Here’s a votive I created for a customer and shipped it directly to Rosie’s family with a note from the sender in the card you see below. Below that is the recipient’s response.
Rosie’s votive with the complimentary sympathy card at her person’s home.
Both the sender and recipient permitted me to use the photo and comment between the two sisters.
Rosie’s Votive with candle.
When I designed my first custom votive for a friend using a portrait I’d painted for her, I actually cried when I lit the candle and look at the kitty’s face. Now I do that with every one I make. I consider the creation of a remembrance item an honor.
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.
For more information on votives, visit A Quick Introduction then follow the links to read about choosing a photo and ordering.
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.
Two cat figures that ended up becoming part of Mimi’s memory.
Mimi has sent me messages regularly since the day she answered the cardinal and joined her children in their next life. As loving and caring as she was in life, she continues to give me prompts and encouragement in several different ways. You never know where the messages will come from or how the visitor will appear to you. But they will. They love and care about you as they did in life and still want to be near you. Another “Little Visit” from an animal companion who’s gone on to their next life.
From my pet loss journal September 15, 2024
Thinking of Mimi, here in her favorite spot just three months before she went to spirit on August 10, 2024…
Mimi on my mat.
Just like September 9 when the wooden black cat figure had fallen on my yoga mat when I needed a reminder about my exercise, this morning a cat shadow was on my yoga mat, right in Mimi’s spot. The shadow was from the running cat figure on the tall votive holder.
The shadow of the metal cat figure on my yoga mat.
The running cat votive holder.
I saw it upside down at first, then when I walked around to see and photograph right side up I could see it was literally moving! As the breeze moved the leaves the sun shone through, the running cat silhouette changed shape accordingly and seemed to be running through the dapples.
I was recently remembering Mimi’s daily run across the yard to the deck, even last autumn. She never ceases to guide me. I was having trouble settling back down to exercises without her. I wanted to get right to my big driveway project. But I stopped and limbered up with yoga, and focused, thought I did forget to ride my exercise bike.
The running cat shadow between my hands on the yoga mat.
Above is from my pet loss journal for September 15, 2024. It was just about six weeks since I’d lost Mimi, but she was never far. Little visits from her and little signs to guide me were frequent, sometimes leaving behind a feather or leaf or other physical object. I did my best to spend time with the moment, record these things and keep the objects if I could, taking photos and video if possible to mark the time and day and look at later.
Mimi on my mat between my hands.
Cat figures and geraniums
Over Mimi’s last summer both the wooden cat figure and the red geranium became a part of Mimi’s living spirit, and then a part of her memory, just as the running cat shadow did afterward.
It’s an interesting process how we embrace that change in status for objects we associate with our precious companions once they’ve gone to their next life; I call these “attachments” and have a series of articles about my own, including this article.
The wooden cat figure
The wooden cat figure.
This little wooden cat figure came into our house with Peaches and Cream, all the way back in 2005. Their person had died and her good friend, also a friend of mine, took care of the two in the house as she sorted and organized her friend’s things. No home could be found for two 15-year-old cats who looked a little ragged after their experience. I had agreed if no home was found I would take them and they arrived with a number of cat things, as we people who live with cats tend to collect.
The cat figure was obviously handmade from that era of cat silhouette shapes for doorframes and shelves and was finished just as you see here, kind of rough, but cute. I wish I knew the story. Was it inspired by a beloved black cat? Who designed it, made it, painted it? I didn’t think to ask then and never found out.
It fell on the concrete at some point and the wood split just in front of the hips. For years I displayed it on this little table on the front porch with the two pieces just pressed against each other, seen below in a photo of nearly all my front porch welcome cats. The faux stone welcome kitty on the shutter between the front door and window is the missing one, and that one came with Mimi’s cat figure with Peaches and Cream too.
Front porch welcome kitties.
In 2020 when I cleaned up the front porch I moved it indoors to repair and it hung out on my workbench until summer 2024 when I got busy with little things around the house so it was easier for me to accommodate Mimi’s needs as she became less active.
I was never fond of the face on this kitty, the little fake smile, or the incomplete background of scribbled black paint and considered a fresh coat of solid black paint because I love solid black silhouettes, then I reconsidered. This was another person’s creative idea, either made by or made for a person who loved cats, and I’d rather leave it with whomever that was. That would carry on anothers’ memory even farther, something I think about my own work.
