ouou on Droolicious

It was an amazing weekend here, sunny and beautiful. The last time I folded laundry, we were still putting away fleece pants and heavy cotton overalls for the boys, now its sun hats and rompers in just a matter of days. Summer seems officially here now that we have a kiddie pool stashed in our garage, so although I've been away during its use (I worked out of the house this weekend) I'm still ever-aware that changes are happening around more than just my schedule, a corner has been turned.

The fantastic news from the web world is that Droolicious wrote up a spot for the ouou Etsy shop on Friday! I'm really excited about this, and so thankful for C's helpful push toward it. Droolicious is a design blog for the modern parent, and they support an even split between handmade or otherwise. C has bought from their suggested necessities and been happy with the items, reviews, articles. I was thrilled to be a part of their Etsy reviews! Check it out here.

Knitty

I've got some new ACEOs for the shop, but since I haven't had much photo editing time, I thought I'd continue on the Gocco theme. These shoulder tee's are the newest incarnation of Knitting Otter before his screen disintegrated. For now, all the baby clothes are one of a kind editions. The next step will be to collect several shirts of the same style and print all of those- but I've got a stack of mis-matched baby clothes standing next to the Gocco. At the end of the lives of these screens from last year, I'll be going through those and listing "Limited Edition" styles.

Getting to Know a.c.e.o

Pirate Ship by jenbaardsen

The term ACEO can be a mysterious one to those just entering, or investigating, the world of Etsy. My sister was the one to introduce me to the concept, long before joining and opening my own shop, as an interesting exercise. I like a teeny tiny canvas, and these little guys are baseball card size, 2.5" x 3.5".

I have started keeping ACEOs in the shop regularly (or, as regularly as possible) since bringing them back in a big way for Valentine's Day, so I thought I would go through a refresher course on the blog. The images here are from other artists on Etsy and Flickr, through searches under atc ("Art Trading Card", aceo, and stitched aceo. I've created links under the respective pieces and encourage you to visit these wonderful shops!

Mini-Monster 13 by the ever-illustrious benconservato

A lot of people (just doing a search... a *lot* of people) on Etsy sell ACEO as digital prints. Because of this, and probably because "original" is therefore a loose term, prices vary wildly between $2.50 and over $20.00 for both reproductions and original art. ACEO stands for "Art Cards, Editions, and Originals" so a digital print can fall into the "Editions" category. There are some really beautiful digital works out there, but if you're overwhelmed by a search narrow the parameters by knowing which you are looking for, or try out other keywords such as "sewn" "photoshop" "collage" "watercolor" or "handmade". I also tag my original drawings "OOAK" meaning "One of a Kind" so there are numerous ways to narrow down a search.

Seashore 27 by hmsdesign

I think ACEOs are one of the mediums which truly set Etsy apart as a handmade, homemade marketplace and bridge the gap between "craft" and "art". Small, affordable, and often collected by those interested in emerging or established artists alike, these "trading cards" are almost whimsical in nature, like a secret society of original art lovers. I try and keep my own editions simple, precious, scratchy and true to the nature of pen & ink as I see it. I love the thought of these as character vignettes, and can see those same intentions in other artists using this canvas size to investigate ideas.

Take a look around at some of the remarkable variety in the world of ACEO!

Hello from the windy and cold corners of Oregon, where the Spring-like days that blessed us throughout this past week are gone but not forgotten. The sun has been wild this week, after rain rain rain we were all a bit dazzled by 4 sunny days strung together in yellowy hues. We woke one morning to a magical, crystalline frost right about when it started getting cold again.

I'm packing my bags and getting ready for a trip home to my original coast, the Eastern one, so all these fluctuations in temperature have me thinking of my new home, and all the differences here, maybe hyper-aware of small changes or details. I'm pretty sure the shop will remain open through the vacation since I have people to help me with shipping. I am very much looking forward to going home (also because I have this place to come back to) and feel for some reason that it will prove to be a very inspirational trip.

I was able to get some pretty good shots of the frosty morning while out on a walk...

