Weekend Markets

This coming weekend Able and Game will be at three markets in Melbourne, so if you're wanting a Mother's Day Card it might be a perfect change to have a look at the selection.

On Saturday we will be at Rose Street Artists Market. This market is located at 60 Rose Street in Fitzroy, between Brunswick Street and Nicholson Street. It runs from 11am - 5pm and we are located inside, just up the concrete ramp. Gareth will be running this stall on Saturday, so if you want to meet the Game in Able and Game this is your chance to say hello. He is the inspiration behind this card, but just just don't go asking him about the week our modem broke and we had to go back to dial up.

The other market we will be doing is in the city at the Nicholas Building on the corner of Flinders Lane and Swanston Street in Melbourne. Peta Pledger has planned this Studio Sale and it also involves Jodie Nicholson, Kate Boulton, Rachel Francis and Samantha Sultana. The sale will be held on Level 2 of the Nicholas Building (near Buttonmania) from 9am until 5pm.

On Sunday we will be doing Sunday Arts at the Convent at the Abbotsford Convent. This will be in the the refectory (just past the bakery) from 10am - 4pm and it a lovely place to come for lunch, have a look at the market, then pop down to the Collingwood Children's Farm to see some animals.

For those of you not in Melbourne, then you always have the online method of buying our cards. This one is good because you can wear your PJs while doing it!

An Able and Game Film

We have made a short film about the making of one of our cards. The process involved drawing a design in pen and ink and filming it, then it was sped up and a few fancy graphics added. The design was then scanned and made into an Able and Game card and is available for sale on Etsy.

Now I know what you're thinking, that music in this film is pretty cool, I want to know more, who made it and how can I get to one of his gigs? Well if you live in London then you're super lucky because you have a greater chance of seeing Mr. Benjamin Shaw than we do. Gareth and I have been lucky enough to see him a few times before in Melbourne and we both agree he is as talented as he is lovely. This little blurb from his myspace page made me laugh:

After a year in Melbourne, playing gaggles of shows and being involved in some frightfully hot bondings with the hip and dandies of Melbourne, Ben returned to Engerland with a wife and a woollen sock full of new songs and recordings.

Now living in the woods of North London, Ben has recently been seen playing all the main dives you've never heard of, and continues to be making mountains of his molehill recordings.

Studio Sale

Peta Pledger has planned a Studio Sale involving myself and Jodie Nicholson, Kate Boulton, Rachel Francis and Samantha Sultana. It is this Saturday the 2nd of May in the lovely Nicholas Building, near Buttonmania in the Melbourne CBD. The sale will be held on Level 2, 37 Swanston Street in Melbourne (on the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Lane) from 9am until 5pm.

Gareth will be taking over Rose Street so if you want to meet the Game from Able and Game then pop along to 60 Rose Street, Fitzroy from 11-5.

We will be stocked up with Mother's Day cards at both markets, or if you're not in Melbourne you can always buy online.

Dad Lift and Mum Lift

So when Gareth and I were thinking of ideas for the Able and Game Father's Day range he suggested doing another Thanks For The Lift card. I think my thoughts went straight to this film but luckily he wasn't thinking about the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito film, he was talking about all the shoulder rides you get from Dad growing up. Obviously the lift from Mum is the most important one you're going to get, but the lifts from Dad are the ones you will remember. The Father's Day Lift and Mother's Day Lift are both available on Etsy.

Giving it some herbs

Here in Australia Father's Day seems like ages away. Football Finals and Father's Day day in September seem to go hand in hand but most of the world seems celebrate Father's Day in June. June 21st to be exact.

So I had to get my brain thinking a little earlier than expected for ideas that Dads would love. I put a call out on Twitter and Penny offered a suggestion that involved cars. I put the idea to Gareth, he came back with something that involved cars and driving lessons and I got pen to paper.

This Able and Game card is for all of us who went to Daddy Driving School and is available on Etsy. I just want to add that my Nanna also gave me a few lessons and referred to revving the engine as "giving it some herbs". Nice.

I request!

We had a request for a girl version of our The Amazing Race card and here she is. I wonder if she would a good team partner or a bad one? The bad ones are the people who go to foreign countries and complain when nobody speaks English. Or the ones that scream at their partner until that name becomes so annoying it is on the black list of possible names for our children. Or the partners who do "how to" demonstrations on the correct way to throw a tantrum in public.

Able and Game are big fans of The Amazing Race, we think Phil is pretty cool but we also know we could never ever go on that show together for fear of becoming one of those couples.

Mum is handy!

I know I've spoken before about how my Mum comes up with some pretty good card ideas. Today she was on MSN with a goldmine of an idea from her goldmind! I think this card is her subtle way of telling me the best Mother's Day gift I can ever give her is grand kids. Although I'm sure anyone over 25 probably feels the pressure from ma and pa to start to procreate? Surely I'm not the only one! This new Able and Game card is available on Etsy.

