I completely forgot to put this on my website this year so I decided to put it on my blog for the last minute shoppers.

I have gift certificates available for both the pet photography and Decopaw art, and they come in the form of cute little half-fold notecards with a photo or art print on the front. Inside the card they are custom addresses- none of this generic 'gift certificate slip' that many companies offer.

This year the gift certificates also come with a free matted art or photo print, seen in the picture below.









I thought it would be nice for folks to have something tangible to gift with the gift certificate- a present that can be opened and explained. I have sold several so far for the holidays and am really excited to work with the folks and their pets in January.

Gift certificates are available through Friday evening December 23rd at 8pm.

Speaking of, in case this pertains to anyone or anything, I will be on vacation from the evening of December 23rd through January 3rd, 2007. I won't be answering the phone or responding to e-mails, until I return to my office.

If I don't have time to write again until after Christmas, have a terrific holiday season!! :-)

Jamie Cowbelly Stumble It!

I know this is totally unrelated to pet photography or art but I wanted to share some e-mail tips in hopes it will save someone (or many) from frustrations that inevitably occur when using technology such as e-mail and the internet.

First- and I know this may seem like a no-brainer, but you should always check your 'spam' or 'junk' or 'bulk' mail folder before deleting e-mails in those folders because often times e-mails from people that you know and/or want to hear from end up in there. Don't ask me how but they do.

You can be e-mailing back and forth with someone for weeks, someone you have known for years, and for some unknowable reason their last e-mail gets filtered as 'junk', and ends up mixed in with all of those viagra and 'buy this stock!' e-mails.

If you are ever waiting for an e-mail from someone that you haven't received, and more than a reasonable enough amount of time has passed, check your junk mail folder before saying "I never got your e-mail!" . I once saved myself from heartbreak when I waited long days, many long days, to hear from a boy that I liked, and on the verge of assuming I was getting a big blow-off decided to check my yahoo 'bulk' folder and lo and behold there was his e-mail.

SO- always check your bulk/spam/junk e-mail folders carefully and regularly- at least once a week, ideally 2-3x a week.

Second, have you ever received an e-mail with a link to some cool site or page, and when you click on the link you get a browser reply that says something like "page doesn't exist" or "unable to locate 'page name'"?

Often times, when a link is sent through e-mail it gets 'broken'. Not broken as in the link doesn't work anymore or the page is unavailable, but broken literally as in the link is broken in two (or more) lines in your incoming e-mail. Often when this happens only the first line of the link ends up 'active', in other words, telling your browser that this is where you are trying to go when you click on it.

What to do?

Copy and paste.

If a link someone sends you doesn't get you where you want to go, or where you thought you'd end up, here is what you do:

Hold down your mouse button and highlight the entire bulk of text, from start to finish, including all numbers and letters, and, once you have the entire link highlighted, go to 'edit' (in your browser's menu bar at the top of the screen), and click on 'copy'.

Here is a sample of a page link from Amazon. It's crazy-long but the whole thing is the page address or 'link'. You can practice on it:

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-EOS-5D-Digital-Camera/dp/B0007Y791C/sr=1-17/qid=1166420151/ref=sr_1_17/103-3916460-3568629?ie=UTF8&s=photo

Then highlight the line of text in your browser's address or URL window (where it says http:www.decopaw.com/dogblog, or whatever), and then go to 'edit' and click 'paste'. Then, click anywhere in the address window and hit your 'enter' or 'return' button on your keyboard and voila you will (or should!) be at the page you were seeking.

I know this seems simple, and maybe even a 'duh' type of process to many people, but for those who are not technically inclined knowing these simple steps can seem like magic.

I am consistently surprised at how many people say "oh there it is!" when I ask if they received my last e-mail from my info@cowbelly.com address and they say "no- I never received it!" and I say "did you check your junk mail folder?"

So there you go- I no longer assume people are stupid and that these things are just common knowledge, I now know that there are little tips on e-mail and computers et al that people never find out about that would save them time and hassle.

So even if this only helps one person in the future I will be happy!

Next time- how to protect yourself from spyware. Not viruses, but spyware. Of course, this doesn't apply to us Mac people because we never get spyware or viruses. :-) (Sorry, I had to...)

Jamie Cowbelly Stumble It!

These guys are Derby and Bandit. Derby is the rottweiler, and Bandit is the Blue Heeler. We did this shoot at my favorite location- Gasworks Park. This was extra special to me for two reasons: 1- Derby is sick with cancer, and anytime I hear the words "my dog is sick" I schedule the shoot just as fast as I can- sometimes even within a couple of days. Life with pets is just too precious and sadly there are no second chances. Derby is such a sweet and special guy, which is clear from his picture, and I felt honored that I got to capture his awesomeness.

And Bandit is just plain funny. I got several shots of him 'spitting' his ball out including one where he looks not unlike a puffer fish. I dig the mid-air action of this shot. I love Blue Heelers too so I was in heaven with Derby and Bandit. Plus their parents are really nice too.

Here are my top two favorite shots from our shoot.






































Oh yes- before I forget! Raina Anderson is the lucky winner of the grand prize gift bag from our Urban Beast artist's reception last Saturday. Raina will be using her gift certificate for her custom-designed canvas in January and I am looking forward to getting started with her. Congratulations Raina! :-) Stumble It!

Woops- did I forget to mention that the 2007 Decopaw wall calendar is on sale through today?















Ok- well it is! It's $15.99 through Sunday 12/3.

Here is the link:

http://www.cafepress.com/cowbelly.84752708

Be sure to view the calendar pages. It's just too cool. :-) Stumble It!