Mosaic Monday: Bone-a- Fide Bandanas

Do you have any dogs (or dog-lovers) on your Christmas list this year? What do you get for the dog who has everything? How about something bright and colorful and personalized with their name?

I had the opportunity to meet earlier this week with Nicole, owner of Bone-a-Fide Bandanas. Nicole is the daughter of my dear friend Robin. She is a smart, capable, savvy 21-year-old with her own business, making personalized bandanas and blankets for the canine set. She has been in business for about a year now, traveling to craft fairs around the state and building her website.

The idea for the business began with the simple bandanas that are given out with a visit to the dog groomer. Nicole thought to improve on the idea by personalizing them, and adding a clean edging with threads in colors that compliment the fabrics. She offers an ever-changing variety of fabrics, too -- everything from camo to cards to chili peppers, and much more. There are also fabrics for major holidays. You can see a few of her Christmas bandanas in one of the photos above.

Modeling a few of Nicole's creations here is Riley, her Jack Russell terrier. The bandanas come in five different sizes, to fit everything from a Chihuahua to a Bernese Mountain dog. In case you were wondering, the photos were taken in Robin's beautiful house. I will have to do another post on that soon. ;)

Best of all, for readers of Little Red House, Nicole is offering 20% off your total order through December 31st. Just use the code REDHOUSE. You may request gift packaging (bone patterned organza bag) by including the word "gift" in the text box which appears with each bandana listed in your shopping cart.

Check out Bone-a-Fide Bandanas for all the doggies on your Christmas list!

Here are the instructions to join today's post:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful images with all of us at Mosaic Monday!  

1.	Christmas 2010 @ My Cozy Corner	22.	Hyacinths For the Soul	43.	Très Julie
2.	Chorizo Con Huevos - Buen Provecho!	23.	Lucky Find @ My Place to Yours	44.	Synnöve
3.	My Little Home and Garden	24.	genie~va~usa	45.	My Third Eye
4.	podso	25.	Rajesh, India	46.	Coloring Outside the Lines
5.	Lavender Dreams	26.	Advent Tablesetting	47.	Wandering Thought
6.	Black Eyed Susans Kitchen	27.	Mary, MI	48.	LindyLouMac in Italy - Olive Harvest
7.	A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson	28.	At home	49.	Dawn Treader Sweden
8.	Eileen	29.	Ingmarie We/Refugium	50.	suzyq-atthefarmhouse
9.	Carol @ There's Always Thyme to Cook	30.	A Montana Life	51.	Autumn Holiday Inspiration
10.	Home is Where the Boat is~	31.	Gina, Art and Alfalfa	52.	Gillyweed
11.	Life Images by Jill	32.	Sheila	53.	Thrifted Collectibles
12.	Lavender Cottage	33.	Katalin	54.	RobinfromCA
13.	The Cottage Wren	34.	Pondside - The Season Begins	55.	Mary KY/USA
14.	At-Home Activity Basket	35.	Roberta	56.	Leslie
15.	Pat ~ Mille Fiori Favoriti	36.	Teacup-in-the-garden	57.	Freshen Your Landscape
16.	InaSandbox	37.	Twiggy	58.	Yael - HomeGardenDiggers
17.	ldh	38.	Pearls and Lace Thursday	59.	Sherry
18.	QMM	39.	La Rive ~ Tassels	60.	Shirleys World Blue Skies and Horses
19.	Life Among Mountains	40.	Bernie in Australia	61.	Carola Nativity Gallery
20.	Crave!	41.	Tina´s PicStory	62.	Nature Trail
21.	Cathy	42.	COAL for Christmas, bj's	63.	Sweet Pea, A vintage Shasta

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Happy Thanksgiving

Best wishes for a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Mosaic Monday: Christmas Cards

This is a somewhat unusual mosaic, but I thought I would show you what I have been working on for the past week -- Christmas cards for my portrait photography business. They are all designed to be printed as 5"x7" flat cards. Two of the designs are made for ornate die cut shaped cards.

Most of the digital papers used here are from Sarah Gardner Photography. The vintage frames and tape are from Florabella. The red bird in card #2 is from The Graphics Fairy.

I will be printing the first card as our family Christmas card this year. And can I tell you a little secret? I have never been this early with my Christmas cards. In fact, some years they just don't get done at all... ;)

Here are the instructions to join today's post:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful images with all of us at Mosaic Monday!  

