Here kitty kitty

In recent years (the last 26 years?) I have been a bit cat crazy. When I was a kid I always got cat related gifts including books on how to look after cats, cat calendars, posters of kittens hanging off a branch and enlarged photos of my own cats. The last few years, due to renting, we have not had a cat so my catsession has grown to what one might like to call dangerous levels. If you have a cat I will listen to your cat stories and not get bored. I will tell other people your cat stories until well past the stage where they thought eye rolling would shut me up. You can go cat crazy on me and I will keep up. So making cat related cards is something I like to do.

Gareth is well aware of this, so to get me to draw up his own card ideas he has them featuring cats. This makes me want to draw them quick smart and so his ideas get made, like the one above. This card made his debut at Brisbane Finders Keepers and like all new cards we were unsure how people would react. Turns out big boy was rather popular and the last one left was snapped up early Sunday morning. This made us both very happy because I think he is in our top 5 Able and Game cards of all time. The card is available on Etsy, as well as at Rose Street this weekend. Come along and say meow hello and if you have a cat come tell me all of your stories, or better still bring the kitty along!*


*Free cards for anyone bringing along their cats!

All the things we like about Brisbane

Gareth and I are back in Melbourne after our trip up to Brisbane for Finders Keepers. I was getting a little sick of the cold weather here in Melbourne so we spent a few extra days in Brisbane. I wanted to make the most of the 22 degree days and the option of wearing a t-shirt till 9pm at night in winter!

Although it wasn't really a holiday as such, we did get to do a few things that had been put off recently. We had some cocktails at The Bowery on Ann Street in the Valley, went to see Ron Mueck at GOMA and saw Exit Through the Gift Shop at the Tribal Theatre. The Robin Gibson '70s architecture of the Queensland Art Gallery overlooking the Brisbane River was also highlight. I first saw it as we took the City Cat from Hill End into the city and thought it was pretty amazing. Getting to travel interstate really is one of the highlights of running your own business and I give Brisneyland a big tick of approval!

Finders Keepers on Saturday and Sunday was great fun. Gareth and I really enjoy watching people's reactions to the cards and moments people share deciding on which card to get. I saw a funny exchange between a young girl and her mother while choosing a card for her own mothers birthday. The young girl was adamant "I love you so much I want to jump on the couch" was the perfect card for a Grandma's birthday! We also did a little bit of shopping, Gareth picked up some very spiffy cufflinks from A Skulk of Foxes and I got a Sarah McNeil bird brooch from the Leeloo stall plus we got some lovely letterpress cards from Bespoke. The event ran really well, the weather was perfect and it was nice to catch up with some familiar faces we don't get to see very often.

Bleeding Heart / 166 Ann Street, Brisbane

On Monday we walked from The Valley to Southbank along Ann Street and found Bleeding Heart on the way. I was drawn to the large 'School of Arts' above the front door so we went in to have a some tea and cake. They have a cafe, a little shop selling local designers wares including Liana Kabel, Biddy Bags, Wicked Child Designs (including The Beatles Softies from the latest Frankie Mag!) and a gallery. Definitely worth a visit if you're in town. The big veranda is the perfect place to sit and watch the world go by.

Bleeding Heart Gallery Space

All things forgotton

The last few weeks have been a bit hectic around our way so the old blog has suffered a bit. I'm going to do a longer post with a bit more information on it to make up for the lack posts in the last little while.



First up, we were feature seller on Etsy a few weeks back. It is almost four years since I started my first Etsy shop so this was pretty exciting for me. It was also a busy few days with some late nights, lots of packing as well as discovering that this Father's Day card may well be one of our most popular cards to date.

With our interview we got to chose our 5 favourite films, books, music and websites. I think we had too many favourite things so our five favourite websites didn't get included and I just wanted to put them here because they really do deserve a mention:

http://www.thedesignfiles.net/
http://pikaland.com
http://thejoyofhate.com/
http://machinarium.net/demo/
http://www.threethousand.com.au/

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Next up, one of our card 'models' has a new facebook page. Many of you know him as the Mix Tape guy. He is kinda cool, kinda aloof and likes to spend a lot of time getting his hair to look just right.

Turns out his name is Archie Cassette and you can make friends with him on Facebook. His page is only new, he resisted the urge to join until he realised he had an ex girlfriend who required some stalking. Archie likes to think of himself as a bit of a man about town and last year he went to Poland for a conference, but I will let you look him up to find out why.

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This weekend is Brisbane Finders Keepers and it is going to be a wow of a time! We have some new card designs ready to go and are looking forward to visiting some of our Brisbane stockists while we are up there.

Gareth and I are spending a few extra days in Brisbane, so if any of you QLD folk have some suggestions on things to do and see, please send them our way. It is the first time I've been to Queensland and I have a feeling I wont want to leave due to the weather being just a bit warmer than here in Melbourne.

Details for the market are:

Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th June
BRISBANE FINDERS KEEPERS
When: 11am - 6pm
Where: The Old Museum
Cnr Bowen Bridge Road & Gregory Terrace, Herston

Card Sale

QUESTIONS?

How much will stuff cost?

CARD PRICES
1-2 cards $5 each
3 or more cards $4 each

ART PRINT PRICES
A5 print - $10
A4 print - $20

Will there be someone spruiking with a megaphone?
Alas no.

Will there be Christmas Cards?
Huh? It's June.
But I like to stock up!
Okay, there will be Christmas Cards.

Is the sale available anywhere else?
No, just Rose Street Market this Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th from 11am - 5pm.

I have a little kitty* I like to walk around on a lead, is it appropriate to bring him/her along?
Yes, and if you do I will give you a free card.



*only real kitties count.

Hello Sunshine!

I'm one of those annoying people that complain as soon as the weather gets below 20 degrees. Gareth always tells me to harden up because where he comes from 20 degrees is a heat wave. So when we found out we were going to Brisbane I was pretty excited, just because it will (hopefully) be warm. Proper warm!

Brisbane Finders Keepers will be held at the Old Museum on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th of June. They have just announced who will be participating and it includes some great people, including our Rose Street pal Jarren from Temono (my Dad has one of his belts), Pippijoe and Liana Kabel. So if you're in Brissy you have to come by, if the Sydney market in December is anything to go by it will be a great event.

Dear Terry Wogan

So this weekend is Eurovision weekend. All this talk of Eurovision made me realise that there are probably no cards out there that are Eurovision based, so I decided to make one. Coming up with the outfits was rather exciting, then The Age Online put up some photos and I realised I can't compete with silver sparkly hot pants - and that was for the boys! Our lovely couple, from that small European country you can't remember the name of, are singing a skip-pop hop jazz infused number with some choreography by this guy. Nice.

Pussy bows and turtle necks

With a few of our cards we have a boy and a girl version of the same card. Our Mix Tape, Massive Crush and Amazing Race cards have always had a boy and a girl version and we have future plans to make sure we have both a boy and girl version for our romantic range. I'm trying to get into the habit of drawing both a guy and a girl for all our new cards and pretending that they are dating one another. Our new fact cards have a lovely boy and girl on them. The guy is bringing turtle necks back in vogue, and the girl is rocking the pussy bow in pink and blue.