all things girls can tell

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.

 

drexel school farewell party

 

at the end of the block, south of my house, has stood this stately, decrepit, old school building. you can see its gorgeous arched brick openings with its dignified keystones from my backyard (here's a photo i took the summer before i moved in looking down the alley from my yard toward the school). as years have gone by, i knew that the likelihood of the school being salvaged and made into something amazing (the type of potential you're trained to see in such lovely bones of buildings in architecture school) was decreasing by the day.

as beautiful a relic as it is, it began to cross the line from lovely and abandoned to ominous and threatening over the past months. trees rooted themselves at the roofline, their roots weaving their way down the brick facade, causing a hazard to pedestrians and cars on the street. the fenced off areas of sidewalks attracted the grossest types of litter. it became an unfortunate eyesore at street level.

finally, the city put up demolition notices. our neighborhood association scrambled to arrange a meeting with L&I and our city council representative to learn what the impact would be on us and our houses during the project. so, we're now a week into what we're told will be a 5-6 demolition. i'm posting photos of the demolition (as i happen to walk by) in this flickr set.

close to home

 

my neighbor and friend, leslianna, has decided to embark on a pretty fun project for this month - for all of january, she's attempting to only eat food that she's purchased in our neighborhood. it's an effort to not only support the countless corner stores and several new restaurants throughout our neighborhood, but also a method of really getting to know all the resources available where we live. it's kind of amazing the wide range of things you can pick up here.

our neighborhood, newbold, is in philadelphia, of course, between broad and 18th st., south of washington avenue and north of snyder. you can read all about her culinary adventures in newbold here!

(the photo above i swiped from another neighbor, pineapplepalace on flickr, is our friends, sam + andrew, enjoying the best indonesian food ever, which happens to be one block from my house, at hardena)

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.

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!)

weekend of crazy! (in a good way)

 

if you've been spending hours and hours pouring over the girlscantell events calendar (which i'm sure you all have been), then you might have noticed girlscantell has not one, not two, but three events this weekend! which is quite a feat! but what's more, keen observer, is that if you paid close attention, you might have noticed that these events take place not in just one city, but in two different cities!

that's right - you can get your fill of me here in good old philadelphia on friday night at the girlscantell open house event here in my studio, or you can swing by 315 s. broad st. on saturday between 11am - 5pm for crafty balboa.

then! girlscantell is proud to be vending in boston for the very first time - on sunday, december 6th, i'll make my way to boston for 2009 bazaar bizarre boston! if you're in new england, come by and say hi! i've heard great things about this show, and i actually haven't been to boston since i was 9, so i couldn't be more excited.

tell your friends and neighbors, dust off your twitter account and come out this weekend to say hi, have a little cider, and ooh and ahh over diagrammed goodies. you'll be glad you did!

ps. you should become a fan of girlscantell on facebook if you haven't already! http://facebook.com/shopgirlscantell

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!

philly etsy spotlight!

photo by laura kicey

a big thank you to the fantastic sarah lockard of aroundmainline.com for compiling a really gorgeous series of photographs of some of my favorite philadelphia-area artists! you can find the article in the storque as part of the shop local series. i'm so incredibly flattered to be included in this lovely group of ladies.

and an even bigger thank you to the fabulous laura kicey, aka helveticaneue, who i had the pleasure of meeting as she shot my photo for the article at terrain (which is the most gorgeous home + garden store in the world!). she takes amazing photos and, as it turns out, is also a total sweetheart. yay!

(yes, this is just a big ol' post full of superlatives. there's nothing wrong with that.)