new news

Dudes, my site is all new and shiny! You may have noticed a new header on my blog, but the fanciness does not end there. Thanks to Kate (a seriously amazing friend and all around fantastic person, not to mention a pretty darn talented designer), I now have an expanded portfolio site, complete with a print shop. Take a look! The above designs, as well as five others, are available as 8 by 10 and 16 by 20 inch prints.
Alright, end shameless self-promotion. Next week: back to our normally schedule programming. Coming soon: new designs from Dude and Chick!

pattern pals: halloweenie

I'm really feeling this spooky October theme. It helps that my evenings have been consumed with horror movies this month (why yes, my significant other DID purchase the Friday the 13th boxed set, thank you for asking). We're on day sixteen of our month of terror, which means we've begun to hit some real deep cuts - think 1970s italian psychedelic flicks. It's getting weird. In that spirit, I dove a little more into abstraction for this pattern, with a sort of occult-ish spiderweb theme. As usual, see above for the repeating square, application below. 

Sweet dreams! I'm off to finish CHUD (it's as insane as it sounds, trust me).

evil eye

October, huh? Fall really sneaks up on me around these parts - it's still pretty toasty in LA, although early mornings and late nights have that crisp feel to them again, that feeling that makes you pull the covers up to your ears. It's nice, but I have to admit I'm pretty jazzed to be heading out to Boulder this weekend to see my twin brother, and maybe some fall foliage while I'm at it.
In the meantime, in the spirit of the spookiest month, and while I'm in the thick of Scott's our thirty-one nights of horror (more on that later), here's an evil eye inspired pattern. I've been whipping out the old brush occasionally, so this one's got a bit more of a painterly feel. As usual, the repeat square is above, and an applied example is below!

endless summer

This summer has been mild by LA standards - sunny during the day, cool at night...I think we've used our trusty AC unit once. Until now. It is HOT. Not just wear a crop top hot. More like camp out by the swamp cooler until it's over hot. And so, in honor of this lovely heat wave, which is sure to overextend it's already very limited welcome, a pattern of succulents. I've been meaning to make this sketch into something for a while now, so at least something is checked off my growing list of to-dos.

xmas in....August

HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Just kidding?
In greeting card world, these babies really should have shown their faces in about March, but they're here now, and that's what matters! Just in time for the NY Now gift fair (going on as I type this - we are being represented by Crow and Canary, in booth 7843), Dude and Chick proudly presents our new holiday offerings for 2013, available single and in cute little boxed sets of six (see links below, if you so desire). I'm sure you all have about 3.5 months before the idea of holiday cards even crosses your mind, but I'm excited now so here you go. Consider these the card equivalent of giving your loved ones a lump of coal and a flask of whiskey.
097 - Mistletoe
098 - Ugh, Christmas
099 - Warmest Wishes
100 - Egg Nog Season
101 - Stressmess Lights
102 - Mad Stack

pins and needles

I could pretend like this pattern has some sort of deeper meaning, but really it's just that I draw bobby pins a lot because they are everywhere in our apartment, and I wanted to put those drawings to good  use. Also, I am slightly concerned about the vacuum that I just bought (such an adult purchase, a necessity thanks to Peg) and how it it will react to sucking a bunch of these guys up, because the application of this pattern definitely bears a strong resemblance to the area behind our couch. 100% excitement in this neck of the woods, can you tell?
Above is the repeating square, below is the pattern applied. Color palette inspo from the great Kate Miss.

wall to wall

A quick repeating pattern to send you into the weekend...Christmas in July (aka the Dude and Chick holiday release) is scrambling my brain, and sometimes the best way to organize your mind is to just Tetris a bunch of random shapes together. ENJOY.

sketchy dudes

And now, just for a change of pace, here are some sketchy dudes from the past few weeks. I've been drawing a lot lately - practice makes perfect, right? I'm trying to make good on my promise to myself to take an hour or so every day to get a few things down on paper, and it's going well. Now I just need to weed out the good stuff and find the time to finish up a few things...

