Who we are and why we do this

Creativity Unleashed was started in 2012. We both have passion for animals, understanding the wonderful connection that can exist between a human and their pets and we wish for everyone who has the ability to commit to a pet to have this experience. At present Mike and I have three cats and two dogs; Jagger, Tess, Ava, Willow and Tobie. Each one of them is unique and brings joy to our lives every day in some way or another.

Our mission has always to bring awareness to the pets in need of adoption in our area and give them a better chance to be matched with their forever families. Keeping photos of pets waiting in our local shelters out in front of thousands of faces each week was the goal we had in mind when we came up with the idea to print placemats with their photos and information on them. Our mats can be found in restaurants in Amsterdam, Broadalbin, Gloversville, Johnstown, Mayfield, Fultonville, Hagaman, Galway, and Perth.

By advertising their businesses in this unique way, our clients are allowing us to do that and we appreciate them very much. Every single advertiser is a partner in helping us do what we do to get pets noticed!

A few years after we started printing and distributing our placemats we came up with the idea to also publish a magazine that would allow us to portray even more shelters and rescues. This magazine, called Crazy About Pets, serves to inspire others to make that choice to adopt from a shelter or rescue. There is so much that can be gained from the relationship that forms with that very grateful shelter dog or cat.

Inside the magazine are heartwarming stories and some great informative articles written and submitted by local professionals and pet lovers. We are hopeful too that our magazine serves to inspire people to foster a pet, donate or to help out in any way they can if adoption is not possible. Our magazines are hand distributed to over 75 businesses!

We are so impressed with the staff and volunteers at all of the shelters we feature on our mats and in our magazine. The dedication and commitment that they bring to their work every day is simply amazing and admirable. 

A few years ago, we took it up a notch and decided to start featuring local stories about our area: people, clubs, volunteers and businesses. When we did this, we tucked the Crazy About Pets magazine inside of it. The new magazine is called We Call This HOME and we are honored to be able to bring to light all the good we have in our surrounding communities, while still helping shelter pets get noticed.

This business has given us the opportunity to become friends with many of these wonderful people!

The restaurants who have agreed to use our placemats daily have given us the platform on which to bring these pets’ wonderful faces to the table every single day. So many different restaurants using these mats simultaneously each and every day gives them a much a better chance of finding a forever home. We truly appreciate them all very much.

We continue to strive every day to reach as many people as we can, to change the way they think about shelter pets and to connect them to some very impressive shelters and rescues who can match them up with the perfect forever friend for their family.  We love what we do! 

~Linda and Mike