Arwednesdays with Arwen: Loving Animals

Hello, it's me again, Arwen the Wonder dog. I wanted to get serious for a moment, if I may today...
I am loved.
I am very loved.
How do I know? Well, my mommy tells me at least 10 times every day.
I get my beautiful fur brushed every day, with lots of petting and mommy telling me how pretty I am. When that is done, I get my pearly white teeth brushed.
I have lots of toys, from tennis balls to squeaky stuffies, Nylabones and Kongs to keep me occupied, stimulated and happy.
I get to go for walks almost every day (unless it is very cold, icy or very wet), and I get to play in my yard every day, chasing birdies and squirrels and barking at imaginary beasts. When I come back inside, there is always fresh water, healthy food, and sometimes even treats if I've been good (or just looked really cute).
But, mommy tells me not all animals are loved.
Mommy tells me that there are many animals all over the world that are not fed properly, are not cared for, brushed, walked or even talked to nicely. Many animals are beaten, starved, left alone tied outside, or even forced to fight other dogs until one of them dies.

But, mommy tells me that there are great people who rescue these sad animals so that they have a chance at a happy life. One place is called Harmony Fund (animalrescuechase.com), and they are having what is called the World's Biggest Baby Shower for Animals (http://animalrescuechase.com/baby-shower/), where people can donate money online to help them rescue lots of animals and make them happy like me. Take the little guy in the photo above. He lives in Puerto Rico. One day, his owners got in a fight in their apartment. To get him out of the way, one of the owners shoved him in a hole in the wall in the back of a closet, where he fell to the bottom of the building and was left for two weeks in a wall, and was ignored by the residents who heard his cries for help. Finally a nice lady heard what was happening and rescued him, moments from dying and covered in sores. Now he is healthy and living the good life, thanks to these amazing people working with Harmony Fund.
Mommy thinks this is very good, and I do too. If you are able, please try to donate to them to give all sorts of animals (doggies, horses, cats, monkeys and more) the chance to have a happy life. At the very least, please try to spread the word about all the great things that they do so that others can help them too.
Please help these animals have a chance to have a happy home.
A chance to be loved.

and Arwen the Wonder Dog

January's Charity of the Month and Laptop Issues

(Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com)

It all started so innocently. I had planned to start blogging, if not daily, then nearly daily. I had planned posts in my new daily planner. I had taken, or planned to take, photographs. Life, as they say, is what happens when you are busy making plans. I had made many plans, all involving my lifeline, aka, my laptop.
Then my hard drive decided to start making funny noises, the day before New Year's Eve.
Many loud, funny noises that a laptop, or any computing device should not make, the day before New Year's Eve.
Then I started getting notifications from Windows saying that my hard drive was dying. That was the worst part of all - by the time Windows starts sending you notifications, you know your hard drive is pretty much pooped. I tell, you, the whole world is against me! Okay, not really, but it felt like it.
So enter Brennan, who has spent nearly all of the last two weeks, not only helping me move my workshop around (which was supposed to be posts January 2-4), but also fixing my laptop by replacing my hard drive, recovering all of my documents, etc., so that I could get back to my online life, which is pretty much my whole life (which I love, and am pretty addicted to. When I don't have internet access...well, it isn't pretty).
By the way, have I said how lucky I am to have Brennan lately? No? I am VERY lucky to have him!
Now I can get back to my regularly scheduled posts.
And go through the 120+ emails I received in the past week. "Delete all", anyone? No? Okay, I'll get through them all... eventually.

In other news, the first post for January was supposed to be to tell you all about the charity that I will be donating a portion of my sales to this month.
This month I will be donating 10% of the total sales in my Etsy shop (before taxes and shipping) to Polar Bears International. They are a fantastic, registered charity, that is devoted to saving our white giants of the north. Polar bear populations are declining rapidly and Polar Bears International are doing everything they can to educate us as to how important they are, and how we can do even the tiniest things to help them. Not just donating money, but small things, such as turning off lights when we are leaving a room, turning down our thermostats, etc., all in the name of saving these wonderful, enigmatic creatures.
I encourage you to visit their website, and see for yourself the wonderful work they are doing, in addition to the great photography that they have on their site (including totally AWWW worthy photos of a baby polar bear, TOO CUTE!), and some great tips on how you can easily help polar bears with small changes to your routine, and information on how to donate if you are able to.
I have symbolically adopted 2 polar bears so far, and I hope to adopt at least one more this year, if I get the sales to allow me to (again, 10% of all of January's sales, before taxes and shipping, go toward Polar Bears International).
Please visit my shop (at http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlestudiojewels/ ) to purchase some beautiful pieces of jewelry, and help polar bears at the same time.
Have a great day, see you on the flip side (yo! LOL),