sketch gallery

Ye olde sketch(e?) gallery is a little looser, a little more varied these days. Looking back through my warm up drawings is weird - so many different styles. There are days when I end up with really weird faces, sketchy faces, detailed faces...sometimes just poorly rendered bad faces. Reminds me of the different handwriting styles I tried on back in the day. You know, cursive, dotting the i with a heart, extra flourishes on a and g. Sometimes it's beneficial to comb back through this stuff and pick out a style I'd like to work in more, but mostly it's just nice to make a little something out of these throwaways because it's Friday and I felt like it.

ladies in blue

Here it is, midsummer, and despite the heat, I'm feeling....productive. I scanned in pages and pages of new inked drawings and texture experiments yesterday, and decided to treat myself to a little Photoshop fun (phun? ha) involving my new friends, the dodge and burn tools. My digital illustration teacher would be fuming if he saw this, but I'm into this seventies blue fade vibe, so I'm going with it.

welcome to the ad industry, bitch

On a Monday, at the beginning of a bonanza of Dude and Chick holiday release madness (in living color on site in St. Paul!) all I can manage is sharing a terrific mashup of my two favorite things. Get ready to have Phantom Planet stuck in your head for the rest of the day (and for the record, if you don't understand the title of this post, you have three seasons of excellent mid-aughts television to watch before we can properly chat).

pattern pals: abstract

When Emma and I decided to do an abstract pattern, I think we both thought it would be....easy. Because, you know, when you just get to use shapes and color everything's simple, right? Well, not so much. This was most definitely my most difficult pattern to date, despite the fact that it just used simple brushstrokes (which were extremely fun to make - I have whole sketchbook pages of just random geometric stuff). The colors were changed multiple times, and I finally settled on these muted, June gloom inspired greens. I think I like the result? I may give this another go, if only for that awful/awesome brain growing feeling it provided. Above is the repeating square, below you can see it in action.

springtime in brooklyn

It's been a while since I ventured out to New York - almost four years, in fact. Lucky for me, the stationery show was the perfect excuse for a little visit to one of my favorite places. Thanks to a few NYC-savvy friends and my fearless host Matt, I did it up right this time. It was an amazing trip, and it made me miss New York...but man, was I glad to return to the sun soaked land that I now call home (and the boy and dog waiting for me).
A few highlights, as illustrated by the photos above. Not pictured: copious amounts of food, beer, and bloodies consumed.
a) the rooftop view from my digs in Crown Heights.
b) neon is king at Beverly's.
c) Bree treated me to The Book of Mormon, which is every bit as awesome as I imagined!
d) treasures of New England, found in Matt's cabinets (it's a board game about yachting?!)
e) The Frick Collection, highly recommended for an off-the-beaten-path museum experience - it's housed in what was formerly the Frick estate on the UES.
f) and of course, my visit to the apartment I sublet in Brooklyn Heights for my semester stay in NYC during college (my intern/nanny days). Don't be fooled by the fancy exterior - my place was 96 sq feet, on "garden" level - that is, basement. I bought a bagel and my favorite corner store and sat on the steps like a creeper, naturally.

get em while they're hot

Well, would you look at that. New cards, at long last! You can find them on the Etsy store, or coming soon to a brick and mortar shop near you. We debuted these babies at the National Stationery Show earlier this week. Stay tuned - once I make it through the pile o' work that built up while I was gone, I'll be taking a peek at all the cool stuff I found while walking NSS and doing a roundup.
top row:
086 Fancy Pants
087 Flamingos
088 Tower Power
middle row:
089 Muscle Car
093 Flock Togetha
094 Another Ewe
bottom row:
095 Tramp Stamp
096 Truly Yours

3124

At the risk of sounding like a huge nerd, it's been a lifelong dream of mine to attend the National Stationery Show in New York. Ever since I was just a wide-eyed intern at DG Inventive (RIP), I've pictured myself running a booth, hawking my delightful paper goods to thousands of screaming fans.
So, we're not quite there yet, but this year I am proud to announce that our lovely reps at Crow and Canary will be showing our line in their booth! You can find Dude and Chick stock amongst the collection at booth 3124, if you happen to find yourself at NSS next week (May 19th-22nd). Be sure to check this space soon - I'll be officially releasing our new fresh designs on the first day of the show.

