Over the years, I’ve amassed zillions of travel photos and created tons of sketchbook drawings, which then served as inspiration for the illustrations in my new book, The Best Coast. And now, Sasquatch Books and I want to see your Best Coast photos! Post your best, most hilarious, or most awkward West Coast road trip photos on Instagram, and the best three will win prizes!
Here’s how it works: post your photos to Instagram using the hashtags #bestcoastchandler and #contest AND tagging@sasquatchbooks. The photos have to be yours (either ones you shot yourself, or your vintage family photos, NOT rando photos you found on the internet!), and they have to depict somewhere on the West Coast (WA/OR/CA), but beyond that, it’s up to you.
Maybe it’s a picture of little-kid you with your grandpa in front of a Paul Bunyan statue. Maybe it’s a photo from an old family road trip when your mom made everyone in your family wear matching fanny packs. Maybe it shows a historic landmark you visited long ago, that’s no longer standing today. Or maybe it’s just a lovely photo you took at a national park, or your favorite beach photo, etc.
You can post your pictures through April 9, the publication date for The Best Coast; after that I’ll choose the three best photos, and on April 12 I’ll contact the winners via DM to get your shipping address (contest open to winners with US addresses only, sorry!). I’ll also repost the three winning photos to my Instagram account and blog once the winners confirm their addresses.
The prizes: The Grand Prize winner will receive a signed copy of The Best Coast plus a bundle of my art goodies (a 9 x 12 West Coast travel print and a box set of 6 assorted West Coaststate cards). Two runner-up winners will each receive a signed copy of the book. Prizes will be mailed via USPS in April, as soon as the winners confirm their addresses.
The fine print: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between March 18, 2019 and April 9, 2019. Open to US residents, 18 and older. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. See official rules for full details. Contest sponsored by Sasquatch Books.
Best of luck! I can’t wait to see what y’all come up with.
A lot of things had to fall by the wayside in the past few months (including this blog!), while some major projects ruled my life. The big deadlines still hold sway for now, but I’ve started to catch up in other ways. The holidays are done and dusted, the end-of-year to-do-lists are crossed off (mostly), and this huge stack of greetings is in the mail. Here’s to turning the page, and writing (and drawing!) the next chapter.
Thanks to all the prep and planning required for last week’s Wayzgoose, I’m all set up with a boatload of new inventory for spring. First on the list: something to send for Mother’s Day! If you’re looking for the perfect last-minute card for Mom, look no further than the shop.
Or if you’re local, there’s one more chance to stock up on Mother’s Day cards and gifts: tomorrow’s Tacoma is for Lovers craft fair.
Tacoma is for Lovers craft fair
Saturday, May 2, 2015
11 am to 4 pm
King’s Books
218 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, WA
I’ll have more than just Mother’s Day cards at the craft fair, though—like these new greeting cards based on the 50 States series. Oregon and California are the newest, and they’re already flying off the shelf. West Coast represent!
Also, just so you know, I have an extremely high-tech setup for photographing my cards. Masking tape and a big ol’ sheet of paper: photo studio of champions.
I did go slightly fancier when it came to photographing my temporary tattoos, thanks to my fancy friends Mariesa and RJ. The tattoos are my favorite product to develop these days, and it’s fun to see how people react to them at craft fairs—turns out it’s just as fun to take pictures of them as it is to design them.
I forgot to tell RJ that I wanted him to wear plaid to complete the whole lumberjack look he generally has going on—but I needn’t have worried. The guy read my mind, and came through like a boss.
And Mariesa’s outfit and gorgeous poise made my illustrations look super classy.
By the end of the day they were both saying they wanted to get the Tacoma tatt for real—
—and I can’t think of a higher compliment than that.
You’ll have to excuse the grainy photos—snapping pictures in the basement is never ideal. But this shelf sure is—last week the Tailor built me an enormous inventory storage system, and over the weekend I finally organized my entire stock of stationery. It’s hard to see the scale here, but this monster is about 8 x 7 x 3 feet in size. (Not pictured: the giant metal print cabinets that haven’t arrived in the post yet, which will take up the rest of that whole wall.) I am one happy camper.
One of the pitfalls of manufacturing your own line of products is finding room to store the stuff you make. It’s only cost-effective to produce cards in quantities of 1000 or so—and when you multiply that by dozens of different items, you suddenly need a staggering amount of space for it all. For years I’d been limping along, sharing my workspace with my storage space, and making use of what little square footage I had by stashing items into shared boxes and then shifting and stacking and repacking those boxes endlessly. Every time I made a new product, I had to divide it amongst whatever nooks and crannies had a little space free. Reordering stock when it ran low was a nightmare, as I first had to check and make sure I didn’t have extra quantities hiding anywhere. More shifting and stacking and repacking ensued. And every time I did a live event, like a craft fair or Studio Tour, the prospect of taking everything out and putting it all back again made me want to tear my hair out.
