Randy’s Reads
Each month, Life on Crypton will begin showcasing a few blogs and articles from the previous month chosen by Crypton’s co-founder, Randy Rubin. “Randy’s Reads” will feature just a few of the ideas and inspiration running through Crypton these days. Enjoy!

style carrot Penned by freelance style writer Marni Elyse Katz, Stylecarrot.com provides design inspiration through large montages of photos – depicting interior spaces, art and objects. Check out her recent piece on the many uses of sheepskin rugs.

Eco-Stylista: Crypton prides itself in creating green and long lasting, sustainable products – we have extra appreciation for like-minded people. This simple blog showcases items
for ‘eco-conscious living’ with an emphasis on décor. Recently featured items? Wool throws, a “luxe laid-back dining room” and an organic bike.

“Pets on Furniture”  This article from AtticMag picks up right where Julia Szabo left off in her AP column featured on our blog a few weeks ago. Alongside beautiful pet photography, the writer explores what it means to design a home with your pet in mind.

Sweet Paul Magazine : SweetPaul is a gorgeous lifestyle blog covering food, home décor and DIY crafts, and is run by Paul Lowe. He is expanding his online presence with the up-and-coming online magazine dedicated to the “theme of simple, elegant, stylishly easy”. The first issue comes out this spring – keep an eye out for it.

Can baking make the world a better place? Crypton believes it can!

For me, baking is much more than a means to a delicious end; it’s also an excellent form of meditation. As I focus on assembling the ingredients for a banana loaf, or combining flour and butter to create a tart crust (my secret for flakiness is one tablespoon of white vinegar), I stay blissfully in the moment. Besides, nothing perfumes a home better than an apple pie in the oven! (I toss cubes of Fuji apples with organic powdered sugar, which yields a delightfully thick “gravy.”) My dogs, on the other hand, prefer when I bake them crunchy biscuits

Now, with global efforts underway to assist the relief effort in Haiti, baking has become more than a meditation: It’s an easy way for people to feel they are making a contribution to that lifesaving effort, however small.

Today, the excellent web site Supervegan is holding a bake sale for Haiti at the Angels & Kings Bar, while one of my favorite NYC stores, Domus Unaffected Living, has been busily baking cookies in an ongoing effort to raise much-needed funds.

You can make a statement with baking, and that statement will be humanitarian and heartfelt. Baking is so satisfying because it feeds a compassionate spirit’s hunger to help.

Of course, while you’re at it, you can also make a fashion statement, protecting your clothes with a cheerful apron. So, whoever and whatever you bake for – a person, pet, or cause -
why not do it in style?

Posted by Julia Szabo.

Fido Friendly magazine features Crypton dog beds

The high-style magazine Fido Friendly recently invited me to contribute advice for its fabulous “Crate & Garden” feature. The topic was creating the ultimate mud room for dogs and the people who love, walk, feed, play with, and (of course) clean up after them.

Creating pet-friendly spaces happens to be my pet project, so I’m always on the lookout for creative K9 components to make home life easier – and easier on the eyes – for both people and pets.

The mud room winds up being a favorite napping and nesting destination, especially for dogs with thick, heavy coats who enjoy hanging out in a nice, cool atmosphere. So, one very important tip is to outfit your mud room with a dreamy dog bed that sports a durable, machine-washable cover- and the Fido Friendliest dog bed is, without a doubt, one made by Crypton.

Check out this and many other fun, informative articles in Fido Friendly’s new February 2010 issue, on newsstands now.

Posted by Julia Szabo.

Crypton umbrella plays key role in delightful “Draw the Dog” cartoon

Cartoons about dogs are a real draw for dog lovers – the proof is in The New Yorker’s archive and popular cartoon-anthology books. Now, a new Web site called Draw the Dog aims to out-New Yorker The New Yorker.

Not only does Draw the Dog offer a new canine cartoon every single day (except Sunday), but the captioned doggie drawings are animated, so they appear to draw themselves – and color themselves in – before your astonished eyes. Each K9 cartoon is inspired by a real-life dog, and all dogs get an “inspired by” credit.

Today’s inspiration, I’m honored to report, happens to be my dog Lazarus. This friendly rescued pit bull is short, stout, and brave. Only one thing puts my little guy’s tail between his  legs: wet weather. When it’s raining cats and dogs, Laz doesn’t love wearing a raincoat, but he’s happy to have me follow him around with a protective umbrella. And here’s where the fabulous, generously-proportioned Crypton umbrella comes in handy: it’s big enough to shelter both of us! 

From time to time, Laz, a.k.a. Lazzmtazz, is very lucky to have two very good friends making sure he feels safe and comfortably dry: Jack, 5, and Reeve, 3, my neighbor Pam’s two handsome sons. A photo taken this summer of the three boys and their Crypton umbrella wound up inspiring today’s delightful Draw the Dog cartoon. Here it is in its still form; to watch the animated version “draw itself,” go here.

