Greetings Fanatics!
How was your Halloween? As you probably know, October is the most active month for we three Fanatics and as such the blog suffers. November has rolled around and now it's time to discuss what we were up to and what the rest of the calendar year holds.
On the 16th, we decided to knock a bunch of stuff off of our Autumn Fun List and visit a pumpkin patch. Originally, we planned on visiting Froberg's Farm in Alvin but when we found out that Froberg's pumpkins are only available to purchase in a box in their market, we decided to visit The Old Time Christmas Tree Farm in Spring instead. Joining us for this adventure was Grandpa Comparetto and sister Hannah.
Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Weekend Roundup
Greetings Fanatics!
Happy October! We're well into the month, but I'm so happy October is finally here. It's usually our busiest time of the year, activities wise, so I haven't had a chance to sit down and write until now.
What's been going on with us?
Happy October! We're well into the month, but I'm so happy October is finally here. It's usually our busiest time of the year, activities wise, so I haven't had a chance to sit down and write until now.
What's been going on with us?
- We've been taking every chance we can get to go outside and hike! The weather is finally tolerable, so Memorial Park and the Houston Arboretum has been seeing us more than usual. The parks are jam-packed this time of year, reminding me of the short sci-fi story "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury, where school children on Venus are let out to play in the sun, which only appears for two hours every seven years. Read it if you love to cry. This weekend is filled with more hiking with a trip to either Froberg's Farm or Dewberry Farm for hay rides and pumpkin picking.
- Sister Hannah's outside cat Fage (like the yogurt) gave us an autumn bounty of 4 black Halloween kittens, born just this last Saturday. I'm hoping at least one of them turns out to be a female, so that I can have one (Aaron doesn't want another male cat because of the health problems they often have)
- Aaron and my anniversary is later this month, celebrating 5 years of Fanaticism.
- We recently went to the Houston Grand Opera's costume sale, which was pretty much a bust for everyone there. Though we did manage to snag 2 sweaters, 2 cardigans, and a dress for $9. The last time they had a public sale of their costumes was 15 years ago and after this weekend, I wouldn't miss it if they never did a sale to the public again, instead just having a sale for schools.
- Halloween is coming up and I'm making Isaac's first Halloween costume.
- Next month, I am participating in Pop Shop America's Winter Fest Market on Black Friday, so I'm also preparing for that.
I have some stuff coming in the mail and some events that we'll attend soon, so there will be some reviews coming up. I've been trying to get Aaron to write a series on the habitats in our house but he's very structured in his writing and is taking forever. So maybe look for that.
In any case;
stay Fanatic,
Megh
Monday, September 19, 2016
Weekend Roundup: Squirrel Nut Zippers, Shiny Ribs, Halloween Quilt
Greetings, Fanatics!
Hope you had a nice weekend.
Well, next week is the first official day of Autumn and the days are actually starting to cool down. Not "crisp air, sweater weather, drinking hot coffee outside" cool, but a cloud or two has started meandering in front of the sun and staying out in the late evening has become pleasant.
On Friday, we had the pleasure of seeing the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Shiny Ribs live at the Miller Outdoor Theater in the Museum district. I've been a fan of the Squirrel Nut Zippers since I was Isaac's age and I was ecstatic when I heard that they'd be playing for free at the MOT for their 20th anniversary revival tour. The three of us packed up a picnic and arrived early to make sure we'd get tickets for the seated area instead of having to sit on the hill in the back. This was Isaac's first concert and he seemed excited, even if he did have to sit on our laps with our hands clamped over his ears for much of the show, the ear plugs we brought for him being woefully insufficient. He actually ended up falling asleep toward the end of the evening.
Shinyribs opened for SNZ. I'd never heard of them before this concert, but apparently they've got a pretty big following! Several people in the audience were singing/participating during the 60 minute set. Shinyribs is pretty great. Touted as an "American country-soul, swamp-funk band from Austin", it's almost impossible to smile at one of their high-energy shows. The band is lead by pistachio suit clad "Mr. Ribs", a jovial man with a rich voice and pretty killer dance moves.
After a brief intermission, the Squirrel Nut Zippers took the stage. There's a lot of drama surrounding the group - front man "Jimbo" Mathus very clearly voiced the distinction that this tour was a "revival, not a reunion!", and I have to admit that I was too young to care about the falling out between the founding band members. I just like the music. Excitement was buzzing in the air as they played; people were getting up to dance in the aisles and when the highly anticipated "Hell" began to play, throngs of swingdancing fans mobbed the front of the stage to join in the singing. A full moon hanging over the hill completed the feeling of the evening.
With October fast approaching, I've been putting the fabric I bought last Halloween to good use as a Halloween quilt. It's my first quilt, just a patchwork design, but I'm proud of it. So far, I've only got the columns stitched up - I ran out of black thread and haven't had the chance to run to the craft store for more. I've also been busy working on Halloween dolls for Megh's Menagerie (formerly TIM + BEN Dolls) and I've got a new shop in the works for Etsy, so keep your eyes open!
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
Hope you had a nice weekend.
Well, next week is the first official day of Autumn and the days are actually starting to cool down. Not "crisp air, sweater weather, drinking hot coffee outside" cool, but a cloud or two has started meandering in front of the sun and staying out in the late evening has become pleasant.
On Friday, we had the pleasure of seeing the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Shiny Ribs live at the Miller Outdoor Theater in the Museum district. I've been a fan of the Squirrel Nut Zippers since I was Isaac's age and I was ecstatic when I heard that they'd be playing for free at the MOT for their 20th anniversary revival tour. The three of us packed up a picnic and arrived early to make sure we'd get tickets for the seated area instead of having to sit on the hill in the back. This was Isaac's first concert and he seemed excited, even if he did have to sit on our laps with our hands clamped over his ears for much of the show, the ear plugs we brought for him being woefully insufficient. He actually ended up falling asleep toward the end of the evening.