How the kitty figure became Mimi’s cat figure
When the glue was dry I walked around with Mimi looking for a place outside to display it. At that point I decided it should rest on the arm of Mimi’s purple rocker on the front porch where kitty could still welcome others to our home. But as I occasionally glanced out my front window from my desk I was unnerved thinking Mimi was outside sitting on the arm of the rocker—the figure is fairly large and pretty much Mimi-sized as she was then—and I had to remove it from there. I didn’t even bother taking a photo, I had to rescue her that quickly!
That’s when the cat figure became associated with Mimi in her last months. After that I referred to it as “Mimi’s cat figure” or “the cat figure” and as “she.”
I walked around with Mimi and Mimi’s cat figure a few more times but didn’t find a good place for her to balance as she needed to and be visible, so I just put her in the basket on my bike on the deck so I’d see her and keep thinking about where she should go. There she stayed through Mimi’s last days and when we put her to sleep, and my lost days following.
Mimi has something to say about this
Until September 9, the day after Pet Memorial Sunday:
Wooden cat figure on my yoga mat today!
I have no idea how she got from my bike basket to where she was, upside down, on the edge of my yoga mat—the basket was four feet off the ground and about six feet to the right, the kickstand and bike’s wheels propped in place so the bike couldn’t move on its own. Unless a squirrel gave the cat figure some assistance maybe Mimi had pushed the figure out of the basket and the figure bounced to that spot to make me get to this. And she also managed to stay glued together and not have any other breaks!
Okay, Mimi, I’ll find a place for you! I stood there holding Mimi’s cat figure, spinning slowly around, and wondering where Mimi would want to be. I balanced the figure on both the arm of Mimi’s turquoise rocker, one of her favorite places all through the years, and on the deck rail, Mimi’s other favorite place out there as she had walked the plank from one side to the other for years. The figure looked cute, easily seen, and I could see her from the kitchen, but I didn’t feel these were right.
I turned around and glanced up at the windowsill under my kitchen window, and knew that was the place. Mimi could keep watch over her territory and me, and she needed to be in a higher spot. The slot on the back of her paw and tail that was to wrap around the edge was nearly twice as high as the thickness of the shelf so she’d easily fall off and that wouldn’t do. I found convenient bottle caps that filled the space and held Mimi’s cat figure firmly on the shelf. And there she’s been since then, all the way on the end of the windowsill so I don’t risk knocking her off when I fully open the casement window.
Mimi’s cat figure watches over the deck.
The bonus of that spot was that I could see the tips of the Mimi’s ears and back right outside the kitchen window when I was at the sink.
Mimi’s cat figure on the windowsill outside.
This past November I was out in the yard near Mimi’s Favorite Scratching Tree and just happened to glance to the right back at the house. I saw Mimi’s cat figure in full morning sun watching me, and smiled, again thinking of her joyful dash across the yard and up the steps to the deck after she’d jumped down from her tree.
Mimi’s cat figure is watching out for me out in the yard.
The red geraniums
The red geranium is on Mimi’s garden chair.
Mimi never minded her bell collar which she wore from 2012 to her last day, but she was apparently particular about the color. Until her last two years she wore a harness and leash outdoors, but just in case she escaped, which she did with one harness, the collar was necessary. Plus, she learned she could summon me with it by jingling it a few times in the kitchen or wherever she was in the house and I’d come looking for her. She was “the lady in red” because she shredded every other color collar I’d gotten her, cotton and nylon, until the red one she wore for at least a decade.
Mimi models for Independence Day
Her red collar is there under the pink harness, and though the geranium looks pink it’s actually the older red one, this from 2018.
I have always kept my geraniums for years, outside in summer, indoors in winter, taking cuttings each year for new plants. Some of my main plants are over a decade old and they’ve always been shades of pink and red. They do stop producing leaves and flowers and the red one above did several years ago, but a couple years ago someone gave me a red one at the end of the summer because they didn’t want to keep it. That one immediately became Mimi’s geranium.
Mr. Max on the chairs.
And so it was that after she’d gone on to her next life I put it on the wicker chair she napped on in the garden, until frost. That’s where it sat this past summer too. It bloomed all summer and even greeted Mr. Max in August for his brief and joyful forays into the back yard.
They faded geranium blossom.
At the beginning of October what seemed to be the last bloom had faded and looking at Mewsette’s garden chair and thinking of Mimi, with Mr. Max’s recent loss, the fading bloom really made me sad. It’s the principle of the garden to accept that everything fades, fails and disappears in cycles and I’ve always loved that for the sense of constant renewal, but this year, after all the losses, it just felt like an ending. But looking a little closer I could see one tiny bud, and another, getting ready to start developing.
The new blossoms at the end of October.
