Friends at the End of the Day

I love needle felting beaches for dogs to run on, even if the dogs are only in my mind's eye.  It was time to make another beach...

I was inspired by two images, one of a pink sunset on a beach and one of two dogs sitting on a cliff.  I thought to combine the two and place the sweet dogs on the lovely beach... 

The pinks in the sky are a blend of 3 colors.

First I completed the beach, here it is:

I cut out the dogs from the picture I liked in a few different sizes and picked the one that fitted the best:

Then I cut the dogs out of prefelt (from Fibrecraft, lovely stuff to work with) and tacked them in place.  

I felt that the black dog was too harsh and looked like a silhouette so I was inspired by my sweet Russel to give him some white markings.  This also made his face easier to see.  Finally, I used a black bead to add a little glint to his eye.  Charming!  

The shadows made it look more finished, but they were a little short so I lengthened them...

These two have enjoyed the perfect day at the beach and are watching the last of the sunset, good friends and good times.  I like their story.  

Five minutes

I recently exchanged emails with needle felting artist Marie Jones and when I commented that kits help me get over "artist block", she shared some great advice.  She wrote:

 "A wonderful artist told me to create something every day even when I don't feel like doing it- nothing complicated, even if it's just a five minute doodle. It is definitely a pressure free way of getting past the creative block."

Since she shared this with me, I have aimed to needle felt for at least 5 minutes every day even if it's just before going to bed.  It's very helpful that I have a coo-coo clock in the studio so I have to enter the room twice a day to wind it!  And so in the late evening I take at minimum five minutes to poke.  Five minutes.

The result?  Instead of being an aside that I rarely get around to, now whatever I'm working on is always in my peripheral vision, it's not forgotten.  It's exciting to see progress even in tiny increments and my fingers twitch to pick up and continue the work.  The studio is an active place, not stagnant.  In my mind, the lights are never turned off.  

(Since then, I made this snowman!  The core is cotton and polyfil, the "snow" is from Fibrecraft.) 

To focus for even 5 minutes seems to wake up that part of the brain so it doesn't go dormant.

(I also made Arrow; he stands 5 1/2 inches tall and is my largest dog so far.  Wired so he's poseable, he was a lot of fun to make!  I wasn't concerned about his breeding, but I'd guess he's a German Shepherd mix.)

I invite you to give it a try.  If it's something that's important to you, find the time.  Start with 5 minutes.

Thank you, Marie!

  (And if you haven't seen her work, check out https://mariejonesfibre.art/ !)

Dog Days of Hallowe'en

So here's a funny story and I imagine this was a unique experience, resulting from having a dog, a bed and breakfast and two animatronic Hallowe'en skelly dogs in your kitchen.  Earlier this month we went to Guelph's Home Depot and adopted two skeleton dogs, one that howls and one that barks and makes some pretty nasty noises.  Unloading the car, I set the two dogs on the kitchen table and Mom went off to do more errands while I waited for guests to arrive and check-in.  I of course played with my new pups (which Willow didn't exactly like) and was testing their sound activation... when the doorbell rang.  Oops!  This, of course, set off Willow who dutifully announced an arrival which, of course, set off the two mechanical dogs!  They work just fine, thank you.  So I had three barking, snarling and howling dogs to deal with, and needed to get to the door pronto!  Where to turn first?!  The on/off switch for the dogs of course is in their mouths, on the palate behind their snapping jaws.  So I scooted Willow into the bedroom before gingerly inserting my fingers into one dog's mouth turning it off and hurried out to get the door.  
  I was grinning ear-to-ear and was probably quite red when I greeted our guests, and they asked about the commotion in the house.  I had to laugh as I told them, no, we only have one dog and no she's not making all that horrible noise all by herself.  
          

For a Love Like No Other

Dogs! This month at the public library in Aboyne you can see this display celebrating our canine companions.  It is Dog Bite Prevention Month but more importantly I wanted to share the informative posters I found online and the images that encourage adopting from shelters and rescues.

Of course the library's assortment of books helped bring the display to life, along with lots of "props" from home (with Willow's permission, of course!).  

I particularly wanted to share the Dogs in Need of Space poster as so many dog walkers don't seem to understand that there are dogs that don't associate well with other dogs.  That's okay, they just need some space and the DINOS poster explains this very well. 













For Dog Bite Prevention Month, this poster is a great reminder that children and dogs don't always mix well!  Never leave a young child alone with a dog, even your own. 

And here's How NOT to Greet a Dog, with fun little cartoons pointing out how terrifying meeting a human can be!  

