in light of our recent feature on regretsy, i'd love to share exactly where that strange little fruit and nuts series of paintings came from. step in the way back machine with us, back to 2004!
ah, 2004 - what a good year. i had been laid off from oshkosh bgosh, was homeless on my sister's couch in garden grove for a while, met the future husband... and started getting into art shows.
the very first art show i did was a group show at chango coffee house in echo park. it was a simple piece called "apple takes a stroll". a little 5" x 5" acrylic painting featuring a super happy apple with stick arms and legs walkin through a park.
after the show, my good friend angela bought the painting and made the comment "this is so cute - i really wanna see apple in a knife fight with robert downey, jr!" it was like a burst of comic genius that really got my wheels turning. coincidentally, that same week i had bought a trashy tabloid mag. i was flipping through it, and... well...
i didn't see any good pictures of robert downey, jr. but i DID see a great picture of will ferrell.
that just started an avalanche of wackiness. i flipped through a bunch of tabloid magazines, found some great celeb faces, and collaged them into twelve new paintings featuring that original Apple character along with his friends Orange, Peach, Grapes and more. They were quirky and fun, and within a year every one of the original paintings sold. The most exciting sale came at a Pasedena craft show, where the customer informed me that she worked with courtney cox-arquette on the show dirt, and the next week's filming was going to be directed by david arquette. so she bought the painting as a gift for them!
i ran into that same customer at another craft show a year later - she gave me a great update on my little painting, that the cox-arquette family loved the painting, and that their daughter coco smiled and laughed whenever she saw it. another satisfied customer!
etsy's shown some love for this series, too! they featured the martha piece in a storque post, and also commissioned me to create two new pieces in that stick figurey style to hang outside their conference room doors this past november.
and that's the story! they're a little strange, they're a little nutty, but they're a whole lot of fun and i love em - i hope you do too!
as you may or may not know, if you're ever in georgia you can pop into shopScad (in both savannah and atlanta!) and pick up hearts and laserbeams gifties in person.
amy from shopscad shared a video on facebook today of a news bit that was filmed in the atlanta shopscad, and i am alllll over it! how exciting! as you watch it, keep an eye out for our plate designs, glue gun tee, and in the background of one shot you can see our tiny magnet set tins!
the folks at we feel fine were kind enough to bestow on me a second free copy of the "we feel fine: an almanac of human emotion" book so that i might do a giveaway for all the rest of y'alls - and giveaway time is here! my second copy came in the mail today. whut whut!!!
SO! here's the rules:
1) i got in the book after the folks at we feel fine found a lovely blog post i had written featuring my middle finger. so to enter the contest, leave a comment here telling us something middle-finger related. it could be about the time you accidentally flipped off your aunt mildred, it could be about the time you did it on purpose. but in celebration of my middle finger picture, your comment MUST share something about middle fingers! maybe you know of a cool piece of middle finger art on the internets? share it and automatically be entered to win!
2) comment as many times as you wish, but one entry per person will be counted.
3) contest closes at midnight on sunday, december 13, at which point i'll use the website random.org to pick the winner!
yesterday i found out that my art school savannah college of art and design was looking for people that went there to contribute paintings for an upcoming project. so i email the gent, and send him to the paintings section of my etsy shop. he wrote back telling me that my flipping bird painting would be perfect and could i get it out to new york by next tuesday?
um, yes please thank you! even more so when i asked for more details about the project. apparently, scad's working on revamping studio 54 and will be styling a dressing room for an upcoming carrie fisher 1 woman show. and my painting will be in her dressing room.
my painting.
will be in her dressing room.
carrie fisher.
there's talk that hgtv will be covering this project and that us weekly, usa today and other press outlets have made inquiries, and that is awesome. but i'm completely bowled over by it being for CARRIE EFFING FISHER!!!
in other exciting news, my candy corn party fabric design is part of this week's spoonflower halloween contest - i am currently getting my butt kicked by another cute design so please PLEASE consider a vote for hearts and laserbeams! if i win there'll be a great big sale to celebrate!
today was such a fun day! i spent a bunch of time working on five new 3" x 3" paintings for the upcoming arthouse coop canvas project group show. the goal for the project was to create a sort of visual encyclopedia - each participating artist gets five random words to paint and that is that! here's the words i was assigned:
"carcinogen" 3" x 3" acrylic on canvas
"cotton" 3" x 3" acrylic on canvas
"equator" 3" x 3" acrylic on canvas
"larynx" 3" x 3" acrylic on canvas
"zebra" 3" x 3" acrylic on canvas
it was so nice out today i set up a folding table in the backyard and did my painting out there, and the group of three little birds that are always visiting our bird feeder kept me company all morning!
i also spent a ton of time yesterday and today working on new screenprinting screens, i'll share the finished products with ya soon! (wanna be the first kid on your block with a brand new hearts and laserbeams grocery tote? better get your ass to renegade craft fair on july 11 and 12!)
that voodoo that yudu so well - part 1, how i learned to stop worrying and love the yudu
ok i'm really bummed that i JUST found my camera that's been missing for a week or more - i wanted to photodocument getting to know my yudu better! it was gonna be perfect... photos of us taking long walks on the beach, romantic candlelit dinners, canoodling at the movies - but instead you get just boring old stupid words!
except sometimes my words have been known to be at least a little entertaining.
but still. the plans i had for the pictures.