The days had grown cold and we had our first frost two nights later. I knew it was coming and the geraniums were safely inside, really seeming like an ending, of the season, of those memories. But that’s not the end of warm autumn weather and I took them back outside on warm days and left them when nights were temperate. At the end of October those buds matured, two last flowers that stayed bright well into November, when they came inside for good, the red and magenta in my bedroom window upstairs.
And the baby red geraniums
I had left the cuttings in little pots outside through the summer, but decided to plant them in clay pots for indoor life over the winter. At the beginning of December the red pot of cuttings produced one bright flower, and about 10 days later another. The last withered petals of the second bloom finally fell this past week, the first week of January. As with the plant they came from, two other buds are already forming, will soon grow, swell and bloom.
So, endings for individual flowers, but the main plant continues, and the cuttings will become their own mature plants someday.
Coming together
The running cat figure has been with me since the late 90s and will continue to be out on the deck, here seen a little above and to the right of center against the brush at the end of the yard.
The running cat votive holder.
Mimi’s cat figure has found a home on that windowsill looking out over her territory and me, and I still look at the tips of her ears whenever I’m at the sink.
The red geranium herself has years left, and many other plants made from her cuttings, like the new generation blooming on the inside of the kitchen window. Here is where they all come together, Mimi’s little support structure.
The blooming red geranium cuttings are on the kitchen windowsill—inside, right behind Mimi’s cat figure is on the kitchen windowsill—outside, and looking past all three I can see the running cat figure silhouetted against the trees at the end of the yard, a trio of unrelated things, each from a different time with a different purpose, each sending me a message of love and affection from Mimi, perhaps even chosen by her to represent her spirit in this mortal world.
Mimi’s cat figure on the windowsill outside.
And now a new one
And she led me to yet another cat figure. I visited my friend Judi’s multi-family estate sale in her shop here in Carnegie at the beginning of December. I’m always guaranteed to find things I can use around the house or in my handmade gifts.
The new kitty figure.
Aside from all the other things I saw and and chose, I kept walking back and forth past a cat figure on the wall. This kitty had pumpkins around her neck, below. I’m not fond of black cats used for Halloween decorations but the pumpkins were nicely done. I’m not one to purchase these sorts of things—I’d rather make them. But this one…I felt a sense of Mimi. Judi has known me and my cats for years and knew what I was talking about when I told her how this little kitty on the wall was getting into my heart. Rather than it seeming like a gratuitous black cat silhouette used for Halloween I almost felt she was looking at me with kind of a humorous twinkle, if her painted eyes could twinkle. And she’s about the same size as Mimi.
So I did bring the kitty home.
Once again I couldn’t decide where this kitty should go. A few days later, walking up the steps onto the deck I looked at the original Mimi cat figure on the shelf and knew the blank space between the shelf and the door was waiting for this cat figure. I took the pumpkins off and put one of Mimi’s old collars on the kitty. Now both of them watch over me.
Two wooden cat figures.
I could use the pumpkins on something else entirely when the season came around.
The pumpkins that kitty wore around her neck.
Also read articles about Pet Loss and Pet Loss in the First Person, where I share my own experiences, and enjoy my self-published book of my own stories of sensing my cats’ presence with me after they’ve gone on to their next life.
Little Visits
Stories of sensing my cats’ presence after they’ve gone to their next life
This post on The Creative Cat includes the text as well as a video with my reading of the stories illustrated with photos and art.
Click the image to read and listen to Little Visits.
And a note from “The Creative Cat” where I originally published this essay, and where I write about pet loss just about every Sunday…
Thank you for following our grief journey after losing seven members of our feline family.
I hope sharing our experiences have helped you in some way, as sharing my experiences with you helps me.
You can read all the articles related to their losses by tapping one of the images here, in the side bar or in articles about pet loww. You can also read all my articles about my own losses in the category “Pet Loss in the First Person”
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 began my design ideas for suncatchers the same way I did with many of my handmade gifts, wanting to see my art on gift items I saw in stores. In the early 90s I bought a 3.25″ x 3.25″ square bevel-edge clear suncatcher with a kitten etched in the center, which I not only liked but found inspiring. I had lots of pencil and ink sketches that would work on things like this. I held that idea all these years knowing I’d want my artwork on that beveled glass somehow, someday.
That etched kitten suncatcher from the early 90s is pretty battered by now.
And like most of my memorial gift items, my suncatchers began as personal gifts for friends who’d lost their animal companions. Using the standards I’d set up to create the images on my Custom Pet Memorial Votives I was ready to make good on that suncatcher idea, beginning with the round beveled shape.
