Dog Expo!
I am all packed and ready for my second show of 2007! The Dog Days of Summer Dog Expo is tomorrow in Parker, CO at the Wildlife Experience Museum. I am excited to meet lots of new people and sell some pug and dog art.

If we were all Simpsons...









http://simpsonizeme.com/
Meet my friend, Leann!

My sister's South Park creation!

How Fun!

If I lived in South Park,
I would look like this...

What would you look like?

Create your character

http://images.southparkstudios.com/games/create/

Happy Birthday Emmitt!
My Emmitt is 11 today.

He got extra strawberries for breakfast this morning. :)

Wool Blend Hat
I am happy with how this hat turned out. It is soft but holds its shape well. I think the blend will also allow it to be washed without the felting affect a 100% wool hat might show.

Puggle
What do you get when you mix a pug and a beagle? A Bug? nope... A Puggle!

Pug Stamp #9

I really like how this stamp came out. My set of 9 for my frame is complete, but I know I will be carving #10 soon.

Night Lights!
Ta Da! My newest edition to the Pug Notes Line. I love how the glass tile is illuminated when it is turned on and very rich looking when the light is off. Very exciting!

Stamp Journal
I am creating a journal of my new pug stamps. I am not sure if The pages are complete or if they are just the beginning. Here are a few of the pages so far. The outside is covered in tissue paper, glue, paint and stamps. The inside covers are covered in felt and fabric. The book mark is a pom pom made from wool yarn.

The pages are done in pastels and the the stamps themselves. I also tried a paper collage format.

Pug Stamp #8
My newest pug stamp is complete. I feel like it has been quite awhile since I made one. I have 2 more ready to carve. I only need one more to fill my 9 window frame. More to come...

2 New Products on Pug Notes

Can Coolers and 3D Scupltures

I enjoy finding products that are not only fun but functional and unique.

A 3rd product will be released later this week. :)

I love finding new products for my art to offer to pug and dog lovers all over the world. It is also fun to design and build the web pages for them on my web site.

Book Arts Class
I am having so much fun in my week long book arts class at the Art Student's League of Denver. Day One: We made our papers for our books for the week. It was so much fun! Half the day was spent making paste paper for our book covers. It is a fun technique that reminds me of printmaking and painting where you add pigment (acrylic paint in our project) to paste (flour and water cooked slightly to a gel format) and applying it to damp paper (Mohawk Super Fine). We then made impressions, designs, lines - anything goes - and hung them up to dry. The second half of the day, I made paper to use inside the books with potato printing. Your stamp is a potato that you carve and add paint to to make your impression. This is my kind of fun! The rest of the week we are using the paper to create dozens of book structures. I love this class! The mixed media class I took at the beginning of the year at the League taught me to journal and create art/ideas inside of a book. This class is teaching me the art of making the book itself. I get to sew, fold, cut, paint, design and create. All of my favorite things!

Pug Stamp Preview...
I have 3 more stamps drawn and transfered to my PZ Cut. They are ready to carve into stamps. I thought it would be fun to document them before I start carving. I also took a picture of the collage I am making in my new frame I bought to display them.

Double Knit Hat
I LOVE this hat! It was so fun to make. I used two worsted weight wool yarns to make the main body and switched to a single worsted weight for the top. I would like to say that I planned to do that, but I ran out of yarn while knitting the body, so i switched to green. Then I ran out of green so I ended it on row 41 instead of my usual 50. I have to say the smaller size fits perfectly, and I love the colors and effect that happened with switching yarns. It is my scrap yarn hat from balls I had left over from earlier hats. Now I get to shop for more yarn! Yay!

Pug Stamp #7
The ink is dry. Here is #7 in my pug series of hand carved stamps.

I spent the day in the planning stages for new products on my web site, http://www.pugnotes.com/ . It is very exciting and will be revealed in the Fall Newsletter. Please email me at pugnotes@aol.com if you would like to be notified when they are unveiled.

Red Wool Hat
I just finished another hat. The brim is white and yellow tweed wool knit together. The pom pom is pea green.

Pug Stamp #6
I finished another pug for my collection. I bought a frame with 9 openings, so I know there will be at least 3 more to this collection.

New Fabric
Wow! I found some great fabric on sale at the store yesterday. It is pre-quilted and batted. I made a purse and a small bag for my camera. They both close with a snap.

Pug Stamp
I just carved another pug stamp. I am creating a pug stamp journal and stationery with the new imprints. I will post journal pages as I create them.

The Blue Bag Experiment
I tried sewing a simple blue bag with a draw string closure and two pockets on the front. I am happy with how it turned out. The drawstring does not close the bag very well, so I sewed in a snap. I will use it for my art classes this summer to bring home all of my creations. I think i will try to sew a few more with wool and a cotton, fun print lining. More to come...

New Etsy Shop
Visit my new Etsy Shop for my one of a kind creations. The new shop is where I sell my hand-made art that is not for sale anywhere else. You will find art made of wool, hand carved stamps, knitting, crochet, sewing and more. Please keep checking back to see what is available.

http://pugnotes.etsy.com/

Wool Hat #4
I know Mark will love this hat. I cannot wait to give it to him today. It is going to be 97 degrees this afternoon. Too funny!

Today's Hand Carved Pug
This one was interesting to do because my original painting of this pug is a black pug. I carved him as a fawn pug, and he looks totally different. I really like carving because it forces your brain to identify what will be black (left alone) and what will be white (carved out). It is an excellent exercise in "seeing" things in their simplest form.

New Hand Carved Stamps
I just bought 5 new sheets of PZ-Cut from http://www.stampeaz.com/. It is my favorite stuff in the whole world, so I carved 2 new stamps today inspired from my pug paintings. I am so excited! My hands are black with ink while I type this. Luckily, my keyboard is black too. No harm done!

Wool Hat # 3
I just finished another hat for my sister. I love it! I bought the wool at my favorite yarn store in Boulder. The blue brim is made of a soft, thick Lopi wool while the body of the hat is an irregular, tweed light yellow worsted weight wool. I topped it off with a brown pom pom. Wool hat #4 is in the planning stages. I have had a request from my brother in law for shades of blue. I get to go to the yarn store today! Yay! Who ever said Monday's aren't fun?

Wool Hat #2
I just finished another hat. What fun! I think this one is for me. I gave the green one to my husband, Fred. The perfect summer time gift! It is going to be 97 degrees today. Ha!
The brim is made of a bulkier Lopi Wool, while the body is a worsted weight wool like the green hat. I also knitted a row of funky bobble yarn into it at the half way mark and topped it with a burnt orange pom pom. I think I will go yarn shopping this afternoon!

Circular Knitting Loom
I purchased a knitting loom this weekend. I have always been curious about them and I am so glad I bought it. We went to the Wool Market in Estes Park this weekend and had a great time! All of the beautiful wool in every form from raw to hand dyed yarns. I did not purchase any yarn, but I did get this great loom to knit hats. I cannot believe how fast easy and fun it is! Here is my first hat. It only took me a few hours to make. I see lots of hats being made in the near future!

Altered Journal
Here is a blank book I just recovered and then added a pom-pom bookmark. I will have fun making art entries into it. I am not sure what they will be... but I look forward to seeing what appears.

Play Time/Nap Time Doll
I designed and made this doll for my little nephews. (I had fun making 2 of them today.) One side of the doll is smiling and ready to play while the flip side is sleepy and ready to take a nap to reenergize for more afternoon fun.

New Stamp
I carved a new stamp today from my latest pug painting. I love this pug's expression. It is always exciting to carve a stamp and print it for the first time. It never fails, I can always hear myself saying in my head..."Wow! That is so cool!"