Meet the Members of the Crafting for Animals Guild on Artfire

I created the Crafting for Animals Guild (CFA) in hopes of sharing what I love most: craft and animals! At CFA, artisans who love animals get together and share their craft. Some artisans create items for animals while other artisans are inspired by their animals. Either way, one thing is clear - their love for animals. Below are just some items made by our artisans but you can take a look at my wishlist for a more complete list.

May 2009 Newsletter: Springing Into Action

Hey All!

I hope you all are ready for spring!

This is the time when those animals need your help most as many unwanted pups may be wandering the streets. Please take the time to help them out by volunteering at animal shelters, writing awareness articles about the problem on your blog (or submit an article for our guild blog), and encouraging your family and friends to do the same.

What are you doing for the summer?
Share with your members and our other blog readers by submiting an article about what you are doing to prepare for summer? Any animal care secrets? Fashion trends? Crafting tips? Let us know. Simply contact me (tantalizingstitches) for more details.

Thanks!

I wanted to send a special thanks to LolaLynn, Recupefashion, and BagsandMorebyPam for all the time they have contributed to our guild. Lolalynn updates our membership list on the blog, recupefashion updates our facebook page and BagsandMorebyPam features our members on our blog. There is much more we can do and the projects are small so if you are interested in helping out please contact TantalizingStitches.


I have picked out a few of my favorite items from their shop!















Welcome!
Please provide a warm welcome to our new members: maninthemoonherbs, smiss00, acornalley, leighsarver and TheHouseofMouse. Invite your friends by submitting their username here. That's a total of 37 members! You can also check out items made by our talented members here.

What's Happening at CFA?

• Our Flickr group (we could use a moderator)
  
• Our Facebook group (moderated by Recupefashion)


• Our Featured members (hosted by BagsandMorebyPam) - Congratulations to BlueHorseDesign for being our latest featured member!


• Get to know our members and how they help animals (anyone want to update this?)


• Our growing member list (sidebar of blog which needs a new volunteer to update it)

Happy spring! El / TantalizingStitches

And for the finale

Some items chosen by the randomizer.....

Featured Artist: Blue Horse Design

Meet Laurie of Blue Horse Design....this month's featured artist on Crafting4Animals. Be sure to visit her shop on Artfire (http://www.bluehorsedesign.artfire.com/) and her website (http://www.bluehorsedesign.net/)

About Blue Horse Design

Blue Horse Design started off on my kitchen table with a sketch pad, pencil, pen or whatever else was handy at the time. Many a utility bill was mailed with pretty, or not so pretty, renditions of abstract horses bordering the amount due. Always practicing and always abstract - I like funky shapes, bright colors and images that are slightly unusual. I am constantly experimenting - dabbling in photography, fiber art, digital formats, soap making, or whatever happens to grab my attention. If you are seeking realism, you won’t find it here but I’m sure something fun will catch your eye.

At around the same time my creative streak took hold, I was trying to think of a way to somehow help horses in need. It was all pretty vague at the time but what changed everything was visiting the horse rescues, hearing the stories that rescue horses have to tell, and looking into their faces. This opened my own eyes to the plight of our horses and the need to help was firmly cemented. I had finally found a way to combine my equine doodles with helping horses and out of the scraps of paper on my kitchen table came Blue Horse Design.
Two years later, I am now able to contribute to horse rescue on a small but consistent basis and am proud to donate 25% of each purchase to the horses. It may seem like pennies, (and sometimes it is!) but it all adds up.

For the past year, I have been a sponsor and volunteer for Pregnant Mare Rescue in Aptos, Ca. This is a wonderful rescue founded by Lynn Hummer. Lynn is dedicated to saving pregnant mares and babies from feedlots, slaughter, abuse, abandonment and unfortunately the downward spiraling economy. She rescues, rehabs, showers with love, and finds forever homes for each horse rescued. One of her rescued babies, named Patriot, stole my heart and I am so happy to say that I have adopted him and he will be coming home with me this Tuesday. (I am so excited I can hardly stand it!) It has been a long haul for Patriot (Lynn refers to him as her 'miracle horse') so I am honored that I will be a part of his life. Please take a moment to visit http://www.pregnantmarerescue.com/ and read the heartbreaking stories (and happy endings) of rescued mares and babies.

In the meantime, I am enjoying the markets, events and fundraisers that I have been participating in. I am learning about horses, rescues, laws, attitudes, relationships, and how even the smallest acts can be a big step in the direction of positive change. Meeting the horses and people has been a great experience. I’m still looking for my artist niche, and wanting to do more, but I have a feeling that it will come about in the near future - I have a very good feeling about 2009. So, with your help, I will continue to contribute 25% to the horses - after all that’s what its all about.

Laurie
Blue Horse Design
Honor the Spirit of the Horse
Join Us in Supporting Horse Rescue
http://www.bluehorsedesign.net/
http://www.pregnantmarerescue.com/

Laurie's Pets






Spott

















Daisy




















Patriot








Slideshow from Laurie's Artfire Shop



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The Featured Member column is hosted by bagsandmorebypam. If you would like to be a featured member, please contact her on Artfire.