August's Charity of the Month

Oh holy wow, I can't believe we are halfway through August already! Arwen was kind enough to remind me that I haven't mentioned the charity of the month yet, so here it is:
This month 10% of all sales before taxes and shipping will go to the Arthritis Society of Canada - http://www.arthritis.ca/ to donate directly, follow that link.
If you would like to see my jewelry for sale, my Etsy shop is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlestudiojewels I have many items for sale, more to be listed, and I ALWAYS love to do custom pieces!
That is all for now, see you soon :)

July's Charity of the Month: Rescue 100

This month's charity of the month is Rescue 100 Foundation. They are a non-profit horse rescue that regularly receives horses seized by the Alberta SPCA. Many of these horses are able to have perfect lives - the only problem is that their previous owners neglected them so badly they often need months of rehabilitation to be healthy enough to be adopted. This takes a substantial amount of love, attention and money. The results, however, are worth it. Keep reading to see one success story of many at Rescue 100:
The above image is of Saffiya, one of the first horses rescued by Rescue 100, in a herd of about 100 horses (sadly, not all of them made it) seized from a farm by the Alberta SPCA (they have since had more horses - the SPCA has had TWO major seizures alone this year, resulting in many horses being kept at the farm). She was so starved that she would stand like this, in the middle of frigid winter, for hours, too weak to move. You can see her belly is bloated from lack of food, her coat is rough and falling out from lack of nutrition, and she has almost no muscle, and nearly zero fat. She often had to be hand fed by the wonderful people at Rescue 100. It was a labor of love, however, as she was eventually healthy enough to be adopted, and her new owner sent a photo of Saffiya in her hew home:
What a transformation, and such a happy ending! This truly is an act of kindness and love, and as you can see, the results are definitely worth it. I wish I could adopt one of them, but right now, I could only keep a horse in the yard with Arwen or in the house with all of us, and I don't think they'd like the stairs. That, and Arwen likes to be the only one pooping in the yard ;-)

10% of the sales before taxes and shipping will be going towards this noble cause. You can purchase items from my Etsy store here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlestudiojewels or you can go and donate directly to Rescue100 via their website here: http://rescue100.ca/?page_id=43


Images are copyright Rescue 100 Foundation

Monday's Methods: Helping Others

~Image from Polar Bears International Website~

This month of March, I'd like your help in adopting a polar bear (symbolically of course, I don't know if Arwen would like a polar bear sharing her couch). I would like to adopt a polar bear from Polar Bears International, and the adoptions start at $25 USD. 10% of all of the sales from my Etsy shop this month will go towards adopting a polar bear from this wonderful organization, dedicated to helping polar bears keep and reclaim their hunting, breeding and living territories. If I don't raise enough money to adopt a polar bear, of course the 10% will still go as a donation, but wouldn't it be great to know that you helped save one of these remarkable creatures? Please do visit the Polar Bear International Website to donate yourself, learn more about the charity and learn about the beautiful creatures living in our northern areas.

Please visit my Etsy shop to see if there is anything you would like for yourself and remember - I LOVE to create custom pieces or alter current pieces to make them all yours. Together we can help polar bears, Let's do it!

November's Charity of the Month: National Wildlife Federation

Thank you to all of my new clients, and my return clients for your purchases. Over the last two months, you were able to help raise $15 for Epic Farms, the previous Charity of the Month.

For November, I have chosen the National Wildlife Federation to be the Charity of the Month. I am hoping to raise $20 to symbolically adopt a jaguar, a perilously endangered large wild cat. In a recent National Geographic Magazine, it is reported that there are now more captive large cats (especially Asian large cats) than wild ones. This is making their survival nearly impossible, and experts are now saying that our big cats will probably go extinct within our lifetimes if something drastic is not done. How horrifying!

10% of the total sales of all the items in my stores (before taxes and shipping) will go towards symbolically adopting a Jaguar through the National Wildlife Federation. Thank you in advance for your help!

If you want to donate directly, or find out more about the National Wildlife Federation, please visit their website here: http://www.shopnwf.org/home.jsp

Thank you for your caring and compassion, you are helping to make a difference in the lives of people and animals everywhere!

