TINNED PINEAPPLE IS MOVING!

Tinned Pineapple now has a tumblr account!  All of our blogging will be done there from now on!  Go check it out and follow us there, or make sure you're following our Twitter (@pineapplecrafts) or Facebook (tinnedpineapple.facebook.com) to see our tumblr feeds.

We liked the blogspot account, but tumblr is a bit more suited to our posting style.  So thanks for checking us out here, and we hope to see you over there!

Tinned Pineapple on tumblr

Steel City Con Starts Tomorrow!

Just a little reminder to check us out in person at Steel City Con at the Monroeville Convention Center (Pittsburgh) starting tomorrow (Friday).  The convention will run from 2PM-8PM tomorrow, 10AM-6PM Saturday, and 10AM-4PM Sunday.  It's only $12 a day!  There are oodles of vendors, handmade artists, celebrities, and dorky fans like me.  :)  Hope to see you all there, and check back tomorrow for a little update on how day one went!

Upcoming Events for Tinned Pineapple!

Just in case you missed it before, our two upcoming shows for the first week of December are:

Steel City Con

Friday Dec 2, 2011: 2pm - 8pm
General Admission: $12 per day or 3 - DAY PASS for $20

Saturday Dec, 3, 2011: 10am - 6pm
General Admission: $12 per day or 3 - DAY PASS for $20

Sunday Dec. 4, 2011: 10am - 4pm
General Admission: $12 per day or 3 - DAY PASS for $20

Children under 12 - only $5 or 3 - DAY CHILD PASS ONLY $10

Tickets are available at the door, but you do not want to pass up 

this great deal on the 3 day pass.

FREE PARKING    Hourly Prize Drawings

New & Vintage Toys, Gold/Silver/Modern Age Comic Books, Anime, Gaming, Sci- Fi/Horror, Godzilla, Military Toys, Slot-Cars, Star Wars, Action Figures, NASCAR, Johnny Lightning, Diecast, Movie & TV, Model Kits, Hot Wheels, Non-Sports Cards, Matchbox, Corgi, Disney, Barbie, G.I. Joe, Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, Mcfarlane Toys - Thousands of Collectibles at Extremely Low Prices!!!

I Made It! Original 

IMI Original Facebook Event Page 

I Made It! Original is an indie craft markeplacet taking place at the University of Pittsburgh in the Assembly Room of the William Pitt Student Union on Wednesday, December 7th from 11 am - 4 pm. Thirty local artisans will offer handmade wares perfect for gift-giving. Bring your shopping list and check off your office mates, service providers, the boss, friends and family all in one shopping trip. And, feel good knowing you are supporting local artisans and your own community by shopping local! For more information, or to meet our artists, visit www.imadeitmarket.com. 

This event is sponsored by The Original Magazine.

We hope to see everyone at either, or BOTH, events!!!

Horror Hound Weekend!

 

This weekend two Tinned Pineapple crafters headed off to Cincinnati for HorrorHound Weekend!  It's the second one we've been to, and like last year it was awesome!  All three of us are big fans of everything horror and geeky.  There are lots of celebrities to meet and get autographs & photos with, some panels and movie screenings, fans in costume, and tons of dealers and vendors everywhere you look.  We were extremely inspired by all the awesome handmade art and crafts we saw everywhere there, and we're looking into getting a booth for Tinned Pineapple at the next weekend in Columbus, which is in March.  I think we'll fit right in!  Here's some of the pictures I took during our weekend away!

I love how many of the fans who attend HorrorHound dress up.  I've been to plenty of scifi and anime and comic book conventions, so I'm used to seeing that, but is pretty awesome.  We should have done costumes too, and I'm not sure why we didn't think of that.  I love doing geeky costumes myself and getting dressed up for cons!  Next time, I guess!  This con had an after party at a water park, and people didn't even take their costumes off for that!  There were people in full makeup going down the lazy river, including the above pictured Fester (with character appropriate bathing suit!), whose light bulb DID light up when he put it in his mouth!  The picture on the right is me about to be killed by Jason!  He must have liked me though, because he decided to let me go.  :) 

The Ghostbusters fandom was well represented at the convention too.  The Cincinnati Ghostbusters team was there with all kinds of movie props they had made themselves.  Several actors from the Ghostbusters movies were there signing autographs and taking photos with fans, and there was even a giant inflatable Stay Puff'd Marshmallow Man!  The picture to the right is Tinned Pineappler Jess and her husband Mike talking to the lady who played Slimer in the film!  To the left is a picture of Ernie Hudson (who I personally loved in Congo...with Tim Curry!).  This guy was AWESOME!  Not only did he actually wear his Ghostbusters costume to sign autographs and take photos, but he was also crazy amazing nice to all the fans he met!  He spent time actually talking to the fans and was super nice the whole time.  In the picture he's signing a doll of himself that Mike won out of a "broken" claw machine here in Pittsburgh.  Ernie even commented on how soft the doll's hair was.  :)  Below is, well, I'm sure you can tell what it is for yourselves.  We were all thoroughly dorked-out.  Especially Mike.

