Double Post!: Yahoo Contributor Network Has Shut Down and How To Make A Dreamcatcher

The site that I have been publishing my articles since 2006 has shut down and is no longer online which means all of my articles are no longer online. Therefore I'll be posting most of them here on my blog over the next few months.

Because I have so many articles to post I may not be posting the Freebie Friday, Happy Raturday and Weekly Rat Facts posts each week but I will try to post them at least once during the month. I had over 200 articles published between December of 2006 and June of 2014 and had almost made it to 1 Million page views on my articles. I'm happy to have had the experience of Associated Content when it first began and then YCN when it was bought by Yahoo and they changed the name. But I'm bummed that my source of extra income has now been squashed.

But this is a wake up call for people who write for sites such as this one. Always back up your articles in a file in case the website disappears over night. Not only writing sites but other sites as well, you have to make sure you do things like cash out as soon as possible if you are making money on them or points that can be turned into money or gift cards. This is the 4th website that I was making money on that has closed down in a relatively short amount of time and some sites will disappear over night and not let you have time to cash out the points you have accumulated.

Like with the survey sites I get points on, I always make sure to cash out as soon as possible in case they decide to close up shop overnight and my points could be lost. It's happened before.

Anyway, I'll be posting a lot of rat and hamster related articles as well as a few other subjects here over the next few months.

Hope you enjoy them. Here's the first one...

How To Make A Dreamcatcher

To make a dream catcher is a lot easier than you might think.

Here's what you'll need:

About 7 feet of thin suede 

glue 

6 inch metal or wooden ring 

waxed nylon string (I've used dental floss and it works great) 

12-16 pony beads in the colors you want 

12-16 feather in the colors you want 

scissors 

clothes pin

First glue one side of the thin suede to the ring and affix the clothes pin to hold it in place until it dries. When it's dry take the clothes pin off and wrap the suede around the ring tightly until you reach where you started. Cut off any remaining suede and glue it in place. Again place the clothes pin over it to hold it until it dries.

After it has thoroughly dried your ready to make the webbing on the inside. Tie one end of the waxed nylon sting or dental floss to the ring, make 8-9 half hitch knots around the ring spacing them about 1 1/2 - 2 inches apart, keeping the thread pulled snug between the knots. (If you don't know how to make a Half hitch knot, go here and look at the diagrams. That website is where I learned how to make them. It's easier to learn by pictures than by someone trying to explain to you what a Half hitch knot is, I think.

Begin the next row of the web in the middle of the string that you just weaved. You should begin to see a spider web forming. As your weaving you can add small buttons or pony beads to the string that will hang in the spider web after it's done. Continue weaving the same way until you have a small hole left in the center of your dreamcatcher. Then tie a double knot and add a small drop of glue so it holds and let dry. You now have a beautiful dreamcatcher.

Now cut three 7" pieces of the thin suede and tie two of them on either side of your ring about half way up using a double knot, then tie the remaining one to the bottom in the center. You can now add whatever color pony beads you wish. Add 2-4 beads to each piece of suede and tie a small knot, push 2-3 feathers up inside the beads, securing them with a small amount of glue.

To make the loop to hang your Dream Catcher, use a 8" piece of suede. Fold it in half and tie a knot in the open end. At the top of the ring, attach the lacing slipping the loop end through the ring and then around the ring and over the knot. Pull the lacing tight to secure it in place.

After you've gotten good at it you can make themed dream catchers. I've made one for Halloween using black suede and black and white feathers and attached a skull button to the webbing. I also made a Valentines one using red and white feathers, maroon suede and heart shaped buttons in the webbing. Have fun with it.

If you don't know where to get the supplies I would suggest any craft or hobby store. I personally use Joannes.

I realize there are people out there that think it's rude and disrespectful to make 'themed' dreamcatchers for holidays like Halloween and quite frankly, I don't care. This is a craft and being such, it can be made to fit any theme or holiday that someone wants to make it fit for.