Work and Play on Vacay: Day 1

It's become apparent that I am seriously slacking when it comes to making new content, whether it's videos (how long has it been?), blogging (been a month), or art (last time I touched some clay was before Christmas.)

SO.

Today will be the first day in a pitiful attempt to make some blog posts and get some shit done.

See, Jon has been working for the past four months, and we haven't had the opportunity to visit his parents in Delaware for more than two days over Christmas. Now that his part-time position has come to an end, we can finally escape Connecticut and my crazy family, and take a much-needed vacation.

Of course, since almost every day at my own home is a vacation day, that means while I actually have to DO things while in Delaware.

(Let's face it, all I do at home is sleep, play FFXIV, sleep some more, and wonder why my body hates me)

Here's a recap of what I've done today.

Today was rather uneventful.

I went to sleep at around 10:30pm, only to wake up at 1:00am having to pee. I half-watched reruns on Investigation Discovery until my alarm went off at 4:30am. At that point Jon and I got ready to leave, which we finally did around 5:50am or so. 

We drove our way down south, stopping at some random rest stop for a small breakfast, which for me was some Roy Roger's breakfast fries with chocolate milk.

(Let's just say that I deeply regret my choice of breakfast some 9 hours later, and leave it at that.)

We arrived at Jon's house at approximately 9:30am, and almost immediately passed out until about 2:45pm.

The remainder of the day was spent watching TV, eating dinner, regretting breakfast, and...

Putting stuff up in my shop!

Yes, I'm finally putting my shop together after about a year of non-selling limbo.

Only my needle-felted pieces are up at the moment, and they aren't for sale yet because I stupidly forgot to measure them before leaving home, but at least they're viewable as a preview.

Did someone say BRAINS? No? ...oh, okay.

You can check out the shop HERE or click the Shop tab for a link.

So, that's it for today. Tomorrow we're going to drive to Dover to get some Chick-fil-A (I know, I know, it's a weakness of mine), see dogs and cats at PetSmart, and of course, check out the Michael's Craft Store for any goodies, like vinyl toy blanks. Maybe I can even get started on making something!

Crafting Update! What I've Made This Summer...

Since I officially closed down my Etsy shop, I've been a roll making tons of new stuff for our grand reopening.

Here's some photos of what's in... hehe... STORE! (Okay, that was awful.)

After a lot of research into polymer clay techniques, I decided I definitely needed a clay machine. I found a reasonably priced off-brand one on eBay, and it works like a charm! 

After my first venture into the world of clay canes and clay machines, I made myself a cane that looked a lot like bacon. Thanks to the clay machine, I was able to make some great pendants and button-like post earrings!

Anyone who played World of Warcraft knows that home is where the hearthstone is... These hearthstones were shaped, textured, carved, and then accented with blue glow-paint from Glow-On. After they were glazed, they were made into pins and earrings!

Jon went for a bike ride one morning while we were in Delaware, and brought back a gorgeous dead dragonfly he found! I decided to buy a shadowbox and paint a background to mount it on.

More adventures with the clay machine! I made a tiger-stripe cane and used my new cutters to make shaped pendants. The pendants on the right were from my first clay machine experiment... They're supposed to look like they're made out of real stone.

Continued fun with both the clay machine, and my new blade! By making a small millefiori cane and cutting it up into tiny thin pieces, I was able to make the wings for butterfly post earrings. I then took scrap pieces, flattened them with the machine, and used the cutters to make some some more pendants and post earrings. 

School has started up again, and since I'm looking for a veterinary internship, I'm taking it easy this semester. The only class I'm taking is Sculpture I, and we're already getting started on something big! We're going to be making a giant "Yellow Submarine" installation in our college's east atrium... but the catch is that the WHOLE THING must be made out of only newspaper, and duct tape! Today I made a Portuguese Man o' War, and it may have attacked me... :P

I'll be keeping you all updated on the continuing progress that I make in building up my shop inventory before the big reopening day!

Etsy Update! New and Returning Items!

