succulent plants on the happy couple's wedding cake. The bride-to-be was quite happy with the way they turned out!

And keeping with the theme of owls, I wanted to make something in relation to upcoming graduations. How perfectly fitting for a wise owl to be in a graduation cap complete with tassle and a diploma under his wing. I think this would look really cute on top of a graduation cake and it would be a wonderful keepsake for the graduate :)

Custom Wedding Cake Topper

2010-04-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Last week we got a convo from a bride-to-be asking us to do a puppy dog cake topper based on the cupcake topper that we had listed on our gofigurette etsy site.

Since this was one of the cake toppers that I made, Diane told me to go for it. The bride is getting married May 1st, so she immediately sent a picture of her dog, just so I could get an idea of the colors she wanted and some of the detailing she wanted that was specific to her dog. She also requested that the bride wear a veil and carry a bunch of lilac flowers.

For the groom, she requested a top hat and with lilac trim. It's always a challenge to do a custom order and although I hadn't done a dog bride and groom couple before, I thought they came out pretty cute :)

Easter Cheer!

2010-04-04T10:46:00.001-07:00

Although both Diane and I have been quite busy, we always seem to make time for family. Yesterday my family and I celebrated the Easter holiday and I made arrangements of bunnies, chicks and glittered easter eggs for them. The great thing about Diane and I is that although we may make the same things, we each have our own original style and creativity, so nothing really looks duplicated! Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter holiday!

More to come on wedding cake toppers and graduation figurines so stay tuned!

Happy Easter from gofigurette!

2010-04-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a busy week for Myrna and me with various projects we've been working on. Trying to split my time between DK Designs and gofigurette! sometimes can be challenging. Myrna made me this cute baby chick and Easter eggs in a cute latte style egg cup and because I was running out of time to make gifts for my nieces and nephews for Easter, I decided to follow her lead. So I had these 1 inch square ceramic salt & pepper holders and decided to use them for the chick and the eggs. They came out super cute. I made one each for my son's teachers and for his girlfriend at school. My son is 5 mind you and he's had a girlfriend for over a year now. At least he's a one girl kind of boy! LOL.

Anyway, Myrna and I just wanted to wish you all a Happy Easter and hope that all your little loved ones find lots of Easter eggs and treats on Sunday!

Figurines and Flowers

2010-03-29T15:48:00.001-07:00

I've been getting quite a few inquiries on my bride and groom owls and wanted to think of different ones that I could make. Since I had the wedding theme covered, I started thinking about making a cute baby owl for baby showers. What could be cuter than a baby owl?
I made the mama owl cradling the baby and thought of combining it with some flowers and a "Welcome Baby" banner for a unique baby shower gift. I think a mom-to-be would love a gift that celebrates a new born baby as well as having a nice remembrance of the anticipated time before the baby actually arrives :)
Showers of happiness with gofigurette!

Large Penguin Bride & Groom Cake Topper

2010-03-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

Most of what Myrna and I do are on the small scale, but recently I got a convo via our Etsy site asking if I could do a 5" bride and groom penguin. So although it didn't make 5 inches, it was 4.75" tall. It's pretty big but very cute.We've definitely been getting more inquiries for custom cake toppers for weddings. Especially for Myrna's super cute bride and groom owls! Thank you to all our wonderful gofigurette! clients and custom orders! We are so appreciative of the business!

St. Patrick's Day Penguins for My Son's Classmates

2010-03-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's Day is something special to my husband because he is half Irish and it kills him that our son calls it Leprechaun Day! Something created by Hollywood. Anyway, I wanted to make something to share Aidan's ethnic background with his classmates and also to share some traditions his grandmother passed on to her kids and hopefully one day to Aidan.
A tradition in the Phillips' family is Irish soda bread. So I'm attempting to make it for Aidan's classmates so he can share a little about his heritage with the kids, but at the same time take something home that's cute and fun and in honor of St. Patrick's Day! I made an iron-on transfer with a 4 leaf clover and a St. Patrick's Day greeting. So cute!

