Https://gofund.me/74165b6c

#Thursday boost

Happy 2025! Can you believe it's a new year already? New year means new updates so here we go:

First and foremost, I will be pushing the Kofi a little harder this year as it will become my primary source of income. I am thinking of adding monthly membership tiers starting with a dollar for those who want to support but are tight on funds. I'm also considering a $5 tier blind bag option where members can get a mystery baby animal blorbo every month, but I'll need to build up some stock so it might be a little bit before that one arrives. After that, however, as a primarily fiber artist, I'm not sure what else I could offer in higher tiers other than my eternal gratitude so if there's something you think I could offer exclusively to higher tiers, feel free to make suggestions in the comments below!

Secondly, as Kofi will become my primary source of income, that also means that my commission slots will be opening soon! How soon, you ask? Hopefully by February 1st! I'll be opening FOUR small commission slots and don't worry, there WILL be a commission list coming so y'all can see what I have at my disposal. Commissions will start at $30 + shipping for the smaller items, and increase based on the approximate size and estimated time for larger items (like dragons!). The list will be divided by size categories so folks will know ahead of time about how much they'll be paying. As of right now, I will not be taking custom commissions, or commissions outside of my repertoire, while I am figuring out this new system of mine, and how much I can physically and mentally handle being a full-time online maker and crafter.

Final third item, I will be setting up the shop this month to showcase what's currently available to be shipped and what's available to be commissioned so folks have a better view of my repertoire. There will be two separate categories: items ready to ship and items available for commission. The difference being that the items ready to ship have already been made and are sitting on a shelf waiting to find a new home.

That's it for new updates! Oh! Before I forget! As part of pushing the Kofi (and helping me raise the funds for C2E2), we have a cute little tracker that for every donation of a certain amount, a specific image gets colored in. We started that in December, and here's what we have so far!

Anyway, THAT'S it for new updates! Let's start the new year off with smiles, happy thoughts, and ready to kick some ass! Happy 2025!

Kofi only allows 10 photos per listing and some of my sets have 12 items each. So here's an array of the product photos of the "Pocket Pals Starter" collection.

This listing is for a SMALL crochet pocket pal type amigurumi. This item is a finished product, NOT A PATTERN! Each item is handmade so sizes/colors/shapes will vary.

***These items have been made in a home with a cat so if you have allergies, please let me know ahead of time!!***

Item Details: Approximate height: Ranging between 4 in/10.16 cm and 5.5 in/13.97 cm tall

Materials used: Acrylic yarn, plastic safety eyes, poly fill stuffing, embroidery thread, felt, E6000 glue

*Washing instructions: Recommended spot cleaning by hand, but can be washed with a washing machine in a laundry bag (delicate setting and warm water) and air dried.

**The patterns for these items were created and designed by 53Stitches, and handmade by Sly Fox of Nerdvana Crafts. These items are intended as fanart, and I am in no way affiliated with Pokemon. These characters are owned and copyrighted by Pokemon.

Pattern for Yellow and Black Bean: 53stitches.com/pikachu

Pattern for Bulbed Sproutling: 53stitches.com/bulbasaur

Pattern for Flame Hatchling: 53stitches.com/charmander

Pattern for Water Pistol Baby: 53stitches.com/squirtle

dear usamerican high schoolers looking for a way to resist fascism: sit through the pledge of allegiance.

no getting up. no looking at the flag.

everyone will be looking at you. you'll be sweating like a fucking hippopotamus. your teacher will sternly tell you to get up. you'll feel stupid and that maybe its not worth it because you're just a kid in a classroom. but I'm here to remind you that there are no real life consequences to detention. there are however real life consequences to resisting a thoughtless performance of nationalism.

2022 Faves ♥ It’s fun to look back and see all the seasons represented. Which one is your favorite?

Fan Expo Chicago 2024 Recap!

Ta-da! The Fan Expo recap is finally here! Sorry it took so long, but there was a lot to cover. I hope you enjoy!

So, first and foremost, the trip down there was relatively uneventful. Except for some construction and my GPS taking a nap en route to the hotel, I managed to get around just fine. Check-in went very smoothly, and I chilled in the hotel for roughly half an hour (it was a long drive for me, y'all!) before heading over to the con.

