Dear Etsy, I'm back!

I am really happy to announce that we are back on Etsy.  I really underestimated how much I'd miss having my own little corner of Etsy, how much I'd miss convo's and hearts and all the other good stuff Etsy has to offer.   

I won't be using the Mrs. Tattooedgeek shop though.  I've decided to neaten things up a bit for branding purposes.  From now on  you can find us at http://www.tattooedgeek.etsy.com/.   I've got the new Etsy shop stocked up with candles, lip balms and solid fragrance balms.  I'll be added extra large pocket mirrors in the next day or so, and 1inch pin sets.  I've also added a few new products, like the Little Red Candle and the Dill Pickle lip balm seen below.

I'm still keeping the website active, for those without an Etsy account.  http://www.tattooedgeek.com/ In the future I may add a few exclusives to both of the shops, but for now you can get the same products in either shop. 



New shop location.

By popular demand, the shop is opened for the holidays!  You can find us at http://www.tattooedgeek.com/.  Several new candles have been added with more to come soon. Solid fragrances, fragrance oils, lip balms and pocket mirrors are being added throughout the coming week.  The Etsy shop remains closed for now.  I was reluctant to change the shop location from Etsy to Big Cartel, but I have to say I am really loving the design freedom  Big Cartel offers. I still absolutely love Etsy.  But from a shop owners perspective with Etsy it always seems like "Etsy" comes first, with Big Cartel my shop comes first -if that makes any sense. Check it out and you'll understand what I mean.  Your purchases still go through paypal and are subject to all of the protection paypal offers.  The holiday candles will be available through New Years.  Any outstanding Etsy business will of course be honored.  I'm still catching up so wholesale orders are on hold until after the new year.  As always, please feel free to contact me at anytime about anything.

Not only did our shop move,  we moved too.  We got the keys to the new place 3 days before Mike's surgery.  With Mike not well and surgery looming, moving wasn't exactly on our agenda at the time.  With all of the doctor co pays,  missed work  and the online shop closure (after several screwed up orders I had to close the online shop until things settled down) we had a moving budget of exactly; zero!  Plus, Mike was soon tied up healing from his neck dissection and thyroidectomy. The actual physical "move" was left to the kids and I.  We spent the next two weeks moving like the  band of white trash Gypsies that we are; we loaded all of our belongings into dozens of black garbage bags and piled up the minivan (cause we're classy like that!)  It took about three thousand round trips but we got it done.  It was during that hectic chaos that I realized how truly blessed I am.  The children worked their butts off helping me move.  It's not right to expect people so young to do so much, but they did it without even so much as a whimper.  I probably would have ended up in the loony bin if it wasn't for them.  Thankfully we walked away from the toxic house that we were living in, which by the way still sits empty.  Since moving I found out that the family before us also left that house due to health concerns.  Our landlord knew about the mold and the problems it caused and never informed us, bastard!  That will never happen again.  We went to the local building inspector and gave him a copy of the air quality report. The building inspector issued a citation so the landlord would have to have the house properly and professionally cleaned up.  No more sick families-woohoo!

There was one little unfortunate mishap during the move.  On a  late Sunday night moving spree we hit a deer with the van.  Actually the deer hit us I swear.  After hitting us the deer ran away fine.   Our van on the other hand was a different story. That deer left our van a mess -he left us a mess too!  It had to be one of the worst experiences of my life. I never hit an animal before, it's been hard to shake off emotionally and financially.  I'm pretty sure there's over a thousand dollars worth of damage. Fiberglass and Styrofoam do not hold up well against a 200lbs+ deer.  I'm not kidding when I say that behind my broken fiberglass bumper was a big block of black Styrofoam.   How is Styrofoam suppose to protect people?  Dodge sucks.

Cancer update: Mike has his radiation appointments this coming week.  He'll get a shot on Tuesday, a shot on Wednesday and a radioactive iodine pill on Thursday.  On December 23 he'll have a full body scan, he should be completely cancer free.  By Christmas we'll most likely be able to put all of this behind us -fingers crossed.

My iterview with NUOK & The Jersey Shore Saga: Friggin' Twilight

A few weeks back I was interviewed by the very lovely and very patient Fran from the Italian blog NUOK. The interview is up on the blog now. If you ever had any questions about me or Tattooedgeek this interview probably answers all of them.


http://www.nuok.it/2010/06/today-in-new-york-mrs-tattoed-geek/



And, well this just cracked me up!

