Cats and Cutting Boards!

In addition to painting pugs and dogs, I also love to paint cats. I have 4 cat paintings in my Pug Pal Gallery that are available on all of my products where you can choose a design.

Here is one of my cat paintings made into a cutting board.

I just treated myself and made a cutting board for myself from my new painting A67.

I know Emmitt wishes he could sit up on the counter with them!

Emmitt the Cookie Monster

Meet two sweet cookies...

Meet the crazy pug cookie monster.

Cookies gulped, pug happy!

The End

Have a wonderful weekend!

Listography!

I just found the coolest thing ever!

I love to make lists. I am constantly making lists of :

• To Dos
• Goals
• Projects
• Ideas
• Shopping
• Things I appreciate

See that is another list. :) I think I like the exercise because if I write it down, I know it will get done. I do not have to keep thinking about it to remind myself to do it.

This is why I am so excited that I found this site today called Listography and opened my own free account.

Here is how Listography describes themselves:

Listography provides users (listographers) of all ages an easy-to-use tool for creative list writing and sharing.

Through list making, you can simultaneously create timelines and shape an autobiography. Therefore, your listography is a perpetual work in progress, a time capsule you can share, and perhaps a map of your life for friends and family.

Listing is a precise and quick way to write and communicate meaningful information.

We see listographies as a valuable interaction between old you and new you as well.

Your listography is a record of what you want to remember --your very own database of lists. What we slowly forget, our listographies will keep organized for us.

We hope listographies also serve as inspiration. Writing lists about your goals, to do's, dreams, and wishlists, we figure is the first step to making them happen someday, a reminder and encouragement.

Read More ... to learn more about the website and book.

How Fun! I am off to make more lists! Let me know if you create any lists. I would love to come and see.

New Hand-Carved Pug Stamp - A67

I just finished carving a new pug stamp inspired by my new pug painting, A67.

I love carving stamps. I have documented my process and materials for you see how I create them.

Here is the stamp, my carving tool and four prints drying.

Close up of the stamp.

It is a perfect addition to my collection. I use them in my journals and to stamp on cards, packages or any place that needs a pug - which is every surface of course!

New Pug Collage - A67

I just finished this new pug collage.

I modelled it after one of my new pugs in the A67 painting.

Collage is so much fun because I love painting with paper. The colors and patterns just bring on a whole new personality to each pug. I now have 4 collages. The images are available as printed note cards in my Etsy Store.

Enjoy!

2 New Pug Charms - Round

I had so much fun creating these round pug charms from some new blanks I just got on Etsy.

The round embellishments are 7/8" wide and are made of brass. They will be perfect for any collage or altered journal project.

They are now available in my Etsy store. Shipping is free is the USA.

Enjoy!

The Dapper Dogs - Emmitt & Moe

I am just thrilled with Emmitt and Moe's new snazzy white collars and ties that Melanie and I just got from Linden Line Designs.

Joan, McKenna and their pug Skippy hand create collars, harnesses, leashes, bandannas and more! Their attention to detail, customer service and choice of fabrics are to die for.

Please check out their website and blog. I am so glad I found them on my friend, Nancy Medina's blog who also has a wonderful family of pugs, Howie, Annie and Java.

Emmitt in his new Retro Necktie

Moe says he is ready for the Next Top Model challenge!

He is strutting his stuff!

Emmitt and Moe would love to hear what you think about their new outfits! Please leave a comment to say hello! We love hearing from you!

Pugs In Progess...

I took some photos of the two pug paintings I created last week while they were at different stages of completion.

I thought it would be fun to show you where I work and how they come to life. I have a little art table behind my desk where I paint. I start by sketching on an 8 x 10 x 3/4 piece of hemlock wood. Then I begin filling in the fur, shading as I go. Next come the eyes, noses and mouths. Finally the background color and fine lines are added. Voila!

I have also documented the entire process on my website for your to see the creation of Pug A58 and my Black and White Cat Pals.

Enjoy!

Thank you again for all of your wonderful comments. They really make my day!

Have a great weekend!

CSS Class: My Final Web Template

My 6 week class - Intro to CSS - at the Eclectic Academy is complete.

I had a wonderful time learning about Cascading Style Sheets that allow you to change the styles you assign to your web pages through HTML quickly and easily.

It is excellent for people who have a big picture view when they write their code and know that they want a certain style attribute to change globally on their website.

A few weeks ago I posted about the first 3 weeks of my class.

This post will cover weeks 4 - 6 so you can see how it has changed.

In week 4 we learned alot!

• I hyperlinked the lessons in the navigation bar so you could look at the history of each week.
• added more links to my Pug Notes website in the navigation bar
• learned to add a stylized list of FAQ's in the body of the template
• added a footer area
• styled the links to change as you hovered over them and for the colors to change once you have visited the links.

Week 5 was alot more tame. It was an optional lesson to take the table structure out which did not work for me so I just changed the footer links to link back to my website, email and blog.

Week 6 was our final lesson and I had a great time...

• changing the scroll bar to orange
• adding a line divider and some space to the navigation bar
• and adding and stylizing a sign up form (that is a dummy - it does not work) for my newsletter.

It was a great class and I learned alot! I think my final page is successful and can be used in the future as a template for any web site I want to create.

I am excited to start the Expression Web class I signed up for that begins on July 6th for 6 weeks that will teach me a new software package to keep designing and innovating my website for years to come!

Dogs In Art - The Movie

My good friend Moira McLauglin of Dog Art Today made this beautiful movie tribute to Dogs in Art.

I am honored to have my pug collage appear in it.

Please visit her Etsy Shop and Website to see more of her wonderful art!

Cycling and The Wool Market!

Here are some pictures from our fun weekend!

Saturday: Sunrise Century - Boulder, CO

My Bike...waiting for me to start riding!

Melanie and Mark

Me and Mark

Melanie riding

and me riding.

We had a great time. The weather was perfect. We started at about 7:15 am, and we were back to the cars by 10:30 after riding the 45 mile loop to Lyons and back.

Then on Sunday we went to the Wool Market!

Sunday: Wool Market - Estes Park, CO

We got yarn to make hats! I am going to show Melanie how to use the loom!

I got Melanie this neat pot holder.

and she got a hat and neck gater.

She bought me this great wool yarn, some double knit wool mittens and this fun name plate that I am going to incorporate into my altered journal.

There was so much to see at the market like angora bunnies

tons of wool yarn in every color and texture.

wool roving for spinning and felting

sheeeeeeep

llamas and alpaca!

It was a perfect weekend!