Squarejane Featured on Parenting.com!

Kudos to SquareJane for having one of her awesome Halloween costumes featured on Parenting.com! That's a big deal!

 

Here's her feature.

Check out her costumes too!

Get Ready For Halloween!

It's not too early! We're starting now!

 Day of the Dead Sugar Skull mask by PrayingForFall

Cobweb Gift Tag Set by Gypsyeye

Jack O Lantern by Zemphira

Zombie Bride Wedding Dress by Squarejane

Burlesque BabyBeaded Satin Choker by pink80sgirl

Candy Corn Halloween Bobby Pin by BlackCatMima

Hooters Promotion Club (HPC)

The HPC (Hooters Promotion Club) was an idea crafted by AndreaTedford that would focus on promoting one person at a time in a spotlight fashion. We ran a round of this back in the summer where each member who signed up had a week worth of promoting!

This time, we decided to do it a bit quicker, so each person who signed up gets two days. This weekend, the HPC'er is Bumblebirch. Love yarn?  (I'm drooling...)  Check out her Yarn and Tea club! Also available in smaller portions sans tea.

Other HPC'ers that have been featured so far this round are:

Zemphira makes gorgeous fabric creations, everything from coffee cup cozies to craft aprons to adorable plush owlies like this little guy here:

Weiopensecret feature a wide variety of accessories, including these ChooChoo the Owl luggage tags.

Chester the Jerboa from Inkypaws is just dying to go home with you. Isn't he adorable?

Squarejane was our first HPC'er this round, and she's made of awesome. And so is Maggie.

Stay tuned for weekly updates on the Owls being featured in the HPC, and you can always see the current Owl being highlighted by looking at the Etsy Mini on the top-right of the blog. We'll be featuring different Owls every few days throughout October and November.

October's Halloween Challenge!

The rules were simple:

You can wear it or carry it while Trick or Treating. We had 7 willing entrants, and some great stuff (as usual!).

You can check out everyone's Etsy listings by clicking below, and please VOTE for your favorite by using the poll on the left. Voting will last for one week and will end next Monday.

BlackCatMima
Hollystott
IckyDogCreations
Mabjewelry
PrayingforFall
RusticRainbow
Squarejane

An Etsy Owls Halloween

Yep, yep! It's that time of year again! To celebrate one of our favorite holidays, we're having a Halloween challenge, how exciting! That'll be posted tomorrow, but for today, we're going to share some of our Halloween love. Anyone want to help us figure out what Figaro should be for Halloween?

Deck out your accessories with this Ipod case from gadgetgear

Whoever thought Frankenstein wasn't cute had no idea, did they? Get Frankie by Lalala08 to complete your Halloween look!

Keep your coffee/tea warm while you take the kiddos out for Trick or Treat with this Halloween Cozy from Zemphira.

Got Steak? Squarejane does, and you could have some too! Dare to be rare this Halloween!

The OWLs are ready for Halloween, are you?

Get a jump on one of our favorite Holidays! Click on the pictures to check out each item on Etsy!

Owls August Travel Challenge

Kudos to SquareJane who came up with the theme for this month's challenge. The objective is simple: Make an item that reflects your favorite travel destination.

Vote for your favorite item in the poll on the left. Votes will be taken for one week, and the item with the most votes on the 31st will be this month's challenge winner.

Thanks to all of you travelling Owls who entered the contest, and good luck to all! Individual item listings can be seen by clicking on the names below.

anadiazarte
ickydogcreations
jonikay52
lalala08
squarejane
taw0106

Plushies from the Owls

As a mixed medium team, we have people who make just about everything. This post highlights our members who bring animals to life in unique ways, making everything from sweet little owls to monsters! Ickydogcreations squarejane and zemphira make some of the craziest, funniest, and cutest little animals out there! Check them out below and click through to see their shops, and maybe even adopt a new little guy of your own!

This little guy was created by Ickydogcreations . His name is Jackson, doesn't he just steal your heart? (If he hasn't yet, he will!)



Another Ickydogcreations guy is shown below. He has some issues, like he kinda has the plague and maggots are munching on him 24/7, but he still needs someone to love him. Don't we all?


One of Squarejane's art dolls has become somewhat of a celebrity. This is Terrence , who is currently living in the Monster Big Brother house, where he's one of the final five monsters.

Go check out his experiences there (and VOTE for him to win!). Before the MBB house, Terrence was enjoying his life of sock-stealing with his close friend Maisy (shown below). What will his life be like after the House, and will he win? We'll see...



Last, but most certainly not least, is Zemphira and her line of simply gorgeous owls. I mean, look at this little guy? Who wouldn't love it forever? I know I would!

I couldn't resist digging through her sold items to show some of her holiday themed owls! Aren't they adorable?

Welcome to Summer!!!

So, it's not officially summer yet, but it sure does feel like it. As Memorial Day approaches here in the United States, it gets more difficult to remember that it isn't summer yet--- there are pools, picnics, grills, and lots of summer seeming fun everywhere you look! So, in honor of that, we're planning a series of SummerFinds features showing the best of summer's best that Etsy has to offer. We're starting with this lovely road trip themed Poster Sketch put together by SquareJane. Can you hear the ocean???

