all things girls can tell

feature: modern mouse interview

modern mouse is a fantastic little shop carrying girls can tell wares that i am delighted to have been with since the beginning. located in alameda, california, the shop grew from a holiday pop-up store to a year round spot for amazing, good things! they interviewed me about the work|shop a bit ago, and that interview is up on their blog now (along with some photos you may recognize!)

enjoy the interview here!

special project: burger + fries + milkshake + music truck!

burger + fries + milkshake + music truck!

at a picnic a few weeks ago i ran into my neighbors, matt + quavin, who had just bought a food truck with the plans of creating the lucky old souls burger truck (named for the lucky old souls jazz club they're in the process of opening in our neighborhood). as we got into discussing what the truck would look like, there was a lightbulb moment among us. they've been fans of my work for a while (their infant son is quite the drooler + i'm told he only wears girls can tell bibs). lo + behold, after an whirlwind exchange of ideas + one awesome lunch meeting over, you guessed it, burgers, they commissioned me to create a series of illustrations for the truck.

since they were about as excited as you could be to go pick the truck up from the shop that did the vinyl graphics for it, they invited me to tag along to see it for the first time. who says no to being among the first to see a burger truck featuring your own drawings scaled up to bigger than yourself? not this girl. so along i went.

(the trumper played on the red driver's door is one of my favorite bits of it)

(the truck, as a little branch of the lucky old souls jazz club, will play jazz from speakers on top, hence the jazz ensemble diagrams)

(matt + the crew inspecting the service window + menu board)

(full burger diagram featuring all their amazing toppings on the service window)

(obligatory photo of me with the truck.)

(here's the teaser photo i tweeted the other day, riding back to the studio inside the truck)

it feels pretty awesome to be part of such a fun project. if you're in philadelphia + are lucky enough to catch the lucky old burger truck (follow them on twitter to learn their location + more!), i highly recommend the burger. (with smoked blue cheese! and housemade ketchup!) everything the truck serves is locally, responsibly sourced + made from scratch, and it all tastes super, super great. enjoy!

 

welcome to the work|shop!

new for this holiday season is the girls can tell work|shop! if you find yourself in south philadelphia, you can stop by to see where + how girls can tell items are made + shipped out, browse selections that haven't made their internet debut yet or just say hi! for hours, please see girlscantell.com/hours or to make an appointment for another day, just email me at visit [at] girlscantell.com.

if you are in philadelphia this month, please do stop by for philadelphia open studio tours on october 15 + 16, between 12 - 6pm for refreshments, q+a + shopping!

since so many of you, out there in interwebz world, don't have the good fortune of living in our fair city, i thought i'd share a few photos of the shop from the day of the opening party. thanks for taking a peek! hope to see you soon!

 

autumn spirits

as much as i love summer vegetables + all the amazing things we can do with the fresh, local awesomeness we pick up in our great CSA each week (tomato + corn salad with fresh basil dressing was a favorite this summer!), there's something about fall flavors i just can't get enough of. as soon as there's a chill in the air, all i want to do is make soups, pumpkin anything, seasonal cocktails + quick breads.

this weekend, i made two tasty drinks perfect for the october weather. not coincidentally, they're both very simple + bourbon-based (my go-to spirit, especially when it's cooler out). enjoy!

bourbon hot toddy
(makes one - recipe via epicurious.com)

• 1 oz (2 tablespoons) bourbon
• 1 tablespoon mild honey
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup boiling-hot water

stir in a sturdy glass or mug until honey is dissolved. perfect for an itchy throat or an end of the night treat.

bourbon cider snap

(can make as many as you'd like)

• 1 part bourbon
• 1 part art in the age snap
• 1 part fresh apple cider

shake over ice, strain + serve in your favorite cocktail glasses. garnish with a cinnamon stick if you're feeling fancy. snap is a locally made, gingersnap flavored spirit derived from fresh ginger + blackstrap molasses. if you can get your hands on a bottle, absolutely treat yourself to one.

more towel spotting fun

since i've had the good fortune of both visiting some great cities in the past couple weeks + some lovely friends with sharp eyes, here are a few more snapshots of girls can tell towels in anthropologie shops around the country. i've pretty much discovered that the excited feeling at the bottom of my stomach seeing my work displayed in such fantastic ways and among so many other terribly wonderful things just doesn't diminish.

(at the anthropologie shop in rockefeller center, new york... totally surreal seeing something i made here)

(at anthropologie in jackson, mississippi, photo courtesy of brian, who is totally awesome.)

(the coffee tea towel - which will be the hardest to spot! - at anthropologie in austin, texas, which happens to be across the street from the flagship whole foods store, which was also pretty incredibly fun).

(the rest of the display in the austin shop.)

yay!

best shops ever: renegade handmade

little known fact: when i first began selling my wares, i was so in awe of (and slightly intimidated by) the incredibleness of the renegade team that it took more than 3 years before i worked up the courage to even apply to be a vendor at one of the renegade craft fairs or to consign my goods in their (amazing) shop in chicago. now that i've had the pleasure of vending at several renegade events + the honor of their shop carryinf my work for some time now, i've come to learn that behind the incredible renegade brand is just a few talented, dedicated, spectacular, sweet, normal people who love what they do.

i asked sue daly, the owner + lady who started it all, to answer a few questions about the renegade shop, so here we go:

What inspired you to set up shop?

