Friday, November 28, 2014

Bleak Friday?

Ok, everyone, Thanksgiving is officially over!

BRING ON THE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS.


 

I spent two nights wiring up 8 boxes of twinkle lights to our already pre-lit tree. That's something like 1650 lights on a 6 foot tree! In my defense, John said he likes a lot of lights. YOU'RE WELCOME, SWEETIE.

For those of you braving Black Friday shopping today: godspeed. I think John and I will be hunkering down with our leftover Thanksgiving pie 'til Monday. (My family didn't like the chocolate pecan from Cracker Barrel. MORE FOR ME.)

I also woke up with a serious case of the monthly grumps today, so I'm sure I'm benefiting the world by staying in. [hiss boo humbug WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN, JOHN]

Which reminds me: I must be the only person in America who wore a tightly laced corset for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Can't complain, of course; that thing has consistently made cramps a hundred times more manageable, and it was downright heavenly to lace into that morning. Ahhh.

Thanksgiving table. I made the floral runner from silk flowers I pulled off an old wreath.


Anyhoo, I'm self-medicating the grumps with a little online shopping, because aw yeah, retail therapy.

One of my favorite steampunk artists, Brian Kesinger, is offering 25% off everything in his Etsy shop with the coupon code HOLIDAY25.  I just grabbed the 2015 calendar, and I also highly recommend his Octopus books:




And because we all deserve Christmas stockings as geeky as we are, check out these handmade goodies from Kat of Geek Tree:

 The cost from $30 to $50, depending on complexity. And she takes commissions!


Kat's an Epbot reader, too, so I may be a LITTLE biased on which of her designs is best:

 It's mine! All MINE! MWUAH-HA-HAAA.

Ahem.

Kat actually made that for me last month as a gift, and she doesn't know I'm pitching her stuff here. But her Geek Tree FB page only has 12 likes! C'mon, now. I think we can do better than that. (And check her Etsy store for more designs.)


Oooh, and not only does Threadless have all its shirts at $12 with free shipping, there's even a $7 clearance section with some surprisingly good designs! A few favs:

 
 (I think they only have this one in Men's sizes, sadly. Boo.)


 






There's also 20% off everything at TeeFury, and ThinkGeek has plenty of big sales, but nothing in particular is calling my name. What about you guys? What's draining your bank account today? Share links in the comments, so we can all spread the wealth! (Or at least what's left of it. :D)

*****

Time to announce this month's art roundup winner! And since giving stuff away makes me feel better, I'm picking three winners instead of just one this round. So, my winners are...

- Trude, who liked the We Are Groot
- Katy Jones, who liked Toothless
- Erin Kristine

Congrats, ladies, and please e-mail me your mailing addresses & choice of prize from the Pinterest art give-away board! (To be on the safe side, better send me your second choice of prize, too.)

25 comments:

  1. So many fun ideas! I went shopping last night & today...just about finished with my shopping! Now, onto the tree. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is a plush Otto available at WeLoveFine. Hard to resist!

    Jenn (Seattle)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love Brian Kesinger! I just bought one of his prints with the discount! And I love that plush Otto!! I'm working on a Victoria & Otto costume that I want to wear to the Dickens Fair in San Francisco this year, but I don't think I'll have it done in time. I've got the wig ready, though! I never would have been brave enough to put the costume together without reading stories of people cosplaying here on Epbot! Even my 6yr old son is starting to get into it! We're also working on some Disneybounding outfits for us to wear together.
    I've been shopping on Medieval Collectables for Christmas gifts for my favorite geeky friends and family today.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the head's up on the Threadless sale. Off to fill my cart!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Scored Shadows of Mordor for the PS4 for $25 on Amazon today. Now if they'd only offer Dragon Age Inquisition for that price...