ugh. i'm buildig a bridge and getting over it!
so as i mentioned before, my superawesome amazing faboo rad honkytonk husband josh surprised me (us, we're sharing it, i keep forgetting that!) with one of those spanky new fancy yudu machines a couple of weeks ago! and i was so busy getting ready for Unique LA and workin on freelance projects on top of freelance projects that i juuuuuust got to crack that baby open last night!
i have to tell you that i've done the regular way of screenprinting before, and i was a tiny bit skeptical the first time i saw a yudu. it's by the same people that brought you the cricut, which is great for scrapbookers but not so much for people that wanna make their own die cut designs... i don't wanna be rude but my first impression was i kinda thought that it would be a very lowest common denominator type thing that would make low quality stuff for folks who just don't wanna be bothered with learning how to really screenprint. then i saw the yudu display at michaels, and started reading labels and kinda learning more about it, and had to tell josh very sheepishly "uh hey i know when you mentioned it i said it was dumb, but, uh, i kind of really super want a yudu. like really bad. so uh... sorry, and my birthday's coming up in july hint hint"...
and he ended up buying it early thank god! so far i am a total screenprinting convert and i'll tell you why:
1) shit on the yudu is all the same steps as traditional screenprinting but easier (once you get the hang of it). there's still emulsion and darkroom scenarios, but it's less time consuming!
2)if you mess up on burning a screen, it doesn't take a crapload of work and scrubbing to reclaim your screen - it takes like a minute. in your kitchen sink. while you hum to yourself. i have old-school wood frame screenprinting screens that haven't turned out right (from like YEARS ago) that i still haven't reclaimed because it's a huge pain in the ass!
3) as far as i can tell so far, the quality of the actual screens and supplies isn't inferior to old-school screenprinting. they say don't use any other inks but yudu inks, but i did find a website that tested using riso inks (like for the gocco) on the yudu screens and it worked fine. and they're cheaper. i'll be testing using the speedball fabric screenprinting ink i normally use in the future, will letcha know how that goes!
so here's how burning the screens for the first time worked out for me: i burned some screens after watching the demo video and following yudu's specific directions and none of those screens turned out right. i reclaimed the same screen like 3 or 4 times. and then i got tired. later i came back to it, tried a few different things, and EVERY screen came out effing perfect.
so without further ado, here's my tutorial tips on how to prepare the perfect yudu screenprinting screen for exposing!
1) mood lighting: keep your lights dim the entire time so you don't forget what you're doing and ruin your emulsion sheet! i wrecked one by going into the kitchen to get something and flipping on a light - FAIL!
2)wet it and forget it: forget about the "dont get the screen too wet" part of yudu's instructions. i ran my screen under the kitchen faucet from the front and reverse side. then i wipe off the extra drippy water from the metal screen edges.
3) lay it on me sistahpants! so now (IN YOUR DIMLY LIT ROOM!!! NO DIRECT LIGHTING!) take your emulsion sheet and peel the plastic sheet off the side that comes off easy - then put it sticky side down on the back of your screen (the flat side), being careful to center it as you lay it down. (can't tell which is the sticky side? lick your finger and touch a corner, you'll figure it out real quick!) run your squeegee down it lengthwise, and then widthwise making sure to press out all the air bubbles.
then comes my special trick to make sure it's wet enough - holding it in your hand, look at the screen from the opposite side. lightly lightly spray that other side a couple of times with a water bottle, and run your squeegee once lengthwise along the screen. (from that side you just sprayed).
at this point, the green emulsion should look really even on both sides. if you've got any areas that look splotchy (they call it spiderwebby) you're not going to have a good end result. it should look really good and clean and even after doing my special trick. if not, try misting it again from that reverse side.
note: if your emulsion looks effed up before you dry it and expose it, you will end up with a bad screen. best to try again with a fresh sheet instead of going through the whole process to find out later it didn't turn out how you wanted it.
also note: drying time for my techniques is significantly longer than following yudu's instructions to the letter, but the results have been great every time.
also also note: your mom called and told me you're out of the family. sorry!
so the rest of it is business as usual following yudu's instructons:
4)dry that shit! after your emulsion looks lovely, put that screen in the drying rack and run the fan on it! using my method with more wetness involved, i think i averaged three to four 20-minute dry cycles before the screen was dry enough for exposing. you'll know when it's dry enough when it looks really even (and not wet at all) on both sides. test it by picking the plastic backing off the emulsion in a corner and peeling a tiny bit of it off. if it comes off really easy you're done! if it doesn't DON'T FORCE IT! put that thing back in the dryer and let it dry!
