Fabric on Demand

Hi everyone! I wanted to share a great website with you that like Spoonflower, prints your designs on fabric by the yard. The company is Fabric On Demand.

They have 5 fabulous fabrics to choose from, quick turn arounds, great prices and excellent customer service. They are about to add 3 more fabrics to the line and will send you free swatches!

The people there are very friendly and want to hear from you. You can follow them on Twitter and Facebook too!

Fabric on Demand is even running a design contest through July 4th where you can enter to win $500!

Please let me know if you enter a design! I would love to see! Voting begins July 5th!

Fiber Arts for Summer and Winter

Good Morning Everyone!

Rise and Shine!

Here are some new Sun Squares I have been crocheting for the Knit-A-Square project.

I found this wonderful free pattern online and I am having so much fun making one every evening while watching tv with Fred and the Pug. :)

I also wanted to show you some of the hats I have made on my circular loom that I made in 2007. I received so many sweet comments from people wanting to see them that I wanted to make a separate post about them. Here are just a few. Most of these have been sent with my squares to South Africa to keep the children warm.

Acrylic yarn - double strand worsted

Circular Loom

2007

Wool yarn - double strand worsted
Circular Loom
2007



Wool yarn - double strand worsted
Circular Loom
2007

Wool yarn - double strand worsted
Circular Loom
2007

Acrylic yarn - double strand worsted
Circular Loom
2007

I love making hats and mittens on these looms. It is so fun and easy! No knitting or crocheting knowledge needed!

You can never have too many hats or mittens and they make great gifts too!

Please let me know if you make any. I would love to see!

Pottery ~ Pugs and Corgis ~ June 2009

Melanie and I went back to Mudslinger's Pottery Studio a couple of weeks ago and made more ceramic pugs and cardigan corgis.

We had so much fun! We made some last year in a class we took and wanted to make some more.

If you did not see them last year, here is Melanie's work and mine. :)

I was so excited to pick them up this morning. They were still warm from leaving the kiln.

The whole family...

Ceramic

June 2009

Corgis created by Melanie

and

Pugs created by Melissa

and isn't the bear cute?

Melanie just made him from a little ball of clay.

Fun!

We will definitely go back and make more soon!

What are you doing this weekend? Please leave a comment and let us know!

The Adventures of Emmitt & Bogart

Hi everyone!

Emmitt here!

Bogart and I had so much fun this week while he was here visiting.

Here we are going for a walk around the neighborhood. We did this everyday. Bogart loves his walks!

Ok Bogart.. Let's go!

Yay! I am ready!

What a beautiful day!

Bogart is a smilely guy! It is fun to have him here at Camp Emmitt!

Here I am walking. Bogart is ahead and I am bringing up the rear.

Thanks for coming to visit Bogart!

We cannot wait for you to come back!

That was fun!

Now time for a little nap before lunch!

xoxoxox

Emmitt

Mittens ~ Loom Knitting

I have had so much fun today making my very first set of mittens!

I found this great loom company at the Wool Market and bought their mitten loom online. It is super affordable and easy to use.

Round looms are wonderful for knitting. You do not need to know how to knit to use them. The looms come in all sorts of sizes to make anything from hats to socks and mittens. You may have used something like these but smaller when you were a kid to make cords. Those are called French Knitters.

I learned about these looms a couple of years ago when I first discovered the wool market. Here are some of the dozens of hats I made in 2007.

I kept a couple of them and recently sent the rest to South Africa with my squares. I just received a note from the people at Knit-A-Square and they told me how much the children loved them. That made me so happy! :)

The hat loom I originally purchased was made of wood but I love this new flexible plastic! It is much more affordable and fun to work with. The plastic flexes with your hook and makes casting off the stitches smoother than the ridgid plastic looms you can find at Michaels or any craft store.

Here is a link to In the Attic's Flexi-Looms. They are so fun and easy to use!

It is worth repeating that you do not need to know how to knit or crochet to use them. :) I taught myself how to make the hats and mittens with the instructions that came with the loom along with some video tutorials online.

Here is the start of my mitten with the cuff coming out the bottom.

The body of the mitten is made in the bigger loom and the thumb is made in the tiny loom and then you whip stitch the two pieces together to get a finished mitten!

Ta da!




Look Emmitt! I made a mitten!

Please let me know if you try these looms. You will love them!

Customer Photo Gallery ~ Pug Books & Calendars

I am so excited! Two wonderful customers from TN and IL sent me pictures yesterday of their families enjoying their Pug Notes Books & Calendars. I have added them to the Customer Photo Gallery.

I smiled from ear to ear when I got these photos and emails...

The first set of pictures is from Beth M. from TN:

Melissa, I wanted to send you some pics of your drawings I used from a calendar I bought a couple of years ago. I saved the calendar to use specifically for this purpose. I absolutely love the prints, and everyone goes nuts when they see them over the crib. I also have a pug light switch cover and night light in the room. And lots of other pug art! It's adorable!! I'm hoping she will automatically be predisposed to loving pugs with them surrounding her in the room. Sincerely, Beth M., TN

In related news, I just released the new 2010 Dog Art and Pug Art calendars with a new fun retro dot border around each image...

The second wonderful customer photo is of Amanda, Matt and Maggie the pug enjoying their Story, Activity and Coloring books. The Photo is courtesy of Pat. S., from IL

I love creating and sharing new books. I am working on a new one now that I hope to be able to show you soon. :)

Here are the available books in the Pug Notes Library...

• ABC Book
• Emmitt & Olive
• Why Am I Special?
• Activity Workbook
• Coloring Books
• Calendars
• Journal
• Pugisms

Emmitt and I love to share the stories and paintings that come from our journey and see how they fit into your journey's too!

Thank you so much for visiting and sharing with us!

xoxoxox

Melissa and Emmitt

Emmitt and Mr. Fancy Pants...

Hi Everyone!

Emmitt here!

I would like to introduce you to my new friend that mom just made for The Mother Bear Project.

His name is Mr. Fancy Pants! I named him that because his pants are well... fancy! Look at all of the colors!

He is a happy little fellow and is very excited to go to Africa to make someone smile and giggle with him.

I have written a song and dance for him and wanted to share it with you...

and a one and a two and a threeeee....

Don't worry, no glass has broken from my singing yet, but I am working on the frequency for the dramatic effect.

Happy Monday everyone!

xoxoxoxo

Emmitt

Mother Bear Sighting in Zambia

I have the most wonderful news!

Do you remember this little bear I made in December 2008 for the Mother Bear Project?






Well, the most wonderful thing happened today. He came back to give Emmitt and me a hug when Amy, founder of the Mother Bear Project, sent me this photo of him in his new home loved by this sweet little boy in Zambia.

Emmitt and I are so happy, we do not know what to say!

I feel like Emmitt and I have hugged someone 1/2 around the world! ~ Wow!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Life is Art... Art is Life!

Black Pug Stamp - A70

One of the most fun things about creating a new painting is being able to translate it into other forms of art I love to create like handcarved stamps and colorful collages.

It is so much fun to create these stamps because you need to break down in your mind what you want to print (black) and what you want to take away (white).

The black pugs carve up much quicker than the fawn ones because there is less to carve away. :)

To show you how I make them and how easy they are to create, I created a tutorial on Squidoo to show how I make my stamps.

and while surfing the web the other day, I found this cute French Pug hard at work. Maybe we should tell him about working for the snuggle puggle, Eduardo.

I love thinking about all of the puggies all over the world making people smile. :)

Happy Thursday everyone!