mama's weekend

A major downside to living in Los Angeles and working with a dude who lives halfway across the country is that, sometimes, I miss special weekends like this one. I leave for the National Stationery Show at the end of next week (don't worry, a preview of our new stuff is coming soon!), and it just wasn't in the budget (financially or mentally) to make it up to Portland for Mother's Day and my Mom's birthday, both of which fall on the same weekend this year.
And so, in lieu of my presence, I just wanted to take a moment on my corner of the internet to honor the sassy, headstrong, beautiful lady that is my mom.
I love you, Mama! I'll make it up to PDX for some mother/daughter partytime soon.
above: my mom in New York, at Multnomah Falls, and with me last year in Portland

monae for all

Our crazy lead-up to the National Stationery Show is almost finished - the release is done, the catalogs are printed (by my not-so-trusty Konica Minolta) and soon I'll be floating around NYC with not a care in the world. In the meantime, my internet lack of presence has been slight, but I managed to catch this video with the always amazing Janelle Monae and Erykah Badu - two of my top style icons. But seriously. Monae can work a tux like nobody's business, that booty don't lie.

my little lady

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that Scott and I got a dog (maybe. It's been pretty subtle). Meet miss Peggy Day, the five year old pug rescue that stole our hearts last Saturday when we decided to "just look" at some pups. She's a mellow, lazy, weird little gremlin that has wormed her way into our everyday lives so fully that I'm already not sure how I got along without her little snores in the studio. And the name? Of course, it's a reference to two of our favorite things, Peggy Hill and Bob Dylan (disclaimer: sweetest song ever). Plus, Pegs needs a signature song for our future dog dancing routine.

pattern pals - letters

While I was in Minnesota, Emma and I had a little work session to put together a collaborative pattern. EXCITING. Since she is a hand drawn type master, we figured it was only appropriate to have this week's theme be letter forms. We each drew a big sheet using her amazing new brush pens (which I immediately purchased for myself) and picked a color palette together. So, here's my version! The tile is above, application below. You can see Emma's at her blog, of course.

snow in springtime

AKA: My trip to Minnesota. I thought I was pretty clever, postponing my weeklong, pre-stationery show hangfest with the Dude until April, but sadly, after three days of heavenly 50 degree weather, the snowstorm started. Yikes. Luckily, I stayed with Allison in her beautiful, light-filled Victorian home (in a guest bedroom! So grown up), where the bright walls and huge windows almost made me forget how blah it was outside.
Sometimes I forget how much I love it here in LA. I'm definitely drinking the SoCal kool aid, and maybe it's the California buzz talking, but I feel things are better here. Perhaps it's just that I'm better here. Now, if only I could import some cheese curds and my favorite Midwestern beers, not to mention a few of my favorite people...well, if everything was as perfect as the weather, I'd probably never get anything done.
images above, clockwise from top left:
snow in St. Paul / chucks at the Walker Sculpture garden / Allison and Alex's records / colors on a walk with Dude / morning light in Allison's digs

sequin-tial

Next week marks the second leg of my springtime travels - I'm off to Minnesota for some in-the-flesh Dude and Chick good times, which means lots of card makin' with a side of fried cheese curds and good midwestern beer (I'm coming for you, Grain Belt). I was going to skip Pattern Pals this week, particularly because I'll be seeing Emma's shining face in person ever so soon, but then mid-day through my work afternoon with Kate my laptop died, and I had forgotten my power cord, and she was making a sequined birthday crown so....this happened. Festive! Above is the repeat square, below is the applied pattern. Have a good Friday, everyone (see what I did there?).

cookie secrets

This is a story about an accidental invention, a recipe born of cake-baking frustration and a quest for greatness, with beginnings in tragedy and a triumphant conclusion. This story clearly does not include quality photography, as evidenced above - my apologies.
Over the weekend, in honor of an ice-cream loving friend's birthday, I set out to create a recipe for a cake that would rival Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heathbar Crunch ice cream (swooooooon). Sadly, my lack of cake-related knowledge made it abundantly clear that such a task was sure to end in heartache (and a crappy cake), so instead, I altered my go-to cookie recipe, adding a few key flavors. It worked out well. Well enough that the remaining cookies were gone before I realized my only photo was sub-par. OH WELL.
Try this recipe plain, or make some scary-good sandwiches with coffee ice cream spread between.

