Wow- I am on page 9 of Total Art Licensing Magazine

and some of page 10 too. :)

A few months back, Total Art Licensing magazine, published out of England, was looking for information for an article on people in the art or art licensing business with backgrounds a little off the beaten path so to say.



The magazine was mailed out this week, and a link arrived in my mailbox today. Read the whole thing, but the article is on page 9.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxteu/totallicensing/totalartlicensing_2008winter/


and people are asking about the puppy. She was a little stray boarding here over Thanksgiving who has since found a forever home.

Chicks Dig A Sharp Dressed Man

Where's my ZZ Top CD? Every Girl is Crazy 'bout a Sharp Dressed Man.

and even better if your tie has animals on it. Add yourself 5 points, lol.
10 points if you have the matching cufflinks. :)

These arrived the other day. They are presents for the nephews. Shhhhh! Don't tell them.




They are available online at Zazzle.com.

Is it Cuff Links or Cufflinks?

I only have 2 or 3 shirts that use cufflinks. But after seeing how cute these turned out, I might have to buy more shirts with french cuffs.

1000Markets.com

A few days ago, before Thanksgiving, I discovered a new website that I want to share with you. Have you heard of 1000markets.com?

It's rather new, about 3 months old. Shops are juried and they are divided up into markets. Some markets are based on location, (Seattle, Chicago, etc.) while others are based around products- Child's Play, Wearable Art, PaperCraft.





They are making improvements to the site daily to make it easier for buyers to find items, like a product search and category system. In the meantime, it's rather small and easy to browse the shops as it is. The product photos are larger, and with blogs included, it's quite different than other online shopping sites out there.

Check it out for last minute gifts, and bookmark it check it out again in the future, to see what changes have been implemented. Information is also there to find out how to set up a shop.

1000Markets.com

And the winner is. . .

Drum Roll please. . . .

(I have to say the odds are fairly good. Nothing like powerball or anything)

Starry- was the person selected by random.org

Starry, Come on Down!
You the winner of the Fabulous Showcase Showdown.

(Clap, Clap, Applause, Applause, Throw some confetti, Fireworks in the Background, etc.)

I'll be dropping you a note shortly for your shipping address.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment. I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Holiday Season.

Bridget in Da' House. And my giveaway is back.

That's right. Mz. Bridget came back in yesterday for her puppy vaccination minus her splint. Remember her from about 3 weeks ago? The stray puppy that was found below a bridge that might have been thrown from the bridge?

Her owner called last week, and said the splint was getting demolished and she was much too rambunctious. So I told him to try taking the splint off, keep her confined as much as possible, and to see how it goes. The splint might have to be reapplied.

So , things are healing nicely . She has a callus formed around the right elbow, so we are going to leave the splint off. It's still a little sore, as she favors it a bit . Notice how she doesn't put weight on the elbow (see the arrow)? and in this photo, you can see that she isn't full weight bearing on it yet.

Probably will take another 2, maybe 3 weeks to finish healing.




And my giveaway is back for December. If you remember I discontinued it back in the spring when I was figuring out a different format for it. It's returning, with gift items you can give to your family and friends. A set of stone cat coasters, 3 ornaments, a notepad maybe- about a $40 value. It's my way of saying thank you for reading my blog, subscribing to my updates with my bad grammer, poor spelling, and jibberish, haha.

So leave a comment to enter. Even if you don't care about the giveaway, leave a comment anyways, as I like to hear what you are up to.

So here's the question.
What are you most looking forward to during the holidays and why? Traveling anywhere? Visiting relatives? Taking a vacation? Or are you hosting and relatives coming to visit you?
Have any family traditions you care to share? Or are you just excited like me to see food, such as cornbread dressing? I am not much for the giblet gravy, however. No thank you.

I'll let this go through Friday the 5th, and select the recipient randomly using the number generator, so I can get your package on the way, in time for the holiday.

Thanks again for reading-

BlackFridayZ Sale at Zazzle

Now, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, "Whatzup with Dr. Mathis sending out 2 blog posts in a day?"
I do good to get my blog updated a few days a month, and now I'm sending out 2 posts in a single day.

But Zazzle sent this out today, and it's really a sweet deal, especially on the postage and ties. It's for 10 hours and starts at Midnight and goes through 10 AM in the morning.

I have set up some ties and postage sheets. The postage sheets might not be available till after 10 am as they have to be approved by the postal service. However, they are still on sale for the weekend for 11.99 rather than 10.99, and you get free shipping for orders over $45. I think that goes through the weekend also.


Here's the code for checkout- BLACKFRIDAYZ



1. $10.99/sheets of custom postage
2. 50% off greeting cards and note cards
3. 40% off all calendars
4. 50% off profile and business cards
5. 30% off all mugs
6. 30% off all apparel (even embroidered jackets!)
7. 50% off all ties
8. $20 off all skateboards
9. 25% off Disney, Star Wars, Hot Wheels, Looney Tunes, and Barbie products
10. Free Shipping on orders of $45 or more.

Here's the link to my Zazzle Gallery and to the Zazzle homepage.

