This month was busy.

What I made

Bookmarks!

I love how these came out! Some people did not get the reference on the Don’t Read (play fetch, instead) bookmark and made a remark about about it. Listen, people, if I’m going through the trouble of designing and printing my own bookmarks, you bet I am supporting readers.

I was sour.

The Wolfeboro Collection

This is something that I started last month at a Manchester market, and enjoyed it enough to do it this month on the Wolfeboro one! I have been creating my own hand-drawn, blocky font, digitizing it, and having colorful versions of a postcard and some stickers. And for Wolfeboro so far, I had the idea of have a pun sticker with Skittles’ portrait.

Lots of people loved it and the Woofboro sticker was a conversation starter and a favorite.

Sketches

Listen, a 3-day market is a lot, so I spent my day drawing and inking when the booth was slow. Here are some things that might or might not show up somewhere else.

Notepads!

I got this idea late at night a few days before a market and got to work. I love them!

Past and Upcoming Events

I know I’m doing this all wrong, that I should be telling you about the events before they happen so if you’re local, you come and see things and whatnot, but I am just bad at social media in general, so here we are.

Earlier in the month, I had my first 3-day market in Wolfeboro. It was exhausting but a lot of fun! I’ve been slowly getting a better setup for my booth, so this was a big improvement over just a table.

And towards the end of the month, I had the pleasure of being at the Gilmanton Winery for their Homemade and Homegrown market day.

The Obsessions of the Month

Honestly? The coolness that has been Lucy Rose’s hobbies. Like, look at these!

June is always a weird month up in our neck of the woods, but Skittles always makes it all better by being ridiculously cute. I mean, look at this!

What I Worked On.

“Golden” on Gouache.

Following my hair obsession, here’s another taste of that. I started this painting earlier in the month and I was about to give up on it after I worked on the hair because of that hand… Drawing hands are a pain in my butt, and with a brush? UGH. But I followed through and I think it came out pretty well!

“Pride” on Gouache

I am so freaking bad at remembering dates, let alone months! So I completely forgot about Pride month, and the day before my first outdoor market, I realized I didn’t have anything remotely pride-related, so I spun up this panting in a day. It’s not perfect, but I’m learning to let all that go.

New Hampshire-themed stickers!

I’m introducing New Hampshire-themed series for my in-person markets, so that’s where most of my energy was at the beginning of the month.

Manchester Collection

This one came together in like… 24 hours. I thought I would have more time between markets to create stuff, but on Monday (literally the beginning of the week!), I get a set-up email for a new market in Manchester, NH that never sent out confirmations to their vendors, so I was knee-deep on prepping for that one. The idea is to have town-specific hand drawn stickers and postcards collections, and this is the first one. Very happy with the end result!

DAOS Packaging!

When I started Design & Other Stories, I told myself I would do everything in-house, meaning I was not going to use external printers or on-demand services. This month, I started on product packaging, and I forgot how much fun that is!

Writing: Sam in Pieces, Adam in Waves, and the Cross-Country Road Trip series.

As some of you might know, I have been working on two manuscripts, because of course, why would I prioritize sleep when I can just keep on going?!

Sam in Pieces is about 90% done, after two Beta Readers gave me lots of helpful feedback and positive reviews. Adam in Waves will need Beta Readers soon, so if you’re interested in helping out, I’d appreciate it! Just let me know.

Last, but not least, I am sharing vignettes of our American Cross-Country Road Trip my partner and I did back in ‘23. They will be published between newsletters, and I hope you enjoy them as much as we did back then!

Past and Upcoming Events

I had a lot of fun during the first Handmade and Homegrown Market at the Gilmanton Winery this past weekend, even if the setup was a disaster. Who knew stationary, wind, and rain doesn’t mix well… live and learn.

A last-minute addition to the schedule, I’ll be at the Final Friday Market in Manchester, NH today! So if you’re local, come say hi and hang out with me for a bit.

The Obsessions of the Month

Milly Alcock for GQ: She’s so fucking cool, I’m even considering watching Supergirl. I’m glad she’s finally getting the attention she deserves!

Harry Style’s Dance No More Music Video: Listen, when I saw this outfit, I knew I was going to love the music video. 10/10, please go watch it now if you haven’t. Loving his zero-fucks-given era.

What I made

Stickers. Shockingly, during my first art fair, I was asked if I had New Hampshire stickers and designed some quick ideas while I was there, plus some other ideas I’ve been wrestling with for a while. I’m not sure if the Aperture1 one will keep the text.

