Wishing everyone a happy Halloween!! It’s my first Halloween in NYC, I’m so excited to see people’s creativity in the city tonight. I have to work on our last minute costume… and not done yet, but hopefully pull some together by tonight and will be able to share some fun report here.

I got a Halloween greeting from my girls in SF! It was so good that I had to share it. Thank you, guys!

From left; Cheryln’s robot, Sarah’s luchador, and Anna’s cat pirate.

Pumpkins on the stairs (From my neighborhood in Park Slope):

and these handmade pop-up Halloween cards I came across at etsy are just so cute! I like pop-up cards. They are so fun and it has perfect “boo” effect for Halloween.

Mr Owls Haunted Castle:

The Mummy:

Bats in the Dark:

Also, thank you so much for entering my little letterpress card giveaway!!! I used random.org to select the winner… and that is:

michele who said

“The power of the printing press is awesome!”

Congratulations, Michele, I will contact you shortly and get your information so I can send you the card!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Posted under events

I got to work on Rae Dunn.’s little online banner (you can see it under my “shop” on the right column, that’s one of them) and we did a work trade – her store has been on my Etsy favorites for a while so this was really a great reward for me! She was so nice to work with and when I received the package, I had to take pictures because it came in with great personal touch and I just had to share it with you here.

It’s like receiving a present! With her little “Thank you” tag – Thank YOU, Rae!!

and I love this paper! I’m not sure where it’s coming from, but I thought it was so cool.

and I got her “calm.” dish:

“Dream.” heart – it is so cute in person. Everything is so cute in person.

and this was a surprise, but I got “Joy.” and “Accept.”! In a little pouch! They are with my black and white corner in my office area and I love it!

Thank you so much, Rae!

She has a lot of cool clay work like vote rock. and awesome pourer. and many more at her etsy store.

Posted under Inspiration

I am over at sfgirlbybay again today! I am sharing my letterpress/wood type love with the readers along with Hatch Show Print book I love.

Please see my whole post from here.

Note: Today is the last day to enter the letterpress card giveaway.

Posted under project, typography

I posted about this cool poster for Silkscreen Reclamation Project before and I stopped by there before my letterpress class last week to see what’s up there – it was so cool! Basically, they all took this piece as a base art (one color word bubbles) and put each creativity on to it, and “reclaimed” it.

I enjoyed seeing the project very much. Here are some work from the exhibition:

The base art:

Space things always get me.

A bit too hard to read, but I like the decorative typography.

The color combination is cool, funky and fun.

Human vs. Animals? Love the black and white.

Different asterisk from each typeface. With a little cheat sheet.

Posted under art

I actually crocheted this sweater last winter when Maia was 4-5 months old and it was really big on her (I was a little disappointed), so I put it away all winter and didn’t see it since. This weekend, I was pulling Maia’s winter clothes as I was pulling mine out and I saw this sweater, put it on her, and found out that it fits her perfectly now! She has grown so much! (She is going to be 1 year old in a week, so exciting.) Now I’m glad that I made it in this size. She likes wearing clothes, too!

It looks too bright of a purple when I use flash… but you can see it better here.

Posted under DIY, Maia

In the last class, we did something different – linoleum printing! Ohhh, it was fun!

Preparation – you can directly draw on the linoleum or trace something if you want to use certain art. Here, I traced a trumpet art by using a tracing paper. You can buy the linoleum on the board or just the sheet of it. The instructor had a sheet of it for us so we attached the sheet on a wood board with double stick tape before we worked on it.

And you just carve it by using linoleum cutters!

It is softer than wood and easier to carve.

Almost done… I didn’t need all the linoleum so I cut out the rest.

and you just set it on the Vandercook press (You might need to place papers underneath to raise the board a bit) put some ink, and print.

and here it is! My trumpet print!

From here, I tried to experiment 2 color printing. I made a little change on the linoleum and so the first color would show though as highlight or shadow. And take the first print and go through the press one more time.

It came out nicely! I did one with orange, one with olive green.

I also wanted to incorporate some letters so when I got home, I took my stamp set and created these prints.

“Kind of Blue” (inspired by Miles Davis album)

“I heart Jazz”

What do you think?

I want to make more lino prints now!

Posted under art, typography

Wow, it’s been super busy! It’s a good thing, I am trained to do this, but I was getting a bit too stressed… thank god it’s Friday!

This weekend, I want to curve pumpkin and get ready for Halloween!!!

Have a great weekend, everyone!!!

Picture is a huge pumpkin on the roof I saw in San Francisco.

Jack-O-Lanterns from last Halloween 2007.

From left; by Anna Rowland, by Sarah Tejada, and by me.

Posted under events

I passed by this cute window in SF and I was so drawn to the whole style of the graphics (it’s hard to see because of the reflection, but it says “JAQKCELLARS.COM” on the left side – click the image to view larger)

And when I visited their website, I saw a whole bunch of cool wine bottle designs! I love their website design, too. I also love the concept of the brand, very fun and playful, and each design is different, but suits the naming and the concept.

The homepage:

Each bottle has its own design that rotate through the homepage and here are some from the website:

Makes me wanna try everything!

Posted under design

I am a proud guest blogger at sfgirlbybay today (and next Wednesday)! While Victoria is on vacation in Thailand, I am taking her readers to Japan (The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum Japan) and back in San Francisco (Typography in SF). Please visit my full post here and here and other amazing guest bloggers’ posts from sfgirlbybay homepage.

The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum:

Typography in SF:

If you are coming from sfgirlbybay, I hope you find something here at Heart Fish. Thank you for visiting!

Posted under art, project, typography

I love these letterpress limited edition prints from elm — so gorgeous!

They have a lot of cool and pretty cards, invitations, announcements and I love their clean and crisp impression. The usage of the color is great, too.

Here are some holiday card inspirations from them as I am starting to think about it…

You can see more at elm website.

Posted under design, letterpress