Posted by Julia Szabo.

Can’t bring dogs with you on vacation? Give ‘em a play-cation!

New York residents are lucky: if they can’t bring their pets along on vacation, they can book a stay at one of the country’s most impressive boarding facilities, Unleash Brooklyn. I confess that I didn’t travel long-distance for several years because there was no place I’d trust with my pack of dogs; thanks to this incredible place, I’m now free to hit the road. 

Banish thoughts of an ordinary kennel. In fact, the co-owners of this unique establishment are hardcore dog lovers who won’t even use what they call  “the K-word” — and to back this up, there isn’t a single cage in the place. Constructed entirely of eco-friendly materials, this is a “holistic loft for cats and dogs.”

A stay here is a play-cation: Dogs are walked outside and enjoy carefully-supervised play sessions in three spacious exercise runs floored with shock-absorbing rubber,which is very kind to dogs with sore joints. There’s even a treadmill for super-high-energy dogs to burn off steam – or paunchy pooches, to help them battle the bulge.

When it’s sleepytime, the canine guests repair to individual rooms and “dog suites,” separated by wooden Dutch doors as in a posh horse stable, with homey touches including framed dog portraits, rugs, and chandeliers. And what do the guests lay their heads on? What else? Crypton dog beds! Now, that’s what we call deluxe accommodations.

And how’s this for reassuring: The morning after my dogs’ first night at their new home-away-from-home, I received the following text message: “They are awesome and slept great!”  

Posted by Julia Szabo.

Crypton salutes leaders in spay/neuter movement

We suspected Dr. Andrew Kaplan had a good chance of becoming Crypton’s “pet” vet the minute we noticed the seats in the waiting room at his Manhattan practice, City Veterinary Care. They’re upholstered in Posey Lapis, and Material Dog Turquoise, which happen to coordinate smartly with the scrubs worn by the doc and his hardworking staff!

But just as Crypton combines style and substance, Dr. Kaplan’s HQ is much more than a good-looking space. It’s an animal hospital where rescued pets seeking a forever home are treated with the exact same TLC as the pets of A-list celebrity clients (they include Peter Yarrow, Kristen Chenoweth, David Hyde Pierce, and Bernadette Peters.)

That’s one reason Dr. Kaplan is called the Albert Schweitzer of homeless pets. Here’s another: In 2009, Dr. Kaplan launched a non-profit called The Toby Project. “Spay/Neuter Today, Save Thousands Tomorrow” is The Toby Project’s slogan. Its inspiration is Kaplan’s mutt Toby (pictured) and its mission is to solve the pet overpopulation problem in New York City by offering free and low-cost spay/neuter surgeries to pets of low-income families. With City Vet Care’s trademark TLC, these life-saving sterilization procedures are performed at zero cost to owners of mutts, pit bulls, and cats (purebred owners pay $75) on a mobile surgical van that drives out to economically challenged New York communities. To date, the Project has succeeded in sterilizing well over 2,000 pets!

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Teri Austin – you remember her as a star of TV’s “Knots Landing” – is more than a lovely, talented actress; she heads up The Amanda Foundation, a terrific non-profit that also offers free spay/neuter services to dogs and cats on its “Spaymobile.”  In recognition of the sad fact that animal shelters are filled beyond capacity with unwanted pit bulls, several locations across the country offer to “fix” pit bulls for free – they include D.C.’s Washington Humane Society; East Bay Pit Fix in Oakland, CA; Animal Ark in Hastings,  Humane Society of Southern Arizona; Boston’s Alliance for Animals; North County Humane Society in Jupiter, FL; and the Humane Society of New York.

Many organizations across the country offer low-cost dog and cat sterilization to economically challenged pet owners; to locate one near you, consult SPAY/USA. But one person’s definition of low-cost – even if it’s just $20 – might still be prohibitively expensive to someone else. Thanks to a grant from Maddie’s Fund, at Arizona’s Maricopa Animal Care & Control, they actually pay owners of pits and pit mixes $20 to have their dogs sterilized!  More free and incentive-driven sterilization services are desperately needed to combat our country’s pet over population crisis.

Animal lovers look forward to a day when free spay/neuter programs become widely available to pet owners in need, regardless of breed. By reaching out to their communities and offering free spay/neuter to all who ask for it, The Toby Project and The Amanda Foundation are leading by example – and for that, we salute them.

Thank you to Melissa Wiedemann of Barking Photo for these terrific photographs – check out her web site to commission your pet’s portrait!

Posted by Julia Szabo.

Our own Life on Crypton blogger, Julia Szabo, was featured in a lifestyle story last week on ABC News.com.

