Sew DoggyStyle

Easiest Upcycled Dog Collar Ever!

I started this project 15 minutes ago and I'm already blogging about it...that's how easy it was!!

INSTRUCTIONS:

Find an old collared shirt and test fit it around your dog's neck.

Make sure it has the collared button with it (not all collared shirts are created equal). You can see what I'm talking about in this next picture.

Just cut the collar off the shirt...literally. Then use Fray Check (a product that stops fabric from fraying) along the bottom edge and voila!! Brand new dog collar!

He looks handsome, don't ya think?

Who Wore it Better??

Baxter (on the left) or Orange Kitty (on the right)?

PLEASE CAST YOUR VOTE ON THE POLL

***TOP RIGHT OF THIS BLOG***

May the best cat win:

a handmade tuna can toy!! Oooooooh

Ends 1/22/11

Meeeeeeooooowwwww!!!

National Dress Your Pet Day

TODAY.

Sebastian's keepin' it simple...for now.

Stylish Blogger Award

Helen at A Crafty Kind of Truffle has invited me to accept this award and I am honored!

There are 4 duties to perform to receive this award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

7 Things about Me

1. I adore my pets and love to spoil them. (kind of obvious)

2. I'm married to a wonderful man who admires my overwhelming DIY personality.

3. I'm a homebody.

4. I would choose sugar over money.

5. My dad taught me how to woodwork and my mom taught me how to sew.

6. I prefer 100 degree weather.

7. I was a crafty chick before crafty chicks were cool!

I am delighted to award the following blogs with

The Stylish Blogger Award:

Paw Prints, Ears and a Tennis Ball

I Still Want More Puppies

Doggy Love

A Blog by Silvia Chenault

Two Dachshunds & Company

Miniature Yorkshire Terrier

Catsparella

Two Little Cavaliers

Wild Pony Beast

Thank you and enjoy!!

XOXOXOXO,

Erika and Sebastian

YES! I'm on Facebook!

When I first saw this shirt, it put a smile on my face. Sebastian DOES have his own Facebook...with like quadruple more friends than I have - "Dog" friends of course.

Seeing this shirt also made me feel a little less weird...obviously if everyone is doing it, it's not so weird after all.

Sebastian's Facebook friends bark English, Chinese, German, Dutch, and more. He might not always understand what they are saying, but enjoying cute pictures of each other does not require words.

Are YOU on Facebook? If so, Sebastian would love to be your friend!

Oh and here is Minnie - a famous local rocking it out on Facebook too.

Woof!

Canine Crest Chandelier Shade from Anthropologie

This is no ordinary lampshade...

Turn on the light...

I love it!!

I stumbled across this over the weekend while I was looking for inspiration for my bedroom lampshades that need makeovers. I love that it's like a surprise image every time you turn the light on. And of course since it's a dog silhouette, I had to share.

I am most certainly going to try this!!

100% Recycled Fashion

It's New Years and I say anything goes!

Since I am all about upcycled fashions, I just had to share this crazy photo from crazyphotos.com! I wonder how comfortable this outfit is?

Baby It's Cold Outside

Here is Chanel in her signature "am I really supposed to smile in this?" look.

At least it's not the evil eye!

What are some unusual things your pet has worn?? I want to know!

Santa Baby

Funny how I'm not doing a tree, or presents, or decorating my house this year for Christmas...but I AM dressing my dog. Here is my first handmade Santa suit and I am so happy with how it turned out!

It's made of 90% upcycled materials. One of my favorite things to do is revive something that's on its way to the dump.

My mom found the red velvet material from a thrift store in Carmel, the black belt is from an old pair of work pants, the gold belt buckle is from a bag of random hardware from who knows where, and I used flannel plaid for the lining from my Upcycled Christmas Plaid Edition.

I take great pride in my upcycled fashions. The possibilities are endless and you get stuff you just can't find in the craft stores! Most importantly, Sebastian doesn't have to worry about running into another dog with his same outfit on.

JUST FYI - BONE TOY GIVEAWAY ENDS THIS WEEK, DEC. 18TH!!

Make sure you're on my "followers" list to have a chance to win!

Squaker Bone Toy Giveaway Post/Details

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Upcycled Doggy Leg Warmers

You know you've made a great dog product...when it stays on! Unlike dog shoes, these leg warmers stayed on for hours, no problem. They were also incredibly easy to make. Just see instructions below and your dog can have his own leg warmers within the next hour!!!

INSTRUCTIONS

Find an old pair of socks (for bigger dogs, use knee highs and cut them to the desired length). Cut the socks at the bottom of the ankle area.

Then cut the top part in half.

You should now have 4 pieces. Turn them all inside out and sew the new edges together leaving the top and bottom edges open (the type of fabric my socks were made of required hand stitching instead of the sewing machine). Take in as much as you need depending on the width of your dog's legs.

Reverse them again, and voila!!! Sooooo simple!!

EXTRA NOTES

For extra cuteness, add a bow at the top of each legging, add ruffles, add rhinestones...you get the point.

The stretchier the socks are, the better they will stay on. Also, thicker socks look best. Depending on the type of material, some leg warmers might need to be hemmed at the top and bottom holes.

I hope you enjoyed!!!

Poodle Dog Silhouette Ornament Balls!

We had a little tree competition at work and my group wanted to do a theme from the 50's. Here is an ornament I contributed (I was given assignments revolved around dogs...go figure!).

This project is actually very simple. You can do your own dog silhouette ornament too!!

INSTRUCTIONS:

Find a picture of a dog you want to use as a silhouette. Virtually any dog shape of your liking will work. I happened to find some clipart that was already in black silhouette form. All I had to do was scale it down and print.

Cut your image out very carefully with a zacto knife.

Glue it onto the ball. I used Fabri-Tac (amazing stuff!!). Since I wanted my image to be glossy, I painted over the entire silhouette with black fabric paint.

After the fabric paint dried, I used hot pink fabric paint to add a collar and leash. I also used a rhinestone for the id tag. You can never have enough sparkle on a Christmas Tree!

I was pretty happy with the way these ornaments turned out. Went very well with the 50's poodle skirt around the tree and everything else my co-workers made!

Snow Globe Fun with Mini Dog Figurine!

Tonight I went to a snow-globin' craft party! Here is my finished project.

It didn't quite turn out as planned...there is no water or snow to shake! After seeing a fellow crafter attempt the water thing, I decided I was going to stick with this idea since I didn't want to risk damaging Sebastian's homemade Sculpey figurine!!

It was a little tricky making something this small, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. I used a picture of Sebastian for the shape, added the scarf, punched eyes in with a nail and used a black dot of clay for the nose. Oh, then I added hair by scratching the entire figure with a nail. Here he is sitting in a pan ready to bake.

Then I headed on over to the craft party where there were allllll kinds of things to add to the snow globes. First I chose a baby food jar. I arranged some cotton balls on the lid for snow, picked a tree and a present for props, and then glued everything down.

I added a few snowflakes with some glitter on my props. I wiped glue on the bottom of the jar with a brush, sprinkled some glitter snow on that, and voila! My little snow globe wannabe is done!