Slightly Larger Glasses for 2013 - My Big Plans

Test Shot for my "Slightly Larger Glasses for 2013" vlog
Tests shots are great, cos they show you BBW bags in the background

So once again, the year has changed and we're starting anew, nerds!

But THIS YEAR, I'm starting pretty dang new by doing something really scary: letting go of something I'm known for and just putting MYSELF out there for the world to invest in.

EEP!

The emotional baggage that came with moving onto selling only my original character designs and nerdtastic art has been unexpectedly roller coaster-like.

• "Will they like it?"
• "Sure, they'll like it."
• "Will they buy it?"
• "Sure, they'll buy it!"
• "Will they want more?" 
• "Will they lose interest?" 
• "Will they hate what I'm truly designing from my insides?"
• "...Ermmmmm???"

I'm sure that everyone has this negative self-talk as an entrepreneur. It's natural that when you do something kinda scary (like all the amigurumi plush you've become known for since 2005!), you start to let those scary feelings creep in. After all, it's the quirky neurosis that gives us our loveable charm!

But I just need to remember that I don't need to let those feelings take me over.

So, in the spirit of making SURE that I make good with all of my big promises, I did a couple of videos on New Year's Eve on 2012. 

This is the first of my promises to you:

I will always let you know what my plans are.

nerd JERK's Slighty Larger Glasses for 2013 from Steph Cortes @ nerdJERK on Vimeo.

So now they we've gotten THAT out there, let's make sure our plans for the new year stick!

Here's to 2013, folks! Big plans, big hugs and big excitement!

Geek on,

- Steph

My 1st Renegade Craft Fair: Branding Inspiration for LA

I took this photo for you all in my new home studio, #AWESOMEnerdnest.
Get used to seeing these coloured magnetic blocks from TEGU - I bought them to make videos with!

This may shock you, Awesome Reader: 

But I kinda have an addiction to colour.

It's a bit serious. I even hinted at it on my new business cards:

My neon green Catloaf from Careful It Bites approves over my new MOO cards; even the typo rocks.

You can't be a "life-long crayon enthusiast" without totally being an addict (..duh).

But can you believe I was scared of sharing that? I was scared of sharing a lot about my life.

I can't tell you how often I try to fix my mistakes in life. I've always been worried about what people will think about how I do something: in my life, in my business, in my dreams.

But the reality of it is that it's not so bad.

And that's why I go balls out with my branding at nerd JERK. 

Balls... like in this video that my animator, iCKY the Great, showed me long ago. 

José Gonzalez's version of "Heartbeats" plays in my head whenever I bounce around San Francisco as a native.

So when I was accepted to my very first Renegade Craft Fair this Holiday Season, I was bouncing around!!! I bounced all over different stores, trying to find the perfect way to express my inner holiday beast! I wanted to show the Renegade Gang that they made the best decision ever to invest in me this year.

I'll be in LA on December 8th & 9th, showing off new goods... as in THE NEW STUFF I'VE BEEN DESIGNING ALL YEAR! (which bearo did an AMAZING write up about! Click here to read it!)

 

EXCLUSIVE: I asked the rad Jian Shen of bearo come & get a "Behind the Scenes LOOK" 

at how I construct my amigurumi. Click HERE to see the exclusive PHOTO ARTICLE!

Photos courtesy of Jian Shen of bearo.com

Can you tell I'm excited yet? That's the face I'm making right now, writing this article for you. 

Can you tell I'm effing stoked to be able to create plush toys for a living?!?!

If not, I took this picture and tried to convey how I feel every time I sell something to an Awesome Human.

Oh how I love you, EPIC CUSTOMERS!
 I can't wait to send you some
awesomeness from my home studio.
Until then, let's run into each other on the internets.

OUR GEEK ROCKSTAR WEDDING - A Sneak Peek into the Pre Wedding Prep + Green Room Lighting

I didn't care what I had to do, but I knew in my heart of hearts as soon as I saw these handmade neon coloured pyramid lights, I had to f*cking have them for our wedding. 

Pyramid Light Garland in Pink Mint Neon - by The Society of National Industry - $65 USD

And I say that in the most sincerest way possible.

... cos how could I not, right?!?!!

So I was doing some trolling on the internets (read: actually catching up on my Facebook whilst picking my nose, or something equally as stupid), I stumbled up an Etsy Find post... and my mind was blown.

