The FBDCA Texas State Basket

Down to the final count down. People and basket items are beginning to head to Kansas for Nationals, and we still have new people to thank and some new items to show.

Thanks to a recent donation by Carolyn Rountree, you will notice the ChipIn counter now says 100%. This means we met our funds goal to raise enough money to buy some wonderful items for the basket.

The Texas Style! basket now has a "basket". Check out the designer foam bed. The cover zips off and is washable. It's a soft dusty blue and a large size. Just right for a couple of Frenchies to share. Three if they really, really like each other.



The items below will be added at National to the Texas Style basket. (Because they are in-route, no pictures.)

Linda McKee is making a Texas-themed glass cutting board and Kathy Carlson is donating a couple of Texas wine glasses. But will they be lonely? Not with the two bottles of Texas wine Tara Boyle is bringing! Sounds like the basis for a Texas wine and cheese party.

For the From Tadpoles to Frogs basket, one more item to add: a framed and matted print by Cheryl DeVore. Gotta have art to go with pups.

Many, many thanks to all our donators, artists, and contributors. You have created some amazing baskets. Here's the current list of what's in each one. Tell all your friends. They won't want to miss a chance to win one these baskets of fabulous items AND to support the FBDCA Specialty!

From Tadpoles to Frogs! Basket

• Canon® PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
• a Precision Pet® Puppy Pen
• a beautiful wrought iron pet bed with pad,
• a puppy incubator for those teeny-tiny tadpoles,
• a Frenchie puppy-themed wooden stool created by Linda McKee,
• “Fling a Frog” rope circle dog toy,
• puppy essentials like baby wipes, Q-tips and cotton balls in cute, little, plastic travel caddies,
• frog bath puppet,
• a fabulous framed and matted print by Cheryl Devore.

Texas Style! Basket

• Large Fashion Foam Dog Bed with Washable Cover
• French Bulldog Wooden Tea Tray by Jim Stokes
• THREE T-shirts! (Two from Luckenbach, Texas, one featuring a Brindle Frenchie pocket pup.)
• Collector’s Frenchie Ceramic Plate,
• Kathy Van Zeeland designer purse,
• Silvertone Boot & Hat lapel pin,
• Pink leather leash,
• 2 matching pink leather collars,
• “Scentsy!” star votive with scented cubes,
• Art print of a cream Frenchie advertising Frog Dog treats,
• Pet-themed roller stamp,
• Glass cutting board with Texas scene by Linda McKee,
• TWO bottles of wine from Texas vineyards!
• Texas-theme wine glasses,
• Ice cube trays to make Lone Star ice cubes,
• Jar of national award winning Austin Slow Burn Habanero Jelly,
• Texas/cowboy themed stickers suitable for scrapbooking.

Lots has been happening in the past few days.

More wonderful stuff is coming in from other people and members, and rumors of more items to be added at Nationals.

Check out this Scentsy star scent votive donated by Rhiannon Ott. She sells this product and declared the star-shaped version was just the thing for the Texas Style Basket. We must agree with her!



Today we received a donation from a Frenchie person, who's not even a club member. Stephanie Abbott, a longtime Frenchie fan, donated to the Texas basket in honor of her two flat-faced friends, Dorey and Pascal. This donation pushes us up to 90% of funds collection goal!

After further review and feedback, the camera for the puppy basket is changing. The camera for the basket will now be a Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom. This camera appears to have better picture-taking capabilities in low-light situations and better image stabilization abilities. All within the same price range as the previous camera choice. Both desired qualities when taking pictures of sleeping newborn puppies, or older puppies doing the Puppy 500 around the house or yard.

One week to Nationals!

To make the most of all the Texas goodies, and to bring in as much as we can for the club, we are splitting the baskets into two separate baskets. The main basket, From Tadpoles to Frogs, will have the puppy theme items. The second basket will be called Texas Style. It will contain the apparel, accessories, food, and lifestyle-type items.

We have another person to thank for adding funds to our ChipIn account: Tara Boyle. This brings us to 77% fulfillment of our goal. Now we can certainly get the camera and puppy pen!

More stuff is rolling in for the baskets. We recently had some star-shaped ice cube trays contributed, and a jar of National Award winning Austin Slow Burn Habanero Jelly. Yummy!


Karol Dreibelbis knew the exact pad to get for the wrought iron bed and donated one to complete the bed.

The auction schedule isn't set yet, but live bidding on baskets should start Tuesday night at the Specialty. Some baskets will be selected for silent auctioning, as well.

Today is Oct 1st. Our final ChipIn date for funds is Oct 8th. Will be purchasing the camera within the week and leaving funds for the puppy pen later. The lucky person winning our Texas basket will have the pen shipped directly to them after the Specialty. Any funds leftover from the purchase of these two items will be donated directly to the FBDCA Club for Specialty expenses.

What goodies have arrived for the Texas State Basket?

Why lots of fashion items for both owner and pooch!

