Off to an Art Show!

In one week, my mom and I will be selling art stuffs at a craft fair. She's making candles and jewelry, and I hope things sell really well! Nevyn will be there with us as well, so I think it'll be fun! My mom's been working really hard with her candles, and I just got her an early Christmas present to help with the selling...boxes! I know, that sounds a little silly, but let me explain it a bit first.

My mom wanted to be able to put together little packages of candles and stuff, and she found a nice website where she could buy boxes to put everything in. She sent me a list of things that she wanted and she was only expecting that I MIGHT buy the set of small boxes for her to use. Well I bought her the small boxes, some big boxes, and the rainbow crinkle stuffing...stuff that she wanted. She thinks I spent too much, of course, but I know it'll really help her out with her candle business. Besides, she's my mom and I'm happy that I can help her with it!

So wish us luck! Hopefully I'll have some pics to post afterward. ^-^



For anyone who may be interested, the art show is at Central Middle School in Midland, MI. It is in both the gym and the cafeteria, and we'll be located in the cafeteria.

Acrylic Charms Ahoy!

So I have some super awesome news to share!! I just ordered the very first batch of acrylic charms for Dex Studios! It was hard to decide which designs to do though, as the minimum order is for 50 charms and I had three designs (which doesn't divide evenly into 50, or really provide enough of each charm for selling), so I had to pick two. I asked my bf what he thought and he said the same thing I was thinking: puppy and kitty! So my newest design addition of the spotted puppy and a charm version of maneki neko from my t-shirt design are being printed!

The company is located in the UK, but it's supposed to be the best one out there. The website said to allow 5 days for the charms to be made and then they will be shipped out. Since it's international and all, the shipping will take a while, but they should still make it in time for Youmacon! As long as nothing crazy happens, that is...wish me luck on that! I haven't had issues with any international packages I've received before, so I hope this one doesn't decide to be the exception!

I will try to update on this again once the charms come in. I'm soooo excited about this!! I really can't wait!!

Help me out?

I'm sure you all know that I really want to be able to sell t-shirts and stuff at cons, and I've posted pics of some of the designs I've already made. But I looked into some general startup costs for a single design with 10 shirts of each size, and it's going to run somewhere between $600 and $800, depending on what shirt style I choose and the number of available sizes. Now that's a LOT of money to put out all at once, and, unfortunately, sales at conventions just haven't brought in that kind of cash. I would need to save up for a couple years before I could start selling shirts, but I'd really like to share my art with everyone now.

So now you're wondering "What does that have to do with me?" Well, it's pretty simple. I've started a GoFundMe project to help with the startup costs involved with t-shirt sales. If you have money to donate, that would be great, but if you don't have money, please spread the word. There is a shareable pic on the facebook page here and once all of the money is raised, a winner will be chosen from those who shared the post. The winner will receive the t-shirt in their choice of size, and if enough money is made to get another design printed, they will receive that shirt as well.

Anyone who donates will receive a gift based on the amount they donate. All of that info is listed on the donation page, so I won't go into detail on it here.

So who's with me? Help me share my art on t-shirts! ^-^

Fundraiser is here.

And here are some possible t-shirt designs!

Long Time Coming

So it's been quite a while, and I wanted to start updates off with something cool. Introducing...Dexeka!!

This is the mascot for Dex Studios, Dexeka. Nevyn drew one pic of her and ordered a commissioned drawing from someone on deviantArt as well. I've drawn her 3 times now, though only one of those pics is colored right now. I'm still working on it, but I plan on dressing up as her at conventions. The first will be at Youmacon. I need to order the t-shirt still, but I bought the fabric for the skirt yesterday, so I just have to put it together! Her hair was based off a wig I already own, so I don't need to worry about that part.

I also put together the cyberlox that she wears, so that part's all set too!

I don't want to go too overboard with updates in a single post, so I'll leave things here for now and update again soon!

Shutocon Aftermath

So Shutocon was pretty awesome over the weekend (and yes, I know, it's been forever since I've posted anything...again) and I was able to make some decent money. I made about the same as I did at Almacon, so I think I did pretty well. I made the table cost back and then some (and I didn't count gas or food in costs, since I use a lot of gas anyway and paid for food with my personal spending money), so I'd say things came out okay. I sold two pairs of cyberlox and a bunch of stickers, which didn't surprise me. Then I sold the dog/fox amigurumi, the egg amigurumi, and the onigiri plushie. I think I would've sold more onigiri if I'd had more, but then again I might not have, cuz the food plushie people were at the table next door. lol