Espresso Toffee Crunch Cookies
(adapted from Ambitious Kitchen's brown butter cookies, which are life changing)
you'll need...
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 T instant espresso powder (you can add slightly more at the end for a heavier coffee flavor)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (this is adjusted, as I always have salted butter on hand. If you use unsalted, up to 1/2 tsp)
2 sticks butter, browned and cooled (see instructions below)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg plus 1 yolk
1 T greek yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup toffee pieces (you want these)
directions...
First, brown your butter: heat slowly in a pan over medium heat. Whisk as you go and watch carefully. After a few minutes, the butter will foam and then recede, turning a carmel brown color. It will smell sort of nutty. Don't let it burn, but be sure it's actually browned (not just melted) - when you pour it out of the pan and into a bowl to cool, it should be a rich, burnt sienna color. Let the butter fully cool before you start - 20 minutes on the counter should do it.
Meanwhile, mix together all your dry ingredients (flour, espresso powder, baking soda and salt). In a separate bowl, combine your brown butter and sugars thoroughly. Add the egg, yolk, yogurt, and vanilla and stir until smooth. Gradually mix in your dry ingredients about 1/2 cup at a time. Stir in the toffee bits and chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Taste liberally. Add more espresso powder if you're into that sort of thing, but be sure to mix well.
Stick the whole shebang in the fridge for at least an hour. Preheat the oven to 375. Roll loosely rounded balls of dough (make sure you get all those chocolate chips in there - sometimes I'll dot the tops with a few extra) and drop 2-3 inches apart on your pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes. The cookies should look slightly undercooked in the middle, but they will set up within a few minutes of removing from the oven.
Enjoy!

frenzy in springtime

Lately, days have been passing quickly, deadlines are approaching with disturbing speed, time is folding in on itself in a blur of noise and stress and good times all rolled up into one. We're finishing up a couple of really big projects at work, and the excitement of creating really great new designs has my heart racing at random. I've got a stack of sure-to-be amazing books to read (thanks to my Dad, whose birthday I got to celebrate with my parents last week), and I can't decide which to begin with. The record collection is multiplying (thanks to my mom, who generously donated a big chunk of her epic collection to my suitcase) at a rate that would be disturbing if not for the fact that we are desperately, hopelessly in love with listening to every single one.
We went to see Merchandise play last night, and despite the fact that they didn't go on until almost midnight, despite the fact that we were cruising through the abandoned streets after one am, thinking about our alarm blaring in just a few hours, it was amazing, awesome in the truest sense of the word. It was a nice cap to the last week - a solid wave of noise crashing over a sold out crowd, enveloping my brain for a moment of the loudest quiet I've felt in a while.
photo above from a night on the town in Portland

pattern pals - secret societies

Secret societies have always been a mystery to me (although I suppose that's sort of the point, right?) so when Emma suggested we take them on for this week's pattern, I had a lot to learn. Because really, who wants to see a pattern based on The Skulls or Beyonce's supposed Illuminati shoutout (oh wait, I do). Here's what came out! This is pretty simple, image wise, but I'm on the road right now and limited without a scanner, so now is the time for experimentation, yes? Yes. Above is the repeat square, below is the applied pattern. Have a conspiratorial weekend, dudes.

pattern pals - travel

In honor of my recent plane ticket purchasing bonanza, this week's pattern theme is travel. Listen, I had big plans to really interpret this in a very out-of-the-box way, but then I drew some planes, and found this color palette, and just couldn't resist. Truth be told, I'm still learning the ins and outs of creating a pattern that translates well in repetition, but I'm trying to place a ripping-my-hair-out limit on time spent on these little after-work experiments. Bear with me.
Above is the repeat square, and below is the original drawing I did.  And, as usual, be sure to take a peek at Emma's pattern over at her blog!

think pretty

Last weekend, the always amazing Kate Miss orchestrated a little get together with some of our lady friends to take some new, updated portraits. It was also the best excuse I've had lately to eat frozen cookie dough with a spoon.