Keep in mind that this was after my 2nd or 3rd day of teaching at School House Craft in Seattle, WA as a Certified Etsy Educator (which means I was effing exhausted from all the work I had been doing all weekend).  It was pretty late at night and I was in my friend & fellow Etsy Educator/Local Etsy Team Captain's (Marlo M) house!

.. which means I should have been asleep.

But HAD I actually been doing what I was "supposed" to be doing, I probably wouldn't have stumbled upon the most epic find of all epic finds in the universe.

... cos, I mean... C'MON! F*CKIN' PYRAMID LIGHTS!!!

Did you already forget what they look like? Oh? Really, well let me give you ANOTHER PHOTO (please)!!

Even more gorgeous when lit up at night (is that even possible?! You'll SEE!)
Pyramid Light Garland in Pink Mint Neon - by The Society of National Industry - $65 USD

It might also interest you to know that I am in no way being paid or compensated for yelling about these amazing lights to your internet-faces.

Actually, I should have been spending my last 2 hours working on a press release that I need done and sent out to the universe in 3 hours...

... cos, you know, that's an important thing about out unique-assed effing geek rockstar wedding (how do I hashtag that!?!).

But, like, WHATEVER! (confession: I recently rewatched "Clueless" on Netflix and I'm still havin' Cher-echoes)

These are gonna be EPIC!

Katey & Chris from The Society of National Industry (aka the humans that make these amazeball freakin' lights) claim that they deliver "Paper Goods from Outer Space"... and I gotta say, I kinda f*ckin' believe them!

Rainbow Neon Garland of Paper Pyramid Lanterns -  by The Society of National Industry - $40 USD

Oh... what was the point I was trying to make again?

OOOOOHHHH! I remember now: I'm using these amazing things at my wedding.

... which, if you remember my post from the very beginning of this year, is what my f*cking book is going to be about!

Here's a gratuitous shot of how we're celebrating:

Steph (me) & Roger being excited about our Geek Rockstar Wedding
Photos for our wedding all by Stefanie Renee

You can check out more photos of our (pre)wedding on Stefanie Renee's website... cos you know you wanna see what other shenanigans we were up to!

And you can also check out our evite: which includes even MORE PHOTOS from this awesome photo shoot that we did at Teahouse last week.

Our evite was designed as a surprise by my good friend, Bettina Throckmorton of iCKY the GREAT! You should check her blog out... she even did a whole post about the graphic she did for us:

Our little pixelated selves done by Bettina Throckmorton of iCKY the GREAT for our evite!

p.s. I made Roger shave his beard.

ANYWAYS - as you can see, it took a lot of people to help make things for our wedding possible. And all of it was done by friends (new from Outer Space, or old from Berkeley, CA & Rupert, ID) that supported us.

Man, I've got a case of the warm fuzzies... I should probably take that and do some work... or I could just add more things to my Etsy Wedding Registry.

hehehehheehe

Oh and if YOU WANNA SUPPORT OUR WEDDING, you've got 2 days left for our WEDDING SALE!

Roger and I put all the items in our shops on special pricing just to make it easy for everyone to help support our wedding - and this way, you get something geeky out of it, too!

NOTE: I am only making my high-quality hand-crocheted Nintendo Amigurumi til 12/31/2012. After that, it's gone for good!
So the next 2 days is your best bet of getting it at the best prices before they're gone.
== Shop for Wedding SALE nerd JERK stuff here

Roger has been holding his Effing Awesome sale, too! Like cute hand-sculpted mini food? How about wearing it?
== Shop for Wedding SALE Effing Awesome stuff here

Help Us Have an AWESOME Wedding - Sale!

As I was crocheting flowers for the bouquet for my wedding last night, I was thinking about how wonderful all my friends have been about helping make our wedding possible.

The night before, Roger and I got to sample some delicious beer that our neighbour has been home-brewing for the event. He specifically asked us what we like in beer and then =POOF= there was an icy bottle with a stopper delivered to our porch a few weeks later. :D

Then our good friend, Loun, scheduled her vacation so that she could make us some tasty cupcakes for our guests! Pumpkin spice and Mexican Chocolate - my FAVOURITE!!

Then my friend, Katy, came over today to check out the "situation" that is our backyard. With some weedwhackers and some composting, it looks like we may be able to actually pull this thing off!! *fingers crossed*

But even with all of the extra gigs we've picked up and money we've tried to put aside, we still don't have a ton of funds to get food, lights and pay the awesome photographer (you know, Stef did my portraits last year)!

