Art, Typography, and Mike Ditka

I've come to feel out of touch with all fall and winter holidays now that I live in Austin; without cold air or snow on the ground I can't quite wrap my head around these seasonal transitions. Out of nowhere, Halloween was 2 days ago! Around 2pm on Halloween day I thought to myself, "hmmm...what should I dress up as this year?" and then promptly decided to do what I have done for the past few years, which is to just dress in black and pretend that it counts as a costume, even though I would wear the same outfit on pretty much any other day.

Luckily my husband has been planning our son's costume for about the past year. My husband is originally from Chicago and he has very precisely cultivated a "Chicago guy" voice with which he says things like "Go Bearz....Sausage...Ditka."  Very SNL circa 10 years ago. So this Mike Ditka costume idea was really all him.

Now that it is the day after Halloween, the TV is already lighting up with Christmas commercials!  Although the x-mas holidays seem like a vague idea at this point, in the world of retail everyone is already cranking out their holiday gift lines.  I have been working on my own new stuff for a few holiday shows, and I'm posting them in my Etsy shop today!

These typography prints are 7.6" x 9.5" and will pop easily into a standard frame matted for an 8"x10"print.

Shiny and New!

A few months ago I started designing a new product that could hold earrings in an interesting way. I don't have too many pairs of earrings, but I have always had problems figuring out how to store them. For years I have just neatly lined them up in a jewelry box, and they all get completely tangled and jacked up every time I accidentally jostle the box.

I came up with a simple design and started researching how I could manufacture it. After a few strike outs, I came upon a local laser cutting studio, makeatx.  Here is a piece of wood just after the laser worked its magic:

 Here is my design, freshly cut:

Before cutting, I painted the wood with non-toxic, no VOC Milk Paint.  I then took the final cut pieces and mounted them each onto a piece of MDF that is routed for easy hanging. Sandwiched between the two pieces of wood is an image that I designed and sealed. 

The final look has a sort of modern meets rustic flavor. Milk Paint is a chemically safe, environmentally friendly product that stains the wood while allowing the texture of the wood to still be seen. This gives each piece a little character. 

The piece mounts flat against the wall and holds 13 pairs of earrings.  10.5" x 4".  Available at local Austin stores and at my ETSY store.