Bottle Tree Envy

I'm so excited to present to my friends, my family, my fellow bloggers, and Studio Thursday clients. . . . .drum roll PLEASE. .....MY BOTTLE TREE!!!!!!! My dear friend, Ellen, gave me my bottle tree for my birthday back in December. My dear husband, Patrick, put it in the frozen ground at Christmas. And there it sat for too many weeks before I finally was inspired by the sunshine to dig out all of my favorite colored bottles from college. . .and adorn my tree. I think I have every color represented.. .so, there should be no evil spirits entering my kitchen door!!!

A Little Bit of Art and A Whole Lot of Puppies!!!

Lots of love going on around here!! Love in the studio and love in the house. . .a lot of dogs being saved and little bit of art being made. . .it's all good, though!!!! I've got a new project starting that I'm uber excited about!!!! It's called BeeBeez. . . .and it stands for button bracelets. I love, love, love, buttons...they are just so much fun to look at and collect, but it turns out that they are even more fun to make!!!! So, I started thinking. . .wouldn't it be cool to make a fun accessory for kids and teens (and me) where they can show off their collection of buttons in a way other than cramming them on their backpacks? And wouldn't it be cool if they could express what they love, feel passion for, and just find plain silly? And wouldn't it be even cooler if they could swap and trade them just for funsies? So. . .I came up with BeeBeez...making buttons that celebrate anything and everything and fabric cuff bracelets made of scraps to wear them on! The picture is my first prototype. . .a product of an idea at 2 in the morning that I just had to do. . .but I am making great progress with the final product. And a big shout out to Ellen who has discovered the button maker inside of her.....I couldn't be doing this without her....and she has already raised so much money for the rescue with the buttons she has made and sold!!

With my passion for animals one of my favorite things to work on in the studio is animal art. . .being in a bit of slump I thought today I would just turn my head to everything else and take 20 minutes for a quick pup painting. . ..

Ellen has also been venturing with me to rescue the dogs of late!!! We've brought back so many precious babies, many of them already in their forever homes and a few still waiting!!!!

Gabriella is a sweetheart of a little girl who was a big matted mess that was itching terribly and quite uncomfortable for her first few days with us. . .but now she is a comfy sweet little shit-zu mix that is waiting for the perfect forever family for her to live out her golden years with.

Ariel (now Lieve) was a deaf dalmatian puppy that found herself scared and alone at the shelter. Not anymore. . .after hanging with us for a few days and making big buddies with Finn, Lieve has gone to live with her new dad who thinks she is the greatest thing since the Beatles. . .cause it's Valentines and all you need is Love!!!!Wally, or better known at one point and time as the cowardly lion, was once a mess of a cocker spaniel, now....after having several pounds of matted fur shaved off of him, he looks more like a naked mole rat...but I won't show you that picture!!Gilbert, Gilbert, Gilbert (now Frisco). . .what a guy....this little cocker has enough energy to power a locomotive. . .good thing his forever family is up for the challenge!!

Precious Petunia (now Uno) slept the whole way back on Ellen's shoulder. . .poor thing was spayed just before transport, so we thought it was just because she was so groggy. . .turns out, according to her new family, she is just one laid back sweet lovin' Boston Terrier!

We've made a new addition to our family as well. . .I'd like to introduce Nana....actually I like to call her Peanut Butter and Ba"nana". . ..Nana is a 2 year old Newfoundland that we were fostering for another rescue group and well, Newfies have been Patrick's dream dog for as long I have known him, so after she spent two weeks with us and we discovered that she was absolutely as amazing as the breed is known to be. . .we adopted her!!!!

Nana was an owner surrender and when she was saved by Big Fluffy Dog Rescue....she was quite a physical mess, covered in mud and matted to the skin. When I first met her at the vet she looked like this....

Now, after a good bath and grooming. . .she is a beautiful girl that doesn't seemed to be phased at all over the fact that she doesn't have a gorgeous Newfie coat....

Boston Terrier Gets a Name and Studio Thursday Clients Win Big!!!!!!

This precious girl is stuck in a high kill shelter and waiting for us to rescue her. . .she didn't even have a name. . .just a number...so, I sent out an email announcing a contest for the first creative name to be emailed back....the winner would receive a $25 gift card to the studio. Well, I should have known that my customers would rally not just for the gift card, but for the sake of the Boston Terrier as well!!!! Everyone responded so quickly and with so many great ideas that I couldn't just declare one winner. . ..so I am announcing THREE winners!!!

