Hey, it's StarsAndBards and I've been aware of my inactivity for the past few months, so I'm going to be transparent and update you all on everything.

Where were we for the past few months, and what was with the lack of communication?

I suffered a massive depression bout that caused me to become closed off and inactive on my socials, Toyhouse and my communication was lacking. I only communicated closely with a small group of friends and my partners and I couldn't do work for that time being + College was hard on my mental. And not being able to access professional help as well as being unmedicated meant that it was harder for me to go through this bout. As well as serious irl stuff, such as dealing with the move and my mom's health was getting worse, which added more to my stresses.

But I'm okay now, enough to be able to return to my workflow, I'm slowly recovering and started being more active and communicating with my clients slowly with their updates. I want to be clear that commission updates have been stagnant due to the bout and I absolutely recognize my inability to communicate with clients and I sincerely apologize, I am aware of every order I still have left to complete and I plan to get most of it done by this week. (Currently 14/5/2024)

However, while I'm working on this backlog I am in dire need of financial support. For the past months we've been suffering terribly with finances, sometimes being unable to eat properly for weeks. My mom's health has been getting worse and worse and my sister is going back to school, I remain as their only source of income.

I'm not opening emergency comms, I have a backlog to catch up with and I don't feel comfortable taking any more comms until I can clear most of it out. However I had been working on adoptables and put up some of my own personal characters ufs, that way I am still able to afford food, medication and tuition until I'm ready and comfortable to officially open comms again. So if you could, please check out my adoptables. Some have been heavily discounted from their original prices, and I've added new adopts. It would absolutely mean the world to me if you could show any kind of support in this dire times.

Original Adoptables: https://toyhou.se/StarsAndBards/characters/folder:3757684
Fandom Adoptables (Mostly splatoon): https://toyhou.se/StarsAndBards/characters/folder:3757687
More adopts will be up and coming soon, so stay tuned if you're interested.

Feel free to DM me by twitter (StarsAndBards), discord (StarsAndBards) or on this toyhouse regarding my adopts or commissions.

Also, for any character trades I have, I'm afraid I'll have to dip out from them in the meantime. (If I recall, most of the trades were characters in exchange of my art.) I have to focus on what's most important to me- supporting my family. If there has been an issue with any trades please DM me so we can discuss it.

And for anyone who would like to support me, without being able to get any of my adopts, please share my adopts or this bulletin around or support me through my Kofi, any support is appreciated. Thank you for your time and feel free to talk to me if there's anything I can do for you all right now.

Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/starsandbards