Blogging it Forward

 As derby girls we all know how awesome a team can be.  The support you get from your team on and off the track is something that is sacred to every derby girl.  We do amazing things with our team that we could probably do on our own but the journey wouldn't be half as fun.

We belong to an Etsy team as well.   The support and information that we share in Team Discovery makes life a little more fun and enjoyable while trying to sell in an online market.

I have asked one of my teamies for a little interview.
Jennifer from Creative Cabin happily stepped up to the job. 

HAB: Tell us a little bit about yourself.


JEN: I am work at home mother of 2 boys, ages 6 and 8, as well as a devoted wife. I grew up in the Midwest and moved to NC in 2007. I have always longed to be in the mountain woods and am finally here. This to me is home.

Iced Berries by Creative Cabin

HAB:  What do you love about what you do?


JEN: Photographing nature is more of a hobby than a profession for me. I say this because I just love doing it and never think about if this shot will sell. I just love doing it. Being able to sell my photography is just a bonus that helps support the habit.
However, the photography in my shop is not mine alone. My husband shares the same love of nature photography as I do and the shop is a collection of what have both taken.


HAB:  How did you first got involved in photography?

JEN:  I have always enjoyed taking pictures but hated film cameras because I did not get the instant gratification of seeing what I just shot. But when I got my first little digital camera that held something like 10 pictures at 480x620 (lets just say really small), I was hooked.
I could see my shot and if I did not like the angle, I could take another one right then w/o losing the opportunity. I think that was back in 2000 or 2001.

As far as my husband is concerned, he says he can not remember what sparked his interests as a kid. Photography is just something he has always loved to do.

HAB:  Please tell us quick history on how you got started on Etsy


JEN:  I have known about Etsy for a few years. My mother actually found it and said I should make stuff to sell on there. At that time, I was not at a point in my life where that was an option.
But I held onto the thought of Etsy as a place to do something.
It was only last summer that I opened my web design shop, Bisi Designs, on Etsy.
Then I thought I would do crafting since Mom was still on my tail about selling crafts.
At first I started putting a few things in my design shop but it looked tacky to me so I created CreativeCabin131 in October and put some craft stuff there. That was a flop.

I am one of the leaders of Team Discovery. We have a few photographers on the team and after I saw them selling photography, I thought about it and said something to the hubby.
He said "I have been telling you we should sell our photography, so get to it!" And there it was, shortly before Thanksgiving, I ditched the crafting and listed some of our photographs.

HAB:  What do you find most challenging about photographing nature?

JEN: Not having my camera with me when I see those perfect shots.
I always walk out of the house to head to town w/o the camera. I almost cried one day, it had been raining and on my way home, there is a ziggy-zaggy spot in the road. It was wet, the leaves were peaking in color and littered the road. There was a heavy fog and the road just faded away in front of me.

Banner designs by BISI Designs

HAB:  What do you do when you aren’t working on your photography?

JEN:  I am also a web designer. I create websites and Etsy shop banners.

HAB:  How did you pick nature as your main focus of your photography?

JEN:  Nature is something we both truly love and admire. We have this deep drive to capture it.

We love to eat wild mushrooms so when we go out to find them, we take the camera.
Not everything we find is edible, nor can we identify, but if it looks interesting, we take its picture, same with wild flowers.
Our nature landscapes are really just one of those "Oh Wow!" moments that we feel we just have to capture.



Creative Cabin



HAB:  If you could go anywhere in the world to take pictures, where would you go?

JEN:  I would love to do underwater photography of the Great Barrier Reef but I would probably stop in Hawaii for some surfing first. Then I think I would have to pop down to Antarctica to visit the penguins. They are just some cool guys!

I would like to thank Jennifer for taking the time to answer my questions.
If you like what you see, please stop by Creative Cabin and check out all her photos.
You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter!



