I must once again give props to the wonderful design skills of my partner, Colin, aka. CatCubed , I now have 4 new spiffy business cards for NifNaks.

Remember those bubblegum cards we collected when we were kids, where the backs of the cards fit together like a puzzle to make a larger picture? Well check out the new design of my cards below!



Collect all

In need of a NifNaks photo/promo book to showcase my products at Maker Faire, a friend suggested using iPhoto. I know I'm probably THE LAST person to know this, but I discovered how I can create a photo book in iPhoto, and have Apple print and ship it to me in less time than if I did all the work myself! It seemed hard to believe, but I just submitted my layout minutes ago, and now I'm eagerly awaiting the shipment of my first few books. I'm feeling confident that it will be all that I hope it to be!

Today was a whilwhind of activity, as I jetted on my motorcycle from one side of the city to the other to meet with each of my models. What a stellar bunch friends I have -- and so stylin' too! Check out these snapshots from my second ever NifNaks photoshoot, featuring Prof. NifNaks Patented Moustachios:

Tyson sporting The Edwardian

Evilee is adorable in The Walrus

Steve23 is so dashing in The Zeppelin

NifNaks was featured in it's first ever print magazine! Today, the April issue of XLR8R hit the stands, and there within the Elements section, a couple of cute fuzzy NifNaks can be found.

With my own personal DJ living in the house, DJ Chiral of MK2 Systems, San Francisco , it was quite an honor to be featured in this premier magazine on music and culture. In fact, DJ Chiral was gracious enough to model my tentacle scarf for me.

XLR8R magazine publishes both print and online. Check out the latest issue at a store near you, within featuring GIZZY the Dataworm and Paisley the hair-clip in all their fuzzy glory!

Happy International Women's Day !

Such a timely holiday, for I've been thinking a lot about how far I've come in just a little over a year into NifNaks.

I think much of this reflection was spurred by the wonderful article in the San Francisco Chronicle written by Patricia Yollin on the Women's Initiative 's 20th Anniversary. You see, if it weren't for the wonderful businesswomen, entrepreneurs, and visionaries at Women's Initiative, I don't think there would be a NifNaks today. Before I enrolled in the Simple Steps to Business Success program at the Women's Initiative, I was overwhelmed by the daunting task of starting my own business.

But soon after I started the classes, I already became more confident and excited about the possibility of making my dream into a real working business. In the program, I learning the value of interacting with other entrepreneurs like me. I have fond memories of the time I spent in the program collaborating and learning from the other women in my class. By the end of the 20 week course I was proud to have written my own business plan, and to have a focused direction of where to go and the steps I needed to take to get there.

I recommend any woman who is out there considering the possibility of carving out her own future to seek out the Women's Initiative. The staff, instructors, and guest speakers at Women's Initiative are informative, supportive, and excellent in their jobs. And of course, your peers that you will meet in the class will inspire you and motivate you to finally realize your dream of starting your own business!

Congratulations to everyone at the Women's Initiative on our 20th anniversary!

Hey all you fine readers out there using RSS feed readers to follow NifNaks. I apologize about the repeat posts coming your way the past couple days. We did an upgrade of our blog system and it unfortunately shot out repeats of recent posts.

 Everything is in order now so you shouldn't see any more repeats.

 Now we bring you back to your regularly scheduled

I have been known to occasionally indulge in the sugary treats over the years. Some have come and gone, and yet have still left warm and sugary mark on my heart.

Remember Skinny Dippers from the 1980's? Yan-yans have filled the void that they left in my life when Skinny Dippers were discontinued. Yan-yans are are little biscuit strips that you dip into a frosting-like substance. Actually, the "frosting" is rather smooth and creamy, not gritty like frosting -- nothing beats hydrogenated palm oil, yum!

Perhaps it's been a while since I've purchase these, but there seems to be an awfully cute addition to my eating pleasure -- sayings and cute little animal pictures on each stick!

Here's a sample of all the super cute sayings on the little biscuit sticks:

Whale - Biggesy Mammal

Cat - Say Meow

Starfish - Star + Fish

Snail - Snail Mail?

Chicken - Kokekokko

Cow - Muuuuu

Squirrel - Your Best Friend

Horse - Gallop Away

Rabbit - Eat More Carrots

Mole - In a Hole

Squid - Black Ink

Zebra - Herbivore

Seal - Loves to Sun Tan

Stag Beetle - Love It

Sheep - Wool Sweaters

Strange and funny, and cute enough to inspire.

Being quite the adventurous lass, I have thrown many a party with my fellow buccanneers, fightin' and carousin' on the high seas! (Um, err, Strawberry Lake, Golden Gate Park, that is.) Over the years, it have come to my attention that I am not alone in my love of dubloons and grog, amongst my fellow man. In fact, since the launch of NifNaks, I’ve had many folks contact me regarding obtaining the perfect Captain Jack Sparrow dreadlocks, made from merino wool.

Considering this how many swashbuckling lads and lasses are out there, it only made sense to share with you all the finest pirate hats that I found ever lay my eyes upon, made by the Makay . These hand-crafted wool hats come in over ten different styles – double that number if you consider that they also can be made in seagrass or straw as well.

I certainly can’t wait to crown my pretty head with one of these beauties, soon.


(Super-cool infrared photo credit above goes to the amazing Jacob Appelbaum )

Oh my FSM, I’ve been quiet with blogging lately. However I assure you, I certainly have been busy with many, many things… I hardly know where to start!

Well the gist of it all is January is my month for catching up on a bunch of administrative stuff I’ve been meaning to do get to these past few months. The top of that list is taxes, and taking all the steps to organize info from last year. What a job I’ve had!

There has been a folder that has gotten fatter, and fatter this past year, of various receipts I’ve been stuffing into for NifNaks. I had thought it was all organized, but it’s not until I started to coalate all of this information, that I saw a huge flaw in my “system”. I most certainly need to take measures to avoid some of this head-ache next year. So thanks to the SBA of San Francisco, I think I can really tackle this beast.

The Small Business Administration offers tons classes each year for business owners on a variety of topics all aimed at us beginning our small businesses. Now, I’m happily registered for a Quickbooks class at the end of this month. Perhaps I can finally get those receipts entered into the computer at regular intervals!

Other systems and plans are being formed and implemented, but I won’t go into them now. After all, I need to intersperse administrative updates with the fun stuff.

Next Post: Pirate Hats..... ahrrrr, Matey!

It's been a great year! From my first booth at the fabulous Maker Faire to the piles of dreads I crafted for Prepare for the Playa to the massive holiday rush that kept me busy throughout November and December.

Battalions of Flying Spaghetti Monsters, Cthulhus, DataWormz, and other NifNaks were adopted by people all over the world!

I was overjoyed to receive several letters of thanks from people! Including a fabulous print of the Flying Spaghetti Monster created by the talented Victoria Prozan McGlinn.

To celebrate the end of 2007 I decided to take a much needed vacation from all my felting. So I'll be getting away from it all for the next week. I'm going on a road trip with friends to Baha, Joshua Tree, and other beautiful places in southern California.

Thanks to all of you who adopted a NifNak this holiday season! I hope you had a wonderful 2007 and here's to an even better 2008!