That's where you come in!! :D I've noticed that people really love getting a good deal and being part of something awesome. Well, since we don't have time to run a Kickstarter, Roger and I thought we could do a "Help Us Have an AWESOME Wedding" SALE in both of our shops! Roger hand-sculpts cute polymer clay jewelry shaped like food and you know I make geekery of all kinds!

This was a particularly good meal at Denny's

We've gone through both of our shops and marked everything down for you, so all you have to do is go in and shop your little hearts out! :D

Every sale made from now until Oct 12th will help fund our BIG DAY!!!

Roger may even make his super happy face as seen in this picture... which he normally reserves for really tasty food or when he sees adorable kitties.

You can see why I wanna marry him. :)

Thank you all so much for supporting handmade geekery for all of 2012! And for telling all your friends!!!

I'm particularly excited to be moving on with my brand in 2013, so this will be the last year that I'll be making Super Mario Amigurumi plushies.

So if you'd like to get them for holiday gifts (or even a gift to self), this would be the best time to do so! :D

Check out what we've got right now...

That's all I've got for now, dudes. I'm still a nervous bride trying to figure out paperwork and possibly giving up on the whole making-my-own-piñata deal, but really - it feels so good to know cool people like you are out there supporting us!

THANK YOU FOR BEING AWESOME!

xo - Steph

P.S. Here's a shot of the beer! It was sooooo freaking delish! :D Nevermind all the craftastic hot messes in the background....

My Take on Super Heroes - Spiderball & Fatman at BUS Gallery

My Super Balls - Spiderball & Fatman - for Big Umbrella Studios Gallery show

When Rick from Monkey + Seal told me that Big Umbrella Studios was going to be doing a comic book hero themed show, I practically begged him to let me be in it! After all, I am a nerd.

But not the nerd that grew up reading these comic books - I was the nerd who'd rush home after school to sit down with a bowl of cereal & watch Batman cartoons. And on the weekend, after the Batman cartoons were over, I'd watch Batman movies.

I really liked Batman. :) He's super badass.

So when I found out that Batman would be featured along with Spidey in "The Amazing Arachnid Guy & Flying Rodent Man Tribute Show" ... you know I had to give it a shot.

Fatman - Super Ball Series - by nerd JERK - $150 USD

FATMAN, as I lovingly call him, is about 7" tall and is made of soft wool blended & acrylic yarns. His cape is made of wool felt & his little accents on his face, emblem & belt are hand-cut eco felt.

Can I just say that when I saw him all together for the first time, I squealed like I was 9 again?!?! I had originally pictured him all dark, muscular and fierce, but then it struck me that's not so much my style. I'm a round human that make round toys our of soft yarn... there ain't no shame in Fatman's game.

You can check out more deets (and even BUY HIM) on Etsy. :)

Spiderball - Super Ball Series - by nerd JERK - $150 USD

SPIDERBALL was another story. Made solely of acrylic yarn & eco felt, this guy was a hell of an embroidery piece. All of Spiderball's trademark accent webbing was hand-stitched over many hours. He also stands about 7" tall and is crazy awesome.

After unsuccessfully stitching his planned out webbing no less than 5 times, I finally had to just freeball it. I was obsessed with getting it right... and I still don't think I quite got it. But for a Spiderman amigurumi whose head is only half of a ball..?!! Not so bad. It also struck me that I had to do the webbing detail work on every red surface on Spidey... which really frustrated me. In the end, though, I gotta say it was worth it.

These guys were so time consuming - and I wasn't really expecting them to be!! The snag I ran into was that I ended up redesigning the kind of Spiderman & Batman I wanted to do about 3-5 times (depending on each character, respectively) and even started crocheting Spiderman in cute muscular form, using new techniques to create joints and such.

But no matter how hard I tried, I just hated doing it that way.

From the very beginning, I giggled at the thought of them being balls. Mainly cos I like saying the word "Balls!" but also cos how rad would it be if these guys were reduced from all muscles to roly polies?!

It was exciting to try out new methods of construction that I hadn't really thought about doing before and go through the whole "This Will Never Work!" design phase again. I haven't had a chance to be able to do new designs in such a long time, especially with new techiniques. I hope with my rebranding in 2013, I'll be able to make a lot more items that challenge me in rad ways.

Thanks to Rick Kitagawa & the whole Big Umbrella Studios crew for letting me show my work in this awesome show last month!

I'll also be submitting some of my more well known pieces for Big Umbrella Studios' upcoming show, J-Pop Explosion!! The opening will be this upcoming Friday, July 13th from 7 to 11 PM.

