Its Button Time

For years I've wanted a button machine. In college my senior project was to design the identity and merchandise for 3 bands. This meant everything: logos, album covers, t-shirts, stickers, press kits, photography, and you guessed it—buttons! I really thought that was my chance to justify buying a button machine, but at the last minute our design department purchased one since so many students wanted button design to be part of their projects.

Years later, as I participate in more craft shows, I figured this was finally my chance to get one! Now I can make promotional buttons for TriSERIFtops, and sneak in a few nerdy typography ones as well.

Before starting to make my own (well, to be honest I already started experimenting :) ), I wanted to see the variety of creative buttons available on Etsy. I curated the "Buttons!" treasury above, and here are a few of my favorites from the group...

Nesting Doll buttons by xoazuree

Loving Pastels buttons by SoleDeVita

Silhouette Birds buttons by PipingHotPapers

Coffee Bear Latte Art buttons by coffeepurse

Music Night Poster Design

Check out this poster I designed for Starbucks Music Night.

Every Tuesday

7:00-9:00 pm

Starbucks on Main St, Nyack, NY 10960

If you are in the area, come check it out. Want to play? Email Scott Greenberg at scott.a.greenberg@gmail.com

Custom TOMS for Sale

I finally listed some custom TOMS in my TriSERIFtops Etsy shop!

My personal favorite, the paisley custom TOMS, are now avaialable...

Also available—TOMS customized to reflect your small business logo/business card.

If you make and/or sell clothing, jewelry, accessories, etc; you know the best way to promote is by wearing your product. But what if you make home decorations, paper goods, or sell vintage furniture? These shoes will make a great conversation starter about your business while you are out and about!

The pair pictured below were for Andrew of Sites and Sound Productions, a small live sound/recording studio in NJ.

Checkbox Greeting cards

I've been working on some new greeting cards and invitations. Among these is a collection of checkbox cards—keep a few of these on hand and you will be ready for any last minute occasion! Purchase here.

Upcycle Magazine Feature

Check it out, I'm featured on Upcycle Magazine!

More Alphabet Posters!

A–Q alphabet posters are now available at www.TriSERIFtops.etsy.com.

Scrap Fabric Streamer Tutorial

Make your porch a little more festive for that next summer BBQ!

This is a simple project to use up those small scraps of fabric you might have lying around. Looks great displayed a variety of ways—hanging straight down, wrapped around banisters, or hung the same way you'd hang bunting/banners.

If you try this project out for yourself tell us about it in the comments, or post photos on the Designosaurus Facebook page!

Materials:

Scrap fabric

Twine/string (about 8" longer than what you want the final size of your streamer to be)

Beads (solid glass beads, or a similar heavy type of bead works best)

Scissors

Ruler

Instructions:

The Art of ReUse Contest

Green is Universal and Etsy recently teamed up to sponsor The Art of ReUse contest.

Thanks to my friend Jess of Some Fine Folks for bringing the contest to my attention! Once in a while I miss important items in the Etsy newsletter, and this would have been one of them if it wasn't for her.

Many creative & eco-friendly DIYers entered, and last week it was time for the public to vote. Today they announced the top ten, and I'm honored to be one of them! Next week a panel of celebrity judges will choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. This judging panel includes Andy Cohen, Angela Matusik, Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee, Lauren Bush, Martha Stewart and Tori Spelling. Learn more about the judges here.

I'm not even going to hide it, the idea that Martha Stewart is going to be looking at my earrings makes me so excited I squeal. Not to mention I'm a big fan of Hoda & Kathie Lee on the Today Show, and I love pretty much any programming Andy Cohen creates.

Check out this Etsy treasury showcasing the top ten, as well as some other contestants with entries I absolutely loved.

Thanks to everyone who voted. Now lets wait and see what the judges decide!

Customized TOMS for Your Business

Unique clothing, jewelry, and other accessories can often be conversation starters. How about custom TOMS shoes that start a conversation about your small business?

Here's a pair of black canvas men's classic TOMS that I customized for a friend, based on the logo & business card for his recording/production company, Sites and Sounds Productions. I designed the logo and business card for them a few years ago as well.

Many of us are self employed in an effort to create jobs for ourselves, and do what we really love. So if you're a musician, DJ, artist, writer, or any type of small business owner, these are a fun way to get your friends talking about your business.

If you'd like a pair of shoes customized around your business's logo, send me an email. And if you need a logo for your new business, you can email me about that too!

jessie.a.katz@gmail.com

One Day Without Shoes Wrap-Up

Nyack's One Day Without Shoes last Tuesday was a great success! We heard live music, customized TOMS shoes, and walked barefoot through Nyack raising awareness for children that are forced to go barefoot every day.

Maria Whittingham (owner of Maria Luisa Boutique and ML Gifts & Accessories) and Nyack's Mayor Richard Kavesh each talked about how fortunate we are to have luxuries like shoes, that usually get taken for granted.

Here's a slideshow ML Gifts & Accessories put together from the event, and a short video at the Nyack-Piermont Patch.

Below are some of my own photos from the event; including the Eric Brown Band, some TOMS I customized, and the barefoot walk.

Customized Shoes: Practice Round

I'm customizing TOMS at a One Day Without Shoes event April 5th. See details and a previous post about the event here, featuring a pair I customized that will be available in a silent auction that day.

I haven't customized shoes at this type of event before, and I like to be ridiculously prepared for things like this, so above are a couple pairs of shoes I customized for practice! They aren't TOMS, instead they are some white sneakers I had laying around that my aunt handed down to me, but they still gave me the sense of what it's like to paint on a three dimensional fabric piece.

Nyack's One Day Without Shoes

April 5th, 2011

10am - 6:30pm

ML Gifts & Accessores - 75 S. Broadway, Nyack, NY

More information about the event here, here and here.

The Sketchbook Project 2011: Opening Reception

My friends and I went into Brooklyn Saturday (braving the wind advisory across all those bridges!) to attend The Sketchbook Project opening at the Brooklyn Art Library.

They had a great turnout! So great that when we got there with 1 1/2 hours left to the reception, only a couple of us were in line early enough to check out a sketchbook! The group of us only got to look at two sketchbooks, but it was still fun to be there, be a part of the reception and see that so many people were enjoying the project. Hopefully my friends and I will all be able to get back there when its not so packed, and we can really enjoy the sketchbooks.

As a bonus, it turns out I knew Steve, the man behind The Sketchbook Project! We were friends freshman year at Hartford Art School, then he transferred and we lost touch. Congrats to Steve and everyone else that worked hard to make The Sketchbook Project such a success!

Check out the website for sketchbook tour dates near you!

The wall of over 28,000 sketchbooks!

Looking through another artist's sketchbook.

I think her name was Jessica Meath.

Detail of Jessica Meath's book.

Check in your books!

My great friends who came to the opening with me!

I think next year all of them will be participating in

The Sketchbook Project.

Inspiration: Vintage Greeting Cards

Vintage greeting cards are a fun source of inspiration for typography and image. Above is a Valentine my cousin sent me the other day, that my Grandmother had actually saved from when our parents were little.

My Grandmother never got rid of greeting cards, even if they were blank ones she had never used! She kept them nicely in a box and now my family is able to use and enjoy them. Its become a nice thing around the holidays to receive cards from my mom or uncle with a little note on the bottom that reads "this card was from Grammy's collection".

Now I keep many of these cards and stationary sets in my studio, a few hanging up and others on my shelves to reference when I need a little nostalgic inspiration.