D.I.Y Mailman Costume for Pets

Last weekend Charlotte and I attended a costume party, a Super Villian Convention if you will.  Charlotte was dressed as a mailman (a dog's own super villian).  This was a very easy costume.  The only thing I had to buy was a little boy's button down blue shirt from goodwill.



Here is the boy's shirt after I cute the waist and arms to fit Charlotte's body.  I rolled the sleeves to hide the unfinished hem.

 Using tan fabric I had on hand I fashioned a very simple sling bad and added a cuff from the little boy's shirt to add a decorative label to the bag.

 Then I added three envelopes and hot glued them to the bag.  They were addressed to Miss Cat Woman, Mr. Big Bad Wolf and Mr. Sharekhan from the Jungle book (all Super villians).  Then I used some puff paint to add a U.S. Mail logo to her bag.

Theres my sweet girl!  Her outfit was very simple.  It only took me an hour from start to finish.  (plus a few hours for the puff paint to dry.)

Coming up:  photos from the rest of the super villian party.  Stay tuned!

Guest Artist: Gina Hoppe

A friend of mine, Gina Hoppe, is an amazing artist and I FINALLY am getting around to featuring her on my blog.  Gina just graduated from OSU in Animal Sciences with minors in both chemistry and art.  Gina just got accepted to study veterinary sciences in Dublin, Ireland starting this fall.  So, as her friend and fellow artist, I am promoting her very talented skills and asking everyone to please check out her etsy site for original block prints and encaustic works.  Click HERE to go to her etsy page.

This is one of Gina's encaustic abtract giclee Prints

Gina dabbles in a variety of art techniques including wood blocks, lithography and encaustics.  Encaustics involve layers of melted beeswax and pigment that mix together in unique textures.  She also has a series of prints from collages that she made when she studied abroad at sea last spring in 2011.  She took inspiration from many of the places she visited including Vietnam, India and Ghana.

Please check out the artwork of a very talented woman and help support her on her future endeavors in Dublin!  Thanks for reading everyone!

Dogs in the City

I have a new favorite show on Wednesday evenings on CBS.  Its called Dogs in the City and its about people in New York City that have issues with their four legged friends.  The host, Justin Silver, helps the owners fix behavior issues with the dogs as well as with the owners.

Now I myself think I have a very well behaved dog but even I learned some great techniques on how to get Charlotte to heel more effictively and to release when I want her to drop the ball so we can continue to play fetch.

There are a lot of very adorable dogs on this show.  Definitely tune in if you have a dog or just enjoy an easy, upbeat show to watch in the evenings.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

 This is a very late posting that I should have posted back in April, but its better than never right?  The 3rd weekend in April was a gorgeous sunny day and was perfect condition to drive to Woodburn and see some tulips in full bloom.

 The Wooden Shoe tulip farm is a family owned tulip cultivator that opens their fields to the public to view thier tulips during their blooming season.  I met Amy here and we had a blast walking down the tulip rows.

Cute windmill

 I love little Dutch gnome people

 Farming is HARD work!

2nd Annual Newport Celtic Festival

 Brandy and I just returned from a day in Newport at the 2nd annual Newport Celtic Festival and Highland Games.  It was a beautiful sunny day filled with lots of Scottish festivities and drinks!  My grandpa's side of the family migrated from Scotland in the 1860's and it was very special to get in touch with my celtic roots.

 The opening ceremonies color guard

I LOVE bagpipes!

 Awe yeah, meat pies!

 It was amazing these guy's didn't drop these on their heads

 Look, we're in Scotland!

 The Sons of Malarky

 Eating fish and chips while watching some highland games

 Some bangers and mash

 Caber Toss

 Cute wooly cow

 After the games we headed to Agate Beach

There was a cement dock washed upon the beach from Japan as aftermath of the tsunami last year