Crafting For Animals Guild is a group of artists and crafters on Artfire.com who are dedicated to catering to the needs of animals by either creating and designing items for animals or by supporting and/or raising funds for charitable animal organizations.
They double as mini greeting cards so they are perfect for co-workers, extended family, or for your pal who has everything!
Write your own personal message inside of them and they are sure to be kept after Christmas!.. not just recycled like most greeting cards! They are sure to be displayed year after year on the holiday tree.
Get them in a pack or purchase them individually - your choice! You'll find the listings in She's Batty Designs Artfire shop.
My Doggie and Me is a shop featuring handmade dog toys. Cindy is a true animal lover, and you can read her story below. You will also enjoy seeing this slideshow of some of the toys featured in her shop.
Cindy shares a little bit about herself:
My shop is mydoggieandme (My Doggie And Me). I have 4 dogs, a Belgian sheepdog, 2 schipperkes and a little yorkie. We moved out in the country and the closest decent stores are 50 minutes away. I started making dog toys for our dogs when we moved. The dogs loved the toys, and soon I started giving them to family and friends as gifts for their dogs. They were a big hit. At the urging of my family and friends I started My Doggie And Me. I make dog toys, snuggle sacks, pet slings, beds and just started making biker pups dog biker jackets. My husband has been a Harley mechanic for 32 years so the biker jackets were his suggestion. I plan to branch out to include items for other animals as well. All my items are made by me in my smoke free, cat free home. I have more items to list in my shop, and just need to get around to doing that. My other website is www.brandlniche.com We also have Scottish highland cattle. The white one and our bottle baby are very tame. We live on 20 acres in Nebraska. We inherited 4 cats but I am deathly allergic to them, so we have a nice heated place for them in our shop building. We also have chickens and a lionhead rabbit. Both my husband and I are animal lovers. Our son is grown and our fur babies are a big part of our lives.
If you'd like to receive the monthly She's Batty Designs update in your inbox, please sign up using the form on the right hand side of the She's Batty Designs blog :)
It was a really busy weekend in the studio and I was barely online at all! I thought I'd take a picture on Saturday and Sunday so you could see what I was up to. There was a TON of crafting going on trying to get ready for the craft show this week called "Craft Off The Lot" in Toronto. It runs for 4 days, Thursday through Sunday. I just got an invitation to participate at the end of October so I've been madly trying to get enough cards together for a 4 day long event! It's been tough because I'm right in the middle of mid-terms at university. Thankfully my man pitched in and got crafty too! I couldn't have got so much done with out him :)
People ask me if I "do" bugs. Anyone who knows me would know that I don't "do" bugs.
I don't like bugs. I don't "do" bugs. What I do like are cats. In fact, I love cats. So, I "do" cats. Lots of cats.
It's not that I don't like other animals. In fact, I do like most animals. And I actually "do" other animals (reindeer, dogs, cows), among other things. But, anyone who knows me would know that I adore cats more than almost anything. So, I do cats. Lots of cats. Hundreds of cats.
People say I am passionate about cats, even obsessed with cats. My husband calls me the "Cat Whisperer." My sister calls me the "Cat Lady." I am proud to say it's all true. Not that I have a lot of actual cats (I live with three), but that I am totally into anything with "cat" -- the actual animals, images of cats, cat art and just about anything shaped like a cat. I have never met a cat that doesn't like me, and I've never met a cat I don't like.
Truth is, while I love cats I am not brave enough to work with actual cats -- to work for or volunteer at a shelter and actually see all the neglect and abuse firsthand. So, what I do is I help the animals through my art.
I am a fused-glass artist in Bellingham, Washington, and I make a huge variety of glass ornaments, pendants, earrings, wall art, garden stakes and more. What I do most are fused-glass cats.
I donate a portion of my sales and actual art to raise money to help cats. In October 2009, I donated more than $1300 to our local Humane Society. I also donated dozens of cat and dog ornaments, paw-print wine-bottle stoppers, cat wall art, and paw-print earrings and pendants to both the local Humane Society Masquerade Ball auction and Purrfect Pals (a no-kill cat shelter) Black Cat Ball. In addition, I was asked to donate the main art piece for the Black Cat Ball, which was used on invitations and posters to promote the event. I also donate my work throughout the year to the local Humane Society gift shop, called Paws Awhile.
(Art donated to the Black Ball.)
When people ask me to donate to their charity, I tell them that if it's a charity to help animals then, "I'm in." If not, I let them know that animals are important to me and I decided several years ago to focus all of my donation and charity efforts to help animals.
So, maybe in the future I will be brave enough to actually volunteer to rescue abused animals or foster special-needs cats or even play with the animals as they sit on death row just waiting and hoping they will be adopted. But for now, I do what I can to help cats through my glass art.
------------------------
Kristi of Glassworks Northwest is a fused-glass artist in Bellingham, Washington, and is a member of the Crafting for Animals Guild on Artfire.com. Everything is designed and created by hand by Kristi in her home studio. You can find her work online on Artfire and Etsy, at shops and galleries, and at juried art shows throughout the Northwest.
Its getting cold out there (at least in the northern hemisphere!) so if anyone has any pics of anything to warm up us humans or our loved critters, please send them to me and I'll include them in our next newsletter.
DECEMBER CONTEST I am working with CutsiePoochie who is the guildmaster of Artfire Friends Guild You Can Sell It on a December contest where our members will enter their creations that follow a chosen theme to win a blinkie to share their award winning art. More information will come within the month so watch your inbox for more details. Follow our blog! My goal this month is to have all our members follow our CFA blog through the Google Friend Connect that is located on the right hand side of our blog. If you've already joined, invite one or more of your friends to join!