Shinyribs opened for SNZ. I'd never heard of them before this concert, but apparently they've got a pretty big following! Several people in the audience were singing/participating during the 60 minute set. Shinyribs is pretty great. Touted as an "American country-soul, swamp-funk band from Austin", it's almost impossible to smile at one of their high-energy shows. The band is lead by pistachio suit clad "Mr. Ribs", a jovial man with a rich voice and pretty killer dance moves.
After a brief intermission, the Squirrel Nut Zippers took the stage. There's a lot of drama surrounding the group - front man "Jimbo" Mathus very clearly voiced the distinction that this tour was a "revival, not a reunion!", and I have to admit that I was too young to care about the falling out between the founding band members. I just like the music. Excitement was buzzing in the air as they played; people were getting up to dance in the aisles and when the highly anticipated "Hell" began to play, throngs of swingdancing fans mobbed the front of the stage to join in the singing. A full moon hanging over the hill completed the feeling of the evening.
With October fast approaching, I've been putting the fabric I bought last Halloween to good use as a Halloween quilt. It's my first quilt, just a patchwork design, but I'm proud of it. So far, I've only got the columns stitched up - I ran out of black thread and haven't had the chance to run to the craft store for more. I've also been busy working on Halloween dolls for Megh's Menagerie (formerly TIM + BEN Dolls) and I've got a new shop in the works for Etsy, so keep your eyes open!
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
We're back from Space City Comic Con!
"Back" as in back to our home, as SCCC was held in the same city as us. I'm doing this today, two days after the convention, because while I'm still wiped out from this weekend's event, tomorrow I have to get back to work making plush for Comicpalooza in two weeks.
There's been a lot of controversy and talk about Space City Comic Con. Earlier this year, it was the Houston Convention Bureau's suit against the convention organizer, George Comits, for infringing on the HCB's trademark of "Space City" for trade shows and conventions. This past weekend, it was rumoured that several of the headlining guests from the FX show "Sons of Anarchy" had their appearance fee checks bounce. Since I don't have any firsthand knowledge of either of these two events, I'm not really going to talk about them. All I know is that I had a pretty miserable experience at this show and that TIM+BEN Dolls won't be showing up to it again, as vendors or attendees, next year (although it already looks as if there won't be a next year).
The weeks leading up to the event, Space City Comic Con released an app to help guide attendees. Filled with icons that promised to give you info on what panels were going on, what celebrities would be signing and when, and what vendors would be where, you could tap on any to reveal ... nothing. My biggest concern for the app was the fact that they did not update the vendors past the letter 'A'. Pre-con advertising is pretty important to build hype and excitement for fans of artists attending the con. I'd think that my booth fee kind of entitled me to being at least on a list on a website/app, but it turns out that the money I'd spent would be worth much less than that.
The day of, we arrived to set up. We don't often have the luxury of setting up the day before the convention, as Aaron works during the week and I am still faithfully holding out for the self-driving car, so that our future car-robot overlords will take my loyalty into account when they start treating humans as crash test dummies for androids. I was worried, most of the other convention's we've been to required us to bring proof of purchase for our booth to receive our passes, but I hadn't gotten any info on such a requirement for SCCC. It turns out you could pretty much just walk onto the loading dock and say you were with TIM+BEN's table and have passes handed to you. Well, if you were willing to wait 45 minutes on the noisy, hot, outdoor loading dock. Oh, and they might have run out of actual vendors' passes when you get to the one man checking vendors in, so you'll get handed a pair of weird silver 3 Day Passes instead. Mine was actually broken, so I had Aaron go exchange it. He came back with a Convention Guest's pass, which afforded me many opportunities to sneak into places I wasn't supposed to be.
We walked over to the booth to find that it was a) nothing like the vendor packet said it would be; no dividers, table length was incorrect, trash can not included, colors were incorrect and b) right next to another stuffed toy vendor. I think that handmade stuffed toys are an uncommon enough commodity to space them out, but since I sell basically only original designs and most other plushie artists sell primarily fan art, there's little overlap in our customer base. Unprofessional details overlooked by the con, but not something I can't deal with.
Con was slow on Friday, lots of rain and people still being at work contributed to that. Our friend, author Ian Everett came to hang out with us at our booth! He's in the middle of writing his new novel, so we greatly appreciated him taking the time to hang out with us for the day. We did very well on Saturday; I was jazzed because this is our first booth where we brought only dolls and it's made me confident about the new doll designs I had available. Our friend Jude Vivona of the Caalo Xan audio drama stopped by to say hello, his booth was only a few aisles over. A man with an Ogler from the Caalo Xan booth stopped by for some repairs to his plush. If you're not aware, last year I made a series of large Ogler dolls for them. Sunday was slow-ish. A lot of children and families came for this last day. Not so many sales and we left an hour early because I started feeling ill. My cousin stopped by to see me -I haven't seen her in about 10 years, but she's been a big supporter of TIM+BEN since I started around 6 years ago and I was very pleased to see her and meet her new family. We got recognized from several people who have bought from us before! Fans! What a world.
The con was ok on a vendor's level. Not well-run, but sales were pretty good. I was so annoyed with so many aspects that we won't be coming back. I really like clear communication and feeling like the event I'm vending at actually knows how to run itself, so Space City Comic Con isn't for me.
On a personal note, Aaron got our home an autograph from Doug Jones, a very talented actor and professional sweetheart that we both admire. So, at least one good thing came out of Space City Comic Con for us.
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
There's been a lot of controversy and talk about Space City Comic Con. Earlier this year, it was the Houston Convention Bureau's suit against the convention organizer, George Comits, for infringing on the HCB's trademark of "Space City" for trade shows and conventions. This past weekend, it was rumoured that several of the headlining guests from the FX show "Sons of Anarchy" had their appearance fee checks bounce. Since I don't have any firsthand knowledge of either of these two events, I'm not really going to talk about them. All I know is that I had a pretty miserable experience at this show and that TIM+BEN Dolls won't be showing up to it again, as vendors or attendees, next year (although it already looks as if there won't be a next year).
