Felt Christmas Doggies For Your Tree!

Here's a few Christmas items I've been adding to my Dogbarks shop!  

Isaac

Angel 

Bing 

Some day I hope I have a whole Christmas tree decorated with little felt dogs and cats! 

My Warm & Fuzzy Prezzie!!

I received these super cute fingerless gloves in the mail today from AnnieKDesigns! It's been very cold here in the mornings, and the room I sleep and work in gets down to the 50s at night and takes quite a while to warm up during the day. I can't tell you how much I appreciate these! They even match the long underwear I have – LOL! Thank you, dear friend!

If you want your own pair of very cool and cute fingerless gloves, visit her shop HERE. 

New Red, White, and Blue Art and Clothing!

I've been on the red, white, and blue kick lately and added these to my shops in the last week. 

This first one came into being as I was considering the plight of the greyhound. The good news is that only seven states still allow racing. But that is also the bad news. One day it will be just a shadow from the past. It can't come soon enough. 

Visit  http://www.grey2kusa.org/  and follow @grey2kusa on twitter for ongoing updates about  the state of the racing industry. 

This watercolor pencil work was just for fun. Kittens are just so cute, and I envisioned a little CAT-det hiding away on July 4th, taking everything in. 

Keeping with a red, white, and blue theme, I finally used this cheery polka dotted fabric to make a skirt. I love polka dots - they are always happy! Add a little bird and a few cats and it becomes triple happy!

Click on any photo to be taken to the listing in my shops. 

Valentines Day Gifts Made with Love

Still wondering what to get for that special person for Valentines Day? Don't settle for the same ole same ole. Try something totally original! Something handmade, one of a kind, no other like it on the planet! Now THAT will make them feel special! Just click on any photo to take you to the listing. Mention this blog and I will refund you 10%! 

Even gifts for kitty! 

For you see, each day I love you more
Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.
~Rosemonde Gerard


Love is a symbol of eternity.  It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end.  ~Author Unknown

Boxers Anyone??

 Who doesn't love a pair of soft flannel boxers? Custom orders always welcome for both pants and shorts and any dog of your choice! Both guys and gals available.  

Click HERE to see any of these in Dogbarks! 

Mention this blog at checkout and receive 10% off any pair or order! (refunded through paypal)

How to make a Wiener Wonderland!

I had a fun week creating  a  wiener wonderland here. I was constantly thinking about the next wonderful wiener I was going to make, whether for Halloween or Christmas. I started with some Christmas wienies.   

This is my very warn, holey pattern for the minis.

A close up of how bad it looks! I really need to make another before this totally disintegrates! The tail is about off.

These are my sophisticated stuffing tools. They were free. 

Berthold

I started with Christmas doxies. If you have a red wiener dog...

Bertram

you must also have a green. Unwritten rules of wiener creating. 

Burchess

And then because I had brown and pink felt , I made this one, which is my fave. 

All my Itty Bitties start with a "B"

The Welcoming Crew

I then added some Hallowienies. Boo....

and Batdog. Here is Batdog's description:

"Every wiener dog has large dreams...dreams of being able to look those Great Danes in the eye, of running with the grace and speed of a Greyhound, of flying to the rescue of all fellow wieners and small brothers. Every wiener dog wishes he were BATDOG! "

Now for the bigger boy. This pattern is a stubby version that I just lengthen when I cut. The pencil line is for the leg placement.

Willy

Willy was a bit time consuming as I had to sew together all the pieces (placemats in a former life) and change thread constantly. Then I gave him felt eyes to see with. No one wants to be blind - not even a Hallowiener. 

Finally, I decided to make a dachshund skirt. I have plenty of kitty skirts in The Cat Rack, but wanted to add one to Dogbarks since I sold the only one last week. This two piece pattern is also the one I use for pillows. I randomly cut out legs, tail, and ears. 

This fabric was a nice find at a thrift store. An unused bit of  yardage made of some natural blend fiber. It bled quite a lot when I washed it in hot water. But a cold water wash should be just fine now. The doxie is a wool houndstooth in black and white. Handsome little fellow! 

You can click on any picture to see them in my shops. 

Hope you all get a chance to have a Wonderful Wiener Week, too! 

