Friday, January 18, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
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Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Update
For all those who have been concerned about Creative Breakroom's
response to this situation, they have taken steps and posted a
statement.
"This is what we have done, in no particular order:
1. Contact Karina. I made 4 attempts to contact Karina. The first was through PM on CBR. There was no response. The second was through the email address she used to register on CBR. The third was the email the donation money was sent to. Both of those emails bounced back, the accounts had been deleted. I sent a fourth email to another address. I received a reply this morning. I was told that the fundraising was done against her wishes. I requested evidence or explanatory details. I did not receive any. I said that if she was not willing to provide any the donations should be refunded. She told me that she would refund donors who wish to be refunded and to have *** contact her, and I passed the message. *** has requested the money be returned and we are currently waiting on a response."
http://creativebreakroom.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4895
"This is what we have done, in no particular order:
1. Contact Karina. I made 4 attempts to contact Karina. The first was through PM on CBR. There was no response. The second was through the email address she used to register on CBR. The third was the email the donation money was sent to. Both of those emails bounced back, the accounts had been deleted. I sent a fourth email to another address. I received a reply this morning. I was told that the fundraising was done against her wishes. I requested evidence or explanatory details. I did not receive any. I said that if she was not willing to provide any the donations should be refunded. She told me that she would refund donors who wish to be refunded and to have *** contact her, and I passed the message. *** has requested the money be returned and we are currently waiting on a response."
http://creativebreakroom.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4895
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Update
10/15/09
Another sob story-plus-fundraiser:
"Husband just walked out--Mom of 1 needs money to help with food, bills, etc"
"Looking at the photo of myself and my daughter last year
at Christmas breaks my heart now. We were so happy then..now
"daddy's" gone without a word and I have no idea what to do. He was
the main breadwinner, and now I struggle to keep a roof over our heads and food
on the table. It's so hard to have to scrimp and save and worry about whether
or not I'll be able to afford winter boots for my child, whether we should walk
somewhere or "waste" money on public transit..all I want is something
to help me stay afloat until I can get a better job and make more money to
support us. It's going to be heartbreaking to try to explain to my daughter why
Santa may not visit this year."
*This link was originally posted in the comments section on Pussdaddy's blog
On the same day, she was happily playing on the Etsy Promotions forum:
"Need booze and drugs sale ...
OK, well, not QUITE...but I don't need my care fixed or anything like that. The
title DID make you look tho, right?:)"
The next day she was defending a fundraiser for CWebster, while perhaps bringing up a topic for a possible future fundraiser of her own:
“Chris didn't ask for any of this to be done for him, so he can't be at fault for people offering to help him out”
“This isn't like the Adia
thing---where things came out on the forums that pointed to it possibly being a
scam...there really is no proof that he doesn't need the money, or proof that
he wasn't trying to help himself as well”
“She [Karina’s child] was born with
atrial septal defect (which in plain English is a hole in her heart). …
Hopefully there will be no more surgeries but the costs associated with that,
as well as frequent appointments with cardiologists and procedures
(ultrasounds, EKGs, etc.) can be staggering. That said, I can greatly
understand the need someone may have for financial help when they are
struggling to make ends meet.” October 16, 2009 12:26 PM
Eleven days later, there was
no problem with her husband's financial contributions:
"I quit my dayjob in 2006...if it weren't for wholesale accounts and weekly craftshows I wouldn't have been able to make my soap-business self-sustainable. That, and the fact that my husband still works outside of the home is a nice addition too"
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The
following is a collection of links to material posted by
Kreatedbykarina currently DBA Soapthatmakesscents. This information may
help shed some light on recent controversies involving this person
I. Contradictory postings on general subjects
A.
No driver’s license vs. driver’s license
"I was able to "transfer" my Canadian drivers
license over to an American one"
"I don't have a driver's liscence”
"I don't drive"
B. No baby
things vs. "TONS" of baby things
"If only everyone got a baby shower! I
didn't...probably would have saved a bundle in baby gear at the beginning if I
had. "
"Swamped to the point where a separate ROOM held just
her clothes...new-still-in-the-box Graco carseat/stroller combo at one point
because we were given three"
"I have a slew of baby clothing...and other items that
I received as gifts when my child was born"
C.
No engagement ring vs. extravagant proposal
"I've been married for four years and I still don't
have an engagement ring"
"With the tray in the middle of the table, he took off
the dome top and there was my ring"
D.
Various careers
"I carried
a gun when I lived in Canada as part of my day job"
"What do/did you do in former life? Archeologist"
"Royal Conservatory of Music,
Toronto. Vocal Performance and Instrumental Concentration, Piano"
Personal Facebook page
Personal Facebook page
E.
Waiting on Madonna and other celebrities vs no waitressing experience
Jul 2008 "I have no waitressing/bartending
experience"
Sep 2008 "I have met Madonna and Sandra Bernhardt (they
showed up together), Jason Priestly, and Tom Cruise, and a few others while
working for a cafe in a very celeb-popular area."
