September 24, 2009
“Bits of brutality smothered in a creamy marshmallow sauce.” I have to say that I am loving the new look and theme over at Cuddly Rigor Mortis. I just received an email from Kristin Tercek about the changes she has made over at her shop. I was such a fan of her creepy – n – cute plushes and admit that I’ll miss them. But I am excited about the new creative direction she’s taking that includes the same feel as before, just in painting and print versions. As opposed to fabrics, her new material of choice will be acrylic paint and we will be introduced to a wider array of characters. Congratulations, Kristin!
Happy Birthday Original Painting {sold}:
Sweet Lobotomy Giclee Print: $25.00:
Assault Original Painting {sold}:
Minty Melt Giclee Print: $25.00:
Nonpareil Original Painting {sold}:
Bomb Boy Giclee Print: $25.00:
Lightning In a Jar Original {sold}:
Marshy Juggle Giclee Print: $25.00:
September 23, 2009
I am a sucker for packaging. There, I said it. If something is aesthetically pleasing, obviously one would be more drawn to it and want to perhaps have it. Did I already admit that when I say “one” I’m not necessarily referring to myself? Anyway, I stumbled upon this shop full of great crafty supplies the other day. So let me warn you that the shop, Karaku Style, is based in Tokyo, Japan. I’m warning you now because I know that a lot of us have a thing for supplies from Japan {some of us have even had conversations about this}. One of my favorite things that, you know, suckered me in with it’s packaging, were these stamp sets in little cases {look at the French/English box}…
Wooden Trunk Boxed – Alphabet Stamps: $28.00:
Wooden Trunk Boxed – Number and Sign Stamps: $28.00:
Check out their full site. ps – I warned you already.
September 23, 2009
I got a little email from Stephanie with a couple of pieces of exciting news. First of all, she has created a new series of “floating” collages inspired by the places she’s been or those she would like to visit. They are titled “floating” because of the small wooden supports on the back of the panels, so when hung they appear to float. All of the collages are one-of-a-kind, handmade and quite affordable {ranging from $60 – $85}.
Athens – Original Flotaing Collage: $85.00:
Portland – Original Floating Collage: $85.00:
The other exciting news is that Stephanie is having a “Countdown to 100” sale. There are currently 91 sales in her Etsy shop and for the next 9 sales {until it reaches 100} you’ll receive a free print of your choice with each purchase. Help her reach this milestone and also enjoy a free gift. It’s a win-win situation, right?
September 22, 2009
to NYC.
It’s back! The BUST Holiday Craftacular is looking for crafty folks {such as yourself} to showcase your goods in New York City on December 6, 2009. Be part of the over 200+ vendors that will be selling unique items to more than 6,000 shoppers. There will be shopping {of course}, music, food and more. Get your applications here and mark your calendars!
When: December 6, 2009
Where: The Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City at 125 West 18th Street
Applications Deadline: November 2, 2009
September 22, 2009
It makes me sad to post about this. Mankind Mag has launched its final issue today. I’ve purchased and downloaded my copy already and can’t wait to read it. Thanks to Erin and her amazing team for giving us great articles to peruse for over the past year.
ps – you can also still get back issues through the end of the year.
September 21, 2009
The Fall/Winter 2009 Collection that Snoozer Loser has just introduced is dreamy. The pieces look so comfy and the muted color tones are a nice transition from Summer to Fall.
*edited – added a super discount code at the bottom of this post!*
The Lisa Marie: $160.00:
The Blair: $128.00:
The Maudeline (Navy): $128.00:
The Veruca Pepper Hoodie {yes, there’s a “salt” version}: $160.00:
The Coraline: $160.00:
The Lydia: $140.00:
Enter code “FW09” at checkout to receive 20% off new items {excludes jewelry}.
September 17, 2009
In this second part of sharing my aloha for Contrast Magazine {read part 1 here}, I have a little interview put together for you guys. Thanks, Race, for taking some time out to do this…
Founded in: 2008
Website: www.contrastmagazine.com
Blog: www.contrastmagazine.com/blog
Give us a little bit of background behind Contrast Magazine. What is it about?
It’s a Hawaii-based international lifestyle online and print publication dedicated to art, music, fashion, travel, surfing, skateboarding, photography, design and other key interests of the 18-35 demographic.
What prompted the start of Contrast?
We’re a group of friends who share many similar interests and felt that Hawaii lacked a quality publication that expressed those interests and/or targeted our demographic. We all have some sort of publishing background; from Zen Yoshifuku writing for Japanese surfing magazines to Daniel Ikaika Ito editing for Surfing Magazine to Mark Kushimi doing layouts for various magazines.
Besides that, we’re all well traveled, some of us living away from Hawaii for extended periods, we’d see all the other quality publications outside of Hawaii and we wanted to start one in Hawaii.
