i can't believe i'm a phillies fan.

let's see... quick update... midterms this week, one year anniversary with ryan this evening (although, he and i cannot agree whether it's today or tomorrow), trying to find time to start over on my loom, being very very broke ever since etsy sales went completely stagnant for the first time in months (sigh!)

i am very much hoping to get to boston/salem/lexington the weekend after this one, and have kept my eye out for super cheap last minute hotel deals... ryan and i went last year, and sort of want to make it a special tradition (and hello! salem at halloweentime is totally magical!), though i can't afford to pay for one of the night's right now... so if you've been thinking of buying from me, now is the time :) ha!

hope everyone is well. i am loving this warm, warm, light-sweater weather. lilly is faaaaast asleep next to me while i am finishing up some homework and trying to schedule time to craft this week... buh. here are some of the cute things i added to my shop last week-- lots of mailing labels/gift stickers & stuffed autumn ornaments (block printed on cloth with my original linocuts!)

i should be zzzz ++gocco rambles!

so with the creative funk & all, i still was cranking a few things out. i made a neat new textile stamp that i'm actually crazy about (of course it's not pictured yet--) and worked on an art trade package & a bday present... so my sort of stifled creativity didn't necessarily result in a total standstill, but it was pretty close.

i think half the reason i was going nuts is because i ordered a print gocco last saturday at like 3AM... ahhhhh!!! i have been looking at them for, ohhh. i want to say nearly a year but i know that's impossible. it's more likely just months and months of dreaming! well, i was just aching for one and i finally decided to take the plunge, but i didn't really have the spare money. after calling my mom and being reassured half (?? idk maybe more-- regardless, she is really great as far as me being impulsive and never waiting until my birthday ever) will be "reimbursed" as a bday present. i initially asked her to order it but then realized 1. i start school super soon after my bday 2. my mother would probably never be able to figure out the wacky sparse gocco dealers' websites. eep! i'll be turning 20 and i still treat my bday like a baby.

the whole thing was pretty lucky, considering the site i found with the cheapest pg11 ++ extra pack had an announcement that they got a surprise shipment in... and the monday after i ordered they were all sold out! whew!
ANYWAY it came today!!! it's all i've been thinking about and now that it's here i'm sooo nervous to even use it. i read the manual & watched dozens of tutorials today but all of a sudden i feel like my sketches are unworthy... like i'm going to hate everything i do! i guess we'll see :) i'm trying to talk ry into playing with me the first time buuut who knows-

last weekend was great, this weekend has also been great-- very summery and full of friends. spent today with ry's family for a (lateish, but lovely) graduation party... sooo many cute babies and toddlers! he's got a great fam, so it was nice being surrounded by that in the suburbs rather than being surrounded by smog in the city--

anywho! here's a linocut print that i FINALLY pulled after carving it like two weeks ago... and i'll leave you with that-- have a good weekend!

(psst that's two colors on MLA Format handbook)

happy fourth!!

that is SO FUNNY and idk why. the bear just cracks me up!

sooo, what's new? finally finished all of my cloth napkins (and one towel)!





...much more on my etsy and flickr-

well, i'm applying for my dream job again but don't want to talk about it in case it doesn't work out... my bike is all done, except for the (white!!) handlebar tape. umm, i am talking to a consignment shop in west philly, as well as planning a thank you package, trade package, and some birthday packages. i am also recovering from a 4 mile walk to sephora and back with mistie! idk why we get these ideas, it was such a nice day but my flats were behaving horribly! i'm just being young, happy, and shocked it is july... whew-

anyway, happy fourth everyone! be very, very safe! i'll make a real update later.

bzz bzz bzz busy bee!

not much to say- other than i am jess gonacha's biggest fan. c: on top of the fact that she is sooo crazy good at everything she does, she was the biggest help with fabric block printing drama. we are talking about doing a trade (i know, i really feel like i've lucked out and that she is out of her mind) so i will have a fun update of that when it happens-


i finally completed the wholesale order for 3 sets of undersea notebook sets (each set = 4 undersea creature notebooks) yesterday- this was a particularly fun project, as it resulted in three new cute animal blocks (i'll show them later! it's a turtle, sting ray, and blowfish along with the jellyfish one i've already posted)... the girl who runs the shop (Splendid Little Shoppe in Petaluma, CA) suggested i make little name plates(?? idk what to call it) for the back of the notebooks- she also suggested i make an artist's bio to put on display! ry designed it for me, of course, and even though he was a big negative nancy about the final i LOVE it. i made a little stand out of folded cardstock so it's freestanding! dorky but fun.


