uk etsy ok!

Union Jack Pin Cushion by darlingdillydilly

i loved it when folksy arrived on the scene to allow us british crafters to buy and sell stuff in our own country and currency - but i have to say that the majority of my buyers still come through etsy, whether they're from the USA and elsewhere in the world, or from the UK. so it's with much excitement that i can pass on the news that etsy is making things way easier for UK craft fans to buy more UK craft!

local search is the big thing i've been wanting for ages as a buyer myself - if just because you know that if you buy things from just down the road, they'll get to you in the post a whole lot quicker than having to negotiate the choppy unpredictable waters of international airmail and customs. so that's just made last minute disorganised christmas present buying soooooo much easier :D

the other thing etsy are working on is currency. they've already given people the choice of what currency to see prices in (with paypal's exchange rates and currency conversion fees built in, just like on ebay) so you don't have check xe.com every five seconds - but now they've also given sellers the choice of what currency to list in. so now i'm torn... do i keep things in $USD since most of my etsy fans are from america, and UK customers can always buy in £GBP from my folksy shop? or do i switch over and hope that more UK people will find it easier to buy now? i'd love any feedback on how this affects you as an internet shopper if you want to get in touch :)

anyway, in honour of the new features, and to stop from pimping my own stuff for once (or as a not so subtle hint at what to buy me for christmas ;) here is a treasury featuring some of my favourite uk crafty gamers that i think you might like too :) and the plus side is that you still have time to order any of this stuff to get it before christmas!*

Etsy spugmeistress

*which reminds me, on the subject of last posting dates - they're now up on both shops and the OMEGAZOID fan page on facebook - basically if you're in the uk, you've got til the 20th December for first class post, but shop earlier and save yourself the stress!

a very rupee christmas and a starry new year...

shiny things :), originally uploaded by spugmeistress

...and coins for anyone who doesn't celebrate either! (wouldn't want you to miss out on displaying your 8bit love to the world)

i've been playing around with the larger (well, normal sized to everyone else) hama beads recently to come up with some new christmas tree decorations / holiday hangers in time for the impending festive season. if you don't have a tree, they also look good in windows where the translucent beads really catch the light nicely.

you can get a super mario star, super mario coin, red rupee or green rupee (or both!) or one of each in a super retro videogame christmas decoration gift four-pack. of course, they're also available on folksy for UK people, and as always i'm happy to do things in different colours, combinations or quantities if people ask nicely :)

i'm also always up for suggestions or requests - festive 8bit videogame sprites were a bit thin on the ground as i was researching, even from the snow-laden super mario levels, so i ended up going with generic shiny things in festive colours. maybe 5 gold rings from sonic the hedgehog would be a good next project? but if you can think of any christmas-themed videogames of a suitable era, let me know! either here, or on the OMEGAZOID facebook fan page and if you come up with a good enough idea, i might make you a prototype!

if you like the look of these, but want something a little bit more wearable, i've got some jewellery/accessories lined up ready to be listed so look out for those soon...

i've got the key, i've got the secret

collection of keys, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

it's quite disgraceful that i've been trailing this for over a year, but look, new collection! these keys are taken from various 8bit nintendo games (well, mostly legend of zelda, but one random mystery one in there too) and put on a necklace in order to make cheesy jokes like 'you've got the key to my heart!'. Link would be proud of such a chat up line, i'm sure...

i've always wanted one of the keys from the latchkey project, not only because they look so damn cool, and each one is unique, but also because of the unknown story behind each one - the mystery of knowing that a key must belong to an item that it unlocks and trying to reunite the two. is there a super secret prize at the end of the quest, or is the joy in the journey (that to be honest, i doubt many people have ever completed. but i'm not sure that's the point...)

on the subject of games and puzzles and fun with almost pointless point scoring, i just found out about noticin.gs and it looks awesome. just like with wii fit or singstar - the points/games/rules help give the experience some sort of legitimacy against time wasting, but they're really only a framing device for the real fun - such as shedding inhibitions with friends, interacting with the world around you.

anyway, if you want a key, they're available here:

etsy ($) : gold key necklace, silver key necklace, bronze key necklace

folksy (£) : gold key necklace, silver key necklace, bronze key necklace

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! ;)

hunting ducks

so here you go: you saw the work in progress concept a few weeks ago, and now i can show the final product: the flying duck hunt wall frieze! (on etsy and folksy)

i have to make a confession: flying ducks have always reminded me more of coronation street than nintendo's duck hunt - the NES was just a little bit before my time. but there is perhaps no better amalgamation of videogame sprites with good old real northern life than hilda ogden's trio of ducks recreated in glorious pixel form.