I forgot to post an update here, but new and returning items have been added to the Etsy shop!
In addition to some new earrings designs, two favorites are back... the Team Fortress 2 Logo Earrings and the Triboniophorus Tyrannus, now in different colors!

They're just waiting to invade your home, and take up residence on your head.

Click here to visit the Etsy Shop!

Our Commitment to Handmade and more

I admit it.
I've been incredibly lazy.
I could make a million excuses, but that just wouldn't be rational.

Here is the current news in the world of Maddie...

1. I have changed the gawd-awful layout at last. It's not a huge improvement, but it should be easier on the eyes. I am still debating whether or not to put a background image or not, but I like things rather plain... after all, it's the text on the blog that makes the blog, not the pretty embellishments.

2. I -do- have some new post-style earrings available, but they haven't been put up in my Etsy shop yet. To be completely honest, Etsy has really gotten me down lately. If you aren't a follower of Regretsy, you definitely should be now. Recently, April Winchell, the author of the satirical blog and leader of the "fat jealous losers" (it's an old joke that I'm sure only Regretsy veterans will understand) that make up the Regretsy community, released a bombshell... That the Etsy featured seller, Ecologica Malibu, whom they interviewed and wrote a cupcakey little article about, was in fact a dreaded reseller. For those unfamiliar with the term, they are people who buy factory-made items, tag them as handmade, and sell them for a profit. In this case the seller was buying Balinese boat furniture wholesale and selling them as handmade pieces that she claimed she had made herself. This goes completely against Etsy rules and guidelines, but they have initiated a great cover-up and cover-ass by saying that Ecologica Malibu is a "collective" and that doesn't break any rules.
This may not seem like the biggest deal ever, but Etsy is a -handmade- marketplace. When resellers join the picture, it's just a fancier version of our good friend eBay. Handmade is extremely important to me. It was the whole idea of a handmade market place that made me say "Hey, I can do this!" and attempt to work with clay in the first place. Making sales and knowing that somewhere out there, somebody else will be holding and enjoying something I created... It's an amazing feeling and incredibly rewarding. Now that Etsy has begun to lose its integrity as a handmade marketplace, I've found it much more difficult to make sales and my listing fees are greater than my profits again. I also don't feel like I want to be a part of a website that doesn't care about its own sellers.
I'm considering making the switch to a WePay store if things don't improve with Etsy's handmade policies. Of course, that means a huge decrease in viewership. So...

3. ...I'm considering expanding Hello Interloper. Right now there's the blog and there's the shop, but if I do end up having to make a move to WePay I'll be buying my own domain and building a website. Hopefully that will give Hello Interloper more of an audience, or at least a better sense of legitimacy. I'd most likely have to put up ads to support site costs though... or, you could just all click an ad here on this blog, it makes me a quarter, haha.

Well, that's about it. Hopefully I'll stop being such a lazyass and update more often. Now that classes are drawing to a close, there's a good chance I'll be able to update weekly.

First New Listings of the Year!

Just completed our Etsy shop's first update of the year!
Come visit and see all the goodies we've posted!

Lightsabers, anyone? :) Click on the photo to visit the shop!

Gaming Geekery Update!

I've just updated our Etsy shop with 5 gaming-related items!
(3 styles of earrings, and 2 charms.)

Click on the photo below to see the other 4 items!

Roma Joins the Team!

As you may have heard in the past, Hello Interloper isn't entirely my project alone... My boyfriend, Jon, occasionally writes a blog entry here, and my mother, Hanna, has donated a necklace to the April's Army collective charity shop on our behalf.
This time, we're directly featuring the handmade products of another person... My grandmother, Roma!

Roma is from Warsaw, Poland, and has a passion for knitting sweaters, hats, and scarves.
When she heard about my shop and Etsy, she decided to try her hand at selling as well!

Since the winter months are approaching fast, now's the perfect time to shop for some nice and warm clothing.
Sweater and Hat Sets and Hats have been added to the store, with scarves being added shortly.

Here's a couple photos of my personal favorites!

