all things girls can tell

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?

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!)

things have been so great...

i wanted to post a big, quick thank you, first and foremost, but also wanted to post a notice that a little later this evening (probably around 8pm, eastern - philadelphia - time) i'll be taking down most of my online product listings. this is a little earlier than i had anticipated wrapping up online sales for the season - i might pop up some listings for pre-printed "quick ship" options sometime during the week if all goes according to plan. it's absolutely wonderful how overwhelmingly successful my work has been this season - thank you so, so much to everyone!

it's incredibly important to me to get all my existing orders shipped so they arrive in time for the christmas holiday, and right now, since most of my work is printed to order, the only way that seems possible is to temporarily close up (virtual) shop. (it's a good problem to have, i admit). if you're ABSOLUTELY DYING for a particular item that you missed online, do feel free to email me and i might be able to whip something up.

so thank you again! and look for some revamped, totally awesome amazingness next year. i couldn't be more excited!

handwriting fascination.

so, i have a fascination with handwriting. i always have. well, not always. since about third grade, i would say. one of my third grade teachers had handwriting that was fascinating to me. she crossed her T's in a very unique way (for the life of me i don't remember if they slanted up or down, but it made an impression regardless).  to some degree, it's become a slight fascination with typography, but i'm definitely not a high-caliber font nerd (though i wish i was). (architecture school didn't really allow much time for study of great fonds, sadly enough, though it probably has a lot to do with why my handwriting looks as it does).

anyway. most of the time, and i'm not embarrassed to just straight out admit this of myself, i have really interesting, characteristic handwriting. i almost always wish my handwriting was a font. i use my handwriting a lot for documents for my business. it's very girlscantell-y. if you've ever seen my work (or even my business card) you've probably seen it.

so when i saw this blog post from maxistentialism, i wanted in. so, i'll reblog it. because that's what he's telling us to do. 

Have you ever considered how strange it is that handwriting fonts have come to convey a kind of folksy authenticity in the design lexicon of our age? It’s disingenuous. Handwriting fonts - especially the ones you see everywhere (Comic Sans, Papyrus, Lucida Handwriting) - are mechanically reproduced and manipulated into a kind of cloying, fake, plastic perfection.

Penmanship is mostly a lost art - it is (rightfully) taught less and less in school, and the opportunities for people to see your handwriting are few and far between. As a result, modern handwriting looks really cool. What’s authentic and charming and inviting about real handwriting are the little imperfections that prove it came from a real person.

SO - I have decided to become a collector of handwriting.

Here’s how it works:

• You reblog this or email/Facebook me
• I’ll arrange for you to pick up a template
• You’ll fill it out
• I will create a TrueType font from your handwriting and send it to you

As I collect handwriting, I will periodically post things rendered in the handwriting of the donor - things they have taught me, important aspects of our relationship, jokes they have told me… we’ll see.

let's see how this pans out, shall we?

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

girlscantell super thing holiday sale (part 2)

 

yay! i've introduced the new super thing at the official girlscantell webshop!

for a limited time, you can be the proud owner of a fine set of anatomical brain tea towels (and who wouldn't want that?). for the next few days only, they're handsomely priced at 25% off their normal price - just $15 for the pair! the best thing is, these floursack towels are a slightly different style - they're even softer, more absorbent than the previous style, and they have such a lovely natural look to them. (i'm smitten, can you tell?)

as a special added bonus, there are still just a few sets of the red burger coasters available in the girlscantell shop on etsy - if you like cheeseburgers, or if you know someone who does, be sure to snag a set at 25% off. 

 

happy holidays!
xo!

super things! (aka the holiday sale)

welcome, officially, to the holiday season.
here at girlscantell world headquarters, we're celebrating in style, with super things!

what are super things? so glad you asked. every other day or so, i'll be listing one item (the super thing!) for 25% off (or more!) in my official web shop (that'd be shop.girlscantell.com). it's one item - one diagram on one thing in one color of my choosing, every few days, for less than it's normally listed, until i choose a different item to become the super thing. it's almost like a chain letter, only it's not promising seven years bad luck and it won't reveal who your secret crush is.

 

the first super thing is cheeseburger coasters! because everyone loves a cheeseburger and coasters are not only lovely, but they keep your furniture spiffy. they're listed right now for 25% off the normal coaster price! just $12 for this superawesome set. enjoy!

microblogs and more!

 

typepad is doing some pretty awesome things this week.

first, they're releasing a new feature that's completely free and really great, called microblogs. why do you care about microblogs? because all year, typepad has been completely upping the awesome - there's a huge network of typepad bloggers, and useful features here to network to new bloggers and expand your audience. readers and commenters can fully participate in your community in new ways: through favoriting, following, commenting, reblogging and, ultimately, blogging with a free typepad micro blog.it's really easy to have real conversations and interactions with these tools.

it's all been introduced by the typepad folks or made shinier since this past april when i had the good fortune of meeting with the superfab community team - they were completely excited then. as features have been consistently rolling out, it's easy for me to see why now. so with the introduction of microblogs, everything is now more accessible and open for all to use (at no cost).

but another really interesting thing typepad is doing this week is, instead of just of sending out a traditional old press release to all the usual suspects, they asked many of their bloggers to announce the news right here on our typepad blogs. it's a really nice statement of how important and widely read typepad blogs really are. a totally fun way for a company to put their money where their mouth (keyboard? what's the analogy i'm looking for here?) is. bravo to typepad for thinking about a really normal procedure in a whole new way.

so, if you don't already have one, do yourself a quick favor and sign up for a free typepad microblog account at typepad.com. and if you have questions about typepad's usability or things, feel free to contact me. i've been blogging with typepad for about 3 years, and it's one of the best decisions i've made for my business. 

ps. they also introduced a gorgeous new, streamlined design for typepad blogs, chroma, but i wanted to play with it a bit before chatting about it, of course. you can read all the good stuff, officially, here.

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!

photo friday

those who follow me on twitter are probably aware that i'm abstaining from caffeine for the next two weeks (or more... we'll see how it all pans out). the important lesson i've learned from my 4 and a half days now (not that anyone's countingin) without caffeine is that apparently any superpowers i may typically possess come directly from caffeine. it's been a little better the past day or so - tuesday way brutal!

anyway, since i'm not my most articulate, here are some recent shots from around the studio. enjoy!

 

 

 

 

happy friday!