Best Shot Monday: Sweet Furry Faces!

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More sweet furry faces for you today as part of Best Shot Monday. That little bit of adorableness above is Blake, available for adoption at the City of Tallahassee Animal Service Center. Love when I get a good head tilt!

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Kenny, above, is a ball hound! This sweet little pup was adopted shortly after I photographed him.

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And then there's Jasmine, above, and most funny, below. When I'm shooting at the shelter, I shoot in continuous shooting mode (burst mode on some cameras), so sometimes the bloopers make for the best shots!

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Thanks for stopping in today!

2017 Documented Life Project: August

August-1

I started out August in my Documented Life with a trip up to Donna Downey Studios in North Carolina for a workshop with Pam Carriker! I've admired Pam's work for a while and have her book Art at the Speed of Life. I really liked her way of finding small pockets of time to work art-making into a very hectic schedule! I'll be sharing some of my spreads created in her workshop a little bit later!

August-2

Week two of August included the redheads third week of band camp and their first official high school performance, before high school even officially started! I also had a quick trip over to High Springs and Camp Kalaqua for our state Student Government Executive Board retreat.

August-3

Close up of the first week's art side spread above. I used molding paste through a stencil here. I learned this technique from Albie Smith in one of my Artful Journey workshops. I had forgotten how fun this was and what great texture it creates.

August-4

The third week of August brought us the official start of high school! Early days! School starts at 7:30am, so we are out of the house about 6:45am. I was able to see the ladies off that morning, but then I had to head down to Ocala for a meeting, so I missed the first day home stories in person. Made the best of it by having dinner that night with my sweet friend Vanessa.

August-5

Close up of the second week's art side spread above. I really had fun with this page.

August-6

The fourth week of August brought us the solar eclipse -- so cool! The schools closed early that day so everyone could get home and watch safely. It also brought us the girls first high school football game and marching band performance! Three hours away on a work/school night so we didn't see that one in person, but they had a blast.

August-7

Close up of the third week's art side spread above. This page quickly came together from things I had on my work table. I started with a magazine page, topped in places with some tissue paper that came in my Brave Girl box that had just arrived. I added some deli paper I had been using as under paper, grabbed a stencil and paint that were sitting nearby and then some washi tape and a bit more of the tissue paper, cutting out the words. Really loved this page, thanks much in part to that tissue paper!

August-8

This last week of August/beginning of September thankfully brought us our first home football game and marching band performance. As luck would have it, we had a lot of rain, so it was a late start, but successful none-the-less! That Friday was a half day, so we took the opportunity for a long weekend at home in Jax for Labor Day weekend.

August-9

Close up of last art side spread for the month above. This page also came together from scraps on my desk. That square photo is an Instagram print from one of my Boca Grande photographs. The little splotches of paint up around it are actually paint splotches from my paint pallete that I pulled up off the pallete. That was a very fun discovery I learned in Pam Carriker's workshop earlier in the month. With the right, slick, pallete paper, you can peel the leftover paint off and use it!

Thanks for stopping in again today! To see more of my 2017 Documented Life Project journal, click here. For 2016, click here; for 2015, click here; and for 2014, click here. Thanks to the ladies at Art to the 5th for originally creating the project!

Earrings, Earrings Everywhere!

365 Somethings Week 2-3

I've been needing to clean up my bead board, so I got busy with some sweet little earrings this week. It started with beads I had on my board and went from there! I haven't done wire forming like this in a while, so it was fun to get back to this, if not a little hard on the fingers! I use pliers for the initial forming and then use my fingers to get the shaping uniform. I've also forgotten how fulfilling it is to work in a series! I'll have these listed in my Etsy shop soon, but until then, if you see a pair you'd love to have, just shoot me an email at happyshackdesigns at yahoo dot com. They are $30.

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Thanks for stopping in today!

Best Shot Monday: Sweet Furry Faces!

Tools of the trade

Time for Best Shot Monday and more sweet furry faces!  This was a fun little accidental shot. Sweet little Hazel here really couldn't sit still for longer than a second or two most of our shoot, but this was a fun little find on my camera card. Shows one of the tricks of the trade! Treats! Below are six more of my favorite shots from the second week of January.

Gracie

This little bit of adorableness is Gracie. She is about 90% blind. She was one of six dogs who came into the Tallahassee shelter when her owner died. Three of the dogs were adopted out, one was taken by the Leon County Humane Society, and Gracie and her brother Frankie were taken by Tallahassee Big Dog Rescue. Right now, Gracie relies on Frankie as her guide. Big Dog Rescue is currently raising funds for her to have surgery to help her regain her eyesight. She has been seen by the same animal eye team who treated my sweet blind girl Savannah, Drs. Brown and Chandler from the Animal Eye Clinic in Jacksonville, and they are developing a plan for her treatment. The surgery will be approximately $1,700 for one eye or $2,600 for both. Interested in helping Big Dog Rescue help Gracie? You can make a donation towards her surgery and everything Tallahassee Big Dog Rescue does here. TBDR is an all-volunteer non-profit who relies solely on donations. Every little bit helps!