New Critters Posted on Etsy

2010-03-14T16:29:00.001-07:00

I've been really behind with making figurines for gofigurette!, since I was busy making favors for my Grandmother's 90th birthday party. Flower boxes for the ladies and penguins for the kids. Diane was sweet enough to design an awesome favor card for me and it just pulled everything together :)

With day light savings time here and Easter right around the corner (time has just been flying by!), I wanted to make my little chicks for the Easter holiday. When I was trying to figure out how to make a tiny cake topper arrangement, I found that egg cups work just great -how fitting for Easter!

I thought that the egg cups worked out so well that I was thinking about other figurines that I could make and came up with clown babies for baby showers. I think this would make a super cute cake topper and a nice keepsake for the mom-to-be.

Lastly, I wanted to make a few new animals and also go back to making a few familiar ones. The raccoon was something I had made when I gave a gift to Diane, so I thought one would be cute sitting on top of an egg cup. And although I thought I had enough of my dinosaur (flashback Aidan's birthday party, lol), I figured one single one with some rocks and flowers would make a cute topper for a boy's birthday party. The bear with flowers was just to celebrate spring! I think my absolute favorite is my angel-winged pig. What I was really trying to do is match the unusual cup that I found and the pink just made me think of pigs and the saying "When pigs fly".

Being that this saying is an old one and it's not heard that often anymore, maybe this would come in handy as a Mother's day or Father's day cake topper! LOL

St. Patrick's Day Gift

2010-03-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

I couldn't get myself in gear to work on flowers after working on the favors for my son's upcoming yet 1 month late birthday party. So I stayed in the figurine mode and whipped up this. Myrna was the first one to make tree stumps way back when she made her theme project for certification and she had sent me this cute raccoon family in a latte cup and it had a this uber cute tree stump. It's such a great idea so I made some St. Patrick's Day penguins with 4 leaf clovers and tried to think of what I could create. I thought about the cupcake, but then decided that wouldn't work given the size of each penguin. Then I thought about the one Myrna had made for me with the raccoons.

So, I wanted to make something for my aunt and uncle who are like parents to me and a grandparents to Aidan. My uncle is Irish and with St. Patrick's Day coming up I thought I'd make them something. So I made a tree stump with flowers and a glittered shamrock with the two penguins sitting in a garden of flowers and of course a lucky golden horseshoe! I tell you this stuff is addicting.

Today it's back to running errands for the party and working on my flower orders. Must stay focused!

Flowers and Cupcakes - Just in Time for Spring!

2010-03-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I sure am ready for some sunshine and warm weather. It's been a really wet winter in California and I know for Myrna, New Jersey has been bitterly cold and more snow than she'd prefer to shovel.
We've been tossing around this idea of combining the cupcakes and our flowers and making one of those flower cupcakes you so often see in the florist shops. It was a bit of a learning curve on how I was going to make it, but here's the first one! I think they would make a great decoration for a baby shower, bridal shower, birthday or just to give to someone you think is special. Who doesn't love cupcakes and flowers? So they are a perfect combination!
As I get more time I hope to create a couple other versions with different flowers and colors! The sun is out, but more rain is to come, but for now, I can enjoy this nice pre-Spring day! Before I finish this post, I also made this cute little mini cupcake with my oh so cute monkey with a plumeria flower. This would make a super cute gift and Christmas ornament!

Monkeying Around

2010-03-03T22:24:00.001-08:00

I should seriously be working on my bridal bouquet orders, but I decided to take a little bit of time and post some of the items I worked on in the last few weeks on Etsy as well as create a new piece. When I first started, I didn't dare make bodies for my figurine heads. As I got more confident with my figurines I decided to try and make simple bodies. After all, we're going for cute. So I'm a big fan of cute monkey critters. My son's favorite stuffed animal is still Curious George and he was my favorite too growing up. I decided to play around or shall I say, "monkey around" with another figurine concept. I decided to make a cute monkey scratching it's head under a palm tree. I think it came out really cute. It can't be complete without lovely & fragrant plumeria flowers!
Anyway, check out our gofigurette! site on Etsy as we just listed a few new items! Don't forget St. Patrick's Day on 3/17 and Easter on 4/4! Happy Shopping!

Personalized Cupcakes

2010-02-21T09:01:00.000-08:00

You're probably wondering why there has been a lack of posts recently. Well, for the last 2 weeks I have been training a delightful woman from the UK (yes, that's right the UK) in the DECO Clay Craft Academy curriculum. She's doing great and I'm excited to say that soon there will be a certified instructor in Europe once she has gone through the examination process. But hold onto your hats, she has decided to take some time and really practice on her own before she is ready to teach others.