The original round Custom Pet Memorial Suncatcher
I wanted a piece of glass with a generous beveled edge that would cast rainbows when the sun shone through it the same as my little one did. Clear beveled glass pieces, preferably predrilled, were surprisingly not easy to find as many were too small for a nice-sized image and few were beveled, but I finally found a 5″ circle with 3/16″ thick glass and a deep beveled edge at least a 3/8″ wide. This glass feels substantial in your hand and the bevel is generous, the image is a good size.
I made a few for friends, then made a quantity of them for my longtime customer who owns the pet cremation business where I’ve taken my cats for the past 20 years; I manage her website, photograph urns and events and provide design and promotional services.
We host a Pet Memorial Sunday celebration each September and I make a custom gift for each person who has RSVP’d. The suncatcher idea proved to be popular right away.
5″ beveled glass suncatcher.
Planning the square Custom Pet Memorial Suncatcher
I still wanted the square shape, though, partly to see my original inspiration, and to offer an alternative shape, and because not all images fit well in a circle.
The company I buy from has 4″ squares which would seem to have less presentation space than the 5″ circle so I debated, then bought some to work with. The outside dimension is smaller but the corners allow the image to be almost as large as the circle. Below is the square, modeled by Buckwheat, whose portrait I painted years ago and whose person encouraged me to use his image.
4″ square beveled glass pet memorial suncatcher.
And working out the rectangular Custom Pet Memorial Suncatcher
I had another idea, of course…the company also carried a graceful arch-top rectangle I’d wanted to try but found they wouldn’t be carrying it after current inventory ran out.
I had been looking at their 3″ x 5″ rectangle and also debated because it’s a difficult shape to fit, but when the company suggested that shape as an alternative—all their customer service people use all their products so you get the best real advice—I decided to go with it.
The first time I offered one at the Blessing of the Animals that vertical rectangular was immediately popular and I had several orders.
The image area on this shape is 2.25″ x 4.25″. This suncatcher is modeled by Pixie, a beloved rescue kitty of a friend in rescue who’s been the recipient of just about all my new ideas; there’s a lot of loss in rescue.
Pixie, a 3″ x 5″ beveled rectangle glass suncatcher.
The rectangle and square are just as popular as the original circle.
What recipients have said:
“I have her suncatcher hanging in my kitchen window. I stand there and look at her every morning while I drink my coffee.”
Anonymous recipient, in person
I want to thank you for the very special, beautiful glass ornament suncatcher …It brought a tear to my eye that day and the day I hung it up in the sunlight. You really have a very special talent.
Anonymous recipient, in a letter
And they don’t have to be memorials
Custom suncatchers also make unique customized gifts even when they aren’t in sympathy for a loss. One of the suncatchers ordered at the Blessing of the Animals was a Fathers Day gift for a friend’s husband for a kitty who is very much alive.
A suncatcher can hang on any window, mirror or any place you want to see the image of your beloved animal companion.
Standard with each suncatcher
I use my skills as an artist in traditional media and on computer to remove backgrounds, touch up lighting and composition, and add a background color or pattern that complements the subject (see Choosing a Photo…).
A sympathy note card is also included. The one shown below is available with every suncatcher. You can visit my page of Animal Sympathy Cards to see a selection of others. If I am to ship directly to the recipient you can give me a note which I will write inside the card, otherwise I send you a blank card for your personal use.
Love Never Ends note card
The price includes shipping, whether to you, your practice or business, or drop-shipped to the recipient, within the continental US. I have rates for international shipping.
I include a care and use card with each suncatcher. This card has a link to this website.
Little extras
Adding an extra subject, a special background pattern like a favorite blanket or chair are extra, usually no more than $10 per addition. Adding a name or other brief text is optional and is included.
Suncatchers are kept in confidence
I photograph each Suncatcher I make for my records and to keep the details of what it looked like for my reference. I never use a custom pet memorial gift in any public venue, whether for display or self-promotion, without permission of both the giver and the recipient.
Order a Custom Suncatcher
Visit Suncatchers to read about all the shapes and order yours. As I mention above with the notecard, if your suncatcher is a gift for someone else I can ship it to them with a note from you.
All suncatchers range between $25.00 and $30.00 including shipping.
Adding an extra subject, a special background pattern like a favorite blanket or chair are extra, usually no more than $10 per addition.
Further customization by adding a name, dates or brief text is included in the price.
I can ship a suncatcher to your recipient with a note from you at no extra charge.
Custom suncatchers also make unique customized gifts even when they aren’t in sympathy for a loss.