Smokey, Bob and Marilyn

Remember Cujo? Here in Sept and a few weeks ago. He has a little brother. Meet Smokey. Smokey was in for his puppy vaccination, day before yesterday.






And here's Little Bob and Little Marilyn.


They were 2 little strays found on a farm yesterday, by a former client, who happened to be in town for the holidays. Since they were found on Bob and Marilyn's farm, I am calling them Little Bob and Little Marilyn. So the former client, the daughter in law, thought it was just better, and more peaceful, for everyone to not have the puppies at the house for the holidays, if you know what I mean.

So they are boarding here till tomorrow. She may take them back home with her to Savannah, to either try and find them a home, or get them to an animal rescue.

Lil' Bob, the white one, is very timid, and is plastered up against the wall as if he's choking or something, but he's not. Marilyn, the brown one is a little more outgoing.
And both are more relaxed today. They are flea free, vaccinated, with full bellies, so what's not to love about hanging out here at Club Pet for the holiday.



This was taken last night and Marilyn kept wanting to lay on top of Bob, for some reason.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by twinsline7

I hope everyone in the States enjoy their holiday, and if you are international, you have a nice day also.

In happy news, it looks like TarBaby has a home. She left a little bit ago, with some of her relatives, to see how she gets along with their own dog and cat. Keep those fingers crossed . . . . . .

More Holiday Ornaments, even a Pink One ;)

So I spent time over the weekend, designing, and trying to photograph the other holiday ornaments. They are hard to photograph because of the mylar covering the image. I even made a few without the mylar just to photograph.

Last year, I made a dog one, a cat one, and a poinsettia one. Those were on porcelain.
This year, I am going a little more traditional, and these are made from pocket mirrors.

One features a painting of Christmas ornaments. Another is from a painting of a lily and candlesticks. The third one you've seen- the white poinsettia.

Holiday Lace- the original is egg tempera on paper.


I tried cropping the image into a round shape, but there is some pretty detail near the edge that was cut off. So I left it rectangular in shape. This gives a place to place the title and sign the ornament.



The background looks blue on my monitor, but it really is a dark green, in real life.

Light, Lace, and a Lily.
Here's the original watercolor on paper.


and this one did get cropped into a round shape.





Signed and dated on the edge, similar to the white poinsettia one.

The last one is pink. and it's exclusive to an online site. I was asked to design a product for Lollishops.com. Lollishops is what it might sound like- pink, lacey, girley, frou-frou. And this is what I came up with- from a still life painting of roses.

Lollishops opens, btw, on Friday the 28th. Here's the link.

I'm featured on Handmade Fuzion blog.

My print, Can We Play Now, Please?, is featured as a daily pick over at Handmade Fuzion. today.

Kewl.

Are you playing Christmas Music Yet?

Last week was sort of slow, I guess everyone was out voting, so I've been playing with the button machine. Putting some small gift things together for an upcoming holiday market.

In the past, I have sublimated ceramic coasters, and porcelain ornaments. And I really like how they look. I wanted something that was less likely to be damaged if someone drops the item.

Lightweight, less fragile, very kid or pet friendly, and fully functional.

So I made a set of cat coasters.



the back is covered with cork to protect your furniture.



Then I made a set of Fruit Coasters.



Then I came across this painting from years ago. White Poinsettia.

So I made it into an oranament design.



It is actually a tricked out pocket mirror. The ribbon is inserted during assembly. The back is real mirror, so it will break, but it's wrapped in a tin shell, so it's a little bit protected. The mirror will bounce light around your tree, and bling it up a bit, don't ya think?


They are handsigned and dated.






I have a few more paintings that might work for these. I'll add these to the store in a few days.

And then there were 4. . . .

Well, I'll be.

Looks like Rudy


has found a home through Petfinder. She left a few minutes ago for the weekend, and a trial sleep over. Fingers crossed everyone.


in other exciting news . . . . meet Bridget.


Bridg is an 8-10 week old puppy, pit bull or pit bull mix, that was found yesterday afternoon, next to the highway is some wet (swampy?) area below a road, without much sign how she got there, according to the person who brought her in.

She could not walk on either her right front leg or right rear leg. Her front leg was swollen around her elbow, with crepitus palpable, so it's fractured. Hopefully the back one is just strained.



So today, we took radiographs of both legs, and put the front one in a spica splint for a few weeks. She's excited that it's as big as she is. She's gonna rock it though, so she says. It needs a little bedazzling and it would be perfect.

I don't need 5 cats, Peoples.

Yep, I have 5 cats. and I only wanted maybe 2.

First, there was Leon.


then came Maybelline.


then Sunshine was left on the doorstep.



don't forget about TarBaby-




and remember Rudy?


who was here before TarBaby?

I thought I had found Rudy a permanent home, but that became only temporary when the person abruptly brought her back this week. I don't think it was any fault of Rudy though. She a quiet and sweet cat.

