Product Review: The Walky-Dog

Ok, so I'm reviewing a product that I love. It gives me something to blog about right?

The Walky-Dog is an amazing tool. I love this thing! Essentially it is a shock absorber so your dog can run along next to you while you ride the bike. Its super easy to install to the bike and easy to hook the dog up to!
I have an Alaskan Malamute, and not only is she big, she LOVES to pull, go figure. I could never take her with me because her pulling was disruptive and down right dangerous if the leash was on my arm or in my hands. The Walky-Dog works wonders for this. She still pulls but her forward pulling actually helps pull the bike forward. It is easier for me to get up hills with her attached, and she gets some extra work out too!
When she does yank out to the side, three heavy-duty springs inside absorb a lot of the shock and, while I can feel it pull on the bike, it is not hard to continue riding. Its sort of like running into a small rock and having your bike tire slip around it.

The three springs inside can be removed and by removing a spring it lengthens the cord that is available to the dog. Big dogs that can pull harder and are also closer to the Walky-Dog get three springs and less leash. Smaller dogs, like my Sid (pitbull mix) get two springs, and even smaller dogs can get the one. Thus, giving them enough leash so the Walky-Dog isn't lifting up on the tracheas.

Positives-

• Keeps your dog at a safe distance from the bike for the most part
• Its adjustable to use on different sized dogs!
• It really does absorb the shock of the dog pulling
• Easy to install on the bike
• The arm comes off so you can unattach your dog from the bike but hang on to it for a temporary stop.
• No training necessary
  
• Dog can't accidentally detach and run around in the road
• It's light
• Doesn't get in the way
• It keeps my hands free!!
  

Negatives

• When I said "for the most part" about the safe distance, I had one instance where Dakota managed to almost get her paw run over by the back tire. But only when I was turning to the right (which is the side I have her on).
• When the dog pulls harder the seat on the bike can turn a little bit. My bike is obviously partially to blame for this but the fact that it attaches under the seat can cause this problem. Depending on your bike you may be able to attache it to a different bar. I can't because of the thickness of the bars on my bike and also, I can't attach it much lower as Dakota isn't a short dog! But, I'll play with it and hopefully fix this problem
• Its a little difficult to remove springs and put them back in.

Overall I think this product is worth getting if you want a way that you and your dog can exercise together.

An Amigurumi and some wreckage from high winds last night.

This was my hay storage shed, and because it only had three walls the wind was quite capable of picking up the staked in shed and flipping it over. Also, busting up the whole shed.

Secondly, I made this little amigurumi octopus. He'll be in my artfire shop soon. when its less gloomy out, I'll get better pics of him. I also made an owl that is already in my artfire, but I'll post pics of him later :).

In the meantime, I'm a little sickly. Its either my allergies or a cold.

My review of Artfire

Artfire is a new up and coming site to rival Etsy.

Here are some lists of pros and cons as I see it-

• Pros
• STATS! Oh my gosh, you know where your shop visitors have come from! this is a feature for a verified account
• Verified accounts are $7.00 a month if you're one of the 1st 5000 to sign up, depending on how much you list this can be cheaper than Etsy.
  
• Oh, I didn't mention that Artfire doesn't take any final value fees or listing fees. $7.00 a month is it if you're verified and if you're free, then its well...free!
  
• Listing is simple, one page!
• So far they've been listening to bug complaints and fixing things relatively quickly.
• They are doing quite a lot of advertising!

• Cons
• They're still a baby website...this is kind of a big con. There are a lot of bugs, there are a lot of problems, but luckily as I said earlier, they seem to fix things pretty quickly and listen to the sellers!
• It isn't quite as pretty as Etsy, the layout is a bit less polished.
  
  Overall though, I LOVE Artfire and I'm positive it will be up there competing with Etsy soon.
  

The artfire mini viewer (like the Etsy mini) for your shop is cute, its a window! You can pick which items you want to go into it, not just your most recent (although you can have your most recent if you want). This is a cool feature. Right now you can only show 4 items but they will work on different customizations of the window.

I've never really liked any of the other Etsy alternatives, this one on the other hand, I am a fan of. I think though, you either need to have the patience to deal with the beta testing, or wait until later to join up.

If you're going to register please use the following link as I get benefits for referrals. I may do a give away for those of you that sign up under my referral. :) I'll post about that tomorrow!