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 make several non-customized memorial gifts, some intended for sympathy and remembrance, and some simply as gifts for animal lovers that can be used as remembrances.
Every day I design, make and sell many different gift items featuring my artwork and photography—that’s how the votives came to be. People have purchased the non-customized gifts when ordering a votive or other customized remembrance isn’t possible or when they want a gift to give right away.
About the image “I Will Always Walk With You”
Original photo for “I will Always Walk With You”
This particular design was based on a chance photo from a July morning in 2009 just three days after we lost Namir, and Cookie and I were out in our back yard, each doing our thing and remembering him, me racing from flower to glistening dewdrop with my camera.
They often followed or preceded me as I wandered. I happened to see my wet footprint and Cookie’s wet pawprints walking next to me on the flagstone path around my yard. Cookie and I were both missing Namir; he would have been with us on that morning, I feel he was.
Later that month I knew it had to be one of the set of sympathy cards I was designing and what text I’d use. I designed a few other remembrance items too.
About the “I Will Always Walk With You” Garden Flag
Flags are 11″ x 15″ and can be displayed outside in the garden or used indoors as a small banner. I print my flags on one side of cotton canvas duck fabric and stitch the pocket and hem. Cast iron flag stand is extra. Flags have been colorfast and resisted fraying for two years in just about all of my test yards around the country except where there’s been some wild weather. I’ve left my own out through the winter.
I was a little surprised at the popularity of this flag—I sell at least one at nearly every vendor event where I display my pet memorial gifts.
Scroll down to read about ordering a single flag or a quantity.
I make this flag in quantity because it’s also popular at my vendor events, so they can be ordered in quantity.
A single flag is $20.00 including shipping.
I can ship a single flag to your recipient with a note from you at no extra charge.
If you have an animal-related practice or business and want to order in quantity:
The first flag is $20.00, each extra flag is $10.00 each up to five with greater discounts for six. My price breakdowns are:
one = $20.00
two = $30.00
three = $40.00
six = $50.00
Order an “I Will Always Walk With You” Garden Flag
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.
This particular design was based on a chance photo from a June morning in 2009 when Cookie and Namir and I were out in our back yard, each doing our thing, they smelling and tasting and stalking, me racing from flower to glistening dewdrop with my camera. They often followed or preceded me as I wandered, and I happened to see the stepping stone at the bottom of the steps with my wet footprint and two pawprints, a faint third above them. We lost Namir a few weeks later, and when I reviewed the photos from that morning I found this one and immediately knew it had to be one of the set of sympathy cards I was designing and what text I’d use. Later I designed a few other remembrance items too.
“I Will Always Walk With You” animal sympathy card.
“I Will Always Walk With You” Pet Remembrance Gift
This remembrance is a print of my photo “I Will Always Walk With You” on a cradled wood panel, and a combination of finishes around the sides to coordinate with the image and appear like stone. A bottom panel adheres with Velcro, strong enough to hold things inside but not a tight enough fit for loose cremains like an urn.
It serves a double purpose: as a decorative item or a sort of keepsake that can hold a pet’s cremains contained in a bag along with keepsake items. In either case it can sit on a table or shelf flat or up on its bottom edge.
Without the base panel, because of the “cradles”, or wooden frame backing that forms the sides, it can also hang on the wall.
The size is 5″ x 7″ x 1.5″.
This coordinates with of one of my Animal Sympathy Cards, one of three in the dozen that are non-species-specific, so can be used for any pet with paws; in some cases those distinctive pawprints stand for animals in general.
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 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.
The forget-me-nots are blooming in my back yard and it reminds me of all the memories I have of my cats pictured with the sweet blue flowers in one way or another, in this case growing in my windowbox. The photo on this card was a very lucky capture and a treasured memory, and though it’s not in my main dozen set of sympathy cards it was a request for a custom card several times. I thought those customers had a good idea and decided to just publish it as a card so no one would need to request a custom card again.
About Sophie and the photo
Sophie was always in one of the windows when I left and when I returned, and she always managed to use the curtains to dramatic advantage. This is one of my fondest memories of her, nestled in the creamy lace with the spring-blooming forget-me-nots in the windowbox.
So each year when I transplant the forget-me-nots from the yard to the windowbox I remember Sophie and this particular beautiful moment in 2005—May 4, 2005 to be exact. It was Sophie’s year to pose in forget-me-nots and she gave me many poses from the first two weeks of May, but of all of them, this is my favorite.
