Meet the Pugs of Middle Earth. Phillip Lauer and his wife Sue are a Californian couple who love The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films and their three pugs, Blue, Bono, and Roxy, so much that they’ve come up with an unusual and pretty awesome hobby. For the past six years they’ve been dressing up their dogs as characters from Tolkien’s epic fantasy stories and staging photographs that vary from formal studio portraiture to action photos shot in the country.

Phillips says, “They are the family photos that we put up on our walls just like other people do of their kids. Yes, it’s a lot of time and effort but we have a lot of great memories and photos to share. It puts a smile on our faces, too.”

The Lauers even had a photo studio custom built inside their home in Sonoma County, California so that they could create photos to a professional standard.

But wait, as if dressing up their pugs as J.R.R. Tolkien characters wasn’t fun enough, the Lauers have also dressed their cute little canine trio as lifeguards, rockstars, and pugs in Parka jackets. 

Visit Design Taxi and Dailymail.co.uk to view even more photos.

When Tim Stellburg, a particularly geeky Minnesotan who also goes by the name Buggeye, had to have several troublesome cottonwood trees in his yard cut down, he asked that 9-10 feet of one of the trees be left standing so that he could later hire an artist to carve it into something awesome.

As soon as he figured out what he wanted, Tim hired Curtis Ingvoldstad of Wood Sculpture by Curtis to transform the stump into a magnificent Silver Dragon based on fantasy artist and illustrator Todd Lockwood’s creation for Dungeons & Dragons third edition (3.5).

“No matter how badly I mess up a Star Wars/Star Trek/whatever trivia quiz - Nobody can take away my geek card ever again.”

The process of sculpting the tree took place over 13 four hour sessions. Curtis painted the beast as well, but Tim painted the eyes himself. Click here for more photos of Buggeye’s awesome Silver Dragon.

Then click here to view more of Curtis Ingvoldstad’s on-site commissioned carvings.

[via Nerd Approved and Redditors Aboiement and Mozleron]

Depending on the purity of your heart, or perhaps simply whether or not you know the residents, this incredibly awesome dragon gate either bars the entrance or grants access to the Harlech House, located in Goatstown, Dublin, Ireland.

[via Technabob]

It’s Wonderful Winged Creatures Day on Geyser of Awesome!

José Suris IV is a Brooklyn-based artist and “a 3D illustrator who loves cats.” José creates awesome sculptures and masks using paper, styrofoam, wireform, and paperclay. His creations are beautiful, playful, and incredibly detailed. We wish we could go out into the woods to play with them too.

“Through layers of paper and shades of color, Suris produces extremely detailed shapes with incredible texture that gives each form a lifelike presence. The wide range of final products includes some pieces that are fully sculpted creatures, others that are simple masks, and still others that are bodiless heads which Suris mounts and hangs on display just like a taxidermist might. For Suris, it seems that anything and everything sparks the creative process, including internet videos, cartoons, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Pokémon’s Eevee, friends’ plays, and stories that the artist hears in everyday life.”

Visit José Suris’ website to view more of his wonderful artwork.

[via My Modern Metropolis]

An epic guitar for an epic tale. Vivian Xiao, artist, graphic designer, and illustrator, transformed a humble acoustic guitar into an awesome Lord of the Rings Guitar using sharpie markers. She spent 25 hours working on this beautiful piece.

If you’re familiar with world of J.R.R. Tolkien, you may recognize Bag End (Bilbo’s house), The Gates of Argonath (The Pillars of Kings), a Great Eagle, Rivendell, one of the Nazgûl, Isengard, Arwen’s water elemental horses, Minas Tirith, an Oliphaunt, and of course Barad-dûr with the dreaded Eye of Sauron, and more. Awesome.

[via Obvious Winner]

Daniel Barreto, an illustrator based in Boston, MA, created an awesome series of manipulated photos and gifs depicting tiny dwellings built into the trunks of living trees. They’re charming and beautiful and we keep looking at them hoping to catch a glimpse of the even tinier occupants of these woody homes.

[via Beautiful Decay]

We’ve may have found the perfect footwear to go with our Inflatable Unicorn Horn or Magical Unicorn Mask. These incredible heelless platform boots are called Unicorn Hooves. They are the work of Oonacat, an artist based in Salt Lake City, Utah who specializes in creating custom-made “heelless hooves” and “heeless paws” as well as awesome pairs of ears and horns.

Check out the Oonacat Etsy shop learn more.

[via Design Taxi]

These incredibly awesome snow sculptures of Stripe the Gremlin and a rather fantastic Dragon were recently created by deviantARTist bschaff89.

[via Obvious Winner]