Earrings and Zombies Galore

Finally got my new eye-hooks in the mail today! Having them arrive pushed me to do a bit of craft-related work, so I finished gluing some earring backs, and took out my camera.
It was a bit hazy out, but there was enough light to take some good photos of my new things.

So, without further ado, here are some of the things I just put up in my Etsy store!

Click HERE to see all of these items and more in my Etsy shop!

This Month's Contributions - August

I just sent in the information and photos for this month's charity contributions!
If you don't know already, every month April's Army on Etsy opens up a collective shop for charity. The proceeds go towards a fellow Etsy seller in need.
(To get information on past recipients to get an idea of what we do, check the Notes section of the Facebook Page!)

Hello Interloper has been a contributor for the past two monthly sales, donating a total of $22 worth of crafts.
Our ultimate goal is to donate a total of $75 worth of crafts by the end of 2011.
This month we're upping the ante and donating two items to the shop!

First is a needle-felted set by me, Maddie. :)

Based these little guys off of the expression "A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush." Why not have two birds AND a bush?

The second item is a classy coral necklace made by my mother, Hanna! She has decided to join the cause this month, which is always a welcome gesture!

Pink and red bamboo coral with silver spacers and clasp... and don't forget the magnetically attached removable pendant!

Keep an eye out for these two items in this month's charity sale!

I'm almost positive the shop opens August 29th, so mark your calendars... items in the shop usually go FAST!

(If you want to take a look at the previously sold items in the April's Army collective, or see the great feedback given for these items, check out the April's Army Etsy Shop!)

Yellow Needle Felted Cat - Work In Progress Photos!

Thought I'd do a quick post showing the work-in-progress photos I took while making my newest addition to the Etsy store, the Yellow Cat!

The cat had humble beginnings... as a head!

Beware the souless, empty stare! And yes, those are arms!

Excuse the crotch shot... I work on my lap in front of the TV. Anyway, the cat's face has been further formed, and now he has a body!

More crotch... sorry about that. Well, either way, the cat is almost complete, save for the eyes and footpads! And don't forget the tail!

The finished result! He still needed to be trimmed in this photo.

Trimmed, and ready for his photoshoot! Here he is complete at last, sitting on my dragon fruit cactus!

Wait, did I say DRAGON FRUIT CACTUS?
Oh yes, I did...
And THAT, my friends, is for another blog entry. ;]

MASSIVE Shop Update!

My vacation started on Monday, and since then I've been hard at work making new things!
So, I present to you the LARGEST SHOP UPDATE YET!
Twenty new items ranging from $3-9!

Here's some of my favorites from this update!

Take a look at these and even more at the Etsy Shop!

New Items Up on Etsy!

I was able to photograph and list some items today!
New needlefelted birds are available, as well as the long anticipated animal rings!

Visit the Etsy Shop to see all of the new items!

New Shop Items, AT LAST!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

Today was thankfully sunny, so I was able to photograph my new items and list them!

Click on the flower pin to check out everything new!

Etsy, Rovio... WHAT THE HELL?

I woke up this afternoon (yes, I'm aware my sleep schedule is messed up) to this email in my inbox...

"ETSY INFRINGEMENT NOTICE"

Dear hellointerloper,

We have deactivated some item listings in your shop per Etsy's Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy.
We kindly request that you read the following information carefully. Do not reactivate these item listings or relist these items until the issue has been resolved.
This is a confidential matter, and we request that you not discuss this issue in the Etsy Forums or otherwise violate the confidential nature of this email.

...no, to hell with your confidentiality.

The following item listings have been deactivated:
74985810 - Loud and Angry Little Guy - Polymer Clay Bird Figurine or Decoration

Wait wait wait... what? That doesn't infringe on anything! That was an original figurine! Who could have complained?

