small* duck update

inspired from the duck hunt wall friezes i blogged the other day, we get back to the usual etsy stylings with some wearables again :) the mini hama bead versions are about half the size of the big ones, so just the right size - although i did have to slightly redesign the sprite, so duck hunt purists are warned that these aren't *exactly* canon ;) here's the duck necklace for the girls, and the duck pin for everyone to enjoy - they can come in any of the three colours if you have a particular outfit/wallpaper in mind that it needs to match ;)

*count all the different meanings of small in one short post! ;)

UK DIY

UK DIY is a craft exhibition at the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh (up north!), and as of last Saturday, I'm in it! Alongside some other amazing stuff, all about science and craft, craftivism, technocraft, subversive stitching and art, recycled and upcycled craft and lots and lots of awesome knitting. One of my favourite things there were these amazing sculptures made from straws which I went home and tried to emulate with my newfound glue gun and Morrissons drinking straws but didn't quite manage to make anything half as beautiful. Either way, it was pretty cool to have some of my stuff on show on the wall next to such cool people :) The exhibition is on til the end of April so there's plenty of time to go along and have a look if you're in the area, it's free too! I've re-stocked the Etsy and Folksy shops just in case people get the urge to buy ;)

mario star pin
boo ghost pin
chunky heart pin
red super mushroom pin (also available in green)
pacman and ghost earrings
ms pacman and ghost earrings
victorious space invader necklace
shy space invader necklace
pacman ghost chase bracelet (also available with ms pacman)

and now to make up for shamelessly pimping my wares, here's a big up for someone else's stuff! there was so much cool knitting on show at the exhibition on saturday, that i think this awesome mario cushion would certainly have fitted right in :)

geek love <3

heart collection, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

happy new year everyone! wow, i can't believe i haven't blogged this year yet, but to be honest it's everyone else's fault for keeping me busy with so many orders over christmas and new year ;) it was very much appreciated, so thanks for buying and i hope all gift recipients loved their presents!

next big thing seems to be valentine's day, and since i won't be celebrating it personally (awwww), it gives me even more time to make things to help geeks everywhere find love, romance and cool gifts for their videogame-loving partners :D to accompany the best selling heart container necklace and heart meter pin, we now have pieces of heart necklaces (available individually or as a set of two split heart necklaces to share with your extra special friends or loved ones) and pieces of heart earrings too. chunky heart pins and heart keyrings are also still available for the less-jewellery-inclined/male types too :) for uk types, all the pixel heart valentinesy type gifts are all available here on folksy.

also, exciting news! i've been invited to be in a cool craft exhibition up north which opens coincidentally on valentine's day(feb 14th that is)! more details to come soon...

the high score table of life

people who have been around me long enough know that i get a little bit excited about high scores. particularly tetris ones :) it's somewhat of an achievement when you beat your own personal best (and since my copy of tetris is so old that it doesn't save high scores, i have to write mine down on the back of the cart in permanent marker*) that you don't get very often in real life.

except for this week anyway :) the aforementioned people will also know that i am a little bit fangirly about late night radio 1, particularly colin murray's show on from 10 til 12. every tuesday night he does the black hole of radio 1 where they play an hour or so of stuff that people send in from the internet, exclusive myspace tracks, youtube live stuff, mashups and remixes from the hype machine etc. well last week i wasn't around much so i had to catch up on what i'd missed on the iplayer (praise the lord for its invention) and found that colin hadn't been in either, so it was huw stevens standing in for him (not quite as amazing as colin but still quite cool and introduced me to the wonder of iliketrains) but i thought i'd listen to the black hole anyway and how glad was i that i did? because i'd completely forgotten about it, but i had submitted my own link the previous week, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is why radio 1 played tragedy, the heavy metal bee gee's tribute band, on tuesday 18th november. i have a bit of a history of trying to get my name mentioned on every single radio 1 show i like - i won a competition on mike davies' punk show a while ago (he thought my surname was awesome), but this was certainly a personal high score for me :)

aaaaaaand, all this in a roundabout way links to my most recent collection! if you too want to celebrate being the winner on the high score table of your life, you could do much worse than one of my customised personalised pins or necklaces available on folksy or etsy. how cheesy does that sound?! i promise you i didn't make it all up to sound like the worst infomercial ever, but i really enjoyed making these and i hope people will like them - they come in whatever colour you like (including neon for all you nu-ravers out there) and there may even be a special mention somewhere for the person who comes up with the funniest 3 letter/digit combination ;)

*for the record, 205 lines or 261485 points depending on which one you count

something for the (last day of the) weekend

blooper squid necklace, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

i *knew* i'd forgotten to post something yesterday...

i just added a load of stuff to my etsy shop including a blooper (squid) necklace from super mario, translucent mario invincibility star necklace and pacman chomp bracelet. star and metroid christmas decorations are also still available, not many posting days left!

