Greetings hoarders,

I hope you are having a wonderful day!
I come with good news and some important house lair-keeping today.
The good news is that I am receiving a lot of updates from Canada Post telling me that the post-dragons have been hard at work at delivering your derpies to you! Most of you have either already received your derpies, or will be over the next week or so!

I would love to see those derpies! You can tag me on social media (I will add links and tags at the bottom of this update to make it easier for you to find me!)

Now, sometimes the mail gremlins come out to play and your derpies may arrive in less than steller condition. In the event your derpies arrive damages, please email me photos of the damaged packages and pins to [email protected] so I can take care of you.

If for some reason your derpies don't arrive by the end of November, it could be one of 3 reasons. 1-you never completed the survey! (There are 8 outstanding surveys still!) 2-your card isn't processing on backerkit (There are 5 of you with completed surveys but failed cards) or 3-the post-gremlins yoinked your derpies and they are now having an adventure on some other aprt of the world...

So what can you do?
🐉If you need to complete the survey, you can find it here: https://derpy-dragons.backerkit.com/

🐉If your payment information isn't processing, please email me at [email protected] - I can either set up a private payment method on my website or a PayPal invoice. Unfortunately, these payment methods will add taxes/fees depending where you live. So it is best to try and sort through Backerkit payment first. But I am happy to help you get your derpies into your hands.

🐉Your derpies have vanished into oblivion or battled with the post-gremlins and look worse for wear - please email me no later than November 30th to claim missing/damaged derpies.

While you wait:

My Haunted Dragons campaign is doing exctremely well, but we need a few more backers to help unlock the final two designs. Do you know someone who loves dragons and Halloween? Then this is the perfect campaign for them! And don't forget the FREE mini pin you can get when you back 3+ Pintober campaigns!

Were you waiting for the adult dragon skull? I am finally happy with the design, and it will unlock at $11,000. Backers have also unlocked the limited edition 3D Dragon lantern pin already! Backing the campaign means you can claim your for the lowest price as you can select it as a pin design as part of your pledge. Once it ends, these will go to the full limited edition 3D pin prices! So, don't miss out!

Halloween not your thing? Fear not, I have started working on the bookish derpies which is coming to Pintopia in January. I am partnering with my son, and together we have co-designed two pins! And you are the first to see the sketches for it as we just finished them this weekend ^_^

His campaign is Mushroom Hunt, and so he drew the mushrooms in the pins, and I did the dragons. Meet Inky and Mushy! They are both pin sets, with a 1.5" Derpy Dragon and a mini 1" Mushroom pin.  

I think these two will make amazing additions to the other derpies ^_^
Plus, once I finish the Haunted Dragons campaign, I will focus my attention on creating all the bookish derpies and hopefully share them with you over the next few months!

You can follow both our campaigns here in the meantime:
(Please excuse my placeholder banner for now 😅)
 

The livestream will be hosted on my Haunted Dragons Campaign, and if you are one of the first visitors you will help me decide what I should do! You may yet determine the fate of a derpy illustration! It is scheduled for 2PM PST, and I would love to see you there!

I will leave you with my most recently finished derpy dragon illustration, perfect for the spooky season!

Have a most wonderful day! And I can't wait to see you in the comments!

Yours in art,
Therena

Greetings Hoarders,

Exciting news! The majority of the Derpies are on their way to you soon! (The packages get picked up tomorrow 😊).
 

Unfortunately, not all the Derpies will be loaded onto the magic carpet of the mail truck tomorrow.

The first group which have extended their stay within my dragon lair are the 6+ and all-in tiers. I decided to put them into little boxes to help protect them from getting crushed. Unfortunately, the boxes I ordered were a little bit too small for your hoards! So, I had to order more, slightly larger boxes. These are scheduled to arrive early next week, so it means that anyone getting 6+ pins will have their pins shipped by the end of next week, instead of tomorrow. But they are all sorted and ready to pack!

The second group which have yet to depart the lair are any failed charges. There are 5 of you who have error'd credit cards, so if you don't receive your pins, that is likely the cause! There are also 9 of you who haven't completed the survey! That means I can't get you your pins, even if I tried!