The article, Pet-Friendly and Stylish,Too offers helpful advice on smart color choices, chic bedding options, and ways to make pet items “blend into your home décor”. It’s a perfect read for the stylish pet-owner.  What little tricks and tips have you found useful for creating a design-focused, yet pet-friendly home?

Painter Heather LaHaise raises Crypton Stain Resistance to Art

Paintings on velvet are definitely an acquired taste, and fans of this quirky art form enjoy making a pilgrimage to Portland, Oregon’s velveteria, the world’s only museum dedicated to black-velvet art.

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, talented artist Heather LaHaise decided to update the painting-on-velvet tradition by putting Crypton to the ultimate stain resistance test: a special art project for which she substituted her usual canvas with Crypton Suede in the Hollywood-glamorous shade Harlow.

The resulting artwork, titled “Miss Molly,” is a priceless portrait of Molly B. Rubin that really captures this little dog’s big personality. Only instead of being acrylic on canvas, the portrait is acrylic on … Crypton. Kind of gives new meaning to “Life on Crypton!”

“My attempt at painting a portrait on Crypton proves that Super Fabric really is designed to last,” Heather says. “Much different than canvas, Crypton certainly did not want to accept my favorite water-based paint, Liquitex. Because of Crypton’s repellent quality, I had to deliver many coats of paint to achieve the desired effect. It was definitely a challenge, because while I am normally trying to capture a personality with my paint, in this case, I was also trying to figure out how to break through the tough Crypton barrier and still make a nice portrait!”

The artist succeeded at capturing precisely what the entire Crypton family loves about Molly B. “No matter how much I spattered the paint, sponged it on, or repeatedly covered the Crypton in paint, it still wanted to repel my efforts,” concludes Heather, who was only too happy to return to her usual artist’s medium: low-tech canvas. “Crypton was doing its job and I had a difficult time doing mine, so I’ll stick to canvas!”

Posted by Julia Szabo.

Many things can rub right off Crypton, but here’s one we would never want to wipe  away: Hollywood glamour! That’s Phoebe Cates Kline, erstwhile model and actress, wife of actor Kevin Kline, and busy proprietor of Blue Tree, Manhattan’s most eclectic lifestyle store. And by Phoebe’s side is her beloved little rescued mutt, Joe!

Phoebe and Joe are taking a break from helping customers to show off one of Joe’s favorite places to hang out while he’s visiting his Mom at work: a 1950s-era  slipper chair – low, wide, and handsome, not unlike Joe himself – that’s covered in Lipstick  Crypton Suede.  It’s one of several one-of-a-kind furniture items sold exclusively at Blue Tree. These haute home furnishings range in style and period, but they share one thing in common: all have been Cryptonized. Currently available: a Gustavian-style chaise longue with a button-tufted back, done up in Icing and Hershey Crypton Suede … and a Louis XVI oval-back arm chair in Grape Crypton Suede. 

Special thanks to Heather Green for these adorable photos; to book a portrait of yourself and your dog – Heather’s specialty – visit Heather’s web site. heathergreenphotography.com

Posted by Julia Szabo.

Here at Crypton, we love to spoil our pets. The holiday season provides a perfect excuse to shower our four-legged family members with a few special gifts of their own. Whether it’s a squeaky toy or a brand-new bed, even pets can get into the holiday spirit.
The classic canine stocking-stuffer for many dog owners has always been a good bone or treat purchased from a local pet store. But this year, we wanted to share our favorite alternative: homemade dog treats. The recipe below makes a fun Saturday afternoon project – and believe us, your dog will go nuts over these gourmet treats!
Try your hand at bow wow baking this weekend! We’d love to hear your stories of your pet’s holiday spirit.

Bow Wow Peanut Butter Bites

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and stir with hand or fork. The dough should be sticky. Roll out onto wax paper about 1/4” to 1/2” thick. Use various sizes of bone cookie cutters to cut out shapes from the rolled out dough (No cookie cutters? You can use a knife to cut small squares). Repeat until all dough is gone. Once the treats are finished baking, let them cool. Freezing the treats will keep them fresher longer.

A quicker version: For faster treats, once the dough is mixed, take the dough and roll out evenly in a nonstick 11×17 cookie sheet pan. Use a butter knife and cut squares throughout the entire pan to your desired size. For small dogs, I do 1/2” x 1/2” squares. Then stick them in the oven to bake. Use a spatula to remove the treats from the pan and let them cool. Once cooled, break the treats apart with your hand. Freezing the treats will keep them fresher longer.

Bake: 350 degrees
Time: 15-20 minutes*
* Time will vary. Shorter if you want the treats softer, longer if you want the treats crunchy.

Still looking for a last-minute gift? Dog treats could also be the perfect homemade present for the pet-lover in your life. Include a copy of the recipe to offer a gift that will keep on giving!