Atomic Tiki Terrors Post 2

"Go Home Brain, You're Drunk"; 8"x10" Gouache; 2015

Well, if you don't follow me over on my Instagram account, you missed out on all 1,000,000 work in progress photos of this bad boy.  If you do. . .I'm sorry you saw so many work in progress images of this bad boy.  :P

This past weekend, over at Creature Features in Burbank, CA, was the opening of the "Atomic Tiki Terrors!" group art show and the artwork was AWESOME!  I'm always excited and happy to contribute to the shows over at Creature Features, not only because I like supporting small businesses, but also because they come up with some pretty fun themes for their shows.  As I said in the last post, this show was a mash up of Tiki culture and old horror films, both of which with a focus on the 50's and 60's.  Also, if you saw my previous post, you know that I was using characters from 4 different b-movie horror films from that era.  For those that didn't see the last post, I referenced "The Brain That Wouldn't Die", "The Brain From Planet Arous", "The Reptile" and "The Wasp Woman".  The piece was a lot of fun, and although I almost didn't make it, I got the piece in JUST before the deadline.  The show is up and on display over at Creature Features until August 9th, 2015 if you'd like to see it in person.

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Coming up, in just two and a half weeks, is ScareLA 2015.  I'll be vending again and am really excited that it's going to be at the Pasadena Convention Center this year.  I'm working on some new stuff, not a whole lot, but some new stuff.  I announced on Instagram two nights ago that I had some purses made that have 11 different designs on them from my painting and sticker catalogue.  I'll be slowly previewing them over the next two weeks over on Instagram and the Facebook Page, so if you don't follow me there, and you're interested, you may want to check those pages out.  Also in the works for ScareLA a new pillow design.  I'm turning the Monster Date painting, who's actual title is "IceScream Social", into a pillow.  It'll be cropped slightly and have a pink stripe backing.  Unlike the other pillows this one will be more like a pillow slip and will be removable so you can wash it if it gets dirty.  I'm also going to try to restock some of the necklaces from last year that had Prudence and Frannie on them.

That's all for now.  Catch you next month!

Bats Day 2015 Wrap Up and What's Next

"In the Key of X=?"; 5"x7" Gouache; 2015

 Greetings and Salutations, followers!

Bats Day 2015 has wrapped up and I'm somewhat back to normal after the crazy, fun filled weekend.  So I figured I'd give you guys a re-cap!

This year's Bats Day weekend started on Friday, as always.  My husband and I headed down to the Sheraton Park Hotel in Anaheim, CA after loading up the car.  Every year the organizers of the Bats Day in the Fun Park weekend always throw a party.  This year was no exception and they had a wonderful costumed event.  Every year, I never commit to the party because I'm a horrible procrastinator.  I'm never sure if I'm going to  have everything ready for the Black Market the next day and choose to leave the party night open in case I have any last minute scrambling to do.  So, although I didn't formally attend the soiree, I was lucky enough to slip in for 5 minutes to check out the Preview night for the Gallery999: Through a Child's Eye's art exhibit!

"Rap on a Table"; 5"x7" Gouache; 2015

You can see my finished pieces above.  I did two small paintings for the event this year.  The first, the Trumpet playing ghost, is titled "In the Key of X=?".  It's a 5"x7" gouache painting on watercolor paper and turned out pretty darn cute.  The second, entitled "Rap on a Table" is also a 5"x7" gouache on watercolor paper painting.  I'm particularly fond of the little lamp behind the ghosts head.  At this time, the "Rap on a Table" painting is still available on the Bats Day website for $75.00 (plus tax and shipping) if anyone is interested.

Speaking of the ghosts, the companion piece I was working on didn't quite get finished in time.  Which really bummed me out.  I'm going to work on it and try to have it finished in time for ScareLA, and will have the original and prints of it on display there this year.  (Hopefully.)

@osoamelie and I are as ready as we'll ever be! Come see us. Please? Bats Day Black Market; Sheraton Park hotel in Anaheim. Here til 10! #bats #batsday #batsday2015 #batsdayblackmarket2015 #boogervampire

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on May 30, 2015 at 3:05pm PDT

So, the next day was the Bats Day Black Market, the spooky vending event.  I had to trim stock a little bit in order for everything to fit on the table, but what I didn't display wasn't really missed much (hair clips and earrings).  I took 4 different throw pillows to the Black Market this year:  the Candy Corn from the Spook Show in March, plus a pillow of the "Help Us Master Gracey" painting (R2-D2), and a Black and Green versions of the Kissing Bats I have available on Cosmetic Bags in my shop.  Since it's Bats Day (the day the Goth's take over Disneyland) I'm sure it'll be no surprise to anyone that I sold out of the Black colored Kissing Bats pillows, and the R2 pillows.  I do thankfully have more fabric on hand and will be making a few more to throw in my shop when I open it for business this Saturday, June 6th.  The new stickers went over well, and the surprising big seller was the Sushi Gremlin sticker. I sold out of a few of the Coin Purses and one of the cosmetic bags.  I'll be placing a reorder for those items in the next day or two so they'll be back in stock in time for ScareLA but not for the shop opening this month.

