exclusive sale. momo rules, azula drools.

The wait is over! The Last Airbender comes out this Thursday. So this week, take an additional 20% off all SALE items at cardinalhouse! Let’s say that this is to help create balance a la [real, not blue] Avatar style – you know, out with the old… theory. Enter “momolove” into the message to seller during checkout & I’ll refund the 20% back via PayPal. Offer ends Friday [7/02] at midnight.

My son has been begging me to go see this as soon as we found out that a live-action movie version would be coming out. So for nearly a year now, I’ve been reassuring Alex that we’d go to see it.

Avatar: "Theme Song"

Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about the movie yet. As sad as this may sound, I love the cartoon nearly as much as Alex does.  I didn’t like the rock-type music playing during some of the trailers because that just doesn’t fit the character of the cartoon. Appa’s CG on the trailers look very disappointing & I haven’t noticed how they’re doing Momo [the lemur].

It looks like this will only be Book 1 [Water] of the series, which earns Shayamalan points & explains why new & unknown stars were cast. If he does a good job on this movie & it turns out well, then Shayamalan could turn this into another trilogy & boost the young actors’ careers [think Lord of the Rings & Harry Potter]. Book 2 would be Earth [yea Toph] & Book 3 is Fire. Eack Book was essentially a season on Nick.

♥-Kat.

[theme song clip from Nick's site here]

new stuff. pretty headbands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Both are now available at cardinalhouse & are OOAK [one of a kind]. Grab them while you can! $25 includes FREE US SHIPPING.

♥ -Kat.

new stuff. out with a lot of the old...

First, the good stuff: for my readers, take 30% off [whoa] your total order at cardinalhouse! Just enter "HopOnPop" into the message to seller during checkout & I'll refund the discount via PayPal.  But hurry because this offer goes POOF, no more on Friday @ midnight [6/25].  Blog, tweet, facebook, share-share with your friends.

Now, why such the discount you ask? If you follow the blog [err, at least when I keep up with it], then it might have occurred to you that I seem to have serious design ADD. Rosettes, chokers, bracelets... okay, you get the drift. So, my latest diversion has been headbands. Yeah, yeah...feathers & rhinestones are abundant in that arena, but I've been playing with my own spin. Soon I will be re-working the shop & some items will be going away for good [so grab them while you can].

So, this is my prototype. What do you think? My hair is longer at the moment, so I'm diggin' the hair accessories right now.  I can't wait to see what the others work up to look like!

Leave a comment & start sharing the love of 30% off!

♥ -Kat.

[all images by Kat.]

i declare shenanigans. deceit, fraud, scams...oh my

Hmmph. Yesterday's Etsy Finds Decor email certainly caught my attention. The "vintage" 4-drawer cabinet above that was priced at $54.95 specifically sent me into an uproar. I hate to break this to the buyer [it sold yesterday within hours of the post], but "vintage" my a**. Maybe I should offer to sell at outrageous prices the EXACT same one that I have PLUS the 2-drawer version [x's 2] PLUS the plant stand I have. You could have bought them at Kirkland's about 12 years ago. Something like $25 for the version above; $15-ish for the 2-drawer versions; $30 for the plant stand. Kirkland's was my first job, and if I shared what I actually paid for them, it would make you all sick with envy. 

 

Now, I give the seller the benefit of the doubt & assume that they acquired the shelves second-hand & the made in China sticker had long-ago been taken off. This is why I don't trust "vintage" online without the details or background story. It's not that all sellers are trying to deceive customers, but there are plenty out there that will smack the "vintage" & "antique" labels on items to instantly inflate the price tag. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, I'm not saying these aren't actually Victorian era buttons...but the description doesn't actually confirm that fact either. I'm picking on this vendor simply because the current ad running on Craft Cult advertised antique buttons. When I checked out the shop, I see "antique" in the titles & tags but no stories about how the seller got them or some sort of true confirmation about the age. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, NO! Don't do it! Illustrative purposes only--lol. But there are a LOT of scammers out there. I received an email that claimed to be from PayPal wanting me to click a link to "update" my account. Hello? Red flag, anyone?! And, when I double-checked the email...it was from a such&such@paypay.com

See it? paypay.com

uh huh. Really, go browse around. Take note of the very brief descriptions, lack of capitalization, no contact phone number...oh- the company and address info on the About page is interesting. A search on Google shows such promising possibilities of fraud & lawsuits, etc!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately, Etsy breeds scammers as well as copycats. I've been approached a number of times about someone giving me this or that story. Sometimes, it's just for info & other times it's for products. Again, that's not always the case, I'm just pleading caution & a bit of research. One in particular was about a Katrina survivor recently opening up a gift shop again in New Orleans. The seller gave a whole song & dance about the slow rebuilding & also specifics about looking to buy X amount of this & that on a regular basis. If everything they said was true, well, it was great. There was no location listed under the Etsian's profile & feedback listed was for tutorials only. Now, I grew up only a few hours away from New Orleans & visited a lot--& am familiar with the locale.  In my response, I also asked some questions about where the shop would be, etc...and never heard back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, enough of the doom & gloom. I promise the next post will be more upbeat!

Pay attention to details -- both good & glum.

♥ - Kat.