"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

Ninja approves

Thought I'd show my inspiration for creating my crested gecko plush terrarium - Ninja!

She's about a year old now, a fat happy gecko.

Here she is inspecting the cage:"Hmm, looks about right to me""Hey, you look familiar!""How can anyone resist my charms?"

The plush tank is for sale on etsy, and there will be more to come! Thinking about doing a snake next, or maybe some sort of desert lizard. Hmmm.

Pining for the fjords

So last night my family was watching a tv show about really classic wrestling matches, with people like Hulk Hogan, etc. So, there was lots of yelling and cheering coming from the tv. My parrot, Pepper, was in his cage behind the couch covered with a blanket because it was bedtime for him. However, he kept squealing and chirping. He has lots of little sleepy time happy noises, but he was also responding to the tv and really making a lot of funny sounds.

Now, I've heard from my parents that they've caught Pepper sleeping upside down sometimes. I've found him underneath sheets of paper or newspaper on the bottom of the cage before, but never actually seen him upside down myself. The first time my dad saw him like that, he thought he was dead and started freaking out. Tapping on the cage caused Pepper to squeal and get up.

So, last night I lifted the blanket and looked inside to see why Pepper was being so happy and noisy. I didn't see him at first. Then I looked at the bottom. And ran to get my camera.

If this isn't the silliest thing you've ever seen, I want to know what is.

He has plenty of good perches meant for parrots, and he only does this once in a while. Nobody knows why.

I'm too awesome for my own good

Seriously.Yup, it's a fish tank. Everything inside is made of fleece, either hand sewn or machine sewn by me. I love when ideas like that pop into my head.

It's for sale in my shop, and I'd looooooove to take custom orders on something like this!

Next up... I'm not sure. Thinking of some sort of lizard or snake set up.

And nudibranchs. Of course.

A new adventure

I get way too many good ideas in my mind all at once. First of all, I finished up another custom order and I love it... it's a Bryozoan. Supposed to look like the things on this page.And have any of you seen the latest issue of National Geographic? With the article on nudibranchs? They are my dad's favorite animal, and I think they're amazing. They have the articles and photos on their website, you HAVE to check this out. Because I'm going to make some of those. The black one with green spots is my favorite.

Aaaaaand... another idea floating around that's starting to take shape is - fish tanks. I have a clean empty 10 gallon tank and I'm going to decorate it with everything plush - sand, background, decorations, and of course fish. I have an idea to make it so that it could be removed and put into any other 10g tank, and some of the decoration able to be moved around. I started making my first one yesterday and it's going to be awesome! So far it's got seaweed and rocks and a starfish - going to have corals, anenomes and clown fish. I was also thinking terrariums - like plush setups for lizards and snakes and things. Would be great for people who don't want to actually take care of a pet but just want something to look pretty, haha. It's something different, at least.

So that's what's up with me and hopefully I won't be struck with another great idea until I get some of these other projects out of the way first.

Watch out for that beak!

My latest masterpiece is a custom order that I've fallen completely in love with. Sending this guy in the mail will be a sad day.

It's a giant water bug, Lethocerus americanus. I often keep them as pets. Well, whenever I can catch them. I had some dead specimens (found that way in parking lots) that I used as models. In reality they get about two inches long. They live in water but breath air through tubes sticking out of their abdomen, and will sometimes fly around at night, attracted to lights.

They have a nasty bite, that beak they've got in the front can be really painful. So I've heard... for all the ones I've handled I've never been bitten. In fact, I rarely get bitten or stung by things, and I play with a *lot* of animals I shouldn't, haha.

I'm a pirate

ArrrrrrrrNow you can see Pepper in action... he loves/hates his red cup.