On my first installation day, I rented a truck to take the large paper sculpture items for my “Charming Victorian Country Garden Retreat” installation to the Mansion at Strathmore. On the second day, it was time to take the critters to the mansion.

Because my paper sculpture animals are more fragile than many of the other pieces going into my large-scale installation, I wanted to take them separately and not risk them being jostled around too much in the back of the truck.

To pack up these cute furry, handmade, hand-sculpted, critters, I needed to figure out a way to pack them safely without altering their appearance — such as the cute little nose on the bunny rabbit or the fluffy tail on the squirrel.

It seemed like the best way to pack up these cuties was to make a little nest for them to sit in. Using acid-free tissue paper, I carefully made them nests. I didn’t want the whiskers on the cats to become damaged, so I let their little faces stick out of the boxes just like they are sitting in a pet carrier. Well, like the most well-behaved cat ever sitting in a pet carrier.

They looked so cute all wrapped up in their boxes and packed up inside my car – all ready to travel to The Mansion at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD for installation day No. 2!