Aerial Pest Control

That's the title of my latest nature article for Kaatskill Life magazine (section titled Learning about Kaatskill Kritters). My father and I have been writing for the magazine for many years, this article should come out in the fall issue. It's about dragonflies, and I created a treasury on etsy based upon it.

Here's a sneak preview:

It was an early summer morning and I had just finished picking myself some of our own blueberries for breakfast. A walk around the backyard brought an entourage of buzzing insects to my side, mosquitoes and horse flies, amid other unpleasant pests. After swatting a few away, I suddenly felt something crash into my head with a loud flutter of wings. Aghast, a large dragonfly alighted on my hand. Upon closer inspection I discovered it had a mosquito in its mouth. Happily perched on my hand, it munched away without taking notice of my fascination. I had always known dragonflies were very helpful creatures that eat all sorts of insects, but I had never seen one in action quite so close up.

I try to keep things interesting as well as informative and apparantly we have some loyal readers. So those of you in the Catskill region of NY, keep on the lookout for Kaatskill Life magazine, you'll surely find something by either me or my father (we do all our own photography as well).

My favorite fish

Yup, fish are cool by me too. And my favorite has GOT to be the yellow tang (above image is from stock.xchng). There's just something about those cute little fins and that bright solid color...


I love snorkeling in the Caribbean when I get the chance, and there are some fish that make me squeal. Yellow tangs, balloon/porcupine fish (LOVE playing with them, I have kevlar gloves), and stingrays are just a few. I take a disposible underwater camera with me everywhere, but I sadly don't have any of my photos scanned onto my computer. Next time I go, I'll have a digital setup.

This plush yellow tang is part of an aquarium set I did as a custom order, this time for a 2.5 gallon tank. A more affordable option for those that would like a maintenance free fish tank.As always if you'd like one for yourself you can contact me in my shop.

Singing froggies

So, the other night I caught some treefrogs just for fun, and thought I'd share the cuteness.

One of my favorite summer hobbies is tree frog hunting during their mating season. I go out once it gets completely dark, and hunt for them only by sound. Once I get one within a few feet (deafening noise), I turn on a flashlight, and capture the guy with my hands (I let them all go after a few minutes). The mating season is just starting, so I only found three around my pond. I don't think they're too stressed, as they continue to chirp and call the entire time! Let me tell you, it really confused the cats.
And here's a movie of some of their calls:


They are all gray treefrogs, Hyla versicolor. I've sometimes kept these as pets. One was named Splat, she lived with me for a few years. Was really tame and always ate from my hand. One was Lucifer, though he wasn't really a pet, because he lived outside. However, he lived underneath the same board leaning against the shed every summer for three years. I would check on him every day, and sometimes bring him grasshoppers to eat or have him sit on my shoulder as I walked around the yard. Finally, last summer, he failed to appear under the board.

And then, there was Harold. I caught him when he was bright green, 1cm long, and just emerged from the pond. He was just a little hopping speck in the grass - I had to sweep my net in grasses and shrubs every day to catch him tiny leaf hoppers and things to eat. He grew and grew and finally matured into a fat happy adult male treefrog. When I left for college he went to a family friend, where he was pampered and lived another year before passing away. He was a fantastic frog.

Stickers!!! And how to make your own

Because I'm on a "make everything myself" kick, I did some of my own promo stickers.And because I'm feeling really nice, I'll tell you how I made them!

You'll need:
Stamp making supplies (see this tutorial)
Colored paper/cardstock
Scissors
Paper cutter
Square paper punch
Stapler
Xyron 150 (1.5" wide) sticker making refill (NOT the actual sticker maker)

To start, you'll want your own image for the stickers. I used some of my bug stamps I've carved myself previously. You can also draw your own images, but stamps will be much quicker once they're made. You can also make a stamp with your business name, or write it out yourself.

Use the square paper punch to make pieces to use for the stickers. The squares should be just under 1.5" wide. Also cut strips of paper for the top label of the sticker pages where you'll have your business name/website/other info.