Register on ArtFire.com

Etsy finds: TwilightKnits

I have to pimp this wonderful woman and her beautiful handmade yarn! I purchased a skein of yarn from her to make my first pair of socks! Not only is the yarn BEAUTIFUL it is absolutely soft and will make amazing socks!
Seriously, if you want a caring and helpful seller with excellent yarn, check out Twilight Knits on Etsy!

I don't usually show off the sellers I buy from, but I can't help it when everything is so awesome! She does custom yarn too! Just ask!

Both photos are from Twilight Knit's shop.

Here's the yarn I purchased
I'm going to try to blog more, I know I keep saying this, but I have stuff to blog about, sellers to feature, and more! SO, with material should come more typing! I also really need to make another vlog, but I'm SUCH a chicken.

Check out my artfire! I just started it and will be listing my crochet and knitted objects there rather than Etsy.

Twitter!

I got twitter a while ago, but I didn't really start using it until today. Its so much fun! Plus people say its a great way to advertise sales to your followers!

Advice: Don't just post links to your Etsy shop and talk about sales. Talk about your life! Its like mini-blogging! Its really annoying when people ONLY advertise, and I don't follow those people.

My link is http://twitter.com/goneriding24_7
I'd love to have some new followers!

Obligatory baby horse pic! Sorry for the quality, its from my phone.

Buy Handmade, particularly if its from me!

What is better than free gift wrap?
Could it be free shipping?

How about 20% off?

What about all of them together! That's right! My etsy shop, will be having free shipping and 20% off Black Friday through Cyber Monday (12/1) as well as free gift wrap if requested! This is a great time to buy handmade!

I know I just totally did some shameless self promotion, but really, buying handmade this Christmas is the best way to go! Think about it. If you spend $50 on a necklace at the mall, that money goes to the store thats carrying it, the place that made it, their employees, as well as any distributors or middle men that are in the way! Your $50 becomes small when split into so many pockets! However, if you buy handmade $50 goes directly into the hands of an artisan, that will in turn hopefully purchase Christmas presents themselves! Doesn't this seem more economically beneficial?

hmmm?

OK, Etsy.com it up for Christmas people!

The vlog!

Here's my vlog, if you're interested.

Youtube!

Long time no post! Yikes. I need to start posting in this blog more. Today or tomorrow I'm going to post a vlog on my youtube channel. It will be about horses and crafts. I will hopefully start doing how-to videos and show some of how I work.

My youtube channel is here.

I'm also working on building a website, I will post it when it is ready to be viewed!

So I come bearing more pictures of Deek and a photo of my recent Etsy listing!



Deek meeting Dakota
I made a leather cuff to match a knitted scarf. They are for sale as a bundle in my Etsy shop!

Baby ponies!

I've been so busy! Work and horses and working on fences. I haven't been crafting much, BUT I am getting a new horse! A BABY one! The first picture is him now with his darker coat, but the bottom one is him as shortly after he was born. He is currently seven months old. His name right now is Deeksha, but I'm probably going to change it, I just haven't figured out what to change it to.

Anyway, I don't have long to post I have to go work on the pasture and I'm going to get a website started!


If you haven't yet, you must check out the Handmade Product Directory!

Its and awesome website with tons of great information and advertising ideas and opportunities!

Barrette in the desert

I need to work on my edge skills. I've gotten much better than I used to be when I started. But a bit more polished would be nice. Also, isn't the hair stick neat? I got it at the Tucson Bead and Gem Show in September. Its carved bone and I think its so cool.

In other news I've become addicted to Starbucks. Starbucks is commercialization, tasty tasty commercialization. I can't drink coffee if its not very very sweet and milky, so thats where frappachino's come in.

I'm also going to go get a sewing machine today! I'm very excited about having a sewing machine so I can make different bags! I'm in the process of knitting a new bag and I'm going to crochet a bag as well, with leather handles. I'm also thinking about making a new leather bag. I just listed that dragonfly one, so now I should work on a new one, right? I have to be ready for my second craft show on the the 1st of November. I got new business cards too from Vistaprint. I got free ones, and they almost look like they have nightshades on them (its not quite the right plant, but close enough). I had to get the 7 day shipping, but it cost about $13 total for 250 cards and a free pen!

