GiveAway Winners!!

Winners of my First Ever Giveaway:

$25 gift certificate for Pampered Beardies: Laura Smith
$25 gift certificate for Pampered Snakes: Karyn Mountain

Emergency Warming Blanket with 2 Uniheat packs: Stacey N Clark

2 Uniheat packs: Lauren Alexandra, Amy McNair, Stephany B Rogers


Message me at Pamperedsnakes(at)gmail(dot)com for info. I will ask you to verify your name & info for me too.

THANKS!!

Adding More to Pampered Snakes

Check out some of the latest listings in my NEW Etsy Shop Pampered Snakes! 

While you're there, be sure to "Like" the page!

Official Rules for my Two Giveaways running May 16, 2017 through midnight on May 28, 2017

Now that I have a second Etsy shop going, I want to promote both of them along with my Instagram and Facebook pages. I do have Twitter.... but that's too much! ;) 


OFFICIAL RULES TO WIN (Prizes listed below): 

1- Visit this blog. Shazam! I just gave that to you! (you're welcome)

2- Follow me on Instagram. Click HERE.

3- Favorite my Pampered Snakes Etsy Shop HERE.

4- Follow my Rescue Page on Facebook. Click HERE.

       BUT! Before you leave, Complete Step #4 BELOW!

5- Go to the PINNED POST at the top of my Rescue Page on Facebook and Comment "DONE" when you have done all 4 steps above and you'll be entered to win. Comments on the Blog won't count! You have to comment on Facebook!! :)

ALL "DONE" ENTRIES MUST BE POSTED **BEFORE** Midnight Mtn Standard Time on Sunday, May 28, 2017. Winners will be announced on Blogger, Facebook, & Instagram on Monday, May 29, 2017. Winners will be contacted before the announcements through Facebook & Instagram.


PRIZES:

TWO Grand Prizes (2 winners)
 -a $25 Etsy gift card to Pampered Beardies 
 -a $25 Etsy gift card to Pampered Snakes

ONE 1st Place Prize (1 winner)
 -an Emergency Warming Blanket with two heating packs 

THREE 2nd Place Prizes (3 winners)
 -two Uni-Heat Warming packs for shipping or emergencies


Disclaimers:
- My mom & my rescue brother & sister can't win; my real siblings wouldn't even care! ;) I'll use a random name picker website online called Random.org to pick the 5 winners. Winners will be announced on Blogger, Facebook, & Instagram on Monday, May 29th, 2017. Winners will be contacted before the announcements through Facebook & Instagram.
- If you have any questions, message me through Facebook or Instagram. If you're in doubt about something, message me.
-Winners will be posted on Monday, May 29, 2017. They will have until Monday June 12, 2017 at midnight to message me about their prize. Any unclaimed prizes will be forfeited.
-I'm sure there are other issues that will come up that I haven't thought of yet, but I'll add them here as necessary. Be patient. This is my first Giveaway and I'm still running a rescue, raising a family, and am now providing emergency substituting. I'll do my best.

2 Fabulous Giveaways Coming Right Up!

In order to promote my new Pampered Snakes Etsy shop and to promote my other rescue resources, I've got 2 exciting giveaways planned-- each for a $25 to both my Etsy shop.

Details to come!

Derek, rescue 183

Derek came to me through a blog reader who wanted him to have a better home with more attention. It just so happened that I was driving down to the Los Angeles area this past weekend and the owner met me halfway between my mom's house & hers.

Derek is a sweetheart! He just needs a diet! He loves his superworms! ;)

He's such a mellow beardie that I played dress up with him. He was totally chill too as we drove the 11 hours home yesterday.

Modeling the new Etsy costume

Derek's belly is rather bloated and so he needs a fecal test to make sure he's not got a parasite infestation.

Then we'll pull out the beardie treadmill and play some "Eye of the Tiger" on the my iPod! :D Ha! Fewer insects, more greens, and some more out-of-the-tank time will help him slim down quickly.

Quick LA Trip

I ran a bunch of my Etsy Shop supplies down to LA over the weekend to my mom who helps me run the shop. I'm exhausted! But I did  get some beach time in! It was NOT a good weekend for beach visits because the weather was terrible. Even when I did manage to make it to the beach, the wind was cold!

I brought home a rescue too! His name is Derek and I adore him! He even played dress up for me!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A NEW Etsy Adventure

I've expanded my Etsy career by creating a new shop!

Pampered Snakes 

This is where I will sell snake hats, snake bedding, snake emergency warming blankies, snake sacks, etc. I'm just getting it started, but I will continually be adding things. 

CLICK HERE to go to the shop!

My Beardie Purse

This first run only has 12 purses. I may do a second run while we wait for the pattern to be digitized for our embroidery machine. Each one will be a little different because I sew them by hand. :) Just remember that.

