Sea Otter Ornament Video

I had a little fun playing with animoto this morning and made this short video for my sea otter ornaments. My last holiday shipment will be sent out Thursday morning (Dec 20) so you only have today and tomorrow to get in any last minute orders.

Free Shipping Day

Today is Free Shipping Day and while I offer free shipping on most items in my store already today I'm offering free shipping on everything in the shop, including Perma-Pets and paintings on canvas.

Delivery by Trilobite Mail not included

New Baby Rat Sculpture

I had intended for this to be part of yesterday's blog post but I still needed to put a few finishing touches on this new sculpture. Actually it's more like 3 sculptures in one setting. If you've seen my baby rat sculptures before you'll know that I like to take a realistic life-sized sculpted baby rat and put it in a cradle made from a household object like a tea cup or an altoids tin.

The latest one is an idea I've had floating around for a while, to nestle several inside a hollowed out book. Part of the problem for me is that I love books and the idea of destroying one is difficult for me, so I hit the local thrift store to find a book that I could feel okay with rendering unreadable. I found the perfect thing: Readers Digest condensed books. I have a strong aversion to abridging literature so these were perfect, they are plentiful, cheap, fairly thick, and hardcover. It's available in my Etsy shop.

Baby Rat Book Nest

Last Minute Shopping for Squidmas?

Wednesday, December 19, is the last day I'll be taking regular holiday orders so you still have time to do some shopping and have it arrive in time for Christmas. I still have lots of goodies in the shop including tentacle earrings and the new sea shell jewelry that make great stocking stuffers.If you would like your order gift wrapped make sure you mention it in the "note to seller" during checkout.

I have a couple of brand new color schemes for cephalopods that I just added to the shop: moss green and black. Also some new trilobites and tentacle earrings. If you like my facebook page there's a 7% off coupon here.

If a giant space squid hasn't destroyed the planet there will also be a special sale in honor of the world not ending on Dec 22 (very last sale of 2012). Orders placed that day won't arrive in time for Christmas but you could always get a jump start on Valentines Day or an upcoming birthday or just treat yourself to a cephalopod.

Squidmas is Coming

Tentacle Charms

Last weekend's Holiday Tentacular sale went swimmingly. Thank you to everyone who shopped or shared the sale with their friends. It's the beginning of December which means it's the home stretch for the year and assuming the world doesn't end, 2013 is so close.

I'm not going to be holding any more sales before my holiday shipping deadlines but I do have a few special offers for you. First of all I have a whole bunch of cute little tentacle charms and I'll be including one in every order until I run out.

Second, if you want to save on your order I have a special coupon code up just for Facebook fans. So like my page and then visit the coupon tab to get a coupon for 7% off your order (or click here to go right to the coupon tab). The coupon is valid through Squidmas day, Dec 21.

Also don't forget that I offer free US and Canadian shipping on all jewelry and most other orders. Check the Events & Dates page for holiday shipping deadlines, I've tried to cover all the major ones Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Newtonmas, etc.

Holiday Tentacular has Begun

My big Black Fiday/Cyber Monday sale has begun. It runs through Monday, November 26. Head on over to the Etsy shop to save 10% off all items, and if you have a coupon code you can save a little bit more.

Also if you are in the Portland, Maine, area I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All and you can get 10% off here too.

Quick Announcements

Lots going on so I'm just going to list everything real quickly.

• I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All this weekend (Nov 17-18).
• I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All Friday-Sunday next weekend too (Nov 23-25)
• Also next weekend is Black Friday, I'll be holding a 10% off sale throughout the Etsy shop Friday-Monday (Nov 23-25) the sale will also extend to my booth at the Flea-for-All. And because I'm a sucker for puns I'm calling it the Holiday Tentacular! If you are impatient the sale will go live sometime Thanksgiving night instead of at midnight so I can settle into my turkey coma.
• New stuff is being added to the shop right now. Along with new cephalopod jewelry there's also tentacle earrings. seashell necklaces, and super adorable sea otter ornaments.

Gift Wrapping

Do you want to save a little bit of time during the holidays? I will gift wrap any order, even larger items like Perma-Pets.

Holiday Shipping Deadlines

If you are planning to shop with Noadi's Art for the holidays here are your deadlines for ordering. These are my best estimates and not guarantees, so ordering earlier is encouraged.

