PET PICKS: Vintage-Inspired Bookplate Labels

After months of urging from one of my neighbors, I've finally created a collection of dog and cat bookplate labels for Best Friends Studios. You might ask, what exactly is a bookplate label? Dating back to 15th century Germany, bookplates are decorative labels typically pasted into the front inside cover of a book to identify its owner. Often, these small labels bore beautiful illustrations, motifs or crests that related to the owner of the book.

Our new Bookplate Collection features dogs and cats from restored vintage postcards, printed on high-quality adhesive labels. Each can be personalized with the name of your choice and your favorite typeface. I can't think of a better gift for teachers who love dogs or cats...I know my kids' teachers are constantly lending out books! Check out the entire collection...it's a much classier alternative than scrawling your name in the cover of a book with a Sharpie! Ellen
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SNIF Tag - A Dog's Eye View

We were lucky enough to be blogged about by Anya over at snifnycdogs today and I wanted to let all of you know about her company. Snif Tag is a wireless gizmo that attaches to your dog's collar and records all of your pet's activities during the day then displays the information through a simple online interface. It has a base station which connnects to your computer that allows you to view what Fido is getting into during the day. You have to go check this out at their website Sniftag because there is too much to explain this product here. It is cutting edge technology for us pet-loving humans! And way too much fun not to want one! - Mary Ann
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Drawing to Win Appliqué Ornament & Pet Stationery

Best Friends Studios is announcing its new holiday items with a drawing for a free appliqué dog ornament and a drawing for a free pack of select pet stationery items. Customers just need to go to our website: http://www.bestfriendsstudios.com and subscribe to our newsletter which will automatically enter them in the drawings.

Winners will be announced on Cyber Monday, Dec.1st. Ellen has created a hip and fun line of Retro Santa return address labels and gift tags for the holidays and I have new stocking designs and a new line of ornaments. Please check them out! Mary Ann
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New Dog Breed Silhouettes for Stationery

With the holidays upon us, I've been busy creating new dog breed silhouettes for my personalized stationery designs. Our New Breeds on the Block include: American Pitbull, Bichon Frise, Bloodhound, Brittany Spaniel, Bullmastiff, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Cockapoo, Doberman Pinscher, Havanese, Labradoodle, Pointer, Poodle (Sport Clip), Shih Tzu (Puppy), Vizslas, Weimaraner and West Highland Terrier. We now have a total of 55 dog silhouettes available for creating custom note cards, address labels, gift tags and note pads.

In addition to these new pooches, I've reworked the main dog silhouette page so customers can see an enlargement of each graphic. So check them out...my silhouettes are detailed and fun representations of each breed. And personalized pet stationery makes a great (and reasonably priced!) gift for dog lovers! Ellen
BestFriendsStudios

Yorba Linda Fires

I thought I'd blog about our weekend here in Yorba Linda. We had awful fires in this area. It all started Saturday morning and by dinner time we were mandatorily evacuated. I always wondered how they go about doing that. Well, at least 10 police cars came parading down the street telling us we had to get out over their speaker system. It was all so surreal. Earlier in the day my neighbor's mother was evacuated from Anaheim Hills so she started getting some things together in case we would need to do the same. So following her lead, I began packing a few things up, not really expecting that we would have to leave. The fire seemed too far away at that time. But as the day wore on it became darker and smokier and after my husband made me go for a drive down the street to see just how close the fires had come, I frantically began getting all my most important work supplies and products ready to go. It's funny, but I didn't even pack any clothes to speak of. I was completely obsessed with my ornaments and stockings and fabrics, not to mentioned the custom orders that I am working on! Then shortly after that, the police determined we had to go. Fortunately for us, our neighborhood was spared. They made an all-out assault on the burning hills Sat. night and all day Sun. and were able to stop the burning. My heart goes out to all those people who did lose their homes, especially our neighbors up in LA, Sylmar area. I'm sharing some photos I took. The first pic was taken from my backyard around noon on Sat. Yesterday I finally got out and took a drive to see what things look like now and took a couple of pics. I took a shot of those hills from the street in front of our house. Because of all the smoke, we had no idea just how close it was. When the Santa Ana winds pick up, a fire that far away can travel faster than you can imagine. So thank you, thank you, thank you to all the wonderful firefighters who knocked that wild fire out!

-Mary Ann
BestFriendsStudios

Dog Ornaments

I have been having so much fun creating my new ornaments I can hardly stop myself! If you haven't seen any of them yet, please stop by our website and check them out. They are made of wool felt and embellished with various goodies like glass eyes and noses, felted beads, bells, and ribbons. They make great stocking stuffers or a special little gift for someone who is crazy about their dog. You won't find these in stores anywhere, so please visit us to see the whole pack! - Mary Ann
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Cool Cat House

I ran across this ultra-cool cat house the other day while googling cat beds. You see, my cat has suddenly developed bed issues and wants nothing to do with either of his cozy cat beds. Instead, he prefers to flop down on my legs or chest. It's putting quite a cramp in my pursuit of achieving a good night's sleep!

So when I saw Leo Kempf's custom-built abode for his cat, Olive, I had to share. Apparently, the cat enters through a door in the bottom side, then climbs a ramp to the upper level. The house features a cardboard scratching post, plexi-glass front wall and an old sheepkskin rug. Leo’s wife even made small paintings to hang on the walls! Hmmm...wonder if my hubbie would tackle a project like that for our cat. Ellen

Photo Leo Kempf Design (check out other photos of his cat house on his site)

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PET PICKS: Santa Goes Retro!

For the past few weeks, Mary Ann and I have been busy creating new holiday products for dog lovers. We'll be featuring them here throughout November. Today's "Pet Pick" is our new retro-styled Santa Series for the holiday season, currently available for return address labels and gift tags. Choose from eight designs featuring Santa and your dog breed. Jolly fun stuff! Ellen
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