the "bio" says: "Julie Malone is a 20 year old artist from Atlanta residing in Philadelphia, PA. After attending art school for two years, she realized her true calling and transferred to Temple University for Wildlife and Environmental Sciences. Her love for wildlife shows in nearly all of her work through reoccurring linoleum cut
animals. She works primarily with printmaking techniques to produce hand-pulled prints and one of a kind paper goods, but occasionally dabbles in other mediums."
IT'S FROM THE FUTURE! i didn't want to put a lot of "almost" and "is going to", but for the record i won't be 20/attending temple until august. big whoop! I felt a little silly writing that up, since I still don't take my stuff serious as "art" or anything- it's just a lot of fun that I have been doing lately, and I hope it never ends!


lastly, here is a sneak peek of a super fun project i've been working on... my cloth napkins! as i said, jess was a HUGE help with some problems i had on my first attempts last night. this was about an hour into it, and i spent the rest of the afternoon being a craft machine and pumping out a bunch more! i'll post those as i finish the sets... i'm trying to sucker ry into doing the bellyband design but i might end up winging it myself.

eek okay so apparently i had a LOT to say! but that's it, i swear! i just had half a cup of iced coffee forgetting it's 1AM and will probably be all crazy for a few more hours.

ice cream parties

i just love summer. ryan has been cooking out nearly every night we eat together, so i'm getting veggie burgers or fresh grilled veggies at least 3 nights a week! i'm also loving how late it stays light out- i think it helps night people like me stay totally focused & productive for many more hours! (and not feel so bad for waking up inexcusably late every couple of days, ack)


lou & i had some friends over last night for an ice cream party- it was suuuuper gooey sugary sweet fun! i had made a joke the night before about putting lucky charms on my ice cream, and lou went out and bought a box! ha. so we had chocolate syrup, whipped cream, lucky charms, m&ms, and my super embarrassingly large sprinkle collection to choose from. above is a little photo collage of everyone's ice cream masterpiece! i think i missed a couple but they were all pretty similar... lots of toppings!


ohh! speaking of food! my dad USPS'd me a box of green tomatoes! it was totally unexpected & kooky (he does strange things like that sometimes) but i fried them up and made tons and tons of fried green tomatoes... now i have this lingering craving for them all the time. i've GOT to get back to juliette, GA (sight of the classic movie) to the Whistlestop Cafe (!!) for more. that was like the best southern meal i've ever had, period.


also, of course, i've been keeping up with my linocut stuff. it's so strange how much i'm enjoying it, that i haven't gotten tired and moved onto a new medium. i'm usually gung ho with stuff for a few weeks or months, then feel very obligated to the medium and move on- or worse, experience a total inspiration dry spell. i think because it is a pretty vast medium & it's given me the courage i've never had to start attempting to illustrate things. the image above was a quick, two minute doodle and 15 minute carve.



that tangent actually reminded me, last summer around this time i got some money together and bought everything i needed to start casting resin. that lasted about 3 weeks or so when i became discouraged after i realized how easy it is for everything to come out looking really kitschy and cheap (which, oddly enough, would be how i endearingly describe my paper goods style). welp, the other afternoon i found a bunch of pieces that i actually like and i went ahead and drilled them & started attaching wire so they could be pendants. i literally stopped mid-posting the last paragraph to try to get some nice pictures while there is still some daylight left in my room- maybe i'll post a few pictures here. & i would love honest feedback, my feelings won't be hurt since this was a medium i never took the time to learn about. are they ugly? are they something you would wear, or even a kooky relative would wear? i would love feedback because if i keep holding onto them i'll eventually trash them like everything else. (there's not supposed to be a cat hair in the second! i didnt notice it until after i uploaded the pic, & it brushed right away.)