i think it's interesting that videogames are often seen as quite an immature and young industry or artform, and yet we already embrace nostalgia - especially if you're as into 8bit retro pixels as me. obviously there's something in the basicness of it all that makes us yearn for simpler times, when you only had one or two buttons to mash instead of a whole control system to learn, and games were short, straightforward and (in my opinion) often a lot more fun for it. i guess the wii is getting back to that kind of thing, especially as the industry realises that my overcomplicating things, they lost a huge chunk of the casual market along the way, which i guess is why we're seeing a lot more of these vintage titles appearing on things like wiiware.

i don't know if it's for these reasons, or just that he *really* likes ducks, that a friend from the mktweetup group (who, incidentally, makes awesome custom arcade cabinets) commissioned a special single colour duck trio for his very own wall. if anyone else fancies one, get in touch with me via the blog, flickr, etsy or folksy and i'll see what i can do :)

getting back into (etsy) business

work in progress, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

attempting to revive this whole thing in case anyone wants to buy stuff for christmas ;) and also because i've had tons of ideas for ages that i've not really had time to do anything about for the past couple of months. (can you guess the games i have in mind?!)

the ibook is still on the critical list, so not got huge amounts of processing power/time to blog, but if you get bored, feel free to follow my twitter for ramblings of a mostly etsy-unrelated nature, but lots of opinionated music, sci fi and games stuff :)

hopefully will be back full of inspiration and new listings after a week full of playing games (and maybe a little shopping...) at game city!

i has a posse in moscow! (and other public service announcements)

heart meter pin, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

hey everyone - am aware i haven't blogged in a while (or updated my flickr - this photo isn't even of what the heart meter pin looks like now!). unfortunately my ibook has died so i can't do a whole lot of internet stuff at home atm, typing this (very slowly, forgive the horrendous grammar...) from my wii currently (thank the lord for the opera browser, even if it is a bit pants!). all donations to the 'let's buy rach a new laptop' fund gratefully accepted ;) especially in the form of buying stuff from the shops or particularly custom orders - if you've been thinking of getting something personalised or asking for something special for a while then now's the time to do it! i certainly have plenty of time on my hands atm so to take advantage of that i'm offering special discounts on all custom orders - just convo me or use the alchemy button on etsy or send me a message on folksy :)
*** notice: due to the wonderful wii browser, i'm able to check both sites and fill orders as fast as ever, but be aware that if you send me a message/email and don't hear back quite so soon, it's just cos i'm waiting for a spare lunchbreak at work to reply on a computer where i can type faster than 8 words per minute ;) ***

so what've i been up to in the meantime? well, making new stuff (which i hope to be able to blog/flickr/upload to shops asap), getting back into exploring the awesome possibilities of cross stitch (don't worry, i won't be putting the hama beads away any time soon), and knitting something very special :)
thanks to everyone who has kept on buying though despite quietness. special props to my new russian fans (i am forever debted to your country (and alexey pajitnov) for giving the world the gift of tetris*), to my repeat buyers who just keep coming back for more (hi kim n holly!) and to the influx of orders from folksy.
hopefully i can return you all to your regularly scheduled OMEGAZOID soon :)

*new hi score! 205 lines, 350631 pts \o/ any tips for gba screenshots?

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...

star power

star pin, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

two new brooches up today, big ghost pin and star pin, available on etsy or folksy for the uk types.

speaking of star power - i recently became completely addicted to rock band when they had it at a conference i was at with work and nearly lost my voice pretending to be shirley manson :) back home all i've got is guitar hero 2 and singstar on the ps2. so the question is, to rock band or to guitar hero: world tour? and on the ps2 with the stuff i've already got (and some drums obviously, it's always been my secret ambition to be a drummer) or on the wii with the hope that nintendo gets DLC working? apparently rock band peripherals work with guitar hero world tour (or is it the other way round?) but it's all very complicated... any suggestions or advice welcome, for a rocking out christmas :)

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

one zine left

i've been mentioning this on the etsy and folksy listings, but omegazoid issue #1 is very nearly sold out! so if you wanted to get one, buy now to avoid disappointment ;) but if you *do* miss out, no worries because issue #2 is on the way soon! anyone got any requests? we'll have more puzzles, more games reviews, some pixel by numbers colouring in, but there's still room to fit in more if anyone has any super special ideas! there may even be some previews of the new stuff i have on the way including hi-score necklaces and pins, the key collection and more christmas tree decorations for this year :) all appearing on flickr soon!

music tip of the week: i went to see sigur ros at alexandra palace in london last week and they were *awesome* - we had snow (twice!), rain and a confetti party, not quite what i was expecting after seeing their heima documentary but a brilliant show, especially given the loveliness of the venue. however, i think the best bit of the night was the support band, for a minor reflection, also from iceland but with less lyrics and slightly more rock. i've been listening to their cd non-stop since i got back and it is the sound of pure win. check out their myspace if you like a good bit of post-rock!

mutants and alchemy

spugmeistress is pleased to announce that Alchemy is open! Alchemy is a feature on Etsy where you can commission custom items to your own specifications. you can either put your request in the public Alchemy forum and sellers will bid on it to see who can do you the best quote - or you can press the 'Request custom item' on my Etsy page if you would like me to do something for you. as you can see from the pics, i've done custom stuff before by request - one person wanted a heart container necklace in legend of zelda colours, and another more recently wanted four lives on their heart meter pin. it's the place to go if you want variations on items i'm selling, requests for restocking from my back catalogue or suggestions or commissions for new stuff!

if you can't think of anything spectacular to ask for, there are a couple of new lines and items in the works, so keep your eyes on this space (or on my flickr) where i'll post up the new stuff before it goes into the shop.