5) picture perfect pictures! ok one thing i tried from my old-school screenprinting techniques is i ran outta yudu transparencies, so i used vellum instead to print my image on. and i don't know if it was because that was a screen i did at like 2am and i think i messed up a bunch of things or what, but the vellum did NOT work at all. so don't do it! i do really like the yudu brand transparencies - they have a little bit of a tooth to em, so the images don't get all smeary when they come outta my inkjet printer.
from that point on i did pretty much everything to yudu's specifications - exposed the image for 9 minutes instead of 8 cuz i like to go the extra mile just to be sure, rinsed out the screen with cold water, and every one i've done since i started following these techniques has come out AWESOME.
oh wait one more thing. when you're done burning your screen and you've rinsed the unexposed green gunk out, i don't think it's necessary to use the yudu's fan for drying it. if you've got the time just blot off the excess water and set it up against a wall for a bit to dry. if you don't got the time hairdryer that shit!
another exciting thing i wanna share about the yudu is that i have a graphic i designed like 4 years ago that i've tried burning to screens the old fashioned way like 4 or 5 times with zero success because the line work was a little fine and frankly i'm not the best screen-burner in town. but following the above techniques i was FINALLLY able to get a clean burn of that image onto the screen and i am really effing excited about that! because it's pure comedy and it makes me chuckle!
so anyways, that's it for tonight - i'll be testing out the printing tomorrow, and like i said i found my camera so expect to see pics of the screens i burned and the printing process! pow!
ok i have been all but m.i.a. on the internets for like 3 weeks, popping in long enough to check emails and take care of a couple of worky things here and there, and of course to play my turns on facebook scrabble and twitter like a mofo.
(in keeping with that mofo comment, tonight i went to the twittergrader website where they gave me a 99.3% (which i believe is a solid A, and means i get to stay up late tonight AND have ice cream for dinner!). and if you scroll down there's what they call a "tweet cloud" which is just made up of the words you twitter the most or most recently or something. i was laughing my ass off because number one it is very apparent that i'm a bit of a swearer and also a TON of my twitters are directed at jenn aka @swirlogirl.
oh shit i had a open parenthesis there. better close it.
)
there. i feel better.
ok so here's all kinds of updates on what i've been up to! number one, i started a temporary freelance gig onsite for 3 months down in mission viejo. this means wearing pants to work is actually a requirement for now, until this summer when i'm work from homegirl again. it's been good! i've been getting really solid in my indesign skillzzzz and that's been nice. the people are cool and the drive isn't as bad as i thought it'd be, and i feel fortunate that this particular gig came along because freelancing has been terrible slow lately.
so there's that - i also recently discovered the massive importance of having more than one method of backing up your work on the computer. especially if everything you do is on the computer. a couple of weeks ago, i was working late on some tee designs, and my dog comes walking up only wanting to say hi... but in the process he got tangled up in the power cords for my laptop and external hard drive and pretty much threw my external hd on the ground. rendering it useless. josh took the hard drive in to work so some of the computery guys there could try and recover all my files - they're trying a few more things before we have to send it to an actual data recovery place that's gonna cost buku bucks to get my stuff off of the drive... this is basically all my artwork that i've done over the past year and a half or so. and loads of photos. and hi-res scans of paintings that i've since sold.
basically everything i've ever done. i'm still kind of freaking out about it, but i've had the past two weeks to calm the eff down so i'll just share that if all the art is gone i'll start fresh and make more art, and that you could learn from my mistake and back things up 2 or 3 times. going forward i'll be saving everything to dvds and uploading to an online backup service. this will never happen to me again - i hope it never happens to you, either!
there has been good news - number one, i got featured on a blog! you can check it out here, she asked me a bunch of questions all interview style!
also, our dog has lost weight! it was only 3 or 4 pounds, but when the dog weighs 47 and drops to 43 that's losing almost 10% of his weight! i won't say he was tubby, but boy was getting tubby. jimmy's been discovering the joys of full-speed sprints chasing birds at huntington beach dog beach, and it's really been helping. i've been trying to help him drop the extra weight for MONTHS and nothing's worked!
what else, what else... if you're not doing anything tomorrow hearts and laserbeams will be at the de portola boutique in mission viejo! mention you heard about it on my blog when you visit my table and get $5 off your $25 dollar purchase!
i'm working my way through the jungle by upton sinclair for an upcoming hearts and laserbeams book report and that shit is DEPRESSING. are there any highschool reading list books from back in the day that aren't about people getting screwed over or dying? honestly, i wanna know if there's such a thing as an american classic novel that falls in the humor genre. and shakespeare doesn't count because even his comedies are tragedies. THE END!!!
ps if you can think of a funny high school reading book i will send you a free bookmark! first responder only, cuz listen up i don't have a ton of stamps!
last night gayle and i drove down to laguna beach (which thanks to roller derby i cannot say without pronouncing it laguna beeyatch in my brain) to see our friend dao's pieces in an art show!
her pieces were really cool - kinetic art and more modern stuff generally doesn't hold my attention long but this stuff was neat because it actually had story and a point behind it, rather than "hey i was fuckin around with some stuff and made this thing waddaya think?"
this one was really great - she strung together TONS of led lights and programmed them to re-create a photo of her father. when the lights in the room were out it looked like this, and when the lights in the room came back on the leds changed so that he was still recognizeable.
it's weird how my own art is just meant to be fun and fucking around and not too deep, but i want stories and pertinance in kinetic art... need to just let go and enjoy it i guess!
anyways, moral of the story is i really liked dao's stuff, and if you have a chance you should check it out while it's there:
skin deep dao nguyen and richard hutter march 17 - april 25 235 forest ave laguna beach, ca 92651 (949) 497-1880
this here is a photo of the huzzz josh cutting open one of those heineken minikegs with his dremel tool. lookit those sparks fly! there was a rattley noise coming from inside the empty keg so he wanted to see what was inside - i predicted an even smaller keg of beer! unfortunately getting inside this thing is hard work and we don't have access to a chain saw so the project was abandoned.
and that's not the only show and tell i've got for today!