Finally, under the table is Fauler, with a poster that informs children that those woofs and growls, along with other body language, are the dog's way of telling you to back off and stop being so darn scary!

Please click on the images below to read the posters' text:

You can read more about DINOS by clicking here.

These two posters are from Jessica Dolce's sites https://notesfromadogwalker.com/ and https://dogsinneedofspace.com/posters/

While these two are by artist Lili Chin and you can see more of her work by clicking here.

And finally this poster is from http://www.dogingtonpost.com/

Tally Ho 2015

Our Horse and Hound Parade took place on October 4th on an overcast Sunday, but that only made it better for taking photos.  Here's a good little write-up in our local paper, the Elora/Fergus News Express.

The parade started at the old, empty Elora Mill where the people could interact with the horses, riders and all the magnificent hounds.

And they made a grand spectacle coming down Geddes Street.  Don't they look striking?  And our house is almost in this photo:  do you see at the top of the hill a white sign and a grey car with a bit of a tilt?  Our house is right there, beside the grey car.  

Of course, you can't have an event like this without the essential poop patrol (the good boys of our local Home Hardware).  Folks just aren't used to the horse poop any more, when of course back in the day horses were the mode of transportation.

For me, it's all about the hounds, how well behaved they are and how they move as a pack.  They say the horses and hounds still run after coyotes.

Bear in a Fox Hole!

Our Fox Hole is coming to life!  Our fourth room, which we thought we'd only have ready for April, is coming together quicker than expected as we're finding solutions to renovation issues and our super-extraordinaire handyman Tim Anderson has done his magic.  I have to give a shout-out to HomeSense in Guelph for having stuff we didn't even know we were looking for!

And all our hard work and good fortune came together this past weekend as we welcomed our first four-footed guest:  Bear!

Bear is a terrier mix rescued off the streets of Los Angeles who loves her two mommies Erin and Jasmine.  The trio enjoyed our Bed and Breakfast for a long weekend and Bear was just the perfect little lady.

















If all our 4-footed guests are this awesome, wow!     Thank you, Bear, for such a great first experience!  










Our Fox Hole is going to be as dog-friendly as we can make it.  Take a look at this great dogbone metal tray which holds the dish-washer safe metal water and food dishes from Barkley & Evans!  

And there's the perfect machine washable non-skid pet mat from Petrageous Designs!  

And what a fortunate find!  The white doggy station shelf with leash hooks and a shelf for poop bags is just perfect, very handy!

But what does a dog really care about?  Treats!  And here they are:

Dollarama supplied these great glass miniature candy jars for doggy treats and I created a wee "menu" so you can read where the treats came from and even the websites for ingredients, where to purchase, etc...!

  We hope to have many canine guests as sweet as Bear and are just grinning with pride after reading the lovely TripAdvisor review Erin wrote for us!  Thank you, Erin!  

Seize the day!

Summer vacations are becoming more and more important as I grow older.  Perhaps it's because of the perception of time, once they were endless, now they are far too short and fleeting.  Once, everything seemed eternal, now end-times are approaching and each day shines with a value and brilliance totally unappreciated during the monotony of work.  Here, then, is how to seize the last days of Summer as demonstrated by Willow and Merlin on the beach near Bayfield.  Enjoy!    

Chase away the clouds

 

So, what do you do when someone isn't well and you want to make them feel better?  Me, I bake.  These cookies are going to be mailed tomorrow to my sister's 12 year old pup who quite probably has cancer...  Enjoy them, Mocha, and there's nothing like a wagging tail to chase away any nasty thoughts and cruel cancer cells!  BE WELL!!! 

(That's my Willow, of course I saved a few for her.)

Eat shit! Please?

Ask a Hallowe'ener to make cupcakes and what do you get:  What Doggies Doo-Doo!

These cupcakes were created for the 2013 National Cupcake Day on February 25th to raise money for the SPCA.  They are chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips and chocolate ganache centers, smothered under a cream cheese frosting of "grass" and topped each with a doggie doo-doo... because that's life!  Made with Camino fair trade cocoa powder, to make them even nicer!  I'm selling them at work for $2.00 a piece, all of which goes to the SPCA.

So, are they neat?  Gross?  I've entered them on the Facebook contest so please check out all the entries and vote for your favorite! (You can only vote once.) Can you spot mine?  I'm hoping they're the most original!!! Go to the contest, sort by recently added and please vote!

My “bakery” is http://support.ontariospca.ca/site/TR/Events/Cupcake13?px=1094257&pg=personal&fr_id=1120 ; if you can, please donate to support the animals at my local shelter!

