Shows for 2010

So I'm finally getting myself booked into a couple of shows this year.  Yay!   The best part about doing the shows is meeting all of you.   As lovely as any sale is online, I find the direct sales much more satisfying.   I get to see you flip through the boxes of cards.   I see you touch the samples that are out.   I hear your discussion with your spouse/friend/sister/etc about which card would be right for x, y, or z...   And I get to answer all your questions about how I make the punctured paper artwork, what inspires me, what challenges me, and what motivates me.   It's your chance to get to know me.

and then I turn the tables and ask you questions.   Yes.  I do ask.  I want to know:  what pulled you to my booth?  What you look for in cards?  What do you like about the lamps?  What else would you like to see me make?   The information flows both ways and we have a chance to get to know each other as people rather than just buyer and seller.   It's pretty great.

Sooo... .next opportunity for a Q&A will be this very weekend at the Maker's Market.  I will be there from 11 to 6 with cards, lamps, and tea light covers on Sunday, Feb 7th.   I'll be back on Sunday March 7th for another go around.  

Next big show after that will be the Brooklyn Lyceum Craft Fair on May 1st & 2nd.

I will start posting other shows on Etsy at least a month in advance and I'll get my blog calender updated soon!   Hope to see you soon!   To tide you over, enjoy a little bit of love from warpeDesign!

Valentine's Day is around the corner!

It's here again....   that oh so tough holiday where you must be more romantic, more in love, more, more, MORE!    Well... I try to help out a little with my cards.   If you haven't visited my shop and peaked into the "Love Cards" section, here's what you are missing!

 

Two Hearts Beat as One 

Heart 2 Heart

Fill this Heart

Holiday Cards, New and Old

I introduced the  Light Up My Tree card in a previous post.  Now it's time to introduce you to the rest of the Holiday card gang at warpeDesign!  Some of them you may have met before, but the classics never die!

The dainty yet oh-so-darling Wee Ornament.

His big brother, Ornament:

The veteran tree card, Deco Christmas Tree:

 

and the latest card to join the team,  Two Stars:

The story behind Light Up My Tree card

Did you ever have Christmas tree lights duty?   You know... where you are the one who wraps that lovely pine in strands of winking electricity?   Where the needle scratches on your hands are forgotten as soon as you see the lovely lines twinkling through the branches?

In my family it's usually me and my dad who have light duty.   It's one of those few traditions that have built up, unspoken, unplanned.   Somehow, as an adult, it's almost always the two of us dragging the tree inside, him setting it up in the base, me holding it straight as he clamps it in, and mom coming in to tell us how it's leaning to the left...

And then it's on to the lights.  First plugging them in to check that they still work, and then I squeeze behind the tree and dad stands in front of it.   We wrap it in strand upon strand of lights, passing them to each other when we can't reach any further around the tree.   Nowadays they're mostly white solids, but I remember as a kid having different sizes and colors and blinkers...   Wow.  It would look like a carnival ride.

But no matter what lights go on, I always treasure that moment when its just bark, needles, and lights.   That moment before we toss on all our wonderful, gaudy ornaments.  It's like seeing the star of a play in their dressing room, in lingerie, face makeup on, but the costume still hanging on the door.

My newest holiday card celebrates that pause in decorating.  That moment right when we Light Up My Tree.

The Alphabet Cards continue!

Gimme a D!   Gimme an e!   Gimme an F!   Gimme a g!   What does that spell?  Well, nothing really... but it's the next 4 letter cards that I promised I'd keep posting.   Enjoy!

The Delicious Letter D

 

e is excellent

F is Fun Fun Fun!

 

Grand Old G

 

Winner of the Nerdlike giveaway!

A very big congratulations to Karen Pease for winning the Nerdlike.com giveaway of the set of 3 Snail cards!   I'm packing them up right now and will be dropping them in the mail tomorrow.    

I wish I could give something to each of you who has joined or is now following me.   Stay tuned for more giveaways...    I think a holiday one would be appropriate, no? 

Fontspiration!

Ever been overwhelmed by your font choices? Serif or sans sarif? Modern or caligraphy? Italics or not? Outline or Underline? Oh man... the options... the designs... I do love them. And while I wish that they all translated well to my punctured paper technique, I've had a few fumbles... and several hurrahs. I hope over time to post most of the alphabet here. While not everything is currently available on my etsy shop, I can remake almost everything I post here. Just ask me! Starting with "A is for..."

And then, of course, there's "B is Beautiful"


and "C is for Cookie"!

Touching Hello

So it seems only logical to restart my journey into blogdom with a "greeting" card that displays warpeDesign at it's best.

"hello" is a classic. I use this card as the sampler at all my shows. There's always one sitting on the front of the display for people to pick up, fondle, stroke, hold up to the lights, show their friends... as I watch quietly from the other side of the table. And, believe me, I am not understating how people react to the cards. Everyone's first instinct is to touch them. I see hands stretch out, fingers extended. Some people just go for it... and then others freeze, look at me questioningly, waiting for permission. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't change the word from "hello" to "sample" or "touch me"!

Children are naturals. They always want to touch the cards. There's no pausing with them. If they like something, if they are curious, they just grab. (Someday one of them is going to pull my table over on top of themselves.) But I like that honesty. That's a pure reaction, and the best of compliments.

It's why I love this technique. There are so many printed cards out there. And I know a lot of amazing artists who make them and make them really well. But my cards hit a visceral sense that print cards do not. How many cards are as fun to touch as they are to look at? How many cards change the way they look when you move them around? Each card is definitely a labor of love... labor being a major part of that... but it's always worth it when I see someone reach out to touch "hello".