Anya

Slow Derbs

Slow derby, as much as we all would rather not see it, as derby players we all know that it can be pretty useful.  To get people out of the penalty box, to waste some time when winning by a smaller margin or to slow down the pack.  I also get annoyed when it becomes a strategy for a whole game. When you see two really great teams that can skate fast and slow and they are choosing slow for  the whole game. 
What also tends to be annoying is when one team is doing it and the other team allows it to happen.
I like to, if I'm at a loss in a game, to pretty much do the opposite of what the other team is doing. So if they start jostling and not moving forward, whether i know why they are doing it i want  the jammers out and skating if only for the simple fact that the other team doesnt want thing this to happen.

There are many ways to stop the slow derby on the line. 
If there is no pack after the first whistle the jammers will be released.  So you can race forward as a team 10 ft. the jammers will be whistled off and you have a bit of time to fall back and get back into the pack so that you are able to hit the jammer again. 

You can really play with this one a bit at practice and force your refs to make calls. 
For example, if you continue skating forward and the other pack doesn't who are they going to call?
 If it's the other team and you have a faster jammer you could hold the no pack for a little longer until your jammer gets past them, forcing some destruction penalties and hitting out of play penalties, and then falling back in time to make a pack to hit the opposing jammer. (obviously this works really well in my head! HA).

Another way to force the jammer whistle is to drop to a knee, no pack, the jammers are released. You stand back up and continue on as a normal jam.  Once the jammers are out, the pack tends to move forward, as long as the jammers move forward.

As for games and fan enjoyment, I think that if you are playing a home game in front of your home crowd and you want your fans to have a good time, you want to use these strategies only in dire situations, for example jammers being in the penalty box, or two blockers in the penalty box.  In inter league or home games, this is your bread and butter for your league, if you used the slow derby as much as they do in tournament play then you may find that you don't have many fans coming out to watch.  Not good.

However, in Wftda ranked game play, these plays, to me, seem  totally acceptable due to the huge prize at the end called WFTDA nationals where there is prize money on the line and sponsorships etc.  Since it is allowable in the rules I would totally do any strategy that was working for me  to get me to that prize. Cause seriously, no one is going to remember the boos when you have that big ol trophy in your hands and new skates your feet. 
The video posted below is a great mini documentary that was filmed and edited by Lisa "Left 4 Deadwards" Edwards- skater for Old Capitol City Roller Girls.  It showcases the opinions of fans, skaters and refs on the impact of Stroller derby.

I could go on and on about my opinion on slow derby and the good vs bad but i wont!

 Despite the claims that fast derby is better and more skilled I do know that good derby skaters need to know how to do both.  I also know that it is a lot easier hitting people going fast and everything, to me, is easier faster but slow derby is definitely not easier derby as a blocker or a jammer.

Feel free to post your opinions either here in the comments or on our facebook page.

peace

anya face x0xo

Kick off the 2011 Season Contest

Hey Everyone!
I know I haven't been blogging it up lately but hoping to make it a habit again!  To kick of our first post of 2011 we are going to have a wee contest.  We will be giving away a free pair of our custom hot pants.

These are available in black, red, blue and pink currently.  You get to pick the colour of the hot pants,
what you want your hot pants to say, you will get to choose your font and colour of font.  How cool is that?

These hot pants are  available for immediate purchase in our  Etsy shop here.


To win:

1 entry: Visit Hot Across Buns on Etsy, browse around, and leave a comment here telling us what your favorite item is! Make sure to include your email address or a way to contact you if you win!


1 entry: Heart hotacrossbuns Etsy shop and leave a comment here with your Etsy user name.

1 entry: Follow our blog publicly and leave a comment here. You can follow by clicking follow in the right sidebar or at the very top left of the screen.

1 entry: Like our facebook group and leave your name here!


1 entry: Submit this giveaway to a linky or link-up list and leave the link here.


1 entry: Blog about this giveaway and leave a link here.



1 entry: Follow Hot Across Buns  on Twitter and leave a comment here with your twitter user name.


1 entry: Tweet about this giveaway and leave a link here. You can tweet once per day and each tweet will count as another entry, just make sure you leave a separate comment for each tweet.


