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!

HUGE Renovation!

Hello Interloper is going through a HUGE renovation!

I originally made H.I. as a blog, but as you all know it's become more than that...
I now have an Etsy Shop, a Twitter, a YouTube channel, Facebook page, a Twitch, all that jazz.
Despite having all these different things under the same name, I don't have a central logo or theme to any of my things.

That all changes very soon.

With the advent of my YouTube channel's partnership with TGN.tv, a whole new look will be coming to ALL of my sites, starting soon.

With this blog:

• A new color scheme!
• An actual banner with logo!

With Etsy:

• A new banner with logo!
• Large-scale restocking of inventory!
• Lowered prices!

With YouTube:

• New background!
• An actual banner with logo!
• Custom video thumbnails!

My Twitter, Twitch.tv, and Facebook page will also be updated with the new logo.

Keep an eye out for these changes soon!

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!

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!

TURKEY WEEK SALE

Gobble Gobble!
Okay, so Thanksgiving is over, but I'm sure you're all munching on leftovers.
There's also another little "leftover" that you might want to check out...

Up until November 29th, Hello Interloper is having a TURKEY DAY SALE!
By using the coupon code TURKEY upon checkout, you get 15%!
Remember, there are only 4 days left, so make sure you check out the store to see if there is something you like!

Also, I have to apologize for the general lack of updates, both in shop inventory and blog updates.
My job had officially gone from part-time to full-time with the upcoming holidays, and I've been having trouble feeling motivated to make things. (After washing dogs for nearly 6 hours at work, the last thing you want to do is make something with your hands!)
I still have a batch of earrings waiting to be glazed, and I have some candy cane earrings ready for listing.
Keep an eye out! As work slows down, I'll be able to get the shop updated with lots of new goodies.

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!

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!

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!

Inedible Food! WOOHOO!

Yes, I finally got off my butt and relisted all of my expired items on Etsy!

That isn't just all, however...

I also reorganized the shop by putting them into relevant categories, AND added new items that have been sitting in my dorm since the end of August!

(I really am that lazy...)

Here are just a few photos of what you can find there!

Check all of them out HERE!

WE ARE BACK!

I finally have gotten off my lazy butt and am queuing up a series of posts for the next week or so!

I'll begin by saying that the layout changes WILL BE COMING SOON.
I'm going to start working on them possibly next week or so, because the current layout is really starting to bother me. There is way too much empty space and the colors are getting boring.

Also, I made another sale! Thank you so much to Etsy user CharmedAmour for trusting me and my no-feedback status on Etsy!
It's always so hard to make the first few sales, so I very much appreciate the help in getting me out of "no sales, no feedback, newbie" status.
CharmedAmour also has a beautiful Etsy shop full of curious and interesting necklaces! Visit her shop by clicking HERE!

Anyway, keep an eye out for new updates starting tomorrow!

Wear Your Food!

There are new items in the Etsy Shop!
This batch has more delicious and adorable earrings based off of fruits.

Lemon or Lime? Why not both?

Red or White Wine? Or Red or White Grapes? Again, why not both?

More of a symmetrical kind of person? How about some strawberries?

Okay, so the bunny isn't food exactly, but the carrot sure is!

Okay, okay, this isn't food at all.

 I have never tried to eat a Poporing, but I'm quite sure they aren't edible either...

Ever had Pocky? If not, you haven't lived.

That's all for now!

A new batch of items are currently in queue to be fired up in the oven, so keep your eyes opened!

6 New Items in the Etsy Shop!

Yep, that's right... 6 new items have been put up for sale!

I'm feeling lazy, so I'm not going to post pictures this time...
You're going to have to check it out for yourselves! ;]

I added:
-Penguin Door Hanger
-Bee/Wasp Charm
-Puppy Dog Charm
-Marin from Ragnarok Online Charm
-Lunatic from Ragnarok Online Charm
-Mini Piggie Figurine

Click on the ETSY SHOP link at the top of the page to see what I have for sale!
Enjoy!

More Clay Charms... and Earrings!

I've been working on some more clay creations in my spare time, and have just put them up in the shop!

This one was a lot of fun to make! A little gummi bear that won't melt and make a mess :]

A little bird that KIND OF looks like a duckling? Kind of?

Drops, Poring's desert-dwelling cousin!

Orange halves hanging from your EARS! Hehehe!

They're all available in the Etsy Shop right now!

Click the link at the top of the page to see the shop.

Enjoy!

New Items on Etsy!

Some new charms are up in the Etsy Shop!

Little Sky Blue Owl

Little Beige Mouse/Rat

Little Bluebird

They've all been posted today.
Also, the Etsy Shop has made its first sale!
Yep, the Sky Blue Jellyfish Pendant Necklace has officially been purchased by Lahtiirah from deviantART. :]
Many thanks to her!

More to come in the future, keep an eye on this blog!