We were kinda situated in a bad spot for the table tho, which I think slowed down sales. It was a bummer, but I still made a profit, so it wasn't that big of a deal. The biggest bummer was that all of the ATMs were dead on Sunday. Two were out of cash and one was frozen, and the closest one after those was two blocks away, which no one wanted to walk for. That meant everyone who wanted to spend more but didn't have cash couldn't. There were a couple people that came by who were bummed about the situation cuz they wanted stuff but didn't have cash. I think we would've sold a lot more on Sunday if the ATMs hadn't died, and I think it was the same for most Artists there. A couple had card readers for non-cash customers, but I only think I saw 3 or 4 who had them. I want to invest in one, but they don't come cheap and they require some kind of service plan to go with them...and we're really not making enough right now to be able to afford one. I think they came out with an app of some kind for the iphone tho, so I'll have to check that out and see if it migh tbe more plausible. Cuz I could steal my bf's iPod touch and use it as long as there was internet access (or I could just steal his phone if he was at the con with me lol).

Now for a car update!! I got a new one finally! Well, okay, I got it about a month ago, but I'm a little bit slow with updating. And I was doing so well for a while!! lol But anyways, here it is:

I really like it. It gets GREAT gas mileage and my payment on it isn't that high, so I think I'm doing pretty good. The stereo is really nice too, which is a bonus. But I don't wanna ramble about my new car too much...this post is pretty long already! So I'll shut my mouth for the moment and let everyone enjoy their weekend!

Crocheted Onigiri

So I'm sure everyone knows that I have already made an onigiri plushie....but that one was sewn. And since I've been doing a bunch of crocheting lately, it only made sense to try out one that was crocheted!! I had a few people say they'd like to see one, but I had NO IDEA how to make a triangle (okay, I had an idea but didn't know if it would work), so I searched on youtube and found a really awesome person who had a triangle tutorial. That meant all that was left was to actually make the thing! And make it, I did. It was as easy as making two triangles and a big strip to go between them. I really wanted to do it as one piece instead of multiple pieces (except for the seaweed part, of course), but I don't know how to go about doing that either, so three pieces was good enough for me! I made them and stitched them together then stitched on the seaweed wrap and it was all set! I didn't put eyes on it though. I kinda forgot and I wasn't sure if I was liking how it was turning out. But it turns out I do like it! So here it is:

Whatcha think? Good? Bad? Would be TONS cuter if it actually had the eyes on it? Let me know what you think!!

In other news though, my car died on the way to work this morning. I'd just hopped on the highway and was doing about 65 when the transmission gave out. It dropped all the way down to first gear and that was that. I managed to get off the highway safely (there was an exit REALLY close), and I was able to drive it across town so I could borrow my mom's truck. The thing will still drive, but since it won't shift anymore, you have to drive 25 mph all the time. That's REALLY slow. Trust me. So I'm pretty sure my car's getting replaced as soon as I manage to get my taxes back, which I'll be filing tonight because I finally have all of my paperwork for it. I'm also skipping class because it's an extra 15 minutes away from work (so half an hour back home) and my mom's truck is getting pretty bad mileage right now cuz of winter and all. So I have the truck until further notice and my mom and I will be figuring stuff out later as to how to get me to work and whatnot on the days she has a doctor's appointment or something. So yeah...my car has really bad timing. It just couldn't wait till I actually had the money to replace it, could it?

Packaging Prepared

So I have my packaging now! It looks REALLY good in person and I'm so happy with it. As soon as I got home with it, I had to start putting stuff together. I already had a bunch of stuff bagged up, so I just needed to grab my trusty pen and stapler and get to work! There's a spot for the item "name" and a spot for the price, so I filled those in and folded and stapled and TADA! Package made!

So what do you think with it being put together? I did a test before with just a printout of it and it looked fine, and the real thing looks even better! I think they'll go over very well at cons because people won't have to ask for prices on stuff all the time.

Of Tea and Cookies

So I got some new yarn because I found out I only own two REALLY SMALL balls of brown yarn. Since there are a lot of patterns that call for a really light brown, I opted for that so I could make a few new things. I started with a cupcake, but so far I only have the bottom part of it done, so I can't post anything on that yet. I did, however, work on the pattern for a cup of tea and cookies! The tea cup uses the really light brown (I think it looks more like cappucino than tea, but that's just me), so I thought it would be a great thing to work on! The top was really easy and I was able to get it done while I was waiting for my boyfriend's parents to show up to have dinner with us. The rest took a little bit longer because I had to deal with the fact that the new semester started...which means the beginning of classes and getting back into the swing of things with a new class load. I guess the good thing is that I'm only taking three classes this semester (cuz they won't let me take the others that I need...grr), so I'll be able to focus on other crafty things a bit more. So, without further ado, the teacup!

