In the garden...

Don't you just love it when you don't know what to cook for dinner; then you go outside and find some inspiration in what is ready to pick in the garden? So....what is everybody growing out there in Corgi land?

-CS ^..^

Happy Birthday Bridget!

We found little notes around the house this evening with our names on them. They were from Bridget, inviting us to her candle lit birthday party. She was a gracious hostess, and had bones, Italian ices, and ice cream sandwiches for all. Here she is smiling with her new birthday hedgie! Corgi birthday bliss! -CS ^..^

Flying Lessons!

Click the Ebay Icon to see new Original painting. Auction ends Friday, July 27! -CS ^..^

Tasha Tudor's Garden

Last weekend I had the rare privilege of touring Tasha Tudor's lovely garden with some kindred spirit friends (13 of us!) I brought my friends Sandi Eaton and Cyndi Rusakovitch with me. Oh my, did we have fun. Tasha is the reason I got 'into' Corgis in the first place. She inspires me in so many ways. Tasha's garden is a lovely and magical place. Her Corgi, Megan is a cutie pie. One gets the sense of being in another world when walking the lovely paths and discovering all of the secret gardens that have been the subject of much of Tasha's art. Would that even a teeny bit of her talent rub off on me, I would be extremely grateful!

While Tasha does not allow photos taken inside her garden, here is a photo of all of us together outside the rookery. Well, almost all of us. Poor Kristen (doll maker extraordinaire!) fell in the road while picking up LaVonne and Linda at the airport. They flew in for our Gathering all the way from Montana and Oregon. Kristen ended up spending 5 hours in knee surgery! Ouch! We were all so sad; but then who should walk in to the hotel the next day but Kristen! Crutches and all, straight from being discharged from the hospital! She and Suzanne had arranged for us to have a conference room where we had tea (and yummy treats using Tasha's recipes or 'receipts' as she calls them) and did some serious crafting.

I brought one of my Santa and Corgi eggs for Tasha. I believe LaVonne brought some of her wonderful wool for her. Oh, do let me tell you about LaVonne's wool. She raises sheep and the wool she has is just lovely! You can see some of her wares at www.montanacountrypickins.com Do tell her I sent you! I will need to order some more wool to create more of these little creatures, and perhaps to knit a scarf!

LaVonne brought some wool roving which she dyed to a perfect Corgi color! We made felted Corgis with her! The felting needle is barbed and every now and then you would hear an 'ouch' when someone pricked their finger! We made cut wool animals with Suzanne. Bless her husband's heart, he cut out some wood templates for us to wind the wool around. We had feathers from LaVonne's chickens and bunny whiskers from her horses. LaVonne really brought so much great stuff for us all the way from Montana to Vermont! Everyone went to bed, but Sandi, Cyndi and I hung out to finish our little creatures and then did this late night 'photo shoot' about midnight! (click photos to enlarge) Left to right: my owl, Sandi's Corgi, Sandi's bunny, my Corgi (sleeping on its back), Cyndi's bunny on the box and Cyndi's Corgi. On the way home (well, sort of) Sandi and I stopped at Yankee Candle. I made the mistake of persuading her to follow me into the Christmas shoppe. There was a room full of twinkling Christmas trees with 'stars' overhead and a nifty little machine that 'snowed' every 4 minutes. We didn't care that it was artificial snow. It was beautiful. We both had the same evil thought at the same time. Bending to pretend looking at an ornament close to the ground, we both scooped up a big handful of snow and threw it at each other. Of course, this resulted in two grown women having a snow fight in the middle of Yankee Candle. We laughed so hard that I inhaled some snow. Blah! Yuck! We were covered. Snow in places it should never be. I have 'big' hair...just right for catching fake snow. Good Lord, what a sight! The other customers we passed were simply speechless....CS ^..^

Find the hidden Corgis!

Agility Corgis Gone Wild II !!!

Continental Corgis

This piece was done especially for the Mayflower Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club Specialty Show. See you there! -CS ^..^

After the 'cheese and beauty'....

We got together with a few of our breeder friends to help us evaluate our puppies. After the 'cheese and beauty' (which is what my friend Nancy Boyd calls it when you are teaching a Corgi to stand on a grooming table using cheese as a bribe to teach it where to place its little paws, a.k.a. 'stacking' in the dog show world,) it was time for the puppies to have some serious fun. We all went out to the sand ring with our puppies. Oh, there were about 15 or so! As soon as the Corgis saw Sue Jacob (fellow Corgi artist!) running, they all flew toward her. It was a sight to behold. In the last photo below, you can see that they all caught up to her and she was in a sea of Corgi cuteness. Little Martha is giving her a big hug in that same photo. I will never forget watching those little ones having so much fun together on such a perfect day! I'm sure everyone's puppies slept very well that night. I know mine did! (and so did I!) -CS ^..^

God Bless Our Troops

On this Memorial Day weekend, please join me in praying for the safety of our troops all over the world who protect our precious freedoms.