Sophie especially watched me leave the house, and in the evenings I closed my curtains before I left. She liked to play around with the curtain—I would inspect the lace to see her white fur through the mesh, or she dramatically appeared from between the panels, around the edge or underneath, but she was always there with her big round eyes.
On this day the forget-me-nots in the windowbox were in full flower and in the late afternoon the warm spring sun angled into the window imparting a creamy tone to the lace. Sophie began her little game with the curtain while I was still indoors and I started photographing even then. As I walked toward the street I turned around to get a last look at her and immediately pulled my little digital point-and-shoot back out of my purse and took as many photos of her peering through the curtain at me, the warm dappled light, the flowers below.
About the card
Unlike most of my sympathy cards this card has no text on the front.
Cards are blank inside but can be customized with your message for an extra charge.
Individual cards are shipped by first class mail.
Sets of six and twelve are packed in a clear-top stationery box. Price includes shipping via Priority Mail.
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 regularly write about my personal experience of the losses of my own cats on my website The Creative Cat. I first published this post on The Creative Cat on January 5, 2026.
The strangest things, and where you find them, can be a touchstone for a flow of memories, of moments that show strength and love and bring a depth to our relationship with our animal companions though their loss is clearly imminent. Another in the series of “Attachments”, the bond we feel with everyday things that have some connection, however distant, with the life of and our relationship with an animal companion who’s gone on to their next life.
Notwithstanding the purple background, I was totally surprised by how many colors showed up in Mr. Sunshine’s eye.
My old violet fleece bathrobe has seen more than its share of times good and bad over the past 20 years or so. Yet every autumn when I slip it on for the first cold morning it’s as if I didn’t take a six-month break from it. It’s in the background of many photos with cats on my lap or hanging in the bathroom with cats on the sink or cabinet, as it was for Mr. Sunshine in the photo above from 2013. The thing is indestructible so I’m glad I like it, and also glad it’s indestructible for the memories it holds, physically and emotionally.
The first time I put it on this autumn 2025 I put my hands in the pockets out of habit and felt some little hard objects in the bottom of the right-hand pocket, the pocket I’d use if I was carrying something in my right hand and dropped whatever that was into the pocket to free up my hands. Often these things are little hardwares from some enterprising morning project, or something I found in one place that needed to go to another. I couldn’t determine what they were with my fingertips so I pulled out three of them and found they were Greenies dental treats.
My cats love the catnip flavor, and along with handing them out as regular treats with a purpose, they like them enough I also used them to test or entice appetites in the recent years of palliative care for cats. Because they would always take one the test was for how strong their appetite if they turned down a meal. If they would eat one treat or more I could just observe them presuming their inappetence was digestive, or give them some treatments for nausea which would pick up their appetite so they would resume eating. If not, I’d go to other measures, taking a temperature, checking hydration, looking for possible sources of pain.
I would have dropped a few in that pocket to take upstairs to one of the cats confined in the bathroom for observation, or overnight so they would have food available and a cozy familiar place, and so that I’d be able to check them first thing without looking for them. The treats were something they would crunch even if they had no appetite for regular food. I remembered the worry and sometimes fear associated with this circumstance: please eat the treat. Was it a bad morning? Was it one of a series of bad days that seemed to be leading to a conclusion? Or were they just a little off? So many mornings like this since 2022, who might have been the intended recipient of the treats who ended up not eating them?
Counting backward, not Mr. Max, I kept some in the studio just for him and Morty and he was never confined to the bathroom. Basil? No, the only time Basil was confined to the bathroom he managed against all odds to break out. Mimi? Her time of being in the bathroom was during summer, not the time I’d wear this bathrobe.
Mr. Sunshine’s not feeling well today.
It was Mr. Sunshine, and I felt instinctively this was true. And it was likely from his last day, March 1, 2024, when he did not come downstairs right away and I went back up with treats to see how he reacted to them. He didn’t eat them, nor any food that morning. I had dropped the treats back in the pocket after he had turned his face away from one I was offering. His temperature was slightly elevated, but he got up and came downstairs, before the chain of events leading up to his death that afternoon.
The treats remained in the pocket, forgotten, until the following autumn 2025 when I found them in there. I remember pulling them out then and looking at them in the palm of my hand, deciding to toss them in the trash because they’d surely be stale, but deciding instead to keep them for that memory of that day.
The treats are still in my pocket. They aren’t hurting anything. When my hand finds them in the bottom of the right-hand pocket I remember Mr. Sunshine, and then others, and those mornings, and days, overnights, that I carried a few to the bathroom in my pocket. I don’t remember my worry and fear or even their losses, I remember their strength, and their trust, and their determination to live each moment they could knowing I would help them do that, and the increasing depth of the bond between us as we faced this together.
