WooHoo!!! I’m thrilled to see my daughter Hanna‘s gorgeous artwork get recognition and exposure by my good friend Sandie Bricker and the wonderful folks at her publishing house, Abingdon.
How so, you say? Well, Sandie commissioned Hanna to create six wedding cakes for her character, Emma Rae, who (shhh–spoiler!!) will be getting married (finally!) in the fourth book of Sandie’s Always/Never series. (You may have noticed my review of book two on Wednesday’s post.) Emma is a diabetic baker who just happens to create decadent wedding cakes for The Tanglewood, a wedding destination inn in Atlanta. But now that it’s her own wedding coming up, she can’t decide what style of cake she should make herself!
This is where Hanna entered the scene. She created six stunning, unique cakes that Emma may have sketched. The themes of the cakes are based on how Jackson makes Emma feel: Once Upon a Time, A Little Topsy-Turvy, Pure & Uncomplicated, Classic & Simple, So NOT Traditional, and Free to Be Me (which is the one shown at left).
Each cake is delightfully unique, and Sandie’s loyal fans get to choose which one of the six they think suits Emma the best. Here is the link to see all six cakes and why Emma might consider each to be the right one for her and Jackson. Here is the link for the contest itself, telling you what prize the winner receives.
But enough about the contest! Let’s talk more about Hanna!
I asked my lovely daughter to tell you all a bit about her glamorous life as the mother of my granddaughter. That’s SweetPea in the picture! She was about eight months old then. Isn’t she adorable?
Oh, right, the glamorous life of a freelance illustrator:
The best thing about being a freelance illustrator is that sometimes you get paid for just having fun. I have been happily married for 8 years and still find myself reading wedding blogs everyday. Weddings are just so pretty; it’s kind of tragic that you don’t get more opportunities to have a big beautiful party like that. I confess that I sometimes sit around planning weddings in my head.
When Sandie Bricker posted on her Facebook page that she was looking for an illustrator for a project, my mom passed it on to me (thanks mom! Networking is how the freelance world keeps turning.) (Mom says, “You’re welcome!”) I had read and loved Always the Baker, Never the Bride, and was excited to work with Sandie (who as it happens, is delightful) on a promotion for the series.
The job? To illustrate a set of pretty wedding cakes. Oh twist my arm. Finally I could say that my Cakes board on Pinterest was for “research purposes,” and hang around looking at wedding magazines for “work inspiration.” I came up with six different cakes for six different styles of wedding. My favourite was the pink and gold cupcakes. Which one would you choose? Check out the fun contest over at Sandie’s site to see them all. Even cooler? You could be written in as a character in her upcoming book!
Thanks for coming by, Hanna! And thanks for napping so Mommy can make such gorgeous artwork, SweetPea! You both make me so happy.
That is so cool! YAY!!
Isn’t it though? 😀 <– Big Happy Mom Grin!
Uber cool!
Yeah!!! 😀 Oh, and Sandie’s contest is cool, too. Check it out!
How exciting and what fun cakes!!
Thanks Tracy! Aren’t those cakes fun? 😉
Awesome story, and adorable grandchild! 🙂
Thanks, Sandra 🙂 It’s win win win.