Timing is everything

How cute is this photo? Take a close look at the pumpkin...it's a carved look-a-like of Hudson!

The photo was sent to me by Marie-Piere. She is an awesome woman who has helped out our Paws for Charity cause again this year. She held a fundraiser in September and raised $50 on our behalf. We'll be donating her cheque to breast cancer research together with cheques from the 4 Paws for Charity businesses in December. Thanks Marie-Piere!

For those of you who were reading this blog back in April...an update on my application to the Ottawa Christmas Craft Show. I was devastated to be turned down back then...it was such a big goal for me to not obtain. I was put on a waiting list. Yah, right. Turns out it was true! They phoned me today to say they had some last minute cancellations and would I like to attend?

I spent several hours today trying to make it happen. But. Timing is everything. I would have loved the chance to do this back in April. Lots has changed since then. And there are only 9 days to prepare for a 5 day show (5 days...2 days at 11 hours, 1 day at 8 hours, 1 day at 5 hours, and 1 day at 7 hours) I just can't do it. This was really difficult to say no to. But you'll see why I had to say no in time. (can't tell you yet!)

My regular customer in England has just ordered again. Thanks Sooty! You make me feel so special when you order your biscuits all the way from Canada.

As promised, here is a little look at a PIF I sent out a few weeks ago. And that ends my PIF obligations! Yay.

It has been scanned in a little crooked, but you get the idea. C for Corline...she said she likes pinks, cream, and olive green. The C is made from cream material with small pink flowers, stitched in a blanket stitch with olive green. I think I'm going to try out some stitchery next year. Stitchery seems to be a lot bigger in Australia. If you like stitchery check out Cinderberry Stitches. I just love her patterns! Gonna get some soon.

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!

Today is a gift. Do something good!

How a shirt led to a conversation & PIFing news

We bought our home 9 years ago, when the house was 5 years old. In the past 9 years, we've had to replace LOTS of things...things you wouldn't expect to have to replace in such a "young" home. The latest in the long string of replacements (windows, french doors, furnace, hot water tank...) is our front porch. It was made from cedar, but it's rotting after 14 years.

So, I'm talking with the man who's doing the work (Pierre) and he asks me about the shirt I'm wearing. No, he's not interested in fashion. I was wearing one of my many "Barking Biscuit" shirts....a golf shirt embroidered with my company logo.

This led to a lengthy discussion. It seems that Pierre and his wife have bought my biscuits, and have been at agility events where they use my biscuits as prizes (they are both judges for agility). What a small world!

For all you budding entrepreneurs, my advice to you is to have your logo digitized so that you can have your logo put on the clothes you wear. It's not expensive (my logo costs $5 to embroider on anything I want), and it's one of the best marketing tools you can invest in. I can't tell you the number of times that people have asked me about my business just because I'm wearing a shirt with my logo stitched on. I'm my own walking advertisement!

Speaking of stitching...a bit from my personal life...

I recently joined a Pay It Forward (PIF). Sometime in the next 10 months or so I'll be receiving a little something from Joy. In return, I promised to PIF to three people. Well, I've sent my little somethings to Angelique and to Linda. I had lovely emails from them both, who loved what I sent. Here is Angelique's gift:

For some better photos, you can check out her blog entry here. The flowers represent Angelique and her husband. I revived my rusty embroidery skills for these projects.

And here is Linda's gift:

The colours aren't quite right in these photos...I was lazy and used my scanner instead of taking photos of them. My scanner dulls down the colours, and I'm not sure how to change the settings. There are 3 flowers around Linda's L...two flowers to represent Linda and her husband, and one orange flower that represents their daughter.

I have one PIF left...Corline, I'm working on it!

The Happy Dance

What makes you do the happy dance?


Here are some of my happy dance moments:

:: Fresh Tomatoes ::
from our garden


:: Interesting photos ::
don't you just love the colours of these marigolds after the rain?


:: Being creative ::
Here's a hint for my PIFs. I have Angelique's PIF finished and will start working on Linda's PIF soon. I'll show the completed projects after they receive them in the mail. (wouldn't want to spoil the surprise!)
:: Good music ::
I don't know how to give you just the tune to listen to, but here is a You Tube video of one of my current favourites...Hey There Delilah by The Plain White T's. Nothing like a good love song.