The weeks leading up to the event, Space City Comic Con released an app to help guide attendees. Filled with icons that promised to give you info on what panels were going on, what celebrities would be signing and when, and what vendors would be where, you could tap on any to reveal ... nothing. My biggest concern for the app was the fact that they did not update the vendors past the letter 'A'. Pre-con advertising is pretty important to build hype and excitement for fans of artists attending the con. I'd think that my booth fee kind of entitled me to being at least on a list on a website/app, but it turns out that the money I'd spent would be worth much less than that.
The day of, we arrived to set up. We don't often have the luxury of setting up the day before the convention, as Aaron works during the week and I am still faithfully holding out for the self-driving car, so that our future car-robot overlords will take my loyalty into account when they start treating humans as crash test dummies for androids. I was worried, most of the other convention's we've been to required us to bring proof of purchase for our booth to receive our passes, but I hadn't gotten any info on such a requirement for SCCC. It turns out you could pretty much just walk onto the loading dock and say you were with TIM+BEN's table and have passes handed to you. Well, if you were willing to wait 45 minutes on the noisy, hot, outdoor loading dock. Oh, and they might have run out of actual vendors' passes when you get to the one man checking vendors in, so you'll get handed a pair of weird silver 3 Day Passes instead. Mine was actually broken, so I had Aaron go exchange it. He came back with a Convention Guest's pass, which afforded me many opportunities to sneak into places I wasn't supposed to be.
We walked over to the booth to find that it was a) nothing like the vendor packet said it would be; no dividers, table length was incorrect, trash can not included, colors were incorrect and b) right next to another stuffed toy vendor. I think that handmade stuffed toys are an uncommon enough commodity to space them out, but since I sell basically only original designs and most other plushie artists sell primarily fan art, there's little overlap in our customer base. Unprofessional details overlooked by the con, but not something I can't deal with.
Con was slow on Friday, lots of rain and people still being at work contributed to that. Our friend, author Ian Everett came to hang out with us at our booth! He's in the middle of writing his new novel, so we greatly appreciated him taking the time to hang out with us for the day. We did very well on Saturday; I was jazzed because this is our first booth where we brought only dolls and it's made me confident about the new doll designs I had available. Our friend Jude Vivona of the Caalo Xan audio drama stopped by to say hello, his booth was only a few aisles over. A man with an Ogler from the Caalo Xan booth stopped by for some repairs to his plush. If you're not aware, last year I made a series of large Ogler dolls for them. Sunday was slow-ish. A lot of children and families came for this last day. Not so many sales and we left an hour early because I started feeling ill. My cousin stopped by to see me -I haven't seen her in about 10 years, but she's been a big supporter of TIM+BEN since I started around 6 years ago and I was very pleased to see her and meet her new family. We got recognized from several people who have bought from us before! Fans! What a world.
The con was ok on a vendor's level. Not well-run, but sales were pretty good. I was so annoyed with so many aspects that we won't be coming back. I really like clear communication and feeling like the event I'm vending at actually knows how to run itself, so Space City Comic Con isn't for me.
On a personal note, Aaron got our home an autograph from Doug Jones, a very talented actor and professional sweetheart that we both admire. So, at least one good thing came out of Space City Comic Con for us.
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Moving Special
Greetings Fanatics!
So, if you've been following us you know that we recently moved into a bigger place. While we still have a few boxes left to empty, we're more or less settled in.
The extra space is fantastic; I find myself in a much better mood now that I'm not kicking spools of thread or stepping on miniature animals by accident anymore. I've been more productive and efficient with doll making this past week than I have been in the past 6 months due to having a designated permanent workspace. Our cat, Lady Baby, seems to enjoy the hard flooring and enclosed patio and is finally acting like a normal cat instead of a witch in disguise. And we at last have enough space for all of our junk; our house is like a museum for weird thrift store finds and our craft abortions (note:edit that).
Here's a few select photos of some of my favorite places in the house right now (for more snapshots of our personal life, you'll have to follow us on Instagram).
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
Megh
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| My favorite nook, the book and haunted cat teapot corral. |
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| Our Beta fish, Baby Boy Beta, on a corner of our kitchen counter. |
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| Our toad, Jules, is in there somewhere. |
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| A blurry photo of one of our bookcases with no books. |
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| My baby plants. |
Friday, May 30, 2014
We're back from Comicpalooza!
... and we're both sick. This is my first case of 'con crud' (the slang for any myriad of illnesses, usually colds or coughs, that vendors or artists are especially susceptible to because of contact with large number of people), so I'm keeping this entry short. But! You can expect a number of posts in the next couple of weeks including a review of this year's Comicpalooza, our experience at the booth, and a few tip filled posts on setting up booths.
Today, I'm going to show off what Aaron and I purchased for ourselves. One of my favorite things to do at cons is to look for things to decorate our house with (and the occassional stuffed toy). I especially like getting art from local artists, and avoiding the mass made posters and big box wall art. I'll actually be replacing my "Button Board" on the blog with our "Art Wall", and I hope you'll enjoy that and maybe decide to get something from the artists for yourself.
I always wait until the very last days of conventions to buy stuff. It isn't great when there are one of a kind or limited edition items that I want that then run out, but it's easier to get around huge convention centers and take my time to look at booths. This year, I got this stuff:
I forgot the name of the booth that I got the faux-leather bat bag, but the tag on it says Far Nine. It's the perfect sized bag for me and surprisingly roomy. It fits TIM, my wallet, notebook, and phone quite easily and is a nice change of pace from toting around a giant neutral colored diaper bag. The angler fish print is from artist Jessica Grundy and was my second choice after a very cute dragon print I wanted was out of stock. The 5x7" Xenomorph is going on my bedroom wall (instead of the Creature Wall) and is from artist Johnnie Gonzales. Aaron grabbed me this Itty Bitty Hellboy mini comic from a random comic book booth for a dollar when he was walking around.