The giveaway will end at midnight eastern time on Monday, January 24.

The winners will be chosen by random.org and will be announced here and he or she will have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address. If a winner cannot be contacted or does not respond, another winner will be chosen after 48 hours.

Make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry. The more entries you post, the more chances you have to win!

This giveaway is open worldwide.

Thanks kids! We cant wait to make your hot pants!

Anya and Sufferjet

66 sleeps, 12 hours, 38 minutes and 9 seconds....

until Christmas!!

Our good friends at RollerBug and Cardinal Skate shop are going to make this the sweetest Christmas yet!
They are brining us the “All I Want For Christmas” Draw!
For every 50 dollars spent you will get one entry in the draw.  This is available for instore, phone orders or online orders! How much easier can it get?
The only tough part about this is holding yourself back from buying it all!
The list of prizes is pretty incredible as well!
They will do one draw per day starting on Dec 13th.


Dates and Prizes

December 13th, 2010: 1 Pair of Criss Cross Skate laces. (your choice of colour from what is in stock) Retail Value $5.99 CAD

December 14th, 2010: 1 ½ fl oz bottle of Bones Speed Cream Retail Value $7.99 CAD

December 15th, 2010: 1 Winter 2010 Issue of FiveonFive magazine Retail Value $7.00 CAD

December 16th, 2010: 1 Powerdyne bearing tool Retail Value $15.99 CAD

December 17th, 2010: 1 set of Super cushions by Sure Grip (duormeter appropriate). Retail Value $10.00 CAD

December 18th, 2010: 1 pair of RollerBug booty/practice shorts Retail Value $19.99 CAD

December 19th, 2010: 1 set of 16 Bones Mini Logo bearings Retail Value $29.99 CAD

December 20th, 2010: 1 Lucky 13 “Give Blood” Women’s T-shirt Retail Value $22.99 CAD

December 21st, 2010: 1 Cardinal Skate Co. T-Shirt. Retail Value $19.99 CAD

December 22nd, 2010: 1 set of 8 Atom Poison wheels Retail Value $65.98 CAD

December 23rd, 2010: 1 set of 8 Atom Stinger Slim wheels Retail Value $109.00 CAD

December 24th, 2010: 1 pair of Riedell 1065 Siren roller skates including 1(one colour change) Retail Value $761.00 CAD

Over $1075.00 worth of prizes to be won!!!

Head on over to their website for full contest details and to check out the latest inventory. 
Plus you should really like these kids on facebook, they have a lot of great deals that you dont wanna miss out on!

And if you are at a loss of what to buy to get an entry feel free to contact anya face cause she has a bit of a wheel fetish and has a list that needs to be taken care of!

lotsa love Anya Face






photo by joe mac
 at midnight matinee



The good people over at Frozen Coldbase made us, what looks like is going to be an exciting roller derby video game for the nintedo wii.
Just from the little clip alone it's a fast paced game full of whips and hits, a kick ass soundtrack and the voice of roller derby's beloved Dumptruck

You get to pick from real current Wftda roller derby players and you can play regular tracks or if you would rather, a more racetrack type track with ramps, oil spills etc.

Plus you dont have to go to the store and track this game down. It is brought to your home through the internet with nintendos WiiWare option. 

I can not wait for this to come out! 
for more information click here for a review and game clips by nintendolife.

Anya

New Products - The Scarf!

With so many bouts and games and derby stuff going on, Sufferjet and myself, pulled an all nighter right before our game against the Hamilton Harlots and made some cool scarves for our refs and visiting refs.  We are now offering them on Hot Across Buns.  We can take your league acronym and print it on a super long jersey scarf.  Also for a little extra fun we  throw on a cute little mustache.

We can print the mustache and the acronym on the scarf in neon pink, neon green, blue, red, white and very shortly yellow!  All for a mere 20 dollars! 
So jump on over to Hot Across Buns and check out the new gear!

Love Anya Face

Whip Me Into Wednesday!