that should be about it for today, i think. i'm going to try to be a little better about smaller, more frequent posts rather than these massive ones. ohhh but be excited! this time next week i should have some sets of cloth napkins ready! i am sooooo excited about fabric block printing- i'm going to start practicing tonight on scraps. c:

a very etsy post

so i survived that nasty heat wave we had last a week ago or so- it was like 100 degrees and unbreathable humidity. nuts! today, though, it was like 78, sunny, breezy wonderful. so i recruited mistie & we ran some errands back and forth, then walked into the area i used to live to go to pearl... ugh it was sooo nice out! we easily walked about five miles the whole trip, and it felt so so good out that i hardly noticed at all. i hope we have at least a few more of these days before summer humidity comes in full swing, yucky.


let's see, what else? still leisurely crafting. made two pretty big linocuts last week- a jellyfish and a set of coral. made some new stationary & books with them, and one of the jellyfish hello cards is listed at the bottom of an etsy front page article! (http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/thisHandmadeLife/article/etsy-world-tour-bermuda-with-lusciousnaturals/1977/) super cool. did i mention that a few weeks ago i made etsy front page itself? that was pretty fun, too! not that the admin really hand pick each item to be on the front page, that comes from treasuries.

aaaand speaking of, i finally had good enough timing to snag a treasury and get some of my favorite items out there! i'm really hoping it makes front page because i really, really want all of the items to sell for these artists because they are pretty amazing. you can view it at: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=13341
clicking on the items helps the chances of it hitting front page, i think, i'm not really positive how the admin pick particular lists. but anyway it's totally worth sorting through because they are crazy amazing.

alright well check those links if you have time! etsy sure is fun. i'm going to go work on a super secret corn dog crest linocut... ha! but really i am. let me know how you're doing in a comment, i love to know who actually keeps up with this. c:

warm thoughts

so although i was listening to this album nonstop a few months ago, i sort of forgot about it recently -- even though now the weather is really suited for it. anyhow, just saw this video about two minutes ago and it was so heart warming (plus! oh! that little apartment made me so sentimental feeling) that i wanted to show it right away



other things:
picked out paint for my bike today- the bike itself was a real (lucky! saved me tons of $$!!) fluke and i couldn't be more excited. ry found it along with some other bikes his grandpa owned when he did repairs? and/or built them? it's very vintage and petite and i cannot wait until it's all updated and ready for me! the paint i picked out tonight is the dreamiest creamiest ice blue! and i'm going to get peach or yellow handlebar tape, depending on how light or dark the paint actually turns out after sanding/priming/painting/top coating.

summer looks good, so far, already. the bike is a big, big plus because i'll be able to head over to my old stomping grounds more frequently, and i can finally ride around the park with ryan. and mistie just got the most adorable bike, too! so we can add that to things to do together.


cats are behaving a little better, although we dealt with a bit of a traumatic situation earlier when (and we're still not positive how) scuz fell out of the second story window! he is totally fine and actually seems unphased, but he hit the awning and then the ground. our assumption is that he got spooked by lilly and/or she chased him, and he jumped into the window harder than usual and popped the screen out (it was practically mangled into the awning). here is the handsome devil, just hours before the whole thing went down.


it hardly looks like 125 but it is! 20 pages each, = 40 front and back

i finished the wedding order! it took me three days (day two, i made 76 IN ONE SITTING) and now i'm not sure what to do with myself! i worked very hard to get it done, since their wedding is the 13th- but i feel a little sad that it is over. what an adventure! they chose the two patterns & color scheme. i kind of wish it were silver ink, because it's so much subtler but i think this matches their wedding and looks pretty nice anyhow.

one bbq and then (ack, mustache) party tomorrow, very exciting- tonight was a rather impromptu bbq. it was short and sweet, basically a group dinner, but it got me excited for more (planned out) ones. ++ ice cream party?? hopefully??

