all things girls can tell

with belated birthday wishes to Mr. Jefferson

It's no secret that my favorite historical figure is Thomas Jefferson. I adored every minute I spent at the University of Virignia ("Mr. Jefferson's University") and one of my very favorite jobs of all time was giving guided tours through his unbelievable home, Monticello, which he designed himself and was a decades long work in progress as he continued to improve and innovate on the grounds atop his little mountain.

So when the lovely ladies of Rock Paper Scissors (a most wonderful stationery shop, on the quaint, perfect downtown pedestrian mall in Charlottesville) approached my booth at NYIGF in January, I jumped at the chance to work on a UVa-specific design for them to carry.

And here it is! A little diagrammy rendition of the north facing (street) side of Jefferson's rotunda - the original library of the University, and centerpiece to the world famous, prestigious Academical Village. They're now available in the web shop for all the Wahoos in your life... just in time for graduation!

Rittenhouse Fair & Square

Hello! We've organized a pop up shop to welcome in the spring!

The Rittenhouse Fair & Square features Philadelphia superstars of handmade giant dwarf, miss millie, made by hank, betsy ann paper and, yours truly, girls can tell. please stop in for some lovely locally made wares. the shop will be open from 11am - 5pm (sometimes later!) at the Art Alliance (251 South 18th Street - just off Rittenhouse Square). This event coincides with the opening of the Rittenhouse Tavern in the same building at the end of this month - so fun! For more information, see the Rittenhouse Fair & Square blog or like it on facebook.

see you soon!
xo!

in like a lion

happy march! things have been oh so quiet here in blog-land, but, as always, a quiet blog means a busy studio. february's come + gone, and the month was a flurry of order filling at girls can tell. it's calmed down a bit, so i thought i'd share a few recent peeks of the shop here.

this week, there's still a good bit of order filling to be done - sending big, exciting packages full of towels, lunch bags, note cards and more to shops around the country. i couldn't be more delighted to share that you can now (or very soon!) find girls can tell wares at powell's city of books in portland, paper source stores in cities around the country, as well as online at modcloth.com. yay!

lots of big things are in the works this month - look for updates a little more often around here soon!

coasters + towels + lunchbags at fab!

get your Fab.com account ready! on sunday, january 22, girls can tell will be offering up an assortment of coasters, lunch bags, and, of course, tea towels through the flash feature site. in the meantime, i've been busy in the shop, cutting a few hundred coasters in preparation for a marathon afternoon (and probably evening...) of printing for the occasion.

and if you can't wait for the sale to begin (or you're looking for an extra special design in particular), the great news is that the felt coasters are also available for sale once again in the official girls can tell online shop. happy weekend!

proof approval

 

things are finally falling into place for the New York International Gift Fair next week (and subsequently, the Buyer's Market of American Craft two weeks later).

after days + days of putting it together, making changes, redesigning, imagining new products, + going over every little detail with a fine tooth comb, the hardcopy proof of the spring catalog arrived this morning. approved! seeing this little guy all printed up in real life, and being completely pleased with the results, felt fantastic. exactly as i imagined!

 

preparations

since wrapping up a great holiday season, i've been keeping busy preparing for a few upcoming trade shows. for the first time, girls can tell will be exhibiting at the New York International Gift Fair in the studio section (booth 4145). a few weeks later, it's back to the Buyer's Market of American Craft show, here in Philadelphia, in booth 1817 with the ever-awesome fisk + fern.

it's been nervewracking and exciting getting everything in place and ready for these shows. i can't wait to show you the results in a few weeks!

bbc travel: passyunk ave.

over the holiday, several of the shop's passyunk avenue neighbors were featured in a BBC article on how great the avenue has become and its importance as a corridor full of independent businesses in philadelphia. you might recognize some of the diagrammy wares featured in the slide show photos from green aisle grocery. xo!

holiday shipping deadlines!

the shop is all gussied up for the holidays! which can only mean one thing: shipping deadlines for online shoppers are nearing!

i do my very best to pack up your orders as soon as they're received all year long. all orders ship within 2-3 business days from the time payment is received (some even ship sooner! like i said, i really do my best!). however, even if i'm as speedy as can be, delivery can take a couple days. most US orders are sent via 2-3 day priority mail, and international orders are sent via first class international mail - please allow enough time for delivery when ordering!

to ensure you all get your holiday goodies in plenty of time for gift giving, the following are the last ordering dates for which i can be sure you'll receive your packages in time:

 

US holiday shipping deadline: order by dec 19 for dec 23 delivery
Int'l holiday shipping deadline: order by dec 7 for dec 23 delivery

as always, if you have a special gift giving event that you're ordering for, please let me know when it is! while i make every effort to ship as quickly as possible, i'm much better at drawing diagrams than reading minds. a heads up with your order is much better than us scurrying to find a solution at the last minute!

thanks so much! happy gift giving this season! shop small + support independent businesses!

thanksgiving weekend!

the girls can tell shop (at 12th + pierce streets, in south philadelphia - just below passyunk + morris!) will be open this weekend! celebrate small business saturday here in the shop with complimentary gift wrapping on your purchases, some wine + cookies!

the shop will be closed on thursday + friday of this week so that i can spend time with my family, and i hope you enjoy those days with the ones you love as well. happy thanksgiving!

 

autumn eats: farm share stuffed peppers

the chill finally found philadelphia this week. i certainly can't complain about the amazing autumn we've had - nice + mild - the finest i remember in my 6+ years of living here in philly.

we signed up for the fall farm share, since we were so pleased with the summer vegetables this year. however, even though the friends we were splitting our share with opted not to go through fall, we got a full share anyway. if you've ever participated in a farm share, you know a full CSA is a lot of vegetables each week! it's a fun challenge, though, and a healthy one for sure.

my goals were to primarily to use the cauliflower, cabbage, kale, and green peppers that were taking up precious fridge space. i came up with dinners for two nights from almost one recipe. enjoy!

stuff / filling:

1 - 1.5 lb ground turkey
1 can diced tomatoes (or fresh, if you have them)
1 can tomato paste
1ish tomato paste can of water
1 head cauliflower
1 bunch kale
1 yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
2 t paprika
1 T fresh oregano
1/2 t chili powder

brown turkey in a large pan, then add vegetables, tomatoes + seasoning until everything is tender. divide into two parts.

monday dinner: stuffed cabbage

wrapping: 6 nice full leaves cabbage, boiled until pliable.
olive oil (to coat casserole dish)
2 c tomato sauce
half the stuff / filling recipe above

when leaves are cool enough to manage, place about 3/4 cup filling in the center of each leaf. wrap from all sides, place in oiled casserole dish. once all your cabbage parcels are in the dish, spoon tomato sauce to cover the cabbage. bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 425, until sauce is bubbly. top with grated pecorino. yay.

thursday dinner: stuffed peppers

wrapping: 2-6 green peppers (depending on size - we had puny ones)
        tops cut off, cored, deseeded + steamed to soften.
olive oil (to coat casserole dish)
2 c tomato sauce
half the stuff / filling recipe above

when peppers are cool enough to manage, fill each pepper to the top with filling + place in oiled casserole dish. once all your peppers are stuffed, spoon tomato sauce to cover the cabbage. bake uncovered for 15 minutes at 400, until sauce is bubbly. top with grated pecorino. easy!