I was just stuck in a you tube vortex. You know, when you type something in and just start clicking on the suggested videos on the side panel. It usually leads me into bizarre half human half fish videos or men with tails, that amaze and disgust me. This time it brought me to an amazing whip done by Anya Heels to her team mate Wile E of the Rat City Roller Girls Check out the awesomeness at about 8 seconds in!!! I want Anya Heels to whip me anytime


 
 love Anya Face

Pop out Roller skates!??!?!

I seriously love these roller skates! They are available from fashion house vintage,
I really really really really love them!! ha ha!
Check em out!!

Pivotstar! yes please!!

I just noticed it had been a month since posting.. So very bad of me. I do apologize, we are coming into our last few games of the season all at once so I have been super busy!


So to kick start my butt back in the blog I have interviewed Luludemon of the Terminal City Roller Girls and the designer of PIVOTSTAR clothing.  Pivotstar is clothing designed for real roller derby women. Its alternative, athletic and helps you do what you do best - kick ass! 




  I was lucky enough to pick up one of her amazing purple zip up hoodies at the Beast of the East in Montreal.  It fits amazingly and I love it! Unfortunately so does my daughter Syd.  The minute I had it in the house I haven't had it on since, she only takes it off when I wrestle it off of her to wash it, then she immediately puts it back on before I have a chance to claim it back.

Derby Name: luludemon #44
Real Name: Lucy Croysdill




 Team and League: Riot Girls, TCRG All Stars (Terminal City Rollergirls, Vancouver, Canada)


Business: Pivot Star Designs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/pivotstar
Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pivotstar/314564967135 
Websites: www.pivotstar.com

How did your business come about?:

 I was working at Rollergirl.ca and realised that there was a lack of clothing created specifically for roller derby.  

 There was lots of fun, sparkly stuff out there that was great for bouting in, but nothing that I wanted to wear for those 9 hours of practice a week and then to the bar afterwards.  So I decided to start a clothing line for real roller girls and 6 months later I am sending clothes to Switzerland, the North Pole and Hawaii! 

 

Sports before roller derby: Snowboarding, Rollerblading (yup I was a fruit  booter!) and Roller Hockey


When/how you first got involved with roller derby: I moved to Vancouver after I finished school in Edinburgh, Scotland and didn't know a lot of people in the city.  I saw the TCRG on local TV and thought "that looks like a good way to meet some cool people" and joined up a month later.  Now I have a whole new derby family that have seen me through a lot of changes over the past 4 years.


Best team derby moment: The first year I was captain for our All Star Team and a week before our big Derby Night in Canada Tournament I got appendicitis :-(  I pleaded with the doctors to let me play, but when they mentioned "colostomy bag" I gave in.  I ended up bench coaching the team and we won!  It was great to see the team bring their A game, despite losing a player and I was so proud of them.  I may have shed a tear ;-)


Best personal derby moment: Last year the All Stars played Bremerton.  They have this amazing jammer called On da Sligh.  We were jamming against each other and came out of the pack at exactly the same time, but she got lead jammer. I was skating right behind her and started bouncing around behind her trying to distract her and get her to focus on me rather than scoring points.  It worked! She got mad, and threw on the breaks, trying to hit me.  But I saw it coming and managed to jump around her and skate like crazy for the pack.  She called it off, but she didn't score any points and it made me feel like a super hero! hahaa

What you do when you're not skating: Thinking about skating! It drives my boyfriend nuts.  Oh and also dreaming up new Pivotstar products that derby girls wont be able to live without.

Favorite place in the world!  Hoedspruit, South Africa.  It's the small town where my sister and her husband live in a shipping container on a farm surrounded by giraffe, zebra and rhinos.  It's a magical and serene place.

Guilty pleasures: I am addicted to bagels - especially at midnight snack time!

Tell us something you probably shouldn't: my mum still calls it "darby" like I am riding ponies or something.

 Give us some advice: Jam smarter not harder. Remember you are the only one that can score points out there, so conserve your energy til you really need it, work with your blockers to progress in stages through the pack and avoid those hits.  Also focus on the basic mechanics of skating as much as the strategy, it's amazing the difference learning to skate efficiently makes.




