Birthday Doggie Treats Get a Makeover!!

It's been a long time comin, but my birthday dog treat combos finally got a makeover!

I have been wanting to find the right "centerpiece" for these combos for a long time and I finally found what I was looking for.

I love the combination in these! I always think about what I would want if I ordered something for my dogs and I love that they are so different. I didn't just switch from pink to blue colors but they are completely different treats, shapes and colors.

The other point I want to stress though is that if you don't like any of these shapes and you want to do something else, I am more than happy to see what I can do to accommodate! 

Everyone should get what they want on their birthday and dogs are no exception!

www.treatdreamsthedogbakery.com

New Trend: Having Your Dog in Your Wedding

By far my favorite trend right now is incorporating your dog in your wedding! And why shouldn't you? We all know that our dogs can be our most favorite living beings on the face of the earth most times and probably is next in line after your significant other! They share every moment of our lives, good or bad and spend more time with us than probably anyone else. So why shouldn't they share in the most important day of your life?

I am all for it! And like the rest of my wedding, I have exactly how I would have Molly in my wedding all planned out! I am just missing.....the groom...hmm...must work on that.....

I thought I would list some of my favorite ideas I have run across. Starting off, of course, with my own.

I have done several weddings that have asked for their names and date in the treats.

This particular wedding was the first to add soemthing unique though..

You can say anything you wish! This bride kicked around the idea of "MY PARENTS WENT TO NICOLE AND JOEY'S WEDDING" which I also wanted to melt over! 

Isn't it true? All you need is love and a dog! So cute! I can just imagine these at a wedding! These treats last for several several weeks so they are the perfect choice to have in time to prepare with and then also to have sitting out or individually bagged and then taken home. ADORBS!! Find them here.

The rest of the items are from my pinterest board "All You Need Is Love And A Dog"

I definitely will have to have a picture of me in my dress with my Moodles. This one stuck with me because I am a sucker for black and white photos and it isn't the typical, "here let's have a polite little kiss but don't you dare touch my dress" picture. 

Exactly what I was referring to. Perfect way to use my treats and give them out as favors.

I am not sure if I will have table numbers, but if I do, this would be an adorable way to incorporate Molly. It is still classy without being "oh my gosh these people cannot get over their dog!"

I simply LOVE dogs with signs. I have seen "My Humans Are Getting Married" or "Here Comes The Bride" and then both of these of course. I just think it is so cute and much better than "dog shaming" signs and quotes. 

Now, IF Molly were a male dog, I would be all over this! TOOO cute!! A bow tie or a regular tie. I mean really...need I convince you of this cuteness?? 

And all cuteness and whimsical dreaming aside, we all know this is what my wedding with Molly would really look like.......

:)

We are 1 Year old!

Well we made it! Treat Dreams is now officially one year old. I am so proud of where we are and as much as I want success and for this to come to a place where it can support me as my full time job, I count it a success not just financially but also in whether I have been able to communicate with people, reach out to people, work with people, support them, and give them correct information, fantastic service and a true, honest made from my heart, product.

I hope that is true. I have my bad days when I am scared it may not be, and become discouraged, but I believe that is with everything you do.

I have tried very hard to avoid "selling" my products, avoid falsely advertising them or gaining customers or a following based on false accusations. 

I simply have tried to be myself and have a passion about everything that is involved in this business and not to do it simply because it would "be good business" even if I don't fully support it or believe in it.

Everything down to what shape I make the treats is because I love it. I get so excited picking shapes and colors!! 

I know we have a long way to go, and sometimes that is encouraging and sometimes it is overwhelming, but I look forward to it.

I love every minute of working with Treat Dreams.

To celebrate our one year in business, I made the girls a cake. This was my first dog cake I have ever made so I am not super proud of it, but it worked and I loved the result. 

The girls did too :)

Here's to many more years!!!

Happy Easter!!

This was a first for me..…...

I made Easter baskets for the girls.  I felt kind of silly. I was so excited. More excited than is normal probably. But…..it was so worth it! It was such a fun weekend!

It started with an Easter egg hunt. My friend, Kara, helped me to put small treats in plastic eggs. I thought, "No way, the girls will not be able to figure it out."

Stupid me. Molly is smart enough to lure me away from my sandwich long enough to snatch it, of course she is smart enough to pop open a plastic egg!

I highly recommend it! It was so fun!!

Then Sunday morning, the girls tackled their Easter baskets. 

I didn't want a typical basket, so I found these at Hobby Lobby = perfection.

I filled some plastic eggs with some small blueberry treats, just like our Easter egg hunt.

Then of course, I thought the girls needed their own chocolate Easter bunny!! So these are our carob/peanut butter dog treat recipe and I shaped them into a "chocolate bunny".