Anyway, my student asked me if I could make some special cupcakes for her goddaughter back in the UK. She was thinking she would find her something in the US but she's been so busy with classes she hasn't had much time to shop. So she thought this would be special and unique. She asked for pink penguins on pink cupcakes with whatever embellishments she thought would be nice, but that she wanted her goddaughter's name to be spelled out with a touch of glitter. Another great idea for our Etsy site, personalized cupcakes for a little girl or little boy's birthday! Would even be cute for a milestone birthday with numbers!

Custom Order for a Wedding

2010-02-15T21:23:00.001-08:00

Late last week I got a convo from a potential Etsy client who really liked my penguin surfer cupcake, but she asked if I could modify it. We exchanged several emails back and forth and she said she was having a beach wedding and her colors were navy blue and white. She loved the aquamarine penguins and asked if I could customize them for her. She wanted a bride and groom penguin couple, the bride with a plumeria hair flower and leaf and the groom with a white & navy blue tie. She also requested shells at the base of their feet. These shells are super tiny. I accented with glitter glue and I think they look super cute. She was going cupcakes instead of cake for her wedding and so she thought this cupcake with the custom details to the penguins was perfect.

Turns out my client is a professional photographer so I'm hoping she'll share with me photos after her wedding!

Awareness of our cute designs is growing and I'm so excited to see inquiries here & there. :)

St. Patrick's Day and Easter Items

2010-02-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

I've been busy creating some things for St. Patrick's Day and Easter. I love what I do! It's so much fun and such a creative release. I love cute things but never thought I could make things that are cute until now.

My husband is part Irish decent and I was thinking I should make something for St. Patrick's Day, but not something that would be offensive to people who are Irish. He says leprachauns are a Hollywood made up thing and it's offensive to Irish because it's a celebration of an Irish saint. So I technically didn't make a leprachaun, I made a penguin, but I guess the hat makes it a leprachaun penguin. I put a little 4 leaf clover on his tummy. This first one goes to my mother-in-law because she is Irish and I know she would really find this to be cute.The 2nd item is a mini cupcake with a bunny, grasses, roses, tiny flowers, leaves, and glittered eggs. It's a challenge trying to create things in miniature size, but fun nonetheless! Will be posting new items to our Etsy shop soon!

Birthday Favors for a Special 5 Year Old!

2010-02-03T09:52:00.000-08:00

Myrna mentioned a while back that she had been working on lots of little TREX dinosaurs out of clay. When she knew Aidan's 5th birthday was fast approaching she asked me what I wanted to do and that she wanted to help. So my son's latest fascination has everything to do with dinosaurs! So Myrna graciously took on the task of making TREX's out of clay. We decided it would be a team effort so I agreed to make the cupcakes in which the TREXs would sit upon.
The box arrived from Myrna this morning and the OCD person that I am, had to work on them right away. Aidan's birthday is on Monday and it's the day he goes to school. So I finished assembling the cupcakes and the favor bags.

I have to admit, I'm not the "Susie Homemaker" type mom in the least bit, but I remember when my mom used to do special things for me on my birthday and I want Aidan to have that too. He is so utterly amazed and appreciative when I do things for him to share with his classmates. He thinks his mommy is a superstar! LOL. I'm so thankful to Myrna for taking on the task of the TREXs and the countless hours of going cross eyed making them and those ferocious teeth!
These are the photos I took today that I wanted to share! So if you're thinking of something unique to give as birthday party favors, consider gofigurette! :)

Did Someone Say "Easter"???

2010-02-02T23:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's not even Superbowl Sunday, nor Valentine's Day but Myrna and I are already thinking about Easter! She showed me something she quickly whipped up and it was so darn cute (I'll let her share it with you in a separate blog post) and her creativity sparked mine.
After finishing my penguins for my client who wanted the family of penguins, I decided that I would try to make an Easter themed arrangement. I had made an Easter bunny head, but no body a while back when we first started the company, but Myrna has inspired me to make bodies now! So going back to what I know from my theme project when I was going for my DECO certification, I did an Easter themed project. What's not to love about cute little bunnies!So I had these little wooden condiment cups from Sur la Table that I bought a couple years back and I thought they were super cute and that I would have a need for them. In the two years I've had them, I couldn't figure out what to use them for.. until NOW! I decided to make an Easter bunny in a small garden with grass, tall grasses, Easter eggs decorated in glitter in various colors and little itty bitty flowers. The whole thing probably only measures 4 inches high by 3 inches in diameter.