Now go crazy with the designing! And once you've got your images ready, you can begin with the Xyron refill sticker making paper. You can use either the permanent or repositional.

First carefully pull out the bottom sticky sheet (don't touch the sticky part!). Start placing your stickers on the sheet facing right side up. Put them in groups of however many you wish, I did three, and make sure to leave spaces between them so you can affix your label.

After you put on a small group of images, cut them off the roll. Then take the top "rub and peel" part, and place it carefully over the top of the bottom sheet, making sure to cover the whole thing. Then rub with your fingernail over every gap, making sure not to miss any spots. The rub and peel paper will pull off the extra stickiness.

Then, pull off the rub and peel sheet, and you've got stickers! Just cut apart the sections you wish, and staple a piece of paper with your business info to the top.

You can of course do variation of shapes and sizes depending on the punches you have and the size xyron sticker making supplies you use. Hope this helps :)

New packaging! Woohoo!

After many hours of carving and cutting and stamping, I've got new packaging for my items (and piles of extras made for my future products).

Every stamp is hand carved by myself... I'm admittedly not very good at doing little letters but at least everything is readable, I hope.

And I also have new business cards - printed on cardstock paper I went out and bought because I've used up every single box in the house, haha.

So, that's what I've been up to the past few days. I'm also making my own stickers, which I'll have pictures of once I whip up another batch (already sent some out as promo goodies).

Pepper strikes again

With even more caique silliness! This happened again while my brother and I were watching wrestling, and I had left one of Pepper's cups in his cage. I heard him cooing, and it sounded funny... it turns out that was because his head was IN HIS CUP.

After taking some pictures he crawled out and back up onto his perch.
And then he did it again.He also likes reading the comics, too. He sleeps under the newspaper sometimes if we leave a sheet on top of the cage bottom. Perhaps he'll sleep under the newspaper upside down with his head in the cup? That would be a parrot silliness trifecta!

"I HATE EVERYTHING"

Because we all know rabbits are vile, evil, hateful creatures.

Or maybe they just don't like bowls.

Featured etsy seller - burrowburrow

It's been a while since I've posted about a great creepy crawlie etsy seller, and when I came across this shop I knew I had to mention it!

Ann Smith of burrowburrow makes the most amazing little animal sculptures from bits of metal, including birds, mammals and bugs. The details are fantastic, the prices are affordable and I think you should all buy one right now.

Here are some of her great little bugs...I also thing it's neat that these pieces are created with broken electronics and machine parts, really a great way to recycle. Perhaps the perfect gift for the geeky bug lover in your life?

I made some new friends

It's summer time, and that means more animals are finding their way into my house... because of me, of course.

I've got some new friends residing in my room (in cages) that I'd like to introduce you to.

First up is the cute one... the baby turtle. He's a painted turtle, caught in the pond in my backyard. I was squealing quite incoherantly for a few minutes upon his capture. He eats little goldfish and insects caught in the pond, as well as tiny crickets. Trying to get him to go after turtle pellets.Next is the house centipede, caught him in my dad's office!And the stunningly beautiful fishing spider. She's simply fantastic... and already munching up a big cricket. I havent measured her legspan but I think it's about two inches.I've got more photos of them on Flickr.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my camera and macro lens? Because I do. A lot.

PLUSH TEAM CONTEST

Woohoo! Check out this awesome contest! Looky, there's my click beetle right in the middle of the pile...

You Could Win All This Plush!

The Plushteam is celebrating our one year anniversary! As a thank you to all our customers and Etsy we are having a BIG team contest. It’s a scavenger hunt, where team members have hidden our team mascot “PT Stitchy” into our shops. Once you have found him (in every single shop!) you convo Plushteam member redmag with the item listing numbers. The game starts today, June 1 and continues till June 6, with the winner announced on the team blog Monday June 9. Search in the following Plushteam members shops to play:
abbydid
absolutelysmall
beetlegirldesign
casienipper
christinaward
followthewhiterabbit
furwillfly
moogancreations
moonscreations
pattihaskins
siansburys
slcstudio
squirrelmomma
weirdbuglady
yummypancake
zzbeadz