What crawls, freaks most people out, and usually has eight eyes and eight legs?

Spiders of course! Even the scarediest of scaredy cats can appreciate the aesthetics of a spider around the time of Samhain - or as us Westerners call it, Halloween! I've created some new lovelies with a new design that I call "Itsy Bitsy Spiders" which are significantly smaller than my other beaded spider designs. These Itsy Bitsy Spiders are around 2 inches in length and about 1 inch in width and can be made into a pin or a necklace. I've even added pedipalps (mouth parts, actually kind of like legs that pull the food into the mouth of the spider)!

Although my Itsy Bitsy Spiders do really try to mimic the aesthetic qualities of their real-life counterparts, I've also gone and created some other spider-inspired accessories which dwell in the realm of pure make-believe. They are actually kind of cute, in a Kawaii sort ot way. Kitchy, creepy in concept, yet kind of cute. So how about it? Do you want a scoop of "Spiders and Cream?" The ice cream cone is made of felt which is embellished with blanket stitching around its edges and glass seed beads have been individually sewn on one by one to create sprinkles - Hand-sewing; not a fan, let me tell you! It also features a tiny version of my beaded spiders which has also been hand-sewn onto the felt. The ice cream cone has been backed with 2 layers of stiff felt and features a safety brooch pin which has been hand-sewn (yet again) onto it. This is definately a way to wear spiders in a cutesy way. Even the arachnophobe in your life can wear one of these without squirming.

The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout...

Here in the middle of nowhere there are a lot of creatures of the creepy crawly kind. I grew up in this neck-of-the-woods which may be why they don't bother me so much, but rarely have I ever met a person who enjoys watching them as I do rather than shriek and lay a large stomping foot down on these innocent offenders. Spiders seem to be largely responsible for what I call "the shrieking housewife syndrome" - something which just as many men seem to suffer from. As if I couldn't get any more strange, I decided to start making beaded spiders inspired by folklore, myth, and the real deal as an ode to those very misunderstood arachnids. These beaded spider attention grabbers can be purchased on my Etsy shop at http://souldier.etsy.com/

Spider facts:

- Contrary to popular belief, spiders aren't all out to get you.

- Unlike the big bad wolf's large eyes to "all the better to see you with," spiders don't have up to 8 eyes to lay them all on you. On the contrary many of them are nearsighted.
- Spiders can clean your garden of up to 2,000 insects a year. Think about that fact the next time you lay a rubber sole down on one of these hard working arachnids.

- Almost all spiders carry venom, but not all of them will kill you.

- Spiders are hunted as much as they are hunters.

- In some cultures spiders are a delicacy and some even believe that if they are eaten they can heal.