Animal Updates

You can check out my Squidoo lenses to see the newest photos of the llama, pheasants, and chickens. Big changes in all of them.
Lauren the Llama
Raising Pheasants
Raising Barred Rock Laying Hens

Oh yeah, and my dad brought home a piglet. Here's the picture of Hammy, and yes he is being raised for meat that's why we named him Hammy so we don't get emotionally attached.

What I've Been Up To

Just a quick update on recent happening. I had a very nice birthday on the 9th and I'm now 26 years old.

I've been very busy making new Squidoo Lenses here they are:
Make your Handmade Products Stand Out!
Branding Your Handmade Products
Preparing for an Art or Craft Festival
Creative Uses for LED Lights
Noadi's Art Tutorial Lensography
Ammonites - Amazing Fossil Cephalopods

I'm also working on a directory of all my sites and lenses.

I have two art shows coming up the Shy, Novice, and Closeted Art Show in Bethel, Maine, on July 5th and the 41st Annual Norway Sidewalk Art Show in Norway, Maine, on July 12th.

Happy Towel Day!

Are you a hoopy frood who knows where his towel is? If you don't know what I'm talking about now would be the time to go read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Towel Day is in tribute to Douglas Adams who passed away in 2001.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Great New Goody for Squidoo Users

Captain Squid has set up SquidTop. It's a short format blog platform for squidoo users to use for promotign their lenses, giving squidoo tips, etc. If you're on Squidoo you should check it out.

Waiting for Chicks

Bet that title tricked you, I'm talking about baby birds. I have 6 barred rock hens (going to raise them for laying eggs) and 4 pheasants (because my dad's always wanted them) coming hopefully tonight. It's going to be an interesting experience, I've raised chickens before but pheasants are new to me.

In much less happy news my cat Hearts died yesterday morning. She had been sick for quite some time so it wasn't a surprise, still hit me hard though. She was 12 years old and I had helped deliver her litter so she'd been a part of the family for a long time.

I'm a Giant Squid

I had a complete surprise tonight when checking my mail. I had a message from Squidoo telling me that I was a Giant Squid. The Giant Squid are a select group of lensmasters on Squidoo who have a minimum of 50 great lenses.

I'm totally shocked because I wasn't trying to become a Giant Squid. I made all my lenses for other reasons, I never even expected to have more than 50 lenses. It has some cool benefits like sneak peeks at new Squidoo features, a nifty badge, and a few other goodies.
Seriously if you aren't on Squidoo yet you should be! It's fun and you even make a few bucks.

Squidoo Happenings

It's funny the way one Squidoo lens can lead to a bunch of others. Here's a fun series of lenses that all started with one.

Cabinets of Curiosity
During the Victorian era Cabinets of Curiosity were all the rage. They collected natural specimens, fossils, artifacts, and oddities. Take a peak into that world.

That led to researching both hoaxes and handmade additions to a cabinet of curiosities. Which led first to a lens on P.T. Barnum and then to one on Cephalopod Craft Patterns.

P.T. Barnum
Introducing the greatest showman on earth, P.T. Barnum. The founder of the modern circus, purveyor of hoaxes, and owner of a long lost spectacular museum.

Cephalopod Craft Patterns
Make your own stuffed octopus, squid, and cuttlefish. Free crochet, knit, and sewing patterns for cephalopods (and a few other sea creatures thrown in).

Cephalopod Crafts led me to run across the site of Helle Jorgensen who creates crocheted sea creatures using recycled plastic bags. Which led to:

Making Your Own Recycled Yarn
Make cool stuff and help the Earth at the same time. If you like to knit, crochet, or any other yarn craft have a go at using recycled materials. You can make your own yarn using plastic bags, thrift store sweaters, scraps, and t-shirts.