Archive for October, 2009

New online stores, new product!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Our online Studio Store is just hours away from completion.  Soon, you’ll be able to purchase our products online, simply by clicking on the Studio Store button, located right next to this Dog’s Blog link!

If you don’t happen to see something that strikes your fancy there, however, I will continue to add more products to our Etsy store – sleepingdogsstudio.  I have been faithfully listing card sets, but I am slowly and surely adding frames, earring holders, boxes, and our other items as well.

Our newest product is the “Mini”!  Small in stature, but big on style, the “Mini” is a 4″ X 4″ frame that would make a great stocking stuffer, teacher’s gift – or as a treat for any celebration. 

Mini

Retailing at $18.00, these frames are the same 1/2″ thick wood as our other frames – sturdy and practical as well as beautiful!  Above is one example – but they also come in holiday designs, so that you can easily capture the perfect photos of children with Santa, etc.  Be on the look-out, as these will soon be available online too!  Have a great week!

Busy Days of Fall…

Thursday, October 22, 2009

There’s a lot going on at the Studio these days.  If you’re reading this, you know that our web site has been re-done…and except for the Studio Store, where you will soon be able to shop online directly from us, all is up and running! 

In the interim, stop by our Etsy shop (simply search under the “Seller” category for “sleepingdogsstudio”) to see a few items that are available right now.

We’re also very happy to announce that we are newly represented by three additional stores, located around the country.  They include:

Artisan Shop & Gallery, Wilmette, IL
This 2,000 square-foot space features American crafts from artists across the USA. The Artisan Shop and Gallery has the distinction of being voted a NICHE magazine “Top 100 Retailer of American Craft” for 1999. They are also an AmericanStyle Preferred Gallery.
Artisan Shop and Gallery, Wilmette, IL

Artisan Shop and Gallery, Wilmette, IL

SweetHeart Gallery, Woodstock, NY
Located on the waterfall in ever-famous Woodstock, NY,
the Sweetheart Gallery has “a collection of
some of the best artists and designers in American Craft”.
Sweetheart Gallery, Woodstock, NY

Sweetheart Gallery, Woodstock, NY

Spotted on 2nd Gallery, Delray Beach, FL
With over 100 American artists and craftsmen
represented, Spotted on 2nd Gallery is located in
the Pineapple Grove Arts District of Delray Beach.
Spotted on 2nd Gallery, Delray Beach, FL

Spotted on 2nd Gallery, Delray Beach, FL

We are truly delighted to have new relationships with all of these fine stores, and look forward to many great years together!

Until next time…  :)

Broad Ripple Preview Party

Saturday, October 17, 2009

One of our long-time supporters in the Indianapolis area is Marigold, a wonderful clothing and home decor shop on the Monon Trail in Broad Ripple.  This year, as usual, they will be participating in a village-wide event known as the Broad Ripple Preview Party.

Marigold outside

Those attending not only get a chance to see a preview of holiday items throughout the many stores of the Village – but they can also help out a wonderful cause.  Second Helpings is a food rescue not-for-profit that prepares 3,000 – that’s right, 3,000! – meals per day for many folks who would go hungry otherwise.  Customers attending the preview are asked to bring a pasta dish to donate to the cause.  (Remember to bring it in a disposable dish, as with this many coming in, we won’t be able to return them!  :)   )

Marigold inside

I hope to be there for the party’s kick-off on Friday night, November 13th.  I’ll be bringing lots of extra products that will only be available from that night through the following weekend – so we certainly hope that you will be able to join us – I’d love to see you there!

Fall is in the Air

Saturday, October 10, 2009

You can feel it.  The wind is getting brisk, dark comes earlier, and there is a special quality to the sunlight that comes at day’s end.

For Sleeping Dogs Studio this is a busy time!  We are trying to ensure that we are fully stocked for art shows, stores and our commission orders, while still brainstorming new pieces that will complement the current line.

I think Don has outdone himself on the latest group of small “Constructions” he’s made (see more “Constructions” in the Gallery section of the main web site).  Perfect for hanging in a hallway, these mirrors and frames just might sneak out of the studio into our own hall for safekeeping until they are sold!

Hanging Constructions

Part of what I find so special about these are the unique embellishments he has used to decorate them.  From an antique kitchen knob:

King Tut

To the top of a soup can!:

Tin Man

You’re just never quite sure what’s going to pop up next…

Dog’s Eye View

Monday, October 5, 2009

People love dogs.  We were always cat people until we got these two shelter rescues – nothing’s been the same since.

Snoozin

Owen - yup, he's snoozing...

Our customers want to know about them – “What are their names?”; “Do they really sleep in your studio?”; “Do they like visitors?”, etc.  So for our inaugural entry in the Dog’s Blog, let’s give you a little sense of what the dogs do in the studio.

1) They put problems in perspective: Carolyn to Don – “I just spent 30 minutes making that embellishment, and it cracked!”.  Don to Carolyn – “Look at Owen and Jasmine”.  Ahh, perspective.  Sleepy dogs are cuddly, and if you pet them, sleepy dogs are sure you are incapable of making an error.  Problem solved.

Jasmine - with her favorite pillow...

Jasmine - with her favorite pillow...

2) They are exercise machines:  Wherever we go in the studio, we look DOWN.  One dog may be curled up under a table, another stretched out in front of the couch.  Inevitably, we get wrapped up in what we are doing, and only a last-minute “Watch out!” keeps us from stepping on a tail.  The calisthenics involved in such a move are truly acrobatic.  In a strange way, their LACK of activity might actually improve ours! Good exercise.

They provide so much more too – make no mistake, our dogs are a part of the team.  Without them, Sleeping Dogs Studio wouldn’t be waking up stores all over the country with our lively products.

Time for another nap already?!?

Owen and Jasmine 2