Soon these will be listed on Etsy. I'm thinking about maybe doing a brown bunny and who knows, maybe a penguin dressed up in bunny ears perhaps? I just finished working on a ton of flower samples and a bridal bouquet replica so doing a little creative figurine creation was just what I needed. So much fun! Looking forward to making more Easter related items to sell. If they don't sell, they'll make EXCELLENT gifts for my nieces and nephews!

Creative Monotony

2010-01-28T06:34:00.001-08:00

To be quite honest, I was getting a little tired from making all the little dinosaurs and they also started taking on a different shape/form after working on so many in a row. So after every 4th one that I did, I would take a break and work on something else. I wanted to make something for Valentine's so I worked on baby chicks and bunnies.
Going back to the t-rexs', I wondered how I could incorporate dinosaurs and Valentine's day and working with so much green clay was just starting to get to me. With all these thoughts in my head, I decided to change it up and make a pink Lady T-rex. And as I'm always playing around with my new camera, I gathered all of the T-rexs' for a unique picture :)Doesn't she look in awe of all of her suitors gathering to see her? With that "come hither" look, she looks like quite the flirt! Work it girl!

A Labor of Love...

2010-01-27T17:35:00.001-08:00

Diane has been hinting around that I've been working on a project for a special little someone and I have! In about a week and a half, her son Aidan will be celebrating his 5th birthday and I wanted to make him something fun. Aidan LOVES dinosaurs, specifically the Tyrannosaurus Rex, so I thought I would give it a try. Little did I realize, but there are a lot of little details to the T-rex, but this is how it turned out! Aidan will be celebrating his birthday at school with his classmates so both Diane and I thought it would be a cute favor for the kids to have. Did I mention there are 22 kids in Aidan's class? LOL

I think the kids will be thrilled to receive something that they can keep and remember Aidan's special day by :) Stay tuned because this is not the end of this project- Diane will be adding her special touches to make this project complete!

Happy Birthday Aidan!

New Turtle Listings

2010-01-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

So in keeping with the tropical or Hawaii theme this week, I decided to rework my "honu"/ turtle concept. My original turtle wasn't my best work, but as I continue to play around with the clay, I find better ways to achieve the cute look I'm going for. These are my latest Etsy creations! They came out super cute.
I did the one with the pink cupcake base and fuchsia pink plumeria flowers first and then after some thought, I had an idea to do a swirl ocean blue and white frosting top with a light green base for the cupcake and change the flower to a white plumeria. Either way, they are both super cute. One a little more feminine and the other a little more masculine.

Check out our Etsy site if you're interested in purchasing one! Lots of "aloha" went into these little honu!

New Penguin Cupcake Listings!

2010-01-22T19:27:00.000-08:00

I've been busy making some penguin cupcakes for Valentine's Day as well as another little cute cupcake design which I'll share with you in this post. This week 3 of our cupcakes sold so since it seems like the cupcakes are selling well, I thought I would add a few more to the list. They are so fun, quick and cute. That's what I love about the figurines and cupcakes, in less than 30 minutes I'm done and it's a finished product. Instant gratification!
The first two are single penguins one in purple and one in pink. The pink one I decided to give a plumeria hair flower. Hearts on the cupcake too. How cute. I also added the glitter embellishments which add a lot to the cupcake and figurine.
The 3rd design is sweetheart penguins with whimsical hearts floating on some crinkle wire. My version of love birds. :)The last one is my all-time favorite thus far. I had been wanting to make a surfboard with a penguin on top and today it finally clicked. It's what I call my "Surf's Up" Penguin! I knew what I wanted to do and it came out just as I had imagined. Even with the fin at the bottom of the surfboard! I made the surfboard more marbled to give it some added texture which I think looks awesome. Of course it wouldn't be complete without a white plumeria and glitter accents.

Be sure to click on the pictures to take you directly to the actual listing on our Etsy site.