 

Yay!  It's me and Jason!  And I'm wearing a Jason shirt!  And I believe I have Jason on my necklace there!  Kane Hodder was one of the reasons this con was amazing for me.  He was awesome.  I love him in all this stuff besides Friday the 13th too, especially Hatchet and his cameo in Frozen.  Adam Green films are pretty sweet.  But I had Kane (and Tom Savini) sign a Jason mask, and I supported Kane's charity Scares That Care and got a cool rubber bracelet that says "I Helped Kane!"  And then he went behind me to get the picture, and I assumed he was doing some kind of killing me pose.  But my friend Maria who was taking the picture commented on how nice it was, and I'm glad she did or I would have made a scared face for the final shot.  Haha.  It ended up being really nice indeed, and I love this picture of me with my favorite horror character! 


And the next couple pictures are also very self- gratifying for me.  I looooove meeting celebrities, especially ones whose work I actually enjoy.  I got to meet several actors this week who are in movies I really really love.  The first picture here is me and Brian O'Halloran, from many of Kevin Smith's movies.  He's also a very genuine and kind person (he even complimented Maria's shoes!), although I'm still not exactly sure why he was at a horror con...

 The next picture is me with Doug Bradley, aka PINHEAD from the Hellraiser movies!  I'm known to get kinda starstruck around celebs I like, but I was doing pretty well at this con until I met him.  I don't even know why, but I was just so excited to meet him I could hardly answer his questions.  He was a really good sport about it though, and he wrote "See you in Hell" on my picture!  :D

And lastly the group that I was probably most stoked about was the four actors from Pet Sematary that were there!  That was one of the first horror movies I ever saw, and it really got me into scary things of all kinds.  Plus it scared the hell out of me!  When I told Dale Midkiff (on the left, he played Louis Creed) that he scared me as a child, he apologized then gave me a hug!  LOVE!  Also, Brad Greenquist (left, played Victor Pascow) was definitely in my nightmares for quite a while.  This movie was the reason I had to sleep with a nightlight on when I was little.  They were also super nice to me and I got great autographs from them with quotes from the movie!

So, now that we're back and all pumped about horror stuff from the con, I think we'll be churning out quite a few scary inspired items for Steel City Con, which is just in a few weeks!  I'll probably be checking out final details about vending at the March con this week, and I'll surely let you know here if we decide to go for a table at that one!  I hope all you horror-enthusiasts out there enjoyed this special theme post!  Happy nightmares!  :)

Tinned Pineapple member bio: Isn't That Something?

If you aren't already aware, Tinned Pineapple is comprised of three independent crafters who have joined forces to help each other create, advertise, and sell quality handmade products.  Because of this, we each have our own etsy accounts, making it slightly confusing to link to a joint site.  But never fear, Tinned Pineapple is currently creating a way to link to all three shops PLUS a joint site we have in the works.  In the joint shop, you'll find some awesome items that have resulted from the ideas and craftsmanship of all three members of Tinned Pineapple: Ringa of Isn't That Something?, Althea of Salvaged Expression, and Jess of Remember That Line!  We have a big announcement coming up soon, so be on the lookout for that!

So today I'm going to spotlight one of the three Tinned Pineapple members, and you can look for posts on the other two soon!  And of course, the most logical person to start with is myself!  :)

So hello blog world!  I'm Ringa, and I'm generally the one who writes these crazy little blogs.  So when you read one, just picture the crazy girl pictured here with the big smiley cat!  Or maybe don't...

Some quick facts about me:  I'm a writer and a crafter, and as of right now those are my full time professions.  Just doing writing as a freelance thing at the moment, but I have a screenplay in the works and am finishing up my chapbook manuscript.  Tinned Pineapple is going to be my full time job very soon, though, hence all my endless promotional harassment on every social media outlet available!  :)  When I'm not doing those things I do odd work at several different local theatre companies.  I tend to stage manage, but I've been known to do all manner of things including acting, directing, writing, sound design, prop master, set building, run crew, poster and program design, etc.

My favorite kinds of crafting at the moment are paper arts including decoupage and all manner of things that involve me getting my hands covered in glue.  My cats love when I'm doing glue work also, because they can just run through it and track little kitty glue prints all over the house!  I do crochet, but have kind of taken a break from yarn work in favor of jewelry and some upcycling of vintage items.  Last spring I had a line of painted and decoupaged jewelry boxes that I repurposed, and that went over so well I'm planning on doing another set.  And you'll be the first to know about it as long as you're subscribed to either our facebook or twitter!

As far as my role in Tinned Pineapple, we don't have official titles for each other, but I guess you could call me the PR & marketing director of sorts.  I'm basically the one who constantly is posting things and encouraging you all to hit the follow button or come out to visit us at our shows.  I'm also the one who books the shows/fairs/fests/cons that we do, so if you're having a crafty event that needs vendors, let me know!

