all things girls can tell

be mine- new designs!

at long last, here are the brand new, super sweet valentine's designs i've been working on for the past few weeks. without further ado, i present two lovely new diagrams:

i have to admit, i think i had more fun drawing the valentine candy more than i've enjoyed drawing any diagram so far...

(three guesses as to why...)

finally, i have to thank my sweet friend, rachel (who makes makes gorgeous rings), not only great idea for the diamond ring design, but also for her help in researching the bits and coming up with proper terminology for all the pieces and parts. i love it!

i'd wanted to post these sooner, but between bathroom craziness (it's coming along, slowly) and getting my wisdom teeth pulled (yes, january was a fun month to be sure), today was the soonest they could make their debut. better (almost) late than never, right?

and through sunday, all these valentine goodies and more are 20% off at http://shop.girlscantell.com! just use the code "BEMINE" at checkout for 20% off your entire order.

best tip: establishing genuine relationships

 

people often ask what the trick is to supporting yourself through a small creative business (or, we'll pretend that's what they're asking when they gawk "you can make a living doing that?" when i mention what i do for a living...).  while there is, of course, no magic tip or trick to make it easy. there are simple things you can do to make things go as smoothly as possible.

the first would be to establish genuine relationships. this probably applies not only to making a living through your handmade art or what-have-you, but also just to, you know, life in general (but i won't claim to be any expert on the matter of "life in general", so i'll stick to blogging what i know...)

• customers - because without them, cheesy as it might sound, you don't have a business. this might sound obvious, but i think people forget this sometimes. so be real. be relate-able. be honest. give them your best. it'll pay off.
• 'employees' - you might not have people on the payroll (dream as you will), but it probably takes more than you to make your business work. the people who make your venues run, who manage the boutiques or shops that carry your work, the bloggers who feature your products... it's really important to not only communicate well with these people, but being consistently easy to work with, helpful, useful and just plain friendly can be the most important thing you do for your business.
• the 'competition' - the truth is, you don't have 'competition' unless you decide those other sellers are your enemies instead of your friends. which is just silly. be consistently honest, open, original and level-headed and things will fall into place. share something you learned with another seller who asks your advice or when you fall in love with someone's work, let them know - no one gets tired of hearing that people like what they do. these are the seemingly casual relationships that not only make work more fun, they really add up to more than the sum of their pieces.

the wise and witty conan o'brien said it best when he mentioned that if you're kind and work hard,amazing things will happen. truer words couldn't be spoken of succeeding in handmade business.

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!

shopping gets superfun!

 

you know what makes shopping, even at anthropologie, even more fun?

when you spy the work of your friends for sale! i knew a few months ago my friend, allison, of monkeys always look fame, was toiling away on a giant wholesale order for philadelphia-based anthropologie (don't pretend you don't totally want to live in every anthropologie you've set foot in, you know you do). so when i was taking a little window-shopping break a few weeks ago, i went in search of her amazing wares in the super giant location right on the northeast corner of rittenhouse square. and completely squealed, nerded out and probably scared off the sales ladies when i spotted the garden markers she made.

aren't they gorgeous?

  

you can buy some for your own little patch (or pot) of dirt here.

being busy, keeping busy

 

as i slowly, but surely, work my way through the seemingly endless stream of orders in my inbox (i finally got it tamed to less than twenty outstanding orders after a few solid days of sending out bundles of 40+ packages and making my postman hate me), i've been entertaining myself by thinking of all the wonderful things i'll do with my newfound "free time" once holiday shipping deadlines have come and gone.

top of the list right now are lots of new things - new diagrams (submit your best ideas here!), new price tags, new info-cards (if you've ever seen me at a craft show or ordered my work online, you've probably seen the postcards i had made with my little artist bio and a step by step illustration of my screenprinting process), new products (yay!) and a new setup for my online listings (for those keeping tabs, i currently sell in four, that's right, FOUR online venues, which is, admittedly, a little nutty).

basically, what i'm saying is i can't wait until i'm not busy so that i can make myself totally busy again. isn't that how it really works, anyway?

no sleep 'til brooklyn.

 

you might have noticed how quiet things have been around these parts (and by these parts, i certainly don't mean my online shops... i mostly specifically just mean exactly here at my little bloggity) - sorry about that! as you might imagine, it's been a busy, busy, busy couple weeks. way busy, busy.

aside from selling my goodies online and through some lovely boutiques, i've had the pleasure of participating in several great shows this season - some old favorites (squidfire!), some brand new awesome shows (crafty balboa! philly, this is the best show we have!), and some that are just new to me (bazaar bizarre boston! so good!)

and now the only show that's left on my (way too busy) schedule for the year is the brooklyn lyceum craft market on december 19 + 20. i've never done a show in brooklyn (or NYC, for that matter. weird, right?) before, so please do come out and say hello! i'd love to see you! if you mention that you read about the show on my blog, i'll totally give you a free, diagrammy gift (and it wouldn't even be inappropriate for you to regift it!)

girlscantell super thing holiday sale (part 2)

 

yay! i've introduced the new super thing at the official girlscantell webshop!

for a limited time, you can be the proud owner of a fine set of anatomical brain tea towels (and who wouldn't want that?). for the next few days only, they're handsomely priced at 25% off their normal price - just $15 for the pair! the best thing is, these floursack towels are a slightly different style - they're even softer, more absorbent than the previous style, and they have such a lovely natural look to them. (i'm smitten, can you tell?)

as a special added bonus, there are still just a few sets of the red burger coasters available in the girlscantell shop on etsy - if you like cheeseburgers, or if you know someone who does, be sure to snag a set at 25% off. 

 

happy holidays!
xo!

super things! (aka the holiday sale)

welcome, officially, to the holiday season.
here at girlscantell world headquarters, we're celebrating in style, with super things!

what are super things? so glad you asked. every other day or so, i'll be listing one item (the super thing!) for 25% off (or more!) in my official web shop (that'd be shop.girlscantell.com). it's one item - one diagram on one thing in one color of my choosing, every few days, for less than it's normally listed, until i choose a different item to become the super thing. it's almost like a chain letter, only it's not promising seven years bad luck and it won't reveal who your secret crush is.

 

the first super thing is cheeseburger coasters! because everyone loves a cheeseburger and coasters are not only lovely, but they keep your furniture spiffy. they're listed right now for 25% off the normal coaster price! just $12 for this superawesome set. enjoy!

the boutiques list is up to date!

it's been busy-busy at girlscantell world headquarters, and i've been printing up a storm for a great bunch of new stockists. now when you click the link "find a shop near you" on the right at girlscantell.com, you can browse through all the retailers (listed alphabetically by state!) that carry girlscantell wares.

know a shop near you that would be perfect for girlscantell goodies? demand they contact me for details! sara (at) girlscantell.com, of course. or just send me their information and i'll check it out.

yay! stay sweet, kiddos!

hero blog: daily ode

i had the lovely fortune of finally meeting el lohse of the totally magical shop elloh at art star craft bazaar this summer. she's smiley and bubbly and every other quaint, sweet adjective that might come to mind upon browsing through her work. 

when i noticed elloh's link to her own daily ode blog on twitter (follow her at twitter.com/elloh, of course!), i was immediately smitten. and thought i'd share this discovery with you, loves. anyone who attempts to do anything daily wins effort points from me (it's a feat i'm not sure i'll ever muster the courage to tackle successfully), but she seems to do it with a smile. so fun!

enjoy!