Cupcakes and pins

Here's to an awesome New Year!  The great thing about having another New Year celebration is that you can re-start if you need to! 

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I spent the day shovelling snow and then baking oatmeal/almond/raspberry muffins and part of what I'm going to use to make my Baking Competition entry for National Cupcake Day!  I'm helping out so if you'd like to help my local animal shelter please donate through my bakery.

If you live near me and would like a cupcake, please let me know and I'll put one or two aside for you and I'll send you pictures and details of the goodies I've made.

 

 

The rest of the day I spent on pinterest.com setting up a pin board for myself, using the book Pinterest Power by Jason Miles and Karen Lacey as a guide.  I've read that pinterest is an incredibly effective way to share your art so I thought to give it a try.  This is my site so far:  http://pinterest.com/clawscratches/  If you have any suggestions, please let me know and if you're on pinterest I'd love to see your site so repin something of mine so I can find you!



Be inspired!!!

Awesome dog!  Awesome human! What a pair and what an inspiring video!  Um, no, Willow and I are NOwhere near anything like this but I'm inspired!  Thank you, Dodo, for finding and sharing this!

Phoenix rising

Change.org|Free Online Petitions

Have you heard about Phoenix?  On October 29th, 2012, two older teen boys strung up a 16 week old Jack Russell puppy, doused him in lighter fluid and set him on fire.  A woman saw the burning pup and called police and rescuers have been able to help Phoenix as he fights to recover from burns to 30% of his body, a leg infection and other issues.  Yes, his ear tips are burned off.
 

 

Please visit the link above and consider signing the petition to demand the highest possible punishment for the two who tortured this dog.

Then also visit the petition site to demand that Phoenix's Law creates stronger penalties for animal abuse:

 http://www.thepetitionsite.com/686/536/489/phoenix-law/

 

 Maybe something good will come out of this poor animal's incredible suffering:  maybe we can stop this from happening as often as it does. 

  Please don't be a bystander:  speak out!

 

So sad to contemplate...

The actions that led to the Titanic's sinking claimed not only human lives but also those of innocent animals. A number of first and second class passengers had their dogs with them, and some were bringing livestock along, namely poultry.

One account I read stated that there were so many dogs aboard, a dog show was planned for April 15th.
("Story of the Titanic", with Dr. Eric Kentley as Consultant and Steve Noon as illustrator) There was also at least one cat.

"Very few of Titanic's animals survived the ship's sinking. Three of the dogs were taken aboard lifeboats by their owners. Margaret Hays' Pomeranian got away safely in Lifeboat 7 and lived until 1919, while Elizabeth Rothschild refused to board Lifeboat 6 unless her dog was allowed to come too. (Her husband was left on board and died.) Henry and Myra Harker brought their Pekingese aboard Lifeboat 3 but Helen Bishop had to abandon Frou-Frou in her cabin, much to their mutual distress. The dog made an unsuccessful bid to stop her by holding on to her dress with his teeth until the seam tore. Afterwards Bishop spoke of her sorrow: "The loss of my little dog hurt me very much. I will never forget how he dragged on my clothes. He so wanted to accompany me."

None of the other animals survived. At some point during the sinking someone decided to free the dogs from their kennels, leading to the surreal sight of a pack of excited dogs racing up and down the slanting deck as the ship went down. One female passenger is said to have refused to be parted from her dog and chose to stay aboard. Several days later, as the SS Bremen passed through an area still strewn with debris and bodies floating in the water, passengers saw the body of a woman tightly holding a large "shaggy dog" in her arms. Robert Daniel's bulldog Gamin de Pycombe was last seen in the water swimming for his life after the ship went down."

And let us not forget the rats! "Finally, like any other ship of the time, Titanic had a substantial population of rats. One was seen running across the Third Class Dining Room on the evening of the sinking, to the shock and amazement of the diners. Some of the women who saw it burst into tears, while men tried to capture the rat, but failed."

Quoted sections are from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_aboard_the_RMS_Titanic

Why dogs aren't allowed in cemeteries

I have a cake in the Kraft "Halloween Centre" gallery! Go to http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/community/gallery.aspx?plckGalleryID=c5adadb0-af9c-4a39-a972-2f835af5903d to see the gallery or directly to:
http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/community/photo.aspx?plckPhotoID=30144f37-7de2-4d03-8968-98b1c8086781&plckGalleryID=c5adadb0-af9c-4a39-a972-2f835af5903d If you want more details on how to recreate this cake, just email me.


I hope you're having fun with your Hallowe'en preparations. Here's a picture of my conjoined twins and partially eaten gingerbread men!
I'm so happy I found these cookie cutters!