Press Me!

Yesterday was an exciting day for Able and Game with our first press feature in a magazine. And not just any magazine, an inspiring, pretty and glossy magazine as well! Real Living is such a great read, anything with food, pretty houses and DIY projects gets the thumbs up from us.

We Love Pikaland!

A big thank you to Amy over at Pikaland for featuring one of our Beautiful Bird prints on her blog. Able and Game are big fans of Pikaland, there is always so much amazing stuff posted there, so it is nice to also be included. Amy also has a Pikaland shop on Etsy with one of her lovely Gocco prints, like the one below, listed there for sale.

Party hard!

This guy looks like he has had too much Mad Dog 2020 or Passionpop on his 18th birthday, but at least he is partying hard. Able and Game wants to know what you did on your 18th birthday? Did you have the big traditional birthday party with enough booze to power a small nation, supplied by Mum and Dad?

Gareth said he can't remember what he did, but it would have involved a night on the razz. I spent mine in Paris (ooh la la) on an trip with other exchange students, so climbing the Eiffel Tower and looking at Jim Morrison's grave was how my day was spent.

If you have some early '90s dance music, I've got the moves

In the spirit of So You Think You Can Dance and string vests I bring you this birthday card. I think Gareth would look pretty swell in those pale blue denim cut off jeans, along with a Mediterranean tan, a house in Greece and a bottle of wine. Although I'm not sure if he would sport the pink belt and shoes and I don't want him anywhere near that white string vest and bling necklace. This Able and Game card should be listed up on Etsy very soon!

I can hold 6 cans at once!

Another little collaboration between Gareth and I via MSN messenger. Able and Game loves technology and a high speed internet connection. A drawing was sent, Gareth suggested a 6 pack, did an image search but found an image of a fat man in a beer belt. When I saw it I knew, it was going on a card. I got pen to paper and drew a few guys and this guy was the best of the bunch. Now I know what I can get Gareth for his next birthday. If I can't find one I will craft my own from a belt and some duct tape.

Each in their own

Here is a new design I just finished tonight that will be added to the Beautiful Birds range of Able and Game cards. A few of the ranges only have four cards and I need to get ink to paper and make them a little bit bigger and drawing birds and patterns is one of my favourite things to draw. That and dorky boys. Gareth and I have spent a lovely Monday evening watching Buzzcocks. We both decided we want Phill Jupitus around for dinner, Mark Lamarr was good but not as good as Simon Amstell and how do we get a copy of the episode hosted by Jeremy Clarkson?

We are not physically fit enough to jump on a moving bandwagon

So we did the next best thing, we got ourselves a twitter account for Able and Game. You can come and follow us and find out what all the fuss is about. Our current tweet is an idea for a Valentine's Day card: If I was a zombie in a George A Romero film I would totally eat your brains first.

Maybe one day in the future, long after blogging has turned into micro blogging, micro blogging will turn into nano blogging and only one word blogs will be posted. In that post apocalyptic world we think everyone will be saying the same thing. BRAINS!

And Kate Played Drums

Cherry Docs, a military jacket and a healthy appreciation for the Beastie Boys. Isn't that every guy growing up in the '90s? Did your Mum throw away your best porno mag? This Able and Game card is available on Etsy, perfect for people who enjoy popping balloons at parties, scaring you half to death.

Oh monsieur, vous êtes trop frais pour l'école!

This is one of the new Able and Game birthday cards available in the Etsy shop. I think this one is my favourite because I think I have one of everything, except the moustache package. But that is nothing a quick trip to the $2 shops couldn't fix.

Beautiful Birds Prints

The Beautiful Birds range of cards are now available as A5 prints on Etsy. Two have the same colour scheme as the cards and two have a new colour scheme available. They would look lovely mounted in a pretty white frame we think they would be perfect for a child's bedroom as they are bright and pretty.

Hip! Hop! Hap!

What is going on in this world? You know something is very wrong when Vanilla Ice is saying sorry for the music. Whenever we hired a movie in the early '90s the trailers would always include his film Cool as Ice. We never hired it out, probably because country Victoria couldn't cope with the coolness and we never saw it in the video store. I also think Venture, Target and Fosseys couldn't cope with the demand for young boys wanting bright coloured happy pants.

Little Shoes now on Etsy

The Able and Game range Little Shoes is now available on Etsy. Each of the designs features a half tone pattern and pretty pastel colours. They are the type of card I think a girly girl would like. The type of girl that likes finding a next door neighbour's kitten in their back yard, drinking champagne with strawberries and watching Audrey films (Tautou and Hepburn of course!).

Birthdays make me jealous

My birthday was this past weekend. What doesn't make me jealous is the hangover you get. But the cake was lovely! White chocolate mud cake and a creamy sponge. I could eat cake all day long if my heart and body was keen. This is number one in the new Able and Game birthday range and I've just listed it on Etsy for all you cake lovers out there.

Pink Mink

This is another new Able and Game card in the Little Shoes range. I've called this one Mink Pink and I think it is my favourite in the series, and the first one I made. Pastel colours are rather lovely and I think this would be perfect for a young girls birthday card.

Little Shoes

We have a new range of Able and Game cards called Little Shoes. I'm a big fan of shoes, particularly ballet flats, but finding the perfect pair is often so hard. These cards a bit a of ode to the perfect pair and something I've been doing for quite a while with my screenprinted bags and artworks. This card is called Hello Yellow and I've used half tone in the socks and background. I'm yet to find the perfect pair of yellow flats, but it is my aim to get some by the end of the year.

Three Currencies

You can now buy Able and Game cards in three different currencies. We have just set up a Madeit Shop with all prices in Australian dollars. They have recently had a make over and the site is looking really fantastic.

We also have a Dawanda shop selling in Euros as well as the Etsy shop in US dollars. Hopefully this makes it easier for people, particularly in Australia and Europe wanting to buy cards as you wont have to look up a currency converter to know what the price is.

U-Haul

This is Gareth and my favourite Able and Game Mother's Day Card because it was a bit of a team effort. I came up with the concept but was having a real issue with the wording. I wanted something simple, but the best I could do was "thanks for hauling me around for nine months".

I was talking to Gareth about it and he just looked at me and said thanks for the lift and I kicked myself I couldn't come up with something so perfect and so simple. We sold this card last year at Rose Street and I think it took a few clicks before people understood what it meant, but when they did they thought it was very funny. Mum's don't want cruddy flowers on their cards, they want to be reminded of the swollen ankles and the fact that they couldn't see them when they looked down!

Wedding Bells - Honour

To view the full set of Able and Game's Wedding Bells range you can go to the Etsy shop.

Wedding Bells - Cherish

This is Cherish, part of our new Wedding Bells range. The range was developed with me sitting in the home studio on the computer and Gareth at work with us both communicating via online messenger. I would send him what I was doing, he would give me suggestions and the designs adapted from a one colour silhouette of both the bride and groom to the different colours with the skin separate from the lace pattern. I'm really happy with the final results and would like to develop the designs into wedding stationery as well as just for cards.

Able and Game on the Etsy Front Page

Able and Game were on the front page of Etsy last night with one of our new Wedding Bells cards. Even though I've had my own Etsy shop with Anna Laura for over two years and have been on the front page before, it feel like the first time all over again! We are bottom centre, the pic is a little small, you can see it bigger on Flickr. Have a look because there are some other lovely Australian sellers who were also featured.