Go find something that makes you do the happy dance!

The pleasures of PIF

Remember the Pay It Forward I was involved with in March when I first started blogging? Well, here's the history:
It started with Mary, then went to Allyson, then to Jen in Pennsylvania, then to me, over to Angelique in Colorado, back to Ontario to Bumbershootska, and is now over in Scotland! If you want to play, check out this posting on Cut it and Pin it. It's a PIF waiting for someone!

I recently joined my second PIF. This one is a little more challenging. I found it over on Jamjar. Here's the link to her PIF. She's still waiting for some players. Here are the rules:

"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week… LOL… but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”

Okay, well I promise I'll get out your little gift a lot sooner than 365 days. No, it won't be dog biscuits! I am going to challenge myself a little with this PIF and I think it just might be some sort of stitchery project (no promises!). So, if you want to play just leave a comment.

Don't worry if I don't respond to you right away. For some reason, I am not receiving a notice anymore from blogger when someone leaves a comment. (can anyone help me with this?) My settings are ok, and the comments aren't going to my spam box so I don't know what's happening.

More about PIF:
I practice Pay It Forward in my business life too. I have met with many people who are starting businesses to give them advice. Some of them approach me directly, and some of them hear about me and my business from a local entrepreneurship centre. It's always fun to meet with them and interesting to hear about their plans. Some will make it. Some won't. Being self employed is the big dream for many people, but in reality it's a LOT of work! You have to really love what you're doing and have a lot of determination to make your own business a success.

I've also been approached by hundreds (no kidding!) of people who say they want to start a dog biscuit business. I'm not so interested in helping them. I don't mind competition, but I certainly don't want to teach them the business! I even received an email from someone in Montreal (just 1 1/2 hours from us) asking me to email them all my dog biscuit recipes and give them advice. No thanks.

You just have to keep a sense of humour about it all...sometimes hard to do!

Happy PIFing!

Next: some awesome auction buys!

Back to the lighter side of life

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my life changed a month or so ago when we finally got high speed out here in the country. Now that I don't have to wait 2 minutes for every page to load, I've been busy whipping around the internet, checking out blogs, discovering artists, and lots of fun & creative stuff.
This all inspired me to set up a little shop of my own on Etsy.com. (a place where only hand made things are sold) So far, I've added only 4 little watercolor paintings but we'll see where it goes. This is the first painting I did in March when the end of winter blahs were getting me down. I needed some color in my life so I painted with reds and purples. If you check out etsy, beware! There are lots of amazing artists there.
The funny thing is, when you're visiting different places, you never know where you're going to end up. I am in awe of all the creative people in the world. I think it was through Etsy that I discovered the Pay-It-Forward I was involved in with Beebee Mod. See my previous post "In Search of Good Peoples". My PIF went to Snow Angel Designs. You'll have to check her blog...she'll be carrying on the PIF soon.
So, today's thought is...take some time to do the things you enjoy!

In Search of Good Peoples #2

For those who have been anxiously waiting, here's something to start your week off right.

Pay-It-Forward. A fun project that started with Mary Contrary and then went to Allyson Hill, next to Beebee Mod, and now here at Barking Biscuit.
Read the original story here.

This is how it works:
1. Leave a comment if you want to participate (only one lucky person) and I will e-mail you back asking for your address, favorite colors, and any other hints into what you might like. Give me a little time and I'll mail you this Good Peoples card along with a little gift from me.

2. Continue the PIF on your own blog. That's it! Fun.

In Search Of Good Peoples #1

I had a fun start to the week. Since I'm new to blogging, I've been spending some time poking around other blogs. In the past week, I discovered Etsy.com (a wonderful site filled with hand made items from many, many great artists). I purchased a really cool car bag from Allyson Hill and discovered Pay-It-Forward on Allyson's blog.
This fun little project started with Mary Contrary, went to Allyson Hill, and then to Beebee Mod, and now me. Read the original story here.
I'm currently waiting for the "In Search of Good Peoples" tag from Beebee Mod. Once that arrives, you'll see In Search Of Good Peoples #2 on my blog. Then it will be someone else's chance to Pay-It-Forward. Fun!