So this, by comparison, feels downright luxurious. Now that we’re in the new house, I finally have separate spaces for working and storage. The studio (another work-in-progress, which is why I haven’t posted about it yet) is just for making things, and I have two annex spaces to house the things I make. For the first time ever, I can store the entire quantity of each item, and display every item for easy access. Now that it’s done, all I want to do is spend the day staring my new tiny OCD kingdom.
And best of all, there’s plenty of room to grow. I have big plans for the next few years, and not only can I see what sorts of things lie ahead—I can also see exactly where they’re all going to go.
To me this season is not about a certain day, or even a series of holidays—it’s a collection of moments. It’s those moments that I cherish above anything else—especially when they happen with the people I love best, in this part of the world I call home. I hope your season, however you might celebrate or mark it, is filled with the moments you’ll want to remember always.
Merry Christmas, and happy holidays, from our home to yours.
We’re celebrating the holiday at a friend’s house this year—one who, I’m happy to say, was the perfect partner in crime when it came to hatching our crazy state-souvenir table settings idea.
Whatever state you’re in this year (whether literal or metaphorical), wishing you a happy, safe and delicious Thanksgiving!
Well, I know I have a lot more prints to add to my 50 States series, but I couldn’t resist starting a card series to go with it. Eventually I’ll have all 50 in my collection, but for now I’m starting right here at home with a little Washington souvenir. You can find these cards in the shop—or if you’re local, catch me this weekend at Tacoma is for Lovers, our beloved, weirdly-named holiday craft fair.
Tacoma is for Lovers craft fair
Saturday and Sunday, November 22 and 23
11 am to 4 pm, free!
King’s Books, 218 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, WA
Even though it’s nearly as late as it could possibly be, here I am thinking, “Already?!?” But it’s true—even if you don’t do Black Friday (as you can probably guess, I’m partial to Small Business Saturday myself), today’s the “official” opener of the holiday season. And for perhaps the first time ever, I’m actually ready for it! (Well, mostly.) This year I’ve got new stuff in three different online shops—in honor of the three arms of my little business (though of course, if you ever want to combine items into one order, just drop me a line and I’ll make it happen).
First up is my Anagram Press shop, where you’ll find two new holiday cards, inspired by mid-century vintage kitsch.
(One has just a touch of Griswold-y goodness…)
Also in there are my new bird magnets by Seattle’s own iPop! I’m so proud and excited to have these that I’m tempted to plaster every metal surface in my studio with them. (You can read my post about them here.)
Next up, a little holiday travel: I’m pleased to announce the Souvenir Shop is now open on Drawn the Road Again, my new travel blog! You’ll find a big array of prints available there—
And because enough people have asked for it, there are even prints of some of my sketchbook drawings—including a Pick-a-Sketch custom order option.
Last but not least, the Dead Feminists shop has some new additions as well—starting with a small letterpress keepsake version of the Birth of Venus steamroller print Jessica and I did earlier this year.
And we’ve finally restocked our supply of mini letterpress journals (you folks cleaned us out last time we had them in the shop, and it took quite awhile to make and photograph more!). We call ’em “Lemonade Journals,” because we made them from the “lemons” that crop up during printing—misregistered prints and tiny flaws that otherwise would have ended up in the recycling bin. But with some cute stitching and fun colored paper on the inside, Jessica turned them into perfect little stocking stuffers.
Whew! That’s the whole kit n’ kaboodle. Keep in mind that some of the travel and sketchbook prints require a lead time to produce, so be sure to get any made-to-order requests in early! I’ll be shipping holiday orders daily until 4 pm PST on Tuesday, December 17 (when the shops will close for the holiday break).
In the meantime, I’m raising a virtual glass of eggnog to you: happy holidays!
I was afraid I wasn’t going to have any holiday photos to show you—when I was in Portland the other week, my camera took a nosedive after being bumped off my shoulder in a crowded room.
So I shipped the lens off to the good folks at Canon for repair, and switched to paper for awhile.
One of Maurice Sendak’s eye-candy stage sets for the Pacific NW Ballet’s Nutcracker
My favorite thing about sketchbooks is that I can take them anywhere—including places where cameras, functioning or not, are strictly verboten.
More Nutcracker scenery, plus Christmas on Pine Street in Seattle
The downside, though, is that it takes me a lot longer to draw a picture than to shoot one—so my output is always smaller than I’d like.
But then the Fedex guy showed up with my lens, good as new and just in time for Christmas.
I managed to refrain from hugging him, and then hopped around the house in manic glee, documenting the holiday the Tailor and I have spent all week creating.
(We finally broke down and bought twinkle lights for the tree; which provided the perfect inspiration for this year’s card!)
Wherever today finds you, have a warm, cozy, abundant, and very merry Christmas.
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