Pikaland is a blog about all things illustration and, not surprisingly, it’s one of my favorites.  It’s founder Amy says:

Pikaland is a blog about living the illustrated life — an art and illustration blog that’s a collection of beautiful things and inspirations that I stumble upon on the internet that’s made/designed by illustrators and artists, and is updated almost daily.

She also organizes the PikaPackage project (a fun promo and marketing tool containing a bundle of prints, limited editions and other goodies from artists and illustrators, that’s for sale seasonally,) and the Good to Know project— “a zine filled with advice + inspiration from illustrators, artists and designers.”

Right now the 5th issue of Good to Know is available in print and in download form, and explores the topic of Art School:  ”Do you think that artists need to have degrees/qualifications from art school in order to be one? Did you study art? Does it matter?”

Always helpful and gorgeous to boot, get yours here!

Ooh almost forgot the giveaway: ” 2 random winners will win a copy of the zine when they leave a comment at the blog.”

{Re}Introducing Magnetic Kids!  We’re back!

Magnetic Kids are magnetic “paper dolls” drawn and designed by me.  This project has been on the back burner for several years due to other commitments and priorities.  But I’ve just relaunched and I’m really excited about it. So here’s a bit more about Magnetic Kids and a small goodie for my readers, as well!

Currently there are five different sets, each of which include a Kid + 3 Outfits + 1 Pet.   If you absolutely must get a kid with a different outfit or pet, let me know and we’ll talk.

It’s important to me personally to do as much as I can to produce environmentally, ethically and economically responsible products.  So I’ve kept the production close to home and I use recycled materials when possible. The magnets themselves were manufactured outside of Boston, Massachusetts.  After you order one they are  individually packaged by me, a hop and a skip over in Providence, RI.  They come wrapped up in a cute biodegradable and compost-able box made out of sugar fiber  from a company in Pennsylvania.

The hangtags are made by the wonderful MOO, Inc. also located in Rhode Island.  Soon the cello packets I use for wrapping will be recycled as well.  I find the packaging seems to be a work in progress to find the balance between being earth friendly, while pleasing to the eye, but easy for me to work with, and of course easy on the wallet.  I’m doing my best.

Through Magnetic Kids, I donate a portion of the proceeds to charitable organizations that benefit children. Currently, I find projects to fund through the wonderful DonorsChoose.org, which works with public school teachers to “provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack.”  I’ve been picking projects having to do with art for the younger elementary and preschool age set.

Right now Magnetic Kids is donating money to a New York City kindergarten class for new art supplies.  They want to work on some self portraits and I’m really looking forward to helping them do just that.  You can read more about it here.

And now for the goodie:  To mark this happy occasion you can get free shipping until September 15th if you mention …and Other Such Things blog in your checkout form.  Spread the word!  Whoo hoo!

What? What’s this?  My Hello cards are being featured on Modish as I type.  How wonderful!  What a lovely way to start the day…

Not only do I scour Modish Biz Tips and participate in the monthly goal meetup, but the “regular” Modish is a delicious daily treat.  So I can’t tell you how excited I am to be included!  Thank you so much Jena.

I’m finishing up getting some packaging already for a new{ish} project.  I’ve been working hard on coming up with something that is sourced from local materials, biodegradable or recycled, is easy for me to work with, is cost effective, can function for both online as well as in brick and mortar stores, and of course looks really great and describes the item well AND appeals to potential customers.  

Phew.  Its a lot to think about. And to balance. 

But what should I find today but an article on all this over at Mint!  Ellie interviews 3 different business owners about their packaging.  ”All three take packaging seriously, putting extra effort into making the outside look as pretty as the inside.”  Thanks for another wonderful and timely article! Go check it out.

ps. the package above held the invitation for my friend’s wedding this past April.

Before I dash out the door to finish up some wedding preparations for a good friend (more on the goodies we made later!) I wanted to let you know there’s an interview of me on Lolalina, Find Your Sweet Life blog!  

As Laura mentions, we met through the networking site HerFuture – I contacted her after I realized, not only did she just move to Providence, but she has a gorgeous design blog as well.   It’s just wonderful and has become a daily read for me.   So of course I was thrilled to talk with her!

Thanks so much Laura. It was really fun.

With the latest Harry Potter movie out, it seems appropriate to plug the documentary I worked on, We Are Wizards.  If you didn’t get to see We Are Wizards in the theater, you now have several viewing options available! Hooray!

•We would LOVE it if you just bought the DVD from us right here.  

YOU will love it because it has awesome extras– deleted scenes, commentary from various bands, more awesome Brad Neely etc, etc.  Buying the dvd is the way to go.  

But you can also:

•Buy or rent from iTunes

•Buy or rent from Amazon

• Rent it from Netflix.  

And FYI, a much shorter, more family friendly ( aka no swearing) version will be available on public television at some point.   

The latest very exciting news is that MSNBC’s the Rachel Maddow Show used clips of We Are Wizards the other day:

If you have no idea what the heck I’m talking about, We Are Wizards is a documentary that explores slices of the world of Harry Potter fan culture. Read all about it here.

I’m excited to announce that I’m joining Aeolidia’s roster of artists!  

Are you thinking about finally getting a website up? Or maybe your shopping cart needs some tweaking?  Check out the wonderful design company Aeolidia!  They make all sorts of websites– stores, blogs etc, and are set up to design it all as well.  They can take care everything.  And now… You can have me do the illustrations!  I’m so thrilled to be working with them, especially since I’m in such good company.  Check out their portfolio for more information.

I’m on the front page of Hire An Illustrator! right now:

That image is part of a series of large wall murals for Tazza Mia Bistro.  One of several projects I’ve worked on with the wonderful art director Risa Puno.

My sister emailed to tell me that there’s a Duckling Day Parade on Mother’s Day in Boston Common.   Shut. up.  (As my friend Mandy would say.)

“The Duckling Day Parade follows the path of the Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings from the book “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McCloskey. Kids dress up as their favorite character from the book!  Hello, adorable!”

Indeed.  Will you be attending?

 We watched Let The Right One In a couple days ago.  And I loved it.  Which is hilarious as Mr G had to basically cajole me into watching it.  I was balking at the idea of watching some gory slasher film.  Which it definitely had elements of.   But even though some parts were very scary, it was totally worth it.  ( I have a pretty low tolerance for scariness: Reruns of Buffy were making me jump last night.)  

I loved the slow pacing, still atmosphere and the snowy-white Swedish landscapes counterbalancing the viciousness and ferocity of this little girl eating dinner.  But more to the point, for our purposes here, it is visually lovely.  Every shot is gorgeous.  The color palate is perfection.  I could go on and on.  But I went searching and found these stills so you can see what I mean: