It helps to understand your place in the world right now. 🌎
Thank you, astronaut Chris Hadfield, for giving us some perspective. 🚀
Source: YouTube – “An Astronaut’s Guide to Self-Isolation”
I’m looking for a new printing partner
March 14, 2020
Some of you are asking how I’m faring in my search for a new business partner to print and ship my pillows, totes, scarves, and tees at Pen Jar Productions. 👚 👕
First, THANK YOU! 😘
The answer is: I’m doing my due diligence, researching my options online, talking to friends, drinking tea ☕️, and building a chart in Excel. 💻
I put said chart in the cloud ☁️ so I can share it with other creatives who are also looking for the same thing. We are building it together!
In a perfect world this printing partner would:
Be in Canada 🇨🇦
• Use fabrics Made In Canada ✂ (ethical/sustainable)
• Utilize POD and DTG technology 🖨
• Integrate with Shopify 🛒
• Take shipping off my hands 📬
• Be committed to sustainability 🌎
• Have no minimum spend (my loft is cute, but it’s not big enough to take on inventory)
If anyone has any ideas, I’m all ears. 👂
My chart includes the pros and cons on:
Art of Where
Spoonflower
Contrado
Printify
Printful
Supply & Demand
Pigeons & Thread
TeeHatch
Printeez
Raincoast Digital
Tentree
SugarBomb
(and several more …)
Beauty Geeks features my “Spring Branches” pillow for Valentine’s Day
February 10, 2020
The magazine editor in me still appreciates round-ups of pretty things.🎀
Just like in the movies, the packages arrive at your office. 🛍 📦
You unbox them with glee and line up the object on your desk looking for patterns in ingredients, colours and textures. 💄🌺
Then you pull them together to tell a story. It’s all very Diana Vreeland! 👩🏻
To quote the great Diana: “My dream in life is to come home and think of absolutely nothing. After all, you can’t think all the time.”
The soft textures and scents in this Galantine’s and Valentine’s Day round-up by Liza Herz for Beautygeeks is like 10 minutes with the Calm app, but not 10 minutes with Diana. 💗
Liza’s keen eye saw what I never imagined: she paired my “Spring Branches” pillow with soft cashmere throws, Viva Scandinavian mugs filled with white tea, Gucci perfumes, and amber potpourri nuggets.🍵
All of these things will help you think of nothing but your breath.
Thank you for the story mention, Liza, and Janine Falcon! 💋
My “Spring Branches” Throw Pillow is available at @PenJarProductions until February 28th
Sketching at the mall
February 2, 2020
There’s a hightop table facing the shoe department at Nordstrom Canada’s Toronto location. 👢
It’s for people to stop, sit, play with their phones, or wait while they get a clothing item repaired at a nearby sewing station. 🧥
It’s also great if you’re an urban sketcher. 🎨
There’s always something to see and sketch.
Saturday at the AGO
January 18, 2020
I asked the Marchesa to tell me about her life, while Calder bent in to listen.
#snowday❄️ at the @agotoronto
Saturday sketching at the AGO – Illustrations by Alison Garwood-Jones
How I learned to create a Gif
January 11, 2020
“If you deal in quality, not awards, what you do will always feel real.”
This is what happens when people’s determination to produce gets greedy and misplaced.
Switching gears. Understanding how to tell your stories in multiple formats is a power thing.
Hats off to Melissa Lee (@MelissaLeeDesign).
Through her @Skillshare class, “Create a Hand-Drawn .Gif in PhotoShop,” I cobbled together my very first tiny animation.
Like a Disney animator, I used the onion skin technique.
Rainy days and Mondays are for chasing inspiration.
Thank you, Skillshare for being such a great resource!
In the Spotlight: KBarlow Design
December 13, 2019
As a #bossbabe, I can’t do everything on my own.
I’m already the executive editor and artist in chief for all of my websites, but I still have a beginner’s grasp of code.
Yes, coding is on my list of things to keep learning, but in the interest of time and my sanity I choose to delegate certain tasks. Niggly coding issues is one of them.
My go-to gal for website fixes for my store, Pen Jar Productions and and my longtime eponymous website, AlisonGarwoodJones.com is Kathryn Barlow
She’s an arty tech nerd. I like that.
Here’s an example of our working dynamic: Neither of us were digging the dark grey bar across my colourful pillows on my Shopify landing page. The bar was front and centre as soon as the page loaded.
Kathryn asked if I chose that or if someone else had set the site up like that? I explained that it came with the template. And I no idea how to change it.
Kathryn did a quick mockup to show me some better options, and I picked the beautiful aqua tone featured up top.
As Kathryn says, “Website makeovers don’t have to be huge, overwhelming ordeals. They can be tiny tweaks that update your website to better reflect where your business is at now.”
Check out Kathryn’s Instagram profile and website and consider teaming up with her in 2020 to keep your websites in top working order. ~ Alison
