instagram.com/naturalpawpals

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Bottle Tree Park (Part II)

Here again the very next day cuz Mom thought this particular spot produces some nice shots. That's our mom for you...............
































































































































































































































































































Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Bottle Tree Park (Part I)

This place is closing and so our humans decided to bring us here again for the last couple of times. It's quite a pity really.



























































































































































































































































Saturday, July 26, 2014

The Lone Tree Part I

We went to visit the lone tree this evening with the whippets Remy and his son Giogio for some nice picture taking! It's so beautiful and Mom really loves the tree so much that she hopes it stays there forever.





All thanks to a fellow instagram sheltie who went there... Mom saw his pictures and she just HAD to bring us there too haha!

Cotton.... as usual.... went crazy over the two big boysssss.....

The pictures' colors were edited just to create the effect because the direction of the sunset wasn't very ideally right behind us...











































this is mom's 2nd fav pix haha! Cotton is kinda short to be seen unlike me





















Mom's FAVORITE pix!





















and another! ok all of the shots are mom's favorites lol











































And we've a couple shots of Remy with his Mom...












































Friday, July 25, 2014

Cuddle Clones

Click [ HERE ] to have a look at my SUPER-customized lifesize 1:1 scale needle-felted sculpture! (It's different from Cuddle Clones' plush sculptures)

[Update: We will be updating pix of all our pawpals' Cuddle Clones in this blog post below. So check back at this post from time to time for pix!]

Yes they are clones of us which Mom can cuddle!! Everyone needs a cuddle clone of their pawpals! This is their [ FB page ]

Use coupon code
''velvet'' for 10% off your purchase when you order cuddle clone products from here


Mom placed order for 3 clones of us (me, cotton and chewy) on 01 Apr 2014 for USD577 after a promo discount deal of USD30 for each clone. Usual price is USD199 per clone. You should really head over to their FB page for their frequent discount deals. Largest one was the recent USD50 discount deal and the one and only one for this entire year. Usual ones are either USD25 or USD30 off per clone and/or figurine.

International shipping fees per clone is USD50 (USD20 for shipping within US) but since we're getting 3 shipped together its USD70. So its SGD753.20 for 3 clones. Really ex! Mom really wanted to do Lauryn but then it would cost over SGD1k. She's still feeling quite guilty for not doing Lauryn... maybe another time when Mom can spare the cash or hopefully win a clone through their FB contests...

By the way, just to add that Cuddle Clones uses synthetic materials which is why Mom prefers them over other companies that use wool. Mom and Dad are vegans and they prefer to not purchase any products made from animals. The wool industry is NOT a pretty and gentle one as most ppl think it as. Sheep are being abused during sheering and suffer both physically (wounds) and emotionally (manhandling) unnecessarily. Do a google and there's many youtube videos on the industry.

''Cuddle Clones are handmade with the most premium plush materials - they are extremely soft and cuddly. You have to feel them to believe it! We choose from literally hundreds of synthetic fabrics to find the exact one for your pet. The most common plush materials we use are polyester and acrylic. We also utilize water-based airbrushing techniques to get certain color effects. All materials and parts used to make Cuddle Clones are upheld to the strictest safety measures.'' [FAQ link]

''A portion of each Cuddle Clone purchased goes to pet-related causes to help our furry friends get the care and love they deserve. So you can get a really cool product for yourself or a pet-loving friend and feel warm and fuzzy knowing that your purchase has helped better, and in some cases save, the lives of animals everywhere. Their kind, innocent souls thank you!'' [Link]

And so, our cuddle clones were shipped on 14 June and we received it 9 days later on 23 June. It used to take only 6 to 8 weeks from order date to shipping date but its not 8 to 10 weeks. Ours took 12 weeks in total to arrive from order date. Really long due to their popularity now with only 13 designers to do them all. We turned out okay actually. Everyone seems to agree upon seeing the clones that I (ME ME ME) turned out the best amongst all 3 of us lol! Some think that Cotton's one is cute some say her clone doesn't do justice to the real her. But our family especially our grandparents think that Cotton's expression's done really well... that's really the way she looks.. the naughty look. Chewy on the other hand........ random ppl all say the same thing to Mom! Saying she looks ''CARTOONISH'' hahaha! Yes they all (strangers amongst one another) used the same word coincidentally.

Mom was SO excited to receive our clones you cannot believe it. She started counting down the days all the time hoping to see our pix in the shipping day pix on FB. She was also in a huge huge dilemma whether to do with or without tongue for me! Cotton was obvious to do a tongue out since she's always ''smiling''. But for my photos... I'm kinda caught in the middle. So she stated tongue out first in the order form, but changed later on a few weeks later through email as Mom was afraid they couldn't catch the essence of my ''smile''. Even then, they forgot about the latest change and did a tongue out for me. Luckily it turned out ok! You wouldn't believe it but Mom even communicated with me through reiki whether I want a tongue in or out of myself and almost all the time Mom got the message of tongue out which is why she told them to do a tongue out initially. You see! I'm right! I knew from the start I would turn out with tongue. Never under-estimate our doggies intelligence!

