I featured all my Custom Pet Memorial and non-custom pet remembrance gifts, and animal portraits. Hosted by The Creatures of the Creator 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Unity Presbyterian Church, 1146 Greentree Road, Green Tree
I’m a member of this pet support group at a local church. I’m so happy to be a part of this event to celebrate our animals each year. Last year I met Winnie and her family, and made a few new friends too.
I’ve been busy creating some new Custom Pet Memorial items that I’ll share after this event is over…because I’m still working on them today!
And my display looks a little “flat” compared to the usual—because it is! Storms were moving in and very gusty winds were tossing things around including all those glass votives and suncatchers so I laid everything flat on the table. And if certain areas of the photo are a little blurry, that’s why.
I’ll have my Custom Pet Memorial items:
Custom Pet Memorial Votives
Several styles of Custom Pet Memorial Suncatchers
Custom Pet Memorial Garden flags
Non-custom pet memorial remembrances:
Non-custom votives
Non-custom pet remembrance garden flags
Non-custom remembrance keepsakes
Love Never Ends votive
Window Silhouette Votive Lamp
Love Never Ends garden flag
A selection of Animal Sympathy Cards.
Custom Commissioned Portraits samples and Gift Certificates.
Marketplace is a feature on The Creative Cat to share the latest coming out of my studio with my readers. Once a week on Thursday I feature something new in my “shop” .
Find out more about creating custom items for your own home using the images you see here. Visit the “Ordering Custom Art” page to see samples and read bout how to order.
Sign up for my e-newsletter (below), check the widget on the sidebar on my home page, or sign up to receive posts on Portraits of Animals Marketplace. I plan on plenty of events this coming summer in the Pittsburgh area.
It’s all done under the close and careful supervision of my studio cats!
All images and content are copyrighted and may not be used or reproduced in any way without my written permission. Please contact me if you are interested in using any of my content.
Custom pet memorial gifts are not only loving remembrances to have or give as a gift, they may also be a lovely gift with a favorite photo of a beloved animal companion while they’re still around to enjoy.
Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Memorial Day are observed in the next two months. Memorial Day is seen as a universal day of remembrance while Mothers or Fathers days are celebrations of a mother or father or the person who filled those roles for you, or for a friend or family member who considers themselves a pet parent. A gift that recognizes a loved one’s love for their animal companion or their grief at their loss is very personal and special.
A custom votive, suncatcher or garden flag for yourself or others celebrate or remember a beloved animal companion, created with images that you provide. I can ship gifts directly to your recipient with a customized sympathy card if it’s a remembrance at no extra charge.
And a discount from now until the end of May
Custom Pet Memorial Gifts Offer
25% discount on your Custom Pet Memorial Gift
or Custom Pet Memorial Gift Certificate
Use coupon code CUSTOMMEMORIALGIFT25 in your shopping cart.
Offer good until May 31, 2026
About the votives
Beginning as memorial gifts, I make your Custom Pet Memorial Votive with love and sympathy on the loss of a precious companion, be it yours, or a friend’s or family member’s companion. I designed the memorial votives to focus on your companion’s face, and position their image so that the votive candle shines through their face, especially their eyes. During the day your votive captures ambient light even without the candle, but in the evening, when the candle is lit, the flickering light through your pet’s face in a darkened area is warm and intimate. Watch the video below as I place a lighted votive candle into Luna’s custom memorial votive.
How I designed the Custom Pet Memorial Votives
I designed the first of these memorial votives, as a gift to a friend who had rescued Oscar and had previously commissioned a portrait of him. Rather than using his entire portrait where he is sitting up, I designed it to focus on his face and positioned him so that the votive candle would alight his face, and especially his eyes. From its effect on me, and Oscar’s family’s reaction, I knew this was an idea that I could share with other animal lovers.
A custom memorial votive for Oscar.
So I designed the memorial votives to focus on your companion’s face, and position their image so that the votive candle shines through their face, especially their eyes. During the day your votive captures ambient light even without the candle, but in the evening, when the candle is lit, the flickering light through your pet’s face in a darkened area is warm and intimate. Watch the video below as I place a lighted votive candle into Luna’s custom memorial votive.