Who is your roller derby hero: oh god that's a really hard one, I have SO many!  I would have to say at the moment it is Ginger Snap from Gotham.  I took her pack work classes at the Blood and Thunder Boot camp and she was great.  No b*shit, work hard, think on your feet and push yourself.  This one drill we did called "Biggest Threat" left me covered in bruises, but it was so worth it.


Anything else you would like to say? I am constantly inspired by the stories of the roller girls around me.  Everyone has their own mountains to climb and derby seems to attract some of the toughest, unyielding, fun loving climbers out there.

If you want to look cool on and off the track and feel awesome in yer skin at practice make sure you check out Lulu's website and pick up her super sweet shorts or tees.  Support Derby Owned Businesses!  Thanks Luludemon!

Love Anya Face

Roller Derby Products Quickie

This is just a cool shirt brought to you by Moodswings Inc.  It is available on Amazon, or you can check out their website here

How to get Butts in the Seats! Part two.

This is part two of how to get people at your games. Part one explained the benefits of Word of Mouth and how important it is to go outside your circles and talk to everyone you meet about your great product you want to sell aka Roller Derby. Seriously, it is the best thing around so it shouldn't be a hard sell.  

Email Bulletin 

We started adding everyone we talk to on an email list. We also put out fan sign up lists at the merch booth and at the food/bar area at our bouts and  fundraisers and such. We send out an event reminder to the list a month before the event and then re email it a week before. We only use this list to promote our fundraisers, which we only have one a year, and our bouts. We also email this group as soon as we have our season schedule. You don't want to over use this option, people will get angry if you spam them.  Any other updates we do with our facebook pages, twitter and on our website.
This makes it easy for your fans to pass on the information in their email lists.

Your Signatures Are Worth Something 

Let your email market your event.
Add a paragraph to your email signature to let people know about an upcoming event.

Mine is

Anya Face
Forest City Derby Girls
www.forestcityderbygirls.com
www.hotacrossbuns.etsy.com
Check out Roller Derby at the Western Fair Grounds on May 29th.
Doors open at 7, wheels roll at 8pm, tickets 15 dollars, 10 and under free
email me for more details.

This way even when your just emailing friends and family, it's just a little reminder after your initial email without being all spammy.

With all these tips, if you do them alone you will get the word out, but if you implement that all of your players, refs and volunteers do the same you will reach a huge number of people!

Love Anya Face

Featured Skater Mirambo #69 of the Forest City Derby Girls

Todays featured skater is none other then Forest City Derby Girls own Mirambo.  If you were lucky enough to get a FCDG calendar she is also Miss August.

Mirambo is a big part of our league. She keeps the team together and does crazy things to keep the game light and to make sure everyone is having a good time.  She is a hard hitter and a team player for sure.  I sent her a bunch of questions and then asked her to pick a few.. she did them all! Lots of Mirambo to go around.



Derby Name MIRAMBO
Real Name Miranda Abbott
Team and League Forest City Derby Girls/Thames Fatales


Fan Page: Mirambo's Ass/Facebook
Websites: www.forestcityderbygirls.com



Sports before roller derby: wrestling team in High School.

When/how you first got involved with roller derby: 
Like a lot of girls, I was reintroduced to derby when A&E aired Rollergirls The Series. I was sitting with a close friend and made an off hand remark that if they ever had derby in my home town I wouldn't hesitate to join. Well she saw a flyer for a practice a couple months later and basically told me to put my money where my mouth. Going on 5 years later I think I've proved I belong here.
                                                                                       Best team derby moment: 

Photo by Joe Mac 

There really has been so many, I am blessed to have some of the best teammates ever. But I'd have to say one of our more recent games. We were playing The Derby Debutantes from GTARD. It was G20 weekend and we were under the assumption that traffic heading into the city was going to be crazy so we all left way early. Got to the venue 5 hours before the hosting team was even scheduled to arrive at the arena. This left us with a lot of free time. I found a vending machine that had mustaches inside. Got enough for everyone on the team and we all picked one out. We laughed and joked around for hours, by game time we were just so relaxed from all the laughs and funny pictures all day long we played one of the best games ever as a team. I'd do anything for those girls xoxox
 




