helpfulcatcreations

Helpful Cat Creations

Lansing, Michigan 117 Sales On Etsy since 2010

0 out of 5 stars (47)

helpfulcatcreations

Helpful Cat Creations

Lansing, Michigan | 117 Sales

0 out of 5 stars (47)

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quality 2 shipping 8 customer service 6

About

  • This is where the magic happens... This is my main beading desk. Presently, it's Bracelet Central.
  • My ITSOs! Unfortunately Target doesn't make these anymore, or I'd have a room full! It keeps me sort of organized.
  • My photography setup. Props are underneath. During the day, it gets FABULOUS natural light.
  • My other table, for shipping/sewing/millinery/crochet/flower arranging/what have you. Presently: Shipping Central.
  • My magnet and corkboards. I keep all my swarovskis and findings I use the most on the magnet board.

Helpful Cat Creations: turning a hobby into a niche

I have been a huge fan of beading my whole life. I love beads, and things that can become beads, and things that really have no business being beads but get conscripted as well. I also love decoupage, and crochet, along with other crafts, though I have to limit myself due to income and, well, space. I would make pretty things for friends and family as gifts, but it never turned into anything more than a hobby and a way to make one-of-a-kind gifts for my loved ones.

I am also a huge Transformers fan. Another hobby of mine used to be building elaborate Transformer costumes and wearing them at conventions, but I didn't have much of a budget, and conventions are expensive. At my first convention, there was a booth where a woman was giving out necklaces she'd made with Shrinky Dinks and paint, where she'd hand-painted the sigils of the two factions onto a sheet and shrank it. She wasn't selling them, because it was just something fun to do. I thought that maybe it would be a way for me to make the sigils into jewelry, as there really wasn't much jewelry available at the time (and there still isn't.)

I experimented with Shrinky Dinks for ages before I finally came to my current design and method of fusing the plastic to make it look more like glass. I got a booth at a convention, and made THOUSANDS of sigils, pre-making earrings, necklaces, barrettes, and bracelets for sale. I made enough money to cover the cost of my entire trip, which was fantastic, and I was bitten.

It's been hard getting to conventions ever since, due to them usually being really far away, but I continue to sell Transformers jewelry on a small scale here, on my site. As far as I know, I'm the only Transformers jewelry maker who does things quite like I do, and there really aren't very many of us at all. I personally know- and am friends with- most of the other jewelry artists.

When I was trying to think of a name for my shop, I thought of the picture of my cat, Chihiro, with paint on her nose after she decided to "help" me with my Red Alert costume. One of my friends had commented "Helpful Cat is painted!" when she saw the picture.

Helpful Cat. I liked the ring of it; it was cute, it wasn't JUST about Transformers, so I could use it for my more conventional jewelry, and it gave me an easy symbol to use for my pieces- I add a cat bead to larger pieces, and use a cat paw print stamp on all boxes.

And thus, Helpful Cat Creations was born.

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Shop members

  • Nadja

    Owner, Maker, Designer, Curator, Photographer

    I am the owner, jewelry designer, jewelry maker, photographer, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker... I am the jack of all trades behind Helpful Cat Creations.

  • Chihiro, aka Helpful Cat

    Furry Overlord Of Helpful Cat Creations

    Chihiro is my buddy. She likes to "help" with everything, hence the white paint on her nose, from when she got a bit too up close and personal with a costume I was painting, leading to the nickname Helpful Cat.

Shop policies

Last updated on August 10, 2011
Welcome to Helpful Cat Creations! In case you haven't noticed, there is a definite theme of Helpful Cat goodness running through this shop's veins. Helpful Cat Creations is named after my cat Chihiro, who is also known as Helpful Cat. Chihiro really, really likes to help me with whatever I'm doing, be it laying down on my bead tray, rubbing against wet paint, or batting my tools around. Once I got my shop set up, I learned that a perch with a bed on it that Chihiro could supervise from would rescue my workspace from her ever-so-helpful presence. Since then, my projects have been far less helped with, but Chihiro is still supervising operations here at Helpful Cat Creations.
Returns and exchanges
Helpful Cat Creations is proud of all of its products. As such, I guarantee my products to be without defect. Should my product break due to normal wear and tear within 90 days of purchase, I will be happy to exchange or repair your item, or refund your money. After 90 days, I will still happily repair any damage caused by normal wear and tear. Feel free to contact me for more information.
Payment
I am more than happy to accept all things Paypal. Please contact me if there is any difficulty with paying via Paypal, and I will see how I can help accommodate you. I do not like personal checks, but I will accept them. However, I will wait until they clear before shipping.
Shipping
Helpful Cat Creations ships with the United States Postal Service, and I am thrilled to offer flat-rate shipping to keep costs down and get your products to you in a timely manner, as well as providing a great deal of protection for your items in a well-cushioned, well-packed cardboard box.

Shipping CAN be combined on orders, provided it all fits into the small flat-rate box. Two items will usually fit, but more than two will need a larger box, which is an increased price. I will let you know if it can all be squeezed into one box and will refund you some of your shipping to reflect that.

I DO ship internationally, but as that goes by the weight of the package, rather than a flat rate, I will need to weigh your item and let you know what the shipping costs will be. I finally broke down and bought a shipping scale so I can do it all from home.

I package everything extremely carefully, but please don't hesitate to ask for insurance!

I use "green" packing material, i.e. recycled paper, so be careful in opening your box, as it is more or less full of confetti.
Additional policies and FAQs
Helpful Cat Creations LOVES custom orders. I love them! Please don't hesitate to contact me with your ideas and desires, and I will work with you to create them.