Unfortunately I don't have the cookies done yet, so that'll have to wait for another day.

In other news, I'm busy getting ready for Almacon and Shutocon that are both happening in the next couple of months. I still need to buy the racks I want off Amazon, but I need to get a good paycheck in first. I got way to many holidays on my last paycheck (and I'm not full time, so they're not paid), so I don't really have the extra money for them at the moment. I'll get them soon enough though.

It Came with Eggs

Well after finishing the cupcake and donuts I still had a little bit of yarn left, but not enough to make any more cupcakes or donuts, so I decided to skim through the book that came with the kit and see what else I might be able to make with the little bit of yarn I had left. So I made an egg! There was a pattern for a cracked egg, but I lack yellow yarn, so I had to opt for the hard-boiled egg. Except for the top being a little bit pointier than I'd like (yay for having to close a circle!), I think it came out pretty well. I don't know if you'd be able to tell that it's supposed to be an egg without a bunch of other food plushies though. But I think the cracked egg would be more obvious.

So tada! That's what it looks like! It's pretty simple...I started working on another cupcake too cuz I went out and got some light brown yarn the other night. My next project will be the tea and cookies that are in the book (and prolly a light brown donut of some kind), so that'll be fun. I needed the light brown for the tea color...but if you ask me, it looks more like cappucino! But that works. It'll be cute either way.

Well, that's about all I have to share for now, so TTFN--tata for now! ^-^

It's Donut Time!!

Well I was having so much fun with cupcake making that I had to make a donut as well, since the kit came with the stuff for that too. I was able to get the base for it done pretty quickly and I've gotten a bit better at working with the super small hook. The pattern has you make a base donut (like, the whole thing...just like a real one) then you make the icing top and stitch it together. The one that it came with the materials for was a chocolate donut with white icing and pink sprinkles. Once I was done with it, I loved how it turned out so much that I had to make another one!! I didn't have enough material for a second one though, so I decided to adjust the pattern a little bit and I made a smaller one. It's soooo cute! I love how it turned out. Side-by-side they're even more adorable because it's like a mama and a baby donut! I really enjoyed making them though, where I got a bit annoyed by the cupcake because of the base. But it was probably more annoying because I'm not used to working with such a small crochet hook either. Oh well, such is life, right? lol

So now the part you really want to see....DONUT PIC!!!!

I guess that's really about all I have to share for now. Try not to freeze in the cold!

Playing with konad and cupcakes

So it's that time again...blog post time! I mentioned a while ago that I bought a Konad Nail Stamping Kit from Amazon, but I haven't posted any pics of stuff yet. A couple days after I got it I painted my nails light pink then tested all three of the colors that came in my kit. I put on a red firework, white flowers (there were 3 with little branches), and a black flower. It smeared a little bit when I put the topcoat on, but it wasn't bad for my first try (and considering I used a dollar store topcoat). My right hand was worse off than my left though, since I'm a righty and all. So here's a pic of the result:

Tada! Pretty, huh? I know, it was really random, but I just had to test everything!

A few weeks ago my boyfriend's little brother got married, so it was time to pull out the konad again! I didn't have time to do my nails before we left, so I took everything with me up to his parents' place. I used a shimmery blue base (which turned out to kinda suck because it's made to be more of a glitter overcoat than anything and it started peeling when I took a shower that night) and a pretty white flower-vine thingy for the design. Here's the pic (but it was taken a few days later, so please ignore the tips of my nail that had peeled off):

And his sister and mom thought it was so cool that they had me do their nails too! His sister painted hers gold and I put red flowers on them (the same as the white ones that I did on my pink nails), and his mom painted her nails purple and had me put some white flowers on them. I don't have pics of their nails though, so I can't post them to show. And if you're wondering, here's what I wore to the wedding:

It got glitter EVERYWHERE!! That's why I had to take a shower when I got home right away. My boyfriend doesn't like glitter and I was literally coated in it from head to toe! It was pretty bad. lol

And now for what you've really been waiting for: the cupcake amigurumi!

Isn't it adorable? I strayed from the instructions a little bit because I didn't want to make the extra top piece that it suggested. It was supposed to be pink bottom, brown top, white icing with a brown swirl, and a pink berry on top. I just opted to make a whipped cream top and the berry instead though, as you can see. And I like how it came out. ^-^ So what do you think? Should I make some more of these little guys? I'm going to be working on the donut pattern in the book next, so stay on the lookout for that and let me know what you think about this one in the meantime! I'll take color suggestions too!

Well I don't want to make this thing too insanely long, so bye bye for now! Hope everyone is enjoying the new year so far!