Adorable, Affordable, Do-It-Yourself Pet Portraits

Meet Mocha and Baxter, our forever employees of the month and bosses at The Coffie Cutters!

Mocha is a 2.5 year old Weimaraner, that has endless energy and is always keeping us on our toes! His favorite food is butter and he loves rough housing with his younger brother, Baxter. Mocha is a whopping 90 lbs. but thinks he’s a lap dog. His favorite part of the day is sitting next to his dad while he’s working – and yes he has a dedicated computer chair.

Baxter will be 1 year old in November and loves anything that is much bigger than him. He is food obsessed and loves any AND all foods. His best friend is his big brother Mocha and at 26 lbs, he is always trying to keep up with him. Baxter’s personality is growing daily and he has to be next to you every moment of the day. I know what you’re thinking – does she really mean every moment and the answer is YES, he has to be in the bathroom with us or between our feet when we are cooking.

Now that you know a little about our fur babies, you can understand why I wanted their photos above our mantle! Fast forward to deciding on our style, I began my search on Etsy for different types of photos. Initially, I wanted family photos, however, those didn’t fit our budget. Plus our dogs are high energy, so the likelihood of an actually good photo of everyone would be a miracle.

Then I came across these pet illustrations and I thought they were perfect. There were many artists on Etsy, however, we found the one we liked most on www.fiverr.com. This freelance market place is our favorite place to find artists – the best part is – you can see their portfolios and work within your budget. If you like the style of our photo, I will add our artists link below as well as our referral link which will give you a DISCOUNT.

Mocha and Baxter Illustration

We took the photos of our dogs and here are some of our tips to capturing the perfect moment:

  • Make sure there is plenty of natural light – we chose our dogs favorite place, our backyard.
  • Bribe them with treats and their favorite toy.
  • Make sure your shadow isn’t in the picture.
  • TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES, even when you think it’s too much- take more.

Next we decided we would have these printed through Amazon Prints. The size we chose was 20 X 30 with a Matte Finish. For accessibility, I have added the referral link below.

Photo Prints – Matte – Large Size (20×30)

Lastly, we found our gold frames on sale at Hobby Lobby at 50% off. They typically have great sales and are affordable. If they aren’t on sale, you can always find a 40% off 1 item coupon online.

All together it was about $130.00 for both dogs, which is a STEAL! I have honestly contemplated having more made for holiday portraits or even using these as Christmas Cards!

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