Etsy received a notice from Jussi Hakanen (piracy@fondia.fi), Legal Counsel for Rovio Mobile Ltd. The notice said that "The game Angry Birds is developed and published by a Finnish company Rovio Mobile Ltd. All intellectual property rights to Angry Birds are owned by Rovio Mobile Ltd, including but not limited to copyright to the game characters and internationally registered trademarks. Rovio Mobile Ltd's copyright to the Angry Birds game characters and international trademark registrations of the word "ANGRY BIRDS" and international trademark registration of the graphical representation of the game characters provides Rovio Mobile Ltd with certain proprietary rights. This includes the right to restrict the use of copyrighted works and/or trademarks, or a confusingly similar works or trademarks, in association with confusingly similar products or services. Rovio Mobile Ltd's trademark registrations include, but are not limited to registration of graphical representation of game character by European Union Community Trademark (no: 009205221) and international trademark registration in several jurisdictions (no: 1052865) including United States (WO 1052865) and China (WO 1052865). According to the notice, certain material on Etsy is not authorized.

The letter stated that these listing(s) incorporate designs, symbols, language, images, or photographs that infringe upon the concerned party's copyright or other intellectual property right.

What the flying fudgebucket?! ANGRY BIRDS?
Let me put this simply... I did not make a clay representation of anything from the game.

I made a bird. A bird that is angry. You know, A COMMON ANIMAL, AND AN EMOTION THAT EVERYBODY CAN DISPLAY.

I did not, however, take anything from Angry Birds.

This was my clay piece:

And lets take a look at the Angry Birds.

(This is from The Oatmeal, because finding a picture from Rovio would be a bad idea at this point.)

First of all... MY BIRD HAS FEET.

My bird is not a legless ball whose only forms of transportation are hopping, and of course, slingshot.

He also has wings, which the Angry Birds lack.

NONE of the birds have any purple, anywhere.

Oh, but there is a blue bird you might say? Well guess what. THE BLUE BIRD ISN'T EVEN ANGRY.

The Angry Birds don't have yellow eyes either.

My bird is just a bird. A bird that is angry.

NOT AN ANGRY BIRD.

Honestly Etsy, honestly Rovio...

WHAT THE BLOODY HECK.

Is this little figurine really all that threatening to you guys?

You'd think that THESE would be a little more dangerous, wouldn't you think?

But no.

Thanks for picking on me, bastards.

A Little Birdie Told Me

Yes, it finally happened... A STORE UPDATE!
I have just added all my bird figurines to the Hello Interloper Etsy shop for you to view and enjoy! (And hopefully purchase? Hehe!)

Here's my personal favorite...

Isn't he cute? (and a bit crazy...)

Here's one that was inspired by... what else? Father's Day!

The little guy wants to grow up to be just like his dad! Don't worry, you'll one day have a fancy head-crest like your father... or not, since you're made of clay.

Also, my needle-felted tiger in a tie that I mentioned earlier is also up for sale!

He's ready for SRS BSNS.

 Check out the rest of the clay insanity by visiting my Etsy shop!

-=Click HERE to take a look!=-

Ribbit, Zibbet...

Well, I got my Etsy bill in my email this weekend, and I'm not too happy.
Another $3.20 of renewal fees, whoop-dee-doo.
I'm coming close to breaking even with profits/listing fees.

Soooo, I finally decided to give in and make a Zibbet.
What's a Zibbet?
Exactly. I had no idea until a little while ago.

Zibbet is basically Etsy's little cousin.
It's the same thing as Etsy, but they make money differently.
Rather than collect listing fees and a cut of your profits, they limit your features and allow only 50 items per shop... that is, until you pay $10 a month for full benefits.
Honestly, I don't freaking need to make my profile and shop fancy, so I could care less about the premium program.

So yeah.
I'm still on Etsy... but heck, if somebody finds my shop on Zibbet and buys something, I will be a happy, happy person.
I just want to craft without a hole in my pocket, y'know?

Hop on over to my Ribbit... I mean, Zibbet shop.
(I haven't listed all my stuff yet because I'm tired... but they'll be up there soon enough.)

Productivity Week - Day 2

Being productive isn't very easy this week...

I woke up at about 9:30am this morning, and was feeling pretty zombie-like.
I had an 11:20am doctor's appointment, so went and got washed up, had breakfast, and listened to music during the 20 min drive.
The appointment went well, and we got out at about 12:25pm. From there we went immediately to my sister's school to pick her up, then back home.