You can find the survey here: https://derpy-dragons.backerkit.com/

It's really important that you pay the shipping and complete the survey. Any unpaid pledges by the end of Dec, will forfeit their rewards and be considered a donation as I can't hold onto stock indefinitely. So please, I want to send your little treasures to you. Double check those cards. Backerkit sometimes keep expired cards on file, other times it's banks which block crowdfunding platforms. And only backers can fix these issues. 

🌟You will find little popcorn stuffing surrounding your derpies.🌟

 These are made of starch, and you can dissolve it in water, or use it in your compost! They are 100% environmentally friendly, and the dragons prefer snuggling in them while they travel across the globe to get to you! I also try to reuse packing materials whenever possible to help reduce waste. Things like boxes and bubble wrap might be reused and as such have someone else's branding on them. 

I'm looking for other eco-friendly packing solutions in the future, but for now I'm doing what I can. Once I have used all my existing bubble mailers I'll switch over to mini boxes. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of plastic free options for bags to protect prints & paper from moisture yet. But I'm looking. So if you know of any solutions to help me make this more economical and environmentally friendly please feel free to add links in comments!

My children have been a huge help in double checking and packaging these little treasure hoards. We had a little assembly line to sort and double check everything. Even my 9 year old helped! I just wanted to take a moment to thank them for their hard work. (They each got a full set as a reward for their help, and are already sporting several Derpy outfits) But I wanted to acknowledge the huge help they have been in helping bring your treasures to you.

✨I can't wait for you to get your litle treasures!✨

Now, I should add that I am unfortunately still a dragon trapped in the mortal shell of a human, and as such there is the possibility that mistakes can happen. If for any reason your pins aren't the right ones, you are missing items, or things arrive damaged, please email me at [email protected] so I can make it right.

Another note: the holographic super derpy sticker features the moon dragon art. Not a derpy dragon. 

I can't wait for the next campaign to launch! In fact, I can finally reveal the finished illustrations for the dragons with you! Presenting the first 10 haunted dragon pin designs!

The campaign will be very similar to the Derpy dragons in that backers will vote on which designs to unlock!  There are a mix of my regular dragons and derpies. Plus, I decided that I will offer stickers right off the bat this time around. I suspect that there will be even more derpies joining throughout the campaign. And ideally I want to make it up to 15 designs!

Oh, and not to mention the FREE mini pin when you back 3+ Pintober campaigns, just like Pintopia! That is 3 EXTRA FREE pins when you back at least 3 projects! And, there are many I know you will love! 

On Monday, I will send all previous backers an exclusive early bird invitation to back the campaign. It's a chance to snag not only the early bird rewards, but also the SUPER EARLY BIRD tiers at a discounted price!

I will keep this tier open for the first hour to anyone who follows the campaign as well to back in the first hour after Backerkit sends the initial launch email to followers. So even if you haven't previously backed my campaigns, you can still take advantage of this early bird perk by following the campaign and backing early!

Now, the most exciting news of all. As a returning backer reward, I will create a sticker for all returning backers instead of a postcard. But, there is more. If we get 100 returning backers, backing at any tier, I will upgrade this returning backer reward to a commemorative mini pin instead!

I will work on the final design this weekend, but would love to hear your ideas in the comments!

There is one caveat. This pin would be made available for purchase to other backers during the pledge manager, as I will likely have some left over stock since I have to order in round numbers to the next 50. So the exclusivity would come that it is available to backers only and returning backers would get it for FREE.

I will likely do a minted pin similar to my Patreon exclusive pin, which I think is very pretty.

I can't wait to see all of you in the comments section of the Haunted Dragons campaign! I had so much fun with Derpy Dragons, and hope we can have just as much fun with haunted dragons!

So, if you haven't yet, join the weirdling tribe and follow the campaign!

Before I sign off for today's update, I wanted to highlight two more campaigns which won't launch until January as part of Pintopia, but which are near and dear to me.

I mentioned in the beginning of the update that my kids help me fulfill my campaigns. Well, my oldest son is hoping to follow in my footsteps as a professional artist. I believe that he is good enough to create his own campaign! So, he is doing just that. With me as his mentor, and guiding him every step of the way.

Artists are empowered by the community which support us. And so I wish to invite my weirdling tribe to give a new aspiring artist a chance.

I want to invite you to follow his campaign. "Mushroom Hunt".

