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Guess what came in the mail? 
Here's a hint: they rhyme with "host-guards" and "wizness-bards."

Don't they look exciting?

I'm pretty smitten with the packaging from Moo.
I think they know about the little party that happens whenever new cards come.
Happy dance. Confetti.
They even send encouraging little notes that say things like, "you're delightful."

And can you see the cutest little business card box ever?
Even the postcards come in their own box.
Genius.

My husband heard me squealing to the postcard boxes,
"You are so cute! You are so clever! I love you. You are fabulous!"
He thought I was talking to my art.
Nope, just the gorgeous packaging. 
And I do love the way my cards look and feel,
so I suppose I was cheering for me, too.

Well done, Moo.
But maybe I'll keep my crowing in until everyone's asleep.  

Some of you may know that I am a Moo designer, which basically means that you can purchase Moo cards, and other products, with my drawings on. I had been meaning to update the work I had on the Moo site for such a long time but for one reason or another that never happened. Until now.

Moo have recently been making some changes to their business and to the way they use the designer's work.So, this seemed like a great time for a change, which resulted in this lovely set entitled 'Have You Got A Pen?'.

You can now have these three drawings, plus a number of others, printed on mini cards, postcards and greetings cards. I rather like the greetings cards myself.
See the new sets here;

Have You Got A Pen? mini cards

Have You Got A Pen? postcards

Have You Got A Pen? greetings cards

Cheers, my dears.

So the story goes that one day, Moo asked themselves, “What would the most beautiful business card in the world look like?” A few months, and some truly innovative new technology later, they created the answer – Luxe Business Cards.

And I would say that they are right. These really are the most beautiful business cards.

My cards arrived in a very understated, white box. A simple tear-drop logo on the outside.

And then the lid lifts open and there they were… My bright (almost glowing!) cards. I had uploaded 25 of my original illustrations to the Moo site using their Printfinity program. It was so easy I thought I was doing it wrong. But nope, it’s just that easy. I had my name and website printed on the back. I went with subtle design because that’s just me. Plus, the cards kind of speak for themselves. They are more like artists trading cards than business cards, they are so pretty.

And they are thick. SUPER thick. Three times as thick as normal business cards, giving them a strong, sturdy feel. Almost letterpress-like. I tried to capture that in the photo below… You can see that in the middle of each side of the card is a rich seam of color. (The seam on my cards is navy to match the information side.)

I was also blown away by the print quality. The image sharpness is gorgeous and none of the details are lost. And the colors are spot-on… something I didn’t mess with at all. Moo just got it right.

I think the only downside to these cards is that they are too pretty to give away. Like mini art pieces. I’d never drop one in a “win a free lunch” fish bowl. Although, at the great price of $34.99 for 50, I think I’ll just order another set.

Get the details about Moo Luxe Business Cards here. And check out more of Moo here

The good folks at MOO are giving away some sets of their custom MiniCards to five lucky Drawn readers. Each set has 100 MiniCards that you design from your own images. Upload your art directly, or import it from Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, and other services. Make them all the same, or get 100 distinct designs. Your choice.

To enter, simply e-mail [email protected] with MOO in the subject line and tell us the name of your favourite artist. We’ll pick a winner this time tomorrow - 2pm EST, Tuesday December 6th.

A little request here, folks. I know how generous you have been in the past with this kind of thing. I wonder if there is anyone who has Moo stickers of their own work? If so, would you like to swap a page (6) of those stickers with me, for mine? I'd like to use them in one of my Moleskines. Please leave a comment if you would, and we can sort out the swap from there.

Also, a word on my Moo stuff. You know I'm a Moo designer, right? Well, I'm hoping to have an overhaul of all the drawings I currently have available on Moo. As soon as time permits. It's about time too. I'll be getting rid of some of them for good, so if you ever wanted cards, stickers, etc, with these drawings on then get them now. HERE.

Check out my Moo Flickr set. I love this set the best of all. You can see my Moo cards on vacation in all sorts of glamorous places including Paris, Italy, Hawaii and um, er, Lincolnshire. See them HERE (best viewed as a slideshow).

Cheers, my dears.

(Click on drawings to view)

This is a couple of pages from my travel Moleskine. Its become a dumping ground for all sorts of odds and sods; stickers, stamps, tickets, labels. I'm not sure that I've finished with it. It lacks something. Something that I can't put my finger on. Yet. Some of the pieces on the pin board are movable, they lift up or across. I was trying to create a pop up, of sorts, but it seems I can't get my head around the kind of paper engineering that that would call for. That's mainly because, for the most of the time, my head is filled with thoughts of fluffy bunny tails and kittens in bonnets.

I don't know whether I've mentioned this before but I actually have a Masters Degree from the University of Cute Overload. I spent four years, of hard work, to gain that qualification. And I ain't going to let it go to waste.
In these two versions of this pin board I can demonstrate, and share with you, some of the skills I picked up during that time. In the drawing above you might notice a photo of a very cute little boy - it's next to his cute letter. Now, watch as with one small move I turn a cute image into something a million percent cuter. Check out the drawing below.

He's only holding a bloody chick!!!

I forgot to mention, in my last post, that I would be away this week. It was all the excitement about my 'dates' with Stephen Stills. Of course, they weren't really dates (only in my head) I just went to see him playing live. Tonight I'll be dating Alan Partridge. Then in a couple of weeks Paul Weller. It's all go when you are so popular. I don't know how I keep up.