There's a whole bunch of talented artists that'll be featured, along with food carts, a DJ & a live art battle!! I don't see how we could stay away. Lolita kawaii-ness and overall Japanese awesomeness also encouraged. :D See you there!

The Real Reason Why I Haven't Been Around - My Health

In the ER for 7 hrs at SF General makes ya take photos

Folks - it's time to get real. So, gather round & pop a squat - it's "Real Talk" time.

I've been pretty sick since mid December 2011. Without going into gruesome detail, I've been depleted of some needed nutrients and have been exhausted for it. I thought this problem would just sort itself out, so I continued to ignore it.

In fact, I decided the best way to ignore the problem was to keep myself busy... so I started taking on more work. I started setting huge goals for myself (speaking, teaching, consulting, gallery work), gathering a work force (2 interns and looking to start wholesaling with a sales rep) and get married!

Now, beloved audience: what do you think happened as a result of all of this new stress on me & my system?

I totally prevailed!... for a while. Until my body rebelled against the late nights (sometimes all nighters) and started shutting me down.

Soon I was just falling asleep while I was working. I felt weak all of the time. My hair even fell out, dudes. And as the month went on, it only got worse.

So I ignored it some more...

Oh balls...

... and it got pretty horrible.

For someone who takes great pride is working very hard, meeting as many deadlines as possible & taking care of the people around me, I sure wasn't doin' myself any favours.

Despite the pain & lethargy, I decided to keep my condition under wraps - 'cept to a couple of my homies that needed to be in the know. These homies could tell something was up. I wasn't my normal "Steph-like" self. They begged me to go to a doctor & take care of myself.

Instead, I put it off cos of anxiety. I could come up with a million reasons why I didn't need help. I was a DIY Crafter. I could fannegle my way outta some health issue.

Well, no - I couldn't. More often than not, I was so exhausted from trying to get things done & just feel normal that I ended up going to bed... for most of the day. Eventually this ended up affecting my business & personal relationships in a big way. Deadlines whooshed past, people didn't talk to me anymore (cos I was sleeping & hurting) and I just shut myself out of the world.

Something had to be done. So I went to the hospital.

After a million tests, they came up with a simple solution (which I thought of months before but was too chicken to go through with) and sent me on my way. I'm glad to say that "our" solution is working well enough to get some of the health issues under control.

I'm still tired, I'm still achey and I'm still stressed from all the deadlines about to whoosh past me next week. :(

What my face looks like when I look at my To Do List

And while, yeah, stuff isn't gonna change overnight and we don't completely know what's wrong with me yet, I took the first step to getting back to getting back to you guys... getting back to being myself.

I'm excited to get this shit under control, dudes. And I'm really stoked that I will be able to be normal for my nerd wedding (which I might need your opinion on)... but in the meantime, I've just gotta take it a day at a time.

So that's the real reason why I haven't been around: I put myself last on the "To Do List" for too long.

I'll try to be better about that, guys. It may take practise, but we'll get there.

Thanks so much for being patient while waiting for me to get back to you all. It means a lot to me that y'all still give a hoot about this nerd.

xo, Steph

nerd JERK at Maker Faire!

We've been busy here at nerd JERK. Between the Cherry Blossom Festival, the MOCFA Craft Bar, and showing our amigurumi at the STUDIO Gallery, we can hardly stand the awesomeness!


But the awesome is just going to keep coming, because May 19th and 20th, we're going to be under the Bazzaar Bizarre tent at Maker Faire Bay Area!

Kirby is so excited for Marker Faire, he can hardly contain himself!

What's Maker Faire? You mean other than being super rad? ;D  It's a two-day event that celebrates creative DIY endeavors. It's a family-friendly affair, with lots of fun stuff for humans of all ages!  Seriously, the list of topics covered ranges from food to electronics to music to sustainability to arts and crafts, including of course all of the schweeeet stuff nerd JERK is going to be bringing!

You can get some awesome nerd JERK geekery hot-off-the-presses! We'll be debuting some new designs for our Handmade Felt Brooches & Journals, as well as introducing a "Make Your Own Gift Set!" station! Mini Adorableness will be available in a customizable way! We've even got some BRAND NEW Cross-Stitch Necklaces that you're gonna LOVE!

And you never know - There may even be a surprise or two!

WANNA COME? Here's the DEETS

WHEN: May 19th 10am-8pm & May 20th 10am-6pm
WHERE: San Mateo Event Center (2495 South Delaware Street, San Mateo, CA 94403)
COST: Ticket prices vary.  Check out the Maker Faire Ticket Page for pricing.  There are discounts for children, students, families, and for purchasing your tickets early (hint hint!)