Hanukkah (Dec 8-16) - For orders to arrive by December 7 you need to order by standard shipping:

• US Mail - December 1
• International - November 26 for most addresses, November 19 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
• APO/FPO/DPO - November 26 for most addresses, November 19 for AE ZIP 093

Solstice/Cephalopodmas (Dec 21) For orders to arrive by December 20 by standard shipping:

• US - December 14
• International - December 5 for most addresses, November 27 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
• APO/FPO/DPO - December 5 for most addresses, November 27 for AE ZIP 093

Christmas/Newtonmas (Dec 25) - For orders to arrive by December 23 by standard shipping:

• US - December 19
• International - December 9 for most addresses, December 2 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
• APO/FPO/DPO - December 9 for most addresses, December 2 for AE ZIP 093 

I've also added these dates to the Events & Dates page.

Fossil Day

This is it, Fossil Day the last day of Cephalopod Awareness Days 2012 (it is also National Fossil Day not just for cephalopods). Today is dedicated to all the cephalopods of the fossil record, the ammonites, belemnites, spirulids, and other extinct species we know only from the traces they've left behind.

The last giveaway is also today. Today's trivia question is a harder one if you aren't a paleontology geek like me so all entries will go into the drawing, not just the correct answers. Just fill out the following Google form between noon and 8pm EDT. Good luck!

The last day of my cephalopod jewelry sale is also today. There's 15% off until midnight when the prices go back to normal.

Entries are Closed

Myths & Legends Day

Release the Kraken! It's now the 4th day of Cephalopod Awareness Days and we are taking a brief detour from reality into fiction.

The sale ends tomorrow night, this is your last chance to save this much on cephalopod jewelry until next year's Cephalopod Awareness Days, so head over the Etsy shop ASAP. Also click over to Symbiartic on the Scientific American blog network to read a really cool feature on my jewelry.

Today's giveaway is super simple to enter, no trivia today just tell me what your favorite fictional tentacles creature is. Do you favor the Kraken? Cthulhu? Scylla? Or some other more obscure beastie. Just enter your answers into the Google Form and you get a chance to own this original 5"x7" pen and ink squid drawing.

Entries Closed 

And just because it's so cool, check out the Kraken in LEGO form:

Cuttlefish and Squid Day

Cuttlefish are my first love when it comes to cephalopods, they are the animals which sparked my interest. So for Cuttlefish and Squid day I have the biggest giveaway item of the week. And of course you still have until the end of Friday, Oct. 12, to head over to my Etsy shop and get 15% off on cephalopod jewelry (go on, get yourself something tentacled).

I decided to try something new and use Rafflecopter to run the giveaway and run it from noon to midnight. To enter you need to log in with Facebook or enter your email address then answer the trivia question which will give you 5 entries (make sure if you use Facebook login that you check the email associated with your Facebook account regularly). You can also gain some extra entries via social media. I'll draw the winner by noon tomorrow, October 11.

Noadi's Art Cuttlefish & Squid Day Giveaway

If you want to share the giveaway on your own blog go here for the embed code (won't help your chances of winning but you will have my thanks).

Custom Art Deadline

Creating art pieces like Perma-Pets is time consuming so I have to cut off all custom requests for the holidays on October 15th. So if you want a Perma-Pet, Baby Rat, small painting, or other piece of custom artwork* you need to contact me ASAP either by email or through Etsy.

If you want to order custom jewelry or holiday ornaments you have until November 15th to order those (but sooner is better). Also it is still Cephalopod Awareness Days so all cephalopod jewelry has been marked down 15% through the end of Friday, October 12.

* I may not be able to promise completion of larger pieces of art in time for the holidays even if you order now.

Nautilus Night

It's Nautilus Night! The day dedicated to celebrating the most ancient group of living cephalopods.

Today's giveaway is a 7"x5" Natural History Nautilus print and handmade polymer clay nautilus shell pin.

TO ENTER
Click the link below to go to a Google form and answer the nautilus trivia question.
Answer Nautilus Trivia

THE RULES
1) You must enter between 12pm and 8pm EDT on Oct. 9, 2012.
2) Open to US residents only (sorry).
3) You can only answer the question once, duplicate entries will be deleted.
4) You must enter a valid email address, it is the method I will use to contact the winner.
5) There is no 5.

If you want some nautilus jewelry head over to the Etsy shop to get 15% off your order of any cephalopod jewelry.

Share and enjoy.

Octopus Day

It's Octopus Day! The kickoff of Cephalopod Awareness Days.

Today's giveaway is a 4"x5" print of my painting "Octopus in Kelp Forest" and a crimson tentacle pin. If you want your chance to win the giveaway go check out the Facebook page between 12pm an 8pm EDT today for how to enter.