Purses and silly dogs

First off, here is my newest bag. Isn't it lovely? It took me forever to get it done right! I hand tooled the dragonflies and leaves and dyed the leather. Then handsewed it together and crocheted the straps and closure.
Its now available in my shop!


And here is Dakota. I gave her a treat thing and she was too lazy to lay down to chew it. I was very amused by this. So I snapped a photo!

I've been BUSY

I've been mighty busy. My mother came to visit for a week.

I finished a purse (FINALLY, its a long story!). And I made another hair-stick.

There will be pictures of both soon! I just haven't had a chance to get out and take pictures.

Hurricane Norbert has been making Arizona a bit stormy (well, down here).

Also, I did my first craft show on the 4th. It wasn't the best sales day ever, but it was a neat experience, and I GOT some cool stuff (pictures of that too come too probably).

Ideas and a couple of products

Work is making me too busy. I don't get enough hours, but the pay is good so it makes up for it a little. I could use a heck of a lot more money coming in though! Argh. Its not like I work that many days, so I don't know why I don't do much crafting now a days. I've been crocheting a scarf. I think I'm going to start including crochet with leather items and making "leather and lace packages" or maybe "leather and fiber" but to me lace just sounds cooler, even if its not really lacy. I don't know. I think a crocheted scarf or bag with a matching leather cuff or belt would be really neat!

I need to advertise more for my shop. Its not easy when you're paying off debt to do some advertising and some craft fairs.
I have one fair coming up on the 4th of October, and one in November. I made a new horseshoe dreamcatcher today for the show and I also made a belt and two hair pieces.

Here is a photo of the belt and one of the hair pieces.


These aren't going to be in my shop unless they don't sell Saturday. No point in paying 20 cents when I might just sell them in a few days!

Time for Project Runway!

Once in a while I post

I'm sorry I haven't been a very active blogger lately.

I was working the past two weeks and it was a tad bit busy. I have a craft show in a week and I need to make more stuff. I'm just a bit down as I want to go to some horse shows. Its driving me nuts to be stuck here and I am having a hard time crafting.

I worked on finishing a belt and its almost done, I can have some photos of it up soon.

I'm starting to think about making some videos for the blog. I can vlog with my crafting stuff and horses and who knows what. Hmm, it could be entertaining. I don't know.

Leave a comment with suggestions of something you would like to see, whether it be a vlog or photos, or something else.

My dear friend Dani, from Fantastic By Accident sent me two gifts for my birthday. The first one is a novel called "A Dirty Job" by Christopher Moore, which I am definitely excited to read. However, the other gift was "Stitch N' Bitch: The Happy Hooker"! So now I have some fun awesome crochet patterns, so look forward to me playing around with that!

I'm in the Etsy Challenge!!!

Please vote for me in the Etsy Challenge!

I am in the purses/bags/clothing/acc category.

I have started Needle Felting! Here are my first two projects. They're cute aren't they?He's a giraffaloosa!
Snail!

Leather and my first needlefelt!

A recent keychain I listed on my etsy yesterday. I currently am up to 41 items in my store!

I've been having a leather rut lately, which is also why I haven't been posting much. I've been wanting to go to a horse show and I'm sort of going insane. But I have listed something new every day this week so far. Except, I haven't listed one yet today, YET.


Here is my first 3-D needlefelt that isn't a bead. He's a cute little snaily guy. :)

EFA Birthday Bash!

Just wanted to let you know that there are 137 shops participating in the 20% coupon for EFA's 1st b-day party.
A list of them is here.

My code is "night" so if you shop, THAT is your coupon. Convo the seller the word "Night" to get your 20% off. Try to use the code of the person that tipped you off and not switch codes, as there are awards for the code that gets used the most!

Both of my shops are participating. So visit nightshadesart.etsy.com and craftyequine.etsy.com and buy between the 15th and the 30th!

Treasuries and Cuffs a-plenty!

I got in TWO treasuries last night! The first one is by MissKnits and can be found here.
Its an absolutely gorgeous treasury isn't it?



The other one is an EFA August Challenge Treasury. My little cow magnet is in the bottom left hand corner. This treasury is by DogonWear and is here.

And here are three leather cuffs I made recently. The bottom two are in the shop, the top one will be eventually.
In other news, I'm ill with a respiratory infection of some kind. I get to go to the doctor tomorrow..yay.
I haven't been doing a lot of leatherwork lately. Last week I was busy working and this week I'm sick and for me, making leather items just doesn't fly when I'm this ill. I have been working on repairing an old saddle. Thats new uncharted territory for me!

