For those of you who keep asking, "Are you still breathing?"

the answer is, "yes." 

A lot of time has passed since my last post, so I can understand the question.  Life has a way of continually challenging us to grow.  Sometimes we excel in a particular challenge, and sometimes we fail.  My response to recent challenges has been to withdraw, re-evaluate and refresh.

Last year provided some great highs, (the children's book I illustrated for Lee White was published), and lows (my husband and I had to make the extremely difficult decision to put down our German Shepherd, Kip, when he could no longer walk or stand, and I had hand surgery)...

I will write more about Kip in Zoe's blog, but wanted to share a little about the hand surgery and the impact it has had on my life...

First, I had injured my hand in what I thought was a very minor household accident.  I was on my hands and knees cleaning the floor of the panty and when I went to push up to stand, my hand slipped on the wet floor and my right index finger jammed into something.  For the next year I dealt with pain, clicking, minor swelling, and certainly the feeling that something just wasn't right with my finger. 

I felt kind of silly even giving it any attention, after all it was just a finger, but after a year of "dealing with it" I contacted a surgeon to have it evaluated. Surgery was scheduled immediately to repair my right index extensor hood and to do a tendon transfer.  The surgery was November 3rd.  Going into it I thought I'd have the surgery, a few weeks of rehab and then I'd be back to normal with a perfect hand.  I learned that my PolyAnna thoughts were just that and it is now almost 6 months later and I still have pain, numbness, swelling and clicking.  In fact, I refer to my right hand as the, "the big giant knuckle."

So how has my big giant knuckle impacted me?  Well, for someone who has gone through life pretty easy-breezy, my big giant knuckle threw me for a loop!  I can't paint currently and that has left me feeling somewhat out of sorts.  I am a creative being and not being able to paint has been so difficult. I have withdrawn a bit -- I found I needed time to regroup and re-evaluate.  I have been spending more time with my husband, God, and figuring out a way to be creative even with my big giant knuckle = ) 

You may remember that I took some cake decorating classes last year.  I found that I really loved the decorating part, but didn't necessarily like the baking part.  I found that working with icing was difficult because it irritated my big giant knuckle even more, but working with fondant was almost like therapy -- it requires kneading and shaping, which seem to actually help my hand a bit.  Anyway, as I worked through the process of determining what I could and couldn't do, I found that I could make cake and cupcake decorations out of fondant, that could be used to decorate cakes and cupcakes that OTHER people have made. 

...and with those thoughts, the CUPCAKE STYLIST was born = )  As the CUPCAKE STYLIST, I make edible toppers (decorations) out of fondant to stylishly dress YOUR cakes and cupcakes!  This allows me to use my artistic and cake decorating skills to create, and it provides you with a means to obtain custom made decorations to complement your theme or party idea, without the time and hassle of making the decorations yourself.  It also allows you to say, "I made it myself" when you receive all of the oohs and aahs that are sure to come your way from your family and friends!

I  am making designs in four basic categories:  Cut-outs, embossed, hand painted and 3D sculpture designs.  The designs will be offered on my website (which is currently under construction at http://www.cupcakestylist.com/), and are currently available at http://www.cupcakestylist.etsy.com/ .  A Facebook Page is in the works, however I must confess that Facebook pages are still a mystery to me. Once I figure them out I'll add the address/link also. 

Each design can be customized to match your particular party theme and color scheme.  To give you an example of what is available, please continue...

And so, yes, I'm still alive...still breathing...still creating. 

In the midst of my re-evaluation period my husband gave me a little wall hanging that I'll share with you... "Life is not waiting for the storm to pass, it is learning how to dance in the rain."  I'm dancing...