Friday, July 31, 2009

You Are All Invited ~ Let's Celebrate!


Hi Everyone!

Please come back tomorrow to enjoy Emmitt's 13th Birthday with him!


He has been baking mini meatloaves for everyone!


We have food, music and games planned.


Emmitt is soooo excited to be a teenager!


The jets are fueled at your local airports.


See you tomorrow! The party is All Day!


xoxoxo


Emmitt & Melissa

P.S. Today is our last day to vote for "Groovy Dogs"! Let's win this contest together!

Thank you so much for all of your votes and wonderful comments this whole month. This has been so fun! I will let you know the results as soon as I find out!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Fred's Model Train ~ July 2009


Fred has been working on his train this month and has started to create a canyon for his road to come through.

The kit to make the roads is so cool! I cannot wait to see what he creates. We will get HO scale cars, busses and passengers to ride on the Fred Highway! :)

Here is a close up of the canyon opening.


I love how the whole landscape is coming together.



Look at the mountain! Fred finished carving and painting the base. This is where the waterfall will be installed.

Now that the canyon is placed in the right spot, he has begun to extend the tunnel.
Here is a close up of the plaster cloth he uses to mold all of these structures. It looks just like the stuff to make a cast. We are all set if we ever break an arm or a leg in the Langer household. :)

Inside the tunnel ~ July 2009

Fred has made great progress in the last few weeks. I cannot wait to show what he creates next. It is so fun to see him make this amazing work of art!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Pug Hand Puppet!


Surprise!

Meet Emmitt the hand puppet!

I made him on my mitten loom this weekend and he was so fun to make!


I first knit him on the mitten loom just like I would make a mitten, but I made two thumbs for his arms.


Then I crocheted his tail, ears, eyes, nose and muzzle and collar to make this funny character.



oooo! Now that I have a face I can see the storm blow in!




Wow! Look at that lightening!



I had better get inside and just hang out in the office!

What a fun project!



The new hand puppet is a big version of my finger puppets that I love to make for my Etsy Store.




Speaking of fun dog art and etsy stores, my good friend Linda O'Neill just opened a new etsy store for her dog art!

Introducing... Abby Creek Dogs!


Linda and her studio assistant shepherd, Miss Maisie also have a wonderful blog, website and etsy shop for her abstract and still life paintings.

Please stop by and say hello! They would love to meet you!


Now I have to go and keep my eye on Emmitt.

He is baking up a storm... mini meat-loaves, pup-cakes and cookies for his birthday party on Saturday. I have to make sure that most of what he is making ends up on the trays and not in his tummy.

He cannot wait to see all of you!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The Coolest Thing Ever ~ A Yarn Baller!

Oh my gosh! You cannot see me right now but I am jumping up and down with glee!

My new yarn baller just arrived, and I do not know how I ever lived without one before!

It turns all your skeins of yarn into neatly wound balls with a center pull!

No more little hand wound balls of yarn rolling around the floor while I work!

It is so easy to use and well made. All the gears inside work smoothly and efficiently!

Here is a short video for you to see!

Ta Da!

Fred was laughing at me as I pulled out all of my yarn and wound them into perfect balls in minutes!


I purchased it from Joanns.com with a 50% off coupon that they had advertised with a code on their home page. It is very important to look for their coupon code to enter at checkout otherwise it will be full price!

I think they always have a coupon running although it may not always be at 50% off. You may want to keep checking in to take advantage of that coupon when it reappears. That is exactly what I did, and I saved $30!

UPDATE: I just found another online source for coupons. Check out these Joanns coupons at CouponSeven.com!



I'm tellin' ya, it is the little things in life that are the greatest! :)


Do you have any new fun things that just make your day? Please let me know! I would love to see!

Monday, July 27, 2009

A New Mother Bear Sighting in Africa!


Happy Monday Everyone!

Emmitt here!

Do you remember this cute little bear we made in February 2009 to send to the Mother Bear Project?

Just in case you did not see it, here is my story and song of the tale of Emmitt and the 3 Bears from the archives.


We just received this wonderful photo from Amy at MBP of the bear in his new home. How wonderful!

I can hear him singing the song I taught him to make this little girl smile. Can you?


xoxoxox

Emmitt

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Re-Post: A Bunch of Groovy Dogs Needs Your Votes!