As far as non-stock related stuff and the Black Market, I just have to say Noah and the Bats Day team went above and beyond this year.  This year, the hotel layout was fabulous.  Everything in one place and it was clean, air conditioned and the bathrooms were easily accessible and tons of parking. . . my personal fave about the hotel?  STARBUCKS IN THE LOBBY!!!  I know, I shouldn't be so excited about Starbucks, but seriously, I need some caffeine or I'm cranky.  I had a wonderful time vending next to Ish and Jason from My Vicious Boutique and was super happy to be able to run in and chat for a second with the amazingly awesome Drew Rausch, the artist on IDW's limited Edward Scissorhands comic.  I got to chat with John, the man behind the awesome Killhouettes line, Kimmy from Moonlit Studios/Spooksieboo, and my good friend Queenie from Pocket Full of Posiez.

Overall, Black Market was a wonderful success this year and I'm contemplating doing it again next year (was thinking this might be my last year for a while)!

Your pal the Boogervampire made it into the LA Weekly!  I'm front and center, looking like a dork.

Big news about the actual Bats Day in the Fun Park event, that happens every year on Sunday of Bats Day Weekend, is that I went for longer than an hour this year!!!  Last two years I was so exhausted after the Black Market that I'd go long enough to people watch a tiny bit, eat some food, buy a droid at the Build-a-Droid stand and then bounce.  We were actually there most of the day and actually ran into people I know!!  I also had the great opportunity to meet a few people I didn't.  Overall, it was a great weekend.

So what's up next?

The Atomic Tiki Terrors Group show @ Creature Features in Burbank, CA  July 19th, 2015

Up first in July is the "Atomic Tiki Terrors" Group Show at Creature Features in Burbank, CA.  I just started the sketch and am hoping that I'll get it all wrapped up in time.  So follow the Instagram to see work in progress pics.  Let's just say, I'm putting a lot of brains into this one.  :P

All you need to know is in the picture!

Next, a month after the "Atomic Tiki Terrors" is ScareLA!  As I said in an earlier post, ScareLA is moving to Pasadena this year and if you haven't gotten tickets yet, guess who has a discount code?!  That's right!  Use your special Boogervampire discount code to get 25% off until June 22!  Just use the code: SCAREBOOGER at checkout.

That's it for this blog entry.  Later!

Spook Show 3 Wrap-Up and Vending Event Announcement

My husband took this picture of a crazy guy running around in a full Barlow  (Salem's Lot) costume in 90+ degree weather.  That guy had to literally be undead to survive the day in that outfit.

Hey All!  It appears that 2015 will be the year of bi-monthly blog posts as I'm obviously off to a bumpy start posting stuff this year.  So, let's get this show on the road!!

Spook Show 3 happened back on the 7th of this month (March 2015, if you read this in the future) and just like all things, it had it's ups and downs.  Overall it was a fabulous experience, again, and I look forward to next year!

Here's the play by play of events:

As good as the booth could get.  The new pop up canopy has removable walls, so it looks fancier than normal.

My normal booth 'babe' Natasha couldn't make it to this year's event so my husband had to help.  He did a really great job, and I say that because at all my past events he usually just runs around the whole day having fun and buying cool stuff from the other vendors.  But this time he had to actually work.  He was super nervous but realized it was no big deal after a couple of hours.  I decided to invest in my own pop-up vendor canopy and decided to be rebel and get a purple one.  It was pretty sweet and made me feel so much more professional having not to borrow from friends.

I unfortunately woke up late so I couldn't get breakfast or a caffeinated beverage, so the first couple hours were the most stressful of the day because 1) I'm sooo not a morning person, 2) as I get older the angrier I get if I don't eat regular meals, and 3) if I don't get a Pepsi first thing in the morning to help me wake up, all hell breaks loose.  BUT, even though I didn't eat until noon, I was still able to get us to La Mirada in time for set up by 8:30am and we were rearing to go at 12 when the first attendee's arrived!

My husband took photos of one of the Hearses at the Hearse Show all lit up after dark with Purple lights.