check out our dog jimmy the greek on a brand new coaster set! 50% of the price of these coaster sets will benefit the humane society, cuz we're huge fans of helpin out the homeless animals!
order your easter plates soon soon soon, cuz it takes a little time to get em made up - unfortunately there's not quite time to get them if you're international, but U.S. orders can be placed until march 22 with guarunteed easter delivery!
friday i got to go to disneyland with my sister michelle and her kids for a few hours, it was so much fun! it wasn't too busy, we were only there a few hours, it was all in all pretty sweet!
we ran around on tom sawyer's island for a while, took jacob on star tours for the first time ever, and got to see my other sister danielle hard at work! make sure you take a look at the pics i took and keep an eye out for her - she's got a big red nose and carries an axe!
then that night i spent a bunch of time working on top secret projects! i hope to be able to share soon, it's gonna be a ton of fun for everyone! pow!
dude, last night my sister michelle came over to hang out and after we ordered delicious chinese food from mr. chens, we remembered the opening reception for the sketchbook project show with art house coop was going on in atlanta!
and that they were webcasting it!
AND we are both in it!
so the first step was to get onto facebook and twitter to adjust our statuses to alert the masses that we were attending the opening via the webcast!
step 2 was to be told repeatedly by the art house website that they could only let 50 people into the webcast area at a time! being patient stinks!
so to pass the time we ate delicious chinese food! orange chicken, wantons and steamed rice, and don't skimp on the woodchuck!
we finally got into the chatroom with 40 minutes left in the reception! woo!!!
i'm leanin in for a closer look, and we're plottin all the hobo jokes that we will later tell the group in the chatroom!
beer and the internets is a winning combination, by the way!
we finished off the night with fortune cookies... and let's just say michelle's may not have really fit her persona...
all in all we had a really fun night! after the art house show closed, we spent time on youtube watching world war 2 era disney cartoons and the redubbed gi joes including my all time fave, and oh dude i finally saw dr. horrible! you must watch it! i will always and forever be hopelessly in love with neil patrick harris, the end.
and also tonight is roller derby night and i'm super jazzed! but i'll say exactly what i said last game, i wish mila minute or laura palm-her were skating, but i'm sure it's gonna be a kickass game!
so last spring i had started this dog sweater, and for whatever reason about 20 minutes away from finishing it i put it in the closet and forgot about it for almost a year!!! wtf! busted it out again this week at stitch n bitch and i totally finished that shit! i think it turned out pretty awesome and jimmy doesn't totally hate wearing it. (he know he gets all kinds of special attention from other people when he wears clothes so he's pretty tolerant)
if you didn't know, jimmy the greek has a celebrity page on facebook and you definitely should become a fan - write a note to him on the wall, he ALWAYS answers his fan mail!
also, have you heard about the sketchbook project? it's a great show being put on by the art house cooperative, and the travellin show starts today! artists from all over (including me and my sister!) all drew in a CRAPLOAD of sketchbooks and mailed em in. these fine folks are takin the show on the road and will be exhibiting the sketchbooks at nine different places - if you're east coast you may be able to see em in person! check out the show dates here!
have you seen nannerpuss? he was the star of a dennys superbowl ad, and he is AWESOME. you can see for yourself if you click on this link. you'll recognize him on the page as the yellow octopus-like chap sitting jauntily atop a pile of delicious pancakes! deeeeeelicious i tell you!
my favorite part of the commercial, is if you watch real close he actually rips one of his eyes off half-way through. THAT is how committed he is to selling you hot tasty dennys breakfasts!
anyhow, i am cleaning up for an open house this morning, sat down for what was supposed to be five minutes to answer a couple of emails, and ended up making this:
the question for you the public: what do you think of nannerpuss and wouldn't you like to see more of him? comments please!
TOTALLY AWESOME UPDATE!! oh and also you know i'm totally entering my pic in this contest!
1) if you're cosidering placing an order for that special someone for valentine's day, you besssst get crackin! it's comin up on saturday, don't you know, and you need to order by tuesday night to make sure your goodies get there in time! don't forget to let me know if you'd like a special gift message enclosed!
all orders placed before tuesday night will ship us postal service priority mail wednesday morning and that should be enough time to get anywhere in the continental u.s. of a by saturday!
2) this one's a biggie! from now on hearts and laserbeams will ship your order worldwide for FREE!!! wowee wow wow!!
3) my sister danielle told me today she got the dream internship she was tryin for, with the kevin and bean morning show on kroq - you should tune in on tuesdays and thursdays starting next week cuz you might get to hear her from time to time! and she's awesome! congrats danielle!
4) i almost never stop at 2 things when i have 2 things to tell people, the end!
