I am not known for my organizational skills.  Well, that’s not true. At my day job, I’m a whiz! Maybe because I’ve been doing some incarnation of that job for over 10 years. (YIKES!)

Usually, what happens is I outgrow my space and then don’t upgrade. And then I run out of stuff and don’t realize it. Annoying!

This is how I used to store my hardware and webbing.

This box is 8.5 by 11.

The Most organized Drawer

Er.. the 3/4 inch hardware

This is all the tiny hardware and all the extra stuff like split rings and charms

Today, I went to Wally World and dished out $42.50 for Big Momma here.

Big Momma: She's a tackle Box.

Isn’t she purty?

Check it out.

Here is all my 5/8 Inch Hardware and some extranous stuff

All my 3/4 inch hardware.

See that Lonely Little D-ring? yeah.. see what I mean? I had no idea.

All the 1 1/2 inch and 2 inch hardware. I kept it in bags since I don't have an individual spot for each item.

Leash Clips on the side. Not sure why the dividers have little slots. Probably a fishing thing.

Webbing at a Glance in the top bit.

These are less than a half inch wide.. Yes that bag says CAT . I have some safety clips for cat collars. This is one of the three small boxes that go in the side bit there.

Is this not perfection? Now I can use the old box for invoices and orders waiting to be made.

This morning, Shel and I took the girls to Petsmart.  We don’t usually buy anything.  We just go for the social interaction.

The girls were wearing my collars (0f course).  Qor was wearing her Zig Zag collar and Qay was wearing her Charlotte’s Hearts collar.  The little voice in the back of my head said “make sure you grab some business cards”.

But… well… I didn’t think I should be handing out my business cards in PetsMart.  It just didn’t seem right.  Besides, never have I had occasion to hand one out.

Until today.

Sheesh!  We were in the aisle with the collars (because I like to see what is out there and for how much) and I hear someone say to Shel, “wow! that’s a nice collar! where did you get that?”  And Shel says “Oh she made it!” and pointing at me, continues “we had a bigger boy and we couldn’t find collars to fit and so she started making them.”

The woman wanders over and says “you MADE these?” and I said “oh yes.  It’s fun!” (I am not the best salesperson when confronted with a human.  There is a reason I have an internet store!)  She asked to feel them and after Qay had a minor meltdown she was able to get her hand in her collar and really feel it.

“Wow!” she says.. “that is really nice! and it feels so sturdy.”

what do I say?

“Thank you. I enjoyed making it”

Doh!  if I had a business card I could have handed it over and started my schpeel.. but noooo..  I’m out there hanging in the breeze….

When we got home, I put a stash in every pocket of every coat and in my bag.

Johann The Dog is having a Howliday Giveaway!

You can win free stuff!

Um. .. including one of my collars!

Enter to win.

Do it..

Do it now!

I think I’m going to put some pre-made collars in the store. I think that people might be more willing to “impulse” buy if they don’t have to wait! What do you think? I think it might work out pretty well.

A few weeks ago, I think I wrote about making custom leashes for Lindsay at RunThatMutt.com.  They are coming along.

All I have left to do is wait for the labels to dry and then I can sew them up.

Check them out.

You can see the edges are still drying. They are wet from being dipped in Fray Check.

I got an email the other day from Kara who bought collars from me when I first started making them over three years ago. At that time Kara’s dogs were still learning leash manners and were pretty tough on collars. She asked me to make a few for her.

Kara just sent me pictures of the collars now.. sure they are a little faded but I think they look pretty good for three year old collars!

Literally.

Sunday, I foolishly did (ahem) housework.  Yes, housework. 

Evidently my body, being unfamiliar with this exercise decided to protest… vehemently.

Since Sunday afternoon, I have been in horrible horrible debilitating pain. Can’t turn my head.. can’t think straight.. and certainly can’t sew! It was all I could do to get through a day at work.

I’ve been remiss in blogging.. I meant to blog about Lindsay over at RunThatMutt.com who has ordered some custom leashes from me. And she wrote all about her custom leashes and even put up pictures and I havent’ yet blogged about her amazing knowledge of dog behavior or her ingenious dog running business

I haven’t posted new pics of Basja yet… and they came the other day.

I haven’t written at all about a local charity that I intend to donate some proceeds to.

And most importantly, I haven’t sewn a THING!  All I want to do is sit on the couch with an ice pack and cry.

Thank the Gods for Chiropractors..  I’m just sayin’.

So, I upgraded Wordpress and I forgot how to make my gallery work with it.. there is some wierd setting that should fix it but I can’t remember what it is!

So, until my brain comes back, the gallery is down

I’ve used 3/4 inch webbing and a square ring for the loopy bit.. there is a double-O slider that can be used to keep the lead from being too loose around the dogs neck and a D-Ring up by the handle for tags.

I put the d-ring there for Agility people. I know quite a few use a slip lead only for agility trials. I thought it was a neat idea. What do you think?