Lessons a 3 week-old newborn will teach you

In a sunny little cottage by the sea sleep a tiny baby boy & his mommy. I slip in around 8 and try not to wake them as I turn the door's lock with my key.

Turns out they were both kind of awake anyways, but I thought I'd be nice. :) 

For those of you who didn't know, I am now a "tia" or aunt! Well, sorta. As much of an aunt you can be without being related to someone by blood. 

Meaning I was around while he was being baked in the oven of him mom's guts and I am changing a few diapers, carrying him around on my shoulder and making sure he's happy while his parents get a few moments of reprieve.

Little Baby Jack was born on April 18th, so he's still pretty new to these parts, but he's already figuring out some crucial things:

• Boobs make food. Make sure there are always boobs around.
• Pooping is hard to do. Make sure you give it your all as many times as you can.
• Bouncing is awesome. Make sure to make people bounce you as much as humanly possible.
• Gas is super lame. Make sure to get rid of gas in as many funny ways as possible for maximum crowd shocking effect.
• I am adorable. Make sure to use that to my advantage.

Needless to say, I've already picked up a few tricks of my own in the few precious times I've been able to hang out with Baby Jack and his lovely mum, Katy.

Artificial Heart II felt brooch - by hanaletters - $50 USD

• You are growing at a ridiculous rate right now. Even if I started making your acorn cap that I promised your mum, it wouldn't fit you in a week!
• Sometimes you're just gonna cry cos you feel like it. If you ever feel like toning it down so that your mum can relax for a bit, that'd be a tremendous bonus.
• You totally don't even know how loved you are by everybody yet. One day you will and you'll start smiling on purpose!
• You got your dimples from ME! ...possibly thru osmosis.

I feel really lucky to be able to be a part of Katy, Kevin & Jack's lives right now. I've never been this close to a newborn or helped a kid grow from all stages of life, so this will definitely be weird. But I guess so long as we keep Baby Jack & his family fed & watered, everything will turn out all right. :)

Something else I learned from hanging out with Katy & Baby Jack is that if you feel like doing something awesome, do it! So one day when I felt poopy, I decided to do something awesome to make my friend feel better. Today I drew a gnome farting & framed it to celebrate Katy's birthday. A few weeks ago, I made a grumpy raincloud pee on everyone in shot of my friend's rearview mirror.

Mr. Pissed Off Cloud aka Mr. Tinkles - spur of the moment rear view mirror decoration
Custom awesomeness made for iCKY the Great

I will leave you in the knowledge that sometimes you just got make awesomeness: whether it's a whole baby that you made in your guts for many months, or a few random works of radness that you're excited about. Chances are that if you're excited about it (even if it occasionally frustrates you), it's totally worth doing.

Thanks for teaching me that, Baby Jack. ;)

Praise from daniellexo for nerd JERK: "Best description I've ever seen"

Mint Typewriter Necklace - by nerd JERK - $48 USD

I've been busy getting things all polished up in my Etsy shop. 

• Christel & I have been making more items (mainly in prep for Maker Faire!)
• My sister helped out with a recent photo shoot to show how my items look on humans
• Jen & I have been tweaking my item descriptions to be more consistent &... well, ..descriptive!

So as we're taking a few weeks to do all of this, imagine my surprise when Danielle from Etsy (also known as daniellexo) drops me a line to tell me that she used my Mint Typewriter Necklace listing in a treasury & Online Lab about "Descriptions that Sell"..!!

I may have pooped myself.

It was amazeballs! She even told me I ought to quote her in my item description. I'm gonna be a geek and embed the video for all the world to see below, but I don't mind following her advice & quoting her first:

The best description I've ever seen... breaks down the description by telling (you) what it is, the story behind it... who it's best for. I love that she points that out! ... One of my favourite descriptions I've ever read. Woo-hoo, nerd JERK!       - daniellexo

Okay, now for the video! She starts chatting about my item description at around 11:53 in. ;D

[NOTE: Very informative & thought provoking video, complete with exercises on how to get your customer's questions answered within your descriptions]

Watch live streaming video from etsy at livestream.com

Do you like the changes we've been making around nerd JERK? There's been quite a lot. I know I said there would be in my wacky vlog, but I don't think you all knew how nutty it was gonna get. :) 

Let me know what you like and what you'd like to see more of! My whole brand is built on custom orders, so hearing your feedback is the best thing for me - then I can give you what you want!