5) odd numbers always make for stronger layouts so let's end on five. i'm working on a poster design for the flight of the conchords poster contest - will be sleepin on it tonight and revisiting tomorrow, and if i still heart it i'll share it with you!
please vote hearts and laserbeams! pretty please??
hey there folks!
have you heard of spoonflower? it's a great new website that lets you design and print your own fabric!
every week they have a fabric design contest, and my hearty plaid pictured above is in the running this week! the winner's fabric is available through spoonflower's etsy site for a week after voting closes - buying this design directly from them means you'd be able to get this fabric $4 cheaper than when ordering through my own site!
so please - take a visit to their polls and show some steph calvert of hearts and laserbeams love; if i win there'll be a big fatty sale to celebrate! i think it's possibly a vote once per day kind of situation - if you'd be so kind as to vote as much as you can that would be superrad!
thanks so much for the support, have a great week! steph
i had so much fun working on valentines for fred flare's snail mail event i kept going and made some new designs for your v-day enjoyment! thanks for looking!
my thoughts on toasted everything bagels with extra butter...
i was talking with jenn this morning about bagels and how much i heart them, and she told me there used to be a bagel place on broughton street in savannah that she'd go to with fanny all the time. and that it closed down, and there's a jewelry store there now. i was wondering... if you tied the above note to a brick and threw it through their window in the middle of the night would they maybe start offering toasted bagels along with their baguette diamonds?
hearts and laserbeams holiday sale happy fun time!
whoop whoop whoop it's sale time, let's celebrate with coupon code SPIKEDNOG08 ! it's no mistake that our 20% off sale ends december 15, that's when all holiday orders need to be placed to ensure delivery by christmas!
it started innocently enough... this morning i thought i'd order some hearts and laserbeams logo stickers to include with my orders. you know, just a fun little packaging item. set up the file, ordered it on zazzle...
and before you know it i was finding all kinds of awesome things to make and it was 2 hours later! i love zazzle for being able to make things i can't, like printed skateboards and shoes - oh, the shoes. made 5 different pairs using the spoonflower repeats i created last week and they're adorable! these are my faves:
ok i had gotten my first sample of spoonflower fabric a couple of weeks ago, and being a color/repeat person there was one little thing that stuck out and bugged me - couple that with spoonflower's changed the fabric they're printing on a little and pow i put in a reorder on that awesome heart plaid!
i also designed 3 other fabrics to coordinate with it so i can offer groupings of designs that complement each other well... when we're finally moved and i can unpack all my artsy supplies you'll be able to get these four designs as a set of coasters and other fun things, so cross your fingers that our place sells and we can make that happen!
it's been a crazy week, work-wise, folks. so much so that i missed california's great shakeout - rest assured the next one will be properly photodocumented at the hearts and laserbeams headquarters, as we have some of the best earthquake drills around!
felt club was this last weekend, and if you've never been to this show you. have. got. to. go! if you love etsy and all things funky and handmade you'll be in heaven!
one of my absolute favorite things about an event like this, aside from seeing crafty friends and checking out amazing arts and crafts, is the business cards. ohhhhhh, the business cards!
the great thing about business cards for artsy craftsy design types is that it's so far removed from the bland, plain, stark business cards you remember from american psycho. for these types of businesses, the more eye-catching, the more fabulously designed, the more memorable, the better! and with that, i invite you to:
the hearts and laserbeams golden robot awards for excellence in business card design 2008!
i've poked through all of the bajillions of business cards i saw this weekend at felt club, and these were my faves in the following categories - enjoy, and congrats to the winners!
most unique shape!
figs and ginger and v is for violet tied for this one, both completely stood out from the pack with their unusual shapes! figs and ginger's round card is wider than a standard business card, so when you stack em all up it sticks out on the side, making it impossible to get lost in the crowd. v is for violet is in the same vein as those new tiny moo business cards, but feels a tad cooler because it's slightly bigger. there's also an awesome pattern of scissors printed in a clear varnish on top of the overall design that's totally eyecatching when you hold it in your hand!
funniest business card!
ok my imaginary boyfriend wins a golden robot for making me laugh my ass off with her card - when i picked it up from her table, i didn't think much of it because i was looking at the backside, with her business name and info in this cute handwritten text. and into my bag it went! then, as i was sifting through all my faboo business cards lookin for the standouts, i came to this one and it was face up this time, and this is hands down funniest business card ever!! hooray!!!
best save in the face of business card adversity!
ok i love this handout by the folks at copacetique - super cute, to the point about being outta business cards, but refuses to miss an opportunity to get the word out there and have someone check out their website. kudos!
favorite eyecatching elements!
miss natalie gets a golden robot because this is one of the happiest stripes ever - it reminds me of one of my favorite sweaters, and it was enough to get me to stop and take a second look! still life mercantile's card is really well designed as well, love the bird motif that flows on both sides of the card - that kind of retro feel character totally caught my eye and dragged it fifteen feet!
best use of a collage on a business card!
ok seriously both the paper princess and oh hello friend have some of the prettiest business cards i've ever seen - their montages of images make me wanna find tiny frames just for their business cards! so cute and nostalgic! the paper princess also has a great pearlized finish on their cards that gives it a bit of awesome sheen. note i said awesome sheen, not charlie sheen...
sweetest letterpressed business cards!
i heart letterpress stuff so much it makes my socks dirty - what i loved most about these business cards by krank press and joie studio is that they're letterpress people that have letterpressed their cards, too. both of these cards have that same awesome heavy paper and embossed texture that so clearly calls out what it is they do.
cutest critters on a card!
cartoon characters get em every time, folks, and these are no exception! not only did sheriff peanut's booth have totally adorable stuff, but their peanut mascot is the bomb! the cats on jake & micah's card and the octopus on the back of nifnaks' card were adorable, too, enough to make someone wanna adopt 20 kittens and take em on a field trip to the aquarium!
best use of product recognition!
i have to tell you these were some of my favorites soley because it's BAM right in your hand what it is they do, and the design is way cute to boot! what's great about this type of business card design is that the second i pulled these cards from tsai-fi, berkley illustration, art school dropout and rock scissor paper out of my tote bag i remembered everything they had at their booths and how much i wanted all their stuff. i think that makes these really strong promo pieces, because it's so easy to see what they have to offer.