Featuring:

http://8milecreekdesigns.etsy.com/ http://metroretrovintage.etsy.com/ http://finepointstudio.etsy.com/ http://redesignkc.etsy.com/

http://vintage50seyewear.etsy.com/ http://capow.etsy.com/ http://reallytruly.etsy.com/ http://houseofvintage.etsy.com/

http://ingenuityondisplay.etsy.com/ http://kottonkandy52.etsy.com/ http://patternmania.etsy.com/ http://thevintagecloset.etsy.com/

http://momomatic.etsy.com/ http://marjiew.etsy.com/ http://jacksdaughter.etsy.com/ http://vintagebutterfly94.etsy.com/

Do you Zazzle? We do!

Have you heard about Zazzle?

Zazzle's this pretty neat website where you can custom design your own items, and you can also open a storefront selling your designs. Cafepress works the same way, and both communities are a cool way to explore a LOT of interesting designs or make something for yourself that you can't find anywhere else.

A few of our team members have opened shops on Zazzle, check them out!


make custom gifts at Zazzle


create & buy custom products at Zazzle

Cinco De Mayo, an Etsy Owls Challenge!

We decided to honor Cinco de Mayo by having ourselves a little creative challenge. The theme was simple, all you had to do was make something honoring Mexican or Mexican-American culture. Our last challenge was just a few weeks ago, so due to the shorter creating period we only had 3 owlies enter this challenge, but no worries, because all 3 of them brought awesome stuff to the table.

Check out the entries below and vote for your favorite in the poll on the left. There are two photos per entry.

If you cannot vote in the poll, put your vote in the comments here, but be sure to say the poll doesn't work for you or your vote will not be counted.

Entries:

LoveAlisa's Cinco De Mayo Clutch:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24535239

SquareJane's Cinco de Mayo Taco Earrings

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24612612

Ickydogcreations Cinco de Mayo with Chihuahua flair

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24483628

For other fun Cinco de Mayo activities, check out EtsyBaby's Cinco de Mayo Challenge or visit the Spanglish team's blog for the history of the day. Feliz Cinco de Mayo from all of us!

Secret Plushie Swap!

Squarejane and IckyDogCreations both make cute and crazy plushies, and recently they decided to have a Secret Plushie Swap!

They both agreed on a price point, and set off to create top-secret plushies for each other. Without including pictures, they both listed their critters on Etsy and each purchased the other plushie. Oh the mystery!

The end result was two plushies who are very cute and quite perfect for their new owners. This is Cami of IckyDog with her new friend:

Karren of SquareJane finally got her little friend in the mail a few days ago (silly Canada!), and seems to be quite pleased. (Yes, her new little friend is indeed a zombie bunny who is eating that poor sock monkey's brains!)

This little critter swap is, in my opinion, the perfect example of what our team's about! Get to know each other, make friends, mail each other zombie bunnies! How perfect is that? Kudos to Cami & Karren. :)

Now, go swap something!!!

Exploring SORCO with Squarejane

Today the family and I made a nice little Sunday trip to the open house at S.O.R.C.O. or the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Center for Owls. All animals hold a strong place in my heart but birds are especially dear to me. This center is almost entirely run by volunteer resources, funds and supplies. If you love owls like i do, please take a moment to check out their website and see what you can do to help out -- particularly if you are in the Okanagan region of BC Canada.

S.O.R.C.O is located about 12 KM north of Oliver BC and they do incredible work helping rehabilitate raptors that are injured or have fallen from nests or become ill etc. They often take in birds who have fed on carrion on roadsides and been hit by cars. Sometimes bald eagles will eat so much that they can no longer fly! Wherever possible, the center releases the birds back into the wild. They are also trying to start up a breeding and reintroduction of burrowing owls to the South Okanagan. This is a project near and dear to my heart as I adore burrowing owls! They are no longer present in the region due to encroachment on their lands by people, orchards and vineyards and due to a lack of the animals which burrowing owls like to make homes out of their dens. Badgers for example are no longer found in the area.

It really is a precious habitat here. The Okanagan is not the kind of land most people think about when they hear "Canada".


Arid, sagebrush and grasses on sandy and or rocky soil make up the region. It really is a little slice of dessert. The flora and fauna of the area are rare to find in Canada. It's one of the many reasons i love living here. The fantastic weather doesn't hurt either!


Here is a bald eagle that was rescued by the sanctuary. He came in with a collapsed lung. He is faring much better now. Such beauty!



Some owls at the center showing that owls really don't like being bothered when they are sleepy, nor do they like a tidy room. Reminds me of my daughter!


S.O.R.C.O breeds many different types of rodents for food for the raptors. This is a necessity due to the plans of releasing the recouperated birds. If they are unsure of what is food or how to catch and eat it, they will not survive in the wild. Many of the birds that are rescued are infants when brought in. A little sad because this little baby mouse was painfully cute!


Mice like him grow up however to keep little owls like this guy Charlie alive. Charlie was near death from starvation when he was brought in. He had to be fed through a tube initially. While there today, we watched as Charlie scarfed down a mouse like it was a cheeseburger and complain hungrily for more.

They had face painting as well as a band, a barbecue and a garage sale at the open house. I got a wicked strawberry cookie jar, a 60's fisher price school bus and some starwars fabric for next to nothing. Woo HOO!

Here my son Henry is getting an orange owl painted at his request by a very nice lady.


One more owl to remind you that we can all help out in our own way with our time, our money or our spirit to make a change in our world or our community. For the next 6 weeks, i will donate 10 % of all proceeds from my Etsy store to S.O.R.C.O.

Editors Note: We also have an item in the OWLS shop that will go to benefit this charity. This is Merv, and he's looking for a great home with a loving family! 100% of the proceeds from his purchase will be donated to this great bird charity, so he can help out his fellow winged friends!