Hair #2. Not sure how I feel about this one, mostly because of the oil-based ink that feels like it caked in on the print and wasn’t able to capture a lot of details. I’m cleaning the stamp and redoing it.

Flowers in Gouache. This came out pretty okay, even if I still have long ways to go on my Gouache technique.

Color Studies. I usually stick to black and white mediums, but I am challenging myself to play around with colors and abstract forms. There are only so many faces I can draw/carve in a month.

Chalkboard DAOS Sign! Admittedly, I ran out of time with this one, but I think it still looked pretty good for my May 16 fair. I repurposed an old menu chalkboard my partner and I saw at an estate sale a few months ago into the “official” DAOS sign for in-person events.

Upcoming Events

On June 20th, I’ll be on the Handmade and Homegrown Market at the Gilmanton Winery in (you guessed it!) Gilmanton, NH. As always, if you’re local, free, and in need of a chat, I’d love if you come and say hi! If not, that’s fine, too. No hard feelings.

The Obsessions of the Month

Harry Styles at the Ivor Novello Awards: If you’d rather read his speech, here it is. My favorite part was: “Our time with giants is not to be squandered. The weight of the moments with the men who have made us is to be noticed.” The words of this guy.

For like, the third month straight, The Vampire Lestat promos have been delivering! I am completely, totally in love with this photoshoot.

Spotify’s My All-Time Favorite Songs. Filed under things I didn’t know I wanted, but now can’t live without them. The modern-day equivalent of going back through your mix CDs and relive the angst!

I can testify that I now have half a decent market setup. And yesterday, May 16, was the first time I made $24 from my art1. Postcards and Stickers. I am completely and utterly shocked.

My favorite part was the community and the rest of the vendors who were there because they chose to be, because making things and sharing them with people is its own kind of joy. I got to meet one other vendor who paints photorealistic rocks and, to be quite honest, I have never, in my thirty-five years on this Earth, thought of painting rocks the way she does, so she’s now in my favorite people list.

Done.

• The first batch of my inventory. If I have to go back through my archive and prep more stuff for printing or stickers, I might just starfish in the middle of my living room and let my dog take over my life2. From now on, I’m working on all new designs! Just yesterday, I was able to come up with three new sticker designs for my next event, so I’ll be busy getting those done and digitized for more variety. I’m done looking back.

• The table setup. Not much to say here other than it looks pretty good and I’m quite happy with what I have today. I don’t think I’ll be looking to expand on what I’m offering right now (greeting cards, postcards, stickers, and prints).

In Progress.

• The Chalkboard Sign. I absolutely love the top of the sign, but I ran out of gas. On Friday, after work, I was spent and I tried my best to finish it, but it didn’t happen. This year, I have tried my best3 to prioritize progress over perfection. So I gave up and decided to rest instead. Next event, the sign will be done.

• New Stickers. As I mentioned earlier, I’m planning to have a bunch of new sticker designs for future fairs. They are fun and contained, so they’re projects that feel doable while also having a full-time job.

• More events! I’m waiting to hear back from a couple of other places I submitted my work to, but so far, I have been accepted to six other events, so this summer and fall will be busier than usual.

• Online store. I have wrestled with this. Do I want to support an online store or should I keep it to in-person events? But this week I decided I was going to do it. Like, of course, why not? More details soon!

Next Event in the Horizon.

I’ll have a table at the Handmade & Homegrown Market at the Gilmanton Winery on June 20. If you’re local and would like to say hi, I’d love to see you!

If you’re new to Design & Other Stories, welcome and thank you so much for connecting with me. If you’re not, thank you so much for sticking around. As someone who’s been trying their best to feel comfortable sharing their work, I truly and deeply appreciate you.

What I made

It’s my birthday month, and my spouse surprised me with a set of fine carving tools I’ve been meaning to get. I love linocutting but my art style has a lot more details than what I can do with what I had, so this is a game changer!

“Big Hair.” 4 Prints on Rice Paper.

Zazie Beetz has, arguably, the coolest style and I adore her hair. So for a new collection I’m doing (Hair for now), I decided to experiment with one of my favorite shoots of her. The iconic hair. The iconic band. Everything is so good.

So I got carving.

When it came to inking, I found some 4x6 rice paper in my studio, so I pressed on it. I absolutely love it!

Writing Retreat

I won’t go into detail because there is a 3-part essay series coming up, but I finally made space for a weekend writing retreat on a farm in Falmouth, ME. It was lovely, intense, and restorative. Nothing beats sitting with a full manuscript, a pen, and an intensive line edit.

