Monthly Archive for October, 2010

Opt to Adopt

Published on October 26, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: adopt, adopt a shelter dog month, animal, bandana, brandy, charity, cushion cover, dog, efa, etsy, folksy, foster, gracehounds, greyhound, hoodie, opt to adopt, pet, print, rehoming, rescue, screenprint, shelter, shop, T-shirt, tea towel, thedoghouse, torres, tote bag.

October is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month & a time to encourage those who might not normally consider this option to perhaps think about it.

Almost all of my hand screenprinted designs are inspired by greyhound rescue, but this one in particular focuses on the need to ‘Opt to Adopt‘:

The image is derived from a photograph of one of our ex-foster greyhounds, Torres, who has happily now found his forever home:

I have printed this image along with the caption ‘Opt to Adopt’ onto cotton T-shirts, hoodies, tea towels, cushion covers, tote bags & dog bandanas, which are available to purchase via both my Etsy & Folksy shops, with 5% of the profits being donated to Scottish greyhound rehoming charity, Gracehounds.

Greyhound adoption scre… thedoghouse $16.00	Greyhound adoption scre… thedoghouse $13.00	Greyhound adoption scre… thedoghouse $32.00
Greyhound adoption scre… thedoghouse $16.00	Greyhound adoption scre… thedoghouse $47.00	Greyhound adoption scre… thedoghouse $11.00

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Want to learn more about adopting a shelter dog? I have written a guest post on the EFA (Etsy Artists Helping Animals) blog outlining 10 reasons why I think it’s worth opting to adopt as well as the story of ex-shelter dog & much loved family pet, Brandy.

Don’t Bet On It!

Published on October 18, 2010 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments Tags: action, adopt, animal, betting, campaign, charity, dog, edinburgh, gracehounds, greyhound, greyhound action scotland, greyhound rescue fife, handmade, lush, max, molly, pet, photograph, princes street, protect, racing, rehome, rescue, scotland.

Handmade cosmetic company, Lush, has recently launched a campaign to raise awareness of the plight of the racing greyhound. As an adoptive Mum to two rescue greyhounds & a passionate supporter of greyhound rehoming, I felt strongly about supporting this campaign. So, together with my friend Sheena & her greyhound Jamie, Max, Molly & I attended the campaign launch in Edinburgh last Wednesday lunchtime.

Jamie, Molly & Max

We were joined by individuals & dogs from Greyhound Action Scotland, Gracehounds & Greyhound Rescue Fife, along with the friendly Lush staff down at Edinburgh’s Princes Street store. Together we distributed information about the problems with the greyhound racing industry, as well as introducing members of the public to what beautiful & sweet-natured dogs greyhounds are.

Princes Street, Edinburgh

I don’t imagine there are many types of dog that would remain calm & placid amidst a busy shopping street with noisy traffic passing by, not to mention the drone of the bagpipes from a nearby busker & the one o’clock gun fired from Edinburgh Castle! But Max, Molly & all the other dogs in attendance did us proud & were shining examples of just what fantastic, laid-back pets greyhounds can make.

Molly made a new friend who was (almost) as pretty as her!

everyone & their dogs

Please support Lush’s campaign & do what you can to help end the exploitation & suffering of racing greyhounds:

Please don’t support commercial greyhound tracks.
Don’t bet on greyhound racing.
Get involved with a local group working on this issue. You can find a list of greyhound action groups here.
Give a greyhound a loving home. Find a list of rescue groups here.

handsome boy, Tony, is one of many dogs waiting to be adopted in Fife

Full details of Lush’s campaign can be found in this article.

window display in Lush’s Edinburgh Princes Street store

Trick or Treat?

Published on October 11, 2010 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments Tags: agility, art, artist, bag, bandana, bewhiskered, charity, deerhound, dog, efa, etsy, etsy for animals, feral kitten-cat rescue project, gracehounds, greyhound, halloween, handmade, holiday, lurcher, october, print, screenprint, team, thedoghouse, tote, treasury, treats, tricks for treats.

It’s almost Halloween time again & I thought I’d share are few of the handmade holiday-themed items available on Etsy, both from my own shop & those of fellow EFA (Etsy For Animals: artists helping animals) team members.

My own Halloween prints are inspired by this photograph of deerhound-greyhound cross, Max, enjoying a spot of dog agility at one of Gracehounds‘ open days at Vogrie Country Park in Midlothian, Scotland.

Max will happily jump through hoops & more for a tasty sausage treat – hence, the caption ‘Tricks for Treats’! I have created a monochrome image based on the photograph of Max, which I have printed, along with the caption onto various tote bags & doggy bandanas, a selection of which are shown below.

‘Tricks for Treats’

Jumping sighthound scre… thedoghouse $13.00	Jumping sighthound scre… thedoghouse $16.00	Tricks screenprinted co… thedoghouse $5.00
Tricks screenprinted co… thedoghouse $5.00	Jumping sighthound scre… thedoghouse $9.00	Jumping sighthound scre… thedoghouse $13.00

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Team EFA is all geared up for Halloween as well, as is in evidence on our monthly challenge blog, where you’ll can find lots of scary (& not-so-scary!) creatures made by the team. Included are my little hand printed treats pouches, which are perfect for storing your dog’s favourite treats in, not just at Halloween but all year round!

This month, EFA are supporting the Feral Kitten-Cat Rescue Project, which aims to make the lives of feral cats & kittens in Oregon a little better by providing them with food, spaying/neutering them, nursing them back to health & finding homes for them when appropriate. Many EFA sellers, myself included, are donating all or some of their proceeds this month to support the charity. Search Etsy for ‘team efa cotm’ or click here to shop for items to help the project.

Here’s a selection of some of the awesome Halloween goodies handmade by fellow EFA artists – all available to purchase via Etsy, just click on the individual item to go to that shop or click here to visit the gallery I have curated on Etsy Happy Halloween to you & your ‘creatures’!

‘Treats not Tricks!’

vegan Silk Tapestry Box… brizel4TheAnim… $40.00	Alastor the Ghost Mouse… TheHouseOfMous… $30.00	Halloween Plush Cat Wal… catcalls $17.50
Halloween Owlie TheRusticHome $6.00	Jack and Sally 8×10 ori… MaskedRabbitCr… $8.00	Gothic Butterfly Earrin… sdunderkoffler $10.00
NEW Good Luck Spider Te… Xenotees $22.00	Mice with Pumpkin Origi… SharonFosterAr… $6.50	Hooters – Halloween Dog… RetroAnimals $16.25
Count Swampula – miniat… veganosaurus $12.00	Halloween Cat Photo Car… olivetto $3.00	Black Bat Pendant and N… TheClayPony $15.00
Cinderellas ScarlettBFox $125.00	Black Bat Mary Jane Sho… emandsprout $22.00	Custom needle felted sc… BenMcfuzzylugs $65.00