Christmas for Animal Lovers

OK, so I have to hope my family stays true to form and doesn't check into my blog this weekend. Why? Because as an animal lover from a family of animal lovers, I did some really wonderful Christmas shopping for a brother and a sister that I'm sharing with you today. Maybe you're in the same boat as me: needing some new ideas for things to give to loved ones? Well, if they like animals or their pets, have I got some tips for you!

I don't just use Etsy to sell my work, but I'm a shopper there, too. I've found a number of wonderful artists over the past couple of years and this Christmas the pet and animal theme is in focus for some of my gift giving.

I'd like to introduce you to my friend Shella of PapierAngels in upstate New York. Her main medium is papier mache which she sculpts into different creatures, often dogs and cats, but with an imaginative twist in that they are portrayed as angels, santas, clowns and ornaments. The fun doesn't stop there. The folk feeling in her sculptures is further enhanced with a paint job and antique finish for really fun and fresh pet portraits that could pass as antiques.

The border collie, shown above as a guardian angel complete with his little lamb, is especially for my sister who adores her dog Jobe. I think she will really like it because it looks a lot like her dog!

Pet portraits as ornaments, made to order!
Here's the Purrmeister-photos I sent and the piece she made...how cute is this!??

I happened to check into her shop again a few days ago, noted a black and white kitty head made into an ornament as a little angel with wings and a halo. I dropped her a note to ask if she would consider doing a version of this cat but making it a portrait of Purrmeister. Check this out!! It's in the mail to me now & I'm in love with it! I sent along a few photos of his little face to her for guidance so I'm showing her translation together with Purrmeister's mug shots here.

This might be a special idea for a personal gift at a very reasonable price: $13.95 for her ready made ornaments and add an extra $3 for personalized versions of your pet or a friend's pet.

Now my brother is another whole problem for shopping. But we were talking about our childhood fun this summer and reminiscing about a pet chipmunk he kept for awhile when we were little kids. Chippy lived in a hamster cage in my brothers room--he was really cute and pretty lucky because the ones that lived outside had to be very very careful of all the farm cats that ran around.

When I spotted the needle-felted sculptures of artist Tracye Mueller, in particular, this life-sized portrait of a chipmunk, I knew I had his gift nailed. There's a realism in her pieces that makes you do a double take! I'm hoping the NEW Chippy will find a nice home in my brother's study, maybe even on his desk.


Another whole series that Tracye features in her Etsy shop are amazing portraits of all kinds of birds! I fell in love with the chickadee and ordered one in the smaller, ornament size shown here on the right. In time, I'd love to collect many of them. But then, I've admitted before how much I love birds, how I collect portraits of them in all media and forms: photos, paintings, sculptures, carvings, etc. So now, I discovered "needle felting" which, in the hands of an artist, is a really beautiful material to use for portraits of wild life. Maybe one of her pieces would be a perfect gift for the bird lover on your list this year?

So I leave you this weekend with 2 special artists & two different shops online on Etsy. You still have a few weeks to get your very special gifts ordered for very special (lucky) folks!! At least, please take a peek at these wonderful shops!!

Don't just stop here....more observations about Christmas giving is waiting for you via the first "Tribal Blogs" Carnival blog-hop! So from here, please click this link and visit "The White Christmas that Sucked" by Tarheel Rambler

Have a great week!