In Threes
What Mr. Sunshine’s flower looks like now.
So I remembered Mr. Sunshine this morning when I went out to the garden for my yoga in the bitter cold, my hands in the pockets of the robe, fingering the treats in the right pocket. I stood for my postures in front of Mr. Sunshine’s flower, feeling very connected to him, and then each of the others, and the four siblings in groups, from the photos I worked with the day before for my “Friday Four and More” photos.
Three Birds
As I worked my warrior poses, one hand down on my shin and the other stretched up toward the sky as I turned to look at it, a trio of birds flew overhead, headed west. Immediately I thought of the varied groups of three who would nap together. While the four siblings did often gather together, a selection of three was the second most frequent nap collection, and how many sketches and photos I have of three of them together—three of them curled together on the bed was the very first sketch in my three-year series of daily sketches.
I continued my posture, returning upright with my arms outstretched, then leaning down the other way looking up at the opposite hand in the air, and saw the three birds again flying above my rooftop and past my upraised hand heading east this time. They were circling overhead and I lost count of my moves for the distraction thinking about them as the three birds passed overhead again and I nearly tipped over as I followed them, looking up and around from that angle.
I moved to my tree poses, standing in front of Mr. Sunshine’s flower and smiling, thinking of those naps of three, watching the light cold breeze move the bits of tattered nylon on the petals, then push it around a bit in one direction, then the other, wondering how much longer this flower would be able to keep spinning. I got my answer less than a minute later when a quick little gust sent the flower spinning, then slowing, then back to fluttering tatters and little movements back and forth. I’m including this video I took at the time just because, and it includes the quietness of the moment, bird sounds and breezes, but there’s no reason you need to watch the entire 1:45.
How close I feel to them in those moments. It’s interesting how the strangest of things, and where you find them, can bring on a whole review of memories.
Giuseppe, Mewsette and Mr. Sunshine were all dreaming very deeply on my desk, curled and tucked neatly together. I saw swirls, and began to visualize how I would interpret those swirls. No heavy lines, I wanted the darkness of their faces, where the swirls began, fading in swirls and marbles and fading lines to the lightness of their shapes. Somehow, speckles would be a part of it. I took a photo, below, and pondered my assignment.
Also read articles about Pet Loss and Pet Loss in the First Person, where I share my own experiences, and enjoy my self-published book of my own stories of sensing my cats’ presence with me after they’ve gone on to their next life.
Little Visits
Stories of sensing my cats’ presence after they’ve gone to their next life
This post on The Creative Cat includes the text as well as a video with my reading of the stories illustrated with photos and art.
Click the image to read and listen to Little Visits.
And a note from “The Creative Cat” where I originally published this essay, and where I write about pet loss just about every Sunday…
Thank you for following our grief journey after losing seven members of our feline family.
I hope sharing our experiences have helped you in some way, as sharing my experiences with you helps me.
You can read all the articles related to their losses by tapping one of the images here, in the side bar or in articles about pet loww. You can also read all my articles about my own losses in the category “Pet Loss in the First Person”
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.
Some customers asked for a less fragile item, and for those I use a 6″ clear acrylic circle with a slightly rounded edge. The extra inch of space, plus the lack of a bevel, allows far more space for display and works well for multiple subjects, larger dogs, and even a full cat, not just the face.
The acrylic is lighter than the glass suncatchers too so isn’t likely to weigh down the suction-cup holder you might use on a window.
The acrylic costs less than glass, and shipping is a little less because it’s lighter. You don’t get that rainbow refraction from the bevel on the glass suncatcher but it’s a little less expensive all around, and sometimes that’s what counts.
Henry
Henry was a beloved community cat who everyone knew. He did have an “owner” but that family preferred he stayed outdoors. That gave Henry even more time to sit on a porch and look pitiful until someone came out with a dish of food and loads of affection.
When he died a friend commissioned me to paint his portrait for her and also wanted a second one for her friend, another of Henry’s big fans. This suncatcher features the pastel portrait, and I also sketched a charcoal portrait of the same pose.
Henry’s two portraits.
Shipping to your recipient
And as always if you’re sending this suncatcher to a friend, I can ship it to that person.
Custom Pet Memorial Suncatchers as Thoughtful Holiday Gifts
Custom Suncatchers in Glass or Acrylic
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.
What recipients have said:
“I have her suncatcher hanging in my kitchen window. I stand there and look at her every morning while I drink my coffee.”