New Cat and Dog Artwork with New Pens!

I have been in a drawing mood the last few days. I sold several pieces of artwork in the last week and wanted to replenish. I sold my all time absolute favorite kitty painting to a cat lover which made me happy! I almost pulled it many times, but now I am glad it has a good home. 

Full Tummy 4" x 6" Watercolor 

I have used the IDenti-Pen and Ultra Fine Sharpie for most of my art.

But I wanted something finer, so bought these two new Micron pens last Saturday. 

You can see the difference in these pictures.

The series, Cat and Spider, was done with the IDenti-Pen and watercolor pencils. 

Yummy!

To Eat or Not To Eat

Uh Oh!

*********

This was my first ink drawing with the new pens. It was going to be completely in  brown, but I didn't like it so added the black for definition and shading. And I used blue ink for the kitty's eyes. 

In a Punk

This one was going to be another complete ink drawing but looked too plain, so I used watercolor pencils, too.

Morning Visitor

I sold both of my Greyhound art pieces in my Dogbarks shop, so added this yesterday. It is a combination of the Micron pen and watercolor pencils. 

Is This What They Call A Couch Potato?

These are all ACEOs, or trading cards, 3.5" x 2.5" and are available in my shops. Just click the photos! 

I have yet to make any prints of my work. Everything is an original, signed and dated on the back. Sometimes I think I should offer them for those who want art for less money. The original ACEOs are $8-$10. Any suggestions? 

Meet Baron - my first plush German Shepherd!

A couple of days ago I started offering custom made plush dogs. You can choose a breed I have already made or one that I have yet to make! I received my first order the next day for a German Shepherd. I was pretty excited. I thought I would share what happened so you can see the process I use. Nothing Harvard would approve of, but nonetheless, successful. At least mostly. 

First I look at the dog breed. I pull up dozens of pictures on the web: live shots, drawings, silhouettes, clip art. I mostly study the live shots. The hard part about the shepherd is that almost all the photos are of a dog with his mouth open! I had to guess. I then start drawing on whatever piece of paper is available...newspaper, drawing paper, bags, magazines...anything available. I have quite a colorful collection of patterns for dogs and cats! I usually end up piecing the pattern together. This one is a combination of yellow paper and brown shipping paper. With lots of tape! This is actually the tweaked pattern. You can see how I shortened the legs by folding and taping. I'm so creative!

I thought a nice black and white fabric might be kind of cool. The buyer left fabric choice to me. So I carefully cut out the shepherd and sewed it together. I knew from the start that the ears were going to be the most difficult. Something about pointy ears always gives me trouble. As soon as I started stuffing, I realized my mistake. This is going to be a zebra! I could also tell the legs were too long. I always have to remember that fabric stretches, no matter what kind, when stuffing. This is what is left of my first attempt. Go ahead and laugh....

Pathetic dog...scrap that.

I decided flannel is good. I love flannel and have made many dogs from it. I cut again. I sewed it all with a zigzag stitch on the outside like all my dogs. Looked pretty good. I stuffed...and stuffed....and stuffed. BIG dog! Almost a whole pillow! (I use standard pillows for fill) And then.....arrrrrgh! Neck too long, legs too long, not buff enough in the chest. The tail was awesome though! Here's what's left of that one. Head is still stuffed and tail cut off. 

I hate to destuff a dog that is almost finished. I feel like I am killing it! I name them all and they become my little buddies, my fosters, if you will. Fortunately, I hadn't named this one yet. 

After fixing the pattern, I cut again. I could tell this was much better. But I still had the ear problem. I decided to go with just stitching them on at the top and hope they looked alright. I had tried to place them on the side and hand stitch them on, but they looked funny. After all of that, I finally ended up with a shepherd I approved of.

I decided he needed eyes. I don't put eyes on a lot of my dogs, but this one begged for eyes. Felt eyes and a felt  nose. And a nice country collar. 

Say  hello to Baron! If the buyer does not want him for some reason, I will put him in my shop. He will be $35.00

Here is one of my listings for a custom dog. There are two so you can see a variety of dogs. Click the photo to go to the listing in Dogbarks. I will add Baron somewhere in the group of photos.