Season Greetings

I have been working on our Christmas card as well as my Thank you cards(since I have been nice this year). Here is what I have so far, expect to see them in your email/mail soon.
Interestingly, blogger has decided that the dachshund "Thank You" card needed a color change. The real file has an offwhite/cream background with the dachshund and antler outline in brown. The patten consist of gold, olive/avacado green, and a brick red. The stars are gold. I do like bloggers winter wonderland color scheme...gotta love computers!

"Puppies Save Childs Life"

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/12/07/2008-12-07_puppies_save_threeyearold_boy_lost_in_fr.html
Sometimes we take their intelligence for granted. <3 dogs!

View from below

We are having a Christmas gift exchange in our office so I have been trolling Thinkgeek.com in search of a gift for our network admin.(the name I drew). It was by chance that I came upon this: (how is it I always manage to find stuff I want when shopping for others...selfish selfish!)

I just love thinkgeek item descriptions:
Doggy Blackmail
"All day long you toil at your office. And all day long your dog(s) and/or cat(s) sit around awaiting your return, doing nothing but miss you. Or so you think. But how can you find out what your pet really does all day? It's easy, if you have a Pet's Eye View Digital Camera. Just clip it to their collar, and it will record snapshots of their day! You'll have a photo diary of your pet's travels and travails.
Set the timer to record a shot every 1, 5, or 15 minutes and the Pet's Eye View Digital Camera is good to go. At the end of the day, you can download the shots to your computer and see what your pet did all day. The camera is plug-and-play, so there's no software to load (it basically works like a thumb drive)! Who chewed up your slippers when you were at work? Now you have photographic evidence - it was your neighbor, Eric. Bad Eric - bad neighbor."

Spiders

I wish I had seen this prior to Halloween since our theme was spiders, it's pretty scary even in the daylight. The costume is so well done.

Travels

Lately I have been a little restless, maybe it's the cooler weather but I have been wanting to site see. Sometimes I wonder if anyone is content in the day-to-day grind. I watched "The Graduate" a couple of days ago and it also made me question my current "adult" status. With decision regarding law school and future career plans I have become overwhelmed and need an agenda free break. Zola is also a contributer to my wanders, she wakes up everyday with a roof over her head and only has to be herself in return. What a life! Maybe I will sell my house or my car, purchase on of these and make/sell things to afford gas. Just the 3 of us; me, joe and Zola on the open road/water!

"Marley and Me"

As I stated in the beginning, The book Marley and Me by John Grogan was the initial inspiration for this blog and I am very excited about it being made into a movie. The book was a bit emotional for me so I'm not sure if going to the theatre is a good idea or not, either way I can't wait to see it.

Autumn

The leaves are falling,temperature is dropping and Zola is a busy bee. The winter weather and the time change makes us blossom. We can finally breath and we feel recuperated when we wake up, it's the best time of the year! Running around the yard without getting winded and prancing around in the leaves can only lead to a fun filled winter.

Scorpio!

Today is my mom's birthday. She is the best mom and friend ever! Love you Mama and Happy Birthday!

Masterpiece

I got this idea from a print on etsy. Again I should pay credit where it is due but I forgot to copy the link. I do remember it was a greyhound imposed in a Van Gogh painting and the sales benifitted a local greyhound rescue. I send them props and apologies for not posting the site, but I was inspired here is my version.

Also a shout out to Matisse!

Halloweenie!

The Halloween party was last Friday...What a success! It was a lot of fun, no major disasters and everyone had great costumes. Unfortunately I ran out of time on Zola's costume and it was quite makeshift. It did look cute and I was happy she had something but I wish I could have actually sewn it instead of constructing it with hot glue. Zola has never liked being dressed up but I didn't want her to be left out on Halloween, after all she is part of the family. She wasn't to happy about the party, she has grown asocial which is mostly my fault for being such a homebody. Quite a few people showed up to the party so my brother and I took turns carrying her around so she wouldn't get trampled. She is so worth it! Just take a look:

Zola as YoshiMario and the princess

Mobile Zola

Some random pictures I found on my phone. I have been extra tierd today and when I saw these they made me smile:

She's such a cuddler!

Halloweenie!

I have been so preoccupied decorating for Halloween and making costumes that I have neglected posting. Our Halloween party is this Friday and I am extremely overwhelmed. I still haven't started Joey's or Zola's costumes and I still have to prep food this week! I just hope I can get it all done. The house is pretty much complete and I have to admit it looks pretty amazing! ( sorry for tooting my own horn) Our little family is paying homage to Nintendo by dressing up as Mario, Princess Peach and Zola as Yoshi! It's going to be amazing. Pic to follow. In the meantime here are some interesting pups I found this week.

