Just Wanted To Wish You A . . .

Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo, The Residents of Hoboville

Bunnies & Bows

Just posted two more stamps in the shop today!

New Stamp Preview! Shop Update!

Shop Update...Finally! :)

Yes. I know it's been a while, ages in fact, since I last updated my etsy shop. But it's finally here! I have a few new designs to add to the shop and will be posting them throughout the week. I just posted my first new stamp. It's a Koala.

You can find it here. :)

Mahi Mahi for Dinner

No, it's not the Loch Ness Monster!

Shana Logic

I was so excited when Shana of ShanaLogic.com contacted me about carrying some of my rubber stamps in her online store. She sells like only the cutest stuff...ever! ;)

Whoa! So Craft-tastic!

I saw this woman on Yo Gabba Gabba and I just had to look for the rest of her stuff on you tube! Check out this gem. It's like the unofficial etsy theme song! P.S. I wanted to add that I don't usually sit at home watching children's programming, haha. I was just doing a bit of research to help a friend plan her son's Yo Gabba Gabba themed b-day party! :)

Evolution

The evolution of an Etsy shop . . .

2007

2008

2009

2010

Hobo Boat

It's been raining for 3 days straight now and I have a lot of homework to do. . . goodbye summer.

Tubby Kitty

The vet told us that hobocat needs to lose a few pounds. She is on a diet now. Hobocat is not amused.

A Little More Than A Coincidence?

I've received more than a few requests from customers who want me to send stamps out as a gift to a friend or relative. Unfortunately for them, all I have are the plain plastic baggies that I send my regular orders in. So boring! :P I was thinking it would be nice if I could find a way to spruce up gift packages for my customers so I turned to the supply section of etsy to do a little browsing. I did a search for "cute gift bags" and was surprised to come across this:

The dark owl and doppel "gäng"

I love to see customers selling beautiful and creative items using my stamps. My policy regarding the use of these stamps is simply that any item to be sold must be hand stamped (no mechanical reproductions). That's it! I don't even ask to be credited, although it is always nice when someone feels kind enough to do so. :)

So anyway, you may be wondering why I was so caught off guard when I came across this cute little zippy bag with what looked like the "dark owl" design stamped all over it? Well, that dark owl was not hand-stamped by an indie/crafty customer, but instead it has been mechanically copied and mass produced by some Korean company called Rollercoaster. (Btw, I have no problem with the etsy shop I spotted this in. The vendor simply sells cute stationery supplies from Korea.)

Crazy huh?

From Rollercoaster's catalog . . .

The page from my sketchbook where I was trying to figure out my final owl design. Even though I love Bubo, I'm so glad I didn't choose to give the owl a clockwork eye! Ugh! What was I thinking?

I've decided to shorten this post because I feel really bad for ranting on and on earlier! I've even decided that I'm semi-flattered that a big company actually liked my design enough to copy me. :) I'm just a little bummed that someone might come to the conclusion that I was the copycat in this situation, and not the other way around. I found a video on TED related to this whole issue. It's about copycats in creative industries and the lessons we can learn. Okay then. Sorry about all that. Done ranting now. Cheers! :)

Lucille

Rebecca (a.k.a. SquirrelJunkie on etsy) wrote to me last month to let me know that she was going to incorporate some of my stamp designs into what will eventually become a 3/4 sleeve tattoo on her arm. She sent me a link to her flickr page where you can see the beginning of her journey. I've been so busy moving into my new apartment that I was unable to post a pic of the tattoo until today. It's my narwhal design. . . and she's named it Lucille! Tee hee. . . so adorable! Don't forget to check out her etsy shop too!

In Keeping With the Baby Theme. . .

Customer Sari just shared with me some pics of these cute onesies she made using the light owl and tabby cat stamps. You can find these and other altered/upcycled clothing for sale in her etsy shop!

Blue Water Baby

We're having a surprise baby shower for a friend tomorrow! She and her husband own a speargun company and they love diving and blue water hunting. Their son will probably be swimming in the ocean before he even learns how to walk! I drew this little guy and framed it for them. : )

Show & Tell

Just wanted to share some pictures customers have sent me of the creative ways they've been using their stamps. You guys are the best!

