Hi, and welcome to UFO Catcher...
Hi I'm Shell, and I run ufo catcher!
It all started in 2018, after having to take leave from my job due to being involved in an armed robbery. I wanted to find something I could do from home as I'd developed agoraphobia and started on Etsy selling 90s nostalgia boxes- I am a total 90s nerd. It's the decade I grew up in and I love the nostalgia. I thought 90s boxes would make a cool gift for 90s kids and from there I branched out into adding 90s vintage badges, trading cards and toys to my shop too.
Thanks to UFO Catcher I also rediscovered my love for drawing and after getting a tablet and learning the basics of digital illustration have been having a lot of fun creating stickers, prints and other stuff with my own designs! I also got back into zine making (something I loved when I was a teenager) my zines have been sent all around the world, and are also available to read at the Salford Zine Library. I love trading zines too- so if you make zines: lets trade!
UFO Catcher has enabled me to put my obsession with badges (I've collected them since I was a kid) and my love for all things retro and 90s to good use! Check out my Instagram where I post tons of nostalgia too as well as my Retro Junk blog and Pintrest. You can also find my designs on Teepublic and my cards at Thortful.
If you are in Blackpool you can find my stuff stocked at a very cool shop called Happi Place, and if you are in Birmingham maybe you'll see some of my stickers around as that's where I am based!
After amassing nearly 6000 etsy sales, 1700+ 5* feedback and star seller rating I have decided it's time to try being completely independent.
Running my own shop allows me to be creative and run my own business whilst living with bipolar disorder and severe anxiety. Thank you so much for supporting me and allowing me to do what I love.
Shell
10 Facts about me:
1. I live in Birmingham, UK
2. Garf is my mentor in life, and The Bart Simpson Guide to Life is my holy book
3. I am a comedy nerd and my favourite shows are It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Tim & Eric, Nathan For You, People Just Do Nothing, On Cinema at the Cinema and Brass Eye.
4. My fave shows when I was a kid were The X-Men cartoon, The Queens Nose, Goosebumps, She-Ra, Animals of Farthing Wood, The Simpsons and Keenan & Kel.
5. I love music (Garbage are my #1!), playing Animal Crossing, watching horror films, making and reading zines, playing board games, finding good books in charity shops and having a lil treat in a nice cafe.
6. I am really passionate about supporting small businesses and artists and shopping small.
7. My favourite comic and film is Ghost World
8. Like the iconic Pat Butcher I love big earrings
9. My fave Christmas presents I got as a kid were Lucy Locket, Barbie Sharin' Sisters set and the year I got my first CD player was pretty good too! (I got NOW 32 with it and the Whigfield album, which my Dad will never let me live down! I WAS 9 DAD!!)
10. Running UFO Catcher is my favourite job I've ever had!