and since i have just been looking at my google stats (welcome all my new american and canadian readers!) that tell me that you lot love the videogame papercraft, here are some handy links for you.

phoenix wright papercraft characters

printable thwomp (from mario galaxy)

and finally, saving me a lot of work - hawty mcbloggy's papercraft round up including portal, halo, silent hill, final fantasy, pokemon, tetris (i *love* this one), tomb raider and sonic.

bsangel (ms hawty mcbloggy herself) is also an etsyer and has some awesome stuff including this highly appropriate xbox 360 condolence card and these envelopes which i love mostly because they seem to be made out of old issues of edge (glad to see i'm not the only one appreciating it for its design just as much as (or in some cases more than) its content ;) ) *

the other thing my google stats picked up this week was this: "why is my wii lighting up when it is off" which sadly seems to stump even the mighty google. i think you'll find it'll be something to do with wiiconnect24, mystery searcher. check your wii settings and tell it not to illuminate the slot every time you have a message. unless you want it to. how's that for public service? :)

*whoops no link, they seem to have sold, have an incredibly sweet player 2 card instead (sigh, /me thinks of valentine's day...)

ps** oh dear, i am a doofus - the envelopes are actually by another seller called betty death who is also awesome and makes amazing cuffs.

all i want for christmas is that... and that, ooh and maybe one of those?

additions to the pacman family, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

can't be too long, cos i need to go to the post office before it shuts - a lot of you must be getting pixel jewellery for christmas this year cos etsy has gone crazy this week! uploaded a pile of new stuff including the heart meter pin, one of which sold within mere minutes of going online(!); two sizes of pacman bracelets (if you want ms pacman, ask, but you may have to wait an extra day or so); the new translucent heart container necklace and a pacman ghost regiment pin. for some strange reason a lot of the pictures i took last weekend on my sister's camera (mine is broke :( ) look fine on my screen but come out really washed out on etsy. so don't be fooled, they are really bright in real life :) lots more to come this week!

amongst the packing fest, i finally read scott pilgrim 4 and it is ace. everyone should put it on their christmas lists - i'll see if i can put up a link to the review i wrote for DM around the time vol. 3 came out. christmas really did come early like i thought it would, cos not only is my discbox arriving this week, but i just got radiohead tickets woo! :D

and finally, i want a christmas tree like this one. spain must looove retro videogames, that's where my latest parcel is heading off to! the fair write-up, photos and competition winners will be up soon, promise :)

p.s. this is a really quick and easy and fun way to make really pretty and classy looking snowflake decorations if you are looking for something to pass the friday afternoon time away :)

also, -> there is my new rss feed showing all new items i put up on etsy - the address is http://www.etsy.com/rss_shop.php?user_id=5188149 if anyone's interested.

ms pacman is so much better than mr pacman

new bracelets, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

only a quick one, because it's the manchester craft mafia market this saturday and i'm busy designing my new zine, making lots of keyrings and generally trying to get ready in time! also, some etsy milestones this week - i hit 100 hearts thanks to etsy buyer latara, and a cool guy called jim from illinois bought 3 things in one go and made me very happy :)

thought you might like to see these new bracelets that should be up for sale in my etsy shop sometime next week-ish, would love any feedback on whether you like them, which design you prefer, or any suggestions for how to make them better on my flickr.

in other news, this watch doesn't exist (yet) but if it did, i would need it desperately.

see you on saturday if you are coming along to urbis, you really should because there are going to be tons of cool people there (and me) - here's the flyer!

bling bling baby

the bling collection, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

well it's finally up! earrings here, necklaces here and here, and a prize(*) to anyone who can guess what nintendo game the sprites come from :)

i guess i'm making a big deal out of this little collection because despite everyone loving the classics, it's using the obscure sprites that i really like best. making real life pixellated versions of real life things. like the mario coins, they're something you would expect to have on jewellery, but pixellated. it's not a new idea in the slightest, i have to admit that this collection from mike & maaike was a big inspiration to start all this. i just got a load more hama beads, including lots of lovely transparent ones, which i fancy using more instead of the opaque colours, just because the light shines through. and that's what pixels are, light, in essence.

so hopefully it's a range that can be expanded on, i have plenty more cool sprites and ideas, just depends what the audience reaction is, because although it sounds all rubbish and corporate or whatever, there's not much point me making stuff that won't sell, because i won't wear it (not cos i don't like it, i love it - i'm just not a jewellery person), and it'll just add to all the other crap in my room. maybe i should make things that actually suit me. hmmm, something to work on, along with aforementioned boy-appropriate stuff...

p.s. watched the life aquatic with steve zissou last night - very bizarre but in a good way :) want to see the new sigur ros film too, but the cornerhouse don't seem to be screening it :(

(*) well, it might be a metaphorical (or even metaphysical) prize. unless i come up with any wacky ideas ;)