I've wanted to have a store ever since I could remember!  I love vintage shops, antique stores, novelty stores and all sorts of independent boutiques in general - and I always thought it would be fun to open my own. 

When I was a kid, my mom used to take me shopping with her to little independent craft stores, gift stores and the like - so maybe that's where I got the bug initially.  I always thought I'd open a vintage clothing store and so I would go thrifting all of the time and collected things for years with plans to eventually open up shop.  I did this for probably two or three years, and looked at storefronts all the while too. 

In the midst of all that, I was also actively crafting as a hobby and started the Renegade Craft Fair as a result of that.  And so once that took off, the focus of the store evolved into opening a shop as an extension of the craft fair, where we could provide a permanent place for people to buy and sell handmade items.  When we opened, we had a small selection of the vintage clothing we'd been collecting for years - but it all quickly sold out and we found ourselves needing more room to sell the handmade stuff because the shop was so small.  So from then on, we strictly stuck to DIY craft items.

Today, we carry the work of over 300 independent crafters from all over the country and even abroad.  We also use the store to host workshops with different artists, and have different people we work with decorate our store window installation style.  So, it's been a lot of fun to make it part interactive like that too.

How long has the shop been open? (or a short history about your shop)

We opened our doors in July of 2007, so we're coming up on four years now.

How do you go about finding artists to sell in the shop?

We find many of our artists through organizing the craft fairs.  We also have an online application where people can apply to sell their things on the store.  Sometimes we actively search people out online as well, and contact them directly.  And we work with a handful of wholesalers that we've just picked-up over the years.

Please describe the community / neighborhood that your shop finds itself in.

Our store is located in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, which is where the Renegade Craft Fair first took place back in the fall of 2003.  It's a bustling neighborhood, that has always had an artsy vibe.

What makes you most excited about doing what you do?

The store is always growing and changing, and provides us with the opportunity to work with artists from all corners of the world.  We get to be one of the first people to see the new things people are making, which is exciting.  We're always thinking of ways we can get artists involved with Renegade Handmade, whether it be a workshop, a small art show (as part of our 'spotlight series'), having them create a window installation, doing interviews and more.  So we really love the interactive component to what we're doing.

Who's involved in making the shop work?

We have a wonderful staff of five.  I'm the owner/proprieter, Madelon Juliano is our general manager and does most of the buying/re-stocking, Sarah Spies is our online store guru and also does the bulk of our blogging, Ali Gibbons is the assistant manager of the store and works wonders on the store displays and merchandising to keep the store fresh, and Kevin Wilson is the newest addition to the team and spends his time charming customers on Saturdays.

a big thanks to sue + the renegade team for all they do for handmade artisans! come see girls can tell at renegade craft fair in austin, brooklyn + san francisco this summer! xo!

spring break

one of the more practical reasons it's been so quiet here on the blog of late is that we took our first real vacation (as in no phone, no internet, no email, no work, at all, for a whole week) since i started girls can tell full time.

what merited such an occasion?

we took a cruise to the virgin islands!

after lots and lots of long hours in the studio lately, a full on vacation was really important. but all good things must come to an end, and i couldn't help but think that, upon returning, i was so grateful to be heading back to the studio for work that i love, and not just a job. breaks are important, but it's amazing to love what you do everyday.

success + process + creativity

 

this morning i made a few moments to sit down and take advantage of the TED videos that have recently made their way over to hulu, which is probably the best thing ever. having read eat pray love a few years ago, i had a sneaking suspicion that i'd enjoy the elizabeth gilbert talk, and i did. i so very much did.

i'm not a big fan of internet video (i'm trying to get over that, i just don't care to watch videos online typically... sorry...) but i couldn't resist sharing this with you here. her talk really hit home wiht me as a professional creative person + a maker. her thoughts on dealing with the anxiety of a public's reaction to your work impacting your ability to create work are just fantastic. i can't recommend strongly enough that everyone who makes creates things for a living to give this talk at least a listen.

introducing occasionette

the past few weeks, aside from prepping and selling at the philadelphia home show, i also printed unique coasters for the upcoming interaction eleven conference in boulder, colorado. the conference sounds incredibly interesting, and i'm proud to have created custom coaster favors for all the attendees.

which leads me to the most exciting news, which i've been hiding up my sleeve for some time now...

in 2011, i'll be accepting many more custom orders like this one! if you have a wedding, party, small business or some other thing you'd like me to print up favors or gifts for, now you can! introducing occasionette, the custom order branch of girls can tell illustration + printing!

enjoy poking around the site, and if you have questions, please feel free to email me (sara at girlscantell dot com!)

country living love

i'm beyond excited that in the february 2010 issue of country living magazine, you'll find my towels featured! they're in great company, with some other really fantastic tea towels. you can find the towels in the shop right here!