I sold out of nearly all the cosmetic bags and coin purses and would have sold out of the three pillows I made, but I didn't find out until the end of the day that the one pillow I had placed on reserve for a client could be released to the public and they would buy one at a later date.  (GREAT NEWS:  There is one Candy Corn Pillow for sale in the Crypt of DOOM!! if anyone would like to snag it for themselves before I do a restock.)  I'll be receiving a restock of the cosmetic and coin purses very soon as I'm starting to prep for the events I'll be mentioning at the end of this blog post.

Candy Corn throw pillows!!  6 more on their way soon.

Also in the great news category, the pillows had a very positive response from people online and at the event, so I've decided I'll be making a couple more pillows for future events!  Check out my Instagram and Facebook for working progress images or announcements as to when new product will be dropping.

Janice, the crazy happy owner of the Sushi Gremlins painting.

As for the Sushi Gremlins, we orchestrated a 'Extreme Makeover' type surprise for the recipient of the Sushi Gremlin original painting.  As I may have said in previous posts, I don't do commissions.  I'm just too busy and stretched too thin to add all the worry that is involved with custom work to my plate, but the Sushi Gremlins piece was an exception to the rule.  A very dear family friend asked me to 'do my thing' and paint his wife and two daughters as monsters eating sushi, the result was the Sushi Gremlins.  He told me their favorite colors, told me a little bit about their personality types, and most importantly he related to me stories of when they go out to eat together and what happens at the table.  Oh, and since they love Hawaii he asked if I could somehow make it look like they were eating sushi in Hawaii.

Anyway, our dear friend decided that he was going to bring his wife over that day, knowing that the painting was finished and that I had chosen to put it on display at the event.  She literally gravitated strait to it like it had a tractor beam engaged.  She just kept staring at it and smiling and commenting on all the little details.  My husband was as excited as I was to have it delivered and being admired by the person who it was secretly painted for, that he was like "Oh, so you like that painting huh?  How much do you like that painting?"  When she said she loved it we told her it was her's and that her husband had secretly commissioned it for her nearly two years ago.  She was overcome with surprise and joy.  It was the perfect ending and I couldn't have asked for things to go any better.  I just hope that their daughters like it as much as they do.

Got to see my old Neopets pal Irene!  Thanks for coming by Irene!  Oh yeah, that's me and my husband.

That pretty much wraps up Spook Show 3.  I got a chance to visit with followers, which always brings me great joy, visit with good friends like Irene, Alan, Tom and Nicole, and meet other vendors whom I only see at these kinds of events but are equally sweet and fun to be around.

Now, onto announcements!!!

Bats Day in the Fun Park WEEKEND!!!  May 29th thru the 31st, 2015

Yes, I'll be back at the Bats Day Black Market this year!  2015's Black Market will take place on May 30th at the really fancy Sheraton in Anaheim.  It's always fun and I'm planning on making two new pillows for this event!  I'll be turning the Haunted Mansion/Star Wars mash up painting that I call "Help Us Master Gracey, You're Our Only Hope" into a throw pillow as well as the "Kissing Bats" that you can see in my shop on cosmetic bags and a button.  I'm also planning on expanding the Disneyland Tourist Monster Sticker line up by adding two new stickers.  2015 will be bringing Sheldon (Frankenstein's Monster) and ONE of the following: either Prudence, Gillian (Creature), or Booger (as in Boogervampire).  I still haven't decided, but stay tuned in and you'll find out!

My 3rd year doing this event!  Past paintings were "Help Us Master Gracey, You're Our Only Hope" and "Little Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners"

Speaking of Bats Day, I'll also be participating in this year's Gallery999 Haunted Mansion Tribute Art Show again this year.  This will probably be my last year doing it, and I'm in a bit of a funk with the piece (if you've been following a while, you know I signed a contract that prevents me from showing any of it until it has debuted at the show on May 30th) but I'm hoping to get over that this coming weekend.

One of my two favorite Conventions!  This and Monsterpalooza are the only two I actually BRAVE crowds to go to on purpose.  It's that good!!  If an introvert with a fear of crowds won't miss it, you shouldn't either!

Lastly, I'll also be vending again this year at ScareLA!!  We sincerely had SUCH A GOOD TIME last year, that we couldn't WAIT to go back this year.  What's more exciting is that they've moved it from Downtown LA to the Pasadena Convention Center!!  It's a much larger place, and the lazy little turd that I am can't deny having it closer to home is AWESOME!!  You can get tickets now to the Event by visiting the official ScareLA website.

That's it for this month!  Hopefully I'll have stuff I can post soon that's new or in progress, but until then, head over to the Crypt of DOOM!! before I get to busy at work and have to close it again.  Going to try leaving it open for another week.  Fingers crossed things at work stay calm enough that I can handle both with out pulling all my hair out!  LATER ALL!