and that's my favorite business cards from felt club, hope you liked em! were there others i missed that you particularly liked? you should comment about it! also, i think the golden robot awards will be poppin up every now and then from now on so stay tuned you may win one next for that absolutely gripping phone call you made to your boss about being *cough* *cough* sick last week!
custom hearts and laserbeams fabric on the horizon!
have you heard of spoonflower? i found out about this site through a friend a few months ago - you can basically create your own fabric repeats, send it to them, and order fabric with your artwork printed on it! super exciting because the mix of art and math that comes with a good repeat makes it one of my favorite things ever to do.
the site's in beta mode right now, so if you sign up you do have to wait a while for your invite to go through, but rumor on the street is they'll be up and running for all in just a few weeks!
yesterday i ordered a fat quarter of this plaid i designed a while back - if all goes well, i'll be designing a bunch of different fabrics and offerin em for sale, AND i'll be able to make things like pouches and skirts and aprons and so on completely one of a kind hearts and laserbeams style! SO EXCITING!!!
pick up your copy of this week's the district magazine!
i am so jazzed that the district weekly interviewed me for this weeks' "best of long beach" issue - i got to tell them all kinds of great things about living here! the issue hit stands today, so keep your eye out and pick up a copy!
fyi though! i have a bit of a knack for being wordy when i'm excited, so my entire interview isn't in the print edition - for that, you'll have to visit the article online!
the magazine is available pretty much everywhere all throughout long beach for the next week and it's FREE! if you're out of the area and would like one mailed, email me at heartsandlaserbeams@gmail.com and i'll get one out to ya!
in other news, put a slathering of stuff that's been in storage back into the shop between yesterday and today - custom 1" buttons are back, along with cool things like tiny watercolors and outlet covers!
most exciting, i just designed a couple of new plates for the holidays that are fully customizeable - pick either santa or a reindeer, pick your colors, add your own personal message, and pow! a fun gift for any little one (or big one, for that matter)... check em out:
thanks for lookin, stay tuned tomorrow when i tell you all about today's jury duty!
i just realized like last week that etsy has "appreciation" photos that you can upload as part of your feedback, so i created this today to pass along to customers! once my workshop is up and running again i'd love to redesign these as thank you cards, maybe as a 3 color linoblock print.
new design work is on the horizon, with awesome new holiday items, so stay tuned!
ok guys i seriously need programming help and i know there's someone out there that can help me - it's not anything super duper major, but it's beyond my scope of programming expertise (which is, in technical terms, slim to bupkiss). i'm not looin for a free ride here - take a look at my website's blog, and if you can help fix the following four problems i will send you 2 free prints of your choice in the mail!
1: there's something about the twitter code that's pushing the page out too wide, and i need to fix it but am not sure how. take a look at other pages on the website, none of the rest require scrolling left and right to see everything.
2: is there something i can do to put some kind of dividing line between the blog posts?
3: is there a way to format the text that you know of? like i'd like the titles to be bigger and easier to read if that's possible... OR if i could just publish my blog to this page instead of using CaRP that would be super rad, too. that's what i did with my old website and for some reason that wasn't jiving with this new site...
4: BIGGEST ISSUE: i really want my comments back because i heart comments.
now here's the technical mumbo jumbo that may help you solve this crap: i built my website using zencart, and i'm using CaRP to publish my blogspot blog through an rss feed. i know there's a wordpress module for blogging with zencart, but i'd rather not change over to wordpress since i've been writing on this same blog for 6 years.
if anyone can help i'd super appreciate it - i have a support ticket in with CaRP that never got answered (i submitted it like 3 months ago). and remember! if you can help me with all four issues you get 2 free prints of your choice from my online shop!
pow! i came in fourth in craftsters' "craft your resolution" contest! thanks to all that voted! you can read all about it here.
aaaaaaaaand what else. i have 2 more days in the office next week before i'm officially a full-time hearts and laserbeams employee! freelancing and artsy fartsy adventures, here i come!
oh and kraft mac n cheese may just be the tastiest of all tasty dinners!
i've rearranged and added a couple of things on here; nothing too major, whaddaya think?
here's part three in the they drink too much series - here we see the partybot way past his recommended intake of boozeahol, poor thing! this painting was also featured on the cover of the districtmagazine on january 2; how about you take home a piece of history?
they drink too much #3 8" x 10" artwork in black handmade strip frame acrylic on canvas $125
available through january 31 at siren 2240 east 4th street long beach, ca 90814
so very exciting, we were just asked to have a closing reception for the robots show at siren! if you missed the party the first time around, you should come check it out!
robots! they're just like us! closing reception saturday, january 26, 6-8pm
they go incognito number 1 and 2 are probably my favorite pieces from this robot show because who doesn't like moustaches!? communists, that's who. this one was featured in the online version of the district'sreview of the show!
they go incognito #1 5" x 7" artwork in 2" black frame acrylic on canvas $100
available through january 31 at siren 2240 east 4th street long beach, ca 90814
also, in unrelated news my new favorite subject line for a spam email is "scientific breakthrough for your love wand".
