And a very close second is the photo of Daisy in the hand. Fugly Friends has decided to send a second place prize, a Lil Mini Fugly to our runner up! Thank you all for your absolutely adorable photo submissions. What a great addition to Mothers Day.
Fugly Friends is making plans to host a giveaway contest during the first week of each month. Stay tuned....
The How:
Dig through your photo collection and find your favorite photo of your dog as a puppy, your dog while pregnant, your dog with her puppies, or your dog with its' mama (in other words, pretty much anything baby and MOM related) and send the photo on over to fuglyfriends@gmail.com. You can submit up to four photos. We will post photos in an album on the Fugly Friends facebook page for all to see and oogle over. You have from now until Saturday, May 7th at 11:00 a.m. CST to submit your photos. There are three judges that will vote on their favorite photo and we will announce the winner Sunday morning-Mothers Day!!!
The What:
The first prize is a 6 oz package of delicious and natural Sweet Potato Pie treats from Ciao Hound. Yum! Yum! (Read below to hear all about Shari and her wonderful Ciao Hound shop that is full of "homemade specialy treats for your best friend".)
And the second prize is the first ever pregnant mama stuffing free Fugly Friends toy. Super radical!
| Meet Ciao Hound. My shop is called CiaoHound and I make homemade treats for dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits and sometimes other animals as requests come in. I have some that are soft for young or old dogs who have trouble with hard treats; I have allergen free treats and I do custom orders/requests. How did you get started? My daughter started an etsy shop and wanted everyone in the family to make something to post there. I didn't have a hobby at the time, so I checked out several books from the library on crafts, and one book about dogs. I read through the dog book first because I was more interested in dogs than crafts and there were some recipes in there to make treats, They only had 2 or 3 ingredients, so I thought I would try them. Velvet went nuts! It made my heart smile to see her so captivated by these treats. I decided to take a bite and see what all the fuss was about (they're made with human food ingredients), and thought they were kind of bland, so I added my own ingredients to the mixture and experimented and tweeked until I liked them, too. My first customer on Etsy wrote this: by SassySashadoxie "I gave Sasha some more of the treats today, and put the empty wrapper in the outside garbage can. She not only climbed two chairs, a table, but fell head first into a large garbage can. I heard a rustly, and went outside. When I pulled her out, she was still grasping the bag with Velvet's picture on it. Just thought you might want to know. Slightly, addictive to my dog I think." After a testimonial like that, I was hooked. I love baking treats and I love hearing back from customers that my treats made their furbabies so happy. What are your inspirations? Most of the time, I get inspired while I'm eating. I think how can I make this for pets? Who is your pet? I have a 9 year old beagle named Velvet. She is the original chow hound. As with most beagles, food is her number one priority. She eats, sleeps, drinks and lives for food. She is a master begger and an artful scammer who will do anything to get something to eat. What are your favorite ingredients to use? I like making things with honey, white chocolate and carob because I feel like it makes the treats extra special. What's your best selling item and why? The pumpking bread is definitely my most popular. The dogs go crazy for it. What's your favorite product and why? I think its the carob cakes. They look wonderful and the dogs go crazy for them. I was thinking carrot cake, then thought of carob cake, so I kind of liked that transition. Plus, they're really cute little mini muffins. What's the hardest part of running your own business? Finding time to promote the way I need to. What does homemade mean to you? Made from scratch and not mass produced. All of my treats are made fresh as they are ordered. Who do you admire professionally? My teammates on Pets Jubilee. They really work very hard at their craft and have become very successful selling on Etsy. How do you get out of your creative ruts? I look through (human recipe) cookbooks. You can contact Shari at ciaohound@live.com You can shop Ciao Hound at ciaohound.etsy.com You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ciaohound You can become a Ciao Hound facebook fan at www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=1530937381&ref=profile You can contact Fugly Friends at fuglyfriends@gmail.com You can shop Fugly Friends at http://www.fuglyfriend.etsy.com/ You can become a Fugly Friends facebook fan at www.facebook.com/pages/Fugly-Friends/116104781794184 | |