P.S. I can still make you something special for Mother's Day! In fact, here are a few items ready to ship TODAY!

DIY Cross-Stitch Brooch Tutorial & how Lita approves

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Colourful materials to make a DIY Cross-Stitch Brooch - "How Tuesday" Tutorial by ME on Etsy Blog

The surprise project that I was working on is finally live on the internets! I wrote a double-whammy of a tutorial for the "How Tuesday" section of the Etsy blog  in a few days. It was quite a crunch, but I'm really proud of how it turned out.

I've learned the last few days that when my boyfriend, Roger, and I pull together, we can pretty much make anything happen. So he took pictures with me for a very intense hour (he doesn't like taking pictures nor does he know how) and after a lot of yelling about "framing the shot" on my part, we got it done. Then I edited for a million years and wrote for a couple of hours.

That's the behind the scenes of that epic tutorial. :D I'm SUPER proud of how it turned out, but was sad not to see the picture of all the materials included... so I posted myself.

You know what other picture was missing? The picture of my adorable "Quality Control Expert" AKA Lita (my granny who originally showed me how to embroider) so I took a picture with the brooch on... and the brooch is covering a juice stain on her cardigan. ;)

Lita didn't know why we were taking this picture, but she was excited about her new brooch!
Wanna see more pics from behind the scenes of nerd JERK? Follow me on Instagram!

My tutorial basically covers you for Mother's Day - but you might still want a little help in person? 

We've got you!

Monogram Brooches don't have to be monotonous
DIY Cross-Stitch Brooches by nerd JERK

Definitely not a kitten

DIY Cross-Stitch Kit - Polaroid
by nerd JERK - $18 USD

If you've always wanted to learn to cross-stitch, now's your chance. And at nerd JERK, we don't cross-stitch no kittens or cabbage roses (as you can see from our Etsy Shop).

On May 3rd I'll be teaching a DIY Cross-Stitch Pin Workshop at CRAFT BAR hosted by Etsy Labs at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art! Make a cute and cool pin, a perfect present for your cool mom on Mother's Day or for any other cool humans in your life!

-WANNA COME? Here's the DEETS-

WHEN: May 3rd from 6:00pm to 8:00pm
WHERE: The Museum of Craft and Folk Art (51 Yerba Buena Lane San Francisco, CA 94103)
COST: $5 (Covers materials, tips, and tricks)
BONUS: Adult Beverages will be available (liquid courage always helps crafting).

Pick any 2 Handmade Felt Brooches for $25!

Still need help with a rad Mother's Day gift or don't feel like making flair for yourself? 

You're in luck! I'm selling my Handmade Felt Brooches & they're READY TO SHIP today!

I'm really excited about these guys! Fellas look snazzy with a mix tape on their lapel & ladies look lovelier with a camera on their cardigans. 

Thanks so much for supporting handmade geekery, guys! Whether it's by making a DIY Cross-Stitch Brooch for a cool person, coming out to make stuff at Craft Bar this Thursday or buying a little gift for your Mum (or yourself!), I really appreciate your awesomeness.

Neon Custom Mini Amigurumi & Gallery Show

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After finishing a couple of mini items I made for folks at the Cherry Blossom Festival, I realised that I have really missed making new work. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in making items for different craft fairs that I forget that making new art is often what keeps me from going nuts on making my millionth Mini Red Mario Mushroom.

But while I was making a bunch of neon Lumas, I thought it would be awesome if I could make them in colours I was into: hot pink,  bright yellow & teal! Guess which colours sold the fastest?!

Custom Mini Items I made for orders I took at the Cherry Blossom Festival

So it's no surprise that I wanted to make neon Mario Mushrooms. I was tempted to make some mini radioactive green ones when I decided I had better finish some other inventory instead of making new stuff. Then I got an order for a Mini Radioactive Green Mushroom. HA! Just goes to show you should go with your gut, right?

After a couple of weeks getting through the awesome Cherry Blossom Festival, I've kicked it into high gear for my first gallery show! I'm going to be featured with over 60 SF Etsy artists from the Bay Area at STUDIO Gallery in San Francisco, CA. Here's a pic of my submissions:

From left to right: Chain Chomp ($100 USD), Thwomp ($150 USD) & Bob-Omb ($80 USD)

These amigurumi versions of classic Super Mario villains have been delivered to STUDIO Gallery and will be showing from May 2nd through the 27th. Be sure to stop by to see them in person, if you're local to San Francisco. :)

I'm also prepping for a big surprise honour happening this upcoming May Day. If you're on the Etsy blog looking for rad things to make, you might wanna keep an extra eye peeled on the 1st...

