We Won a New Collar!!!!

Back on October 21st, Mary of Tales From the Backroad did a review and giveaway of a handmade collar from a company called If It Barks.com . Well, I was the lucky winner! Yippee! Let me say a big THANK YOU to both Mary and the good folks at If It Barks!

I chose to get a new collar for Jimmy. I wasn't playing favorites, it was just that his collar was more worn out than Wilson's. I like the martingale style collar because both my corgis will have stubborn moments where they try to go in an opposite direction than what I intend. Before using a martingale, they had slipped out of their collars. That can be very dangerous if you are near a busy street!

While they offer a wonderful selection of pre-made collars, I decided to design my own color combo. I have a nice leash for Jimmy that I wanted to match. It is shades of purple so that is what I chose for the collar.....

The thin stripe that looks white is actually a paler purple. The light was so bright it fooled my camera.

It is a very nicely made collar with quality hardware and nice fabric. Jimmy's fur is very thick so once the collar settles in, it's hard to see. I took these pictures as soon as I put it on Jim's neck so you could see how pretty it is. Plus, it's good to know the collar is machine washable because I'm sure Jimmy will find a way to get it dirty.

You can also get leashes made to match your collar choice. In my case, the collar I chose was a great color match for the leash I already had! Nice!

This is a really well-made product , it was lots of fun to design, and I feel like I got an early Christmas gift!

Today, I Am An Art Critic!

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.......I went to college and received a degree in Fine Art, with minors on Art History and Anthropology.( I soon learned I couldn't make a living at it, but that's another story.) Today I am going to use some of those long dormant learnings and talk about a piece of art I recently acquired. While the title of my blog post mentions being a critic, I actually only have praise.

Let me start with a close-up so we all can see this beauty. It may even look familiar......

Have you seen this before someplace maybe?

For a long time, I have wanted to get one of Mary's photographs. The trouble was I could never pick which one. I am sure you have all seen her beautiful work over on her blog Tales From the Back Road. When she recently posted about how she and her equally talented husband had teamed up to put custom frames around her photos, I knew it was time to jump!

Back in March, Mary had posted about Castle Dome mine. In that post is where I first saw the photograph above. It had instant appeal for me! When I saw she had chosen this shot as one  to put a custom frame on, I figured it was fate! Those little keys attached to the frame were the icing on the cake! I just love all the symbolism you can read into this if you are so inclined. For me, it brought to mind the old saying "When one door closes, another opens....." and in this case you even have the keys to make it happen. It also brought to mind lyrics from an Eagles song, Already Gone, where they sing "So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains, And we never even know we have the key ".  So for me, this piece gives an uplifting message about being in control of your own destiny and that we each hold the key to to our own happiness. I may be reading a lot into a pretty lavender door knob, but that's what several semesters of art history will do to you, even all these years later.

Another thing I love about this photo which you really can't discern from your computer screen, is how perfectly Mary focused on the knob itself. The picture has a very distinctive three dimensional quality to it when you see it in real life. It looks like you could grab that knob!

 The frame is beautifully made and stained. Even the back is nicely finished and comes ready to hang. In my house, I have a room with a southwestern decorating theme, and the colors in this photo matched so well! As you can see in the photo above, the colors in the photo really pop against my wall color! It really turned out to be a perfect match for the whole room.

                                        Even the comforter on the bed is a perfect match....

                                                              The curtains, too!

                                                          The long view..............

Another thing I would like to mention is that the original version Mary and Al had put together was in an 11x14 format which too large for my chosen spot. Mary was happy to do a smaller 8x10 version for me, and Al made another frame. I really appreciated the extra work to make it just right for me.

If you are like me, and have been considering one of these beauties, I wouldn't wait too long! When Mary takes her collection to one of the summer art shows, they will disappear just like that! Snap!

I undertook this post because of how absolutely pleased I am with my print and frame. I told Mary I wanted to blog about it, but she did not ask me to. These are just my own personal observations on something that made me happy!