Kate has a well-articulated post here about hangups, but it bears repeating - it's fascinating and eye opening to see the reactions of such a beautiful group of women view their own photograph. Why do we let these little negative ideas about our body/face/hair stick inflate until they are the only thing we see when we look at ourselves? As a lady who constantly checks that my hair is in place and my lipstick is fresh, it was a nice change to settle in and goof off in front of the camera... and of course, some of the best portraits were candid. At any rate, thanks to the direction of Laura and Erin and the photog skills of Kate, I ended up with some new shots of my mug, and I think we all enjoyed an afternoon where we felt pretty.

horizons

I was chatting with a friend in Minnesota the other day, and when I asked how she was doing, she just said "well, you know....February." Truer words never spoken. These last days of winter can really feel like a grind, even in LA. I've found myself wishing for longer days, patio drinks, and cutoffs, and I can feel the extra work my brain is doing to stay creative.
We've had a lot of excitement around here lately, with friends in town and Scott beginning his new job, and that's certainly helped to keep my head in the game. Well, that, and the 80 degree beach day that Los Angeles whipped out over the weekend (nicely played). But it's still hard. We're adjusting to a new schedule, feeling a little sleep deprived from an earlier wake-up call, trying to remember what it's like to have dinner together again every night (verdict: nice). I've found I need to remind myself to enjoy these shorter, quiet days before life gets wild again in just a few weeks. Tickets have been purchased for my spring travel plans - three months, three cities - and if I really concentrate, I can visualize bare legs and porch beers. Almost there.

pattern pals - love versus ugh

Valentine's day, am I right? Ugh. In honor of this fine, faux-holiday that keeps my fine company in business, I've whipped up not one, but TWO patterns, for the cynic and the schoolgirl in all of us. Take your pick - a pepto-pink ugh to pay tribute to what I'm sure is your favorite exclamation, or a cool blue-gray version of the l-word. Above, you can see the patterns applied, but please feel free to grab the repeating squares below for your own use (with a link back here, please). Be sure to check out Emma's amazing pattern as well - oooo lala, it's le French (I don't know French).
xoxo's, babes. Go kiss someone or whatever.

projectile

A little outtake for you on this Valentine's week of some fun type that popped out of my tablet. I'm in that creative stage of newfunthings that should be a really good time, but in actuality I have a lot of raw material that I need to sort of sculpt into something finished and fantastic, and frankly, it's hard. We've had a stressful couple of weeks of flu, cold, car wrecks and taxes, and so it felt good to finish something, even if it is a quicky (and a little juvenile, but we all know that's never stopped me before).
p.s. - speaking of type (and, really, the whole reason I ended up drawing some today) check out daily dishonesty - TOO REAL.

bright spot

FASHION FILM from Matthew Frost on Vimeo.
(video via It's Nice That)
Scott started my workday this morning by sending over this amazing vortex of indie-lady facepalm action, starring Lizzy Caplan (who, between Mean Girls and Party Down, occupies a special place in my little cynical heart). Watch it, point and laugh, and try to be self-aware enough to think to yourself "je ne ferais jamais cela..."

recently

Some iPhone snaps from the last week or so. January is roaring by - I find myself mentally cataloging everything I need to do, making endless to-do lists in my trusty planner. I'm adding them quicker than I can cross them off, but when it's all on paper it feels doable.
clockwise from upper left:
- excellent first aid kit from the long beach flea
- neatly abandoned shoe sets in our parking area
- stamped leather against taqueria tablecloth stitching
- another simple pattern - such a satisfying little habit!

pattern pals - hot and cold

Well, I did it! After much encouragement from Emma - who is seriously drawin' up a storm over in the Midwest - I created my very first pattern! Actually, my first pattern experience was a loooong time ago, when I was still a student at MCAD, but as with most things that I don't use on a regular basis (except, perhaps, my near encyclopedic knowledge of certain television shows, ahem) the memory of how to make patterns escaped my brain.
We started with the prompt "hot and cold", since, as you may know, Minnesota has been unbearably col, and Los Angeles has been reliably beautiful (um, until today/this weekend. But at least it's rainy and 60). After a little sketching and a lot of indecision, I inked up some flowers and snowflakes to put together a loose interpretation of the theme. I used this tutorial, which is very simple. But. It took me much longer than it should have, and it still has that awful easy-to-see-where-the-pattern-square-is effect that I'd prefer to avoid. You have to start somewhere, I suppose, so expect more of these coming your way, internet.

