More Renegade Finds

I promised to show you some more from the Renegade craft fair-today is the day! We had the nicest booth neighbors at the show, and couldn't help but make a couple purchases from them. Behind us was Chocolate and Steel, a dangerous booth for my wallet! We found the cutest jewelry at the Chocolate and Steel booth, and their pieces made from reclaimed silver (from x-rays & film negatives).

I bought the snowy owls necklace for myself, and one as a gift for Elaine who was so delighted she's been wearing it every day since.

Here are a couple more items from Chocolate & Steel, see more at the etsy shop here.

We also bought a heart garland from our other neighbors, Banansaurus Rex. It will look great in Aroo Studio's future booths, and looks really cute on the headboard of the bed.

Bananasaurs Rex has a great selection of items, especially if you need a gift for someone. These are lavender sachets-cute right? I have one in my underwear drawer. Mmmm... lavender!

Last but not least, she had the prettiest wine bags made from vintage fabrics to spruce up the gift of an ordinary bag of wine into something a bit more special.

Itty Bitty Collar!

One of the most frequent requests we get from customers is for collars for very small dogs. We aren't able to get the correct size webbing for them so haven't been able to make them. But, I've been working on how to make one that is sturdy and small without webbing. Ta-da! Give a girl a few days off for the Christmas holiday and a new collar is born!

This itty bitty prototype is just 1/2" wide and fits necks from 6-10". Now that is small! I am so excited about these. They aren't available just yet, but will be in the next 1-2 months. Next stop, cat collars! I can make them the exact same way but with a safety breakaway buckle, so your kitties can look as good as your pups!

The Day After Christmas

I've been taking advantage of the time off from my "real" job to work on Aroo Studio. The results:

1. I added FIVE new corduroy collars to the website!

2. Updated the Homepage-check out Cora!


3. Made an itty bitty collar in the quest to make a collar for itty bitty dogs and kitties.

4. Finally got the "As seen in Modern Dog" button on the website

5. Cleaned off my desk

6. Played with Splash

And now I'm off to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox with my sister and her husband who are visiting for the holiday. Mexican food to follow. Pretty perfect day.

Ask & You Shall Receive

At the Renegade Craft Fair we got many requests for harnesses! They have been on our "to do" list for quite a while. Here is a prototype of a harness modeled by miss Cora. We've already started product testing on these to make sure they are super strong and durable. So far, so good. Cora wore it all day yesterday on 2 hikes (leash on, she's prone to wandering). We are hoping in the next few months we'll be offering these for sale. Don't worry, we'll be sure to pick a masculine print too, this is what we had on hand!

Renegade Finds

We scoured the fair for doggie products and found quite a few! Here are some of our favorites. Above are Sweet Meats, which can be used as dog toys! Ocean got the pink porky chop and we asked for a squeaker inside. Sweet meats are made from 100% recycled, super cuddly fleece, and colored with recycled dye materials. In addition, 100% of their gift wrapping and packing materials are both recyclable and made from recycled materials. I love how they wrap the meats up in butcher paper with a sticker on it, just like at the butcher shop! So cute.

One of our neighbors at the show was Harrilu. They make T-shirts. The one above features one of their own dogs, who they rescued about 5 years ago. She'd be given ear medication in her eyes and as a result can't see out of one eye and now needs surgery. She's is certainly a lucky girl now to have such wonderful owners, and she got a brand new Pink Pixie collar from Aroo Studio, so she'll be stylin'.

Another cute one from Harrilu! Did I mention their company is named after their dogs? It's a combination of their names (Harriet and Pippa Lou).

Last for the today are handmade cards from Beestorms. Many of the designs feature Hula, the designers own dog, and quite the cutie! I'll have even more Renegade finds for you next time!

Renegade Craft Fair!

We made it through our very first official show! I LOVED it! We are so very tired though-I was up until 2am finishing up denim bone toys on Friday, and had to get up and going at 7:30am Saturday morning. Saturday was super busy and flew by so quickly. That night we ended up sewing late again to restock our booth for Sunday! Here are some photos of our display. Above you can see our little key fobs and spanking new martingale style collars.

We made so many collars for the show, I can't believe it! Did I mention that on Thursday our beloved sewing machine broke? It gave us quite a scare. We took it to Berkeley Sew & Vac and the owner of the store is the nicest man ever. He had our sewing machine back up and running within 20 minutes or so, gave us written instructions on maintenance protocol, and it was only $35.

The entire experience was really great! We had the sweetest neighbors (more on them in an upcoming post), and met lots of nice dog lovers. We found out that little girls really like our logo (which means it has undeniable cuteness according to Elaine). We had a few people suggest T-shirts with our logo on them, so we'll think about that!

Ocean came along to hang out in the booth on Sunday, she mostly slept and was so glad Elaine dropped half a sandwich on the floor. All day long we were staring at the Sweet meats booth across from us and finally couldn't resist them any longer. Ocean got a porky chop, and if you let them know it's for your dog they will put a squeaker in for you. Ocean liked using hers as a pillow. More on Sweet meats in an upcoming blog post!

Meet Mabel! Isn't she the cutest? She is a 13 week old chihuahua mix who hung out with us for a while while her mom shopped around (it's hard to shop when people swarm you to pet your puppy). We decided we just have to have Mabel as an Aroo Studio model!

I'll post more later about some of the awesome finds and purchases we made at the show. Now I'm off to bake some dog treats for our dog walking clients.

Don't Miss the Renegade Craft Fair!

If you are in the SF Bay Area you won't want to miss this! Over 150 of today’s finest indie-craft and contemporary design talents will be setting up shop at the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Sale on December 19 + 20 from 11am –7pm at the Fort Mason Center Herbst Pavilion! (click here for directions).

Those looking to shop handmade and support small business this holiday season will surely find something for everyone – from jewelry and clothing, to ceramics and stationery, with everything from bath products, housewares, posters, comics and plush objects in between – at this large-scale, FREE-TO-ATTEND art, craft and design extravaganza!!

We'll be in booth 109 so come by and say hi! Of course there are some show specials too-If you buy 3 collars you'll get one free! Key fobs make awesome stocking stuffers, and at 2 for $10 they are a steal. We'll have many patterns available that are not on the website yet! Hope to see you there!

I ♥ Corduroy

And I think you are going to LOVE our new corduroy collection! So far we only have one up on the website, but there are many more to come. Want a sneak peek? Here you go!

This totally adorable plaid collar is already up on the site. It's a limited editon collar, get it while you can!

Another beauty, this floral collar is gorgeous! I promise it will be on the website very soon. It's also a limited edition.

There are many more, so check back soon for more sneek peeks of the corduroy collection!

Make your own Leash Bag

I came across this easy project from Bark Magazine. Click here for instructions for this easy project!