Steph made a colorful "twinchie" collage and a card too! She even has a great tutorial for the rainbow twinchie collage on her blog.

A fine silver pendant of the arctic fox.

by Westbyron. Check out her etsy shop!

Jessica loves her shibas!

Soooo Excited! ...or why I have a pet turtle named Eggs.

Vampires like girls who wear Nike Cortez.

I haven't been this excited about television since. . . umm. . . like two weeks ago. . . for the Lost finale. Ha. Ha. No, but I swear I'm not glued to the t.v. screen all the time. Like really. I promise. I don't watch Grey's Anatomy or Desperate Housewives or Glee or the hundreds of other shows all my other friends are watching. It's kind of awkward sometimes in conversation when everyone is talking about some show I've never seen. Then I'll say something like "Oh, I named my turtle Eggs after Tara's boyfriend in True Blood 'cause the squares on her plastron make her look like she has abs and Eggs on the show had some major abs! Am I right? Hahaha. . .". . . and then things get even more awkward because no one knows what I'm talking about. They don't watch True Blood. : (

Eggs and those abs. See what I mean?

I'm supposed to have a day out with the girls soon and they want to watch the new Sex In The City movie. Unfortunately, I've never seen a single episode. Oh well. . . : ) Anyway it's a big night for the only two shows I'm watching right now. The season finale of Breaking Bad and the new season of True Blood starts tonight. Hooray! I even have my very own pair of Sookie shoes.

Hobocat checking out my "Sookie Shoes"

I am such a nerd.

Split Personality

Tiger...Uppercut! ;-)

Stamps on the ground...

Stamps on the ground, stamps on the ground, workin' really hard on my stamps on the ground!

The River Child

My kappa painting has finally found a home...it's off to Florida! =)

Mother's Day

Hope all the mommies out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Hobo Rainbow

Sunfish Synchronicity?

Look what I came across while stocking up on some paint at the local craft store. It was in a bin near the check out counter. A mola mola eraser?! No Way! =)

Mola Mola

The Mola Mola a.k.a. giant ocean sunfish. They can weigh over a ton! I love these guys. They look like cartoon characters even in real life. =)

Sugar Glider

sugar glider gal.

Easter Bunny

Happy Easter!

Rainforest Zoo

Every now and then my boyfriend and I visit our local zoo to check out the animals and get some much needed exercise in too. (I hate going to the gym!). Hilo's zoo is the only tropical rainforest zoo in the United States and admission is free, although I'm sure they'd really appreciate a small donation. :0) Here's a sketch of a sloth and a tapir, two of the animals that can be found in the rainforest and at our zoo. (Well maybe not the tapir anymore but I'm pretty sure they did have one once).

Biffalo

Bison or Buffalo? Maybe Biffalo? But not Beefalo. :o)

Frog Prince?

Sorry I haven't come out with any new stamps lately! :o( I promise I've been doing a lot of drawing and I should be having a shop update...sometime soon? I must admit that I've been a bit distracted by school lately. I'm going back to school for nursing! Wish me luck. :o) Anyway, here's one of the random animals hanging out in my sketchbook. Wondering if he should be a stamp...

Paper*Cakes Finds

My unicorn stamp was featured on Paper*Cakes Finds today along with a bunch of other cute unicorn themed items. Yay! :o)

Cuddlefish

I was thinking of making one of these guys into a stamp but I'm not sure if everyone is as in love with cuttlefish/cuddlefish as I am! haha. :o) I saw some in person at Disneyworld once and I've been obsessed with them ever since. I couldn't believe how intelligent they were!

P.S. I just found this video on youtube that someone took of the baby cuttles at The Living Seas at Epcot (where I saw them too). Who knew cephalopods could be so cute?

Baaaaa!

Happy New Year & Kitty Surprise!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year and share this super cute kitty video with all the other crazy cat ladies (and gentlemen) out there. Too funny!!