He has done all the art himself, and is doing all the work. While I will supervise the finer details, this campaign is all his work. And his way to help pay for his education in pursuing his dreams as an artist.

As it is part of Pintopia, there will also be a FREE mini pin.
You can follow the campaign by clicking the picture below!

But, there is more, I will be his collaboration partner! Together, we will bring you mushrooms and bookish derpy dragons!

My campaign will be Bookish Derpy Dragons!

I will be focused on all those bookish quotes you guys voted on during this campaign! Plus a FREE mushroom flavoured bookish derpy when you back both me and my son! (So you would get 2 FREE pins when you back us both!)

Admittedly, I don't have any designs for mine yet as I am currently focused on Haunted Dragons, but I will share the designs once I finish them ^_^

One of the perks of backing us both, is that you'll be able to save on shipping as well! So it is win-win.

🐉You can follow my campaign here.🐉
🍄And his campaign here.🍄

I can personally not wait to collect his pins as I love mushrooms myself. And what an honour to collaborate with your own son! It's an incredibly proud mom moment to see him following his dreams and passions! 

So many exciting things coming up! And I hope you will join us in all the quest for more treasure! 

Yours in art,
Therena

Greetings Hoarders,

I wanted to stop by with a quick update on where things are right now. 

All the pins have arrived and I have started sorting them into your pledges. This is taking a bit longer than last time as more of you have multiple pins and stickers, and I want to double check you end up with the right pledges and pins. 

I'm working on putting together everyone's packages. But it'll take both this weekend and next as there's 3 checks for accuracy.

I hope to ship the first batch by Tuesday this week. (Since Monday is a holiday here in Canada)

I am still waiting for returning backer cards and some of the postcards to arrive (scheduled for Oct 3rd), so I will sort those pledges next weekend. I plan to ship the second batch on Monday Oct 7th.

I also ran out of pretty organza bags so had to place an order for more, which will hopefully also arrive next week.

Hopefully I will have all the packages shipped by Oct. 7th. 

There's still 10 failed cards. Please double check your pledge to make sure you have entered an up to date card. I can't ship your items if the shipping isn't paid. 

Here's some more pictures of the pins. Pins are surprisingly hard to photograph nicely with a phone 😅.

I think they all turned out so well!

I know you are all eager to get your derpies, and they are coming! I'll make another update once they have all shipped as well. So you can have a good idea on when you can expect them. 

While I am almost done fulfillment for these derpies, there are more just around the corner!

On October 8th my Haunted Dragons pin campaign launches, and there will be many more derpies and gilded dragons joining the hoard!

In fact, I just sketched 7 brand new designs this past week, and you are the first to see them! (Keep in mind these are rough sketches and not the final designs) Plus, I just received the first renders of the finished Haunted Dragon pin designs I had already drawn!

I will also have a limited edition 3D pin this time. With stained glass and 3D 'metal' in antique bronze.

Once again backers will determine which designs unlock first, though it is my plan to unlock all of them!

It's my hope that you will join in the exciting adventure and fun with me once more as I create more Derpies and dragons for your hoards!

Oh, I almost forgot the most important part! The haunted dragons campaign is part if Pintober. Like pintopia, a group of pin makers came together to offer you FREE pins when you back 3+ campaigns!

And I just finished this adorable "decorated cookie" for my freebie treat (ok... it's a skelly dragon, but we were supposed to make a treat, so I'm rolling with cookie...)

Isn't he cute?

I could almost see him as a stuffy 😅. But for now he's a little pin. So forget the tricks and come get your treats with this spooky dragon campaign.

For returning backers, I will once again send you an early bird invitation to back 24 hours before launch. With early access to the best prices. So keep your eyes on your emails October 7th.

I will leave these super early bird tiers open for 1 hour into the campaign for anyone who follows the campaign to also get a chance at the early bird tiers and rewards.

Will you join the derpling tribe again and make history with me?

Follow it today!

Yours in art,
Therena

PS: I have a very important question for returning backers. Up to now, I have made a postcard as a thank you for coming back, but stickers seem to be popular. So, I want to know what you would like more!

I'm also debating making a returning backer pin if we get 150 returning backers from all my campaigns! But I need to figure out logistically how I can measure that. And I'll need to come up with a design 🤔