Bark!

T minus 36 hours til I am on my way to the Emerald Isle... I couldn't be more excited! I also had a nice surprise waiting for me today when I logged into Etsy: Bark Magazine would like to feature my personalized dog notecards in their 2008 Holiday Gift guide. I'm elated! The magazine has a readership of 200,000 and I am so grateful for the exposure. Looks like it's going to be a busy holiday season!

I'm nearly all packed and just finishing my remaining Etsy orders. I'm off to the post office this evening to drop my last few orders into the mail and then I'm officially *closing shop* until October 5.

The perfect sweets for a diet

So I know I've been a little slow in posting lately but I'm going 1,000 miles an hour trying to wrap things up at work before I head out for a 2 week break. It's officially 6 days and counting until KO and I head out to Ireland and I am starting to feel the last minute travel crunch. Between work, etsy, and trying to find help for our bathroom renovation, it's been a busy few weeks. On top of it all I've recommitted to weight watchers and after two weeks I am finally through "Oh my God I'm hungry and I think I might starve to death" phase.

So while I may not be eating a lot of sweets these days, I do LOVE all of the adorable play cookies and sweets that are being baked fresh daily in shops all across Etsy. I can't wait until my niece Ainsley is old enough to host tea parties because I will definitely sign up to bring the sweets. How fun are these?

The Ultimate Party Favors from Sugar Chic Baby:


Five fortune cookies made of wool felt in a Chinese takeout box from doolittledesign:


Six felt sugar cookies from Moose and Bear:


Play time sugar cookies in a lil bakery box from nanaCompany:


Six Sugar cookie with beautiful gift box from posieandme:

The cutest dog collars...ever

Last week I mentioned these absolutely ADORABLE dog collars from Pecan Pie Puppies. Well, I ended up ordering two for my friend Mollie's yellow lab and they just arrived in the mail today - They are FABULOUS! Packaging is super cute and the collars are so well made. I can't believe the craftsmanship! I highly recommend her shop for anyone looking for a fabulous gift for your favorite canine companion.

Objects of affection

Many thanks to Lani of Objects of Affection for featuring my Funky Flowers notecards in her Wish List Wednesday post. All of the great stationery designs she's featured make me want to go write a letter... I think I'll have to settle for email in the interest of time.

Tonight I've been working on (filling orders) setting up a separate blog to document my trip to Ireland. I am going with my sister and we leave in exactly 2 weeks. Not that we're counting down the minutes or anything. We're going to try to post pictures and updates daily so everyone at home can follow along on our adventure. We arrive in Dublin on Thursday, Sept. 25th but I think the real adventure will begin when we pick up our rental car on the following Sunday. We've reserved an automatic so KO will have no excuse as to why she cannot drive. We even sprung for NeverLost from Hertz so neither of us will have an excuse for getting lost. Now if we can only figure out where we're going....

15 days and counting

I can't believe our trip to Ireland is coming up in 15 days. So much to do, so little time. We did manage to book our hotel for the first few nights in Dublin and we've rented our car - so at least we've got shelter and wheels:


Since I'm hoping for the luck of the Irish to get all of my work done before I skip town, here are a few Irish inspirations from around Etsy:

Beer soap bar from dennisanderson:


Lucky Four Leaf Clover Lariat from EmilyEJewelry:


Temple Bar Dublin - Signed Fine Art photograph from Starrybluesky:


Celtic Knot Cross Pendant - Designed by Tara Greer:

It's beginning to feel a lot like christmas

I can't believe how many requests I've been receiving for holiday cards, gift tags and other Christmas-related items. I'm going to try to get my holiday gift tags up in the shop today. Here's a sneak peek:



Black lab holiday tags - Set of 18.


Pug holiday gift tags - Set of 18.

Lots more to come over the course of the afternoon!

Oh, and one more shot of my favorite chubby in the sink:

We're getting ready to re-do our master bath and I'm sure Stitch will miss his favorite spot to chill out in the morning (we don't use that sink because it's got a leaky pipe). I know it's hard to imagine why we'd want to get rid of the faux marble seashell sinks... too bad you can't gauge from the photo that the sink & vanity are only about 28" high.

New invitations

I've been meaning to get some new invitation designs up in the shop for a while now, and today I managed to list three versions of my new dog silhouette invitations:




These can personalized with any dog silhouette and I've designed them in pink, blue and green. So cute! Now if only I had a shower to plan....

My allergies have been awful today and I've been dragging in and out of an allergic funk. I filled orders this morning, made a run for the post office, and stopped into Macy*s for a new pair of shoes. Trying to get packed and ready for the big trip in just over two weeks... I can't believe it's coming up so soon! We made our car rental reservation yesterday and have decided it's in our best interest to purchase the full insurance policy through Hertz. Something tells me we may need it!

Pug-O-Ween 2008

I am very passionate about animal rescue and always love to support rescue organizations around the country. Today I received a request to donate some items to the Pittsburgh Pug Fest's Pug-O-Ween 2008. It looks like such a fun event and I am thrilled to be a participant in this wonderful cause. From their Web site:

Pug-O-Ween 2008 will be held October 4, 2008 at South Park Fairgrounds. Join us for games, contests, and more. Proceeds benefit homeless and special needs pugs and other dogs in the Pittsburgh area.

If you're in the Pittsburgh area you should definitely check it out!

Collars for your favorite 4-legged southern belle

Checkout these ADORABLE dog collars from Pecan Pie Puppies. I love this design above - called Zinnia Seersucker. I think I *have* to buy this for my friend Mollie who lives in Myrtle Beach. Her beloved Dune will look so stylish - she's such a Southern Belle:

It will be hard to decide, though - this Hydrangea Seersucker design is totally adorable, too. Maybe I'll have to get them both. You can read more about the fabulous dog rescue work PPP does on their blog. Love it and so glad I found her shop!

New wall hanging

This weekend has been so relaxing... I now remember why I was anxious for a day off. I finally got 100% completely caught up on orders yesterday and was actually able to (gasp) sit on my couch and watch tv this morning! I was up by 8:00 and by noon we had straightened the house and made a trip to Lowe's to pick up our two new vanities for our master bath remodel. They're so beautiful and can't wait to get going on that project.

I also created a new item for my shop -- a wrap-around dachshund wall hanging. After nearly losing my mind last night looking for my stapler, I broke down and bought a new one at Target today so I could get this guy stretched on the canvas frame and done. I love it! If it doesn't sell I won't mind hanging on to it.


I kind of like the vertical hanging arrangement. So cute! I'm going to create a single panel with other breeds.... Just not sure which breed to start with. Perhaps a lab? I think I'll also have to make a cat for my office.

I can't believe my trip is coming up in just over 3 weeks. I stocked up on some travel sized toiletries at Target today and am going to make my best conscious effort to pack lightly (more so ensure room for all of my Irish purchases, than anything else).

Well I'm off to get started on the other wall hanging....