Love Is All Around You

Feel the love! These three can. Tucker, Sasha and Sugar, our three favorite models at our Astrid Nicole Etcetera Etsy shop are celebrating Valentine's this year 'retro' style. Love, love, love...dogs can never get enough. That's why 100% of the net sale from each and every item sold in our Etsy shop benefits the Santa Cruz Humane Society in Nogales, AZ.

Last year, Tucker, Sasha and Sugar chose a more 'traditional' look.

Your true love may be as near as your local shelter! Visit a shelter this Valentine's and spread a little love with a donation. If you are looking for a companion dog, check and see if maybe your new best friend is there waiting for you!

Our Virtual Arts and Crafts Portfolio

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Please visit our Etsy shop, Astrid Nicole Etcetera, where 100% of the net sale benefits the animals at Santa Cruz Humane Society in Nogales, AZ. You can learn more about the shelter and see the pets they have available for adoption by visiting www.santacruzhumanesociety.org .

A Virtual Christmas Craft Show

A Kitties Christmas

More and more cats are discovering Astrid Nicole Etcetera bandanas fit them great! Here's stylish Minn and her brother, Mister Kitty posing in their reversible Christmas bandanas.

Therapy Pet Visit

Six dogs along with their people spread smiles and fun at today's visit to Pineville Living and Rehabilitation Center. This was a rather large group of very large dogs....including a German Short Hair Pointer, Astrid, a Rottie mixed up with a few other things, three beautiful rescued Greyhounds and biggest of all, a Great Dane. This month is Astrid's anniversary month of one full year as a therapy pet.

Howloween Party At Day Camp

A friend of mine and I agreed the other day, Astrid's 'school experiences' are probably better than our own children's were! Actually, it's a day camp for dogs Astrid attends called Best Friends. She attended this years Howloween party as Cher...which she modeled for me several days before the actual party...hence, the difference in bandanas. The party was complete with a spooky craft and take home treats. Someone was quite creative with using the dog bones as little tombstones in the mini-cupcakes! The last picture shows Astrid, after the party....a very, very tired Astrid, still wearing her Halloween bandana.

The Pumpkin Patch

Astrid and her dad and I sent to the pumpkin patch Sunday, to pick out just the perfect pumpkin, or two or three. It was a beautiful day and a little on the crisp side. Wandering among the pumpkins, Astrid drew the regular 'oh how cute' and 'can I pet her'. There was one not so bright incident, though, where a little girl of about 10 stated very loudly and not in a very pleasant tone "why does anyone bring their dog to a pumpkin patch."

Well, we do because we can. Companion pets are meant to be just that...companions, and not to just lie in the corner with nary an interest shown in him/her. I would have liked to have told her that dogs are very social creatures, craving interaction and adventure...even if that adventure is only a trip to the pumpkin patch. Well trained dogs enrich our lives, especially when we can include them in our outings and fun. I'm sure someone has told this little girl that dogs stay home, are for your amusement, and if you are lucky they will cause very little disruption to your life. I hope she learns someday the satisfaction of interacting with her dog, sharing travel, picnics in the park....and the occasional pumpkin patch...because she can. Not every dog's person can say that about them. Spend some time, interact, socialize.........and say it about yours. There's nothing like it.

Ah Autumn...

We just couldn't resist these great autumn 'props' that we're outside the Living and Rehabilitation Center that we visited yesterday.

Autumn and all that implies

Today is the first day of Autumn. Seems that we have an endless supply of fun holidays to look forward to this time of year, beginning with Halloween. While kids are the focus for this fun day, the pupsters in your life don't want to be left out either! Anyone who has been to a pet Halloween costume contest has probably heard the sighs of those with dogs who refuse to wear clothes. There are lots of ways to bring some lighthearted fun into letting your dog enter those contests, though, as the true focus should be the socializing that goes along with it. How about a big puff of cotton taped on their rear end and entering as a bunny, or tape that same puff on their sweet little heads, showing that they have 'their heads in the clouds'!

Of course, the well dressed pup will definitely want a reversible Halloween bandana. We have a nice selection in our Astrid Nicole Etcetera Etsy shop for all sizes. Think of flipping down the edge, and you'll have four looks in one for your dog! Best of all....our bandanas all benefit the Santa Cruz Co Humane Society in Nogales, AZ where Astrid made her home for an undetermined length of time, coming to live in her forever home with us on December, 28, 2006.

Tyler...writing a new story now

This little boy's name is Tyler...smart, very cute, loving. Tyler is also a rescue. He wandered into a yard on a Thanksgiving Day and found himself a loving home. We'll never know the story behind Tyler, or any of the other pups waiting in shelters across the country but we do know one thing. In this case, one person's carelessness, cold heartedness or possibly even an unavoidable accident of life became another person's very bright spot in life!


We appreciate Tyler's mom's generosity in letting us use his picture. It helps spread the word behind the mission of Astrid's Etsy bandana boutique. Doesn't he look proud modeling his Astrid Nicole Etcetera bandana? The proceeds from it's purchase go to aiding other shelter pets who find themselves in the same straits as he once was in. At Astrid's former shelter, the Santa Cruz Co Humane Society in Nogales, AZ, all of the friends she left behind are welcome in the shelter for as long as need to be there, whether it is a day, a week or a lifetime. Hopefully they too can go from this to a happy, loved and loving boy like Tyler. If you are thinking of getting a new companion, remember Tyler, Astrid and all the wonderful pets in shelters and consider adopting.

(Later picture is Astrid, December 2006 just before coming to live in her forever home with her mom and dad.)