Myrna has been busy on a special assignment for a special little someone so soon she will post what she's been working on for the last couple of weeks!

Another Lady Bug Cupcake

2010-01-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

I've been busy making lady bugs. The fuchsia pink one I made earlier in the week sold so I decided to post up another one on the site. Each time I make a figurine I learn a little more each time on how to make it better. That's what I love about the clay, it's a never ending learning experience!
I added some sparkle to the base of the "icing" this time and played around with the eyes. I also modified the colors slightly. Always different, always unique!

Custom Design for Baby Shower - Penguin Family

2010-01-18T20:39:00.001-08:00

One of my dear friends, Debbie Friedrich of zenatona, had posted our gofigurette! site on her Facebook page to help build awareness about our new endeavor. Debbie is so sweet. One of her clients was interested right away as she's throwing a baby shower in March/April for a family member when she's back there. She lives in India, but is from Hawaii. So we discussed what she wanted and she had specific colors she wanted to incorporate so then I decided to just make the penguins in orange, yellow and red. To further specify who was the mom, dad and baby, she asked if I could put a plumeria flower for the mom and a black bow tie for the dad. I'll be putting them with a wire ornament hanger so her guests can hang them on the Christmas tree in December!So, my client sent me another email asking if maybe we could switch the bowtie out for something that was a little bit more personal to her husband. He's big into photography so she asked for a camera. So this is the final sample design. I realized then that the baby shower favors she was asking for are for her own baby shower when she goes back to visit her family in Hawaii! So the plumeria matches an island girl!

I'm so appreciative of the orders we have received and the interest level in such a short amount of time from when we launched! Can't wait to see what 2010 holds for gofigurette!

Lady Bug and Hearts Cupcake

2010-01-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

Some of our fans have been asking us to make lady bugs. So I was working on some other concepts for clients and decided to try my hand at a lady bug. This was inspired by a lady bug cake I saw on Cake Lava's blog today. Super cute. I decided that in honor of Valentine's day it would be cute to do the antennae and spots on the wings in heart shapes instead of circles. I love the light pink colors of the lady bug instead of the traditional black and red color palette. It's cute and makes you just smile. :)
Makes a perfect Valentine's Day gift or a cake topper for a little girl or baby shower! Of course it wasn't complete without a little bit of glitter on the hearts! Click on the images to take you to the actual listing on Etsy!

Custom Order for Baby Shower

2010-01-18T15:07:00.000-08:00

The interest level in our company has been going strong. Lots of inquiries and people interested in custom items for their upcoming baby showers, birthdays and more. I was asked recently to make a custom topper for a diaper cake. I normally defer birds to Myrna because she's so good at them, but because this one was basically done as a trade for an industry friend/client, I decided to give it a whirl! The client had made baby shower invitations of a blue bird (the new stork) flying in the air carrying a baby blanket bundle. She wanted to try and recreate it for a diaper cake.

Since launching gofigurette!, she asked me if I could help her out. Her sister is a professional photographer so we'll hopefully be able to share professional photos at a later date with you.
So I made my first bird and it was way too big, then crushed it up and tried again. The 2nd time came out much better. Then I had the challenge of figuring out how to make the legs and feet of the bird. I luckily had brown crinkle wire and so I twisted it and made it look like the feet that was in the picture. The baby blanket bundle also took some thought. But, after a couple tries, I managed to make it work. But how would I give the bird the appearance that it was flying in the air? I was contemplating doing a tree stump to prop up the bird, but then realized I had some nests I bought at the craft store and figured out a way that I could hide the wire holding the bird in the air. So this is the end result. Not bad if I do say so myself. LOL. For those of you who know me, my specialty is flowers, not figurines.

It was a fun exercise and I'm glad my industry colleague gave me a good challenge! Who knows, maybe we'll offer something like this in the future on our site. It does however qualify as our first sold item on our Etsy site! So happy!
I can't wait for Myrna to blog about what she's been working on for a special little someone! Stay tuned for that!

Another Valentine's Listing

2010-01-08T23:07:00.000-08:00

Since my owl has been getting some good hits, I decided to make a Valentine's themed owl on a cupcake. I wanted to incorporate a little bit of flowers since they've always been my first love when creating items with clay.