Alright, back to business: there are some changes going on in the shop as we enter 2009. Now that the Holiday season is over, I've taken out USPS Priority Shipping as my shipping method. I was thoroughly disappointed in Priority (this year was my first year using it as my primary shipping option) and saw no significant improvement. I bet "5.00" under shipping probably had some people scratching their heads, too, although my motivation was to have as little concern as possible for items arriving punctually. I'm putting my faith back in old reliable First Class and checking out my options in tracking... more on that beginning February.

As for now, there is an option in the shop to "order" Priority Shipping~ and that will include the cost of tracking/ insurance. I figure people ordering large orders or Gocco prints will like having this option and am more than happy to provide expedited shipping. Hopefully this will ease the shipping confusion of this past season, as well as get me back into one of the fun parts of this whole Etsy project for me: making packaging! Believe it or not, a lot of love went into my mailers last year. I'm particularly proud that when you order an ouou item, the whole production is a unified project.

together - hand drawn Valentine

Oh, and also- I've listed another Valentine- this one on a folded (and larger) card tonight. I was happy with the clarity of the photos, too! Next up are the little framed originals, but for tonight I'm considering whether or not I want to go into those with watercolor or leave them black and white in pen. Hmmm. Maybe I'll sleep on it.
:)

It has been fun spending the last couple of nights cuddled in bed drawing these little pictures. No surprise that I'm a big fan of the 2.5 X 3.5 inch canvas, my drawing school before college took place on the margins of my notebooks. Although I was frustrated last week, it has been simplifying to scrap all my grand plans for the time being, going back to the basic Handmade premise of Etsy shop. Inspirational, too. I can't get enough of these little characters.

My friend K and I spent the morning moving me out of my apartment, but I had time in the afternoon to get some photographs in. I'm going on vacation at the end of January and thinking about either slimming down my selection for a week or closing (gulp) the shop completely for that time. Updates to follow as I address the calendar.

Favorite Things/ Scrabble Nightmare

I just finished an unexpected Chinese New Year design! Yatta! (I just love it that there is a link for that)
Time to take a break, sit down this afternoon with some Earl Grey tea and a nice warm bowl of pesto vegetables ...mmm, with pine nuts!... turn on the soft lovely Jose Gonzales I just got and catch up on recent acquisitions & news.
Lady Victoria did a splendid job getting me to fall head over heels with Tiny Showcase by telling me about it right when I was dreaming about going to the Jen Corace show in NYC. I Couldn't get to the show, but I was lucky enough to get an Oceans Don't Freeze print of my very own. They print on this almost-watercolor porous mat paper that makes it look like you have an original in your hands, not to mention the painting itself is incredible. Thank you Vicki!
Looking around for more Gocco artists on Etsy, I came across this new shop by illustrator Cindy Tomczyk. I found her new shop, thinking she had just arrived in Etsy and really excited to be her first customer! Turns out she has another shop, but I was no less thrilled to see these Love Birds come in the mail! I am a huge collector of mailing ephemera and it is very fun enjoying Gocco prints now that I know the work that goes into them. Beautiful cards, Cindy! Good luck with the new shop!

Paloma's Nest is one of those Etsy shops that really gives the whole Buy Handmade endeavor a good name. I felt like they pay professional & individual attention to detail in their service, and the crafts they make look even better in person then the beautiful pictures they have of their items. This is in their Shop Description:

Paloma's Nest by Caroline Colom Vasquez, is dedicated to creating pieces for the home and for the heart. Each piece is designed and hand-crafted in our studio in Austin Texas with care, pride, and passion, from natural materials such as wood, fabric, paper, and clay. Our inspiration lies in the purity of the materials that we use, and the idea that something so simple can be so bold. By adding text, we give written ideas, feelings, and daydreams a place to rest.

I really got the feeling this little object was made with a lot of care and warmth, I highly recommend their shop if you are in the market for a singular, exceptional handmade gift.

Here you see a couple favorite things all grouped together! Giraffes, the new Chinese New Year stamps (last year they were also really nice... gah! nerd!), and... you guessed it: more cards!

These little beauties have come in some of the swankest packaging yet. Also, I'm just wild about small, smart design on a clean white surface. Turtle Papers, you are a dream come true! You all know I like the cute, but the cute needs to be quality cute, and this printer delivers. :)

Another favorite thing is Scrabble. Celeste has a board so we decided play a couple games last night. We got our tea and some Pirate Bootie, and the whole thing was civil at first. Whatever I did to the Scrabble HooDoo, however, sure did kick off a nightmare game in our second round.

