item #10: a Neil Gaiman tea mug, *mistake included. (plus bonus chocolate dragon coins)

I am a mug collector. I admit it.

I also admit I am fairly picky about what vessel I use for my hot beverages.

My favorite combo is dark on the outside and light on the inside, I believe it's so i can see if the mug is dirty or not. This one fills the bill perfectly, as my other condition is that it is big enough for my required quantity of said hot liquid.

We made these up for Christmas gifts this year and I have a few left over. This is a part of my "swallowing diamonds" project, of getting one thing a day out of the treehouse. So far, so good!

If this one does well, we may add it to the Neverwear line. Click here for the link to our ebay auction.

It's a quote from Neil Gaiman's amazing University of the Arts commencement speech from May 2012, which is up on line HERE.

In his speech, he advises that no matter what happens, make art out of the situation. And in making art, when mistakes are made, all the better. He describes a moment when he misspelled "Caroline" while typing, and that's how he came up with the title of his wonderful "CORALINE" book.

In fact, I made a conscious "*mistake" on this mug, as i couldn't fit the actual quote from NG, too many letters for the printer to wrap, so had to improvise, as much as I don't like to do that, I believe it contains the essence of his brilliant message, which is to take chances and be unafraid to do so.

to quote Queen:

"...and bad mistakes, I've made a few..."

This little reminder while I drink my morning tea makes me present and accountable. ( *editor's note: mug also works really well for coffee, but I have never seen Mr. Gaiman drink the stuff. He's a British tea man, more often he drinks green tea these days)

*I will throw in some chocolate dragon coins to sweeten the deal. they come in this little golden pouch which will be nestled in your new mug:

any questions, put them to me. The Ebay auction is for world-wide shipping, sorry that it costs so much to ship outside of the US, but them's the breaks, kids. I shipped one of these mugs as a present to friends over the seas and it cost 16+ bucks!

meanwhile, SPIDERMAN auction has four hours left! lots of watchers, no bids, so go get it!

I am one of the ebay good guys. Save my seller name: Kitty9thlife as there will be glorious, amazing mistakes ahead.

meanwhile, now I am off to LAX to pick up a friend (believe me, that's a favor in this town) and when I return, I will post the OCEAN card winners, and did I ever post the Linkin Park hat winner? ayyyyyyyyyy!

swallowing diamonds items #8 and #9, signed Neil postcards.

The last few days were whirlwind packing and sorting at Neil's beautiful Cambridge house. I flew out to help him finalize the move out of Boston. Here is a link to Neil's blogpost on the move.

I loved handling all the beautiful books there... dreamy.

Also got to enjoy some wintertime while in the east, man, I miss the change of seasons.

Walked through snowy graveyards and found some mystery skeleton keys hidden up in a closet near Neil's office:

We were so busy that I got a little behind on posting items, so Neil offered up two of these magnificent postcards showing the British version of the OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE cover.

He signed both of them on the backs, and I am giving them away to two of you lovely readers.

How to win? Send me your favorite quote from OCEAN! email to: neverwear@gaiman.net

announcing the winner of the Sailor Jerry lighter, i loved all the tattoos, but this one was my most favorite:

a quote from GRAVEYARD BOOK, etched forever at her side, miss Ali from Kentucky. She's planning a whole literary sleeve. Ali, message me a good mailing address for your lighter and keep us posted on that sleeve--

send me some quotes to win a postcard, I'll pick my two winners and tomorrow will be something new to get out of the house.

last but not least, there are 47 minutes left on my bead lot over on ebay, I shall pack their tiny suitcases and print out their miniature boarding passes, it's time to send them out into the world!

happy to be home.

item #6: come on baby, light my fire.

Oh, tattoos and I, we go way back.

They represent the perfect little filter on who's judging solely on outer layers...

a favorite quote from my sweet Dad, when he started seeing tattoos pop up on me:

I'm going to hold you by your ear and dip you in bleach.