I use 4″ x 4″ a square glass votive. Working with your supplied photo or artwork, I use my decades of pet portraiture on paper and canvas and my Photoshop skills to prepare the image to fit the votive. I remove background distractions and correct distortions if necessary, and add a color or gentle pattern that suits your pet, pulling ideas from the supplied photos.
I print that image on a frosted vinyl label that holds the image with clarity and diffuses the light of the candle, and wraps completely around the outside of the votive.
I can customize backgrounds too, using patterns or other decorations you choose. Customizations cost $5.00 to $10.00 extra.
Ziggy Stardust needed to have stars on her votive.
Ziggy Stardust
I can combine multiple photos so that animals appear together, or use each side of the votive for a different pet.
You can use a wax votive, but as much as I love real candles and flickering candlelight, with years of curious feline noses and waving tails I’ve been trained to use flameless candles. I provide an LED votive candle with each votive I make that has an inexpensive and easily purchased replaceable battery so that you don’t need to run out and find a brand new votive to continue remembering your pet when the original grows dim.
For more information and ordering:
A basic votive with one subject and no extras is $40.00 including shipping. This includes a use and care card and a complimentary sympathy card if needed.
A suncatcher can hang on any window, or a mirror or any place you want to see the image of your beloved animal companion. And they also make unique customized gifts even when they aren’t in sympathy for a loss.
As with the votives, working with your supplied photo or artwork, I use my decades of pet portraiture on paper and canvas and my Photoshop skills to prepare the image to fit the image area on the suncatcher. I remove background distractions and correct distortions if necessary, and add a color or gentle pattern that suits your pet, pulling ideas from the supplied photos.
I print that image on a frosted vinyl label that holds the image with clarity and diffuses the light of the candle, trim it to fit the image area.
Shapes and sizes
I offer four different sizes/shapes, as seen above: a 6″ acrylic circle, a 5″ deep beveled circle, a 3″ x 5″ deep beveled rectangle, and a 4″ x 4″ square. Remember that the deep bevel on all but the 6″ acrylic is between 3/8″ to 1/2″ and that reduces the image area from the outside dimensions to a smaller area.
For more information and ordering:
Each basic suncatcher with one subject and no extras is $30 including shipping. This includes a use and care card and a complimentary sympathy card if needed.
I spent a couple of years experimenting with ways to make my own 11″ x 15″ garden flags, and once I began selling the Custom Pet Memorial Votives it was a natural step to also make Custom Pet Memorial Garden Flags. I take the photo you provide and enlarge and crop it to fit the image space on the flag. Garden flags are printed on one side of cotton duck canvas with a rod pocket sewn at the top and a heavy hem at the bottom to prevent curling.
Your custom garden flag doesn’t need to be used in the garden, or it can come inside for winter, using a wire or wooden bracket that’s used for pennants, small quilts or weavings.
Below I have my samples displayed indoors for one of my open houses.
Pet Memorial Votives and Garden Flags
A few samples.
For more information and ordering:
Each basic garden flag with one subject and no extras is $30 including shipping. This includes a use and care card and a complimentary sympathy card if needed.
Each gift is packaged with a small care and use card and a message of sympathy from me if they are remembrances, “May their light shine on you always.”
If your votive is a gift a sympathy card with your message is included
You may include a message to any recipient. I offer memorial note cards that are blank inside where I will write your message and include it, in an envelope, with the votive. There is no charge for this.
The card for your votive.
I prepare and print your photo or artwork of your pet onto a frosted vinyl label, then burnish it onto a cube-shaped glass vase 3″ in each dimension. A sympathy card and an LED tea light are included. The price includes shipping, whether to you or a friend.
If this votive is a gift…
I’ll be happy to ship it directly with a card at no extra charge.
Use the drop-down below to enter your choice of standard or other sympathy card.
Use the text box below to enter your message for the sympathy card and optional text for the back, if necessary.
If you’ve chosen a sympathy card from my collection, use the text box below to enter the design name.
Please enter the recipient’s address in the “Shipping Address” area of the shopping cart.
Whether the votive is for you or a gift for a recipient, the votive and card are carefully packed and shipped in a Priority Mail box.
Custom Pet Memorial Gifts Offer
25% discount on your Custom Pet Memorial Gift
or Custom Pet Memorial Gift Certificate
Use coupon code CUSTOMMEMORIALGIFT25 in your shopping cart.