Rain Rain go away

First off, with Monsoon season upon us in Arizona, the bugs and plants are going crazy. Oh, so are the toads.

I knitted a dishcloth that is available at my craftyequine shop here
This patten is something I found on Ravelry. It is from Amy-lynne Mitchell and can be found here, if you know, you're on Ravelry.


Ah, and here is a shot I took of my flooded road and the truck going down it. My road is apparently a drainage ditch.

I've been busy with lessons and hanging out with other Etsians, but I have a few new leather items I will blog about soon as well!



In other news I snagged a treasury. You can see it here!

Enough images and crazy for the day, I'll be back with not one, not two, but THREE leather cuffs!

More treasuries!

I made it into two more treasuries.

The first is the closest to expiration (5 hours) but it is quite lovely.

This leathery and interior design treasury is here and it was made by the talented leathersculpture!

The second on is right up my alley! Horse inspired items! This one was made by midnightcoiler and is here.

I love treasuries and I keep trying to snag one for myself. I got one in Treasury West once, just by chance. I'm hoping to get one today in the main treasury, it looks like enough of them will expire. :)

If I do, of course it will be posted here.

As for the artist features, I have picked the first artist and I just have to get around to making questions for her to answer. Hopefully, I will have the first feature up next week sometime!

A couple creations

First off, I made a new horseshoe dreamcatcher. Its called "Fire and Brimstone".



I also made a new leather cuff. Its a dragonfly and some flowers. This one is a large size.

I'm in the process of making a large purse. Hopefully it'll be done by the end of the week and ready for posting on my Etsy!

Some horse photography of mine

I'm thinking about offering prints of some of my horse photography as ACEOs (Artist Cards Editions and Originals). These cards are always 3.5" by 2.5".

I will also be doing this with a lot of my photography I think. It seems to sell better, probably because they are cheaper than full size prints. I certainly can't afford a lot of expensive art, but ACEO's are just handy and make great little sequences.

I've also decided that I'm going to try to do a weekly feature (maybe biweekly) or horse artisans. I would love to showcase anyone who draws or crafts horse related items as well as people who make horse equipment. Usable items as well as art are desired. So, if you'd like to be considered, post a comment with your link to your gallery or Etsy Shop and anything else you'd like me to look at.

If you're chosen, I will send you some questions and post your horse art for the world to see! All I ask is that you link to my blog and tell people you were featured! Publicity for both of us!

Honeybees!

This is my honeybee bracelet.
I made this for the bee challenge over at Etsy Honeybee Helpers
it is currently featured in their blog.

I'm in the process of making a purse, a larger one than the past two I've made. The two leather side panels are tooled dyed, and ready to go! I just need to make the bottom and sides and straps, which I'm knitting!

I also knitted a dishcloth. It will be listed for sale in my other shop, Craftyequine!

Also, I'm looking at creating a website. :)

Etsy for Animals Birthday Bash Extravaganza!

OK, Etsy for Animals will be having the 1st birthday of their shop in September. They will be offering 20% off coupons that you can use in any participating EFA member's shop as well as the EFA store. You can use the same coupon in different shops, but its one discount per seller, you may not reuse the coupon at the same shop, but you can use it at many shops!

Both of my shops will be participating, so you can get 20% off of my stuff as well as many other great sellers. Yes, that includes Crafty Equine and Nightshade's Art. Crafty Equine is relatively empty at the moment, but hopefully I can get it filled up a bit more.

My contest is still also running here!



Read the EFA blog entry here, that explains more about the coupons! Keep your eyes pealed for the coupons!

Caption Contest!

I opened a second shop! It has nothing in it at the moment, but its going to have cards, photography, knit, crochet (including amigurumi!) and needle felted objects. If I learn to make lampwork beads, it may even have those down the road.

I made new banners for my shops as well. The new shop is CraftyEquine

Meanwhile. I'm having a contest. I want to have funny captions on some of my pictures for the inside of some of the cards. I'm sort of in a rut with some, so I'm having a caption contest. Winner will get a feature in my blog (if you're not an Etsian it can be a Flickr photos feature, DeviantART, Blog feature, whatever you want featured).



