Etsy

On the business front, we've been in business now since 2002, primarily online and conventions only. We do not have a brick-and-mortar storefront, though that is my dream someday :) All items we list on Etsy are handmade, in-house, and original designs (except for the runestones, I'm not THAT old, lol). If you would like to see us set up at a convention near you (and even better, near us), just drop me a line telling me about it, and include a link to the convention website. If I'm not already booked, we'll investigate and see whether it's do-able.

On a more personal note, I'm the mother to two sons, the oldest being Will (21), and Darius (11). Being laid off and living off of our savings account for nearly a year isn't being helped by finally finding a job, only to have it pay 33% less, so we're still struggling to pay the mortgage and car payments, much less utilities and food. My youngest has been on the Free and Reduced Lunch program at school since the layoff, which is the first time I've EVER not been able to afford lunch for my kid. Not the most pleasant of realizations that even with the new job, we still qualify for that program.

Darius also struggles daily with Asperger's, OCD, Tourettes and ADHD, so as you can imagine, our days are pretty full between keeping him progressing in his treatments and scrounging conventions we can set up booths at. Just one of his medications runs $600 without insurance, and we make just a smidge too much to qualify for Medicaid, so even crappy HMO insurance helps.

Will has had to drop out of college since the financial meltdown, and works at the local KFC to help cover the family bills. I'm very proud of him being willing to help out, as most of the kids today generally aren't.

Your purchase from us, be it through Etsy, eBay, or conventions, helps more than you can ever know, and we appreciate it deeply. Goddess bless :)