this magazine cover kind of blows my mind. the sweetest thing ever was when i came home from work wednesday, when this issue came out, josh and his bro had already framed this cover and hung it in the living room. if you're siblings or you live in savannah or new mex don't fret we got one set aside for ya, if you're in the long beach area this issue's only on stands until tuesday night so get it while you can!
i would love to think that this cover'll get more people going to check out the show and maybe deciding they want to give one of my robots a home, it would superduper help out the i need new shirt equipment really soon thing!
happy weekending y'all! and how about the latest britney meltdown! the only word for it is WOW.
the print version of this one's better, my puking robot painting got on the contents page and then the cupcakes painting was used on the page with the article... so if you're in the oc or surrounding area get one o' the oc weeklys out this week!
if you're not in the oc you can check out their writeup of my show here!
p.s., i've now posted on this blog 1400 times in the past 5ish years. holy crap i'm a chatty cathy.
ok not only is the district (long beach's version of the oc weekly) doing a review on my show in this wednesday's issue, but they're putting one of my robots on the cover for the january 2 issue!!!
I AM POOPING MY PANTS RIGHT NOW!!!
so seriously exciting - thanks so much to everyone who came out to the show on saturday night, it was such a fun night and it was great to see everyone's positive reactions to my work! if you didn't get a chance to come to the show saturday there's still time; it's hanging until january 31 at:
siren 2240 east 4th street long beach, ca 90802
I AM POOPING MY PANTS RIGHT NOW!!!
so yes. get a district this wednesday to see the article on my show, get an oc weekly this thursday to see their article on it, get the district again on january 2 for the puking robot on the cover.
it's time to remind you yet again that the opening reception for my first ever solo painting show is tomorrow night from 630-930!
siren 2240 east 4th street long beach, ca 90814
really why do you keep making me remind you? you should have it penned into your calendar by now! what the eff! none of this "i'll pencil you in" business, just write it in big fat sharpie markers already! here's all the info!
still on the fence about going? what if i entice you with a youtube movie i got to be in? i'm kandy kane and baby mama, fyi be advised...
that was cool, right? i'm worth coming to see tomorrow night, right? what if i bring cupcakes and drinks and snacks?
happy thanksgiving, chumos!!! i'm thankful that josh was able to get the day off! now instead of hanging out at home working on painting all day and then eating with him when he got home from work, we're actually doing thanksgiving style plans, goin' out to see his aunt and uncle and cousins in riverside for the day, hooray!
what this means for you is we're putting the shake and bake turkey on hold. maybe we'll cook it up for xmas? don't be sad homies, there IS a shake and bake turkey on the horizon, it's just a question of when.
other news... dates were set for my painting show! and i'm 3/4 done with the paintings for it! i'm hoping to finish the last four over this long weekend, and then it's just framing and hanging! pow!
aaaaaaaand if you're in the l.a. area be sure to stop by the handmade for the holidays show at fairfax high school on friday and saturday, it's gonna be awesome!
so the new job starts monday - while i'm super excited about it, it has been so much fun being a fulltime hearts and laserbeams employee this week. i got so much accomplished that's been on the back burner for ages, including:
- did 7 (almost 8! maybe 8 by the end of the weekend) new paintings. 2 for an upcoming halloween show in echo park, 5 (or 6) for a robot series i've been wanting to do for freaking forever. i'm hoping to be able to wrangle a solo show sometime in the future with these robots...
- updated the shop and the etsy store with like 70something things that should've been listed a longass time ago
- learned more about and started to perfect my screen burning technique for screenprinting by burning a total of 7 screens (4 of which need to be cleaned out cuz they stank! thanks to everyone who offered their tips and tricks, i'm really starting to get it!)
so yes! happy weekending, i'm hoping i can stay productive in my last couple days of housewifeness, and i'll regale you with tales of the new jobby job soon!
i've spent more than a good long chunk of today updating the shop with things i've made for the last few shows i was in, how's about you go check it out!
folks, after nine months of existing in cyberspace, hearts and laserbeams FINALLY has a portfolio section up and running! check it out here.
be sure to keep me in mind for all your art and design needs, my prices are reasonable and my work is quality!
also, get your butt to little monster market tomorrow in studio city, and be sure to stop by the hearts and laserbeams table to say hi! i'm working on more tiny watercolors today that will be available for the first time tomorrow at the show.
we now return you to your regularly scheduled labor day! have a good one!
ok so a couple of days ago, i heard the william shatner song "common people" on indie and was reminded of how effing awesome it is, so of course today i bought the whole cd from itunes and put common people as my song on the myspace page. check out the video for the song here.
also! there's no way to describe how awesome it was, but last saturday i went with a bunch of awesome people to the foo fighters / police show at dodger stadium and it was amazing. effing awesome.
and! loud noises!
but! there's been all kinds of roboty things in the works, and they're up on the site for sale now, so help a sistah out with the art habit!
check out the notecards:
and two new tshirts:
and four new prints of watercolors that'll be in the cactus gallery show this month:
remember, the original watercolors of the merbots will be available at cactus gifts in july! stay tuned for the details on the artists reception on july 21!
p.s. jenn and john are on their way to nyc soon and i'm hella jealous, i don't care if it's a business trip. the end!
new items in the shop again! jenn norwood is a picture-taking fiend! check out the latest, 2 new colors for dino necklaces and power rings pow-kaPOW!
