Tessisamess

Due to demand, new items have been added to the auction! Don't miss out, because I've added three new custom layout items, two custom code items, icon sets, and even a custom website design on the off chance that someone's in need of one for their business or personal site!

If you'd like to donate services as well, feel free to comment on this entry!

We're 24 hours into the auction and we're already 5% of the way to the goal—you guys are the best!! ♥

QUESTION TIME! If I were to post a new item lot midway through the auction, what types of items would you be interested in bidding on? These can be repeats of items I've already posted (from myself) or new ideas! We won't be doing new IJ shop items (renames/coupons), but I'm more than happy to hear other input!

Some ideas I had were: another couple of custom layouts, a couple of custom codes offered by myself, possibly some photo editing or InDesign mockups from myself. I also have a few really good account names?? Is that weird lmao???

Please note: Upping the amount of items in the auction is not free, so please only offer suggestions if you intend to bid on at least one of the items you'd like to see put into the auction. Thank you for understanding!

( More information inside! )

Hey guys! This month, due to the house-buying-moving situation, things are going to be a little different. All free posts for August will be posted between now and Monday, August 5th so that I'll have the rest of the month free to work on the move.

PATREON
Patreon rewards will be as usual!

FUNDRAISER & RAFFLE
The fundraiser details have changed and will ideally be posted on Saturday, August 10th. Here's the deal: Since I wanted to include a raffle with this fundraiser so that I could give back to you guys in the process of raising money to help with the house expenses, this will be an auction instead. This is for legal purposes lmao.

On the subject of this fundraiser and raffle auction, I'm excited to announce that we've gained an extremely talented digital artist who is offering custom art of your favorite characters as an auction item!

Note: If any of you lovely creators on the site would like to donate a service or item to the auction, you can contact me at any time before August 10th.

Personal Health
As some of you saw on Patreon and might have noticed here, I've been very slow the last couple of weeks. I have some reproductive health things going on, but no worries: It's absolutely not life threatening; I just had to have a procedure done that left me in a lot of discomfort and pain, and I was having a hard time doing anything on the pain management they gave me for it. Everything's healing up just fine, and I'll be done with it soon! In the meantime, I'm feeling a lot better so I can at least function while dealing with it now, haha.

June Patreon Rewards
Due to the above, as per my previous Patreon update, rewards for last month will be posted by Wednesday, July 10th, and I can't wait to get them up!

The Big Surprise Project
I hinted last month during free projects that I have a new larger project coming up, and I'd very much hoped it would be up for June, but given all the doctor trips, medication, and some extremely exciting news below, I'm going to hold off on it until September and resume focusing on more typical content for the time being. Don't worry though, it's coming and it's gonna be extremely rad!!

Extremely Exciting News
After years of struggling—roach-infested apartments, crashing with friends, unsafe buildings and neighborhoods; you name it, we've been there—thinking we'd never be able to even start doing this, we're buying a house! We found one we love that's well below our budget and, fingers crossed that everything goes the way it should, we close at the end of the month! This is exciting and terrifying and I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, but we could never have done with without your support in my work, and all the help we've gotten from our closest friends.

So thank you so much. You were the reason we could afford our rent, and now you're the reason we can pay our mortgage. I could cry. I have cried.

Fundraiser & Raffle
To kill two birds with one stone, I decided the best plan to tackle all the standard Crap, We Need ________ For the House type stuff after the move would be to run a fundraiser! But I wanted to make it fun and to still give back to you guys too, so there will also be a HUGE raffle included, featuring custom-to-you prizes from myself, two wonderful graphic designers, and another lovely code maker—as well as the chance to win IJ rename packs and coupons! Full details will be posted at the start of August. (Spoilers: There will be a chance to win a game bundle in this raffle.)

So, in closing, my health's been rude but I'll be fine and I'm getting better, the next two months are going to be insane but I'm still going to be posting content as usual, and I cannot wait to put up our fundraiser page and post all the details and HUGE list of prizes for the raffle! Thank you all again, so very much. ♥

( Your guide to 2019 on @tessisamess! )

And much more—including Dreamwidth versions of many of my exclusive layouts and of favorites from my free IJ selection! And there's more coming this month!

Happy March! I am SUPER excited to announce that with the stable income provided by using Patreon to offer you guys extra paid subscriptions to content we're now in a position to rent a house with an office where I can work! I cannot thank you guys enough!

What this means for March:

• This is a great month to buy me a ko-fi if you'd like! We've got a lot to take care of while we move into the new place, haha.
  
  
• I'm going to be doing the bulk of my free posts at the beginning of March instead of spreading it out through the month since the latter half will be a lot of moving and unpacking and other similar nonsense. Expect multiple posts a day and a quieter back half of the month, and then we'll be back to business as usual for April! (No foolin!)
  
  
• My "big secret project" was meant to go up last month and, as we can see, it did not. This is entirely on me, but for awesome reasons! As I was working on it and finishing up I realized I wanted to do a lot more to give you guys the coolest experience possible with this new product, so I'll be spending the next little bit integrating all of that before I do a full release. This project was a huge labor of love, time, and resources, so it will be a paid product but, believe me, it's going to be so very worth it!
  
  
• For those of you who were wanting a Dreamwidth version of Blocked: Redux, it is now available on my Dreamwidth tier on Patreon!

I think that's all for now! You'll probably see a couple of code posts from me today too. ♥

xo
Tess

Hey guys! I tried to power through enough to get at least one of my scheduled posts up this week, but I have the flu and it's really kicking my ass so I'm going to have to re-plan this month's schedule on Monday to accommodate (sigh...) being laid up.