Anyway, all going well, I should have a drawing to post over the next couple of days. So, I'll see you guys soon with new drawings, news on my prints, some other creative projects and all the gossip about the men in my life. Until then, cheerio my ducks.

Did you know you can sell ready made designs of your work through MOO? Here’s what they tell us about how to get started:

“Right now at MOO, we’re starting to get ready for the Holidays, so we’re on the lookout for new MOO Designers who have beautiful designs and illustrations for the season.  We’re looking for artwork that would look great on MOO Greeting Cards and would make fantastic Christmas, Chanukah, Winter, New Years and Season’s Greeting cards.

We are looking at all types of content;
- traditional illustration and design
- modern/quirky illustration and design
- humourous
- text based
- photography

We don’t need exclusive rights to the work, so you can continue to use these images anywhere else you like, and of course you’ll get a percentage of every pack of cards that we sell, that feature your designs.  (This is usually the biggest time of sales, which makes it a great time for you to start selling your designs with us!)

If you are interested in becoming a MOO Designer and have work that you think MOO customers would like to buy, please submit a link to your work to us!”

How cool is this? MOO is now offering business cards, and in grand MOO style! Everything that makes MOO mini-cards awesome (and stickers, and postcards, and…) is now available in full sized business cards. As Penny says - oh my MOO-ness!

Each one can uniquely showcase a different illustration, comes with a very snazzy case, and you don’t have to order hundreds at a time - MOO gives you the option to order as few as 50 business cards at once.

“MOO Business Cards are anything but ordinary combining high-quality design and one-of-a kind printing options, meaning that every one of your business cards can be unique. Choose your best photos/design to create truly unique Business Cards that will not only serve as a networking tool but also as a mini-portfolio of your work.”

So, individually designed cards, an ecological paper option (love it!), spiff card case - can it get any better? Of course! MOO is offering 10 free packs to IF artists, and a 15% discount on 50 more packs - so click here fast to grab ‘em before they’re gone!

Just ask our previous MOO giveaway winners - MOO cards are somethin’ special. And if you’re one of the lucky ones who get a free or discounted pack, send us some pics at [email protected] and we’ll showcase them here!

Donna from Devilishly Good Stuff wrote in to share her MOO goodies with us. They look super great! She got postcards, stickers, and minicards. Fancy! Congrats again Donna!
(We’ll be having another MOO giveaway sometime in July. Stay tuned!)

A bit of kitchen kitsch. I've just noticed that this is my 250th post. That seems amazing to me. All those drawings I've drawn, all that rubbish I've written and all the fine folk I've met. Thanks for all the visits and encouragement.

They've been revamping the site over at Moo. I don't like to blow my own trumpet, but when I saw my work on there, looking so good, I felt quite proud. It's mad to think of how this adventure all started, all those posts ago. I'm excited to see where else it'll take me.

Check out Moos revamp HERE (the stickers are cute TOO).

Ok, It’s Friday! (We love Fridays around here.) And it’s also another MOO give-away day! So this time the give away is tied into the MOO Egg Hunt we mentioned yesterday. Here’s the scoop:

* * * * * * Find that little egg and then give it a name! * * * * * *

Write your brilliant names here in the comments and we’ll select one of the comments randomly and give away a free pack of MOO stuff!

So, our lovely friends at MOO are hosting a way cool Egg Hunt! They are giving away loads of good stuff like:

- Flickr pro accounts
- Etsy discounts or gift baskets
- Blurb discounts and freebies
- Timbuk2 discounts

etc… (click here for whole list of goodies you can win). There is also an “Ultimate Egg Basket” you can win that includes a digital SLR (no kidding!). And chocolate. — We can’t forget about the chocolate.

So… we have hidden one of those funny eggs somewhere on the Illustration Friday site… Can you find it? If so, click on that puppy and it’ll take you to a log in page at MOO where you can fill in the blanks and be registered for all those goodies.

(Dang. I wish I could play…) hee

Happy Hunting!

Ok friends and neighbors, we’ve closed comments on the MOO Haiku Giveaway and chosen this week’s random winner!

Congratulations to Radha who says:

Thinking and scribbling,
trying to write haiku.
I’d sure like some MOO.

There was some pretty beautiful poetry blossoming in that thread. Nice work, artists!

This week for MOO cards,
leave a poetic comment
in haiku form

Three lines, and no more
than seventeen syllables
or something like that.

(we’re not picky with words here at IF)

It’s that time again! This week’s MOO giveaway for IF artists has a poetic twist - we’re giving away a free (FREE!) promotional pack of MOO cards, stickers and postcards with your illustrations, and all you gotta do is leave a comment in haiku form.

(For sake of the game, a haiku is a short poem of seventeen syllables or less, three lines total. That’s as strict as we’ll get about form - have fun with it!)

So leave a comment on this here blog entry (make sure you fill out the email box). Then we’ll pick we’ll pick one person at random to receive the MOO love…

MOO is looking for artists for their line of designer products. Each artist gets 10% of the sales of products with their work on ‘em - a great way to get your name out there. You can find out more at MOO.

Rebecca OUP-US

Depictions of nature often reflect the mood in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. For example as Tess sits listening to Angel play the harp, “The floating pollen seemed to be in his notes made visible, and the dampness of the garden the weeping of the garden’s sensibility. Though near nightfall, the rank-smelling weed-flowers glowed as if they would not close, for intentness, and the waves of colour mixed with the waves of sound” (page 139). (more…)

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