(i am drinking about two of these a day)
i'm really happy in this house. i was so sad about leaving my apartment, but i couldn't be in a better place. and! for the first time in like two years i have a full-sized refrigerator AND ice!! as a result i am making massive amounts of iced coffee (which i served alongside the veggie burgers/veggie hot dogs ry cooked tonight, so weird! but good) the only thing is my dang roommate gets to GO HELP WITH A PAULA DEEN PHOTOSHOOT ON SUNDAY as part of an internship and i think i couldn't be more jealous of anything in the world, besides like my best friend sleeping with bobby flay or ryan leaving me for giadda delaurentis (btw how creepy is it that i spelled that right the first try?).

it's so late! hopefully ryan will get back soon so we can play his wii for the first time in forever, and get some sleep in a cool room before it hits in the 90's tomorrow. ! hope everyone is having a great weekend, and special thoughts to dear san on her birthday.

gaining my footing!

it's amazing how hopeless everything was like a month ago- i mean, truly, absolutely terrified hopeless. i didn't let on much here because i didn't want to degrade this into a ranty blog, but i was so upset and scared all the time.

and now, with (only a few) boxes packed and FOUR giant bags to donate to philly aids thrift (i'm like the antipackrat)- everything is just looking up

i went to lou's block's memorial day bbq on sunday... it was so, so sweet & fun. i wish i had taken pictures, but i could not be more excited about those people being my neighbors. OH i don't think i've mentioned it, that's my new living arrangement! i am moving in with my good friend lou, who has basically been one of the like 4 totally true & reliable friends i've made here. i'm gonna be in a sweet safe south philly neighborhood with a bunch of old people and charming italian people. i am super excited (even with the loss of my teeny sweet cozy love love apartment :[ ), and everything should be really great as long as his cat (scuz) and my lilly get along.





so anyway, i am writing this now on a breathing break. i made a bunch of animal "hello" cards with the SIX new linocuts i made this week- so far they are what i am most excited about, and it kind of makes me want to empty out my entire etsy of the junk i made when i was first learning. ha!




(chickadee, bear, capybara, and anteater!)

everything is going to get real nuts real fast. i move out THIS weekend, hopefully in one day, and then i have to immediately get started on making 125 NOTEBOOKS FOR A WEDDING! i am so nervous & excited about such a big order! it is going to be really exciting to see everything laid out, what a massive number! i also have a small boutique order of stuff that i think is all already made & ready to be handed away. then! hopefully! a "real" job ASAP- i met/spoke to/handed my resume to mistie's boss at the bean exchange. he said he wished i applied earlier, and when i told him i did in january he acted really bummed that my resume never resurfaced- so anyway, if two girls there that are "on notice" end up leaving i could have a job there. if not, i'll be a little disappointed but there's always trying at philapets after i get a bike, or even doggie style. soooo lots of changes, but they are positive exciting ones.

sorry i am sooooo wordy but i am experiencing that high that comes with new, exciting things ahead. yay. hope everyone else is doing well!

animal friends & crafting

everything has been such a blur lately- i've been so busy packing, crafting, & warm warm adventuring. such a nice change from the dark dreary winter! because i yacked so much last post i'm going to make this one primarily photos-



keeping up with summertime fun, lilly has had a new adventure of her own making friends with mistie's ferret, herald! he's only been over once but they got along really well, except for the fact that he was totally uninterested in paying attention to her so she kept yowling at mistie to pet her!



& i managed to do a little crafting that will help make packing a little easier- ryan and i built one of those wooden organizers from ikea (you know, the ones that come in like 400 pieces?). a while ago on apartment therapy (link http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/look/look-ikea-decorative-scrap-paper-box-drawer-047557) i saw a great idea for giving it a new look. i just decoupaged with neat paper from ac moore before we assembled, so it was soooo easy. and now my desk space is just as neat a the rest of my crafts!



speakin' of. i finally sat down and made a more traditional linocut (as opposed to just stamps) and it was a blast. i have little to no real illustration skills but it's kind of hard to screw up a happy little narwhal. used it for a bunch of notebooks that are up on my (rapidly growing) etsy.

so that's that! it's a friday night so hopefully after this my plans will come together and i can enjoy my last real weekend living in this apartment... sad!

already into may??

okay, it's official: this has been the fastest year ever! i cannot believe we're into may, already... eek!
besides working on my future STILL (like visiting temple, making arrangements & calls, sorting the huge huge boxes of packing boxes my wonderful aunt sent me) i have been having a frantic love affair with my rotary cutter... no, seriously. i loaned it to ryan this week so he can work on finals & books & portfolio stuff, so i have a little break from insane crafting/etsying to make a post.

i made like five new stamps this week! and it's so funny because the ones that took me the longest, i'm not that crazy about. i made some from doodles & on scrap speedycarve and they turned out to be my new favorites. ah, well.