one two three

Forgive me for doing a birthday post, but since I share January 23rd with Harrison and Scott, it's practically a holiday in these parts (practically? who am I kidding). So, happy birthday to me, and to the two dudes closest to my heart, who I love forever and always. Tonight, we will drink beers and eat waffle fries and video chat with the twin in Colorado, but for now, I'll just leave these little cherubic preschool versions of us here.

riding high

At long last, after many hours of training and tuneups, Scott finally has our new set of wheels: a shiny new-to-us 1972 Honda CL 100 scrambler, restored and shined up with the help of Greg, designer/mechanic extraordinaire. It's a little bike, just big enough for me to fit on the back in a pinch, but a perfect starter motorcycle for us city kids. Scott's excited to swap out his commuting vehicle and zip around town with his mini motorcycle gang, and all I can think about is how easy parking at the beach will be come summertime. In the meantime, I'm experimenting with biker-chic hairstyles for underneath a full face helmet (anything other than long and loose is looking like a no-go). Now I just have to scrape the time together to take the motorcycle safety course so that I can hop on and take it for a ride myself...

red rum

above, clockwise from top left: the twin costumes from The Shining exceeded spooky expectations; I wander through the spaghetti-like tubes of Jesús Rafael Soto's Penetrabile, view from the top at the Page Museum, the poster wall
I'm embarrassed to admit that, despite the fact that we've lived in Los Angeles for quite a while now, Scott and I have not exactly taken advantage of the gallery and museum scene at our fingertips. With the goal of remedying that (and a healthy dose of encouragement from Bree) a few weeks ago we ventured out to LACMA to see the Kubrick exhibition.  It was pretty impressive - full of set dressing, authentic costumes and knickknacks from some truly classic films. I wish I was better about making it my business to see some of these movies (Lolita and Clockwork Orange are near the top of my list), so add that to the resolution list for this year, which is extending at an alarmingly rate. Of course, in addition to the satisfaction of covertly touching the typewriter from The Shining, LACMA is a destination all in its own right. The grounds are beautiful, the tar pits are fascinating and terrifying (of course we went right home to watch Volcano (tagline: You'll have a hell-lava time!..how do I get THAT job)), and I need another afternoon just to wander the collection. Who's in?

for the record

above: a snippet of Mom's collection, one of many jukeboxes that could be mine for a low low price
Christmas was good to us this year, but I think it's safe to say that Scott's favorite gift wasn't wrapped under the tree. During our stay at my parents house, my mom offered up her pristine, extensive record collection to him - anything he wanted was his for the taking. As a card-carrying audiphile, Scott was in heaven, and he ended up dj-ing the majority of our holiday on the turntable, trying out well known and deeper cuts.
And so, with the start of his new collection on the way from Portland and the arrival of a shiny new turntable, we have officially embraced the past, musically (ironic that this comes in the same month that we acquired a Blu-Ray player) and therefore entered the realm of Scavenging for Records at Flea Markets. It's a deep, dark black hole of music geeks and hoarders, a trail littered with jukeboxes and Deadheads and mint condition special edition signed copies. We dipped our toes in on Sunday, in a woefully poor-planned outing to the Pasadena City College Flea (note to self: allot at least four hours for proper digging), but there is surely much more to come. Pray for my naive, musically-uneducated soul.

looking forward

Here we go, lucky number thirteen. It's been a little slow getting started - Tuesday as New Year's Day leaves a bit to be desired. Today has a feeling of the first day of spring for some reason, that itch to get out in the sunshine and make sandwiches for a picnic by the ocean, have a beer on the porch in the late afternoon. It's a good, warm, somewhat lazy feeling that I'm doing my best to meld with some productivity. There are many to-dos to cross off, deadlines approaching, exciting things to begin.
Twelve was eventful, stressful, wonderful...here's to a little more calm, a little more cash, and a healthy dose of love and adventure.
Let's do this thing.