CLICK HERE! 

A New Etsy Addition-- Beardie Bags

The other day, I felt a strong need to create something new. So I started cutting and sewing and came up with an adorable purse/bag/phone holder that looks like a bearded dragon.

It got a lot of love on my Instagram & Facebook page so I decided to start making more.

Today I cut out enough felt for 12 purses. Kreature wasn't impressed. He just wanted to be left alone in the sunshine. 

I got all the parts laid out for all 12 purses. I took me about two hours to cut out all the felt.

Each purse (minus the strap) takes about 20 minutes to sew, and each one is unique. 

I like painting toe nails on the backside of the hands & feet when I'm done. 

I still need to figure out a strap that works and is long enough for each purse. Gotta head back to the fabric store.

The "First Series" of Beardie Bags will be for sale on Etsy soon, but there will only be 12 of them. I'm sending my pattern to my mom who will automate the parts so her embroidery machine will start sewing & cutting them. Her machine is amazing! Once she starts producing them, they will be less unique, but it will take less time to make them.

I also need to find large Googly eyes that can be sewn on. These ones are simply glued on.

Each bag is just big enough to hold a phone or some snacks or a small lizard. :)

I plan to post the listing for the first 12 on Monday morning when I start filling my Etsy orders from the weekend. I'll make the remaining 9 as they are ordered and then list the second series when I have at least a dozen to sell. I'm sure these will end up be copied by others-- you'd be surprised how many "knock off" costumes of mine I find on Etsy! Crazy, huh? It's flattering and frustrating that people are copying my patterns and selling them for themselves (insert eye roll).

Stay tuned on Monday. I'll post a link to the listing once it's up & going.

My Chaotic Craft Room

My craft room is where my Etsy shop magic happens. Mostly. It also happens at my desk in the kitchen with my laptop, printer, and postage machine.

But the front room, turned craft room, called Etsy room is where I "work."

And it's pretty much a disaster currently. And by "Currently" I mean, this year.

You walk in my front door and find 4 tanks. To the right is my craft room/Etsy shop/library/whatever. You have to walk buy 3 large beardies, a 6 pound snake, and a 20 pound lizard to get into my living room and the rest of the house. It's like a Courage Test. Or it's like that one weird part on the movie "The Neverending Story" where the main guy had to walk past the big angel statue thingies that shot lasers from their eyes. If you're not brave, you can't come in. Ha!

This is the view from just inside the front door. Chaos? Yes. ;) But I did finally put away all the extra Christmas supplies!

I have lots and lots and lots of supplies & stuff. Lots. And I actually know where most of it is! ... sorta.... Give me a few minutes and I can find it. 

I have a tegu in my craft room. Kreature's box is about to be upgraded and I haven't found the time to clean this one and upgrade it to the bigger one. This one spills dirt and bark all over the floor and the top of it becomes a resting spot for homeless items in my house. 

I'm still retraining Kreature on how to poop on the tile, or in his box, or on the pee pads (which is what he did when I first had him). He's not learning very quickly and that's why I have a couple poop stains on my carpet. Thank goodness we have a carpet cleaner in the garage! 

I have a plan for cleaning this room but it's similar to that great kids' book "If you give a Mouse a Cookie." I need to switch the tegu cage, but then I'd have to move the empty blue tongue skink cage, which will require me to make room in the garage which will require.... And so it goes. 

My life is sort of an organized chaos. I can find and get most everything I need to keep functioning. Sometimes things get really lost-- like the 3rd pair of feeding tongs I cannot find. And what on earth did I do with those syringes I got from the vet yesterday? I put them in a drawer, but I can't remember *which* drawer. 

When you live in a zoo, you gotta expect some amount of chaos and a healthy dose of poop. People ask me all the time what it's like running a rescue. This is my frequent response: "It's about Poop, lots and lots of poop." :) 

Thanks to all you who read my blog and buy from my Etsy shop. You are helping me pay my credit card bill off after the most recent trip to the vet. In this business, trust me, there is ALWAYS a recent trip to the vet (like yesterday). 

Being an Etsy Shop Owner

Honestly, there are some days when the worst thing about owning an Etsy shop is dealing with the customers. But, honestly, most days the best thing about the Etsy shop is the customers! ;) For every nasty email I get that the post office lost/ripped a package, I get fun emails from customers thanking me for what I do.

Those happy emails make my day!

At the end of December, I actually got a handwritten note in the mail. An actual note! Written by the young owner of Peaches( a new Instagram celebrity beardie), the note told me how much fun they were having with the costumes they had bought from me. It was ADORABLE!

What's the point of being an Etsy shop owner if you can't do Super Fun Surprise things sometimes?

