An Ode To TV Mothers - Barb and Denise Royle

With the Royal family in the spotlight today we thought it best to feature the Royle Family. And also because Stacey from Sheeps Clothing said Barb Royle was her favourite TV Mum. It makes me wish I was back in the UK eating jaffa cakes and drinking copious amounts of brew.

We think this would be the card our Denise would give Barb because I'm sure she has some difficult days with Little David, who doesn't have ADHD he just can't be bovved!

An Ode To TV Mothers - Betty Draper

With Mother's Day just over a week away we thought we would do an ode to the TV mothers in the lead up to the big event on Sunday the 8th of May. Like most kids who grew up under the soft glow of the television, I feel the television Mum is something special.

We are going to get things started with maybe the most glam TV mother, Betty Draper. We are happily drinking the Mad Men koolaid and have enjoyed watching Betty's parenting over the years. With the show renewed for another three seasons I'm looking forward to her daughter Sally hitting her mid to late teens and giving Betty a total run for her money. I'm also hoping for a spin off show called "1973 - The Year of Sally".

We decided to channel some Betty Draper glam with our Mum The Magnificent. The card is a special one because my Mum came up with the copy for it and is part of our range of cards available for Mother's Day.

In just over two weeks...

.. it is Mother's Day in Australia and North America. We have been busy making lots of new cards to add to our range. Did you know three years ago I made some little hand drawn cards to sell at Rose Street and it was the Thanks For The Lift card that kinda started the ball rolling for Able and Game? I thought it was too good an idea to waste so made a whole card business based on that one idea. I also wanted Gareth to work along side me and although he was a little hesitant (hello queen of disorganisation!) he know works full time on Able and Game with me.

When I think about stuff like that wish I could go back in time and tell myself things will work out. It always seems like you're chasing something, but when you get something you want you have moved onto something else. I guess that is what keeps us motivated, but sometimes you have to stop and smell the Mother's Day flowers! The card above is available on Etsy, as well as Rose Street market this Saturday. Rose Street wont running on Sunday because of Easter.

Love of the gift shop

Image from http://www.banksyfilm.com/

I was just looking through our stockists and realised we have a few art gallery gift shops stocking our cards. I think museum and gallery gift shops are my favourite place to browse. In fact I may be guilty of rushing through an exhibition at the NGV because I knew the gift shop was waiting for me at the end. Talking of gift shops, I was looking up Banksy's film the other day as I wanted to see what Margaret and David gave it, turns out they both gave it three and a half stars each.

If you live near any of these gift shops you can find our cards in them, amongst all the pretty art books. 


Warrnambool Art Gallery
26 Liebig Street Warrnambool

National Portrait Gallery
King Edward Terrace Parkes

Dunedin Art Gallery Shop
30 the Octagon Dunedin

Heidi Museum of Modern Art
7 Templestowe Road Bulleen

New Desks

So we are well and truly shifted into our new office and are in the process of making it a nice place to work. We are probably a good week away from getting it just right but with a house move tomorrow (yes we are totally addicted to moving) things are taking a wee bit longer. Stress levels are a bit higher that usual, the desire to drink a whole lot stronger and home cooked meals a distant memory.

I've got a lovely new desk (thanks to Ocelynx for the lift to Ikea!) which I'm going to try and keep a little bit more tidy. I've got a few little pretty things on it already, including a terrarium I got from Rose Street which I managed to kill off a few months back. The people who made it said they would remoss it for me but after returning from Scotland over summer it had somehow come back to life. As you can see it is well and truly busting at the rim, I'm sure I'm meant to cut it back but I want to see how high it will grow. I'm hoping for at least a foot!

No More Pyjama Power Meetings, I've Got A Real Job Ma!

Things have been a little quiet over here on the Able and Game blog as we spent the last week moving our office. For the last two years we have run Able and Game from a spare bedroom and we decided we had enough of the Power Pyjama* meetings at 1pm and fact that our dining room went from normal dining room to warehouse in the space of a few months. We now have a lovely city view and I'm looking out at the sunset thinking the two flights of stairs we hauled everything up might have just been worth it.






*Gareth was good and never attended a Pyjama Power Meeting in his Pyjamas.

Finders Keepers Melbourne

Well, the weekend just gone was a big, busy blockbuster weekend. We took part in Finders Keepers Melbourne down at Shed 4 Docklands, a whopping 16 hours of markety goodness. I was there on my own as Gareth was holding up the Rose Street fort so I was on my own and didn't get to have a good look at the epicness that was FK Melbourne. I did get a wee treat for myself, a Sarah McNeil brooch from Corky. I was very happy with my purchase, perfect for jackets in winter.

If you came by the market and had a chat, laughed at the cards or even purchased a card, thank you! We really do love seeing people's response and Gareth and I sat with the TV paused for a good hour last night telling each other stories of fun/interesting/lovely conversations we had with people over the weekend. Even though laughs wont pay the mortgage they really are the best thing about doing the markets!

There are some great market blog posts with more photos over at MEL:HOT OR NOT, Meet Me At Mikes, Betty Jo and Radio Carly and this Saturday we will be at the first Sisters Market for the year at Brunswick Town Hall.