FIRST TO RESPOND: Cara Finger

MOST CREATIVE: Claudia Pullen with "Valentina" because it's February and she is looking for LOVE!!!!

MY FAVORITE: Ingrid Derrickson with "Petunia". . .I just love it...sounds sweet and southern!

Snow Days in Middle Tennessee

It doesn't happen often, but every now again we get a delicious treat in Middle Tennessee and everyone just stops what they are doing and absorbs it for the day or two that it sticks around. When you say snow around here we get excited and run to the grocery store to buy enough food to feed our families for 2 weeks. . .and yet, we eat it all in 2 days. . .something about snow just makes us hungry!!!!! We got six inches of snow and 2 inches of ice! The dogs, as heavy as they are, just walked right on top of it. . .couldn't even break through. . .I was a nervous wreck that someone was going to tear an ACL. . .but all is well.

Somehow I couldn't stop laughing at the dogs and never got pics of the house, it looks so amazing in the snow. ..but I did see these beautiful berries...awww.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Ringing in the New Year with a couple of new rescues!!!!!! I hope so much that this new year brings peace to so many who have found themselves in desperate situations, losing their jobs, their homes, and having to leave their pets behind as they trudge forward to start from scratch. So many animals are being left behind, putting shelters and rescues way over maximum capacity. . ..here are two guys that we got on New Year's Eve. . .Here is to KNOWING that their 2010 will be a new beginning!

Meet Scamp. . .a young (2-3) year old, terrier/pek/maybe a little something else, mix. OH MY OH MY. ...what personality this little guy has!!!!! He camped out with my mom last night and she reports that he has wonderful house manners, completely potty trained, LOVES toys (shakes them to death), plays well with other dogs, gets along with cats and kittens, and is TOTALLY accustomed to sleeping in the bed with his people. For all of Scamp's energy...he is a complete and total love bug, too!!!!

And bless this guy's heart. . ..Riley. ..an 8 year old English Cocker Spaniel, was left behind when his family moved. The realtor contacted me to see if there was anything we could do. He was already at the shelter where they could not even put him up for adoption because he did not meet their "criteria" during this serious crunch time. Due to his age and a really bad ear infection (totally treatable). . .he was deemed "unadoptable". The volunteers at the shelter were so thankful that a rescue came in to save Riley because he is the sweetest boy you will ever meet. I was panicked at how I was going to get him and what I would do with him temporarily, so I sent out a request on FB to see if anyone would be willing to bring him into their home for a long weekend. . .and well, this is how blessed I am...Raquel, an old friend that I haven't seen in years, immediately responded and said she would be happy to get him and keep him for the weekend. Little did she know that when she would pick him up he would be covered in poo from the shelter. . .but, she made a call to a friend (remember, this is all happening late on New Years Eve) who was a groomer who happily agreed to clean him up for her. . .see. . .it truly does take just a a couple of "little things" to make one big thing happen. So, on Monday, Riley will head to the vet to have his ears taken care of then come back this way and await his new forever family. Riley is housebroken, will be fully vetted, has great energy and great love to give.

All I Want For Christmas

Meet the Sawyer family who were so generous to open their hearts and home to both Reese and Rachel!






All I want for Christmas I got yesterday. . . .officially every Snooty Giggles Rescue Dog is in it's forever home for the holidays!!!!!!!!! Well, with the exception of Giles, who is feeling much better and has found the glory of a fireplace here at our home, so for now. . .he is where he should be.

So. . .since my doggie wishes came true with a little help from Santa. . .here are the next things on my list:

1. Warm Socks. . .seriously, I think I was the only child that truly enjoyed opening up a box of new socks on Christmas morning and I still love it!!!


2. A New Garbage Can for the Studio....for the life of me I cannot find the dang thing. . .where in the world would a large paint covered garbage can have disappeared to?


3. Lens Covers for my camera. . ..someone should make these disposable because apparently I think they are anyway and then I wouldn't feel so guilty.


4. A Case of Lysol with Bleach Spray Cleaner (the green bottle). . .enough said.





Hmmmm.....looking at that....I'm not a very exciting person, huh? But. . ..easy to please if my husband ever bothered to read my BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

December Days

Marching homeless dogs in the Liepers Fork Christmas Parade. . .this was all kinds of down home fun!!!!!!