The other day, I wrote back to Peaches and her owner and thanked them for thanking me. I also confided that I had it on good authority ;) that Instagram celebrity beardies are wearing new Spring fashions and I just had to help with that. I put together a fun package for them, sending three outfits that I knew they didn't have.

I used my favorite scented markers and colored the package front and back so it would be extra fun to get in the mail. I even wrote "SURPRISE" on the front of the envelope. I had SO much fun putting it together and addressing it specifically to "Peaches, of Instagram Fame" and her owner (leaving her name off on purpose).

Yeah, I sometimes get nasty emails from people how I ruined X,Y, & Z for them because I'm an Etsy shop owner and not a magician, but emails & letters from sweet people like Peaches' owner makes it all better.

Hammocks!

My friend Mary has been sewing hammocks for me to sell in my Etsy shop and they are SO soft. Today I added two more hammocks to my tanks-- one for Smaug and one for Neville. Dash & Noel have their hammocks already.

 Smaug on his chevron print:

Neville on his brown hammock:

Dash hardly moves out of his. He's been very happy to lounge on his all day & all night.

I think I'm going to try giving one to Max and Tiger too. They are super soft and machine washable. It's one of the best things in my shop.

Click HERE for more info.

Just added! Valentine's Day Blankies!

I love Valentine's Day decorations! I love the pink & red & white & love & roses & bears and ALL of it! I love that it's my Mom's birthday (shh! don't tell her I told! ;) )

What could be better for your beardie than a Valentine's blankie??

Nothing!


So here's a new item just listed HERE:

Rescue Chaos & Overlaod

My house looks like a rescue bomb went off. I got home from vacation a week ago and had vacation things and Christmas things and everyday stuff to put away. Add to that 6 separate rescues in 5 days, and my house is crazy. And I had to open my Etsy shop back up. On top of all it, I got sick while we were in California and I can't seem to get the cold out of my lungs. And it's ridiculously frozen here-- like the high is 17 degrees.

Here's the thermometer on the dashboard yesterday as I was picking up Lily and Kiwi. Ignore the dust. I obviously need to clean out my van again. 17 degrees.

Blah.

So here's an in-depth look at a few of the areas in my house where things sorta exploded.

I've tried to use my shelves to keep things organized. Um, I'm pretty much failing at this.

Once upon a time, I had a nice desk set up for writing at. Now it just holds random light bulbs- are they dead or not? I can't remember-- and random supplies I set down and never put away.

Lily & Leo are on the floor of my bedroom since all the shelf space was taken by other tanks.

We recently moved my crafty room/Etsy shop down into our front room. I think there were, like, 12 seconds when it was actually organized. Now? Nope.

Supplies from Christmas, new Etsy material I haven't listed, a Halloween decoration or two, and more tanks that didn't have anywhere else to be put.

This was originally my "Critical Care" area with Gumby, Sunny (the baby ball python), and Baby Sawyer. It keeps me from using my table for working on Etsy, but it got the tanks off my kitchen counter.

We added 8 foot bookcases in the craft room to store our massive collections of books (I love books!) and the shelves end up housing random reptile equipment too.

My fridge supplies are sorta contained to one shelf in the fridge. So I keep the Critical Care between the Oyster sauce, pineapple juice, and horseradish. Oh and the extra ketchup package from Chick-fil-A.

Also in the kitchen-- in plain sight so I don't forget-- are my baggies of syringes for the sicklies I'm feeding. They are right next to the Christmas goodies that were given to us that we haven't eaten yet.

The living room isn't quite as bad either. I've been trying to move Georgie around and put her in a bigger box by herself. She keeps getting bumped off the list and I haven't gotten around to her yet. I let her free roam a couple days ago and she's quite happy with it.

The chameleon cage-- which I keep promising myself to not use for a long time-- actually sat in the garage for a week and a half! Woo hoo! It is now back on the side table in front of two south facing windows in my living room. Kiwi is having a hard time with her back legs and so I have the bottom of her cage lined with blankets so she can't fall and hurt herself. Just in case, I also have my small cage set out in case I need to downsize her.

The grandfather clock that I inherited when my grandparents died is one of my favorite possessions in my house. I recently just got it fixed so it's back to chiming every 15 minutes. It too gets to share in the rescue chaos. It's my "Shed Storage." Here's sheds from at least 5 different snakes. Under my great horned owl puppet, there's a baggie with a lot of interesting beardie sheds.

Yesterday all of the beardie tanks were cleaned too. . . . Not that you can tell!  Dash did some serious poop painting and Neville has been rearranging his.

Maybe one of these days I'll actually get myself organized, but definitely not until I get over this stupid cold (both the one in my body and the nasty cold outside!) Can't wait until Spring!!

Two New Deluxe Etsy Costumes

Fire Dragon Wings

Genie Costume