This year, Comicpalooza had a Game of Thrones guest: Miltos Yerolemou, who played Syrio Forel. The armory that created the wooden practice swords used in his Game of Thrones scenes is actually based in Texas and they had replicas for sale at his booth. Aaron decided to go see Miltos on the first day and since it was fairly early in the con, got a chance to talk with him for a few minutes.
Aaron doesn't usually buy things at conventions, but getting a wooden sword signed by Miltos and an autographed picture was an opportunity he didn't pass up. He also found a Savage Worlds rule book (something I know nothing about) and the man at the booth he got it at was so excited that Aaron played Savage Worlds, that he gave him some dice for free.
Anyway, I need to trundle off to bed now and see how many cough drops I can eat before my tongue goes numb.
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
Today, I'm going to show off what Aaron and I purchased for ourselves. One of my favorite things to do at cons is to look for things to decorate our house with (and the occassional stuffed toy). I especially like getting art from local artists, and avoiding the mass made posters and big box wall art. I'll actually be replacing my "Button Board" on the blog with our "Art Wall", and I hope you'll enjoy that and maybe decide to get something from the artists for yourself.
I always wait until the very last days of conventions to buy stuff. It isn't great when there are one of a kind or limited edition items that I want that then run out, but it's easier to get around huge convention centers and take my time to look at booths. This year, I got this stuff:
I forgot the name of the booth that I got the faux-leather bat bag, but the tag on it says Far Nine. It's the perfect sized bag for me and surprisingly roomy. It fits TIM, my wallet, notebook, and phone quite easily and is a nice change of pace from toting around a giant neutral colored diaper bag. The angler fish print is from artist Jessica Grundy and was my second choice after a very cute dragon print I wanted was out of stock. The 5x7" Xenomorph is going on my bedroom wall (instead of the Creature Wall) and is from artist Johnnie Gonzales. Aaron grabbed me this Itty Bitty Hellboy mini comic from a random comic book booth for a dollar when he was walking around.
This year, Comicpalooza had a Game of Thrones guest: Miltos Yerolemou, who played Syrio Forel. The armory that created the wooden practice swords used in his Game of Thrones scenes is actually based in Texas and they had replicas for sale at his booth. Aaron decided to go see Miltos on the first day and since it was fairly early in the con, got a chance to talk with him for a few minutes.
Aaron doesn't usually buy things at conventions, but getting a wooden sword signed by Miltos and an autographed picture was an opportunity he didn't pass up. He also found a Savage Worlds rule book (something I know nothing about) and the man at the booth he got it at was so excited that Aaron played Savage Worlds, that he gave him some dice for free.
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| "What do we say to the God of Death? Not today..." |
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| "Aaron, Fear cuts deeper than swords." |
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Good evening, Fanatics!
We haven't posted in nearly a month; but it doesn't mean that we don't care! We had some trouble with the pipes in the house that caused us to need to replace the floor in two rooms. Because of this, we stayed with Aaron's parents for a week. But we're back and ready to delight and inform you with our creature posts and rants.
As of last weekend, I am proud to announce that my voodoo dolls can be found in The Tinderbox on Main here in Houston! They'll be there throughout the month of October, so be sure to stop by and support me and other Texas artists at this wonderful local business.
We'll also be attending October's Mini Pops Marketplace this Sunday. Mini Pops is a small event held monthly by Pop Shop Houston and we're very excited to be participating in it. Mini Pops is being held at Leopard Lounge Vintage and Pavement Clothing on Westheimer and Dunlavy.
Helping us at Mini Pops (and hopefully at other future events) is my sister and guest blogger here on QF, LiLi! Aaron and I will be picking her up at the airport on Saturday and she'll be staying here in Houston for part of the year to go to school.
That's all I have time to write tonight, but we'll be back soon with some creature features!
Happy October!
Megh
We haven't posted in nearly a month; but it doesn't mean that we don't care! We had some trouble with the pipes in the house that caused us to need to replace the floor in two rooms. Because of this, we stayed with Aaron's parents for a week. But we're back and ready to delight and inform you with our creature posts and rants.
As of last weekend, I am proud to announce that my voodoo dolls can be found in The Tinderbox on Main here in Houston! They'll be there throughout the month of October, so be sure to stop by and support me and other Texas artists at this wonderful local business.
We'll also be attending October's Mini Pops Marketplace this Sunday. Mini Pops is a small event held monthly by Pop Shop Houston and we're very excited to be participating in it. Mini Pops is being held at Leopard Lounge Vintage and Pavement Clothing on Westheimer and Dunlavy.
Helping us at Mini Pops (and hopefully at other future events) is my sister and guest blogger here on QF, LiLi! Aaron and I will be picking her up at the airport on Saturday and she'll be staying here in Houston for part of the year to go to school.
That's all I have time to write tonight, but we'll be back soon with some creature features!
Happy October!
Megh
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Isaac's First Birthday!
Isaac got more than his weight in presents for his birthday. Target has an excellent toy line (The B. Toys line) and most of his toys were from that set, completely coincidentally. One of his favorites was the Zany Zoo, second only to the wrapping paper that the presents came in. After the party we all went on an adventure to Discovery Green for their Flea on the Green flea market. Isaac got to run in the grass, eat a cookie, and be carried around on his daddy's shoulders. I think he had a good day.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Space City Con 2013 - A short Aaron post
Hello folks!
Space City Con came and went this last weekend and Megh and I were lucky enough to score tickets. We went Sunday, the last day, and the place was bustling. Taking place in the Marriott at Westchase, it was a much smaller area than we were used to. There was a fun atmosphere accompanying the crowded halls that I liked, but it looked to me like they weren't expecting as many people as there were. It was shoulder-to-shoulder is some places around artist's alley and the lines to see guests were so long we didn't bother. They had a wide variety of vendors and artists at SCC, including a few folks we knew from Comicpalooza. Tentacle Kitties were out in full force! But despite all the merch, Megh and I were trying to keep it thrifty and managed to walk out with nothing but a book from Triscelle Publishing's booth, signed by the polite and informative co-author. It was a fun convention, although small and bland compared to Comicpalooza. I would go again next year if they have another groupon ticket deal! As for now, I'm still holding out for next June.
