We wanna CELEBRATE! - On getting hitched at a comic convention

There's a lot of reasons why I wanna celebrate this year (and even some things that I wish I could forget), but the biggest thing I'd like to get excited about is my upcoming nuptials!

If you haven't heard the rumours that Roger and I have been spreading since the beginning of this year, we're totally getting married!!! And we're doing it at APE 2012!

I usually draw a comic on my envelope for the comic book convention application. This year, I drew an invite & shared it on the interwebs. It looks like this:

Pretty silly to put on your application envelope, right? But we're hopeful it'll happen!

Anywho, we've been trying to think about how we want our wedding to go down. All we know is the following:

• We're ultra broke so it's gotta be simple
• It's gonna be at our booth at APE an hour before the end of the first day. :)
• We want to get a taco truck for the food bit at our place, but probably won't be able to afford it
• We'll probably make a lot of enchilada casseroles, salads & punch
• We can't afford to buy tickets for everyone to get into APE to see us get married
• Someone said that's okay, since people just wanna come to support us. We hope that's true!
• We have no idea how to get married at a comic book convention or if they'll even let us do it.

With wedding planning comes a lot of money necessity and craziness, so we're foregoing that  part. I mean, I don't even have an engagement ring! Roger might make me one...

Roger makes cute polymer clay sculptures, so maybe a cupcake ring? Check out his Etsy shop, Effing Awesome!

... which has the potential to be pretty cool! :) Anywho, since the wedding about 2 months away, we have to get started on officially inviting people. If you're gonna be in San Francisco around mid October, you should stop by & party with us!

These are the kinds of faces we make at shows:

You've been warned of the zaniness! :D

I imagine that I'll be pretty excited when we can just go home with the well earned titles of "HUSBAND & WIFE!" I'm sure it'll look something like the comic version I did of it a million years ago.

The way I imagined exiting my wedding in "A Girl Can Dream, Right?" - $3 USD

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

On being exhausted & ghost-hunting

Needle-Felted Retro Green TV  - by ThingsByV - $20 USD

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of one situation to manage after the other, guys. And to be perfectly honest, I'm completely exhausted by it all.

I thought that taking some time away from social media (I'm 12 days into a 30 day Internet Rehab, btw) would help give me some perspective about what I really need to accomplish in life.

Turns out that I just wanna turn everything to do with "work" (also known as the beast I constantly manage called nerd JERK) the heck off for a while.

This may be because I never get everything done my To Do Lists.. and in some cases, have never gotten back to some really kind people (I'm looking at you Cody from Daft Crafts and Katrina from toffee magazine)... but, again, to be perfectly honest - I just don't have the bandwidth!

It's gotten the point that I wake up in the morning, email people if I have to, then avoid everything by crocheting & watching ghost shows on Netflix.

Glow In The Dark Miniature Ghosts Figures - by jpants4sale - $16.40 USD

I mean it, guys... I've even resorted to watching most of "Ghost Lab"!! And it's not a great show.

So now that it's late at night, I've spooked myself out by watching 12 hrs of ghost shows and my boyfriend and cats won't stay up with me to speculate as to whether or not we should do an investigation on our house (We totally should! But I'm scared!!!), I'm left here to whimper into the internets about how much I'm not getting done while getting a lot of other stuff done.

I need a real vacation...

If anyone would like to pay for one, or even wants to paranormally investigate my house, let's chat. ;)

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!

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. ;)