Carnivals, amusement parks, state fairs - all incredibly fun and envoke specific memories of childhood and smells of cotton candy and fried food for me. To have a website totally dedicated to the jovial atmosphere of a carnival allows you to peruse all of your favorite parts of a carnival without having to wait for it to come to town! 

One of my favorite tabs on Sideshows Carnival is the Carnival Oddities tab. I always loved the show Ripley's Believe It or Not and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about people with special talents or anything abnormal. The Carnival Oddities tab gives me just that. You can watch videos of oddities and read up about Ripley and Barnum.

Of course, there are many other fun features to the site like just the general Carnival Fun tab or the "Ha Ha Center" - if you like clowns, go ahead and check out that tab too but me and my fear of clowns won't be in there with you!

All in all, Sideshows Carnival is a great feel-good website and browsing it is an awesome way to spend your time. You should also check out their Facebook page, they frequently share fun videos and posts. Check out their site at Sideshows-Carnival.com! 

Posted by team-blog at 1:47 PM PST

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Vote for the February Site of the Month at siteofthemonth.tripod.com!

We've had 4 great featured sites in February, it'll be hard to choose just one winner!

Posted by team-blog at 9:22 AM PST

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This week's featured site has a basic layout with easy to follow navigation, but it is the contents that make the site stunning and a standout. Jeanette Jones is an incredible artist that has a unique style of painting. The paintings are intricate and you can get lost in the colors and shapes, trying to find different images hidden in the swirls and bursh strokes. Some of the paintings are almost reminiscent of stained glass.

Watch a video clip to see Jeanette and other artists display their art in a gallery show, browse through Jeanette's paintings, and visit her online store to purchase one of her masterpieces for yourself! Jeanette also has embedded her Twitter feed on her page so you can read her latest posts but you should also follow her on Twitter so that you can get updates without having to visit her site daily. 

Fill out the contact form to tell Jeanette how much you love her artwork and also sign up to receive notifications and invitations for her upcoming shows!

Check out this amazing artist's work at JeanetteJones.net! 

Posted by team-blog at 12:01 AM PST

Updated: Friday, February 24, 2012 6:31 AM PST

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Who's to say that dressing up is just for Halloween? The Pirate Workshop creates beautiful handmade masks for all occasions! They have nine different categories of masks to choose from: character masks, Commedia dell'Arte, masks for ball, masquerades or carnivals, masks from the Italian & Japanese traditions, and animal masks. An added bonus to the Pirate Masks website, if you prefer learning about your mask in French, the website is set up for both French and English speaking patrons!

Browse their catalogue to select your favorite mask and have it shipped right to your door. If you have specific mask needs, you can even request a specialty mask to be made just for you! Since all of the masks are handmade, your mask will be unique and can fit your specific needs. Want an elephant with a unicorn horn? You got it - just be willing to pay the extra price. 

Even if you never intend to buy a mask, the masks created by the Pirate Workshop are works of art that should be seen! Check them out at atelierpirate.tripod.com!

Posted by team-blog at 6:29 AM PST

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Celebrate the holiday by updating your site to get in the holiday spirit (or the complete opposite)! Here are a few template options that suit the holiday with some interesting background info on Valentine's Day from History.com (ref) & (ref2).

For those of you who love the holiday, here are some styles to fit the day:

Pink Pixel 

Pink Swirls

 Pink Water

Jess Effect

And for those of you who are not so fond of the day draped in pink: 

Black Lace

 iDesign

 Fleur de Lis

So Happy Valentine's Day to those who are enjoying the influx of pink and roses and candy. To everyone else, have a marvelous Tuesday!

Posted by team-blog at 2:34 PM PST

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Do you know Kevin Moore, keyboardist for the progressive metal band Dream Theater?  I certainly didn’t until I stumbled upon this fantastic site that is great for diehard fans of Mr. Moore but also is terrific for initiating newbies!

The site’s level of detail certainly shows what an appreciation the Webmaster has for the amazing career of Kevin Moore.  You can easily see the many evolutions of Moore’s group and solo work.  There is plenty to explore in the Photos, Media and Disography sections plus the site has a great Forum section to meet other passionate fans.
 
Check it out today!

Posted by team-blog at 11:17 AM PST

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The Facts of Life was my favorite show growing up. I just couldn't wait to see Jo and Blair face off, the comedic charms of Natalie & Tootie, or those pearls of wisdom from the lovable Mrs. Garrett. Plus who could forget that theme song! This week's featured site brings all of those emotions from my childhood rushing back to me because it is an incredible Facts of Life fan site!

The pride and dedication the webmaster has for the site is quite evident. When filling out the Featured Site submission form, Aaron wrote, "I am a huge fan of the Facts of Life television series. I wanted a place on the Internet where people could look at photos, videos, and reminisce about this long running sitcom on the net. Cast Member Lisa Whelchel has visited the site and commented on how she likes how updated it is. I have run the site since 8th grade, 1998. It is now the largest source for Facts of Life anywhere."

To say this site is thorough in its detail to an iconic telelvison show of the eighties would be a gross understatement. There are countless pages of facts and tidbits to satisfy the adent fan such as trivia, audio/video libraries, and interesting behind the scenes info. I discovered great gems of information that I never knew about my friends at Eastland Academy. If I continued to rant and rave about this site, this blog post would be far too long, so check it out for yourself at  TelevisionHits.com/FactsofLife!

Posted by team-blog at 1:42 PM PST

Updated: Friday, February 3, 2012 4:52 AM PST

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The January Site of the Month is...

Space Coast Youth Multi-Sports LLC! 

Posted by team-blog at 6:30 AM PST

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Today's featured site comes from the sunny state of Florida. We all know that exercise is an important part of keeping up a healthy life and starting at a young age is even better. Space Coast Youth Multi-Sports LLC was created by Vanessa, a mother of 6 who is passionate about keeping herself and her children active.

Kidstriclub.com is an incredibly informative website that is planned out perfectly to let you access just the information you need. View the calendar to see upcoming classes and events, learn more about the program's history, and access the proper forms you need to get your kids started. You can tell by the effort that was put into making the site appealing that youth activity is something that Space Coast Youth Multi-Sports LLC is incredibly dedicated to. 

If you want to see your site featured here next week, submit it at spotlight-site.tripod.com!

Posted by team-blog at 11:16 AM PST

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We have released an update for the Custom HTML add-on! Before, the add-on was overzelous in cleaning your HTML input, causing many add-ons to appear blank when published. The cleaning was good up to a point. It cleaned up your code and helped make sure that if you wrote basic code yourself, it didn't break. However, it wasn't ideal for 3rd party code as it would tend to take out elements that were necessary to publish correctly.

The update works harder to make sure that your code, whether code you've written yourself or found from another website, will work no matter what! Third party code like widgets from widgetbox, Facebook, PayPal, or more work seamlessly. 

Once you've submitted your code into the custom HTML module, know that it might not show up in your editor, but once you hit "Publish" you will be able to view it on your live site!

Posted by team-blog at 10:20 AM PST

Updated: Thursday, January 19, 2012 12:51 PM PST

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