1.	Yellow Historic Home	22.	Julie @ Color Chic	43.	The Cottage Wren
2.	Pat@Back Porch Musings	23.	As Time Goes By	44.	Wandering Thought
3.	eileen	24.	Bernie in Australia	45.	Whims n Whispers
4.	InaSandbox	25.	Pamela Gordon	46.	Gina, Art and Alfalfa
5.	Black Eyed Susans Kitchen	26.	Katalin	47.	QMM
6.	Rajesh, India	27.	Mary, MI	48.	Faux gingerbread houses
7.	Carol @ There's Always Thyme to Cook	28.	Our Thanksgiving Feast @ My Cozy Corner	49.	Brenda
8.	Lavender Dreams	29.	Lorrie	50.	Books & Bear Corner
9.	ellen b	30.	Thanksgiving non-traditional	51.	The French Hutch Thinking of You At Thanksgiving
10.	ldh	31.	Life Among Mountains	52.	Gingerbread Houses
11.	Molly [red, yellow, orange]	32.	Hyacinths for the Soul	53.	Kansas City Murals
12.	Snap @ Twisty Lane	33.	Christmas Village	54.	Roberta
13.	Pat ~ Mille Fiori Favoriti	34.	Teacup-in-the-garden	55.	dharma owl
14.	Lavender Cottage	35.	Pondside - A Cosy Start to the Season	56.	Puna@LifeSignatures
15.	Life Images by Jill	36.	Très Julie	57.	Dixon Hill
16.	Terri@Lakewood Manor	37.	Ingmarie We/Refugium	58.	Reached My Limit!
17.	Mosaic Magic	38.	Tina´s PicStory	59.	A Montana Life
18.	Transferware Heaven @ My Place to Yours	39.	DJ	60.	Dragonfly Garden
19.	{oc cottage}	40.	Mary KY/USA	61.	Sherry
20.	Shirleys World Miss Ellie	41.	Synnöve	62.	Carrie - Oak Rise Cottage
21.	Cathy	42.	Dawn Treader Sweden	63.	Gifts @Edwards Granddaughter

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A Little Bit of Summer

I guess I'm just not ready for the cooler weather yet... :)

Mosaic Monday: A Facelift

OK, so you didn't really think it was me getting the facelift, did you? Not that I wouldn't mind donating an extra chin or two to charity, you know. In fact, now that I look back on the sanctimonious attitude I took toward plastic surgery in my thirties, I shake my head in sorrow. Oh, if only I knew. Nowadays, having a forehead you could bounce a bullet off of doesn't sound like such a horrible thing... lol

Anyway, as you can see, it was our Little Red House getting the much-needed facelift. I actually shudder to show you the before pictures. How truly hideous! The path was pathetic to begin with, but with the tree roots pushing it awry, well... it was dangerous as well as ugly.

It was so exciting to watch the transformation, though, day to day. (Yes, I need to get a life.) I can't tell you how happy we were to simply see the shape of the new path dug out. And as it started to take shape, we became even more ecstatic. Now, we are absolutely giddy to simply walk on it, and find a dozen excuses a day to do so. :)

Here are the instructions to join today's post:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful images with all of us at Mosaic Monday!  

1.	Gayle	20.	Lavender Cottage	39.	World Kindness Day
2.	Kim,USA	21.	InaSandbox	40.	Shannara, Sweden
3.	Carol	22.	the french tangerine	41.	Dawn Treader Sweden
4.	Black Eyed Susans Kitchen	23.	Ash Tree Cottage	42.	the blue tangerine
5.	Carol @ There's Always Thyme to Cook	24.	The Cottage Wren	43.	Jones Family Matters
6.	Rajesh, India	25.	{oc cottage}	44.	Stepp In Time
7.	Home is Where the Boat is~	26.	Dusty Us Diaries	45.	Tyra
8.	Lavender Dreams	27.	Divine Dining	46.	Pondside - Rainy Weather Sunny Heart
9.	Pat@Back Porch Musings	28.	Lorrie	47.	Color Chic
10.	Pat ~ Mille Fiori Favoriti	29.	Becky	48.	Bess @ Fixing My Thoughts
11.	Mary, MI	30.	Old House Bath @ My Place to Yours	49.	Wendy @ AlmotaRoses
12.	Gina, Art and Alfalfa	31.	Francisca in Manila	50.	Schotzy@ Wings of Eagles
13.	Molly [finally frosted]	32.	Teacup-in-the-garden	51.	Patricia
14.	Podso	33.	Sweet Nothings	52.	Carrie@OakRiseCottage
15.	ellen b	34.	Katalin	53.	gio
16.	Dab of This and That	35.	Ida P. Krause	54.	NHGarden
17.	Pat@Mille Fiori Favoriti	36.	Bernie in Australia	55.	On The Road Again
18.	A Garden of Threads	37.	Roberta
19.	Qmm	38.	Tina´s PicStory