When I asked the lady, about someone else taking Rudy, she said that she hated to send her to the pound where they put them to sleep. Which is ironic in a way, because here, everyone that walks through my door, already has a pet. They aren't looking for more, like someone who might be walking into the pound facility. The cat might have a little better chance of trying to find a home there.

With limited boarding facilities, half of the cat cages are taken, so paying clients and patients have no place to stay for the holidays. Yay!!

So I am making a one last effort to find TarBaby and Rudy a home.

So I have put them on Petfinder.com. TarBaby is there, and I think Rudy's information is still processing.

Bone Cancer and Chemo- Would you consider it for your pet?

I wanted to share these photos from last week, and ask a question concerning chemotherapy in pets.

First on a happy note, Look who returned this week for their puppy vaccination.
Cujo. Can you tell he's growing from the photo? The first photo is from 4 weeks ago. The second one is from last Monday.






Now, here's my question. Last week I had to euthanize a 9 1/2 year old German Shepherd patient with bone cancer in her forelimb. She weighed over 100 lbs. 10 years old for a dog that big is about the human equivalent of 78 years old. Just for reference.

She was lame last December. We put her on arhritis medications for a few days-weeks, but that didn't seem to give her much relief. So we shot a radiograph (an x-ray). You could see areas of bone missing, which puts bone cancer on top of the list of possibilities. There was a little swelling around her joint but not terribly noticeable.

So, I sent her and rads to an orthopedic surgeon, since they deal with these cases more than I do . She needed a bone biopsy to confirm the lesion as osteosarcoma, but since the prognosis wasn't very good, her owners decided to try and make her comfortable for as long as possible.

This were their options for patients with osteosarcoma-
Amputation alone has a median survival time of 3-4 months.
Amputation and cisplatin (chemo) have a median survival time of 260 to 400 days. The 1 year survival range is 38% to 62%.

For a human, that doesn't sound like very long. For a large dog, a year is relatively longer in time reference.

J had been on narcotic pain meds but last week they noticed she seemed more uncomfortable and having way more diffuculty getting around.

I will say this though- I initially wasn't sure how well a 110lb. dog would be able to get around with missing a front leg. The orthopedic surgeon said that they do well since they are already accustomed to walking on 3 legs by avoiding weight bearing on the affected limb.

Here are photos I took of her leg last week. I had not seen J in several months and was expecting the tumor to be larger. There probably was also some metastasis to her lungs, which were still clear on radiographs back in January.


So my question is this. What would you have done? Knowing now that she made it almost a year, without surgery and without chemo, would you have done things differently?

Some owners might not be able to afford surgery, hospitalization, labwork and chemotherapy.
Chemo costs more in big dogs, than little dogs, as the drugs are dosed by weight.

In J's case, I think it was a little of it all- the poor prognosis, the expense, and not wanting to put her through all that.

Years ago, I had another German Shepherd who had lymphosarcoma. She did go through Chemotherapy over 12-15 weeks, and did quite well. She stayed in remission for about a year, and then when the cancer returned her owners opted to euthanize her too. But that is about the extent of practical experience I've had with chemotherapy.

Have any of you had a pet go through Chemotherapy? How did it go? Would you do it again, in hindsight?

Artists-Collective- Our first Issuu Issue

Many of you know that a few artists and myself have been advertising in a national art magazine over the past year. We have a new ad coming up in November and we are debuting our first online issue. It was a "little" time consuming to set up the first one, and I am sure I have lots of grammatical errors in it, but it's done, and you get to see it first.


Click on the mini-viewer and you will go to the page. Click on full-screen and you should be able to view it without zooming in and out.

Get your own - Open publication

Enjoy.
If you like what you see, please leave a comment or rate it. I also invite you to leave suggestions or ideas for future issues.

Ellie- Homeless to Happy in less than 7 days

Hello everyone-
As you can see I've been neglecting my blog this week. I wanted to share these photos I snapped today. Some are blurry, I apologize for that. I suspect my digital camera gets lazy about focusing when the batteries get low.

First, remember TarBaby? The 10 year old cat stranded here when her owner had to move to a care facility? And then the couple who purchased the house was going to adopt her and let her move back to "her" house?
Sadly, that all fell through. She's still homeless.


and then you'll recognize Sunshine. Who is "affectionately" referred to, by Maybelline, as the Devil.

Roxie came in for her last puppy shot.


and here's Ellie.


She came in last Monday, looking "possibly with children", sort of wormy, etc. She showed up at the client's house over the weekend.


these photos were taken today so she's looking better. On Wednesday of last week she got spayed, and was in today to get the staples out and get a bath.

She would have had 10 puppies before Thanksgiving.

Such a sweet dog, with a sweet personality.



Notice her bottom jaw? Her right side, the left side of your monitor.

Not ever so long ago, her mandible was fractured on that side. It healed but it's a little displaced.




There isn't much can be done with it now. It's healed. But that must have been really, really uncomfortable trying to eat for several weeks while it healed.

Next week or so, she's back to be treated for heartworms.

Remember to spay and neuter those pets. There are enough Ellie Maes (I am certain her middle name is Mae. We are in the South, afterall) running around as it is.