All images and content are copyrighted and may not be used or reproduced in any way without my written permission. Please contact me if you are interested in using any of my content.
Working with your supplied photo or artwork, I use my decades of pet portraiture on paper and canvas and my Photoshop skills to prepare the image to fit the votive. I remove background distractions and correct distortions if necessary, and add a color or gentle pattern that suits your pet, pulling ideas from the supplied photos.
Sometimes a custom background is part of the design, either the background in the provided photo, another scenic background, or a pattern. Pearl loved sleeping on the patterned porch chair and it was in the photo I used, enough of it to be able to trim sections out of the provided photo and blend the sections together in a continuous pattern. I placed Pearl on top of the pattern with the section of it that was under her face included with her. Below are views of each side and the back.
And here is what the votive looks like when the candle is lit.
Pearl’s votive lighted front.
Pearl’s votive lighted back.
Customizations cost $10.00 extra for a specific background, another subject, or text, like a name and dates, or a tribute incorporated into the design. You’ll find these listed as “Extra Services” in the drop-downs when you order, but you can check with me before you order if you have questions.
The sample votive you see here was ordered by one friend to give to another, and both parties gave me permission to share the images. I never use any image of a custom item without permission.
My display and tent at the Blessing of the Animals, 2025.
I made a quick video of my display at the end of the Blessing of the Animals yesterday, 30 seconds so it could easily fit most social media formats. Ran out of space on my phone to make a longer one! So here we are:
“We’re getting ready to pack up at the Blessing of the Animals today. The weather turned out beautifully and I got to see old friends I haven’t seen for a while, and talk to a lot of people about my Custom Pet Memorial gifts and non custom remembrance gifts, including the fact that they can just be nice gifts for people who like their animal companion’s image on things.
I’ve linked above to each of the custom pet memorial and non-custom pet memorial items and gifts you see here. Soon enough I’ll have a better video to present these items. For now, here’s the one I shared on social media yesterday.
All images and content are copyrighted and may not be used or reproduced in any way without my written permission. Please contact me if you are interested in using any of my content.
I’ll feature all my Custom Pet Memorial and non-custom pet remembrance gifts, and animal portraits. Hosted by The Creatures of the Creator 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Unity Presbyterian Church, 1146 Greentree Rd., Green Tree
I’m a member of this pet loss support group at a local church. I’m so happy to be a part of this event to celebrate our animals.
I’ve been busy creating some new Custom Pet Memorial items that I’ll share after this event is over…because I’m still working on them today!
I’ll have my Custom Pet Memorial items:
Custom Pet Memorial Votives
Several styles of Custom Pet Memorial Suncatchers
Custom Pet Memorial Garden flags
Love Never Ends garden flag
Non-custom pet memorial remembrances:
Non-custom votives
Non-custom pet remembrance garden flags
Non-custom remembrance keepsakes
Love Never Ends votive
Star of Wonder Votive
Love Never Ends garden flag
A selection of Animal Sympathy Cards.
Custom Commissioned Portraits samples and Gift Certificates.
All images and content are copyrighted and may not be used or reproduced in any way without my written permission. Please contact me if you are interested in using any of my content.
Most people have purchased custom pet memorial votives soon after a pet has died whether for themselves or for others.
But often the holidays bring up the grief about a pet who died at any time during the year, or even years past. A custom memorial votive is a way to make an animal companion part of the holidays even though they are physically not present. It’s a unique customized gift that shows you remember their pet, and their loss.
I created a video about my Custom Pet Memorial Votives at the holidays. It’s a little less than 3 minutes long.
A custom pet memorial votive is also a gift for the recipient to remember a beloved animal companion at any time, and as a few customers have suggested as they ordered, sometimes they’d like to have a votive with their pet on it while they’re still around.
Using photos you provide I create a unique and lasting gift for your customer who has lost an animal companion, to share your sympathy, to help them move through grief, and have a tangible and durable remembrance.
Each votive comes with a complimentary sympathy card. I can ship it to you to give, or ship directly to your recipient with a custom note at no extra charge.
I also offer gift certificates which you can give to your client so they can work directly with me.
