all things girls can tell

sidewalk diagrams

monday evening, i hopped off the bus on my way home from my studio in chinatown, where girls can tell has lived for over two years now. my bus stop from the 23 bus (the world's longest continuous urban bus route, thankyouverymuch) leaves me right at 12th + morris streets, where they cross passyunk avenue in south philadelphia, just about 4 blocks from my little house + just steps from the new location of girls can tell world headquarters.

since i'm one of the most impatient + excitable people you'll ever meet, i decided to detour a few feet over to the new soon-to-be headquarters of girls can tell. about to cross the street, i glanced down and noticed that the sidewalk was covered with diagrams. diagrams!

who could imagine a more perfect sight to see?

on thursday afternoon, the lease was officially signed + checks written, and very, very soon i'll get in there to build out my dream studio. i can't wait to share photos + more with all of you. yay!

april flowers

we decided to skip the april showers and ring in the new month with a cloud of flowers hovering overhead in the studio. here are some quick shots of the amazingness brian put together for first friday yesterday evening.

 

i'm tempted to just leave them hanging forever and ever. so lovely!

secret sale!

 

hello, hello! i thought, since it's nice out and we've been busy prepping the studio for tomorrow's first friday event and making new diagrams, that maybe something a little fun was in order. and i figured secret sales are always fun, so a secret sale it is.

so here it is: from now through tomorrow morning, get 20% off your entire order of girls can tell wares at the official online girls can tell shop here. just use the code RANUNCULUS at checkout to receive the discount.

 

why ranunculus as the secret sale word? well, you'll see. ;)

rollerskates + flowers, lungs + coffee!

in the grand old tradition of first fridays past, girls can tell is proud to present this month's new diagrams (and a lovely open studio evening to celebrate them!)

  

it's rollerskate-o-rama!, a cheer for spring with lungs + flowers!, and (long-awaited instant-classic) coffee!

so come out, say hi, have a glass of wine, visit the other half dozen or so galleries in the building and pick up a set of your favorite girls can tell wares! bring your friends and have dinner in chinatown after your art-gazing.

also! check out the $1 one-of-a-kind bin of misprints + seconds - supercheap slightly imperfect wares!

yay fun! super spring!

girls can tell april first friday open studio
02 april 2010 | 6-9pm | 319A N 11th st. FOURTH FLOOR
[here's the facebook invite in case you're so inclined]

little glimpses of the process

 
[burning new designs onto screens]

it's been busy busy in the studio lately. i thought i'd share some of in-progress photos of the different things that happen between when i sketch a new design and when it appears on your monitor in one of my online shops. enjoy!

[tea set | pots + pans screen in progress]

[taking photos of new work]

[printed inventory lives in the little display area at the front of the studio]

robot tea party!

 

in honor of this month's new diagram designs, my favorite secret partner-in-crime and i have been putting together something fun and a little different for first friday. you see, the way my new studio is laid out is fantastic - the front third when you walk in the door is partially walled-off, making a mini-space before you enter the workspace. so we're treating it as not only a place for finished work before i ship it out to lucky buyers, but also a place where people can pop in and buy wares.

so this secret project will be part retail installation (think holiday window displays or, dare i say it, anthropologie on any given day of the week) / part third grade classroom bulletin board style decoration / part normal housewares boutique display. right now, it's still in construction, but i think it's shaping up to be pretty fantastic. (there will be pictures for sure!)

our theme for this month is robot tea party (put on your thinking caps and imagine what this months diagrams might be, if you please)! if you're in the philadelphia area, and out + about on first fridays, please do stop in to say hi! girls can tell studio is on the fourth floor of 319A N. 11th street (11th and vine - the same building as vox populi gallery). i'll post a little later this week with some of the fantastic new diagrams. also, if you're a girls can tell fan on facebook, i'll be sending an event invitation out shortly.

yay!

the view from here

 

this morning, i got up early (well, early for a monday when you're self employed and therefore dictate your own schedule), got dressed, played with janie dog for a little while, put on my clunky boots, then quickly made my way out the door.

i finally got my new studio workspace (mostly) set up for business on friday afternoon - i was so excited to get in and get to work. so excited that the slushy snow from the 28.5 inches (!) that fell over the weekend and that the great cafe i was hoping to grab a cup of coffee from on my way was closed barely bothered me.

so here i am at my desk and it's really lovely. everything has that great 'fresh start' feeling, where productivity comes super naturally. so i thought i'd share my new view, and mention that i've been hard at work on some great new springtime designs (to counter balance all that snow!). i'll share them here soon, as well.

 

tags by place

 

mid-printing for a couple wholesale orders i recently shipped, i realized i was running dangerously low on hang tags (do they count as hang tags if they don't really hang? they just sort of lay on top of most of my work... lay tags?). luckily i remembered that my friend and studio-neighbor, jeff, prints all kinds of beautiful things on his fancy schmancy photo printers, and so i whipped together a new tag design and we printed them up. 

 

i'd always wanted to customize tags for a few of the fun places that sell my work, so i was incredibly pleased with the results. yay!

photo friday

those who follow me on twitter are probably aware that i'm abstaining from caffeine for the next two weeks (or more... we'll see how it all pans out). the important lesson i've learned from my 4 and a half days now (not that anyone's countingin) without caffeine is that apparently any superpowers i may typically possess come directly from caffeine. it's been a little better the past day or so - tuesday way brutal!

anyway, since i'm not my most articulate, here are some recent shots from around the studio. enjoy!

 

 

 

 

happy friday!

treating it as such.

one of the most important things i've done this year for my business is treating like a business. and it really seems like the more seriously i take showing up and getting things done, and done well, the more rewards there have been. it's lead me to a couple realizations:

if you believe you're running a real business, other people will, too.

you can only be as successful as you'll believe that you can be.

now, you should know by now that i'm not some fancy-talking, blowing-sunshine-up-your panties, daily affirmation type person (which reminds me, i want to pick up a copy of barbara ehrenreich's newest book - bright sided: how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined america. it sounds super interesting) who thinks all you have to do to accomplish things is will them so. however, i have become exceedingly convinced that if you don't think you can succeed, that will indeed hold you back. if you can't imagine making a living doing what you love, how will it ever happen? the very truth of it is that if you don't honestly believe you're going to be successful, no one else will, either.

(i suppose this is called confidence.)

and that, bloggity friends, is most of the reason why sometimes i like to dress up like i work in the fanciest of offices (dare i say a la mad men?) even just to work in the studio by myself, editing photos, answering emails and packing up orders. it makes me feel like i'm at a real job (which in turns makes what i do actually a real job. yes?)