    ReplyDelete
  6. There is nothing I want badly enough to go shopping today!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gaming supplies for the kiddos were what I braved the madness for. So much will be online shopping though so thankfully I did not have to go to a mall, nor did I have to sit for hours to snag something.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, Jen, I found myself zoning out to the video of your tree. *slow clap* I mostly buy more craft stuff for meee!!! Here is a link to some of my sruff I have made. Not alot, but good I think, lol! Mostly resin, little steampunk flair... https://www.etsy.com/listing/206761432/resin-steampunk-dragonfly-earrings?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice work! And yeah, that tree is SUPER hypnotic in person. I fell asleep yesterday sitting in front of it. o.0

      Craft stores have always been my one exception for Black Friday, since they're never too crazy & JoAnn's often offers 25% of your entire purchase - AFTER all the coupons. Woot woot!

      Delete
  9. My fav is Patrick Ballestros. I have his "Blink and seek" in my daughters nursery and I just bought "Who done it." He has these adorable 25¢ wonders that are major adorbs too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was intrigued by the 25 cent wonders so I checked his work out. Love. For everyone else, here's a link: http://patrickballesterosart.bigcartel.com/products

      Delete
  10. Ha! We just unboxed a pre-lit tree this year and then I made my husband add two strings of colored lights because I like colored lights better. Not nearly as many as yours, though.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your bra post from way back when has helped me out, so I'll be taking advantage of the sale for some new bras (why must they be so expensive?!) Also, bought a kilt because retail therapy is the bomb for the monthly grumpiness. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's happening on this side of the pond now too. But the retailers haven't bothered to be organised and actually put in the things to keep their customers safe, so there has been chaos with injuries. Annoyingly I had to get sheets for my son (my others tore), so I ended up queuing for half an hour just for fun! ;-) Xmas decorations today though - yay! Am staying in! :-D Gorgeous tree BTW!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I live in a small town, so it's pretty much safe to brave Wal-mart after about 10 am. People were online shopping earlier in the week though - I have several Etsy orders to make and pack myself!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kat's Geek Tree page now has 181 likes!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I fell prey to the Threadless sale yesterday as well. I bought this one for me as well as this one and this one for the hubby. We both needed new shirts to wear to game night. :)

    I also fell prey to the sale at Afterglow Cosmetics. With my extremely sensitive skin, it's the only makeup I can wear without itching. Usually, I just go without makeup, but sometimes, it's nice to get all dolled up.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I've just been to the SciFiWorld con in Stockholm, and I came home with this set of Doctor Who mugs (which I've been wanting for AGES!). There were other things I wanted, but I'm saving money for an Orlando + Bahamas cruise trip in January (DisneyWorld here I come!), so yeah, I didn't exactly go overboard with the shopping. But I'm also going to London in May (for the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular), so I'm hoping I'll find the TARDIS teapot that goes with the mugs then. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I was good and didn't get anything from Threadless but....TeeFury got me, darn it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I was going to get a SHIELD watch from ThinkGeek (since it was FIFTY PERCENT off), but I waited too long and it went out of stock! Oh well, but now I can use my $10 gift certificate that I'll be getting on it when it comes back in.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am so excited! I have the same Mickey and Minnie Thanksgiving salt and pepper shakers as you :) all the way over here in Australia :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. My daughter's been enjoying the $12 Tee Turtle shirts at teeturtle.com (their designs are adorable, even if you don't care for pandas and penguins the way she does. And she's getting me their Discworld tee for Christmas this year!). Today's the last day of the sale, by the way.

    We also spent a bunch at amazon, including a Vinyl Café book (which I discovered one year on one of the classical radio stations while driving to get my college student. It was a great, hilarious way to pass the time, but my dad prefers books to sound recordings. I have no idea how the person who reads them out loud does it with giggling, though).

    ReplyDelete
  21. OMG I WONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I thought you might be interested in the t-shirt my friend put together: http://teespring.com/princessbodies . I just wanted to bring it to your attention. I love all of your posts!

    ReplyDelete

Please be respectful when commenting; dissenting opinions are great, but personal attacks or hateful remarks will be removed. Also, including a link? Then here's your html cheat sheet: <a href="LINK ADDRESS">YOUR TEXT</a>