A few extra useless tidbits about me-
Favorite movie: Three Men in a Boat!  (if you don't know this movie, try to find it!  you'll understand much more about "Tinned Pineapple" after seeing it!)
Favorite book: Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
Favorite musician: Morrissey
Favorite vacation spot: England and Halifax
Favorite TV show: Lexx
Favorite color: black
Favorite actor: Tim Curry <3
Favorite author: Oscar Wilde
Favorite cheese: muenster or brick
Favorite liquor: whiskey all the way!!!

And here is my shop!  Happy browsing, and thanks ahead of time for looking!

Isn't That Something?


 

Nothing beats the autumn leaves!

Although here in Pittsburgh it seems to have gone straight from summer to winter (seriously, we were only a week between t-shirts & flip-flops and snow covering the ground!), it seems to be getting back to a reasonable temperature just in time for me to enjoy my favorite season of all!  Time for wearing hoodies and taking scenic drives to look at the orange, red, and yellow leaves!  I have a feeling that winter is going to be frigid this year, so enjoy the season while you can!

Halloween is usually so busy for me that I don't have the time I'd like to get out and enjoy the chilly weather and bits of nature to be found in the city.  I'm looking forward to spending some time in the next couple weeks taking walks in the nearby city parks and getting some nice photography out of it.  I'm a big fan of black and white photography, and sepia too, but this is the time of year to let the colors out!  The colors of autumn are great, and it really isn't hard to get a great artistic shot providing you have some freshly fallen leaves as a background.  Do you enjoy fall photography too?

I've noticed a lot of photography on etsy lately.  I think that's great!  It's a wonderful art medium, and I love that more people are doing it and more people seem to be interested in buying it.  It shows that people are longing to display more thoughtful expressions in their houses and offices.  And I can't think of anything (tasteful) that would inspire me more in an office than a lovely locally shot autumn photo.  Of course, if I worked in an office, I'd need a lot more inspiration than that (maybe some whiskey in my coffee mug...)!

Here's a great shot of Pittsburgh looking great in fall colors that you can buy on etsy!  I'm actually surprised that no one has a treasury just full of fall photography!  There are a lot of fall colors, but not one just for photos!  I would create one, but my Halloween treasury is still up and kicking!  If any of you out there make one or find one, let me know!  I'd love to share it.

I currently don't have any photography of my own on etsy.  That should probably change soon!  What do you think, readers?  Are you more likely to purchase an awesome photo print on etsy, or to take your own pictures?  What are your favorite kind of pictures to take?  We want to hear about it!

Now I'll leave you with a great site on this subject: 12 Fantastic Fall Photo Tips.  Feel free to share your autumn themed tips, websites, and photos here!  We'd love to post them on our facebook and twitter!  :)

This is Halloween, this is Halloween!

Greetings all my fellow handmade enthusiasts!  It's the most wonderful time of the year, and if you follow us on twitter @pineapplecrafts, you'll know we've been thinking a lot about Halloween lately!  From tonight (Thursday, Oct. 27th) through Halloween evening, we'll retweet all tweets sent our way that feature pictures/links/info on anything Halloweeny that's handmade!  Send us your etsy links, your blog links, your how-to articles, your fancy photos of your crafts displayed on freshly carved pumpkins, anything that celebrates the season and is crafty!  And tell all your friends who are makers who may not follow us yet.  It's a win-win situation for all us craftoholics!  We're happy to retweet these posts and give all our crafty friends some easy social media exposure that fits the holiday!  Plus we're excited to see what everyone's cooking up!  You can also send along your handmade costumes or home decorations.  We wanna see it all!  :)



What else is up with Tinned Pineapple?  We're preparing for Steel City Con!  All three of us are very excited to vend at such an awesome event right here in our backyard!  If you've never been, it's basically a geek's dream for a great price.  A whole room full of collectibles and crafts topped off with pop culture celebrities to meet.  Show up in costume if you want (we might even offer a little discount to those in costumes!).  The dates are December 2-4 at the Monroeville Convention Center just outside of Pittsburgh, PA.  Their website is steelcitycon.com where you can see exact times and prices.  It's quite a good deal for one day or the whole weekend!  And what perfect timing to get all your Christmas shopping done for the scifi/horror/sports/TV/movie/anime/pop culture dorks in your life!

Otherwise, we're just prepping for sales and the holidays.  All is exciting with starting a new business based on something you've been doing for ages!  We're also working on getting a kickstarter account to help with an upcoming project.  More about that as it happens!  And now, back to working on updating my personal etsy (I'm the Isn't That Something? piece of Tinned Pineapple), so we can all three of us have a nice full selection for those of you who can't make it out to our local sales.

Be sure to check them out:
Althea- etsy.com/salvagedexpression
Ringa- etsy.com/isntthatsomething
Jess- *etsy site under construction!*

We'll see you after the weekend when I'll be uploading lots of Halloweeny pictures!  Have a great and safe time at all your parties!