This little owl sits in a "love nest" of puffy hearts and two shades of pink flowers, all on top of a white frosted cupcake. So cute I want to keep it! Diane and I are coming up with a lot of fun ideas not just for Valentines, but with other items we'll be offering in our shop-so keep visiting!

Valentine's Day Penguin Just Listed...

2010-01-08T14:17:00.000-08:00

Well, since I was busy today, doing a lot of running around, I only had a brief moment to sit in my studio and create something small. Since I had a bunch of cupcakes finished I decided to make something for Valentine's Day to list on our gofigurette! site on Etsy.

I can't wait to see what Myrna has created on her end, but here goes mine. I decided to make a pink penguin with darker pink hearts on it's body and then embellish a white "frosted" cupcake with the same mini pink hearts and embellished them with matching glitter glue. So sweet! All the pieces were handmade. The hearts were not from a mold, again, hand formed and believe me the clay I started with was super tiny. I decided to add a little "Happy Valentine's Day" sign that can be removed after Valentine's Day.
Would be super cute for your loved one who loves penguins or for your child's teacher at school. We'll be coming up with some more items soon so stay tuned. Click on either of the images to take you directly to the actual listing on Etsy!

Photography 101

2010-01-07T17:46:00.001-08:00

The one thing I told myself when Diane and I discussed working together was that I needed to learn how to take better pictures. Diane was gracious enough to take pictures of my grey and white owl and as always, her pictures are awesome!

Well, I recently got a new camera for Christmas, and I thought, this is it, now there's no excuse for having a bad shot. So I decided to focus my creative energies on taking pictures of my new fairy.

Diane often tells me that a good shot doesn't necessarily have to be straight, horizontal or vertical, but to play around with the angles too.

I think I captured the cheeriness of my fairy and I'm getting a bit better with picture taking :)

Cupcakes are Fun!

2010-01-07T15:44:00.001-08:00

Myrna's owl has gotten A LOT of hits! I'm so excited for her. We've gotten a couple of inquiries for custom orders which is great so it can only go up from here!

Myrna sent me cute cupcakes made out of clay and so I experimented based on how she told me she did hers. The thing I like about our company is we don't restrict one another as far as trying to make our things exactly the same. She has her style and I have mine, but we inspire each other to create! The top ones were the ones she sent me so I could take photos and the bottom layer is my own version of the cupcake.
I think I secretly like making the cupcakes more than the figurines. LOL. They're fun too! Who knew?

We're gearing up to list a few new items for Valentine's Day gifts and looking at offering some new favors that will be super cute! So stay tuned!

gofigurette! Signature Cupcake - a collaborative design effort!

2010-01-05T14:20:00.000-08:00

Myrna and I love working together. It's one of those things, we either both have the same idea or come up with an idea and the other executes. It's a fun working environment, just wish we lived closer so we could actually hang out. :)
After I designed our logo, I thought to myself, "we need to make the birds and cherry blossom out of clay. Myrna figured out how to make cupcake forms so we don't have to go out and buy real cupcakes every time we want to photograph a new figurine to post on our Etsy site. We both had the same idea, make a cupcake with our birds and cherry blossom. Myrna came up with the birds and the cupcake in the most perfect colors and she sent it to me and I figured out the cherry blossom location and created the flower. So it was a collaborative design effort from both of us. Myrna is jealous because I'm not giving her the sample back. LOL. It's SUPER CUTE!
So, we're selling these on Etsy soon, just in time for Valentine's Day. We thought this would make a cute cake topper too for someone who loves birds and loves cupcakes! We're thinking of new packaging ideas as well, but until these things really take off, they will come in their own little gofigurette! logo bag.

We'll also be coming out with a line of figurine and cupcake sets. Already gives me ideas for my son's birthday in February! So be sure to check out www.gofigurette.etsy.com for different color and figurine combinations!

gofigurette! Etsy Shop is Now Open!

2010-01-02T16:40:00.001-08:00

Myrna and I have been busy trying to put together some of our pieces to list and today I had time to put them together and get the site up and running! We hope you like what you see and will tell your friends and family about our new venture. These are so cute and I can definitely see these being a big hit at children's parties and baby showers. There's lots more to come, but for now, we have listed a few items instead of waiting any longer.
So visit us at www.gofigurette.etsy.com!

