Looking stupid

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Anger and crying

Try something new

ECCE 2014

East Coast Comic Expo holds a special place in my heart. 

Last year, ECCE was the first convention I ever went to. Ever. I can’t even believe that it has only been 1 year since I started going to conventions! It was my first convention, and it was their first time holding the ECCE, and it was glorious. I was so incredibly excited the whole time, I sold a lot of jewellery, and thus began my convention addiction.

Needless to say, I was very much looking forward to this year’s ECCE. I was definitely not disappointed! As expected, it was amazing. 

It amazes me that such a new event that only lasts one day can be so amazing. The organizers do an absolutely amazing job putting this event together, and I can’t wait to see how it grows over the years.

I got up at 3 am that morning, got ready, ate, finished packing things in my car, had my friend pack her stuff in my car, and we set out for Moncton. I was nearly delirious with exhaustion because of the ungodly hour, and the drive there was quite pleasant, filled with singing, dancing, and silliness.

We arrived, started setting up, and discovered that we had a young Harley Quinn at the table beside ours. 

Throughout the day, I continued to be giddy. I absolutely love costumes, and seeing everyone’s amazing costumes always makes me incredibly happy.  Iron Man was one of my favourites, and a costumer (dressed as the Doctor) saw how incredibly excited I was about the Iron Man cosplay, and went over and grabbed Iron Man and asked him to take a photo with me. So, the Doctor gave me Iron Man. What a day.

I’m a huge Star Wars fan, and this Obi-Wan Kenobi was just too perfect. I’m pretty sure he thinks I was in love with him, because of the number of photos I took of him, and how excited I was when I spoke to him.

Also, he taught me how to use the Force. Have I mentioned how epic this day was?

So, I spent a decent chunk of my time running around, trying to get photos of/with some of my favourite cosplays, but I didn’t get nearly as many photos as I would have liked. Another goal for future comic conventions, I suppose. Take more photos!!

I sold lots of items to people who were dressed as the character on the jewellery they bought (I offer a big deal in cases like this, by the way), which always makes me happy.

I have so many characters I want to cosplay, and seeing people dressed as them at conventions just makes me want to cosplay even more! For example, I would kill to be Mystique at a convention. But I haven’t begun working on that one yet. The costume itself and the blue body paint seem quite tricky. 

Another one of my favourite things about going to conventions is seeing all of the vendors and artists I have met at previous conventions! It is so nice to catch up with everyone and see all of the amazing things they've been working on. Another goal for future conventions is to get photos with all of my favourite artists and vendors.

As a side note, this happened in front of my booth:

The day was amazing and after the day was over, all I could think of was that I needed another convention ASAP. My mind has been reeling ever since with ideas for jewellery and cosplay.

Luckily, there is another convention very soon. I will be selling jewellery at Animaritime on June 27, 28, and 29^th in Fredericton! THREE WHOLE DAYS of convention-going!! I am not sure if I will wear one costume per day or two. Because I have a hell of a lot of costumes in the works at the moment. I have an addiction to cosplay. Luckily, I’m not the only one, and I can’t wait to see what everyone is wearing (and selling) there! 

How far you've come

Birthday Sale and Giveaway!

My birthday is coming up, and I wanted to celebrate in my Etsy shop and on my Facebook page.

So, here’s the deal. I am having both a sale and a giveaway! You can use the coupon code SBDAY2014 to get 30% off of your purchase between now and April 10^th.

Use this code in my shop, here:
www.hodderdesigns.etsy.com

That is because it would be the BEST birthday present for me if you would make a purchase from my shop!

If you share my giveaway/sale photo from my Facebook page wall, you will be entered to win a free item of your choice, valued at up to $30, and I will pay for the shipping. Just like my page, share the photo, and then comment on the photo to tell me that you shared (Facebook privacy settings mean that I can’t always see who shared my photos). I will be doing the draw on April 11^th at noon.

So, help me celebrate my birthday by buying something from my shop! You get a great deal, and I get some orders to brighten my birthday week! Everyone wins!

And don’t forget to share the giveaway photo for a chance to win something free from my shop! You can enter once per day by sharing each day. 

Life-altering vegan pancakes

That's right. Life-altering.

As I ate the meal I am about to describe, I felt as though I were in Cora's. Those who know me know how much I loved Cora's before becoming a vegan. I lived for raspberry crepes, and strawberry custard waffles. I loved to stuff my face with sweet, delicious breakfasts.

Since becoming a vegan, however, I have not been eating as many delicious breakfasts as I used to. Sure, I had pancakes and waffles from time to time, but they were always lacklustre. I always felt as though I wasn't doing the pancakes justice, but no matter how many recipes I tried, they were never quite right.

Recently, I stumbled upon a recipe for pancakes that made my mouth water.

http://ohsheglows.com/2014/02/25/easy-vegan-and-gluten-free-pancakes-strawberry-shortcake-w-whipped-cream/

Looks amazing, right?

As usual, I had very few of the ingredients on hand, so I decided to just use the recipe as inspiration. They very clearly explained that you could not substitute the flour they had chosen, which was an ingredient I was missing, so I decided to use an ancient grain, gluten free pancake mix to start. I did take their suggestion of adding diced banana to the batter, and then used their whipped cream recipe too.

And then, using a can of coconut milk I had bought ages ago in order to make whipped cream, I made this:

Using this recipe:
http://ohsheglows.com/2012/08/30/coconut-whipped-cream-a-step-by-step-photo-tutorial/


Here is what my pancakes looked like in the end:

Not bad, if I do say so myself.

And they tasted even better than they looked. I ended up adding a ton more of the "cream," which was surprisingly delicious. I don't like whipped cream, so I doubt this was very similar to real whipped cream, but it was very delicious.

So, finally, I have a sweet vegan breakfast option that I love. Hopefully, I can perfect some more vegan breakfast options soon.

Stay tuned for my life-altering vegan garlic fingers, coming soon.

Happiness and perfection

Etsy Shop!

In January I began working very hard on my Etsy shop. It has been open for a long time, but has been very inactive. I just used it to sell things to people who wanted an item they saw on Facebok, but didn't live in my city. But now, I am making an effort.

I have been working very hard on listing items on Etsy. I have hundreds and hundreds on Facebook, but only had about 20 or fewer on Etsy until January. I now have more than 100 items on Etsy, and there are so many more left for me to list!

A little preview:

Check out my shop here: http://www.hodderdesigns.etsy.com/

Please keep an eye on my shop while I continue to develop it! There will be many more updates there in the coming weeks, and some amazing new photos will be added soon (more info to come in a future blog post).

Also, if you see anything on Facebook that you would like to buy online from me, but I haven't listed it on Etsy yet, just let me know! I have too many pieces of jewellery to post them all on Etsy, but am working on putting some of my best ones on there this year.

Smile

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A Quick Kindness Tip

Send someone an e-card! Either send a free one, or buy a yearly subscription (my subscription to Hallmark.ca only cost me $12, and I can send e-cards all the time!)