An Able and Game Film - Mother's Day Cards

Gareth and I made a short film about the making of one of our Mother's Day cards for Able and Game. 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.

BFF Badge Sale

For one week only I am having a BFF Badge Sale on Etsy. It means if you purchase a badge from my Etsy shop you will get another badge for free, a Best Friend Forever for the little lady!

These little felt ladies don't like to travel alone, they want to take advantage of the free champagne on the flights and they flirt better when they have their BFF in tow.

Studio Sale

Peta Pledger has planned a Studio Sale involving myself and some other very talented ladies. It is in two weeks time on a Saturday in the lovely Nicholas Building, near Buttonmania. I will still be doing Rose Street, however Gareth will be taking over for me on that day and be selling the Able and Game cards, as he is the Game part in Able and Game. If you want to get a Mother's Day card we will have them available at both markets, or if you're not in Melbourne you can always buy online. I will post some more about the type of things I will be selling during the next two weeks. It should be a really great market, the other ladies involved are all super talented!

Votes!

My cousins, Zoe and Jemma, made a video for a Jeans West Competition called Denim Love Affairs and need some vote loving. You can go here to vote and watch the video if the one above doesn't work. Although if they win I might be a tad jealous of their trip to Paris!

Shoe Obsessed

I've added three new designs to the Able and Game range of cards called Little Shoes. The designs feature a lace pattern and cute little ballet flat shoes, the type I'm looking for right at the moment. I've not had a look in any shops yet, but I know I need to get moving as I'm wearing my Buck Chucks from Art School days. They don't fair so well in wet weather but I'm still clinging onto them for as long as possible. Who knows, I might be still wearing them in 10 years time, clinging onto a vague memory of art school days.

It was Lily all along!

I found a clip about making crayons on the Ok, Bye blog and realised I could try and find some of my favourite Sesame Street clips on youtube. This one below was always my favourite and they never seemed to play it very often. All I remembered about it was a little girl in a big chair, a sandwich she made and her poking her tongue out at the end. I didn't know it was Lily Tomlin and I'm surprised I didn't recognise her when I saw Big Business as a kid, up until today I thought it was a little girl telling the story.

Farmy Goodness

I went back to the family farm in Gippsland for a few days over Easter. I was hoping to take advantage of the light in the house and get some shots of the new screenprinted artwork, but realised it wasn't light enough and I probably just needed to use the tripod. Although I do like the shot above with the flowers at the side. There are more nice things to style with at Mum and Dad's place. All we seem to have is second hand furniture and stuff from Ikea and in some cases second hand stuff FROM Ikea.

Let Them Eat Cake

This is second clutch I've put up on Etsy, this one uses more of the burnt orange fabric and some lovely Japanese floral fabric from Amitie. I'm quite fond of this colour combination, the inside is a greyish blue fabric which looks good with the orange.

The artwork below came from a sudden Marie Antoinette inspiration. Although that only came about after I draw all the hair piled on her hair and it reminded me of her. The A5 print is available in the Able and Game Etsy shop and there is now a little collection of A5 prints available. If you like Able and Game cards you can become a fan on Facebook, or you can channel your early '90s cool and become a fan of The Fresh Prince.

Electric Blue

I spent Friday making a batch of new clutches for the market and I'm putting some of them up on Etsy. This one above is made with some of Lara's lovely birch fabric and the rest is thrifted fabrics. The bright blue at the base of the clutch is on of my favourites, bright with lots of texture. I went along to Carmel's in Mentone last week. I had never been but was down that way to meet up with Stacey so decided to pop in. The shop is lovely, it has everything I wanted, helpful staff and it doesn't take 1/2 to get to the other side of the store. Although I got caught in the rain on the way home and I didn't even have a pina colada to make up for it.

New Prints

These are two new prints available through the Able and Game Etsy shop. They are available in a yellow and pink colourway and started off as a line drawing was scanned into the computer and then digitally coloured. I had fun working at what colours to use, although it was hard when you know what colour you want but you have to find it amongst the millions available. Remember the days when you only had 72 Derwents to choose from (well in my case it was borrow from my sister), I miss those days!

Big Haul

Kirsty and I headed down to Mornington on Monday on our Op-Shopping road trip. After a big weekend of bands, going away parties and the market I got up early Monday morning for the trek. We went Amazing Race style smsing Gareth for the addy, then realising we had no idea where that was. We managed to see the sign by chance and made it there as the doors opened and left with our arms full. We found 3 other big oppies close by, so overall it was a good morning for fabric shopping. The clutch above was made with some burnt orange fabric I found and the floral is from Amitie.