Mother Magpie's

I am super happy for my mom, she is starting her own business called Mother Magpie's--it's a funky mix of her vintage treasures and DIY handiwork. I got the fabulous job of designing her logo, business cards and signage. We did a large rubber stamp that she can use on manila shipping tags, and the next item up for design is a banner.When searching for the perfect shipping tag image I came across this gorgeous site! It's called Olive Manna - Textiles & Paper Goods. I think I'm in love...go check it out yourself.

Potato Print Moustache Swag Bags

Outtakes from The Moustache Bash
As promised I'm sharing some crafty bits for the TFD blog, based on the Moustache Bash bday party we had for Master B and Master M. Fun, easy, kid based projects...POTATO PRINTS! I drew the 'stache with a Sharpie and carved out the design with a paring knife and some linocut tools.
We did an assembly line print job, with each of us in charge of one potato. I had to step in periodically to clean off the globs and trim the corners that got soft with ink. The kids liked to roll new ink on the tray and dip and stamp. We stamped onto white paper sacks from Target, and filled them with goodies for kiddie style swag bags.

Getting Ready for Screenprinting at StudioWorks

I can't believe it's been a year since I was last at my first screenprinting workshop at Visual Asylum. I'm back at it again this Friday night for an open studio. Amy said I could use the 4-color press (AWESOME!) and so I busted out my newest design--inspired by the one and only Tim Gunn. I'm obsessed with school craft supplies and I've sketched the Elmer's glue bottle more than once. Practical, chic, fresh, timeless.

Art Between the Hours

I'm in my first group show at Project X Art Gallery in Solana Beach. I accepted the invitation with excitement and trepidation...I've shared my designs with many, but kept my painting close to home. Well, it's a New Year and I'm up for the challenge. Art Between the Hours features some extremely talented artists that are way out of my league. Really, I'm quite fortunate to be included with them. Cheers Ladies! And thanks again Jen, for the invitation... Celebrate with us this Saturday night from 6 - 10 PM at Project X Art Gallery:

Printmaking with Kids

While I am not inclined to take on such projects everyday, today was a holiday for us all as the boys were out of school and I was playing hooky. I absolutely love all things related to printmaking and had been waiting to dig into this EyeCanArt kit given to the boys on their 5th birthday. Yes, I waited until age 6, but it was worth it.

The monster designs were independently crafted by each of the boys, with some assistance on the cutting and overall strategy. We rocked this out in two stages (design-cut and glue, then print), and based on some of my project edits, we executed it a little bit different than the kit recommends. Mainly, this is due to the fact that I misplaced the proper papers included in the kit. {I stored them flat between books, and am baffled as to where they are.} It still worked with a tweak or two and was marvy for an inaugural attempt. {The main issue is that I used very thick tag board to build the design on, and more thick pieces for the design-including the soft foam sheets}.

I dug up some of the tools I had on hand for linocuts, including some super old orange speedball ink and a large brayer. This helped because we kept one brayer mainly for the ink, the other to burnish the image. I loved using the kraft paper for the boys images, as they were somewhat tribal in design and it made a nice contrast. Mine are ancient, from PaperSource, though I couldn't find them on their website just now.

Threadless Prints




It's official, I'm obsessed with printmaking. I'm psyched to have learned the process at StudioWorks via Visual Asylum, and now I've discovered that the super rad T-Shirt gig Threadless ventured into printland as well. So cool. Examples, above. I'll post soon on the first design shown here "Magical Powers", by Ray Fenwick. Finally, the kid's shirts are completely unique, Beck and Max have been gifted a lovely collection, and have since grown out of all of them. People, order one up for kids so that you can keep them longer. This one is next on the list...

Pinball Publishing

Through the ever talented Kate Bingaman-Burt of Obsessive Consumption I found Pinball Publishing in Portland, Oregon. I have no need for a current print run, and like to do work locally, but they are so flippin' cool it might be worth the long distance to work with them on a future project. They recntly published a series of designer postcards which help promote their own mad printing skills. This one is by artist Lisa DeJohn. I'm obsessed with the rounded corners and it appears that Pinball is more than equipped to execute such details.

From Pinball: Lisa DeJohn is a fine artist, illustrator and surface designer living in the North Shore of Massachusetts. She draws inspiration from plant forms, animals, architectural structures and antique paper goods. Her freelance work includes clients such as Chronicle Books, The Land of Nod, teNeues Publishing, IKEA, Godiva Chocolatier and Urban Outfitters.