Cowboy Dog Accessories and Inspirational Books

Hi, everyone!  I had every good intention of posting here by now, but a busy, and exciting, schedule stood in the way (at least I haven't kept you folks waiting too long).  This post will be brief, since I have to leave for the post office in a while to mail a dog dress, and I have the inevitable trip to the grocery store as well.

One thing that's kept me busy is the beginning of collaboration with the author of a series of inspirational storybooks titled "The Thrilling Adventures of Roleafeo and Jazzie" as well as "Fluffy the Cat."  Publisher is www.createspace.com, and the price is $11.95 plus shipping & handling.  My involvement in her project will consist of being her publicist and making clothes for her trademark stuffed dogs named, appropriately, Roleafeo and Jazzie.  The author is the twin sister of a close friend of mine.

The cowboy hat/bandanna combo are listed in my Etsy Shop!  Here are some pics:

As you see in the "upside down" photo, I made a loop of elastic and secured it and the bandanna print sweatband to the hat with non-toxic fabric glue.

Be back another day.  Take care!

Sundress Pics

Here they are...oops, due to my computer's failure to save the back view pic, I have to change "they are" to "it is".

I wonder if there's a computer user who doesn't have a love/hate relationship with them.  At least my recent switch from Internet Explorer to Google Chrome has made that part of my life more enjoyable.  I love Chrome's lightning speed and it's overall reliability, which means I can count on the back button working with each and every click, etc.

I have two potential orders brewing, so I need to get back to Etsy.  Bye for now, and take care!

Back at the Sewing Machine and Listing

Hi, everyone!  No more of those long absences from posting for me!  I've resolved to keep you up to date on developments in my Shop, plus goings-on in general.

Yesterday I listed a sundress, and I'm so pleased at how it came out.  It's only the beginning...I plan on  making and listing, for the males, a pair of swim trunks in the same fabric.  The waist will be partly elasticized to keep them from falling off.

I've been having so much fun working on expansion of my Shop to include more beach party-style apparel (I already have the Mock Aloha Shirt & Surfer Shorts) and the little hats and bandannas I mentioned here recently.  Yesterday I bought an assortment of colorful thin satin ribbon for the Mexican hats, and the guinea hen feathers came in yesterday's mail (they're really nice).  For the Western bandannas I  plan on using a traditional red, black and white bandanna print, and I'll make the Mexican ones out of a colorful striped cloth I've had on hand.

To change the subject, planting season has started here in Florida, and you should see my little garden patch!  It's a blaze of color!  Today I filled in the bare areas between the bright orange marigolds, crimson and pink dianthus and white petunias I call them my "petunia shrubs" - they're huge!), with rusty-orange marigolds and more of the crimson dianthus.  I'll post pics here as soon as the new plants have grown some.  Gardening is such good therapy, and so is viewing beautiful plants.  There's nothing like God's creations to soothe one's soul, which we all need in view of the distressing stuff we hear on the news.

Here's a photo of the sundress, and then I close for now,..oh my goodness, I don't believe it - the pic seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth.  Those dinky thumbnails can be soooo frustrating!.  Tell you what - I'll find the original one, edit it, and then come back to post it.
  

Hat Photos and Recipe

Hi, everyone!!  I've taken pics of the cute little cowboy hats, for which I've come up with Western and Mexican designs (stay tuned).  Here they are:

Aren't they just adorable!  I've ordered some small guinea hen (black and white spotted) feathers for the Western hats, and will buy thin satin ribbon of different colors, so within the next week I'll have some hat/bandanna combos ready for listing.  I'm so excited about the forthcoming line!

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Now...are you ready for a mouth-watering recipe?  Weird-sounding name, but is it good!

CHOCOLATE LASAGNA

1 pkg. Oreo cookies (not Double Stuff)
6 TBSP. melted butter
1 8-oz. pkg. softened cream cheese
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 TBSP. cold milk
2 3.9-oz. pkg. chocolate instant pudding
3 1/4 cups cold milk
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 large tub Cool Whip

Crush the Oreo cookies in a food processor or in a Ziploc bag (with a rolling pin) into fine crumbs.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Stir in 6 TBSP. melted butter, and incorporate into the cookie crumbs with a fork.  When the butter is distributed, transfer the mixture to a 9" x 13" baking dish.  Press the crumbs to the bottom of the pan.  Place the pan in the refrigerator.

Mix cream cheese with mixer until light and fluffy.  Add 2 TBSP. milk and 1/4 cup sugar.Mix well.  Stir in 1 1/4 cups Cool Whip.  Spread over the crust.  In a bowl, combine instant pudding with 3 1/4 cups cold milk.  Whisk for several minutes until the pudding starts to thicken.  Use a spatula to spread the mixture over the cream cheese layer.  Put back in the refrigerator for five minutes to allow the pudding to firm up.

Spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top.  Sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly over the top.  Place in the freezer for one hour or the refrigerator for four hours before serving.  Bon appetit!

Since the dessert is layered, you probably know why it's called Chocolate Lasagna.