Stay Fanatic, Aaron
Space City Con came and went this last weekend and Megh and I were lucky enough to score tickets. We went Sunday, the last day, and the place was bustling. Taking place in the Marriott at Westchase, it was a much smaller area than we were used to. There was a fun atmosphere accompanying the crowded halls that I liked, but it looked to me like they weren't expecting as many people as there were. It was shoulder-to-shoulder is some places around artist's alley and the lines to see guests were so long we didn't bother. They had a wide variety of vendors and artists at SCC, including a few folks we knew from Comicpalooza. Tentacle Kitties were out in full force! But despite all the merch, Megh and I were trying to keep it thrifty and managed to walk out with nothing but a book from Triscelle Publishing's booth, signed by the polite and informative co-author. It was a fun convention, although small and bland compared to Comicpalooza. I would go again next year if they have another groupon ticket deal! As for now, I'm still holding out for next June.
Stay Fanatic, Aaron
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Our Etsy shop is down!
Our doll shop will be down until next week due to some issues we're having with Etsy. Custom orders are still being accepted through our email.
We're transitioning from using Etsy to Storenvy and we'll let you know as soon as our shop there is up. I'm moving the shop to Storenvy partly because it has a customizable store front and partly because I'm tired of Etsy's shop keeping fees (a fee to list, a fee when you sell an item, and a fee to list multiples of one item).
In addition to opening up TIMandBEN on Storenvy, I'll also be opening an additional store, TIMandBEN (cute!). TIMandBEN (cute!) will feature handsewn bows, cuter dolls, and jewelry that doesn't fit with the original horror vibe of TIMandBEN.
We'll keep you updated!
Megh
We're transitioning from using Etsy to Storenvy and we'll let you know as soon as our shop there is up. I'm moving the shop to Storenvy partly because it has a customizable store front and partly because I'm tired of Etsy's shop keeping fees (a fee to list, a fee when you sell an item, and a fee to list multiples of one item).
In addition to opening up TIMandBEN on Storenvy, I'll also be opening an additional store, TIMandBEN (cute!). TIMandBEN (cute!) will feature handsewn bows, cuter dolls, and jewelry that doesn't fit with the original horror vibe of TIMandBEN.
Megh
Thursday, July 18, 2013
TIMandBEN Giveaway!
Good evening Fanatics!
If you're following TIMandBEN's Facebook page, you know about our giveaway. But for those of you who haven't been paying attention, I'll let you in.
In honor of finishing that big huge order, I've filled a small box with some TIMandBEN goodies to share! In the box is a felt red-and-black TIMandBEN mini doll, a T+B sticker, one of our pixel zombie pinback buttons, and an awesome horror necklace that I got on Etsy from a shop called Stillgoth.
The giveaway is being hosted on Rafflecopter, so it's super easy to enter. The winner will be chosen by random and the more entries you get, the better your chances are to win! The giveaway ends on 7/22 though, so you only have 3 more days! You can enter below or on our Facebook page.
Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
If you're following TIMandBEN's Facebook page, you know about our giveaway. But for those of you who haven't been paying attention, I'll let you in.
In honor of finishing that big huge order, I've filled a small box with some TIMandBEN goodies to share! In the box is a felt red-and-black TIMandBEN mini doll, a T+B sticker, one of our pixel zombie pinback buttons, and an awesome horror necklace that I got on Etsy from a shop called Stillgoth.
Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Finally finished with a huge order - focus returns to the Quiet Fanatics
Good evening, Fanatics!
We've been rather quiet for the past month and I'm sure you've missed us.
Today, I mailed out the last 40 dolls of our largest doll order to date. Late May, as we were preparing for Comicpalooza, I was contacted by the Souvenir Manager for the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps. He wanted to commission 80 dolls for them to sell at their competitions, as their 2013 season's theme is "I Put a Spell on You". I was very excited to get this opportunity, as this would allow TIMandBEN to try out some new products with the commission we'd get.
The order ballooned into 150+ dolls in the 1 1/2 months I was working on it, with additional dolls being needed through out the tour through multiple states. With only me (with a little stuffing and cutting help from Aaron and his sister) making the dolls, it was a long and tedious process. There were a lot of mess ups, some frustration with new materials, and a lot of boring repetition as I did a one man "factory" assemble of all of these dolls. It was all wonderful. But, for now, I'm very glad it's done. I can give my sewing machine a well deserved break.
Our next big project is a short horror book, either illustrated or with accompanying art prints, so you can look forward to posts and discussions on that.
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
We've been rather quiet for the past month and I'm sure you've missed us.
Today, I mailed out the last 40 dolls of our largest doll order to date. Late May, as we were preparing for Comicpalooza, I was contacted by the Souvenir Manager for the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps. He wanted to commission 80 dolls for them to sell at their competitions, as their 2013 season's theme is "I Put a Spell on You". I was very excited to get this opportunity, as this would allow TIMandBEN to try out some new products with the commission we'd get.
The order ballooned into 150+ dolls in the 1 1/2 months I was working on it, with additional dolls being needed through out the tour through multiple states. With only me (with a little stuffing and cutting help from Aaron and his sister) making the dolls, it was a long and tedious process. There were a lot of mess ups, some frustration with new materials, and a lot of boring repetition as I did a one man "factory" assemble of all of these dolls. It was all wonderful. But, for now, I'm very glad it's done. I can give my sewing machine a well deserved break.
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| I learned that a Large Flat Rate Priority shipping box from the USPS holds exactly 40 voodoo dolls. |
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| This red (maroon), white, and blue part of the order was fittingly finished on July 4th. |
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| Last order going out surprisingly to another city in Texas, so they'll never be far from home. |
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| This photo of the dolls for sale at one of the competition was taken from the Blue Stars Facebook page. |
Our next big project is a short horror book, either illustrated or with accompanying art prints, so you can look forward to posts and discussions on that.
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
Sunday, June 30, 2013
What I actually bought from Comicpalooza (finally!)