Balms away!

I am so happy to share with you the newest additions to the Tattooedgeek Inc. product line.

The first addition is my new series of fragrance oil rollers.  My fragrance oil rollers glide on smooth, absorb  almost instantly into your skin and smell wonderful!  I'll be adding more fragrances over the next few days. You can expect to see a matching fragrance oil roller  for every one of my candle scents as well as a few new surprises.

And now for the Balms!  I'm adding dozens of  new lip balms to the shop.  My lip balms are super moisturizing and come in lots of great flavors.  Most are flavored with pure essential oils and a touch of Stevia for a bit of sweetness.  Needless to say both of my new fragrance oil rollers and lip balms are completely vegan, they are also free from all petroleum by-products.   

Great Gifts for Girl Grads!

Graduation time is here and I thought I'd highlight some great gift ideas for the Graduation Girl in your life.  Give your Grad the gift of luck with these inexpensive picks from a few of my favorite Etsy shops. 

Crazy Lucky Dice

http://www.pulpsushi.etsy.com/

Silver Lucky Horseshoe Studs

http://www.rocklove.etsy.com/ or  http://www.rocklove.com/

Lucky 13 Antique Skeleton Key Star Necklace

http://www.bellasmiles.etsy.com/

(FYI: Bella Smiles is a vegan owned and operated shop)

Lucky Cat Glass Pendant

http://www.kawaiisakurajewerly.etsy.com/

Lucky Love is a Devil Tattoo Pinup Girl

http://www.pinkytoast.etsy.com/

Cute Cupcake Magnets

http://www.rubbishtees.etsy.com/

If your Grad is dorm bound help ward off the home sick blues with these super cute felt magnets.  I mean seriously, what girl wouldn't feel lucky with a  cute little cupcake magnet on her mini fridge smiling back at her!

 

**P.S. (everything listed is $30.00 and under!)  

What do the Vegan de Guadalupe, Frankenstein and his bride all have in common?

The walls here have had their awesomeness dramatically increased by a couple of new prints  recently snagged off  Etsy.

Vegan de Guadalupe

(patron saint of vegan kitchens)

Our kitchen needed a patron saint and so does yours!  You can get your own over at http://www.vivalacraft.etsy.com/.  Be sure to check out all of  the other adorable unique prints available at Viva La Craft.

I first fell in love with the Vegan de Guadalupe when on saw her on the Vegan de Guadalupe Cookzine for sale at http://www.hortencia.etsy.com/. I bought this super cute vegan cookzine last year.  It's full of great Mexican recipes.

Last but definitely  not least are the excellent prints we picked up from Point Blank Art & Design.  The prints arrived in about 4 days, and came with lots of extras.  There are dozens of great  prints available. I've got my eye on Point Blanks Christopher Lee's Dracula.  http://www.pointblankdesign.etsy.com/. We will be back there for more!

Peachy Keen

  Allow me to introduce little Miss Peachy Keen.

This retro inspired doll  made her debut in the shop last night. I just love her, don't you!

Peachy Keen is our first new candle for 2010.  Not only is she a new scent ~ she's also the first to be listed in one of our newest tin sizes.  All of our scents are now available in a small, medium and a soon to come double wicked large 8oz tin.  The small is the same 2oz we've been using for the last several years.  Our new medium size is a much larger wider tin.  While it holds the same amount of wax as the 6oz tins we've used in the past, it allows for a bigger label and a much larger image.  You'll get the same amount of candle as before only our original  label art will be bigger, brighter and better.

 

There's a few more newbies waiting to make their debut as well.  Check back often ~ you won't be disappointed!

 

Vegan MoFo day7 ~ Vegan food & Etsy. Etsy Sellers specializing in made-to-order vegan delights!

If you're anything like us than you do not live in a very vegan friendly area.  I drool over twitter reading tweet after tweet from happy vegans enjoying the vegan cuisine from their local vegan friendly eateries.  Here we have a mediocre at best health food store, and all vegan friendly restaurants are a minimum of 30 miles away. 

Then I discovered that there are a plethora of Etsy shops dedicated to vegan offerings.  With a click of my mouse I could have fresh homemade vegan fare delivered to my P.O. Box.  We could fill our bellies while filling the pockets of small independent Etsy shop owners, well maybe not fill the pockets - but you know what I mean.  In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that we recently threw our hats into the Etsy Vegan food delivery ring as well.  A few months ago we opened  Medusa Fine Vegan Fare or http://www.medusafoods.etsy.com/.  Medusa Fine Vegan Fare's soul purpose is to provide high quality vegan entrees to those without access to such, or those busy vegans and vegetarians looking for a quick healthy meal.