Parking at this venue was...a nightmare. On Friday evening (like 4pm), it took me 10 minutes of circling the parking garage in search of a spot before someone finally came to redirect us to overflow parking. Saturday was by far the worst day, which I feel is fairly normal for most conventions, but this felt....excessively underplanned. Not only did it take me 45 minutes to get from my hotel to the venue on Saturday (hotel was a mile away for the record), but it also then took me roughly 10ish minutes to walk across to the other side of the garage to get to the crosswalk for the venue. And it was very hot that day. Like 80s-90s Fahrenheit hot, and humid af. It was like walking through soup. Sunday wasn't nearly as bad. I still had to park in the sticks, but it was the closest of my parking spaces for the weekend.

Now for the actual fun stuff:

The first step of getting inside any location is figuring out where everything is, right? So that's what I did. Once I got my badge and got in, I spent most of Friday orienting myself on the venue's layout. Because it was huge. And not just huge, but also packed almost elbow to elbow with people. There were, quite frankly, too many people in too small a space. Honestly, I was thankful for the water bottle hanging off my wrist because it kept most people at bay. Anyway, the first place I went to was, of course, Artist Alley! Since I’m not artistically gifted, I love seeing what other people can draw and create. I spent most of Friday wandering the artist alley looking at what everyone had to offer. I had to make several loops though because it was so crowded and some booths were really popular, so I had to come back to ones I was interested in.

The most surprising thing I discovered in my wandering was a booth run by an artist I know of! I got to meet the lovely LeonDoodlez, who does amazing work (please go have a look at their socials) and who I know from another artist I help mod for. We had a good chat while I was picking out prints, and I ended up going back later in the weekend to get more from them. They are a lovely human, please go show them some love; they truly deserve it. Here are some of the prints I got from them:

Since there weren’t really any panels of interest to me on Friday, I decided to bump one of my autographs to that day and it was a very good decision. Despite having to wait in line for roughly an hour (I sat on the floor for a good chunk of that), because they had to go do photo ops while we waited, I did get to meet Alan Tudyk and have him sign my Firefly sketchbook. He gave a good hearty chuckle at me telling him that I was going to bring two dinosaurs to say hello but one of them ate them on the ride down, so he was in timeout. (It’s a Firefly reference, for those who don’t understand.) And despite saying I had to keep an eye on those silly dinos, Alan did also say it was a good thing I was, instead, keeping an eye on the road since I was driving by myself. We had a good handshake, I thanked him for being there, and then I went on my merry way. Had to keep the book open for a little bit to let the ink dry, but I pretty much did one more small pass through the exhibitors hall and then headed back to the hotel for the night. (I had to shower both nights because egads…turns out the AC was broken up until Sunday, and even then, it didn’t feel like it was doing any good. But I wasn’t going to meet people smelling like I did.)

Saturday! Saturday, I met up with some Twitch friends! Another pair of lovely humans, ThePhoenixPath and PunkleNix, both variety streamers (please go check them out both here on Kofi and on Twitch!). Phoenix brought her kiddos with her, and this was the first event of this kind they all had been to, so it was a bit overwhelming for them. Once we got inside, I kind of let them wander around and followed behind to both help keep an eye on the kiddos, and to let them experience the chaos. We met some wonderful and amazing cosplayers who took the time to talk through some of their process with the kiddos, one of whom is interested in cosplay themselves, and overall, I think everyone had fun. They did have to leave about halfway through due to overstimulation, which I completely understood (seriously, that shoulder-to-shoulder crowding was worse on Saturday). We hugged and said our goodbyes, and I made a snap decision to get a surprise gift for my sister, for which I stood in line for roughly another hour. But I made some line buddies, had an idle chat here and there, and got what I came for. Then I went up to the main theater floor to have some food and chill for a bit before the cosplay contest.

You probably don’t know this about me, because I don’t post about it much, but I love cosplay. I can only wish I had the time and energy (and money, let’s be real) to put in the work some of these cosplayers do for their outfits. They are stunning and I am in a constant state of awe at seeing just what can be accomplished. While I was having my chill time, the entrants for the cosplay contest started to gather and pretty much all of them were phenomenal. (I really only stopped one because I didn’t realize she was in the contest until I saw everyone else lining up.) Plus, once the line for the previous panel had gone inside, we were allowed to line up for the next one, which was the cosplay contest, so I gathered my things and parked myself in the line. And because I had roughly 45 minutes to wait again, I sat down with most everyone else who came early. I ended up making small talk with the pair in front of me (shoutout to Becca and Rachel, wherever you are!) and they even offered me some of the fudge they had bought. The mystery flavor tasted like candy corn, even though they had said it was supposed to be marshmallow, and I needed something to get the taste out of my mouth! Anyway, they also let me sit with them for the contest and showed me some highlights from the Twilight musical parody from the night before (apparently it was hilarious). I won’t spam you with the photos from the contest, because there’s a lot, but if you’re interested, feel free to DM me and I’ll send you a link.