ScareLA Weekend Recap

Greetings Boils and Ghouls!

The last few weeks leading up to the ScareLA (or Scare Los Angeles) convention have been full of wild craziness.  Most anticipated (making new product and restocking stuff) and some was unexpected (my car breaking down while out purchasing last minute supplies for the convention).  But after all was said and done, ScareLA was just as wonderful, fun, stressful and tiring as I had been told it would be.

My always wacky and supportive husband posing at the table  on the morning of Day 2.

Let's get strait to business in this post first (that way if you get bored and decided to stop reading you'll at least get the important news first)!

If you had been patiently waiting for the "Help Us Master Gracey, You're Our Only Hope" (a.k.a. R2D2) coin purse and cosmetic bag restock, I do have bad news.  I sold out of the coin purses over the weekend and need to order new ones, again (it'll be about a month).  I do have ONE cosmetics bag left after the weekend and it's live, in the shop, right now.  I've reordered some of those as well and should expect them at the same time the new coin purses come in.  I also sold out of the "Kissing Bats" coin purses, the BRAND NEW "Wee Emily Dover" coin purses (still ONE cosmetics bag of that left, btw), the "Truly Outrageous" cosmetics bags, and quite a few necklaces.  I'll be gradually listing the new product that was made for ScareLA thru out the week, so check the Crypt of DOOM! frequently to see what's popped up!

One of the many new necklaces I made for ScareLA.

My newest cosmetic bag and coin purse design went over so well I have to reorder!  At the time of writing this, there is one Cosmetics bag left available over in the Crypt of DOOM!

This little guy found a new home this weekend!  Goodbye my little Batty friend!

Decided to offer a new, larger size option for the "Master Gracey" prints.  They were popular.

One of 3 sketch cards made for the event.  The left overs will be listed in the Crypt of DOOM by the end of the week.

Business done, now is time to wax poetic about the weekend!  I had a wonderful time.  It was my first two day event and it was overwhelming, at times, how many people would be at the booth at once.  I ran out of one of my more popular business card designs and almost ran out of a second (I now have 6 design options for people to choose from at events).  If I can judge by the amount of Prudence post cards I have left over, since I was giving them out to people who bought something, I made a lot of sales because there is barely any left of the 100 I had made.  I discovered that I'm not the only one that loves Prudence, the Boogervampire's sassy older sister because she had a LOT of new merchandise with her on it sell this weekend.  I tried making sketch cards for the first time on this outing, and although none sold, people's reaction to them was positive.  I got to meet a BUNCH of my Instagram and Facebook followers, and fellow artist Lupe Flores came out to say hello and brought me a beautiful print of her work!  (Thank you, Lupe!!)  I got super socially awkward when artist Gris Grimly stopped and looked at my "Little Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners" painting, and at one point Director John Landis was walking the floor and leaned in to look at my table and smiled.  It was so exciting.  As usual though, I only ever left the table to use the Ladies Room so I didn't see too much.  Thankfully that's where my husband comes in.  He runs all over these events taking photos and showing them to me later.  I hope that one day, after I've gotten used to going to these kinds of things, I'll feel confident enough to leave the booth and go take a look at my surroundings more.

The print that the talented Lupe Flores brought to me on the 2nd day of ScareLA.  Thank you again Lupe!

This show will be up and on display until August 23rd, 2014

Saturday night, in addition to the all day convention, I headed over to Creature Features in Burbank, CA to check out the Creature from the Black Lagoon 60th Anniversary Tribute Show.  I had submitted my painting "He's So Dreamy!" into the show when I realized I didn't have time to create anything new.  I was overjoyed (and a bit sad at first) to discover that my "baby" had sold.  I only hope that whomever purchased her finds joy every time they look at it and love it as much as I do/did.

Green dots are bittersweet things!  Goodbye my friend, you'll be missed.

A pic from just after He's So Dreamy was completed from November of 2012.

There were many amazing, fun and nostalgic pieces in the Creature show, in addition to mine.   My inner geek loved the Uncle Gilbert costume from the Munsters TV show!  If you're in the Southern California region you might want to head over to the shop and check the show out before it ends on August 23rd (2014)!

Come on out and see my latest creation September 6th, 2014!

Up next?  Well, against my better judgment I couldn't pass up an opportunity to take part in the Museum of the Weird Tribute show for Imagineer and Animator Rolly Crump that will be taking place at Creature Features next month.  I hopped on board a little late so I only have until September 6th to conceptualize and create the piece.  Wish me luck!

That's it for now.  I'm going to go crawl into bed for about a week.  Until the next update, LATER GATORS!