OOPS! I've said too much!

Behind the Scenes - a sneak peek pic of the tutorial photo shoot
Photo by Roger Moore

This is How We Do at Craft Shows - Cherry Blossom Video

A hot mess of yarn for neon Lumas!
Crocheting for Cherry Blossom Festival!

Last week at the Cherry Blossom Festival, a group of young gals came by to chat & check out my wares. I'll admit - I was lacking sleep & feelin' kinda punchy, but really, that's just how I am at craft shows.

We got to talkin' and geeking out & it was apparent that they were amazeballs. I mean, the young lady who bought my Teal Luma ended up making her friend do Yoshi impersonations in public! It was AWESOME!

So of course, Christel "taped" it.

After many hours of hard work (both for her video editing class, art classes & me, of course;), she was able to put out this awesome video for us. :D

You should come out to the Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend... cos This is How We Do at Craft Shows!

This is How We Do at Craft Shows from Steph Cortes @ nerdJERK on Vimeo.

Here at nerd JERK, we love our fans a TON! And it looks like the feeling is mutual! Feel the love & join us at craft shows like these rad ladies did - geeking out together is a ton more fun!

Like what you see? AWESOME!
Check out more at http://nerdJERK.etsy.com & http://nerdJERK.blogspot.com

This video was shot at the Artist Village with Bazaar Bizarre at New People for the 2012 Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco, CA.

The Life Geektastic: Cherry Blossom Round 1!

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Self-pixelated portrait taken at 3:30 AM:
when stitching tiny necklace art & wearing HUGE glasses makes sense

I've had an obsession with glasses for as long as I can remember. Although I have 20/20-ish vision, I own several pairs of awesome frames for various occassions. You never know when you  need to blend in with a four-eyed posse. In my case, I'm like a "NERD SCOUT" - I'm always prepared.

Thank you for all the rad humans that came out to see me & my wares during Round One of the Cherry Blossom Festival on the 14th & 15th. You could have been doing your taxes. You could have been eating sushi instead. You probably were even tempted to go watch some awesome movies at the Kabuki Theatre. But you came out to see me.

And those of you who didn't come out to see me, I know you wanted to. I received so many lovely emails & updates via Facebook, Twitter & Instagram about how much you wanted to hang out last weekend. No worries, y'all! I've got news...

I'll still be vending this weekend - April 21 & 22!

Right now my lovely intern, Christel, and I are working our little insomniatic fingers like it's goin' outta style in the name of Cherry Blossom - Round Two. If you happened to miss the amazing spread of cuddles & colours, you're in luck! We're doing our best to get all the items we sold restocked this week, along with some fan faves that didn't make the cut last week: Shy Boo, Goomba & Chain Chomp!

One of the things I'm most proud of was how much we connected with customers at Cherry Blossom. Whether it was over our mutual love of adorable plushies or the fact that everyone was constantly quoting "Don't Be Poopy" from the kit (no matter what their age!) - we had a blast!

Something I talked about with my Epic Friends last week was about my special deal for preordering my Handmade Felt Brooches. Some of my Rad Blog Readers don't get a chance to come to SF & rock out with us, so why not bring the party to them?! I'm offering the same deal to my online homies as I am the in-person humans: Grab your 2 Fave Brooches for only $25! (reg $32)

The kinds of pics I post on Instagram. You should totally follow me.

So, there's a much more awesome wrap up-date coming up next week about the WHOLE AWESOMENESS of Cherry Blossom - but in the meantime, feel free to drop by the NEW PEOPLE building (1746 Post Street, SF, CA 94115) from 11 AM to 6 PM both Saturday the 21st & Sunday the 22nd. :) 

And if you could spread the news on Twitter, Facebook, anywhere you think someone who'd be in the mood for my plush items would be hangin' out, I'd super-adore you for, like, ever!

I mean that, you know.

Okay, back to making teeny, tiny stitches at 6 AM. Maybe this time I'll really need the huge glasses. ;)

<3 - Steph