Only thing is my beard was done white... it was a miscommunication aspect. Mom told them to do it ''not so brownish looking, maybe a tinge of yellow''. She meant the shade of color... I think they misunderstood and thought make it just a tinge of yellow on the beard and the rest white. I guess Mom phrased it wrongly. So please don't misunderstand that they don't follow pictures! Mom's only unhappy that my brows weren't cut like mine... (forgivable as they're not groomers) she kept stressing and stressing to them on my brows (and my eye lashes, which were done ok). But in almost all of my pix my left brow usually ends up on my right due to wind etc and they really thought one side is longer than the other and did just that (u can see it in the factory pix). So what Mom does is she will just grab some long ones from the other side to the shorter side lol. Its acceptable overall as Mom doesn't want the hassle of shipping my clone back for touch-up as she has to bear the shipping cost to them while they bear the cost back to us and it would take about nearly 10 weeks again due to shipping to US office + them shipping to their China factory + shipping back to US and to us again.

Cotton is also done a lil' too short. Would be nicer if she were an inch taller and her head rounder on the top and fur on ears longer.

Chewy's clone was a lil' too light in color as her orange tone is really rich and vibrant. But the clone's color turned out more towards pastel-like.

She sent LOTS of pix of us through the website when ordering as well as emailing extra ones to them. We won't be uploading those pix since its so many... u can view them on our FB page here. We'll just upload the nicer ones =)

[UPDATE] This is a video of how Cuddle Clones first started out. Mom realizes now why they are cheaper. Because the other kinda artists who are charging higher (ie needle-felted artists) produce far more customized works which are handcrafted from scratch unlike from body templates like Cuddle Clones. Head over [ here ] to see my customized lifesize 1:1 scale needle-felted sculpture which took 6 months to complete!















So here they are!!

14 June 2014 at their office in US to be shipped out! They are done at their
factory in China and then shipped to their US office to be shipped
to customers from all over the world. This is shipping day pix... can you
spot us??
















Follow Cuddle Clones on Instagram!





































pix taken by their designers at their factory located in China.
Mom has ''conditioned'' my tail now to be upwards instead
of like in the pix haha!
























































































































































































Oh Mom also bought a ''home'' for our clones lol.
























Cat Catagory in their website's photo gallery













Bichon Frise breed catagory













Mini Schnauzer breed catagory













Main photo gallery
















Mom and Dad took us out for a photoshoot with out clones a month later today on 25 July! We think we look SO cute hehe.


















































































































































These clones are really a nice thing to have... Mom's friend also ordered one of her dog when he passed on recently. Maybe if Mom's friend allows, she can share pix of his clone when she receives them! Another sheltie named Kooky who's on Mom's instagram has also ordered it recently and will be receiving his clone October! It's so exciting! I think Mom's as excited as their humans haha!

Mom thinks these clones also sort of provide some comfort for those with deceased animals as it would feel like they're hugging them once again. Mom really wants one of Lauryn, sigh... But it's really expensive. Hopefully Mom can strike some couple hundreds in 4D.

Till then... we hope you've enjoyed these pix! Some ppl have commented they look freakingly scary. I guess they remind them of taxidermy. But nope, to Mom, dolls (especially life-like ones) are scary, not these cute cuddle clones of animals! Oh yea btw their fur can't really be brushed using combs or brushes as they will fall off. So Mom simply brushes them with her fingers.

If you're in Singapore, please share your pix with Mom if you've a cuddle clone? You can tag/follow us at Instagram... our ID is @naturalpawpals . =)

And lastly a big thank you to Cuddle Clones! Mom's loving our clones more and more each day! If you love soft toys as much as Mom does, you would definitely want and love a Cuddle Clone of your companion animal.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update: Mom's friend had a cuddle clone and figurine of her 15yo late-JRT, Tobi done too and received mini-tobi recently! Just to share some pictures of mini-tobs. Check out the CUTE house too! Too bad the house is too small to fit our three clones in...






































shipping day 06 Aug 2014 for Tobi!




























































































































































Update! Another of our instagram friend Kooky the sheltie got himself a cuddle clone too! So on 21 Sept we met up with them to have our pix taken together hee hee!

Shipping Day 11 Sept 2014 for Kooky!






































We've another dear friend in Vancouver named Sunshade whose blog we've been following for forever since 2007?? She passed on this year at 14.5 yrs young. Mom loves her so much even though she's at the other side of the globe. Sunshade's loved by everyone dearly actually... there's only less than a handful of dogs that Mom thinks are living the PERFECT ''dog life'' and Sunshade is the first one.

Here's a look at Sunshade's wonderful tribute that her evil Mom (actually the perfect Mom) did for her. Mom cries everytime she watches it. This is her BLOG.



So anyways, our Moms whatsapp one another and Mom surprisingly learned quite a few things... such as Sunshade's Mom practices another form of healing technique (Longevitology, also being taught in Singapore), although not Usui Rei-ki which Mom practices, its slightly similar and Sunshade, Mom believes lived a good life thanks to the healing energy she often receives from her Mom and friends as well as fans from all over the world.

Sometime after her death, Mom decided to email SS's Mom telling her about Cuddle Clones only to be told that it was ordered awhile back. So here we go...... SS's clone...... of the perfect and most loved airedale.

shipping day 22 Aug 2014 for Sunshade

































a Sunshade ''Airebear'' made by another artist for Sunshade in 2013















Sunshade. 25 Nov 1999 - 09 May 2014