From Target.com (perfect pet for Halloween)
Shame on me for not documenting the site or artist responsible for this piece. It is swell though, yes?

So True

Thanks Postsecret.com

Stylish

I found a really cool website today, ran across another ingenious dog bed. I'm reassured that I'm not the only one who has a canine baby. http://shop.feelmorehuman.com/c-13-cats-dogs.aspx

Plus Zola is under the assumption that she is no different than me, this is the way she rolls:

http://shop.feelmorehuman.com/p-8738-mypetlamp-dachshund.aspx

Creations

I made the birthday hats for Zola and her birthday 'guest.' Art degrees often come in handy despite what people say. :) Here is the process. I also made the bandanas from a custom stencil.

These are the supplies needed: paper, ruler, scissors, spray adhesive and hot glue (not pictured and optional).This is the template I used to make the hats:
I chose to use some whimsical, scrapbook-paper to cover the cardboard templates:
I used spray adhesive to adhere the template to the paper:This step is optional. I chose to finish the edges by gluing them to the back of the template but you could just cut the paper flush with the template and omit this step. I often become overly particular when I do my projects.Here are the finished products:A little added detail adds alot of Jazz!This is the stencil I used for the bandanas,they served as party favors:

Belated

I have been preoccupied with life lately and as a result have neglected posting. We celebrated Zola's first birthday September 28. We decided to have a party and have everyone bring their pups. There was a great turn out and Zola had a delightful and exciting time. She loves to be the center of attention.
The invitations...Zola in her Birthday garb!

Kujo...my brother's dog and Zola's BFF

Pepper...my mom's dog, she is about 12/13 now, such a sweetie!

Zeke (the standard black and tan) and Zoe (mini chocotan). Zoe is Zola's mom, they both look entusiastic in their birthday hats! FUN times!

Origins

As you can see, this blog is named "Big Paw." In dedication to the noble dachshund whose paws seem out of proportion but more so, "Big Paw" is an homage to my favorite movie as a child: Pound Puppies! I am always alluding to the movie and no one seems to remember it. I rented it this weekend so I could relive the great musical parodies and it was just as amazing as I remember! Zola was entertained also. I recommend this movie not only to children but also those entertained by talking animals and 'puppy power!'

Mighty

Small but Mighty!

Crates

We don't crate Zola, although I know there are more advantages than disadvantages, Zola isn't left alone longer than 3 or 4 hours at a time so I have just never bothered. Plus through experience I have learned she doesn't destroy things or get into trouble while she is alone. I came up on this website today: http://www.denhaus.com/, which features some amazing crate designs. Maybe I could jump on the boat and crate train her with one of these since they are far removed from the crates that resemble prisons.

This image from http://www.denhaus.com/

Creative Paws

Meet Tillamook Cheddar: http://www.tillamookcheddar.com/ .This dog is a painter/artist I am amazed at by the pieces. (Photos from ^website.)

One More

(I forgot to add in my previous post) I have been meaning to share. My friend KC sent this to me because she felt it represented Joe and I. I feel it's pretty fitting although it lacks Zola.

Riding

Today is a day made up of many post. I mentioned earlier that Zola is a 'car riding enthusiast' and although this image may incriminate me I still thought it worthy of my blog. This is Zola's typical spot when we take a drive:Zola and I, photo compliments of Joe/daddy.

Inspiration

A few post back I mentioned all of the creative doxie pieces on Etsy and I figured I would post some of my own works (Having an art degree and all). I created these shirts to help raise funds for the Dachshund rescue of North America (www.DRNA.org). The shirt never took off but I haven't really publicized them beyond small blogs. I did a couple of designs and made 3 or each (S,M,L). I thought if they took off I would try to build some capital and start a screen printing shop out of my garage. Now that I work full time I have been dragging my feet on working on new designs. If I do get around to posting them on Etsy hopefully the will take off. I also planned on adding some embroidery to the design which is also why I have yet to really push the sales.Without further ado, here hey are...

Plans

I decided for Zola's Birthday we would hit the local dog park and have a picnic. Zola loves to go for car rides and I think it would nice to take a ride with the windows rolled down. When we get to the park I will let her of her leash so she can run like mad in celebration of her first birthday! I also thought (weather pending) we could have a picnic at the park and enjoy the outdoors. Luckily, Zola's birthday is in September so I'm crossing my fingers for a cool breeze and clear skies.