Going home...

Yesterday the awesome Moran family came to pick up Martin to begin his new life with them. While we are sad to see our little teddy bear man go, we are thrilled that he will be loved by this wonderful family. We taped up that floppy ear before he left. I'm sure we will see him now and then as he only lives a few miles away. The Morans had a beautiful and beloved Corgi who lived to a ripe old age. Since a few years have passed; they are now ready to let this little guy fill the Corgi shaped hole in their hearts. What a lucky little Corgi he is! -CS ^..^

Going home

As much as we love raising these wonderful little creatures; it is a bittersweet day when our little Corgi puppies leave us to begin their new life with their new family. Here is Holly, holding 12 week old Sputnik; and her mother, Cheryl. We took this picture today when they came to pick her up. I was thinking about Sputnik all day, and suddenly the phone rang. It was Cheryl to tell me that the transition was going well and they were all in love with her. I know Sputnik will do just fine and that she is going to have a wonderful life with this fantastic family.-CS ^..^

Happy Mother's Day!

While running a few errands this morning, I stopped at the 'drive up window' at the bank. Indy likes to ride in the car with me and he is great company. He stepped on a pricker from a bush earlier so he was holding his paw up all day. He has quite a memory, this little Corgi of mine. Even when his paw felt better, every now and again he remembered that he was pricked and would hold it up. At the drive up bank window, he started drooling. He remembered that the bank teller usually sends a dog biscuit back through in the tube. Today, there was a different teller. No cookie. He tilted his head with that inquisitive look (you Corgi owners know that look) utterly surprised that there was no cookie for him. Luckily I had a cookie in my pocket and was able to restore his faith in the magic cookie delivery system.

I'd like to wish all of you mom's out there (especially mine!) a very Happy Mother's Day. May the day be filled with wonderful memories you will cherish always! -CS ^..^

A Circle Of Friends...

"Duck, Duck, Goose," anyone?

Puppy Days and Puppy Nights...

Every day we try and give our puppies some new experiences along with their regular routines. Yesterday one was running around the kitchen as I made dinner. The other night, this little sweetie was on the settee with me and we watched American Idol together.

Here they are outside watching my husband rake some winter debris from the yard. After chasing each other and then chasing him and the rake, he had quite enough of that and into the ex pen they went so he could get some work done!

A lovely Spring day!

The Corgi puppies just love playing outside. They certainly can get themselves into mischief! This is Martha trying to taste the petunias. She is such a wicked little monkey.

Here is Martin, posing for a photo on the grooming table.

Left to right are Hoops, Amy, Martha (by a nose) and Sputnik. They turned 8 weeks old on Saturday. Such cuteness! -CS ^..^

Where is my rubber duck?

Oh brother, is she taking yet another picture?

John and I just trimmed 80 little Corgi puppy nails and the fur on 20 little puppy paws. I think tomorrow they will all get a good warm bath. We were hit pretty hard here with the storm the other day. The little bridge over the creek in front of our house was washed away, making it impossible for a car to cross. My friend Mary Elizabeth braved the creek with her muck boots yesterday and stopped in. She's holding this little puppy who is rolling her eyes at yet another photo opportunity. Lord knows I just can't put the camera down while looking at these little faces. -CS ^..^

Sandi's eggs...

I love my friends :) Sandi Eaton called one day last week to say, 'come over Sunday morning, I'm going to make Ukranian Easter Eggs.' I was not surprised that Sandi had at the ready jars full of dye in really cool colors and many different electric and antique styluses used to draw your design on the egg with beeswax. This is the same friend I called when the Corgi puppies were born who I knew would be the only other person crazy enough to have a tank of oxygen for a sick puppy. She was at my door within an hour. Did I mention it was midnight? So, no I'm not suprised that Sandi has these neat little tools. Actually, Sandi and her sisters are really into making these eggs. Next time I go I'll have to take a photo, but hers are amazing! My egg, above was my first attempt. Sandi's are much more intricate. That is Sandi in the photo above and Cindi Rusokovitch peering out behind her in the kitchen. Cindi's egg was really cool too. When your egg is done, you have to 'candle' it, by holding it at just the right distance from a lit candle and wiping the many coats of wax from the egg to reveal the brilliant colors, after which, the egg is blown out and set to dry. I had just finished my egg when I dropped it. There was the unmistakable 'crack' of a breaking egg. We had a moment of silence for my egg. Of course then we all got the giggles. Cindi, who has the patience of a sainted woman, (she's holding my egg above) took it and continued candling it to remove the wax. Sandi put a few coats of mod podge on it so maybe it will hold, time will tell. Now do you see why Miss Butterfingers paints on wooden eggs? If I didn't, none of my Corgi art fans and friends would have their little Santa and Easter eggs! Have a happy weekend, everyone! -CS ^..^

Happy Monday!

