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.

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?

good news! the tandem is back!

the tandem bicycle diagram was one of my favorites, and so when the screen finally printed its last good diagram at the beginning of the summer, i was pretty darned sad. this weekend, in the midst of like one hundred other projects, i decided it was time to finally make a new screen and bring back the tandem bicycle. yay!

so you can now find super lovely tandem diagram goodies back in the etsy shop (and soon to follow in the official girlscantell shop, supermarket and 1000 markets). it's like having a good friend move out of town and triumphantly return in a year. welcome back, old friend!

the funnest bottle openers on earth

it's no secret that i love craft beer. one might even say i like craft beer as much as i like... crafts. what exactly is "craft beer" and where does it come from?

well, according to beertown.org, here's what constitutes a craft brewery and craft beer:

An independent brewery with an annual beer production of between 15,000 and 2,000,000 barrels who has either an all malt flagship or has at least 50% of it's volume in either all malt beers or in beers which use adjuncts to enhance rather than lighten flavor.

Craft beer is made using a traditional process of blending the sugars from malted grains (such as barley or wheat), with hop flowers and water. The skill of the Masterbrewer brings out the desired aroma, color, mouth feel, foam and flavor qualities of the hops and malt through formulation of recipes and the fermentation of sugars into alcohol, carbon dioxide gas and other characters. After careful aging at just the right temperatures the beer is packaged and delivered to the consumer.

anyway. beer geekery aside (note i didn't say snobbery -i thought about it, but went with geekery instead), most of the beer i love comes in bottles, and many of those bottles are not twist off caps. for a while now, i've thought it would be super fun to have a diagrammy bottle opener and so i finally made it happen. and now i will probably use one of these superfun bottle openers to open even twist offs, and you should, too.

right now, they're available in five fun designs! (doesn't that make you want to collect all five?). look for them with the:

• pinball machine
• cheeseburger
• barbeque grill
• bicycle
• anatomical brain

buy one for yourself or your favorite bottled beverage loving friends!

new diagram design: pinball machine!

 

one of my favorite things about my website is the little form where you can send me ideas of what i should diagram next.it's beyond fun checking in to see what great ideas people dream up and send my way. lately, one idea submitted that caught my eye was a pinball machine.

i became a newly converted pinball fan a few summers ago when a few of us took a mini road trip to the pinball parlour for a friend's birthday. the pinball parlour is this amazing haven of pinball machines - it's almost a museum of arcade goodness. you can check out their list of over 100 games and machines here. the machines range in eras, from the 1950's and 1960's through the late nineties. it's one of the most amazing places i've ever spent an afternoon.

after a few rounds of sketches and some chatting with my favorite pinball nerds and consulting different pinball authorities on the web, i'm so smitten with this new diagram in my shop. right now, there are pinball machine coaster sets listed, and be sure to check back soon for this favorite on lots more goodies soon!

limited edition bistro aprons!

just wanted to give you a heads up in case you're missing them! this week i've posted something a little unusual for me - a limited edition (meaning, once these are gone, it's likely they're gone for good) item. i think they're incredibly perfect little bistro aprons. i wear one at craft shows to hold change and business cards and it's perfect!

enjoy!
xo!

50 diagrams in 2009: twenty-ish: banjos.

so, to be honest, i've lost count of how many diagrams i've done this year, and determining the order in which they belong would be a tedious (and, frankly, pointless) task. so i'll just pick up somewhere around twenty and call it fair. sounds good?

that said, i am rather pleased to announce the newest girlscantell diagram! the burger was quite a hit, and this one's just as fun. it's a banjo, and it was actually drawn as a custom order for a sweet customer who wanted to give her instrument loving parents a really awesome anniversary present (so cute, right?)

currently, it's available in striped towel and coaster form, and look for it soon on floursack towels, placemats, notebooks and totes.

yay! new designs!
you might notice a steady stream of new designs from me in the next month - i'm doing my best to roll out all the doodles i've been working on before the holiday season is really upon us. check back often and enjoy! xo!

new diagrams: burgers!

it's been a while since i've posted a new diagram design here, but that doesn't mean i haven't been doodling away!

my friends over at fries with that shake (my favorite philly food blog, and homebase for the philly burger club) are totally awesome and have been asking for a couple food diagrams for the longest time. jaime wants a banana split / sundae diagram (which, for some reason, is totally intimidating to me! i sit down to draw and am convinced i'll never like my illustrations as much as i like banana splits!) and jess, the burger baroness, wanted a burger, of course.
so for their one year blogiversary, i finally drew a burger diagram. you can win some of my burger diagram goodies on their blog, or you can find them in my etsy shop. either way, you get awesome home goods with burgers drawn on them, so really you win. 

a little more background on this diagram: it's an in-n-out burger double double. what's a double double?
well, it's 2 100% pure beef patties, 2 slices american cheese, hand leafed lettuce, tomato, onions (or no onions) and spread, on a sesame seeded roll. i've never been to an in-n-out burger (boo!) but i aspire to go, as i've heard nothing but good things. 

enjoy!

50 diagrams in 2009: ten: gardening tools

well, it's officially spring, and i have just the diagram to celebrate.

this is a diagram i've wanted to print ever since i posted the kitchen wares a few weeks back. i've been antsy about getting things planted and shaping up the backyard for weeks now, and i love this design as the first in a series i'm hoping to do of springtime, garden and planting related diagrams. i'm thinking they'll make a sweet mother's day gift for my mom. this diagram in particular, in my opinion, looks totally fantastic on the larger moleskine notebooks and canvas tote bags. as always, this week's current diagram will ship for free!

(dad, if you're reading this, don't tell mom.)
(my mom doesn't really read my blog, but i know my dad does.)

50 diagrams in 2009: nine: canning diagram!

probably the most frustrating thing about last week's little work-space calamity is that i was so very excited about the diagram i was all ready to print and post. a diagram of all the equipment you need for canning! this was a superfun one to draw, since it's something i wanted to learn more about anyway. i'll be listing lots of canning wares items in my etsy shop tomorrow (thursday!), so be sure to check them out!

in other news, i've been working on a few new tutorials lately. if you have an idea for a tutorial that you'd like to see posted here, post a comment! i'm always open to new ideas for helpful posts, and as long as it's something i know a little something about (ie, i'm no motorcycle repair expert, sadly) i'll give it a go.