The Seahorse Shop

Handmade father seahorse and babies on Etsy

2010-09-17T19:05:50Z

As regular readers of this blog will know, I adore the website Etsy. It's a wonderful resource for vintage items and one-of-a-kind handmade gifts you won't find anywhere else.

Here is a delightful item from snaulkter - handmade father and baby seahorses. Made from new fleece and recycled stuffing, these toys are durable and child-friendly.

Snaulkter specializes in seahorses - she has many different designs in her Etsy shop with some really original fabric and colour choices.

As you can see from the pictures below the babies fit inside the father's pouch. Click on each thumbnail to see a full-size photograph of the seahorses.

Thanks so much to Stephanie Campion for sending me this link!

Post from: The Seahorse Shop

Handmade father seahorse and babies on Etsy

Happy Father’s Day!

2010-06-20T18:11:48Z

This wonderful picture is by Paul Zahl from the NGS Image Collection and is included in a series on the National Geographic website in honour of Father's Day.

The article is called "Best Animal Dads" and I'm happy to see that the seahorse is the first featured father!

As you will know if you're a regular visitor to The Seahorse Shop, the male seahorse is a great father because he actually carries the fertilized eggs from the female and gives birth to live babies. In our family the seahorse is the symbol of my husband being a wonderful dad to our daughter and is the inspiration for this website.

Click here to read the article at the National Geographic website.

Post from: The Seahorse Shop

Happy Father’s Day!

Spiny seahorses threatened in southern England

2010-04-27T21:03:49Z

A report in the Bournemouth Echo states that a recent drop in spiny seahorse numbers off the coast of southern England may be due to illegal clam fishing.

It is illegal to disturb, injure or kill seahorses in the UK and they are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. The seagrass beds which is the spiny seahorses' natural habitat is also being protected by Poole Harbour Commissioners who have placed buoys around the seagrass beds and a Southern Sea Fisheries bylaw prohibits fishing there.

As yet the actual cause of the seahorses' deaths is unknown and some put the blame on a combination of the recent inclement weather in the UK and seahorses becoming stranded in the harbour at low tide. Natural England and other conservation agencies continue to investigate the problem.

You can read the full article here. Below is a video of a male spiny seahorse from YouTube.

Post from: The Seahorse Shop

Spiny seahorses threatened in southern England

Male seahorse gives birth

2010-03-24T19:15:47Z

Here is a wonderful video I found on YouTube of a male seahorse giving birth to hundreds of baby seahorses.

He pumps them out of the sac in his belly which starts off full and empties out with each push.

The cutest part of the video (IMHO) is when he swims over to the female seahorse after giving birth. Too cute!

Post from: The Seahorse Shop

Male seahorse gives birth

Seahorse pillow giveaway

2010-01-23T21:12:31Z

Katie at the Let's Be Preppy blog is having a seahorse pillow giveaway!

She has joined forces with All Modern.com to give away the gorgeous pillow shown to the left. There are four different ways to enter the draw:

Post a comment on the original post or send an email to letsbepreppy at gmail dot com (I've typed it this way to stop spammers getting hold of Katie's email address)
Write a blog post (just like I did) about the giveaway (this gives you two entries into the giveaway!) and email Katie to tell her about it.
Go to All Modern.com and tell Katie about something else you like from their website and include it in a comment on the original post.
Refer your friends to follow the Let's Be Preppy blog (make sure you email Katie to tell her which of your friends have signed up).

You have to enter by any of the ways shown above by Monday 25th January at 6pm (I'm guessing that's EST since Katie is in South Carolina). That's it! Good luck everyone!

Post from: The Seahorse Shop

Seahorse pillow giveaway

Seahorse escapes flounder attack

2010-01-19T17:14:08Z

Here's a great video I found on YouTube today where a seahorse manages to escape from a flounder who's lying in wait.

The video is from Scubazoo - a site devoted to marine filming and photography.

I get the impression that the flounder wasn't too interested in eating a bony seahorse!

Post from: The Seahorse Shop

Seahorse escapes flounder attack

Watch glass seahorses being made

2010-01-14T21:28:59Z

Right before your eyes! Here are two great videos from YouTube.

The first video shows Mauro Vianello, a Venetian Murano glass artist who films himself making pieces - today he came out with a seahorse! Watch how he crafts the creature from soft Venetian glass.

The second video shows a Welsh glass artist making an even more ornate seahorse - the finished piece is shown above.

And here are some glass seahorses on eBay in case this post has whetted your appetite!

Seahorse on Ball Art Glass Sculpture Burgandy Figurine

US $18.95

2h 33m

Seahorse on Ball Art Glass Sculpture Aqua 7 Figurine

US $18.95

2h 33m

Seahorse on Ball Art Glass Sculpture Gold 6 Figurine

US $18.95

2h 33m

Seahorse on Ball Art Glass Sculpture Red 7 Figurine

US $18.95

2h 33m

Post from: The Seahorse Shop

Watch glass seahorses being made

Mary Moon’s Seahorse Hobo Bags

2010-01-12T18:39:30Z

Here's another great piece from a beautiful collection I found on Etsy!

As I mentioned in my last seahorse craft post Etsy is a fabulous source of one-of-a-kind handmade lovely things - clothes, bags, accessories - something for everyone!

This particular bag is from Mary Moon Designs which is owned and operated by Maria Luna (get it? Mary Moon?) who specializes in gorgeous handmade applique pieces. You can read her blog here.

She has two versions of the seahorse hobo bag - below you can see the pink and blue versions. Click on the images to order yourself one!

Post from: The Seahorse Shop

Mary Moon’s Seahorse Hobo Bags

Did you know? Male seahorses give birth

2010-01-06T19:27:23Z

It's one of the most fascinating facts about the seahorse - males get pregnant and give birth to live, fully-formed young.

During mating the female seahorse deposits her eggs in a pouch in the male seahorse's belly. The male then fertilizes the eggs and carries them until they are ready to be pushed out into the water to fend for themselves. The gestation time can vary between six days and six weeks depending on the species. When the male is ready to give birth he makes thrusting movements which push the young, or fry, out of his breeding pouch.

Below you will see a fantastic video of a male giving birth to hundreds of baby seahorses while his mate looks on.

Post from: The Seahorse Shop

Did you know? Male seahorses give birth

Delicious seahorse wedding stationery

2010-01-05T21:07:36Z

While browsing the excellent website Etsy I came across this delicious seahorse-themed wedding stationery.

Called "Seahorse Bliss" this design comes from the shop ExQuisiteInVitation owned and operated by Chonte Simmons from Florida.

When my husband and I got married we were too poor for a big "do" so we only had close family around. If we did it again now this would be exactly the sort of stationery we'd want to use!

On the right you can see the reply card and "save the date" tag. Click on the image to see more pictures of this stationery.

Click here to go directly to the webpage where you can order Seahorse Bliss.

If you haven't discovered Etsyyet you should check it out - it's an amazing collection of artists all producing their own work and selling them through their individual stores through Etsy.

Post from: The Seahorse Shop

Delicious seahorse wedding stationery