On Medusa's menu you will find seitan based dishes like Thai Peanut, Southern Fried Cutlets, Vegan Tandoori Chicken, Maple Teriyaki and Buffalo Bites with Vegan Blue Cheese Dip to name a few.

Our shop isn't the only vegan food based Etsy shop.  We found a few others like Sweet Fritsy where you can find these wonderful looking donuts and  many other awesome looking vegan goodness.   http://www.sweetfritsy.etsy.com/

And I can't forget The Cupcake Mint  where you can order this bad boy or one of his equally mouth watering siblings. http://www.thecupcakemint.etsy.com/

When shopping on Etsy search vegan, vegan plants and edibles, or vegan food to find these and other vegan offerings available from some of the many different vegan friendly Etsy shops.

VeganMofo day 4 ~ Easy Chik'N Salad Pitas, Corn Bread my Vegan kids.

Super Easy Chik'N Salad Pitas

2 packages of Morning Star Farm Chik'N strips thawed and Diced

1 Red Pepper Diced

1 Green Pepper Diced

 1/2 Sweet Onion Diced

1/2 Red Onion Diced

1 Bunch of fresh Italian Parsley chopped

Handful of Cherry tomatoes cut in halves

2 cups of  Follow Your Heat Vegenaise

Sea Salt & Pepper to taste (I like Jane's Krazy Mixedup salt)

2tsp Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar

Garlic Powder to taste

1tbs prepared mustard

2 or 3 marinated roasted red peppers chopped

Mix Vegenaise, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, prepared mustard, chopped roasted red peppers in a bowl and set aside.  Mix the Veggies and ChikN in a large bowl.  Pour Vegenaise mixture over Veggies and ChickN and stir.  Make sure everything is really covered with the Vegenaise mixture.  Add sea salt and pepper to taste and let chill or serve in Pita's immediately.  Cover left overs and refrigerate.  This salad tastes better and better every day!  All of the dressing ingredients can be increased or decreased to you preference ~ just remember that the Morning Star Farm Chik'N strips are preseasoned and pretty peppery.

Em and her cornbreads

My youngest daughter, unlike me, would rather eat cornbread than candy, cookies or cake, even chocolate cake ~ weird.  She'll actually nag to make cornbread. She/we (but mostly she) veganized a recipe using vanilla soy yogurt and vanilla soy milk.  It makes a really sweet pleasant corn muffin or corn bread. 

Years ago my oldest two and I were walking to the playground and we came across a dead pigeon laying in the middle of the sidewalk.  My son (then 3) looked down at the dead bird and said "Put that bird in a baggie so we can bring it home for Nanny (his grandmother)"  I asked him why would we do that?  He replied  "Cause she eats dead birds." "Not pigeons!" I said. My daughter (than 2) looked up at me and with a completely puzzled look on her face asked "What's the difference?"  My son added "A dead bird is a dead bird right?"  How do you argue with a 3 year old when he's right?

One afternoon when my oldest daughter was in preschool I received a phone call from her teacher complaining that my daughter had disrupted the class that day. I asked what had she done.  The teacher told me that she had made a big pot of Chicken Alphabet soup for the students.  When she came to give my daughter some my daughter said "no thank you" The teacher asked "why not?"  my daughter replied "I don't  eat dead meat soup."  The rest of the children heard what my daughter said and then they didn't want to eat "dead meat soup." either.  That's my girl, revolution starter in preschool.

Veganized Italian Rainbow Cookies - Hell yeah!

 Rainbow cookies were a big family favorite, especially around Christmas time.  They quickly became the first thing missed after going vegan 2 1/2 years ago.  We recently veganized our recipe and the results were... excellent.  Non vegans will never know the difference.  In fact we all agree, the vegan Rainbow cookies were superior!  Unfortunately traditional Rainbow cookies can be very dry - our vegan version was super moist and delicious.

New Totes in the shop today!

We've been extreamly busy making tons of new products.  Here's a sneak peek.  New totes - in color!

This is just a small sample.  There's more in the shop.

http://www.mrstattooedgeek.etsy.com/

October is here - hooray!

Cleo was loving the cool October air this morning.