He has since settled down, and he sees them for what they are. A means to make me happy and to protect me at the same time. How can that be a negative?

for years, in my kitten hood, i worked tattoo conventions, and so maybe I have more art than the average cat. it still cracks me up when people say things like, but what will you do when you get older? Newsflash, friends, who really cares!

I love to read the historical accounts of the ancient rituals of tattooing around the world. Only for those that can commit, my friends.

Anyway, to my point. This blog/project was meant to do two things at once. 1. get things moving out of the treehouse and into the world, to the people that may appreciate them. 2. to keep me writing a little bit every day, a discipline.

True, I will be spending quite a bit on postage, but it's an exercise and a resolution. Like I said, discipline, baby.

offered here:

a lighter that you need to add butane to, adorned with a design by Sailor Jerry, one of the premier brights in tattoo history.

i am not sure who is getting the royalty on his art, if it's still in his family, I didn't buy this lighter, it was given to me, on the Tool tour of 2007, by who, I do not recall. Thanks, person! I don't smoke, and Drew is trying to quit, so fire starters of the world, this is for you.

To take this off my hands, send me pictures of your favorite tattoo here: furrytiger@gmail.com

It doesn't have to be your tattoo, but that will be considered extra points.

No need to send me giant files, those just break the code of internet conduct. 100KB or so, that's just fine. This is open to worldwide shipping, so get busy. I will close this contest tomorrow at midnight EST.

Drew and I dreamed up all kinds of fun ways to get these things out into the world, modern geocaching. Stay tuned, and feel free to give me your ideas. I still haven't ironed out all the kinks. WORK IN PROGRESS.

ps. Adrianne Hill, who won the Linkin Park hat, you have a week to get me your address or it goes to the second runner up. you can message me: furrytiger@gmail.com

here is me getting a tattoo by the ever-accurate Craig Jackman of American Electric in LA.

good night from Boston.

ps. FYI, I will slowly be moving all the posts to the swallowing diamonds blog. Just posting a few here on furrytiger and on neverwear. Until people add me to whatever it is you add me to--

day #3 of my "swallowing diamonds" project, SPIDERMAN.

Oh Spidey, how we love ye.

This is a vintage style tee with mister Peter Parker, web slinging on the front, with stars on the 3/4 length sleeves- it's white, even though the photo makes it look a little pink, it's DEFINITELY not though. meh, pink. no.

Since no size is listed on the shirt, it looks to be a unisex size small-- can stretch to maybe medium, but it's fitted for certain.

man, i wish this fit me, i bought it while on tour in Canada, and it never really fit me, so sad...

Also with this shirt, I throw in one of my glass comic book magnets, where Spiderman is speculating about the mighty X-men.

I started making these tiny art pieces when I lost a bunch of comics in a flood and couldn't throw them all away. I dried them out and saved a few of my favorite panels. Now people are sending me their damaged comics, i love giving the panels new life. I am making Escape Pod Comics a batch of these magnets to sell. They are also selling at the lovely Rickert and Beagle Books in Pittsburgh. woOOOooooOOOoo!

CLICK FOR EBAY LINK HERE and tomorrow will be a free giveaway thing, hmmmm... how should i do that? tune in tomorrow, we will all find out.

Sorry to say that I am not shipping overseas on these auctions, as i can't replace the item if it goes missing in the post. Let me know if there are any questions. enjoy! Cat

item 2 is up...vintage beads/charms

day 2 of my swallowing diamonds project:

I put myself through college by making jewelry, thank goodness I have no student loans!

The upshot is that I have LOADS of beads to get rid of, as I just don't have time to make the jewels as much these days.

From my travels, I have picked up charms and beads at flea markets, vintage shops, thrift shops, the world wide. Some pieces I can't recall where I got, but I have made a little list to describe as best as I can.