in the same fashion as all of my other ugly patterns. i just love love sketchy ugly repeating patterns!


yeah, i literally made this in a few minutes with no reference sketch- expecting to toss it since it was on a tiny scrap corner... and hullo, what a cute surprise! a lil stripey tomato!


i haven't gotten a really outstanding picture of this print yet- but its stripey lovely leaves. it was sooo quick, too, and just based off of a quick doodle. it's so very ikea, isn't it??

well anyway, i'll try to get more pictures taken now that everything is lush lush lush! i am just very bad about bringing my camera out when i'm running around with friends and all. this is going to be a good, busy summer, though (i hope!). i can just feel it.

i'm still alive!

ack, so, sorry i disappeared for a little while. i was finally being a grown up (aka being curled up in a ball, crying for three days, desperate for guidance and advice) and working out the kinks in my immediate future.
officially, from here on out, it's philadelphia part two! i was starting the motions of moving to & attending uga, but it just didn't feel right. okay, there were like ten thousand other factors but very, very long story short: i am going to move out of this super expensive area at the end of my lease and attend temple. i am very excited about getting a bigger place (hopefully!) and spending less, although i'm going to miss living right next to whole foods, south st, so many cafes, etc. ugh, i have already started mentally decorating and ikea-shopping- i can't wait to start fresh!

i am now focusing on crafting my tush off again. i just finished some stuff that will be en route tomorrow to a man with a boutique! i made a friend's mom some stuff for her birthday, and apparently her boss saw them/my etsy, and bought a few things to sell in a shop that he owns. i'm really hoping it goes over well, because then i will have a real store! in the world with some of my stuff. kind of exciting, but i am not getting my hopes too too high. also, with my new paper cutter: grocery lists! little dreamy notebooks!


about two (or three?) weeks ago, i started experimenting with more challenging and realistic "stamps". i made a betty white linocut, and was going to do all four golden girls, but it didn't come out really anything like i hoped. so now i have a four inch old lady stamp and nothing to do with it! weird


also, that same superproductive week, i got everything out and silkscreened for the first time since early autumn. this apartment is totally unsuited for it- hopefully the next will be a little better. anyway, it's those damn gossipping rabbits. i am not making any more of the earrings because i don't want to burn out on it, but i think the image is just too too appropriate for cards.


aaaand, most of my attention has been on this gaudy painting. as of the last week, though, i haven't touched it because i am dreading taping everything off to do the plaid background. i'm a little confused about the increments and all, and totally unmotivated to get into it.

so, that's that! the weather is DREAMY and i wore a skirt outside all day! i am thankful for the great people in my life who were so supportive this week. i feel like myself again, i am very happy, and cannot. wait. to throw out this evil couch. hopefully my next post will be a little less craftcraftcraft, but i need to do a better job of taking pictures while i'm out for that to be a possibility. yack yack yack, goodnight!

few things

so i am having to deal with the fact that, in less than two months, i will be totally out of my apartment. i am JUST NOW getting everything where i want it (as much as i can for a renter that can't paint/put up shelves). i'm trying to document everything and will post any semi-interesting parts as i get them together.

ry's bike and a solution to excess polaroids/white wall space

the radiator+cover that serves as an extra shelf in my tiny kitchen- it's about twice this size but the rest is just herbs, sugar, garlic, etc. above it are the dirty cakes that i have made or made with friends- i need to put a few newer ones up.

i'm going to miss my apartment, if only because i'm so settled in. i really wish i had a bigger apartment and hope my next one is about double this size. ryan and i always talk about how great it would be if my place were big enough to have friends over for dinner, drinks, movies, etc. we always cook such yummy food, and have been sooo brainwashed by food network entertaining specials. and last night i was thinking how great it would be to host dinner/cocktail parties that cost $5 or a +/- donation, which would go directly to the arbor day foundation for rain forest space (sooo cheap for so much space you can save!), to pay for a bed in a pet shelter, etc. i mean, imagine how much more rewarding would that be than knowing your $5 at a kegger or something is going to profit the host. which is par for a lot of parties up here. ugh.


also, i made four etsy sales this week. which is exciting but pretty slow considering i have really no other income right now. yiiick. then i got a reply from esquire about a nutty letter i wrote them at 4AM a week or so ago- they asked me to confirm my details/that i wrote it because they are "considering running it in an upcoming issue". ha! i'm really not banking on it, but it was a real crack up to find that reply.