Have a great day,

Fabulous Friday: Charity of the Month and Fall Photos

This month's Charity of the Month is being carried over from last month. Epic Farms is a wonderful charity, run by my good friend Jen. As sales last month were less than spectacular (thank you economy,lol ), I wanted to give this month another chance to actually donate something meaningful to Epic Farms horse rescue. Click the image above to go to their website, or click the image below to go to their fabulousEtsy store.
They have many things to get you started on your holiday shopping, so please do visit them :)

Now, for my fall photos...
I awoke this morning a little later than usual...the fibromyalgia is always worst in the mornings, so I try to sleep in until 8 (bad, I know). When I went into my bathroom, I noticed something....odd. Everything was fuzzy! When my eyes had cleared I realized that it wasn't fuzzy, but foggy - VERY foggy! And at this time of year, with the trees changing, I knew I had to get this photo for you - it is on our road, just a few hundred yards from our house. I love this maple tree, especially when the weather turns colder and the leaves change - it is such a gradual change that the very outer leaves are often red before the inner leaves are even done being green.
This is a maple tree that is visible from our living room window. The sun always seems to catch it and make it look as though it is on fire.
And of course, when I got back inside, I was greeted by one of the best sights ever: My wonderful, faithful Wonder Dog, Arwen.

Have a great Friday!!

and Arwen

Wordy Wednesday: September's Charity of the Month, Epic Farms!

Thank you to everyone for their purchases last month, you helped raise $5 for the Country Cat Sanctuary. I will be matching that and giving $10 to them. Thank you!

This month's charity of the month is Epic Farms. They've been a charity here in the past (they have a donation widget on the right hand side of the blog), and are always open and upfront about every cent they've been given. They recently had to rebuild their open air stalls after a series of violent storms ripped the roof off of the old ones (no one was hurt, but the cost is, as you can expect, quite painful).

~A Great Bookmark (I Have One and Love It!)~

Run by Jen, they have a few equine rescues that are mostly permanent residents, and are a registered 501 (c)3 charity. They have a website at www.EpicFarms.com and they also have an Etsy store where you can find all manner of beautiful, well made and affordable items at www.EpicFarms.etsy.com~A Carousel Horse Woodburning By Jen~

10% of the total sales before taxes and shipping in my Etsy store will go towards Epic Farms this month. Please do check out their Etsy Store and see Jen's beautiful artwork, as well as scrap booking supplies.

Please keep checking back here, I'll have the winners of last month's contest and a new contest for you to try and win great prizes!

August's Charity of the Month: Country Cat Sanctuary

This month's Charity of the Month will be the Country Cat Sanctuary in Oxford Station, Ontario. They are one of the only "No-Kill" shelters in the area and one of the only cat-only shelters as well. They are a registered charity and are always in need of financial help to do their great works. They are almost always willing to take in cats - they converted a horse barn in their back yard to house the cats in comfort, and even have a nursing room in their house for sick or injured kitties (they are currently at capacity due to a very bad year for strays)! A few years ago, when an idiot dumped two kittens in my yard from a moving truck, the Country Cat Sanctuary was the ONLY place that would take them, and I called 4 different shelters!

They have many cats that need forever homes, or, if you can't take one into your own home, they need helpers like you to sponsor a cat - a small donation can pay for their food and other expenses until they are adopted. They also take in cats that aren't able to be adopted - they are too traumatized or are used to being outside, so they need your help in the form of sponsorship.

10% of the total sales before taxes and shipping will go to help this wonderful sanctuary this month. Please visit their website if you would like to see their cats and kittens, as well as read about their success stories and miracle cats. There is also a form that you can print out and mail in with a donation if you would prefer to donate directly to them yourself. http://www.countrycatrescue.com/

Thank you so much for your purchases from the the last 2 months, I have donated $20 to the Lanark Animal Welfare Society!

Have a great day to you, my miracle workers :)

Melodious Monday: Charity Update and Some Photos

I wanted to update you all on the charity of the month, as we are halfway through July already - where has the time gone? As the summer months are usually slow, and as I have had a few sales in the last few days, I have decided to continue last month's charity over to this one to try and donate as much as possible to the Lanark Animal Welfare Society.
I also thought I would share my pansies with you - they are the "Sand 'n Sky" mix and I love them :)

Remember to enter my monthly contest by adding your name and email to my monthly newsletter (You have to sign up for the newsletter first to be eligible to win!!), see the full contest details here.