Wordless Wednesday

Shopping at the Dollar Store.

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Screen printing with freezer paper stencils, a tutorial by Ooh Leela!

We prepared this tutorial to share with our friends at Sew Doggy Style, in honor of National Craft for your Local Shelter Day.

Freezer paper stenciling is so freaking addictive! You can use it to print shapes, text, and pretty much anything. Speaking of text, we thought it would be a great idea to add an “ADOPT ME” sign to the bandanas we donated to our local shelter.

Here is what you will need:

Freezer paper (found mine at Safeway)

Exacto knife

Pattern/sign (download here) 

Fabric paint (I like Tulip fabric paints)

Paintbrush

Cut one 8.5”x11” piece of freezer paper (so you can run it through your printer). Print sign on the dull side of the freezer paper (ignore the shiny side for now). 

 

Using an exacto knife, cut the image out being careful not to cut anything besides just the image. Any cracks or extra cuts in the paper will allow paint to seep through. Be sure to save the inside of the letters A, D, O and P. You will need them too.

Iron the stencil (shiny side down) onto your fabric.

This is where the magic happens. The shiny side becomes sticky with heat. Make sure you iron around all the edges of your stencil, so as to create a good seal. You don’t want paint seeping through. The trick here is to use low heat and make sure that the iron doesn’t touch the shiny side, or else it will lose its sticky-ness. Believe me, been there, done that.

Using a paintbrush, paint over the stencil. Use painter’s tape (like me), if you need to cover any additional areas. It is better to use a light coat of paint. Too much paint will cause the stencil to unstick and you will not get a crisp image. If you end up using more than one coat of paint, make sure you let it dry in between coats.

Let paint dry or if you are impatient like me, get the big gun out: use your blow drier to speed up the process. Oh yeah!!!

When the pain is dry, peel off the freezer paper (like a band-aid). Make sure you heat set your ink, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. **this step is really important otherwise the ink will fade when you wash the bandana.

Voila! The screen printing part of the process is done. Mind you, you can turn this into just about anything. But we decided to turn it into  a bandana, using one of these tutorials.

Oh, and instead of tying the ends, we decided to add a snap.  

Then if you have a cute little baby (no she is not a dog), ask her to model it for you. Warning: treats may be needed. Lots of it.

Got questions? Leave us a comment!

What sort of interesting projects have you been working on lately?

Wordless Wednesday

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National Craft for your Local Shelter Day

 

 Our furryends Sebastian and Erika from Sew Doggy Style came up with a great idea: National Craft for your Local Shelter Day.

"What is National Craft for your Local Shelters Day?

It is a day set aside to recognize that we can give back to our local shelters in a crafty way.  This includes making beds, toys, vests and bandanas that say "adopt me," leashes, and sew much more.  What better way to give back to a shelter than the best way you know how - and for us, it's crafting." Erika Lindquist, from Sew Doggy Style

This year, National Craft for your Local Shelters Day took place on July 21st. We had the pleasure of joining Sebastian, his Mommy Erika and their beautiful friends in Fresno, CA. 

And this is Sebastian, the day after the party. Isn't he one of the most adorable doggies?

Photo by Sew Doggy Style

We made lots of pet-friendly items that will be donated to homeless pets living in 8 different shelters in the Fresno area. The hand painted ceramic bowls, bandanas and braided toys were very colorful and said Adopt Me, so we hope that they attract more people who are willing to adopt a dog or kitty.  

Photo by Laura, from The Peculiar Palette

 

We even made the news! ABC 30 News stopped by.

As Erika put it, "not everyone can write a check in this tough economy, but everyone can help." 

National Craft for your Local Shelters Day may be over, but the folks at Sew Doggy Style are still celebrating. They are hosting the most amazing giveaways on their blog this week. Be sure to check it out here.

Apart from the awesome ladies who came to the party on Saturday, lots of bloggers around the country signed up as well, such as these guys, this guy and this adorable little guy.

Thanks Erika and Sebastian for organizing such an amazing {and successful} event! 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Linking up with BlogPaws.