I'm hoping to get back on track next week; fingers crossed!

❤ Tess

Hey guys, it's the first post of the new year! 🎆 I hope you all had a great holiday weekend! I just thought I'd pop over with an updates post for the start of 2018, because I've got a whole lot to be excited about—and I hope you guys will be too, so let's get right into it!

HTML page tag

Let's start with a small one and work our way up! I recently went through my posts and made a new tag just for posts containing HTML pages, that way you can sort through them easily now. I should have done this ages ago, but it's here now!

Layout Sale

Thank you to the lucky five who got in on the only layout sale of 2017 last weekend! I will be working on commissions on Monday, January 8th through Friday, January 12th. You can email me or comment on your commission slot thread if you have any questions!

Patreon

Thank you all for a wonderful starting year on Patreon! It was only half a year, technically, but it's been a great half-year! Being able to regulate and schedule my free posts has been such a big (awesome!) change, and I look forward to 2018 on Patreon. Thank you all for your various forms of support and encouragement! Further updates specifically for Patreon will be posted over there later today.

Back to Basics

This month's codes are going to have a special theme: Back to Basics! We'll be focusing on stripped down formats and clean, clean code for those of you who search for basic formats for your needs only to have your options limited to codes that are either far too complex for what you need or are almost a decade old. I'll be including standard game application formats, text formatting, cast lists, and icon post templates in these codes!

2017 Roundup

For those of you who also make things, it's probably nothing new to hear that I've accumulated a sort of... digital pile of extras and unfinished projects I've had the best intentions of finishing and posting. (I think we all do this, whether it be knitting or drawing or code, haha.) I've recently curated a 2017 Roundup of the best things I left shelved over the last year, and this month will be overflowing with extras, including HTML pages and a Docs & Sheets template directory! You'll be sick of me by the time we hit February. :P

Expansions

I have a couple of pretty huge projects I've been plugging away at, and they're almost ready for release! I'd tell you what they are, but that would spoil the surprise. ;) One will be launched at the end of January, and the other will be launched at the end of February. I think you're all going to love them!

Thank you!

Thanks for reading, and thank you for your continued interest in my work! I couldn't do it without you guys, and the continued outpour of supportive comments and patronage mean so much to me. ♥ I think I've covered everything that isn't Patreon-specific, but if I haven't I'll be sure to update this post!

I hope you're all having a great October and you're enjoying all the horror heavy themes this month! I just have a very fast update today:

I'm feeling much better now and I now have a ko-fi! What's that? Basically an online tipjar, haha. I figured it would be a good idea to (finally) set one up for those of you who may have wanted to send tips in the past but weren't sure how to.

Ko-Fi is a quick and easy way to tip small (or whatever!) amounts without a recurring obligation, so this is perfect for people who can't or don't want to become patrons, and who don't need anything from my shop, but who still have wanted to contribute to funding my resources.

Have a great Halloween, you guys!

🎃
Tess

We've hit our second goal!

Wow, you guys! We've officially hit the second goal for monthly patronage in just over a MONTH--I can't believe it! Okay, that's not true. You guys are the reason I do this and you've all been so awesome, so I definitely can.

What does meeting our second goal of $500/mo mean for you guys? It's going to be just like the new setup we've been doing for the past month, except even better. Read all about it on Patreon!

Hey guys! I'm back in action and bringing a bunch of exciting announcements along with me! Keep reading to find out everything new going on here at tessisamess—I promise you won't be disappointed!

A Brand New Look!

If you're reading this on your friends list, be sure and head over to my journal and check out the new digs! I've fully redesigned to (hopefully) give you a better browsing experience, complete with my first official logo!

The Layout Shop!

What's the Layout Shop? It's a brand new feature here on tessisamess, where you can purchase ready-made layouts fully stocked with all the bells and whistles, just like my commission pieces! When you buy a layout from the shop you're also getting personalized edits from me so that it's all ready for your character when you get it!

What's this mean? You get your completed layout quickly and at cheaper prices—we all win! (No really—complete game bundles in the new shop are now only $100 USD—this is the first time I've ever been able to offer prices this low!) Head on over to see what's available for purchase!

Now on Patreon!

That's right! I am now on Patreon and offering a lot of pretty rad rewards to my patrons! Why have I made this decision? Well, a few reasons! I really need to be making a small monthly income to be able to keep coding for you guys, and if we start hitting goals I'll be able to post a lot more free content and with a lot more frequency!

I'll also have the time to expand to other types of codes, like HTML pages, Tumblr codes with advanced programming, and Dreamwidth codes! With Patreon, you can all look forward to a monthly schedule of steady code and layout releases, as well as Patreon-exclusive codes for certain patron levels!

Custom Commissions

My custom layout post is, unfortunately, disabled for the time being. I'm sorry there had to be a bad announcement on the post! I've had to finally admit to myself that the amount of work for the low prices I charge is too much for me to handle, so this post will stay decommissioned in favor of the layout shop and my Patreon for the time being. I may bring it back in the future or for special events, but I sincerely hope that you all love the new options as much as I do!

Code Tester v3.0!

And that brings us back around to good news again! I've been wanting to do this for a while now, but just haven't had the time. The next time you use my tried and true code tester you'll see some big changes! What changes, you may ask? Syntax highlighting, automatic previews, and one-click saving of any codes you edit or make! Welcome to the newest version of the Tessisamess Code Tester; I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

xo
Tess