1 x faux amber circle charm

1 x faux amber bead bracelet

1 x carved horn pendant (India)

2 x vintage glass ball beads (1950’s)

1 x silver perfume holder charm on chain

2 x star fimo beads

1 x cameo charm

1 x metal skull charm

1 x carved bone skull bead

2 x rose quartz heart beads

1 x set of bindi stickers in round tin (India)

1 x faceted citrine bead

1 x jasper bead

1 x labrodrite bead

8 x small crystals with hole drilled in top for stringing

1 x lapis lazuli pendant (India)

2 x vintage clear glass chunky beads (Africa)

7 x letter beads

2 x handpulled red/gold glass beads (Africa?)

1 x Swarvoski blue crystal pendant (Austria)

11 x asst. Swarovski crystal beads (Austria)

9 x faceted grey smoke glass beads (Czech)

2 x carved wood pendants (China)

1 x brass anhk/star/moon charm

1 x bag of hematite grey glass beads (Japan)

1 x bag of butterfly wing iridescent glass seed beads (Japan)

1 x marcasite star pendant (I don't think this is from Tiffany's! but it came in this pouch)

12 x small goldtone apple charms

1 x bag of goldtone spacer beads

1 x bag of pearlescent white star beads

1 x fairy charm

1 x glass glob pendant

as always, the auction starts at 99 cents. sorry, no overseas shipping, as I can't replace if it gets lost in the post.

CLICK HERE FOR THE EBAY LINK!

item #1 is posted in my Swallowing Diamonds project-- one a day for 365 days

It's time to clean out the treehouse, selling/giving away/re-homing one thing a day for all of 2014.

First up is a tee from the Motley Crue tour 2005 Carnival of Sins. THIS ITEM WAS NEVER AVAILABLE FOR SALE.

This tee was swag from the tour catering company, now no longer in business, Culinary Underground. It is a men's small 100% cotton American Apparel tank tee, some call 'em wife beaters, but meh, no beating, 'kay guys? The front has the company logo, and the back has the company name and the tour below. Only a small amount of these were made. Man, i wish this fit me still. Time to let it go!

Click HERE for the EBAY LINK

We had so much fun on this 2005 Carnival of Sins tour, the stories...oh my. Made some friends for life on that run. One of the best tours ever...

thoughts from an airport...

hello from my layover in Atlanta, a city I have always loved.

(Just saw a tweet that Neil has won the Specsavers National Book Award for best audio book-- bravo!)

This will be brief, I have to catch my plane on to Boston, going in to work on the Boss' move to New York.

Am extra happy about going into some winter weather, but very hopeful not to get trapped out east, because I fly directly to SFO for the Mike Dringenberg/SANDMAN event at the Cartoon Art Museum.

Neil visited early this week and had this to say to his almost 2 million Twitter followers:

Just made a flying visit to the San Francisco @cartoonart museum. So much rare & original Sandman art, my jaw dropped & hasn't undropped yet

Cannot wait to see this exhibit, it's up until March 2014.

Meanwhile, I am very grateful, the Neverwear sale was very successful! I have been working overtime on getting all the orders out, have enlisted my handsome husband as the tallest elf of all time. I honestly didn't expect to sell so much of my jewelry, that put me a little bit behind. The "Cats don't need names" shirt designed by the foxy Olga Nunesare being picked up from the printers tomorrow- so all those orders will go out shortly.

I have been working on the new site, and that should be ready for debut before the new year. Dan Guy is going to help make sure there is a smooth transition, he is my modern-day tech witchdoctor. Love the Danth!

Am sending out these great holiday cards: lil' Neil discussing books w/ Cthlulu Claus (art by the talented mind of Sean Von Gorman)

if you need more, just ask, I have loads to share.

Will leave you with this gift that Lee Moyer sent over this week-- I had asked him to do a little sketch of me n' Husband as Vikings...and look:

I literally shrieked in the treehouse when I saw it. Lee is available for commissions and is hugely talented. Get him before none of us can afford his vast talent! Thanks again, Mister Moyer.

Winter is coming....