All natural dog ice cream recipe

I am not a big fan of the heat. There, I said it. I do love the sun, but as long as the temps are not greater than 70-75 degrees.  Leela gets very lethargic in the summer. She sleeps even more, if that is even possible. So to cheer the poor pup up, I made this super simple, yet delicious, mango ice cream recipe, that is a perfect treat for dogs and humans alike.

Step 1: peel mangoes, remove pit and dice it. 

Step 2: freeze it overnight. 

Step 3: using food processor (or a blender on steroids), blend mango cubes until smooth (30 seconds or so). Because we used frozen mango cubes, the consistency is very similar to that of a sorbet.

Simple, right? Well, not if you have a little princess at home, who likes her food served in the finest of china...

And on a very cute {{custom made}} dog bowl mat. If your furry companion is anything like mine, you know she is the pack leader and that you were put on this Earth to spoil her rotten. 

Once everything looks perfect and extra cute, call her.

Then sit back and watch her enjoy her sweet treat.

Leela's note: the possibilities are endless: store leftovers in an ice tray to create flavored ice cubes. Because mangoes are naturally sweet, there is no need to add any sugar, making this a low-calorie, all natural treat. If frozen, it will last up to a week. Mangoes are harmless to dogs, as long as the pit is removed. And as with everything else in life,enjoy it in moderation.

Do you have any fun summer recipes you would like to share?

Business Tips: how to create a blog button using PicMonkey

First and foremost, you will need to figure out how large/small you want your blog button/badge to be. If you are going to display it on your blog, make sure that it is not wider than your sidebar width. I won't get into how to determine the size of your sidebar, because that varies from platform to platform. For the purposes of this tutorial, let's go with what I use on my blog, which is 200x100.

Open PicMonkey. Click on Create a Collage:

Go to layout:

Click on ducks in a row

Choose the 2 cell layout, and delete one of the cells.

Unlock proportions (padlock sign) and enter 200x100.

Click on the color palette to edit the background color. Save file.

Go back to PicMonkey. Click on edit a photo.

Upload the "collage" you have just created. Using PicMonkey's photo editing tools, you can add text, texture, shapes, borders:

And even insert your own picture (click on shapes - see above, then on "YOUR OWN"):

And VOILA: your very own blog button. Both the text and dog paws were created using PicMonkey's tools. I inserted Ooh Leela!'s logo using the "add your own picture" feature.

Can't wait to see what you come up with :)

Wanna add Leela's face to your blog? Use the HTML code below.

Adapted from one of Kelly Designs' original tutorials. Original file may be found here.

To see all the business topics we have covered in the past click here.

Wordless Wednesday

Linking up with BlogPaws. 

Celebrating the 4th of July

Did you have as much fun as we did celebrating 4th of July this year? We sure hope so!

At first we were not too sure about this whole "let's have a holiday on a Wednesday" thing, because that feels pretty darn weird. Work, Work, Take it easy, Work and Work. Please tell us we are not alone?!?

Well, our day started out pretty slow... It took some of us ages to get out of bed....

Some of us got all dressed up to go to our city's 4th of July art fair.

Outfit by Ooh Leela!

A certain dad and puppy team had to wait for a certain mommy, who takes furrrrever to get ready. Or so it seems.

Then a certain daddy kept falling behind, so he had to be pulled. Really hard.

Our on way downtown, we saw a beautiful classic car. Daddy pointed out it is a 69 GTO.

Once we got there, mommy admired all of the street vendors and their beautiful handmade products....

We met one of the most adorable and playful English bulldog puppies ever. We exchanged numbers {{giggles}}

We also met some really quiet dogs. Boy, they can sit still! We watched them for a good 10 mins and they did not even blink.... They looked like they belonged in "Dogs in Black"

After walking around and making new furryends....

We decided to head home. A certain puppy had so much fun, that daddy was the one pulling the leash this time around.... But truth be told, I think she was just waiting for mommy...

How did you spend your Fourth of July?