The girls love "babies" (aka, stuffed animals they carry around for days). So I had to include this cute little "ducky" I found :)  Then, to top it all off, one of our Easter bunny dog treats. I am particularly proud of these bunnies because they are simple and easy but extraordinarily cute!

Molly was first. She needed no prompting.

Eggs were first…then the chocolate bunny!

Then her baby!!

Then it was time to sit back and watch Lucy.

Belly, is very cautious…it took Molly about 2 minutes to get through her basket. It took Lucy about 10 minutes. Every time she took a treat out of her basket, she had to take it to her bed and eat it, then return to her basket. 

Slobbery ducky.

Lucy won best photo of the day. I have to be honest, she is not the most photogenic of doggies so I am extremely proud that this picture was snapped and she finally gets to win most photogenic!! 

It was a great day! I will definitely be continuing this tradition every year now! 

New Goal- Monthly Doggie Treat Donations

I love supplying treats as donations! I have been able to do it a few times and I'm always disappointed when for whatever reason, I am not capable of sending treats and have to turn someone down. I just want to be able to do it all, all the time.

So I have come up with a plan. I've decided to come up with a quality person or organization each month to send a donation of treats to.

Last month, I sent treats to some of my Instagram friends. I love how you can be friends with someone when you have not actually met in person.

You may be familiar with them. I found them on The Huffington Post as the "new Instagram star!" 

His name is Cole, and his parents adopted him from a kennel where he was just a few weeks old and born with no front legs. They call them "nubs" ;)

He is just a great example of resilience and his parents are the perfect example of belief and faith even when they knew it would be a tough and most likely expensive road ahead with this little fellow. 

I highly encourage you to follow them on Instagram. Every post will brighten your day and you will quickly become one of Cole's biggest fans! I find myself cheering him on when he goes to therapy or accomplishes a "first time" event (like standing on his back legs).

All this to say...I was so impressed by them I contacted Cole's mommy about sending some treats to Cole and their other doggie, KeKe.

Here is the Instagram she posted when they recieved the treats. ❤️❤️❤️ I highly recommend following KeKe and Cole on their Instagram here.

This is when I decided, instead of just randomly saying yes to donations, I want to choose a specific person or organization that means something to me and be able to take time and appreciate their work and share it with you!

This month I chose Operation Paws for Homes. OPH rescues all dogs of all breeds and ages from high kill shelters and finds fosters homes for them, which is honestly so much better than purely having a shelter to take them too! A foster family provides an amount of love and attention that simply can't be matched. It is run by volunteers and is 100% donor funded. I love this idea and think it is something I would love pursuing in my local area as it is something I am seriously passionate about. I wish I could take in every stray and every shelter animal I find.
They contacted me on Etsy about providing them with some treats to donate and I am so glad I did. And now that I have, I look forward to helping them out more in the future. Keep up with them on their Facebook page.

I have so many ideas and so many hopes for Treat Dreams and what I could be able to do to help I can't wait to see what the future holds and what possibilities are in store!

If you have an organization or deserving person/dog let me know and I would love to find out more about them to send them some goodies!!

Gourmet Easter Dog Treats: The Easter Bunny has definitely delivered!

So the Easter Bunny came by our house early this year and I must say, he didn't disappoint! He left us some very tasty and adorable (might I add) Easter doggie treats.

Some of them use the all natural, grain-free pumpkin recipe that has garbanzo flour so that all doggies, even those with wheat allergies will be able to enjoy them!

But then the others are made with rice flour and are either carob/peanut butter, cheese, or blueberry! Talk about selection!

So check 'em out!

These are our grain-free pumpkin treats. I am working on grain-free peanut butter treats but haven't gotten there quite yet. These are super delicious though! And they smell incredible!

Grain-free is such a good choice. We are working on going grain-free with everything we give our dogs.

These are gluten-free but not grain-free. These are made with rice flour.

Even dogs want a chocolate bunny on Easter!!

They are our carob and peanut butter bunnies. These smell like you are cooking Reese's in your kitchen!

These are also gluten-free and made with rice flour. We call them "parmesan puffs". We have these all year round but I included them because they definitely look "Easter"y! But beware, if you buy these, you will crave garlic and cheese so badly, you'll have to have Italian for dinner :)

Check out all these and more at www.treatdreamsthedogbakery.com

Free Antique Fonts

I am in love with this antique style of font and writing that is popular right now!

I have several friends who have chalkboard calendars like this, and I think it is so fun!

So as I was pinning the other day, I ran across from free antique fonts on an adorable blog and thought I would post about it, so others can enjoy the fun :)

First of all, I want to give credit where credit is due,  here is the blog: http://www.ellaclaireinspired.com

Now, here are the fonts. I know nothing about downloading and installing fonts and have tried many times before to download nothing, but these are extremely easy and they are now installed on my pages app on my computer! I can't wait to use them!

Follow this link to go to the site to get them! 

ENJOY!