Good evening Fanatics!
The other day I posted a very solemn and personal piece on this blog and though I feel like it was important to share, I also think it was a little heavy.
So I'd like to uplift the atmosphere of this blog by showing off what I got at Comicpalooza last month!
It's a bit late in coming. I mean, Comicpalooza is already a month behind us.
I have to admit, I'm not much of a comic Fanatic. I like the art (usually), but don't care for the convoluted story lines and universe changes. So, most of the vendors didn't appeal to me directly. I'm also not a spendthrift, so most of the few things I did really want, I ended up talking myself out of.
I must be great to hang out with.
I had the great luck of being boothed directly next to my sister's favorite web comic artist, Amanda Lafrenais of Love Me Nice fame. (link mostly SFW) I immediately (or eventually, depending on who you're asking) swallowed my social awkwardness and went up to her to order a commission. I went around the booth to the front of her table to talk to her even though I had been sitting immediately to her left. I commissioned a $30 color sketch of LiLi based off of a picture of her holding up a fish she had caught, because out of all of the photos I had of her on hand, this was the most shapely and flattering. That sounds really weird of me, but the Love Me Nice artist specializes in very curvy characters and I knew that LiLi would appreciate a sketch of herself as close to the LMN artwork as possible. I'd never heard of Amanda or her comic before, nor ordered a commission, so I was a little taken aback when I got this little beauty for only $30. This is only a partial picture (taken from Amanda's Tumblr, but you can still see the detail put into work. Only after the convention did I realize that she did not ordinarily do such detailed work for $30 and that I probably should have paid her more. (Note: If you ever read this, Amanda, sorry for not paying you more! I feel like I contributed to you no longer doing sketches for $30. The picture is great!)
I also got her a Victorian Era inspired picture postcard with a plague doctor on it, but didn't have the foresight to take a picture of it before I packaged it up to send to her. (Edit: Never mind, I found it on their Deviant Art account.)
I didn't really see anything at the con that caught my eye too much. I have too admit that while I love striking, powerful comic art (usually featuring Superman, Venom, or Galactus) and kitschy old style comic art (old school Wonder Woman and Etta Candy being my favorites), I actually don't care for comics. There were a few bows and plushies that I talked myself out of buying, but one print kept luring me over. Again and again I passed the Artistic Oddities booth that held the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, beckoning to me with it's soft colors and confident gaze. In the end, I capitulated and bought a 16"x 20" print of the fabled alapacacorn.
I also got a postcard sized print of The Barbed Wire Prince because the style matches my Joshua Norton print.
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
The other day I posted a very solemn and personal piece on this blog and though I feel like it was important to share, I also think it was a little heavy.
So I'd like to uplift the atmosphere of this blog by showing off what I got at Comicpalooza last month!
It's a bit late in coming. I mean, Comicpalooza is already a month behind us.
I have to admit, I'm not much of a comic Fanatic. I like the art (usually), but don't care for the convoluted story lines and universe changes. So, most of the vendors didn't appeal to me directly. I'm also not a spendthrift, so most of the few things I did really want, I ended up talking myself out of.
I must be great to hang out with.
I had the great luck of being boothed directly next to my sister's favorite web comic artist, Amanda Lafrenais of Love Me Nice fame. (link mostly SFW) I immediately (or eventually, depending on who you're asking) swallowed my social awkwardness and went up to her to order a commission. I went around the booth to the front of her table to talk to her even though I had been sitting immediately to her left. I commissioned a $30 color sketch of LiLi based off of a picture of her holding up a fish she had caught, because out of all of the photos I had of her on hand, this was the most shapely and flattering. That sounds really weird of me, but the Love Me Nice artist specializes in very curvy characters and I knew that LiLi would appreciate a sketch of herself as close to the LMN artwork as possible. I'd never heard of Amanda or her comic before, nor ordered a commission, so I was a little taken aback when I got this little beauty for only $30. This is only a partial picture (taken from Amanda's Tumblr, but you can still see the detail put into work. Only after the convention did I realize that she did not ordinarily do such detailed work for $30 and that I probably should have paid her more. (Note: If you ever read this, Amanda, sorry for not paying you more! I feel like I contributed to you no longer doing sketches for $30. The picture is great!)
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| Amada's rendition of my sister. Torso up and no fishie. |
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| Photo that sketch is based off of. |
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| This one, because my sister creeps me out. |
I didn't really see anything at the con that caught my eye too much. I have too admit that while I love striking, powerful comic art (usually featuring Superman, Venom, or Galactus) and kitschy old style comic art (old school Wonder Woman and Etta Candy being my favorites), I actually don't care for comics. There were a few bows and plushies that I talked myself out of buying, but one print kept luring me over. Again and again I passed the Artistic Oddities booth that held the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, beckoning to me with it's soft colors and confident gaze. In the end, I capitulated and bought a 16"x 20" print of the fabled alapacacorn.
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| So majestic. |
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Poor, Pregnant, and Pro life: My experience at a Crisis Pregnancy Center
About two years ago, I found myself in a situation that I never thought I would be in.
I was pregnant. At 19 years old, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it was still technically a teenage pregnancy and I was scared. I had no job, I was not emotionally stable, and I was facing housing problems. My parents lived across the country and Aaron and I had not known each other for very long. It was a real mess.
Being anti abortion is easy when you are not accidentally pregnant. You feel like you can tell people, perfect strangers, what to do. You can hold up pictures of fetuses in the womb, late term abortions, little babies with tiny feet in the air and halos around their sweet heads. You can shout slogans and pray in front of clinics for the women going in. It will most likely not mean a damn to any woman who is desperate and scared. I know that discovering that I was pregnant with a baby that I wasn't ready for shook my dedication.
