Ornithology is for the Birds!

The monthly challenge for the Mad Scientists of Etsy for the month of May was Ornithology. I was super excited for this theme because anyone who knows me knows that I am a birder. That is like a bird watcher on crystal meth. Birders like to count birds. Birders like to compete in birding competitions. Birders like to go to birding festivals. Birders like to post their sightings online. I am one of these crazy people.

So I was excited to participate in this challenge and join two of my hobbies, hand carving rubber stamps, and birding. So I should confess, it wasn't a "challenge" because I had a good backlog of bird stamps I had carved for the Shreve Migration Sensation this past March, so I have a good number of bird stamps done, and some more I will be posting to my etsy shop in the coming weeks. It's not cheating, it's more like being prepared ahead of time. Right?

Anyway, ornithology is not just for scientists anymore. There is lots of "citizen science" going on, like Project Feederwatch, and The Christmas Bird Count. Many familiar birds are now in decline, and organizations like the Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are leading the way in helping to preserve our important birding areas.

So celebrate the birds with me and the Mad Scientists with some great items from amazing artisans.

T-Rex: Not so bad.

This is my newest stamp set for the Mad Scientist of Etsy monthly challenge themed "Cretaceous Period."

Tyrannosaurus Rex was one of the last king of the monsters. According to Wikipedia, "Fossils of T. rex are found in a variety of rock formations dating to the last three million years of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 68 to 65 million years ago; it was among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist prior to the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event." The KT extinction wiped out 70% of life on Earth. Not like Mr. T-Rex had a chance.

This two stamp set is available for sale at my Etsy shop.

If you are not familiar with the "Fail Blog," this might not make sense to you right away, but I after reading some of the hilarious post there, you will see how the "fail" meme has taken off.

Stamps at Shreve Migration Sensation

Dick (my friend and father-in-law) and I had a blast at Shreve Migration Sensation. It was a great day for birding, so traffic by the table at the Birders Marketplace in the afternoon was a bit slow, but we really enjoyed talking to all the birders, and kids, and other vendors. You can see that we shared a booth area, me in the front with stamps, and Dick in the back with his photo's from Three Oaks Enhancements.

With the help of my wife Laura, we made some really cool bird journals! These are the kind that you can keep track of your sightings for the day. I made the data sheets so you could record data you might need to enter into eBird. Laura decorated the covers, don't they look great! Some of you might recognize old National Wildlife Federation stamps on them.

Dick got lots of great compliments from his photography. He entered several photos in the contest, and won many prizes. I can't remember them all now, but he really did well! I was so proud. He really pulled together a great collection of photos.

I worked hard to do lots of bird stamps, some that are left I will be adding soon to my etsy shop, so if you are looking for a particular bird stamp, let me know, I may have one carved, or if I don't I can do one for you. I really enjoy combining these two hobbies of birding and stamp carving.

First and Last: Arts and Crafts

I'm super pumped to be selling Jackbear Stamps on Saturday, April 4th, from 5-10 pm at SPoT Coffee on 200 East Ave. in Rochester, NY at the First and Last: Arts and Crafts show.

This artisans show is held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 5-10 pm at SPoT, on the first and last weekends of the month. It is free and open to the public. You can grab a cup of joe, or have a sandwich, and then drop over and check out the craft/art vendors.

I dropped by it last night just to get the lay of the land and the folks set up were super friendly and had some amazing work! Jewelry, art prints, bottle cap magnets, felted animals. It was really cool. This coming weekend, April 3-5, Becky (the "First and Last" organizer) will also be raffling off a basket full of donated works from the crafters! It is going to be really cool, so don't forget to buy a raffle ticket for this treat (great Easter gift!)

For the Birds...

I'm very excited to announce that I will be selling stamps at Migration Sensation in Shreve, Ohio on March 28th, 2009. I will be sharing a booth with my very talented friend and father-in-law Dick Beery. Dick is a budding bird photographer, but has been taking candid portraits of people at events for a long time. It has been a great pleasure to go on birding adventures with Dick, and I'm so excited he is getting great bird photographs of some of the birds we have seen, as well as many other great nature shots.

I hope to have many bird stamps ready for the show, as well as some hand crafted birding journals for sale next to Dicks amazing photographs. I can't wait!