Another shower and night of sleep, and I was back at it on Sunday. I’d like to say Sunday was by far the chillest day of the con, and I guess in a way, it was, but also…all I did was stand in line for five hours…You may be wondering why.

Well, half of the reason for me taking this trip was to get a very particular gift for my sister. An autograph from one, Neil Newbon, the voice actor of Astarion from Baldur’s Gate 3. That was my entire Sunday, y’all. Again, I made some line buddies, chatted about the wait and how ridiculous the line was (and how it had been like that all weekend), and eventually parked my butt when he went off to do photo ops for an hour. Now, I could’ve done what some of my line buddies did in that hour, which was to ask to have my spot held and go get another autograph, but I didn’t, and in doing so, missed the other one I had planned for. The good news, though, was that I was able to at least get a refund, so I didn’t exactly lose money because they had left by the time I got there. And I made up for it by getting myself an autograph from Neil for having endured the gauntlet, as I’ve now heard it called.

My interaction with Neil was far more lowkey than I had expected, but through no fault of his. As someone who had also been there the entire weekend (and probably got better sleep), I understood his demeanor fully. He looked and sounded as tired as I felt after five hours of standing/sitting in line. He’d also strained his voice from what I heard, so I understood the lack of his usual chaotic enthusiasm. 

That being said, I did get a hearty chuckle when I plopped my little Goostarion down on the table for him and told him that despite needing context from friends, I made him his own little angry goose. (It had a tag around its neck that said “Careful, I bite,” as well as my info as the creator and the pattern designer’s info, but it fell off somewhere while I was in line and I’m still mad about it.) 

He was also kind enough to scribble a Happy Birthday on my sister’s print because I had mentioned it was a birthday gift to her and we’d technically been cut off from quotes and selfies by then. Mostly so they could get through the line faster. He was truly a sweet human even with all his fatigue, and I don’t regret anything about meeting him. I feel like I got to see the most human side of fame and that’s honestly very special, as someone who deals with a lot of mental health issues and doesn’t always want to be perceived but still must promote themselves for work. 

I did, however, learn to come earlier. Like, Friday early.

This trip was an experience and a half, but it was all worth it in the end. I feel like I reclaimed a part of me that went missing years ago, or at least went deep into hiding, and I feel like I have the confidence to be able to try to do it again at the very least. Of course, it would be better to go with friends so I have other, familiar people to nerd out with, but being able to go alone proved that I could do it, and I needed that confidence boost.

I’d say sorry this got so long and rambly, but I’m not sorry. You guys made this possible and I wanted to share the experience with you, most of it anyway. Thanks for making this happen and keep your eyes peeled for some new merch coming soon! It could be...Karlach approved ^_~

The spirit of Diogenes is alive and well

Last shop update, I promise! Since it's Pride month, I do still have some Pride critters available. I am working on more so if you don't see one for you, send me a message! I might be working on it!

Critters are $10 each or $15 for 2 + shipping 💜

a fools guide to not wanting to die anymore

by me, a fool who doesnt wanna die anymore 

never make a suicide joke again. yes this includes “i wanna die” as a figure of speech. swear off of it. actually make an effort to change how you think about things.

find something to compliment someone for at least 4 times a day. notice the little things about the world that make you happy, and use that to make other people happy.

talk to people. initiate conversation as often as you possibly can. keep your mind busy and you wont have to worry anymore

picture the bad intrusive thoughts in youe head as an edgy 13 year old and tell them to go be emo somewhere else

if someone makes you feel bad most of the time, stop talking to them. making yourself hang out with people who drain you is self harm. stop it.

i no longer respect the hustle i want universal basic income and dignity for everyone

Listen, it's a day early, but as it's my last craft show before I take my in-person hiatus, enjoy these sad photos of this joke of a show.