On Friday, my friend and Reinwood Corgis partner, Mary Elizabeth stopped in to see what I was doing. She was supposed to be riding her horse! The call of the puppies was too much to resist. The sun was out so we decided to take a few pictures. Here is Bridget giving Mary Elizabeth a smooch. Mary is holding one of Bridget's puppy girls.

Fluffy girl cuteness..

Here is Bridget looking lovely in deep thought.

This is one of her babies, the sweetest little puppy dog. Irresistible!

Have a happy week! -CS ^..^

A Little Corgi Gentleman

Now on Ebay! Click the Ebay logo at the sidebar to the left to see. Have a happy day! -CS ^..^

Happiness is....

It is not difficult to put a smile on Debbie Harper's face. Simply set her into a pile of warm Corgi puppies! Bridget's puppies seem to have made her one of the pack. The question: how to move without waking them all up? hmmm....
I'm so grateful to Debbie for always being there to help with puppies. I always learn so much from her. She is a treasure.

The puppies did their best to enchant Cindy Read as well. Dig those groovy tie dye socks, Cindy! Whoo hoo! -CS ^..^

More cuteness...

The puppies are growing every day. It is so fun to watch their little personalities emerge. Bridget is the best mom ever. She loves her babies. It is raining here today, the snow is melting and the yard is a muddy mess. We have lots of towels near the door to wipe their paws. I feel like all I've been doing is washing puppy fleeces and wet towels. Where is the sun? -CS ^..^

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

photo by Laura Santarsiero

Corgi Spring Fling!

Click image to enlarge for a better view!
Have a happy day! -CS ^..^

More puppy breath!

Puppy Breath!

Snow!

There are new pics of Cash and James on the www.reinwoodcorgis.com website!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We woke up this morning to snow and sleet. It is still coming down out there. The Corgis moved from their little warm spot near the wood burning stove to have a quick frap (frantic random act of play) in the icy snow. Indy was so funny out there. He was just spinning around. Click the photo to enlarge. You can see he is in action! This was taken just before Bailey pounced on him. The next thing I knew, they were both ready to come inside and their little noses were sniffing the air. They smelled the 'heart shaped French Toast' I was making for breakfast. Whenever I make French Toast, I think of Harley, Indy's sire. Once, when Harley was visiting for a few days from my friend Mary Elizabeth's house, I found him standing with all four paws on the kitchen table. He had gobbled down an entire plate of French Toast and was licking the last of the maple syrup. Harley was a Champion, who quite often when showing would jump right up onto the judging table. I guess that morning he decided to use his powers for evil :) Little stinker that he was. These little Corgis come into our lives for such a short time, but surely hold our hearts forever. My Valentine's Day wish for all of us is that we be truly present in every blessed moment and never take for granted all of the loved ones in our lives....

Happy Valentine's Day! -CS ^..^

Valentines!

These are some of the Valentines I made for a Valentine exchange with some 'kindred spirits.' I used the miniature original painting that you see on the little easel for the image and inspiration. The tiniest cards, which are about 1-2 inches are for an exchange between our dolls! They were inspired by Tasha Tudor's 'Sparrow Post.' (Click image to enlarge.)-CS ^..^

The perfect man....

Now on Ebay!

Corgi Tug O'War...

Now on Ebay! Click on image to enlarge :) -CS ^..^

Miniature Corgi Paintings....

I took this photo this afternoon in my outside porch. Yes, those are my still lingering Christmas decorations you see :) This little Original painting comes with its own stained wood artist's easel which is approx. 2 1/2" across and 4 3/4" tall. The painting itself is approx. 2 3/4" tall x just under 2" wide. The 'frame' is 'faux' and is painted on as part of the miniature painting itself. I've decided to call these little artworks 'Micro Paintings." They can be listed as OSWOA or Original Small Works Of Art. Note the size of the painting and easel next to the clove-studded orange. You may have noticed the two crazy Corgis in the bottom of my Ebay listing. They are Indy and Bridget. Indy jumped up and caused me to snap the photo so I took it as a sign that he wanted to be included in the photo shoot. The photo is half cut off, but that is what happens when you let Corgis take pictures!

-CS ^..^

Now on Ebay!

Click here to see Ebay listing!