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T12:05:00.000-08:00

We hope to start posting some of our new items on Etsy by this evening, but I wanted to just share with you something I just worked on that came out super cute.

Being from a Japanese family we grew up with many traditions. One of them being celebrating New Year's with mochi pounding and making mochi for God and loved ones who passed on before us. Not that I'm highly religious, but I do believe we have nothing if not for God! Anyway, I always grew up learning it to be "God mochi". My grandmother passed away the day before Thanksgiving and we miss her and the traditions she lead for so many years. This year is no different, even without her, my aunties and cousins rallied together to continue this long and never dying family tradition. Granted, we don't have the granite bowls to pound mochi with wooden mallets and all the women making the perfect round balls. The mochi this year was not to my grandma's standards, but I'm sure she got a good laugh up in heaven.
So, last night I got an idea, why not create the mochi in clay. Granted I don't think these would sell to anyone other than those who celebrate this tradition, but I intend to keep one and add it to our Christmas ornaments, but to give each one to my aunties and uncles so they will always remember all the wonderful times we shared making mochi as a family! These mini "God mochi" only measure 1.25" top to bottom and maybe .5" in diameter. So cute. :)

Happy New Year to all of you and we look forward to bringing you many cute designs for cupcake toppers as well as favors! We're very excited about what's to come!

gofigurette! Logowear!

2009-12-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

Today has been a busy day of running around to buy some supplies and to make some of our logo wear. Although Myrna and I are not sure if we'll sell our logo wear (namely the shirts), we decided it would be so cute to have our own company shirts. So since it's winter we opted for the long sleeve shirts and maybe towards summer and spring we'll do t-shirts and tank tops. We both agreed how cute it would be to have one shirt in every color palette! Think we're addicted? The above and below pics of the purple color palette happens to be my shirt.
The pink color palette shirt is Myrna's. I have to mail this to her so how cute would it be to offer gift packaging for our logo wear! :)
I have to mail this to her so how cute would it be to offer gift packaging for our logo wear! :)So here's the color palette of muslin bags with our logo, this will be an option for customers if they want a gift bag included, they can purchase it off our website. We will also include the hook pin and ribbon as well to sell it as a complete package for those who want to give them as favors/keepsakes after they are done being cupcake decor!
Lastly, I had worked on a prototype surfboard and just decided to see how the penguin would look on top of the surfboard. I'm thinking this would make a really cute Christmas ornament for someone who loves the beach and loves to surf!

From baby showers to kid parties....

2009-12-27T11:06:00.000-08:00

When Diane came up with this idea to join forces to work together, I never knew it could be this much fun! As you can see, Diane has been busy working on all different cute animals and we were also trying to come up with different themes to focus on. I decided to work on a baby shower theme and this is what I came up with.We plan to offer the babies in different colored blankets and as you can see, no two baby's expressions are exactly alike! Thinking about children's theme parties, I decided to make a prototype of a mermaid. I think little girls would love to see these on cupcakes and be able to take them home as a keepsake.

Both Diane and I are having fun coming up with different ideas and we're excited to see each other's original designs finalized in clay :)

A few more CUTE designs...

2009-12-27T08:13:00.000-08:00

Making figurines is kind of addicting! Go figure, LOL! Both Myrna and I had fun on our respective coasts making some cute little animals for the gofigurette! site on Etsy. I came up with a few more last night. We will be selling them in sets of 12 and have options to purchase the little ornament hooks with ribbon as well as the little logo muslin bags. Simply wipe the frosting off the base of the clay figurine, then glue the ornament hook on and place in the muslin bag and viola, you not only have a great cupcake decoration but a favor for each child or guest to take home!Obviously the first two figurine heads are my interpretation of Hello Kitty and Chococat!The above are a panda bear, brown bear and bunny rabbit. I guess maybe I had my son's children's books stuck in my head "Brown bear, brown bear what do you see." LOL.
This last figurine is a little cute hedgehog. My friend who saw my penguins told me that a hedgehog is popular and similar to making the penguin so I gave it a shot. Not bad! Looking forward to offering these new figurines on our site soon! Stay tuned!

Coming Soon!