As a teenager, I feel like I fought pretty valiantly for the cause. I organized Stand True's yearly Day of Silence twice at my high school. At the time I felt it was not a protest, but rather a day of silent prayer for all of the mothers and babies affected by abortion, to inform others. I held my head high as I was mocked and threatened with rape, and even shoved down the stairs as I wore that red tape over my mouth; I knew that I was right and that these children can joke and hate and try and hurt me as much as they liked, I would never break. I saw my younger sister and dear friends treated similarly. I helped design fliers and make t-shirts and passed out red tape. I was the president of our Young Republicans club and I called state senators or congressmen or whoever to ask them to pretty please not support such and such or this bill. I was a good little warrior.
I reflected on that two years ago, as Aaron and I drove to my appointment at the Crisis Pregnancy Center.
I was pregnant. At 19 years old, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it was still technically a teenage pregnancy and I was scared. I had no job, I was not emotionally stable, and I was facing housing problems. My parents lived across the country and Aaron and I had not known each other for very long. It was a real mess.
Being anti abortion is easy when you are not accidentally pregnant. You feel like you can tell people, perfect strangers, what to do. You can hold up pictures of fetuses in the womb, late term abortions, little babies with tiny feet in the air and halos around their sweet heads. You can shout slogans and pray in front of clinics for the women going in. It will most likely not mean a damn to any woman who is desperate and scared. I know that discovering that I was pregnant with a baby that I wasn't ready for shook my dedication.
As a teenager, I feel like I fought pretty valiantly for the cause. I organized Stand True's yearly Day of Silence twice at my high school. At the time I felt it was not a protest, but rather a day of silent prayer for all of the mothers and babies affected by abortion, to inform others. I held my head high as I was mocked and threatened with rape, and even shoved down the stairs as I wore that red tape over my mouth; I knew that I was right and that these children can joke and hate and try and hurt me as much as they liked, I would never break. I saw my younger sister and dear friends treated similarly. I helped design fliers and make t-shirts and passed out red tape. I was the president of our Young Republicans club and I called state senators or congressmen or whoever to ask them to pretty please not support such and such or this bill. I was a good little warrior.
I reflected on that two years ago, as Aaron and I drove to my appointment at the Crisis Pregnancy Center.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Our friends wanna drop an album.
Critically acclaimed* Prog Rock band Witherwing wants to record their first full length album. The upcoming album will be titled Honest Men. Honest Men is a prog rock opera, complete with accompanying novella. Unfortunately, they need some help covering some recording expenses.
They currently have an Indiegogo campaign running, with all sorts of neat perks including a level where you can get a fancy dinner in the city with the whole band and a level where they'll put on a private show for you and your friends. If you're lucky, Witherwing front man Ian Everett may even dance for you. Have a listen to their sample CD and consider throwing some cash their way.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
My first swap came in!
I got my June stocking stuffer in the mail today. :)
My lovely partner sent some hello kitty gel pens and stickers!
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Penpals!
Good evening Fanatics!
Recently, my crushing loneliness and love of getting presents in the mail has driven me into the arms of Swap Bot, a website that facilitates mail exchange and letter sending partners, and most definitely NOT the name of my as yet unfinished robot lover.
Swap Bot is a neat little website that contains groups and forums, where people create different themed swaps to send a little love to each others mailboxes. One can find craft swaps, international post card buddies, pen pals, and common interest gift giving.
I, myself, have entered into 5 swaps (5 being the limit of swaps an unrated newbie may participate in). Most are simple flat mail swaps; a bookmark exchange, a 30 minute sketch trade. A few others are small package swaps; a small stocking stuffer to open during Christmas (like I'm going to wait).
A lot of what you get depends on your partner (randomly selected and not the same person you send to; you only receive from this person) and your profile. These two criteria have presented a bit of a challenge to me. I had not anticipated the amount of middle aged, very Christian women that use the site. Please don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against religion or anything like that. I just a) don't really know what to get a person who hates basically the things I like to do (I run a voodoo doll and nightmare plushie shop in case you didn't know) and b) I really REALLY don't want holiday or Christian themed things sent to me.
I really do not care for little cherub statuettes or frames with scripture written on it. I don't want mounds of postcards with weeping Jesus in hazy clouds telling me that everything will be ok.
It is not really my style.
"But Megh," you simper in that whining voice that you can't help but communicate with when you think you've got someone in a corner, "Megh, just put it on your profile that you'd prefer not to get these things. Besides, what's so bad about getting religious themed items? They aren't hurting anyone."
They're hurting me. Not only have I gotten these things for years and years, it means that the person sending me packages is very inconsiderate about my preference.
I believe that presents should be thoughtful, letters should be undemanding and pleasant.
I got one of those very Christian women as a partner to send a stocking stuffer to.
My very first reaction to receiving my partner was "Oh! I'll make them a neat little personalized doll!
Let me look on their profile and see what they like."
"Oh."
I can say with certainty that no, they would not have liked a voodoo doll showing up in their mailbox. Did I send her a voodoo doll anyway, because it's something I like to make and I feel like people are way too serious about them? No. Would it have been hilarious to send a religious stranger who I will never meet a doll that they hold as an absolute evil? Of course. But I'm not an insensitive mule. I ended up giving her something that was on her list of wishes that I happened to have a duplicate of. I hope that when she gets it, it makes her day.
I guess that what I'm saying in the end is that you guys should give me lots of presents and send me letters so that I feel loved.
I really hope that you take that away with you after reading this post.
Stay Fan(mail)atic,
Megh
Recently, my crushing loneliness and love of getting presents in the mail has driven me into the arms of Swap Bot, a website that facilitates mail exchange and letter sending partners, and most definitely NOT the name of my as yet unfinished robot lover.
 |
| Someday. |
I, myself, have entered into 5 swaps (5 being the limit of swaps an unrated newbie may participate in). Most are simple flat mail swaps; a bookmark exchange, a 30 minute sketch trade. A few others are small package swaps; a small stocking stuffer to open during Christmas (like I'm going to wait).
A lot of what you get depends on your partner (randomly selected and not the same person you send to; you only receive from this person) and your profile. These two criteria have presented a bit of a challenge to me. I had not anticipated the amount of middle aged, very Christian women that use the site. Please don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against religion or anything like that. I just a) don't really know what to get a person who hates basically the things I like to do (I run a voodoo doll and nightmare plushie shop in case you didn't know) and b) I really REALLY don't want holiday or Christian themed things sent to me.