Courtesy of Shana I. McCoy, we have:
• Designer purse (Kathy Van Zeeland) in a shiny, metallic material.
• Frog bath puppet
• Pink leather leash
• Pink leather collars (2!)
• "Fling a Frog" rope circle dog toy
• Baby essentials like baby wipes, Q-tips and cotton balls in cute, little, plastic travel caddies.


But wait! There's more! Lucille Inmon has sent along
• 8" collectable Frenchie plate
• Cowboy Boot and Hat lapel pin


And should we mention Shana's donation of funds? We are now 65% of the way to our goal!

Nationals are getting closer and closer. If you have anything to add to the basket, please give us a heads up.

One item that would be appreciated would be a pad for the wrought iron bed. Right now it has a plain canvas pad, but certainly could use some extra Texas or Frenchie style.

Bed dimensions are: 22 3/4" X 15" X 3" deep.

Now the winner of the Texas State Basket will be the spiffiest dresser in the state and at Nationals. They will be sporting some wonderful t-shirts with Texas and Frenchie themes.

First up, we have an Olive and a White shirt with a Luckenbach motif. The Olive shirt is XL, and the White with Navy is a Medium.






The other shirt has a passenger on board: a mini-Brindle Frenchie pup peeking out of the pocket. But you don't have to be mini to wear this one. It's sized XL! (If you are mini, would make a great nightshirt.)



Nancy Shaw is the source, and the person to thank, for these latest items. She and Larry Bates are also the source of most of the funding towards to the camera, and hopefully, puppy pen.

If you have something tucked away and keep thinking "I should send that along," please do! The Texas basket is going to be a big raffle item, as it should be! :-)

Today's additions are:
• The home-made incubator
• A rolling stamp full of cute pet sayings

The incubator comes with a temperature gauge, a SnuggleSafe, and instructions. It's lightweight and perfect bringing those tiny tadpoles home from the vet, and keeping them warm and safe till they are around 3-4 weeks old. You can see some happy past customers in the photos.











The stamp has several fun sayings. You supply the imagination of how to put it to use.



If you have something for the basket, be sure to contact Stephanie Roberts about shipping it to her. Or if you are thinking of a monetary donation, we accept those, too!

There is a nice little Olympus camera at Wolfe Camera with 5x optical zoon and 4x digital zoom. (Total of 20x zoom!). Might be able to snag a free photo printer along with the camera for the basket, too.

Here's the link, and if anyone has used this camera, let us know if you give it a thumbs up or down.
Olympus FE-310 Digital Camera

Texas artist, Linda McKee, is working on a small wooden stool for the basket. (The Tea Tray featured earlier is the art and handwork of resident Texas artist, Jim Stokes.)

Linda sent in some pictures of the stool, so far. As you can see, there is a lot of work going into this small, wood stool. Very customized to the Texas Basket and the FBDCA Specialty! Staining and varnishing are yet to come.












And for those scrapbookers out there, a donation of Western- and Texas-themed stickers should get you fired up to buy some raffle tickets for this basket!

We have some great items and money donations pouring in!

Check out these items donated so far:

Wrought Iron Dog Bed
How classy is this? There are plans to recover the pad with something Frenchie-spectacular and make this the "basket."


Art
Here's an item just right for any Frenchie decor. A wonderful print of a cream Frenchie advertising Frog Dog treats.


Wood Tea Tray
A hand-crafted tea tray is underway. Pryography is being used to burn the image of a French Bulldog into the wood, then it will be stained and sealed with varnish.


Small Wood Stool
Pryography is a popular art form, as another item is underway by another Frenchie artist. No pictures yet, but will be adorned with Frenchie puppies.

Puppy Incubator
Parts have been ordered for the home-made incubator and photos should be available in a week or two.

Moolah!
Generous donations have been made, and thus, progress to our goal of purchasing an inexpensive, but decent digital camera ($130-180 range). If anyone has suggestions or recommendations of a camera, please send along. To get those tight puppy close-ups a camera with 5X or more zoom feature would be best.

The next item to buy with donated funds will be a puppy pen. Here's a link to read more about them:
http://www.precisionpet.com/detail.aspx?id=16

Thanks to all who have contributed so far. This basket is off to a great start. For those of you who want to donate, remember, we are looking for things related to puppy care and rearing, Texas-themed, or just plain Frenchie!

Welcome to the webpage for the French Bull Dog Club of America Texas State Basket: from Tadpoles to Frogs!

The purpose of the page is to build the best state basket to be raffled off at the 2008 FBDCA Specialty and create funds to support the National Specialty. The Specialty is not only the place for Frenchie fans to gather, admire, and award the best French Bulldogs of the year, it's also a place to learn how to keep your Frenchie healthy, how to breed better and healthier Frenchies, celebrate rescue successes, and a place for Frenchie folk to share information and ideas in person.

Join us in making this the best Texas basket ever by sending in your item. Items can be handmade, bought, or for those who rather contribute and let others do the shopping, see the "ChipIn!" button to the right. This will let you contribute using Paypal, a credit card, or by e-check.