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Our Daily Bread

circa 1860, found at a local antiques store last month. See you all on Sunday night, for Mosaic Monday. :)

Mosaic Monday: Something Pretty

First of all, thank you so much for all your sweet comments earlier in the week. Things are getting back to normal around here slowly but surely. It's so strange to be even partially without power. All the little things you take for granted -- like light switches and washing machines and cable modems -- are all suddenly useless. I don't think I have ever really appreciated how very difficult life must have been before the advent of electricity. ;)

I wanted my mosaic this week to be cheerful and pretty, so here is a group of flowers from my flickr set My Flower Faves. I have been getting the urge to shoot flowers lately, so I think I may have to see what my supermarket has in stock tomorrow. Yes, I know that I am perverse about enjoying the seasons while they last. I just feel as though I've had an overload of leaves and pumpkins. I need a little something girly. You understand, right?

Here are the instructions to join today's post:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful images with all of us at Mosaic Monday!  

1.	Lavender Cottage	23.	Podso	45.	Japie's Tropical Paradise Part 2
2.	Rajesh, India	24.	genie~va	46.	Klein Optenhorst
3.	Lavender Dreams	25.	Pamela Gordon	47.	Couleur Nature~
4.	Pat@Back Porch Musings	26.	Snap	48.	Christmas Past
5.	Wandering Thought	27.	The French Hutch ~ Myrtle Hall	49.	Dawn Treader Sweden
6.	Pat ~ Mille Fiori Favoriti	28.	A Montana Life	50.	Tina´s PicStory
7.	Home is Where the Boat is~	29.	Ingmarie We/Refugium	51.	Gina, Art and Alfalfa
8.	Pondside - A Different Mosaic	30.	Santa Fe Style @ My Place to Yours	52.	Michelle at Rosebudquilting
9.	Moose, Dolly, Boxes, Tea Set	31.	Francisca in Manila	53.	glorious green
10.	Kim,USA	32.	judi/gmj	54.	Brenda
11.	Shirley LeMay	33.	Life Images by Jill	55.	Marianne@Leisure Lane
12.	Sheila	34.	FOOD @ bj's :)	56.	Coloring Outside the Lines
13.	Black Eyed Susans Kitchen	35.	My Favorite Piece	57.	Rebecca Cartee
14.	ldh ~ Autumn Days	36.	Katalin	58.	Roberta
15.	Bernie in Australia	37.	Fishtail Cottage	59.	Roberta-trying again
16.	Cathy	38.	Dayle ~ Autumn's Glow	60.	dharma owl
17.	ellen b	39.	Teacup-in-the-garden	61.	Puna@LifeSignatures
18.	Molly [second spring]	40.	The Rose Window at York Minster	62.	Patricia
19.	Susan@STitK	41.	Très Julie	63.	Have A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
20.	Lorrie	42.	My Garden & Me	64.	Caron
21.	{oc cottage}	43.	Yael	65.	Hooray for Bollywood
22.	QMM	44.	Karen, A Scrapbook of Inspiration	66.	Things I Miss

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

October Snow

It started on Saturday. I was at my favorite bakery, Cocoluxe, with my dear friend Robin. We were sitting at a table by the window when we saw the first flakes appear. As you can see, the maple trees were still aflame with autumn color.

At first it looked beautiful -- a patchwork quilt of green grass, autumn color, and white snow. For the past three years running, we have had our first snow in late October. Those others were just a dusting, and soon melted, but this one was different.

As the morning progressed, the snow began to accumulate, and I began to hear our small town's emergency sirens go off several times.

Then we lost power.

We have a generator which runs our furnace, well pump, sump pump and kitchen and den lights. The generator kicked in, and I breathed a sigh of relief. At least our pipes would not freeze and our cellar would not flood. My husband had been in Washington D.C. and was scheduled to fly into Newark on Saturday afternoon. He took the train instead, which was probably a good thing. Newark was pretty much shut down by late afternoon. By early evening, we had around 4-5 inches of snow.

Power returned around 2:00 am Sunday. We cheered. But then it went off again at 8:30 am. And it stayed off for the next four days. I spent most of Monday trying to reach someone (anyone) at our propane supplier, to supply the generator. And I went through internet withdrawal. ;)

We were very lucky. We had a warm and dry house. And even though this huge branch came down on our deck, it did not break anything. Driving around on Sunday, we viewed hundreds of downed tree branches, hanging wires and swollen streams. Roads were closed to through traffic, and getting around town entailed several detours and a thorough knowledge of the back roads. Schools and businesses were closed. A few of our surrounding towns cancelled Halloween.

And I ate way too much Halloween candy.

So, how was your week?