2009-12-26T19:34:00.001-08:00

Myrna and I have been busy creating some cute little figurines to launch our Etsy site. This is what I came up with today. Myrna will be doing her own post on what's she's been busy creating. Of course the penguins have been very popular so I did some mini penguins that measure 1.25 inches high before the hats went on. So miniature is the key. They would make perfect cupcake toppers and then simply wipe off the bottom and let dry and they are keepsake party penguins. I also decided to make one with a pink rose and some leaves.
Who doesn't love purses and monkeys? I experimented a little while ago with them as well and I love how both of them turned out. There still is some fine tuning to be done, but almost there!
And of course, I love turtles. This one is super small. Would make a cute little miniature ornament for a tree.

gofigurette! packaging!

2009-12-24T13:33:00.000-08:00

Yes, we even work on Christmas Eve. Blasphemy I know. Myrna has been busy creating some cute ideas for baby showers and girl's birthdays and so excited to share those with you soon. While I was getting my Santa Penguins ready to give to my family and friends, I realized we needed some cute packaging.
So I used our square logo to create some SUPER CUTE muslin bags in various colors. Besides, not everyone who gets one is a girl so I thought it would be nice to have them in various shades.
More to come as we continue creating some pieces to introduce our new line! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Welcome to gofigurette!

2009-12-22T22:08:00.000-08:00

You must be wondering what is "gofigurette!" What does it mean? Well, my dear friend, Myrna from PetalChic is one of my dear friends and students turned instructor. She's what I call a clay freak (I should know one when I see one because I am one). She's like me in that she practices and works with the clay almost every day. We have become good friends over the last year and a half and we tried to see how we could work together. To give you some back story, she hated making figurines in Curriculum 1 and was so glad when she was done with having to make them. Happy never to see them again. Figurines are not my favorite thing either when it comes to the clay because I've naturally just enjoyed making flowers more. I think part of it is proportions, getting the faces just right, etc. Well, Myrna started to excel with the figurines, namely angels. We often joked about it because we knew how much we hated making figurines.
Right around Thanksgiving she made an elf for her sister on a votive cup and I thought it was super cute so I told her she should make them and sell them on Etsy. She made penguins a snowman and a Christmas tree. It was SO DARN CUTE! I bought one and then asked her to make 2 for my son's teachers for Christmas gifts. She really loved making birds while we were taking the C3 course in November together. I remember one night going to bed at 2:30 and she said she was up until 3:30 and I wake up to 2 birds sitting on my side of the table thinking, what was she doing. She made birds for me before going to bed. LOL. So she inspired me to make penguins for Aidan's classmates to give as Christmas ornaments and they turned out rather cute. I surprised myself. Then people started telling me I should sell them or they wanted to buy them. Myrna made a replica of our Boston Terrier dog, Brig with his Christmas elf hat jumping out of the top of a Christmas present which I thought was so imaginative and she did such a perfect job of replicating our beloved pet!
Then it dawned on me, why don't we create a company that makes figurines and small flowers for cupcakes, specialty cakes and decor (favors, ornaments, etc) out of clay. My company name I thought of was "curiously cute". Myrna suggested, "figurines are fun". So I turned to my dear friend Lea McIntosh who is so amazingly talented and comes up with the best company and branding names and explained to her our business concept and the names we had come up with. I gave her a 20 minute time limit since she's super busy these days and she hit the nail on the head. "gofigurette". Go figure, meaning go figure that Myrna and I would turn out to like figurines and start a company making cute figurines for birthdays, baby showers, wedding showers and more. figurette (figurine, cute/coquette/minuette). she suggested a cherry blossom at the end so she sent me her font style and i thought about it and then it dawned on me, swap the "o" with the a cherry blossom (we're both Asian) and add 2 cute birds since we both make birds and we're west coast to the east coast which was even better!

So, in the coming months we'll be creating some wonderfully cute figurines for birthday parties, showers and more. We hope you enjoy what we create and follow along in our journey working together from the opposite ends of the US to bring you some really creative items for your next special occasion! As a mother, I often see what parents give as favors or things for their kids to give to their friends and cousins and I always try to get something that will be cherished or remembered. I even make t-shirts and keepsake ornaments even though I don't have much time, but I think the other parents appreciate that it's not candy or something that they just end up tossing. My son loves the fact that I take the time to at least make something cute and creative for his friends. There's always a big smile on his face!

Please visit our online store at www.gofigurette.etsy.com!