before i go, here are a few rings i made earlier this week- stamped polymer clay/gloss varnish and experimental resin bits i made over the summer.



bye!

mid-week updates

i finally spent my barnes & noble gift card, part of which went to buying a copy of that 'drawing from the right side of the brain' book that everyone just raves about. if a semester with a genius teacher couldn't help me, maybe this can? and if not, i'm giving up, it's cool. it'll be my last effort and i can be at peace with it. anyway, i am so excited to start reading and practicing!

i never thought i would be one of those people that lights up with a cup of coffee- i used to be such a nutty morning person that would hop out of bed (naturally!) at 8 and immediately start my day. since i've been out of school, out of work, crafting, and dating an insomniac, my sleep schedule has been so out of whack. and a lot of it is that i get TOO much daylight sleep (ie. sleep from 4am to 11am), and the only thing that will bring that spark back into my eyes is coffee. yiiick!

the most exciting news perhaps is that i have improved more on my stamping and finally got an etsy account up. my link is http://juliepeach.etsy.com
here are a few of the things I posted!





not much else is new. i have a pretty solid schedule every week and i'm trying to focus on the right now as much as i can. thinking about and planning my future has kept me up too many nights already-
hope everyone is enjoying these warm fronts!

clumsy

i really resent that i can't draw at all. i feel like with all the illustration-based hobbies i've collected (silkscreening, stamping, embroidery, etc) that i'm really held back by the fact that i can't draw anything that looks... like anything. so i mostly rely a lot on traces/copies of old copyright-free textbooks, edits of old wallpapers- that sort of thing. i got a c+ in freshma drawing and it just made it all so real, that i just cannot freaking draw. i don't enjoy it, nothing i ever try to get down looks like the elaborate concepts in my head. and it's not even bad in that kitschy marketable way. it's just bad. ugh.

well regardless of this never-ending setback, i have a couple of new stamps! including a new ornate stamp that is about 3x the size of the last little guy. i CANNOT WAIT to stamp jersey fabric with this and go nuts making dresses.



here are some of the first finished card sets. i probably will keep these for myself/toss out because they printed so terribly- thankfully i have tons of nice stamping inks coming from jo-ann's this week (ugh i got sucked into a sale + free shipping). also! the colors aren't so offensive IRL, i just took them in a dark room on a black table.





oh! you gotta see this delicious bread that ryan made -from scratch- for us to eat with dinner the other night- (vegan!) recipe courtesy of: my paper crane


and since i've weighed you down with images, i am just going to urge you to look at marc jacob's spring (ready to wear) shoe collection @ marcjacobs.com. i have thought about it at least once a day since i first saw it over christmas break. it will seriously blow your mind.

night!

first five stamps

+this is what happened to my macbook power adapter in about 36 hours, from tiny tear to total meltdown. looking at the reviews of the adapter on apple.com's shop, apparently this has happened to hundreds of people. most of which are not lucky enough to have theirs replaced for free- i think i only did because i told the applecare rep that i was burned, and he switched me over to a supervisor in a panic. anyway, called them yesterday at noon and had a new one by this morning. my faith in apple has been restored.


+sometime last week, i remembered sitting in a friend's art class in high school and messing around with rubber and carving tools... and how fucking much i loved it. except, i carved freehand and actually wasted a lot of good, expensive linoleum and rubber without realizing it. so i took a trip to pearl over this weekend and spent money (that i don't have) on supplies! i was DYING to craft all weekend, but just couldn't find the down time. so yesterday i sat down and made my first five stamps, and here they are! i still haven't quite gotten the hang of using the tacky (as in sticky) speedball ink with the roller, so some of these aren't quite as crisp as they should be.




i started off with these super simple flower shapes- based on vintage wallpaper i found. they look really dinky alone, but when used as a pattern they are kind of cute.


this stamp is going to be used heavily to (ideally) produce that sort of ornate wallpaper pattern that is so hot right now.


an acorn! sooo super cute. adapted from some clip art i found.


my own dinky mountains, and the only freehand stamp i've done so far.

i'll post the cards/stationary/clothes??/whatever i end up using these for when that ship sails.