all things girls can tell

sneak peek! new designs!

 

here's a little preview of what's to come!
new designs will be posted this week...
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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!

super awesome surprise gifts!

 

sometimes it's fun having friends in far away places. while it's sad when you don't get to see these friends as often as you really should, it just makes totally unexpected gifts in the mail and the few-and-far between visits even better. an old colleague of mine totally caught me off-guard the other day when i opened a sizable, padded envelope and found a crazy fun present.

thanks, lauren! only YOU can be super awesome! (this outstanding print is the work of the one and only matty8080. find his other work here.)

 

ps. if you have a moment, my friend, marisa's, blog, food in jars, has had the honor of being nominated by saveur magazine (fancy, i know!) if you love the canning diagram in my line, you have none other than marisa to thank, so go vote for her! it's quick and painless, i promise!

the photo above is, of course, marisa's.

ask me whatever you'd like

i'll probably just make something up, but it sounds like a fun idea, right? (i'm kidding. mostly.)

anyway, lately, i've noticed several bloggers and other fun people using formspring to field questions that just about anyone can submit. then allison mentioned it's really easy to set up a profile to make it all happen, and it seemed like a fun idea. so i decided to take the plunge.

which actually isn't much of a plunge at all unless questions start getting asked, so fire away!

have a question about what it is i actually do all day? or how i get ideas for new diagrams? or what type of cookies i'd prefer you send me? why i hate pants? or what kind of dog is janie actually? i'm willing to share this information and more. pinky swear.

super inspiration

 

every once in a while, someone sends me a little tidbit that i absolutely adore. like, head over heels can't stop flipping back to look at it / want to just become absorbed into whatever little world i've just discovered.

lately, that inspiration came from a link sent by my good friend, kellbot. from adam voorhes photography, it's kind of the photographic version of the type of visual representation i'm completely enamored of. go take a look!

moving day is near!

 

hello, bloggity friends! thanks so much for your patience - i know i've been posting somewhat sporatically lately, and for that, i apologize. hopefully things will be back to normal some time next week. to keep you all in the loop, as you may know, i've been remodeling the tiny bathroom in my house (almost done! so close!) and now that the project is finally nearing an end, tomorrow i'll be moving back into my little house. yay!

long time readers (well, hello, there!) might recognize my little house from photos (of which there are lots!). my orange living room (in an older photo, above, and i swear i didn't intentionally paint it etsy orange) will probably once again make an appearance here, time and again. what i'm so very excited about is blogging my re-adventures in decorating the great little spaces of my home! i'll be sure to show you all the new and exciting decorating i do (and, of course, all the great little nooks i've always loved).

i figure it's only appropriate for a lady as obsessive about housewares as i am to give you a little sneak peek into my own little place from time to time. so wish me some (much needed! we still have lots of snow!) luck on my move tomorrow!

hero blog: j casa handmade

 

jcasa has been one of my favorite "etsy friends" for almost four years now. over these past few years, our work and shops have grown considerably and we've each blogged about all the day to day things that we've done around our respective houses and with our loved ones. it's fun having such a talented, lovely far away friend and watching her adorable family grow and seeing all the beautiful pieces of her life each day. her sweet posts and gorgeous photos have long been an inspiration for my own little bloggity here.

if you have some spare time, and you're in the mood to feel all warm, wonderful and inspired, do pay her blog (right here on typepad), jchandmade, a visit.

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.

 

best tip: what a difference a year makes

 

in wrapping up some of my figures and things for january (how is it february already?), out of curiosity, i took a glance back at my numbers from the same month a year ago. last january was officially the first month that girlscantell was my full time occupation (after three years of being my favorite side project).

much to my surprise, and despite having so many other giant projects begging my time all month, my online sales were more than double what they were last year. but that was the least of it - in january 2010, i also added several new stockists (check out the newly updated list here to find great local shops that carry girlscantell!), and i managed to restock almost half of the shops on the list that were in need of more wares after the holidays.

i'm not tooting my own horn, i promise, as much as i'm saying, whoa, what a difference a year makes. most people who know me learn pretty quickly that i'm not a patient person, but i've learned a huge lesson in these past months -that those wise old words "slow and steady wins the race" totally hold true. great businesses aren't built quickly, they develop through week after weeks of putting in the time. so many small business owners get frustrated when they don't see crazy successful results overnight. that's not only totally unrealistic, it's really not even what you want (unless being a flash in the pan is your end goal, i suppose). 

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.