Anonymous recipient, in person
I want to thank you for the very special, beautiful glass ornament suncatcher …It brought a tear to my eye that day and the day I hung it up in the sunlight. You really have a very special talent.
Anonymous recipient, in a letter
Ancient History
I began my design ideas for suncatchers the same way I did with many of my handmade gifts, wanting to see my art on gift items I saw in stores. In the early 90s I bought a 3.25″ x 3.25″ square bevel-edge clear suncatcher with a kitten etched in the center, which I not only liked but found inspiring. I had lots of pencil and ink sketches that would work on things like this. I held that idea all these years knowing I’d want my artwork on that beveled glass somehow, someday.
That etched kitten suncatcher from the early 90s is pretty battered by now.
And like most of my memorial gift items, my suncatchers began as personal gifts for friends who’d lost their animal companions. Using the standards I’d set up to create the images on my Custom Pet Memorial Votives I was ready to make good on that suncatcher idea.
Scroll down to read through information about each suncatcher
(I do seem to have a lot of gab around each of the products. I’m including customer feedback and results and experiences with customers at my vendor events and from sales in general to help you decide, especially if you are ordering a gift for someone else.)
I began with thick 5″ glass circles with a deep beveled edge, your animal companion’s image in the center, so that sun could shine through the bevel and refract light into rainbows.
Tuna, a 5″ beveled glass suncatcher.
Some customers asked for a less fragile item, and for those I use a 6″ clear acrylic circle with a slightly rounded edge. The extra inch of space, plus the lack of a bevel, allows more space for display and works well for multiple subjects, larger dogs, and even a full cat, not just the face. The acrylic costs less than glass, and shipping is a little less because it’s lighter, so it’s a little less expensive too.
Henry, a 6″ acrylic suncatcher.
I still wanted the square shape, though, partly to see my original idea, and to offer an alternative shape, and because not all images fit well in a circle.
The company I buy from has 4″ squares which would seem to have less presentation space than the 5″ circle so I debated, then bought some to work with. The outside dimension is smaller but the corners allow the image to be almost as large as the circle. Below is the square, modeled by Buckwheat, whose portrait I painted years ago and whose person encouraged me to use his image.
4″ square beveled glass pet memorial suncatcher.
I had another idea, of course…the company also carried a graceful arch-top rectangle I’d wanted to try but found they wouldn’t be carrying it after current inventory ran out.
I had been looking at their 3″ x 5″ rectangle and also debated because it’s a difficult shape to fit, but when the company suggested that shape as an alternative—all their customer service people use all their products so you get the best real advice—I decided to go with it.
The first time I offered one at the Blessing of the Animals that vertical rectangle was an instant hit and I had several orders. At one of my vendor events this summer a mother ordered two for her daughter to depict her daughter’s beloved hounds, growing older now, and both in upright sitting positions. Both dogs looked marvelous with the image focusing entirely on their tall, graceful sitting posture.
The image area on this shape is 2.25″ x 4.25″. This suncatcher is modeled by Pixie, a beloved rescue kitty of a friend in rescue who’s been the recipient of just about all my new ideas; there’s a lot of loss in rescue.
Pixie, a 3″ x 5″ beveled rectangle glass suncatcher.
Thoughtful Holiday Gifts
The rectangle and square are just as popular as the original circle and all make thoughtful holiday gifts whether as a memorial or for the person who loves to see their pet on everything.
Standard with each suncatcher
I use my skills as an artist in traditional media and on computer to remove backgrounds, touch up lighting and composition, and add a background color or pattern that complements the subject (see Choosing a Photo…).
A sympathy card is also included. The one shown below is available with every suncatcher. You can visit my page of Animal Sympathy Cards to see a selection of others. If I am to ship directly to the recipient you can give me a note which I will write inside the card.
Love Never Ends note card
The price includes shipping, whether to you or your recipient, or if you are an animal professional to your practice or drop-shipped to your client, within the continental US. I have rates for international shipping.
I include a care and use card with each suncatcher. This card has a link to this website.
Little extras
Adding an extra subject, a special background pattern like a favorite blanket or chair are extra, usually no more than $10 per addition. Adding a name or other brief text is optional and is included.
Suncatchers are kept in confidence
I photograph each Suncatcher I make for my records and to keep the details of what it looked like for my reference. I never use a custom memorial item in any public venue, whether for display or self-promotion, without permission of both the giver and the recipient.
Order a Custom Suncatcher
Visit Suncatchers to order your thoughtful holiday gifts. As I mention above with the notecard, if your suncatcher is a gift for someone else I can ship it to them with a note from you.
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.