also, we fried up some squid steaks tonight... and like the actual animal, they came out a little weird. like i would totally use our breading concoction again on something else, but the consistency of squid is a little hard to take after the first five bites. it was kinda good but mostly weird. we still have squid left over, so we'll try a different recipe next time...
also, why the hell is it sunday night already? i feel like i should've had more weekend than this! on the upside, i did do 3 new little 5x5" paintings for a hot dog place/gallery in los angeles today - i'm showing em to my contact on tuesday along with other paintings that are going up for sure, so if you take a shine to one of em i'll letcha know where you can get em soon!
ok so i'm goin, goin, goin trying to get stuff together for SoCo Bazaar next weekend - feast your eyes on the new stickers! they're available here on the site. they'll only be a quarter at the show because i won't have to pack and send em! which is why you should come to the show, to get some totally sweet tattoo stickers. do it for your country! i'm workin on some other things today to bring with me, maybe some tiny little paintings for your artsy fartsy enjoyment, we'll see what i come up with!
last night, josh and i went to go see our pal melissa's show at black market gallery in los angeles. seriously, you should go and check it out, it was all really amazing stuff. i love how much tiny little detail is put into every painting, and the kind of otherworldly feel her paintings have. if you've got the time you should definitely go check it out before it closes. while we don't have the cash for one of her paintings, i'm definitely buying a print cuz that shit is awesome!
what else... mmm... there was something i was gonna say... oh yeah stay tuned i have a naughty item that's going in the shop soon! lemme just say they're cupcakes. for your cupcakes. and they're delicious!
it's amazing how much quicker and easier it is to crochet cupcakes when you actually know how crocheting works... i'm workin on bustin' out a bunch of the tasty treats for SoCoBazaar on june 2 and they're so much more fun to make now because they don't take 8 hours and they all look pretty decent! deeeeelicious!
in other very important news, josh bought this computer game called the ship this last weekend and it's awesome. it's set in the 1940s on a ship that could arguably be called a rip off of the queen mary, and you're basically sent around to kill various passengers on the boat. josh just shot through a window to kill the captain of the ship. how's the thing gonna drive now that's what i say. also, my favorite part is you get dollars depending on the awesomeness of the weapon you use to kill someone, and they put mannequin arm near the top of the list. we have yet to see a mannequin arm, but when we do... gods be praised!
ron perlman personally requested that for his birthday i share with you fine folks the magic that is an original josh calvert painting, celebrating the best movie ever about a zebra who lives at a farm that wants to be a racehorse...
i never did get around to reading more vonnegut books like i've always meant to, and now when i go pick up slaughterhouse five it's gonna look like i'm only interested cuz the guy died. welcome to the monkey house was a cool book of short stories, and you should also probably read breakfast of champions. don't ask me what they were about, i read em ages ago, but i remember they were wacky and good.
this week has dragged more than any week has dragged before!! mostly because vacation looms on the horizon and i just can not effing wait. just one more day of work and then glorious, glorious freedom!
i finally got my roll of chain in the mail this week which means soon soon SOON there will be shrinky dink necklaces in the shop! soon soon soon means i haven't quite gotten off my butt to put them together, but let me assure you they will rock your socks off!
finished a painting last night for a group show and i'm totally lovin it - so bright and happy! hopefully someone else will think so too and take it home with them. but hopefully they will pay for it first, because that's how these things work, you understand. take a gander:
one last thing - josh and i were commenting the other day about how we haven't seen the segway santa in ages again. i hope he's okay!
this morning is all about gettin' shit done that i've been putting off for too long, including:
-doin' a couple of tshirt transfers for my uncle in law donnie (done!) -getting logos together for curt (done!) -possibly a new rescue 1000 shirt design if i can think of something -design a new invoice (done!) -get caught up on paperwork (done!)
and if i can get my shit together on that it's on to putting a trolley stop on a thong for a show in pennsylvania and starting a painting about food for a group show in jolly old england! ha cha cha, bust out the fish n chips!
also, in 2 weeks josh and i are headin to florida to see our bffs and we are effing excited!!
yay art shows! can't wait for this afternoon, my new years resolution to actually go out and see some art shows instead of talking about it all the time is a go!
imagonna go check out the magritte show at the lacma this afternoon, which should be pretty cool, especially if you like paintings of pipes or businessmen with applefaces!
then imagonna go check out the school daze show at reform school! super excited, i've been dying to go check out this store for months. don't know if i'll be there for the actual reception, as it starts at 7 and i may be done at lacma way way way before then, but still rad all the same.
in other news, my hair is in that crappy stage between awesome super-short and cool-looking longer hair, so it's really just irritating me and making me wanna bust out the scissors. but i remind myself that i'm trying something new with this hair thing so i'm gonna eat some m&ms instead and just try try try to be patient with it for a few more months before i cut it all off again.
also, in the man's keeping you down news, jenny from felt club's run into a bit of a fines situation over felt club posters from past events. apparently someone who had posters to put up hung them outside in a no post bills zone sort of thing, and the powers that be are charging jenny $400 in fines even though she's not the one who hung the poster since it was her event. she's broke as a joke like the rest of us, so in the next couple of weeks she'll be having a couple of ebay auctions for gift baskets full of arts and crafty items from people all over, including yours truly. imagonna donate a skull painting to the cause, and you're gonna bid on the gift basket it ends up in! it's the least we all can do for all the work she's put into having these events, you know? i'll keep ya posted on when the auction goes up.