My oh my. . . .December has brought with it all the craziness of the holidays and just a little bit more!!!! Nash, my oldest turned 17!!! Oh man. . .and with him on his new adventure to finish high school a year early so that he can start college in the fall "at sea". . .it has really made me sad. . .thinking that next year he won't be home for Thanksgiving...he won't be home for his 18th birthday....uggghhhh. Why is it that when something is so exciting for our children, we can't help but feel a selfish tug at our heart? Sometimes I feel like I already miss him.

Then. . .the day after Nash's birthday. . .I turned 39!!!!! The last year of my thirties. . . .I can't decide exactly how to embrace this year....with fear or free will. I keep thinking, how will I dress a year from now, when I'm 40 and probably too old for leggings and cowboy boots?....what will I do with my hair....will I be way past a pony tail? I then I wonder....what does it say about me that these are things I fear with my 40's? I think I have severe Peter Pan syndrome!!!!!

At the shelter pulling dogs ready for the journey "home".

AND THEN. . . .to make it all go away. . ..we rescued dogs. . ..that will take your mind off of anything!!!! A trip to Bowling Green in the cold rain to bring back some pooches that couldn't wait to get to a forever home. . .ahhhhhhhh... .now I am at peace again. Because these dogs. ..honestly, they could care less about what I'm wearing or how my hair looks. . .they are just so blatantly happy to have been saved I could be in a clown costume and they would never utter a negative word!!!!

Sheila was a bit afraid of being in the crate for the ride back.

The trips home are always interesting. . .this time Michele made it with me, always nice to have a buddy along. You never know who is going to be okay in a crate. . .who is going to cry....who is going to get car sick. ..or who thinks they should be driving down I-65 instead of you!!!! Luckily, no one got sick and most were content to just hang in their crates and sleep through the journey...except Oscar. Oscar is an amazing Pomeranian who Michele described as "entitled". I'm not sure how this guy ended up homeless because he had obviously been spoiled and well taken care of. . .his manners were impeccable, his heart huge. . .his car etiquette had been serioulsy entertained before as he was quite certain that A. We had made a huge mistake in crating him because B. His steering skills were quite superior to my own!!!!

Giles before his trip to the "spa".

Everyone has been placed in a forever home with the exception of Giles. . .Giles was a senior silky terrier mix who had bad teeth, bad cataracts and was completely deaf. He had been infested with fleas, needed a good grooming, and was very thin. However, he is the epitome of sweetness, wanting nothing more than to be with his human...but, Giles has been very sick since he got home with an upper respiratory infection. I feel like he has started to turn a slow corner, but hopefully will be well soon and we can search for his forever family. Should the perfect family not be found then Giles will spend his golden years with us and that will be just fine. It is hard with the seniors. Most people don't want the hassle of possible medical issues nor do they want to think about the short time they may have with a new pet in his/her elder years. ..but I think senior dogs are the best dogs of all. They are so happy and content to just have a warm spot to sleep, someone who cares enough to make sure they can chew their meals. . .and a soft touch to let them know you are there.

They adapt so easily to their "disabilities". Though Giles cannot hear a thing, he manages just fine. . .his sight is nowhere near perfect, but he never bumps into a single thing and still enjoys watching the other dogs out the window while perched on the arm of the couch. . .I think that what saddens me the most about Giles is that he is truly missing something. ..and I know what that something is. Giles is missing his "little boy". Somewhere along the way Giles was the companion to a young boy. . .I know this because the only time he has truly perked up since he has been sick is when Gabriel comes to visit. Gabriel is the 10 year old son of our dear friends Montie and Sallee. . .and somehow this deaf and blind dog knows when Gab has entered our home and will come immediately to him. For those moments. . .Giles is a puppy again, playing with Gab in a way that we just can't get him to do with us. ..not even my sons (who are both teenagers). It is so odd for a senior dog, especially in his condition to react this way to a child. ..no fears, no intimidation. ..just sheer faith in the scent of a little boy.

So. . . .there we have it!!!! It's mid December and the craziness is just beginning to wage a war against my heart and my head!!!! But, I have so many new ideas for the new year. . .in art, in business, in dog rescue. . . I can't wait to get started and that is what is going to get me through the insanity of the holidays!!!!

Peace and Puppies Y'all!!!!