Italian miniature food and mosaic artist Cristina Minischetti believes she is one of the luckiest women alive.

"I love making miniatures and I'm so lucky to do this for a living. Waking up in the morning and thinking about making something I love is great," she said.

The former computer programmer and teacher made the switch to full-time miniature artist in 2001 as Minicris and she hasn't looked back.

"I've been making mini food in one-twelfth scale for 10 years and added a line of mini mosaics nine months ago. I became interested in miniatures when I saw them on the net in 1997 and immediately I was hooked. I had never seen miniatures before, in Italy they were unknown at that time," she explained.

And with her interest came that of her family. Cristina doesn't know how she could create without them.

"My family has always been very supportive of my art. My husband helps me with my website and gives me advice when I have to paint any details on my items. He is my critic too, and this helps a lot," she added.

Her customers are certainly happy with the results.

"My prices start at $10 for a simple food item and go as high as $5,000 for a complex mosaic - these include up to 7,000 tiny tiles less than 1 mm square. I sell mainly at shows. At the moment I'm a dealer at the Chicago International, Philadelphia Miniaturia and the Good Sam Show. I also have my own website at www.minicris.com ," she said.

Selling her pieces on the show circuit hasn't been without its challenges.

"Some years ago I went to New York for the IGMA Show and when I arrived my luggage was not there! I always have my miniatures in my hand luggage so I was able to do the show, but all the items for the display were in the lost luggage.

"So I bought what I could find from Office Depot and set up the table even if it was not a nice display. I was so upset with the airline that I wrote a notice and displayed it on the table: 'I apologize for the poor display, it's a gift from British Airways.' Everybody walking in front of my table read the notice and laughed.

In addition to CDHM, she is a member of the SmallStuff group and an IGMA Fellow. She is also preparing for her fourth year teaching at the IGMA Guild School in Castine, Maine, USA.

"For my mini food I find inspiration from everyday food plus I have many cooking magazines and books and often I refer to them or I search pictures on the net. Being Italian I make mainly Italian food. For the mosaics I love looking at the ancient Roman ones, so I buy every book I can find with nice mosaics pictures." said Cristina.

"I'm always in trouble when I have to make food arrangements, for example when I put food on a table. Mine are always too neat, I try to keep things more "cluttered" but the end result never pleases me," she sighed.

Explore Cristina Minischetti's Foods, Mosasics and Wines.

Explore the other Food Artisan Galleries.