The Amazing Lace

Today was spent drawing and making new cards, printing off cards for a stockist opening in St. Kilda and photographing cards to put up on Etsy. The Little Shoes range only had four cards so I realised it was time to add some more designs to the Able and Game range. This time I used some lace, as well as some pretty halftones. This design is called Purple Pop and is available on Etsy.

Fresh, Simple and Local

As Gordon Ramsay would say, fresh local ingredients cooked simply. Or he would just drop the f-bomb and call you a fatty. In any case this card is one of our more simple designs, direct and to the point. Able and Game also have a boy version and if you're more of a mom type of person, you can request different spelling.

Marie Antoinette

I've been creating a few A5 prints and adding them to the Able and Game range. This one is called Marie and is available in the Etsy shop. I saw the Sofia Coppola film last year and thought the outfits were pretty amazing, and not surprisingly it won an Oscar for Costume Design. I've been looking up Oscar winners recently and thought it was very interesting that no woman has ever won an Oscar for Best Director and that only three woman have ever been nominated, including Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation.

Technotronic!

Technotronic, the late '80s early '90s electronic house act made famous for the song Pump Up The Jam came from Belgium, famous for their beer (Palm or Hoegaarden thanks!), Frietjes, actors and chocolate. This Able and Game birthday card is available on Etsy, for that special someone who loves a bit of fluro in their clothing.

And just in case you want to do some insane dance moves here it is in all its glory:

Dif-tor heh smusma

I told someone I just met about this card the other weekend, turned out they were also a Star Trek fan. They told me I need to watch Next Gen, I told them nothing would ever beat Voyager. Although apparently Data is a good Seven of Nine replacement. With the World Premiere of the new Star Trek film in Sydney I thought I would pop our Star Trek card up to celebrate. Able and Game wants you to live long and prosper!

Ideas from Mum

The design concept for this card came from my Mum, who often likes to come up with ideas for cards and products. She said it might be nice to make a card that siblings would give their Mum together and came up with the idea for the birds all singing and the line "We love to sing your praises". I kept the design similar to the Beautiful Birds range of cards and wanted the font to be pretty handwriting. This Able and Game card is also available as part of our growing range of Mother's Day Cards. Gareth and I just checked the calender and it is just over a month away! Time goes by so fast these days.

I Love You Mum

When Gareth came home from work yesterday I showed him this card and he said "that is lovely, really cute". I think he likes how he looks like a little boy and also an adult. I like how he is a bit dorky and is holding a bunch of flowers that were most likely picked from someone else's garden. This new Able and Game card is available on Etsy and also Madeit. I've just updated the Madeit shop with all the Mother's Day cards so if you prefer to shop in Australian Dollars then this is the place for you.

We also have a new stockist in St. Kilda. Dorothy and Evelyn is on Barkly Street, just near the National Theatre. I had heard about this shop from Hollie, and walked past it during St. Kilda festival with a friend and realised it was the same place. It is a really pretty shop so worth having a look.

It is just aquatic chicken!

When I was little I wasn't a big fan of tuna, but it was a regular meal at our house. My Mum knew I was just being fussy and used to tell me it was just aquatic chicken so I would eat it. Apparently it worked very well and I would often request it.

During our teenage years my brother, sister and I would often complain when tuna casserole was on the menu. Once we had left home I remember Mum telling me my sister requested it for dinner when she went back and I thought it was interesting that once we left home it was something we really missed. I've spoken to other people and they say the same thing, they all missed it the most when they left home, but didn't like it much growing up. This new Able and Game card is now available on Etsy, just in case your Mum doesn't know your feelings on her cooking.

Oooh Baby Baby

The first of many congratulations on your new baby cards has arrived. This is one style of card we have been requested to make by quite a few people. Seems everyone is having babies these days! I got a little bit of advice from Georgie Love, and last week at Rose Street when it made its debut the one card I took sold and someone else came back asking for it, so hopefully it is a popular Able and Game card. If you want this card it is available on Etsy, or if you're in Fitzroy tomorrow then you can come by the Rose Street Artist Market.

New Prints

A new Able and Game A5 print available in the Etsy shop. This is the pink version with mustard, brown and blue highlights. The artwork started out as a line drawing and was digitally coloured. I used an image to get an idea for the different house shapes but most of it is just pattern and linework I came up with myself. I'm a big fan of linework in art, my favourite artist being the king of linework, Brett Whiteley.

New Stockists

Gareth and I are excited to announce we have two new Able and Game stockists in Australia. All the way over in Perth we are now stocked at Lala Orange on William Street in Northbridge. Lala Orange have a blog where I today discovered they are also fans of Gossip Girl. Although Gareth isn't a fan, I am totally hooked on the show and have got the rest of my family addicted.

A little closer to home, we have a new ACT stockist, Paperchain Bookstore in Manuka. Although Canberra isn't really that close to home, it is closer than Perth. If you're in the area pop and have a visit, because we both wish we could!