10 Ways to Celebrate Your Pet Through Art

Capture your pet's paw prints, either by snapping a photo or by using pet-friendly ink and paper, to create a whimsical custom pillow or framed print with Flutterbye Prints. Simply email the paw prints and your custom pet art will arrive in about four weeks. Make sure your pet's paw is at least 10 inches from the camera and that the fur between his paws is neatly trimmed when taking the photo.

As paint-and-sip art studios continue to grow in popularity, some now enable you to paint your own pets. The Painting With a Twist studio in Ashburn, Va., hosts regular pet painting classes, which serve as a fundraiser for a local animal rescue organization. Simply provide a photo of your pet ahead of the class so the teacher can pre-sketch an outline on the canvas for you to paint when you arrive. Bottle & Bottega also offers Paint Your Pet parties.

You may have loads of photos of your pet on your iPhone, but how many of those would you want to frame for your desk? Look to a professional photographer, like Andy Stolarek of Furtographs. He's been working with animals for nearly 20 years, so he knows how to capture what you love most about your pet in a photo shoot. For starters, he says to make sure your pet isn't hungry. And don't rush; animals can sense worry and anxiety.

Salt dough is a fun and simple way to preserve your pet's actual paw print. It's easy to make (you really only need salt, flour and water), easy to capture your pet's paw print and easy to turn into a paw print salt dough ornament, like Debbie Chapman of One Little Project did with her kids. Once the salt dough ornaments are hard and dry, decorate with paint, glitter and a ribbon to hang on the tree to celebrate your pet during the holidays.