One more distraction

I couldn't help myself. It only took me about an hour.It's a lynx spider - hope to see one in person when I go on my trip in a few weeks.

I've decided to stop taking custom orders until I come back from the desert in mid-May. Makes me sad, but I have to do it, school is simply getting too demanding.

A brief interlude from studying

I went on a real sewing binge yesterday... in addition to the velvet worm I completed a carrion beetle and a mother scorpion with babies.

The silphid beetle is in the shop now:
The scorpion I worked on non stop for who knows how many hours... maybe 5 or 6?
This is one of my favorite pieces so far. I'm thinking of entering her in the Mortal Plush show this summer.

And now I must get back to studying and assignments... the semester is finishing up fast, and there's so much left to do.

Velvet worm

Velvet worms (phylum Onychophora) are very strange creatures. They are related to arthropods and tardigrades, looking like soft fluffy centipedes.

I had thought of making one a while ago but it slipped my mind... and then someone on the etsy forums suggested it. I finally got a chance to do some sewing today, so here it is!
My favorite fact about these animals: some species can squirt out a type of glue to catch their prey! This substance can be shot up to 30cm away (velvet worms themselves range from .5 to 20cm long) to catch other invertebrates.

I'd really love to have one (or more!) of these as a pet some day.

My new identity

I've been working with pocketstudio on etsy for my logo design, and couldn't be happier! It was a tough decision, I got so many fabulous bids and preliminary sketches... but pocketstudio really captured what I was looking for right from the start.

Every idea translated perfectly from my mind to the design in every step, Sarah really understood what I wanted.

Check this out!
Doesn't he look familiar? It's Cedric the centipede of course.
I have spent a LONG time thinking about getting a logo. Everything about my shop and business cards has been scattered, without a theme to pull them together. For so long, though, I simply couldn't come up with a design that would work to represent my business. Then one day it hit me - bugs crawling on a sewing machine. But what bug? Cedric, being my mascot for craft fairs, was the perfect fit. I feel like the logo I have now can tell you a lot about what I do in one image. The business cards and banner also include my "custom crafted creatures" tagline.

I got a new avy and banner for my etsy shop, as well as business cards and return address stickers. I already went out and bought some business cards and address labels... so exciting!

So thanks again to pocketstudio, if any of you have design needs or simply want some adorable cards, please check out their shop!

Front page!

Only about 15 minutes after I left for bed last night, I was featured on the front page of etsy!

Thanks to pairadactyl for choosing me, it was nice waking up to all those hearts and a bunch of kind messages.

School comes first

I'm taking a step back until the end of the semester. No more sewing/etsy/blogging/twitter/flickr/deviantart... except in small doses when I need to escape from homework.

I've got some big assignments coming up, final exams starting April 8th, and then April 16th I'm leaving for a three week field course (going through the various deserts of the Southwest USA).

It's going to be a crazy two months, for sure. And once I come home I've hopefully got a full time job lined up for the summer, and will be diving back in to my etsy business as well.

Don't miss me too much.

Spring Plushapalooza!

I won't be able to attend the Plush Team festivities in the Etsy Labs due to exams and a school craft fair, but I'll be there in spirit.

For immature audiences only

During my visit to the American Museum of Natural History, my astute scientific eye was able to catch many valuable details... including those involving copulation.

The butterfly room was full of it!
And this one female (in the middle) was being seduced non stop, even by some males of different species. They'd hover over her in a blur, dipping and dancing.
And then there were the reptiles...
The box turtles looked a little awkward.
Dance dance dance!
The toads were going at it as well:
Makes me wonder why they didn't show any mammal sex? (that I had seen, anyway). We were going through the museum pretty quickly to see as much as possible, so I may have missed some other good shots. But I thought these were pretty fun.

*giggle*

How to get bitten by a snake

Proof that the American Museum of Natural History has a sense of humor. I'll let the photos I took of the displays and captions speak for themselves.

My lovely

I've got plenty of updates to give on my week at home (namely tons of photos from the American Museum of Natural History), but I just have to share these pics of me and my boyfriend Josh. Seeing him is definitely my favorite part of going home to visit!

He takes care of my two ball pythons and my crested gecko... here we are with Bijou and Jacques:
Bijou's cage got a makeover, and so she had to go sniff every inch of it:
And it was Josh's birthday, so he got his present - his own giant centipede (like Cedric, handmade by me of course). His doesn't have a name yet, though. But they sure look adorable together.
In case you didn't know, this is what giant centipedes are best for:
Sadly my week of fun and relaxation is over and I need to get cracking on school projects, papers and exams. Already thinking about which weekend I could use to go back to see Josh though.