Rules:
1. I know it looks like it, but it is not an LOLCAT! Therefore captions submitted with horrible spelling, webspeak, and bad grammar will be ignored!
2. Only funny captions will be considered
3. Keep it politically correct (Please don't use "retarded" in the captions or anything else like that)
4. Swearing to a minimum.
5. Submitting your caption gives me the right to print it on my cards

I will pick anywhere from one winner to four winners. Each one will get a blog feature and credit for the quote will go to you on the etsy listing and it will display a link to you (however, you wil not receive a royalty :)) Its free publicity, nothing wrong with that!

Comment your entries here please and thank you! Contest will close August 31st

I am also having an on Etsy contest right now. Check that out here

I've been a-featured in a treasury!

I've been featured in this treasury by safarilee! Thanks so much! I even have the first spot! Show some love, see if we can get it on the front page for me, safarilee and everyone else in the treasury!

Hey, you! Get into my car!

Hey blog readers!! I'm having a sale some of my items are 50 to 75% off!

You know you're tempted!

I will blog some more stuff later.

Necklaces and other fun stuff

I made a new necklace, I call it "Oh Inverted World" and if you get the Shins reference, you're just plain awesome!
Our foster mare is here! She's just a pony, but so sweet and cute! There will be more pictures, I'm sure!

In other news, I got a book on leather purses and totes and its got some awesome ideas. I think I may make a purse or two out of it! Its called Making Leather Purses and Totes.

Great book! If you're into making leather stuff at all, check it out for some great ideas.

Check out some of my favorites at Etsy, I'd love to buy some of these items, if only I had money!
I have a job interview on Thursday, so we'll see!

Horses are too much work sometimes.

Punk Stars necklace
I had quite a long day. I came up with an idea for the current EFA challenge. Check out EFA blog for more info on that. I'm making a magnet from an old milk gallon cap.
Anyway, my back and neck are so sore from cleaning the horse pasture and working around the property trying to get ready for the foster mare.

I also mowed the weeds in the front yard. Its great to be able to see the house again, but it was nice to take a shower and relax.

Sows Ear to Silk Purse Contest on DA

So, there was this contest on DeviantArt in a group, Craftcycle that I belong to there. The contest involved taking junk and making it into something new and pretty. Thats what I came upwith. Knitted baling twine on huge needles and turquoise leather horse silhouettes. I matte sealed this and I'm going to hang it on the front porch. What do you think of it?

I may make some more items with baling twine, shopping bags, floor mats, and more wall hangings. Some of them may end up being in my shop.

In other news we have a foster horse coming to live with us that is in her mid 30s!
Meet Stormy. She will be treated like family here in permanent foster care. She is amazingly healthy for her age. She is coming to us because her owner has health problems and can no longer keep her and Care for the Horses is helping her find a place for the horse.

Its been my dream for quite some time to offer a horse sanctuary and shelter one day and fostering this mare is just my first step toward learning more about caring for these horses.

I made a necklace with 50% of the cost benefiting CFH, if you'd like to help them out they do not currently have an online donation (although she's working on adding a Paypal donation button) but I will be posting more items that will directly benefit CFH. I will let my readers know when they have a donation button. With the price of hay and fuel a lot of shelters are closing, help to keep this one open! CFH has done a great job in the past few years of placing horses into new and caring homes. Horses can be a 30+ year commitment, but many people discard them like trash when they become too old to compete or trail ride or what have you. Its understandable as its hard to afford extra horses but please consider this before breeding a mare. There are so many foals born each year that end up in bad situations. Check out this blog article by Tom LaMarra for more information on the overbreeding of horses. Of course, if you like funny, you can always check out Fugly Horse of the Day to see what happens to overbred conformationally challenged horses.

New uncharted ground

I made my first bridle, I'm very excited about this.
Oh, and I found a fat lizard, he was drowning and I saved him, and he clung to me for dear life.

Rescuing horses and nature

My newest craft items. The first is a recycled leather bag. It is upholstery leather from an old chair and I used all scrap leather to add the decoration collage.

Obviously the second is another keyfob.

I'm working on a horse bridle and a new bracelet. Again, I'm trying hard to post more.

I will be donating a portion of my proceeds to Care for the Horses, a local horse rescue.

Also, Blog readers, if you'd like to purchase anything from my shop, I will be running a sale until the end of July for anyone who reads my blog. Convo me with the words "Blog Reader" and I will take an additional 15% off of your purchase!