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.

urbis and the omegazoid

my stall!, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

ok ok ok, so i'm about 2 weeks overdue with this one, for reasons that shall soon become apparent. so, this was my stall at the manchester craft mafia market at urbis on dec 1st. it was my first ever craft show type thing so i was uber nervous, but everyone was really lovely and i really enjoyed chatting to both the customers and the other sellers! one of the things that was particularly fun was that i had my box of pixelblocks on the corner of my stall for people to play with as their awkward friend/parent was busy looking at my stuffs :) i set it up to have a competition for the best pixelblocks creation to win a genuine imported nintendo nes controller belt buckle if they left their contact details. unfortunately, i have looked everywhere during the past two weeks and seem to have misplaced it :( so i am going to put *all* the pictures up, and if one of them is yours, comment or email me and you might just win by default ;) *



one of the other things that was particularly exciting was that i launched my brand new zine! it's called omegazoid and is the printed sibling of this very blog, with activities, colouring in, me waffling on about games, and some other random stuff. issue 1, now available on etsy, includes pixel by numbers, picross, games reviews and a super secret surprise knitting pattern! i was up til 4am the night before the market printing and cutting and hand stitching each individual binding (i forgot to locate a stapler) and i must say i am rather pleased with the end result! now i just need to sell them all so i can get on with making issue 2 ;)

and to finish, an interesting weird thing that happened this week: not only did the owner of a facebook group i posted on that very day, find my zine (becoming the first ever etsy-facilitated omegazoid owner woo!) randomly without realising who was selling it, but it turns out he used to live round the corner from me! (waves to ste, quick plug for his radio show/podcast one life left which is very good.)

*not a scam, honest, i am just very bad at losing things :(

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.

happy advent everybody!

nintendo christmas decorations, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

and to celebrate it, we have some new items in the etsy shop, two mario stars and a metroid screw attack to hang on your christmas tree! lots of new items on the way including keyrings, brooch/pins, and my new zine, also entitled omegazoid, so keep an eye open here, on the flickr and on my etsy shop :)

the manchester craft mafia fair was on at urbis yesterday, which was fun, sold some stuff and got to chat to lots of lovely people! i ran a competition on my stall, for the person who made the best pixelblocks creation to win a shiny nintendo belt buckle. photos of all the entries, along with the announcement of the winner, should be up later this week! incidentally, at that pixelblocks link you can see the stop motion pacman animation i made with my set which were not actually bought from firebox at all but rather from the famous FAO Schwarz toy shop in new york :)

last of all i just had to link to this diesel sweeties strip, since it pretty much describes me and my affinity for tetris. after the craziness of craft fairing, arranging falling blocks is actually quite relaxing!

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 ;)

shiny new things

shiny new t-shirts, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

i couldn't decide which one i like the best so you got all three! just in time for game city later this week (which i just booked all my tickets for, yay!) here are a selection of my newest geekiest t-shirts.

i've wanted the gamegirl t-shirt ever since i saw it in HMV when i was about 15 and skint, and then never saw it again. a while ago i decided to search for it and came up with a sold listing on ebay. the seller didnt have any more but said they would get in touch with me if they found one, and to my surprise, a few months later, they did! it's a bit huge, weirdly since you'd expect it to be girl-sized, but i can sort that out with the aid of my trusty sewing machine :)

the robot one came from florida as part of my 'sorry you didn't get to come on holiday with us' swag from the family. which also included a harry potter cushion, a spiderman i-dog, the latest arcade fire album, neon bible (which is ace and i am going to see them on saturday woo!) and some 'candy from the 80's' which is a) american (their sweets are weird) and b) smells funny.

the google one makes more sense if you read scarygoround (specifically this comic here) - i don't hate google randomly, i use it way too much for that, but i do sympathise with erin's sentiment here. on one hand, access to a searchable index of everything ever is amazing, and that you can find out almost anything so quickly is really cool, but on the other, it (along with mobile internet) has changed the nature of pub quizzes for ever which saddens me.

in etsy news, i just realised i hadn't listed anything in ages, so put this lovely necklace up for sale. the bling collection deserves a blog post of it's own, so that'll come later in the week when the others are up too.