I really do not care for little cherub statuettes or frames with scripture written on it. I don't want mounds of postcards with weeping Jesus in hazy clouds telling me that everything will be ok.
It is not really my style.
"But Megh," you simper in that whining voice that you can't help but communicate with when you think you've got someone in a corner, "Megh, just put it on your profile that you'd prefer not to get these things. Besides, what's so bad about getting religious themed items? They aren't hurting anyone."
They're hurting me. Not only have I gotten these things for years and years, it means that the person sending me packages is very inconsiderate about my preference.
I believe that presents should be thoughtful, letters should be undemanding and pleasant.
I got one of those very Christian women as a partner to send a stocking stuffer to.
My very first reaction to receiving my partner was "Oh! I'll make them a neat little personalized doll!
Let me look on their profile and see what they like."
"Oh."
I can say with certainty that no, they would not have liked a voodoo doll showing up in their mailbox. Did I send her a voodoo doll anyway, because it's something I like to make and I feel like people are way too serious about them? No. Would it have been hilarious to send a religious stranger who I will never meet a doll that they hold as an absolute evil? Of course. But I'm not an insensitive mule. I ended up giving her something that was on her list of wishes that I happened to have a duplicate of. I hope that when she gets it, it makes her day.
I guess that what I'm saying in the end is that you guys should give me lots of presents and send me letters so that I feel loved.
I really hope that you take that away with you after reading this post.
Stay Fan(mail)atic,
Megh
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Comicpalooza 2013 - A general overview
Good evening Fanatics!
As you know, we spent this Memorial Day weekend at Comicpalooza, Houston's Comic Con. This brings the number of conventions that we have been vendors at up to TWO. Go us! It was also the first multi-day, large convention we attended, and this came with its own set of challenges.
You may remember my recap of ZombieCon from last year.
This will fortunately be nothing like that. Comicpalooza was wonderful and scary and exciting.
Overall, we did very well. We did a little better than breaking even on what we spent, sold out of our zombie kittens (again!) and narwhal plushies, and saw a lot of great art and product. You might expect me to say that we met a lot of wonderful people. We met some very great people, but not as many as I would have liked to. I was sick and exhausted from lack of sleep and it being my turn to have food poisoning, so I spent most of the convention hiding behind our display. I was grateful for having the foresight to bring two other assistants who enjoy being sociable. Judy and Jaegger seemed very excited and happy to help; they also had never had much of a chance to go to conventions.
I had been preparing plushies for the convention since Christmas. I was too excited. After 5 exhausting months of making patterns, sewing, ordering prints and buttons, and designing; I was finally ready for the 3 day weekend.
Friday was slow, but I guess I expected that. People were still at work and school, after all. The display was fun to put up. I kind of like working under pressure and we had gotten there a bit late after picking up Judy and Jaegger. Friday night, I sewed two zombie narwhals spur of the moment. It turned out to be a good idea, we sold them both the next day. Saturday was markedly busier than Friday, and we sold out of our zombie kittens and fuzzy monsters. There were so many people in costume, and the place was packed. The line for admission on the second floor doubled over half the length of the convention center. Sunday was relaxing, most of the attendees there were the weekend pass holders, very friendly and talkative. I feel like we gained a lot of experience in selling at a convention setting and getting good feedback on what we make. We were one of four or so booths selling plushes in Artist's Alley, and it was nice to see other peoples' work.
I realize that this is a very clipped and shallow sounding article, and it is; I just feel that a few things deserve their own article. So please stay tuned for that!
Stay Fanatic.
Megh.
As you know, we spent this Memorial Day weekend at Comicpalooza, Houston's Comic Con. This brings the number of conventions that we have been vendors at up to TWO. Go us! It was also the first multi-day, large convention we attended, and this came with its own set of challenges.
You may remember my recap of ZombieCon from last year.
This will fortunately be nothing like that. Comicpalooza was wonderful and scary and exciting.
Overall, we did very well. We did a little better than breaking even on what we spent, sold out of our zombie kittens (again!) and narwhal plushies, and saw a lot of great art and product. You might expect me to say that we met a lot of wonderful people. We met some very great people, but not as many as I would have liked to. I was sick and exhausted from lack of sleep and it being my turn to have food poisoning, so I spent most of the convention hiding behind our display. I was grateful for having the foresight to bring two other assistants who enjoy being sociable. Judy and Jaegger seemed very excited and happy to help; they also had never had much of a chance to go to conventions.
I had been preparing plushies for the convention since Christmas. I was too excited. After 5 exhausting months of making patterns, sewing, ordering prints and buttons, and designing; I was finally ready for the 3 day weekend.
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| Zombie Narwhal! |
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| Me at the booth. |
Friday was slow, but I guess I expected that. People were still at work and school, after all. The display was fun to put up. I kind of like working under pressure and we had gotten there a bit late after picking up Judy and Jaegger. Friday night, I sewed two zombie narwhals spur of the moment. It turned out to be a good idea, we sold them both the next day. Saturday was markedly busier than Friday, and we sold out of our zombie kittens and fuzzy monsters. There were so many people in costume, and the place was packed. The line for admission on the second floor doubled over half the length of the convention center. Sunday was relaxing, most of the attendees there were the weekend pass holders, very friendly and talkative. I feel like we gained a lot of experience in selling at a convention setting and getting good feedback on what we make. We were one of four or so booths selling plushes in Artist's Alley, and it was nice to see other peoples' work.
I realize that this is a very clipped and shallow sounding article, and it is; I just feel that a few things deserve their own article. So please stay tuned for that!
Stay Fanatic.
Megh.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Post Comicpalooza Coma
We're currently recovering from this weekend's festivities and event. Please stay tuned for a in depth post about Comicpalooza. I'll be working on custom orders and photos from the convention today. Have a safe and wonderful Memorial Day!
Megh
Megh
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