F.
Husband related to Gallo winery vs. related to gangster Gallo
"My husband is blood-related to a famous
"family""
http://www.etsy.com/forums_
"of Ernest & Julio Gallo Family Vineyards"
"of Ernest & Julio Gallo Family Vineyards"
"No" [in response to being asked “Is anyone related to anyone famous?”]
http://www.etsy.com/forums_
"My husband changed his last name when he was younger" [to Gallo, his current last name?]
http://www.etsy.com/forums_
http://www.etsy.com/forums_
"My husband changed his last name when he was younger" [to Gallo, his current last name?]
http://www.etsy.com/forums_
G.
Soapmaking 1998 vs. 2001
"After taking a
soapmaking class on a whim I immediately fell in love with the idea of working
with colors and blending scents; I’ve never looked back"
"During a trip to England I
came across a local soap-making class and took it on a whim..I immediately fell
in love"
“In 2001, I discovered a soap-making
class in England, and decided to give it a try”
“I sold my first bar of soap in 2001, but
I'd started planning and making test batches in 1998”
H.
Quitting job
“I
did walk out of a job when I was 8 months pregnant “
“I reduced my
hours at work by 50%, and then quit altogether later on”
“Having
I****** made me realize that if I went back to my dayjob, any money I made
would go directly to paying for childcare anyway”
I.
“We” did things for shop vs. no support from family
Nov 2008 "A husband who is completely oblivious to
anything soap-related...like isn't interested in it at all"
"My husband became an integral part of my business in
the middle of 2009...before that---he was helpful...He pretty much knows all
the ins and outs of the soap-making business"
"My husband and I sat down and
wrote ours [business plan] several years ago."
J.
Healthy daughter at 3 months vs. heart surgery at 2 months
"At the age of two months she underwent open-heart
surgery"
"I have a 3 month old...I'm very blessed to have a
healthy child"
"I have a 4 month old baby who has had diarrhea...I
guess I feel that if I go again [doctor] I'm bothering them or whatever" [bothering
them over a daughter who had recently had open heart surgery??]
K.
Contradictory shop closing dates
August 8 2011 "it's only been just over a week, so
really I think he's still very much in shock" [deaths occurred late July or
August?]
"I closed down the shop when
this all happened"
"Our shop has been closed since June 28th"
L.
Only child vs. brothers died abroad
"My husband is an only child and he says he never
wanted any siblings---he loves being an only child"
"The deceased people are my husband's two
brothers"
M.
No mother-in-law vs. died abroad
"The deceased people are my husband's two brothers, his
mother and his father...they were in my life for 7 years since I married my
husband"
"It can be difficult at times for me to relate to the
idea of having a MIL since she passed away long before I ever met my
husband"
http://www.etsy.com/forums_"I don't have a living MIL"
"My MIL died before I married my husband"
"His mom died over 20 years ago"
"My husband's mother died long before I ever met my
husband"
"Never met mine [MIL]---died before I met my
husband"
"he [FIL] doesn't have a wife"
"my husband's aunts (who basically raised him since his
mom was out of the picture at age 3)"
"my husband was raised by his grandmother"
II. Extravagant / unlikely events
A.
Etsy job
“I once applied
for a position within Etsy and was told that I would have had the position if
not for the fact that I don't live in Brooklyn”
B.
April Fool jokes
"I cut the sillouhette of a gun out of a sheet of metal
and slipped it into his carry-on luggage at the airport before he went through
the xray scanner"
[husband would never have boarded plane; probably would have
spent time in custody]
"I had some fake flyers printed up"
[Apparently she had enough cash to play extravagant pranks]
C.
Husband seeing planes hit WTC on Sept. 11 and returning to work 5 blocks
away
D.
450,000 Lip Balm
order
July 17, 2011:
"this past Spring we landed one of our biggest wholesale accounts ... This
company ended up placing a first order for 450,000 lip balms. Which is
dynamite, but a heck of a lot of work---we ended up hiring two people and
utilizing the help of friends and family just to fill that order alone (We
still made all the product ourselves, though, I'm too much of a perfectionist
to let someone else handle that), renting a storage unit to hold all the
supplies, etc. And of course, we had regular Etsy customers, shows, custom
wedding orders and the rest of our wholesale accounts to deal with at the same
time."
Let's just think about
how long it would take to fill this order. First, a bit of information about
how the shop works:
1. The shop
owner makes all the lip balms herself:
"when it
comes to the actual making of the B&B items, it's still just me. When it
comes to pulling and packaging orders, it's still just me. When it comes to
hand-writing out thank you cards and packing slips, it's still just me. Heck, I
won't even let Richard really make anything yet except for sample stuff that we
get distributed elsewhere and the odd soap or lip balm batch to ease him into
the actual product-making."
