LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

As the years of my life fly by, young Ollie has gone from a goofball puppy to a dog with character. And while I adore puppies, I like seeing their real personality evolve. Ollie is no genius, but he’s very good at being a dog. And that’s fine with me.

Like most dogs, Ollie is a creature of habit. Every morning when I come out of the shower and head to the bedroom to finish getting ready, Ollie grabs a tennis ball and follows me in. As much as I’d love to play with him, I can’t. So he brings in a second ball in order to get his point across.

Play with me.

See that clock? I start work at 8:30. Yeah.

Once Ollie realizes that I won’t be tossing the ball, he decides to have fun solo. Which involves flopping on the bed.

Feel free to toss this ball.

Then when I sit on the bed to put my shoes on, he turns the cute meter to 11.

You can toss that ball anytime now.

Finally, my earrings are a sign to him that, sadly, I can’t play.

Maybe just a belly scratch?

Okay, Olliepeño. Just a belly scratch.

During all of this hullabaloo, Max is enjoying some non-Ollie time to himself in the other room.

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting at my desk, WM and the dogs were passed out in a pile on the sofa, and it was really, really quiet. I was torturing myself with a work-related decision and needed a distraction.

So I pulled out a beading magazine and my stash’o'beads. I altered a pair of earrings for a friend and, inspired by a coil of copper wire and a ceramic focal bead (bought from Michael’s clearance rack), got to work.

Unfortunately the green pearls' holes were too small for my wire to fit through.

And here’s what I ended up with. It matches Ollie, so we’ll call it the Spaniel.

Ceramic focal bead, Swarovski crystals, brown shell beads and cream colored beads salvaged from an old garage sale necklace. With copper wire.

Dig the thoroughly unimpressed canine model.