Oh so orange

Across the road from our office is a take away sandwich shop (handy for lazy people like us) and a Middle Eastern dry good supply shop. Gareth popped over to get some snacks (I think we will call them snackadacktels from now on) and this little cracker stood out from the crowd. Yeah, I know what you're thinking: "that isn't a cracker, that it is some kind of kids novelty toy where the paint rubs off and the paint isn't paint at all, it's pure unadulterated lead". No, it's not a toy, it's eats! Hopefully not lead infested eats.

The little kitty was a gift from my friend Suzie that stands guard at my computer. It used to live in my bag.

Stuff, cats and whatnots

I think I'm going to turn drawing cats into a full time job. Benefits of drawing cats, I get to meet all the other cat obsessed people buying our cat cards. When people buy them I always say "do you like cats??" and then they start going on about their cats and I think to myself this is the best.

How ace are these cat gift bags from Wonderland Room from South Korea?


Other things on the interwebs:

Digital Wallpaper from Catalina Estrada.

Daniel Honan has blog, it is good.

Is your cat called lumpy?

We used to call this guy Stapler, back when we were big SVU fans.

We joined Instagram, like 2 years after everyone else. Our username is ableandgame.

Imagine you're a woman Bernard.

Bridbird is back with new ceramic work.




And what are you plans on the weekend?

We're heading to Ballarat this weekend for the Design Exchange market on Sunday. Gareth will be holding up the fort at Rose Street while I spend a few days in Daylesford to avoid getting up before 7am on Sunday. I'm looking forward to going back to my University town, even if it is just for the day.

It's Cake Day People

Birthday cake is one of the best things ever. When I was about 7 or 8 my Mum made me the pool cake from the Woman's Weekly Cake Book. I was a bit obsessed with pools so I was very very excited and still remember it better than any other cake I had as a kid. I also remember it made me sick and I vommed for a few days afterwards, but I still have fond memories of that cake.

This card goes out to those who have stuffed their face with someone else's birthday cake only to realise that you can't sing happy birthday with a gob full of the soft sweet stuff. Mr. Cake Eater is available on Etsy and is also available to come sample your birthday cake or any occasion cake.

Fineliners are a gateway pen that lead to harder inks

Sometimes I think it is really easy to get into a bit of a drawing rut. You stick to a certain style, then when you look back over other work you wonder why it's so much better than the current stuff. I've been playing around with using a brush and ink for a few weeks and was enjoying it, although the brush was a bit too thick. I wanted a nib, so I could get a much finer line. Our office is pretty much round the corner from Dean's Art Supply on Sydney Road but for some reason I kept putting off going and getting me some nib. The other day I went with Bridget (which was good as she knows a bit about them) and got a couple. I think my motto in life should be "why didn't I just go do that earlier?" because I think I say it on a daily basis.

The nib and ink is really lovely, I love the raised surface it creates on the paper and the line work feels a lot better. I drew the guy below and Gareth commented that it was a really good one (this hasn't happened in a while....). Once the ink started flowing so did the ideas and that is when I'm happiest, when the ideas are coming think and fast.

Here is the finished card below, he is available on Etsy, perfect for moments when you just want to sit and stare into a dreamboats eyes.

February Sale - Part Two

Did you know we are having a February Sale? We have a few different items, old stock, seconds and things we want to move to make room for new things.

We have a few boxes of mugs and some of them have bashed up boxes, like the poor little guy in the pic above. The mug is okay, you can still drink warm cups of milo from it, or a seafood bisque cup of soup (have you tried that flavour, it is THE WORST), it's just the box that looks bad. But they usually get thrown in the bin so it is a bit of a case of who cares, really? We will be selling them for $11, along with the tea towel seconds, red dot special cards and girl calendars (she was either the least popular or I printed loads extra).

We will have all our sale items at our four markets this weekend. Yes FOUR markets. We will be at Rose Street as per usual. Gareth will be there manning the hot tin room, making sure people don't faint (and if they do it is into his arms) while I'll be at the Roller Derby on Saturday night and North Melbourne Market on Sunday.

February Sale

This week we will be having a seconds sale at our market stalls. We have a bunch of old stock and seconds to sell and you can save some money. We have a bunch of seconds tea towels, perfect for actually doing the dishes because they'll end up with splodge marks on them anyway. Lots of people tell us they NEVER use the tea towels because they don't want to mucky them up. Fair enough, but now you can have your cake and eat it AND use the tea towel to wipe up the mess. Some only have little tiny marks, others have bigger blotches (like the one above) but they are all still perfectly okay and the linen is rather lovely to use to dry things and they get softer with each wash. We have a bunch at home that we use for testing as I feel a kitchen should always have ample tea towels. Our kitchen sometimes has 6 sitting around for various uses and actually drying dishes is often last on the list (they can drip dry!).

The sale/seconds items will be at the following markets this weekend:

Wednesday 15th Feb
SUZUKI NIGHT MARKET
When: 5.30pm-10pm
Where: Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne.
Enter via Queen, Therry or Peel Streets

Saturday 18th February
BOUT 1 - VICTORIA ROLLER DERBY LEAGUE
When: 5.45pm - 9.15pm
Where: Grand Pavilion, Melbourne Showgrounds

Saturday 18th February and Sunday 19th February
ROSE STREET ARTIST MARKET
When: 11am - 5pm
Where: 60 Rose Street, Fitzroy

If you are wanting to buy a tea towel and you're not in Melbourne or can't get to the markets just drop us an email and we can email you a paypal invoice or bank details. They will be $11AUD plus shipping ($3.50AUD in Australia/$7AUD overseas). Just let us know which one you want. There will be a flaw with the tea towels, we can let you know what it is when we know which one it is.

Roller Derby Bout 1 - We will be there selling cards

People in Melbourne, what are you doing on Saturday the 18th of February? Because the Roller Derby is back on and we will have a market there. Super whoop!

You can buy tickets from Moshtix here and they are $22.50 including booking fee. Often it sells out, so I would buy tickets beforehand rather than on the door and get all sadface because they sold out. Doors open at 4.45pm and the first bout is at 5.45pm and it is at is at the Grand Pavilion at the Melbourne Showgrounds. Last May we did a post about going to the Roller Derby, which is well worth a look just for the laughs you will get from the photo of my brother's Megahand.

We also have a roller derby card that we made last year and forgot to put up on Etsy. We made it especially for the first roller derby market we did. You can also like the VRDL on Facebook for more updates.