How often is the magazine published and is this something that will continue or is this simply during startup?
The magazine is published quarterly, every three months. We originally planned to change to every other month our second year and monthly by our third year. But we’re still very much learning how to operate the magazine as a business and it looks like we’ll be quarterly for the second year and increase that the third year to every other month. This also gives us more time to focus on each issue and try to improve on the last.
I love checking out your website and blog. Was Contrast always meant to be a print mag?
Thank you. I thought only my mom and sister read our blog (laughs). Yeah, Contrast was always meant to be a printed magazine. But we set out to cover three aspects of being a media brand: print, web & video. We wanted to make our site a valuable resource along side the printed issue. Many of our favorite magazines didn’t have seamless websites and many of our favorite sites don’t have a printed version, so we thought we would combine that. Throwing in the tv channel adds a fun dimension to our publication. It’s been a lot of work, but we can see the direct impact of our website, print and tv combo in our events and the demand for our printed version.
Who started the company and how big your staff now?
The company is founded by Daniel Ikaika Ito, Jason Shibata, Lance Arinaga, Mark Kushimi, Scott Saito, Zen Yoshifuku and myself. We enlisted our friends to contribute and that list has swelled over the past three issues. I’d like to list them all, as we couldn’t do this without our extended Contrast Ohana (family), but they know who they are. We love the extended Ohana. We are so honored that they are willing to help us out.
Is this a full-time gig for all on the staff? I know that, for example, one of your is a pro surfer.
This is a full-time gig for NOBODY on the staff (laughs). We do not make any money on this…of course, the plan is to make money eventually, but right now we are very much a start up, relying on our own money, a (nearly) maxed bank loan and advertisers dollars to print each issue. Everybody on staff has either full or part-time jobs and we work on Contrast with our free time. But we’re dedicated and passionate about this and through some advertisers commitments, we’re seeing some light at the end of the tunnel…some very dim light (laughs). Our staff’s day jobs range from CPA to Pro Surfer to Web Designer to Chauffeur to freelance journalist. Whatever it takes.
I really enjoy the variety offered up in each issue of Contrast. Where do you find your inspiration for the articles and features? Do people contact you with ideas?
Thank you, again. Our staff is diverse when it comes to interests, but we all have a surfing and skating background, so we brainstorm each issue and start developing ideas. Often times we have some great concepts, but because of lack of photos or editorial flow, the concept can’t be executed. We try and find things that are a unique story and that are relatable to a wide range of people. We aim to build a collective consciousness with our readers. We often get contacted about ideas through our network of friends and contributors and we do use those ideas a lot. It’s amazing to have a friend come to you with an idea and then execute it with them.
Where do you see the magazine going/expanding? How would you like to see it grow?
The magazine has been gaining a lot of momentum since we started, it’s awesome to see it first hand. When we started we weren’t sure if people would be feeling it, but the response has been tremendous and humbling. As far as growth, we’d like to increase our circulation of 20,000 copies to 25,000 – 30,000 copies and make a bigger push along the west coast. Currently we distribute 5,000 copies from Seattle to San Diego in select retailers, but you can imagine how quickly that goes. We’d like to make a bigger impact there and keep Hawaii in the mix. I’d also like to see our writing get to the level of consistency of our design and photography. I don’t think it’s bad now, but if we could continue to improve on our writing, it’ll give us more longevity per issue. It’s hard as a start up, cause you can’t hire professional writers, so we used our own staff and friends and tried our best.
I noticed you guys are involved in a lot of local events. Can you tell us more about that?
We love to support people who are doing creative events locally. Again, it’s about appealing to an audience that we felt was not being catered to. If somebody is doing something interesting and it makes sense for us, we want to be a part of it and help the event. It’s also a way for us to market our magazine as a brand in itself. We’ve done a few events with advertisers, like a Surf Film Festival with The Honolulu Academy of Arts and recently we brought down artist Dalek for a showing of original work with In4mation and The Contemporary Museum of Art. We also try to throw a party for each issue we come out with, we don’t want to get too caught up in the party stuff, we just want to make a quality publication, but the parties help us promote the new issue and allow us to get to know our audience. Plus, they’re FUN!
Do you currently offer ad spots and if someone wants to advertise in Contrast Magazine, how would they go about doing so?
Advertising is our main source of income as the publication is FREE. If someone/company is interested in advertising in either print or web, give me a call at (808) 294-9791 or email me: race@contrastmagazine.com
MAHALO!
Mahalo to Race and his crew for the interview and for putting out a kick ass magazine from Hawaii. Keep your eyes open because the new issue is coming out shortly. I’ll update you all here when it’s official.
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aloha! i’m Liana. this is my site. i am not a professional writer. i pretty much just write the way i talk. it’s fun meeting new online friends and introducing these amazing artists. i’ll do my best to keep you entertained.