Best personal derby moment: 
It was the last jam of our game against the Nickle City Knockouts. I knocked their jammer B.J. HARMstrong out of play, and forced her to cut in front of me back on the track. She was originally awarded the point for passing, giving them a one point lead for the win. Thank the derby god's I made eye contact with a ref during the infraction and the score was adjusted but only after the Knockouts had taken a winning lap. After some very heated discussion with the captains and the refs the score showed a tie game with the clock run out. Forcing an overtime jam. In the end we ended up winning the game. It was incredible.

Joe Mac Midnight Matinee

What do you do when your not skating?
Well recently I've tried on a few different roles but still within the realm on derby. Reporting at games with Derby Spotlight. Roger Foley asked me to join his team and I just couldn't resist. And I also tried my hand at refereeing recently, that was very different for me. Making the calls instead of instigating them, was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to. 


Favorite place in the world: In front of a mirror.

Guilty pleasures: Poutine, seriously I can't get enough. Just thinking about it now makes me salivate for it...

Give us some advice: Shit or get off the pot! You are your own worst enemy at practice, don't ever sit down not for anything. Get to know your skates, you are responsible for your own equipment. Without it you wouldn't be here so at least have enough mind to take care of it. And don't be a douchbag on the track, learn the rules ladies. 

Who is your roller derby hero: There are so many really...Jess Bandit, they best pivot I've seen on the track yet. Crackerjack, really do I have to explain why she's on my list? Because she is AMAZEBALLS! And don't forget D-Bomb, that girl has got the most powerful legs I've ever seen. 

beating bitches with stitches

Tell us something you probably shouldn't:
I have totally played games when I shouldn't have due to injury's. And I'll probably do it again.
(Mirambo just recently played a game with seven stitches in the bottom of her foot.)

Anything else you would like to say: 
Just that I owe a lot of my skills to my amazing trainers Anya Face and Sufferjet. If it wasn't for those two ladies I wouldn't be half as good as I am. I love you both so much.


Mirambo is such a suck up! But we love her anyways!

love Anya Face

How to get Butts in the Seats! Part one.

So you've trained really hard, and planned the bout and the bands and the after party is all set. All this work is wasted if you cant get people in the seats to see it.

My roller derby team does not like to spend money on anything. We want to keep money to put on more bouts. So I'm going to post some ways to get your fans at your event for as cheap as possible.  The key to getting people to the bouts is that every derby girl in the league should be working their butts off to get the word out. Even if you have a person in charge of promotions, she should only be responsible for contacting media to set up interviews etc. Everyone in the league should be working in their own circles and as a group to get the information out to all ages and walks of life.

Roller Derby really is a sport for everyone so don't stay in your comfort zones, branch out and meet lots of people and promote your event and your sport.

Word Of Mouth 

The first place to start is with your members, supporters and current fan base. Use your meetings, regular communications and newsletters to let them know about your event and encourage them to tell their friends and friends of friends. Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful selling tools because it also comes with a reliable, credible endorsement.

Past that you can talk to people on the street, people in line at the grocery store. Make sure you have hand bills or business cards with your website listed on you at all time. Get your friends and family excited about the event as well and they will tell their friends.

Tell people at your work, at the daycare, at the doctors appointments, your kids school, your nephews school, get your family and friends to do the same.  Pretty much where ever you go you should find someone you can talk a little derby to.

Make a goal for yourself and get all the girls in the league to do the same.  Whether you have a bout or not you should tell 5 people a week, or even a day if you can, about what your league is doing, or just getting your website out there for people to get some information and see what your league is all about.

In my experience, in roller derby, people always have questions about the sport and if you know the information and are excited about it they will be interested.  If you can get them interested, give them the information, they will pass it on for you.  

Love Anya