Hi Everyone!
I will repost this contest every weekend in July while the contest is underway. :)

I need your assistance in accomplishing something fun! :)

I am so excited!

I have created a fabric design and entered it into a contest on http://www.fabricondemand.com/ .

The winner receives $500.

We can all vote once a day until July 31st and the winner will be announced August 1st which just happens to be Emmitt's 13th birthday!


Here is my design called Groovy Dogs:

The contest shows the fabric recovering a set of chairs. Isn't that fun!

Our design is #207 and can be found here...

http://www.fabricondemand.com/custom-fabric-designs/contest.html


To cast your vote, please just click the message above the picture to send them an email.

Feel free to bookmark the site and vote as many days as you would like this month.


Thank you so much for your help and support!

I know we can win!

Melissa & Emmitt

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Christmas in July Gift Exchange 2009

Hi everyone!
We had so much fun participating in Pugs and Snorts Christmas in July Gift exchange!
Liss, Ricky, Herbie, Fatty and Nixon sent Emmitt, Gilbert and I this wonderful package!
They gave us these wonderful toys, delicious cookies and this amazing handmade scrapbook of Emmitt that made me cry happy tears. :)





Thank you Liss for hosting the wonderful exchange and for all of our gifts!
We love them all!



Have a great Saturday everyone!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Hats from the Circular Loom

Hi Everyone!

I just finished the 2 hats to go with the blankets for the Knit-A-Square Charity in South Africa.

I made them on my circular loom and they knitted up in no time flat!




Emmitt is always right there to help me!

This project was so fun to complete. I have them all wrapped up and ready to take to the post office this morning.

My next project I have planned to begin this weekend will be made on my new mitten loom. I will have something to show you soon!







My friend Rachel has a delicious series running on her blog every friday called Foodie Fridays. We submitted Fred's favorite Rhubarb Cake Recipe. Follow us over there to see!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

New ~ Groovy Pugs and Groovy Dogs Fabric!



"Groovy Pugs"
100% Cotton Fabric


Available in my Etsy Shop!



I am so excited to announce that I now have 2 fabric designs,"Groovy Dogs" and "Groovy Pugs", available in my Etsy Shop.





"Groovy Dogs"
100% Cotton Fabric

Available in my Etsy Shop!







The "Groovy Pugs" design has 16 different black and fawn pugs created from my original pug paintings.




The "Groovy Dogs" design has 16 different dogs and pugs created from my paintings.

The breeds included in the "Groovy Dogs" design are Bulldog, Schnauzer, Corgi, Boston Terrier, Westie, French Bulldog, Rottweiler, Chihuahua, Dalmatian, Yorkie, Husky, Black Pugs and Fawn Pugs.

In addition, the Fabric On Demand Design Contest is still going on!


If you would like to vote for "Groovy Dogs" to win the honor of covering 4 chairs and for us to win $500 please vote here. We are design # 207, and we can all vote once a day through July 31st with the winner to be announced on Emmitt's 13th Birthday, August 1st, 2009.


Thank you so much for all of your votes, support, encouragement and feedback. It really means the world to me! I could not do any of this without you!


Happy Thursday everyone!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Customer Photo Gallery ~ Knox Loves His New Dog Bed!


My friend Janet B. from PA just rescued 3 more puggies to add to her family and now has 7! Bless her heart. She is so wonderful.

A few weeks ago, Janet emailed me to let me know she was going to meet and pick up one pug and she came home with 3. I smiled and knew what happened! She could not leave any of them behind.

Here is Knox who just came home on Saturday. I think he has claimed the new dog bed as his already!

Welcome home Knox, Becca and Butch and thank you Janet for sharing the photo for our Customer Photo Gallery!

I love receiving your feedback, photos and stories! Please feel free to contact me anytime!

I would love to post your pug photos and stories in the Customer Photo Gallery and/or the Quarterly Newsletter in the Meet The Pugs section.

for the Pug Notes Quarterly Newsletter!

Emmitt and I are already working on the Fall issue and would love to share his favorite recipe, photos, stories and events!

The Fall Newsletter will arrive in your inbox in October. Please sign up to receive your very own copy. It is jam packed with fun!