Heres my first set of letters:

And it just kept going like that!


This picture is blurry because, by then, I couldn't stop laughing.
Scrabble MoJo, I bow to your wrath.

Laughter Gifts Children

With the fishbowl in the window because it is so warm these days, we get these lovely rainbows in the house for about an hour each day. When it isn't raining around here. Usually, it's raining.
Other than rainbows, this means I finally got to take pictures again (contented sigh). The newly re-printed Monkey tags are really happy about this!

Hi all! Fun things from this past week. It somehow became the week of conversations with people on Etsy about projects and possibilities... I met some amazing people, got blogged again by the incredible felt artisan Lupin (who, by the way, is featuring artists in her blog these days & her profiles are fantastic), and somewhere in the middle there finished a couple new designs!
But, you don't get to see those quite yet as our new order of *Gocco* screens arrives on Tuesday & they may be used to become Gocco prints. So, yes, I'm just wigglin' in my seat waiting for Tuesday.

We just got back from another lovely walk on the Wissahickon Trail, another week of what can no longer be described as "moderate" ...there should be a new term for this. I propose "eerily distemperate". When we first got outside it was cold, but I mean like 40 degrees cold... and I realized I'm still wearing my spring jacket in mid-January! Relatively, then, not-cold but eerily distemperate for mid-January.

There is a great article in this month's ID Magazine about the phenomena of "going green" itself, called "Too Yellow to be Green" by Barbara Flanagan. Not sure if I can post that link, so here is one just to ID. Enjoy!

Fun treasury report from last week (or, the week before?) is that Snow Day got into this fantastic treasury ... and made it's way to the front page! This was on a particularly grumpy day (I think the broken toe was playing a role in that- all better now!) and still up when I went to work, so really a jolt of emotional shift into excitement!

Other than family, I sold my first two Gocco prints that day! Since I have been planning to bring more Gocco into the shop, but wavering and unsure about new designs, I've also been looking at a lot of printmaking artists. Yep, getting pretty freaked out, too, about their level of skill and the altitude of my own learning curve. Those sales were a big boost to morale in Team OU!

One of the lovely ladies that purchased a Snow Day wrote one of the most generous and kind emails when she (finally!... packaging has it's own learning curve) received her print. At the bottom she attached a link to a video that she & her friends had posted on YouTube that I have been itching to blog about! You wanna see it? Okay, I hope this works:



Did you watch it? How adorable is that!? Just makes you feel happy inside and somewhat curious and goofy? Well, right, as it should be :) You can tell, so much love went into that project, the end result is a joy to have received!

These are the unexpected gifts of opening on Etsy, it is just priceless seeing what other people are working on! Thank you so, so much to Jacinta for the heart, Catherine Please for this amazing claymation treat & Dave End for the incredible music. Also (with hearts) to Mary Jane who was so sweet~ you guys look like you are having lots of fun!

And hold up, yo~ the fun just keeps going!
I also crossed paths with the owner of MayaBella on Etsy, who fits into three of my favorite categories:

• plush
• felt
• awesome!
  

Be prepared in your dealings with Etsy's felt artisans to be blown away by their sweetness! (Plus, you know I'm happy when I start itemizing things) Shannon of MayaBella dropped by to say hello right about the time I began some research for an upcoming blog post about plush stuffies. She hails from Oregon, destination April 2008, and has a bright, cheerful shop full of colorful stuffed animals, ornaments, and broaches! Check out Jack the Rabbit and his fluffy ears... talk about cute overload!

I had to make a note of her & her shop even before my Plush Issue, take a mosey on over to her shop for much more goodness than I can squeeze in here! She sent me this link of a great new blog to explore: theneedle.blogspot.org that previously featured her work, too! Sew much fun. (: I have yet to find a way to make prints, this is where many of my recent conversations on Etsy have come from, and have been grateful for everyone's patience on that note. Hopefully soon there will not only be new Gocco, but larger reproductions of some of the card images!

Thanks Everybody, and hopefully I'll catch up with all of this soon. :P Until then, watch that YouTube video again and have yourself a happy chuckle. Awwe, that's the ticket!


PS, almost forgot (whispering)... ninja treasury... (now thats genius!)... :)