2. Her maximum
production has been about 700 per day:
"The most I
ever made for one occassion was 3,600 lipbalms for Shecky's to be included in
their goodie bags. I worked non-stop for 5 days on that, including labelling
and packaging time."
"Today I made 700
lip balms" ... "Yes you heard correctly. 700 of them."
3. To make 450,000 lip
balms at the rate of 700 per day, it would take 643 days to complete the order.
That's one year and 9 months, with no time off for holidays, and without taking
the time to deal with "regular Etsy customers, shows, custom wedding
orders and the rest of our wholesale accounts." The order might be
completed by December, 2012. But let's assume that, through various efficiency
measures, she is able to double her production, to 1,400 per day. At that rate,
the order would have taken only 10 1/2 months, or until January, 2012. Or--miracle
of miracles-- she is able to TRIPLE her production. The order would take only 7
months, or until September, 2011. Odd, though, that as of July 17,
2011, this order was being reported in the past tense and the job was
complete.
"While exciting, at
the end Richard and I had a long discussion to decide what our next steps were
going to be."
III.
Hard luck stories and associated fundraisers
A.
Car accident
"The car's
not driveable...now we have the added expense coupled with Christmas, coupled
with other stuff...I just told him "don't worry about my birthday, don't
worry about christmas presents just keep the money because you're going to need
it"...-but when money's tight already with medical bills, Christmas,
regular bills, etc. it's not easy as I'm sure a lot of you know"
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5961466&page=1
B. Friend’s daughter in a coma
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5961466&page=1
B. Friend’s daughter in a coma
"Just to
update those who are interested---Aliyah has been placed in an induced coma to
keep her completely sedated. She is still in critical condition at this time.
"
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7693/fun-and-friends-promotion-team/discuss/6803509/
C. Daughter needs medical procedure - Fundraiser
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7693/fun-and-friends-promotion-team/discuss/6803509/
C. Daughter needs medical procedure - Fundraiser
"I need to
raise $600 for a medical procedure for my daughter by the end of this
month"
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5669458
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5669458
Fundraiser: "Kreated by
Karina needs to raise some money to help with medical bills, and fast"
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5669520&page=1
D. Asking for help over holidays
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5669520&page=1
D. Asking for help over holidays
"She was in
the hospital for a week this last month...my husband (foolishly, but I know he
would have given her anything at that point) promised her that Santa would give
her an Elmo doll this Christmas..little did we realize that the talking Elmo
dolls are running at $59.00 this year"
E. Break-in - Fundraiser
E. Break-in - Fundraiser
“the person went
into my home office and took packages that were packed for shipping…all of the
jewelry taken was my daughter's--who takes jewelry for a baby, but leaves a
$400 watch sitting there?”
https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/13738fa10c6122f3
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5289557
https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/13738fa10c6122f3
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5289557
Fundraiser for
the break-in. Donation list is 70 pages long.
http://www.etsy.com/forums_
http://www.etsy.com/forums_
F.
Death of inlaws
- Fundraiser
"The deceased people are my
husband's two brothers, his mother and his father”
http://www.creativebreakroom.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2535
Government website for Death of U.S. Citizens Abroad by Non-Natural Causes Only
The family of four in the government results:
What to do when someone dies abroad:
Government website for Death of U.S. Citizens Abroad by Non-Natural Causes Only
The family of four in the government results:
What to do when someone dies abroad:
Fundraiser
to help with expenses in the aftermath of these deaths:
http://www.creativebreakroom.
http://www.creativebreakroom.
[It's curious that there
was no money to buy a ticket for the shopowner's mother, considering that
an order for 450,000 lip balms had been completed a short time earlier. See
II.D. above. What happened to the money from that order? At $.25 profit per lip
balm, this would have yielded $112,000. At $.10, there would have been $45,000,
and at $.05, there would have been $22,500.]
Summary:
No one is 100% consistent. But when a person makes so many
contradictory and questionable statements on such a range of subjects, then it
makes sense to be highly skeptical about any other statements that she may
make--including, for example, claims about the circumstances surrounding the
closing of her Etsy shop, and accounts of misfortunes that may induce others to
provide her with financial assistance.
This does not mean that all her accounts are necessarily false. For example, it may be that she is telling the truth about the death of her husband’s family even though she has made contradictory statements about her husband’s family, the closing of her shop, etc. But to be believed, she would have to present independent corroborating evidence, such as obituaries, news stories, death certificates, etc., none of which turn up in a Google search.
She would also have to explain why these deaths are not reported
on the U.S. government website that lists all deaths of U.S. citizens abroad
due to non-natural causes. From March through September, 2011, there was only
one instance of four deaths in a single location on the same day or within
a few days. This was a family of 4 who were killed in an automobile accident in
British Columbia on July 22, 2011; however, this family was from California and
their ages were 50, 49, 11, and 9. http://www.torontosun.com/
In the absence of objective evidence to support her account, there
is no reason to believe anything this person says.
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