Remember there is 15% off all octopus, squid, nautilus, and cuttlefish jewelry in the Etsy shop through October 12th.

Cephalopod Awareness Days are Imminent

It's almost time, I'm so excited! Cephalopod Awareness Days kicks off at midnight on October 8th. I was going to write a post with all the information again and pictures of the giveaway items but I decided instead to just make video.

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Cephalopod Awareness Days 2012!

It's almost the most important time of the year! Cephalopod Awareness Days are next week, October 8th through 12th. Of course as I have since 2008 I'll be holding a sale those days plus some giveaways.

I forgot that last year Cephalopod Days were extended from 3 days to 5 days, so I had only planned to do 3 giveaways. Now I promised a giveaway for each day and I'm sticking to that plan. Originally I was going to put up a trivia question each day but 5 days of trivia might be stretching things a little. So while some of the giveaway days will include a trivia question some will also feature other ways to enter the giveaway to mix it up a little bit.

Here's the deal:

• 15% Off all octopus, squid, nautilus, and cuttlefish jewelry in the Etsy shop. This is the biggest sale discount I run all year, so if you want to do some early holiday shopping here's your chance.
• The giveaways will mainly happen through Facebook so please like my page so you will see the posts (though I will share the links to the Facebook posts on Twitter as well). I will be posting the giveaway each day at noon EDT. At the end of the action period (8pm EDT) I will draw one random person who completed the task to win the giveaway.
• Octopus Day 10/8 - Dedicated to all the 8-armed species. Giveaway item is a 4"x5" Octopus in Kelp Forest print
• Nautilus Night 10/9 - Celebrating the shelled cephalopods. Giveaway item is a 7"x5" Natural History Nautilus print
• Squid Day/Cuttlefish Day 10/10 - For all the tentacled ones and the midpoint of the celebration. This is the biggest giveaway item, a one of a kind cuttlefish necklace.
• Myths and Legends Day 10/11 - Release the Kraken! Giveaway is an original sketch.
• Fossil Day 10/12 - To coincide with National Fossil Day we celebrate all the cephalopods of the fossil record. Giveaway item is an ammonite shell necklace.

If you want to learn more about Cephalopod Awareness days check out the official website or Like the Facebook page.

And the winner is...

So the final tally for voting on the new animal ornament is in. The Dumbo Octopus won.

However I already make octopus ornaments so really that is just a variation not a new animal. So here is what I'm going to do. I will make a dumbo octopus variation on my octopus ornaments but I still need a new ornament design so that brings us to the runner up: the Sea Otter.

So I'll be making otters as well as dumbo octopus. I hope to have some of the new ornaments of both designs in the shop within the next couple weeks.

Things are Getting Busy

Lots of upcoming events here at Noadi's Art. New holiday goodies are right around the corner, I'll be announcing the new ornament design tomorrow afternoon (go vote for your choice). I'm also making lots of new jewelry and ornaments, and I will finally be adding my seashell jewelry to the shop in the next couple weeks.

This is my busy season so there are lots of upcoming events and deadlines. Here's the timeline for the moment, I've also created a page here with all the information.

October

• International Cephalopod Awareness Days - October 8-10 - Sale on cephalopod jewelry plus a giveaway each day.
• Custom Order Deadline for Sculpture & Art - October 15
• Halloween at the Portland Flea-for-All - October 27-28 - Come shop for a last minute addition to your Halloween costume if you are in the Portland, Maine area. Flea-for-All hours are 10am-5pm.

November

• Custom Order Deadline for Jewelry - November 15
  
• Pre-Thanksgiving Shopping at the Portland Flea-for-All - November 17-18 - Flea-for-All hours are 10am-5pm.
• Black Friday-Cyber Monday Sale - November 23-26 - Kicking off the holiday shopping season in the Etsy shop.
• Holiday Shopping at the Portland Flea-for-All - November 24-25 - Flea-for-All hours are 10am-5pm.

Holiday Preparations

I'm ramping up production for the holidays and I'm asking for input. Every year I add to the roster of animal ornaments than I make, like the platypus and ceolocanth. Last year I added a beaver thanks to my brother mistaking on of the platypuses for a beaver.

This year I'm letting my fans pick. Go over to facebook and vote on which animal you want to see me make this year. If you don't like the options you can add your own. I'll use the animal with the most votes by Sept. 26 (in the event of a tie, I'll be the deciding vote).