Let me tell you... today was BEAUTIFUL outside.
It was a comfortable, sunny 78 degree Fahrenheit day, so I decided that today would be perfect for taking photos.
I photographed all of my new clay items except for the snocones, which needed another layer of glaze. (I'm still unsure if it'll work, or start another chemical reaction over time... It seems to be working, but who knows how it'll be the next morning.)

By the time I was done taking photos, I was exhausted from the bright sun, heat, and just being awake.
I plopped down on the bed downstairs at about 2:30pm, and took a nap...
...only to wake up at 6:30pm.
You can just imagine my dismay when I found out I had slept 4 hours of the day away. (Too many unintentional rhymes, ahh!)
After spending some time with my family, I ran downstairs to my laptop and began the tedious process of posting things on Etsy.

You can see the new listings over at my Etsy shop right now!

Mmm, delicious!

That just about wraps up Day 2 of Productivity Week.

Got another doctor's appointment tomorrow, so probably won't be accomplishing anything major tomorrow either. 

Ah well, such is life.

I SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRUSTED YOU RED 40!

Well well well.
Apparently one of the top news stories is the supposed link between Artificial Dyes and ADHD.
That's just lovely.
I stuff my face with artificial colors every day, and I scored nearly 4x the minimum requirement to be diagnosed with ADHD (inattentive type, not the jumping-up-the-walls type) 5 years ago.
HOORAY FOR CHEMICALS.

Annoying concentration issues aside, I just filmed two little segments on Creatures 3 on Livestream.
Click here to watch it.

In other news I just started playing Borderlands the other day, beat Mass Effect 2 on Sunday, and I have 4 clay pieces made and ready to bake.
Look out for more additions to the shop this April!

April's Army

Taking a moment to tell everyone about a little slice of Etsy that's definitely worth taking a gander at.

Regretsy.com has been one of my favorite websites to visit on an (almost) daily basis. The snark, hilarity, and great community there had been a constant source of entertainment and a good way to learn what NOT to do on Etsy.
The site itself is run by April Winchell who goes by the moniker "Helen Killer." She's a spectacular woman who has a mouth like a sailor (a drunken, angry sailor), but deep down inside she has a heart of gold. Her Regretsy Fund has donated thousands of dollars to charities and people in desperate need of aid, whether it be cancer, being on the verge of homelessness, among other things.

Needless to say, it's pathetic when people whine that her site is "mean-spirited" and "horrible." She showcases tragically awful items with a load of snark, and the people deserve it. She doesn't leave any room for excuses, and will be as blunt as possible.
She's also helping people out, more so than any of the whiners probably have in their life.

As April has once said, "I'd rather talk shit and do good, than talk good and do shit."

So on the subject of doing good, there's a new Etsy team in town... April's Army.
This team is made up of Regretsy fans, but they are also real crafters with real talent.
Many of these sellers are unemployed, in financial trouble, or trying to kickstart their business, but have been having a tough time due to the large number of Chinese resellers on Etsy claiming that their cheap items are "vintage" and "original."
...thus their love for Regretsy's snark, and an appreciation of April's hatred for these fakes.

Though April's Army was created by a seller, April has addressed the group and has announced a voluntary charity project for any members willing to participate. Yes, that's right... Hundreds of sellers will soon be featuring items to help someone in need.
To believe that some people are trying to shut this group down... jeesh.

So I urge all of you to check out the sellers who are a part of April's Army.
All of these people truly make handmade pieces of art, not mass-produced items made in sweatshops and incorrectly labeled as genuine. I've been posting and reading the forums there, and it is incredible how many talented people have joined the army's ranks. Every seller also has a story... whether they're a student straight out of college, an unemployed single mom, or someone suffering from a medical condition they can't afford to treat, these are all very real people. They could use the support.

Click here to visit the group... and join if you'd like!

Even More Etsy Additions!

I've just added more items to the Etsy store!

This time around we have more food designs and even a bit of geekery!

Mario, anyone?

This and more at our Etsy Shop!