This will be the last weekend Steph will be 28 years old (her 29th birthday is on Monday) so come on by and help her celebrate! We hope to see you there!

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.

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

nerd JERK rocks the Cherry Blossom Festival!

=NEW= Pink Boo Amigurumi Plush by nerd JERK - $54 USD

It's exciting announcement time! nerd JERK will be at the Artist's Village hosted by New People and Bazaar Bizarre at the Cherry Blossom Festival in April! It's going to be completely awesome! I'm going to have lots of new items at my booth, including a new Pink Boo Amigurumi Plush, inspired by Mario Party.

And if that wasn't enough to get you all excited for geeky goodness, I'll be selling everything for special craft show prices. You can save up to 15% off the listed price in my Etsy shop, so you don't want to miss it. And for you, loyal readers, I have an extra special deal:

Come to my booth and say the word of the day, "WarioWare" for an ADDED savings of 10% on your purchase of $40 or more! WarioWare was my favourite game ever when it first came out on the Gameboy Advance!!! It's made for people with short attention spans (which means it's fast enough for me to play between switching tasks throughout the day) & is made up ridiculously quirky content. See screen shot below if you don't believe me.

Nope, that's not a tear. Major case of the sniffles must be cured in less than 3 seconds.
Screen shot from Wario Ware, Inc by Nintendo

You may say, "But Steph, I'm not going to be able to make it to the Cherry Blossom Festival!"

I don't want you to feel poopy about it, so...

And if you're a nerd JERK fan who can't get to the Cherry Blossom Festival (but seriously, you should try to go because it's going to be awesome!), never fear! I don't want to leave you guys out, so I'm running an online special during the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Enter Coupon Code "WARIOWARE20" at my Etsy shop & you'll get 20% off your online purchase over $40, too!

The Cherry Blossom Festival runs for two weekends, April 14th & 15th and April 21st & 22nd, in Japantown, at Post & Buchanan. I'll have a booth in the NEW PEOPLE building for both weekends, so seriously you guys come down and check me out. You can even RSVP here!

Balls, guys - I'm so excited to see your faces! Let's rock out next weekend in Japantown.

CRAFTCATION! - I'm Little Miss Etsy!

Kick Off BBQ Photo Booth at Craftcation
From Left to Right: Me, Dorothy Mack, Ashley Jennings,
Tiffany Moore, Danielle Maveal & Marlo Miyashiro

You guys... I had such a blast at Craftcation this last weekend. So many dreams came true that I've gotta list em to make any sense of it all!

• I was flown out by Etsy, Inc to represent them as an Etsy Ambassador!

• I taught a really rad class on Etsy 101 - Starting Your Etsy Shop. Here's an action shot!

Image Credit: Rosalie Gale of Unanimous Craft  

• The folks who took the class kept telling me how much I ROCKED the whole weekend. I'm still getting "Thank You" emails from these amazing humans! :D

• I went to every event they had (including the 80s Dance Party) & followed up with fellow Etsy Sellers on their small businesses. More photo booth action in between consultations...

Tiffany Moore is every 80s high school boy's fantasy! So glad I committed to go BALLS-OUT-80s with her.

I'm rockin it with my side ponytail, sparkly headband (thanks to my Panamanian model cousin), rad earrings from Boo + Boo Factory AND my awesome red skirt MADE FROM SCRATCH by my epic fiance, Roger!

• In all that follow up, I realised that it made sense to finally launch myself into Creative Biz Consulting. So if you need help, you can now hire me to help you succeed! I'm super awesome at it, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it! Email me for deets!

• And I still had some time for fun in the sun in Ventura, CA at the hotel where "Little Miss Sunshine" was filmed. Since I'm a huge film geek, not only did I constantly incorrectly quote the movie, but I had to take pictures!

Delilah's fabulously restored VW Van that I got to ride in! Lovingly known as The Jam Van!

So, that was MOST of it, but totally not all of it. I guess what I took away from my whole Craftcation experience was that I thoroughly enjoy helping people succeed. I have been helping people do this for YEARS, but it's only recently that I've realised that I've been doing what I loved all along.

Remember that list of Things I Want To Do More Of in 2012? Well, this weekend hit on almost all of them!

1. Read Books
2. Travel
4. Write More (I wrote a ton) / Blog More
6. Walking
7. Take more photos
8. Get Organised
9. TEACH! And Start Consulting!

I love it when dreams come true!!