Mia

This is Mia. She came through the City of Tallahassee Animal Service Center and had the opportunity to get through the UTOPIA program. The UTOPIA program is a partnership between Animal Services and the Taylor Correctional Institution (TCI) in Perry, Florida. This program began on June 4, 2007, and aims to increase the adoptability of the dogs in training. The Animal Service Center dogs are housed at the TCI for eight weeks to receive socialization and basic obedience training. All dogs participating in the UTOPIA Program must complete their training before being adopted (minimum eight weeks). Programs like these benefit not only the dogs but also the inmates working with the dogs. The dogs learn basic obedience training while the inmates learn to care for another while incarcerated, thereby giving more meaning to their time in the facility. Tallahassee Big Dog Rescue took her in from the shelter and now she is in a TBDR foster home waiting to meet her forever family.

Samuel

This is Samuel. He's also being fostered by a Tallahassee Big Dog Rescue foster family. He's a super shy, pretty fearful fella, but once we got him outside for some playtime and fresh air, he came out of his shell a little bit. He'll need a patient family willing to take their time with him so he can learn to trust you.

Eugene

This is Eugene. He and Charming below were part of a litter of nine Great Dane puppies that Tallahassee Big Dog Rescue rescued from a puppy mill case in Missouri. TBDR started off with nine and are down to two! The redheads and I enjoyed hanging out with them at the recent Tallahassee Adoptathon Pet Adoption the second weekend in January. We love dogs that lean on us, and these two are definite leaners!


Charming

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And lastly, this little sweetie is Emmie. Smaller dogs and puppies are the first to get adopted at municipal, open admission shelters, and Emmie was one of those! She was adopted through the City of Tallahassee Animal Service Center the day after I took this photo! Thanks for stopping in!

2017 Documented Life Project: July

July-1

July in my Documented Life Project includes Denver, this incredibly handsome dog that we fostered for Jacksonville's Animal Care and Protective Services. I first told you about him here.  He enjoyed watching the fireworks along the river with us from our backyard (unlike our Isabelle, who is definitely not a fan of fireworks). We enjoyed a nice day on the dock for the 4th.

July-2

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July-4

The end of the second week of July, the redheads and I went up to the Washington, D.C., area to spend a long weekend with my sister and her family.

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July-6

My sisters' girls enjoyed having the "big girl" cousins around for a few days. We spent one day visiting a couple Smithsonian museums along the Mall, another visiting the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum at Dulles Airport (truly a must see....so much cooler than the Air & Space Museum on the Mall), and the last day just hanging out at the pool.

July-7

July-8

The last part of July brought the start of band camp (the redheads first) and their birthdays.

July-9

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Thanks for stopping in and for following along with the Documented Life Project! To see more of 2017, click here. For 2016, click here; for 2015, click here; and for 2014, click here. Thanks to the ladies at Art to the 5th for creating the project!

Best Shot Monday" Sweet Furry Faces!

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Kale is a super sweet, incredibly smart six-year-old fella who knows sit, shake, and paw.
On the first of the year, I mentioned that I might participate in iHanna's 365 Somethings Project this year. While it seemed a little daunting at first, when I realized that I create multiple photos every week and could make the "somethings" any creation that I wanted to, the doors sprung open, so over the course of the year, I'm sure I'll be sharing more than 365 furry faces, primarily over on Instagram.  You can find my "art and life" Instagram here and my Shelter Pet Superstars Instagram here.  That's what a true volunteer passion will do for you. And when I can use my artistic talents, in this case photography, to also help a great cause, that's all the better. So here's week one! All theses photos were taken the first week in January at Jacksonville's Animal Care and Protective Services. Adopt a shelter pet! 

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Betty is an absolutely gorgeous, gentle three-year-old gal.
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Queenie is a volunteer favorite who has great leash manners and loves to give kisses.

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Seth is a high-energy two-year-old who loves to play fetch.

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Bill is a nine-month-old pup who got adopted right after I took his photo!

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Georgie loves to fetch!  Even at six years old, he says, "So many balls, so little mouth space!"

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Luna...she has the sweetest face, doesn't she?  She's a two-year-old heart-stealer with a future in modeling. 
Thanks for stopping in today!

2017 Documented Life Project: June

June-1

In this dreary January weather, let's celebrate June with my June spreads for the Documented Life Project! Last week of May/first week of June above ... took that photo at the bus stop with my girlies. Called it Converse-ation. Get it?

June-2

The second week of June included our annual trip to Boca Grande, so I popped some pictures from the trip in some photo sleeves.

June-3

Close up of that week's art journaling side. These carrots just spoke to me and I've had these fish swimming around for a while. I must have been hungry!

June-4

That top left photo is my favorite of Sarah from the trip. It was totally caught by accident. I was just checking my camera settings, and poof!, there she was. Beautiful.

June-5

June-6

June-7

I have an embarrasingly large collection of old postcards that I flip through every once in a while. This one just screamed Boca Grande to me.

June-8

June-9

This little pup jumped out at me from a magazine page, so I created a spread around him focusing on my love of shelter pets.

June-10

The tail end of June found us scalloping in Steinhatchee. It was the first time for me and the girls, and I loved it! I will admit that my competitive nature got the best of me gathering up those little buggers. Very fun!

June 11

June-12

I closed out the month using a Brave Girls Club postcard as the focal point.  You can see the rest of my 2017 Documented Life Project here, see 2016 here, 2015 here, and 2014 (still my all-time favorite) here.  Thanks to the ladies at Art to the 5th for the inspiration!  Thanks for stopping in!