I need to communicate with a buyer, so I've gotta go.  Take care!

Oh Happy Day!!

Hi, everyone!!  This time you didn't have to wait long for my return here.  You might call that turning over a new leaf, and I hope this trend continues.

Some wonderful things have happened since yesterday evening.  First of all, I was pretty fed up with the mediocre (understatement) performance of my computer.  While I'd be typing, the text would stop appearing on the screen, the back button didn't always cooperate on the first click, and the page changes were as sloooow as molasses at the North Pole in January.  In short, I had frequent aggravations with the dumb thing and was contemplating replacement of it with a different brand.  Well, yesterday evening I threw up my hands in disgust and decided to switch browsers from Internet Explorer to Google Chrome.  There's no comparison - performance has been flawless, like night and day!  As a result, I'm enjoying use of my computer soooo much more, plus the switch doesn't cost a penny!  Internet technology has come a long way since Explorer was introduced.

Here's the piece de resistance:  here I've shared bits and pieces about my participation in the Etsy Expats Team, participation that's included curation of bi-weekly theme Treasuries.  This morning I got up to read a Convo (Etsy's internal email) from the winner of the next-to-last competition.  The title of the Convo was, "Congratulations...You're the Winner."  Do you think I'll ever stop doing the Happy Dance???  The theme was Colors That Make Your Heart Sing," and was there competition - eight people each submitted at least one entry!  The last winner couldn't decide which of my seven should win, so she made ME the winner.  I'm unable to post the links here, so I'll give you the titles, which you can enter into Etsy's Treasury Search (or you can go to bloomingtailsdogduds.etsy.com and click on "Sally" on the lefthand side of the screen and then click on the Treasury link): 1) Kaleidoscopic Kreations - Etsy Expats Team; 2) Brighter Than Bright - Etsy Expats Team; 3) The Most Colorful Time of the Year; 4) Gold Is the Way to a Woman's Heart - Etsy Expats Team; 5) Pastels of Spring Make One's Heart Sing - Etsy Expats Team; 6) Black & White and Red All Over - Etsy Expats Team; 7) Colors That Make Your Heart Sing - Rainbow Sherbet.

Other activities are beckoning, so I'll have to close.  Remember I promised a recipe?  I'll post it later today for sure.  I'll also have pics of the new mini cowboy hats.  Bye for now.  

Cowboy Hats and Buyer's Chats (Continued Again)

I got so wrapped up in  telling you about those mini cowboy hats and bandannas that I forgot to bring up the friendships that can develop between Etsy sellers and their satisfied buyers (the "Buyer's Chat" part of the title of this post.  I'm sure you were wondering who this buyer is and what the chats were about.  Here goes:

You might remember the posts I entered starting a few months ago about a lady and her three teacup Chihuahuas, two of whom love wearing dog clothes.  She has raved about everything I've sewn for her dogs, and a friendship has evolved.  We exchange pics of our dogs as well as chit-chat about what's going on in our lives.  She's such a pleasant lady, and she enjoys my sense of humor.  She's sent several pics of one of her dogs standing up in the driver's seat of her car, to which I've commented, "She must be your navigator" (or in one case, "driver.")  She got a kick out of that.  She's lonely, so she needs a lift. 

Actually, don't we all need a lift, with the dramatic increase in crime rate and other misfortunes in recent years.  What a relief it was to have found out that the Boston Marathon Bomber was captured!  My belated condolences go out to those affected by that tragedy.

Enough rambling for now.  As I said in my very last post, I'll have a scrumptious recipe next time.  Take care!

Cowboy Hats and Buyer's Chats (Continued)

Good to be back just a few hours after submitting my last post.  Not just making up for lost time, but also to continue where I had to leave off due to a technical gluitch which caused the margins of the last part of my last entry to be wonky.  After closing, I made a beeline from the blog to Blogger's Support Forum, where I posted an SOS for resolution of the issue.  Just before starting this post, I checked my last entrymm, and discovered to my delight that the support staff had corrected the matter. The margins are now as straight as a die.  Hooray!!

Back to the cowboy hats.  I don't plan on selling just decorated hats.  In an Etsy Convo, my friend Victoria also introduced the idea of selling hat and bandanna combos.  Brilliant! My Shop already has a few cowboy and cowgirl outfits, and I'll sell the hat/bandanna combos separately, with mention of how good they'll look with the outfits.  The little doggies will be all set for the hoedown in them!

   No way will a hat stay on a dog's head without a chin strap to hold it in place, so I had to put my thinking cap on to come up with a viable means of securement.  What I've decided to do is form two triangles of the same fabric as the bandanna, with an elastic chin strap sewn to them, and fasten the triangles to the inside of the hat with fabric glue, which, once dried, makes whatever you're gluing stay put.  I swear by Liquid Stitch fabric glue, which, by the way, is non-toxic, for fastening trims and the like to fabric, and I've never had a complaint from a buyer about the trim detaching.

Next time, which I vow will be soon, I'll havve a mouth-watering recipe.  Yummm!