Happy Halloween Everyone!

Behold! Halloween cards! Here's one for those who can't choose between Edward and Jacob... (I made this one for the Shirley's 2 Girls challenge blog's #80 Trick or Treat Challenge) And I love the impending doom in this image:

And this digi stamp nearly killed me with its cuteness. (And worked well for my card made for the Valentines Monthly Star-spangled themed challenge. I couldn't resist checking out a site with that name--I luuuuuuv Valentine's Day!)

And I wasn't alone making stuff for the holiday this weekend. Here's Scott working on his own project. No, it wasn't an airplane made out of sugar and a knife...

It's a Dexter-style slide case! He even made the wooden box, himself. He saw the slide project on Forkable (a very cool site in general. Check it out!)

And just for fun, here's me and Max, my friend Jen K's cat. I love his "What are *you* looking at?!" expression.

Enjoy what's left of this spooky evening. I've got a few more projects to show off, but they'll have to wait till November. That's okay, it's halloween all year in our house!

Vegan Cupcake Thursday...mmmm!

Check it out, Vegan Cupcake Thursday has featured my recipe for Birthday/Gotcha Day Cake for dogs! It's a site I love anyway, but I love it doubly when they feature my Yummy for Dogs Cookbook. :) More exposure equals more donation funds for rescue, since that's what I do with all of the sales of my cook book, and I'd love to have enough money to make all the shelter and rescue animals so wealthy they can each afford to *hire* someone to take care of their every whim until they find a permanent home. Much better than putting these animals down, don't you agree?

So...here's another sample recipe from my book to tempt you (well, your dogs) further...

Carrot Potato Sunflower Biscuits

2 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c corn meal (if your dog is allergic to corn, quick oats may be substituted)

1 small potato

1 lg carrot

1-2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 c sunflower seeds

1 1/4 c water

3 tbsp veg oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a lg bowl combine flour and cornmeal. Use a food processor to shred potato and carrot, then stir in garlic with the shredded mixture. Pour vegetables and seeds into the flour mixture. Stir to combine. Add water and vegetable oil and stir well. If the dough is too dry, add a bit more water, one tsp. at a time. Dough should resemble dense bread dough. Place dough onto a floured surface and knead well, adding flour if your dough is too sticky. Roll out to 1/2" thickness and cut out with cookie cutters of your choice (bone shapes are easy for dogs to grip as they chew, which is why I often use them though I suppose it might seem odd for vegan treats to be shaped like bones. :)) Bake for 50 minutes, checking around 35 just to ensure that they're not cooking too rapidly. Cool and serve.

Rats enjoy this type of treat too. You may want to use itty bitty cookie cutters to keep the serving size appropriate so your ratties don't get *too* squishy!

Happy cooking!

Ribbon Winner, Treasuries, and Wee Puppies

I made my very first Etsy treasuries this week! I was always bemused regarding how one puts these together, and then the other day a button just appeared in front of me. Yay! Now, treasuries are temporary, so these links won't work forever. Click 'em now!

Stuff for you and your pet: Petsy!

Rats and Hamsters and Chinchillas and more: Wee Fuzzies!

Hooray! I'm finally over the Beach Plague! Here I am, pictured outside of Chubby's Tacos (yeah, I hate the name, too, but their tacos rule.) after taking the dogs to Unleashed, the adorable little dog boutique in the same shopping center.

Here's Usagi, enjoying a beverage. Yes, water *is* a beverage. Yeesh. So picky.

Here's Revco, peeing on the trash can outside of Unleashed. He was good enough to pull me outside so he could do this, yet pooped in the middle of the organic dog treat section five minutes later. Naughty puppy!

Now we're travelling back in time. Here is Scott enjoying one of Alex's soooper doooper yummy grilled pizzas. Ever so tasty and brimming with an avalanche of vegan toppings. Hence Scott's enthusiasm.

And here is Alex, the teensy weensy guy who looks kind of like he's waving his arms and cheering. What he's actually doing is flying one of those crazy 2 handled kites. He's extremely good at it. Meanwhile, I can barely handle the single-stringed black triangle looking one with the giant staring sticker eyes leering at you from above. I have to get Scott to do the running around holding it over his head part since that would bang up my spine, so mostly I stand there holding it till it falls down or I get bored and make it fall so I don't have to hold it anymore. Alex's style of kiting is a lot more fun. I'm guessing, though, since I've never actually tried it. But if I were him I wouldn't let me try it either. Broken kites are sad and expensive.

Aaaannnd...here's a wee little royal greyhound. Greyhounds are by far the most popular breed of dog in my Etsy shop. Maybe it's because they're such beautiful dogs, maybe it's because greyhound people are just more devoted than most. What? You're not a greyhound person, and you'd like to contest the statement that greyhound lovers are the most proud of their dogs? Well get on over to my etsy shop. :) Chances are, you can find an homage to your favorite dog type there. (Of course this isn't just a shameless self-promotion! How could you say that?!)

And it's time for a winner! The recipient of 10 yards of cool ribbons handpicked from my stash is...Beth of the second comment on my post. Contact me with your mailing address!

Didn't win this time? Don't worry. I've already got another giveaway in the works. :)