Making Paper

After the writing retreat, I found myself loving the fact that I printed a full manuscript and how easy it was to edit that way, but horrified I’d wasted so much paper once it was all done. So, of course, I remembered that one time when I was eight years old and tried to make paper. Except now I had the power of the internet to tell me where I went wrong.

It still went wrong. After a few tries, some YouTube videos, a cheap milk frother, and custom frames2…

Voilá! Paper!

I love how not perfect they are! So much personality! Don’t you see the grin on that fourth one? It’s my favorite…

Anyway. The idea is to use this recycled paper to print or even draw original pieces on it, using the old manuscripts I print once I am done editing them. More to come on that.

Upcoming Events

This is what made April go from 0 to 60 in under 24 hours. Picture this…

It was a fine Friday when my spouse bursts into my office and shoves his phone in my face with a Facebook post about vendor slots left for a small-town craft fair a few towns away.

I ignored it. He called and sent my website. A few hours later, I am in. If you think the next sentence is about joy, you’re dead wrong. I spent the rest of the day with a crazy stomachache not even Pepto helped me out and a headache from the nerves that I’d have to put my art out there.

There was minimum sleep that night. Instead, I got to work3. From 3am-5:30am, I went through my archive, I figured out what I was turning into greeting cards, postcards, and prints and what I needed for a booth.

The next day, I fixed an old chalkboard we got at an estate sale for this very reason, and started imagining what a DAOS booth could look like out in the wild. See, I’ve been making art since I was 14 years old, and the one time I sold something, I cried. Then, in 2018, I lost ten years of my art.

Now, I’m back with an all too supportive life partner that pushes me out of my comfort zone and takes the steps I can’t seem to take myself. So here I am, putting myself out there.

It’s been a week at the time of writing this, and I have about 80% of inventory printed and most stuff figured out. Funny how passion for something lights a fire up your ass and make you do shit.

Here are the details. Come say hi if you’re local!

The Obsessions of the Month

‘nough said. The glitter. The sass. The drama! The team behind this adaptation is making my 20-year Lestat obsession go in full unhingeness. The latest trailer is everything I’ve ever wanted to see. Bring it on! Is it June yet? Wake me up when it is4.

And of course, three days after we finally made it home, I got sick and lost my voice. I still sound like a teenage boy from time to time. So as much as I tried to keep us with my restarted art practice, all I was able to do was work on my manuscripts, so I was keen on coming back to officially kick off my next adventure.

Studio Sessions

A couple of months before the Holidays, we were talking about what my husband and I would do if we didn’t work in tech. This conversation started, predictably, after another round of layoffs due to AI. At this point, working in Tech is gambling away your career and we have been feeling like we needed to go back to our roots. For me, that’s traditional art mediums and experiments with paint and paper. For my husband, it’s woodworking.

I pitched1 him the idea of starting a side practice to get back into what matters to us, and here we are! So this newsletter will start looking a bit different. I’m still writing essays like a 16-year-old trying to find themselves. I’m still working on manuscripts that, at some point, will turn into novels. But now, we’ll talk more about art and what’s going on in our Studio. After all, Design and Other Stories is a mix of everything that goes in my head, which is all things design and fiction.

Currently Working on

Sticker Series

I designed this graphic series back in 2018. A lot has rained since, and I thought these were lost, alongside everything piece of art I did pre-2018. However! About a month ago, I found a backup folder on my iCloud2 that had a lot of pictures of my art, so I’ve been working through digitizing these bad boys to make stickers and prints.

My mind is already thinking about notebooks and stationary and all the other fun things I can do with these! It’s been a nice reset to work on something that’s mostly done. We’ll see how these turn out!

Manuscripts

Sam in Pieces and Adam in Waves are officially with Beta Readers! For all intents and purposes, these are the first drafts of these novels and funny story is, I wrote them concurrently. I enjoyed it because, once I hit a wall on one manuscript, I went to the other, and viceversa. Both stories have challenging bits, so it was good to have variety to work on.

So, for now, these two are shelved for a month or so to go back to them with fresh eyes (and feedback), and go through another round of editing.

While that happens, I picked up a third manuscript I started a while back that is halfway done. And well… since it seems like this is my new M.O, of course I started a second one to work concurrently with it.

So we’ll see how that goes.

Current Obsessions

• Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. Harry Styles: This man’s music just grows on you! Really loving the new album and performances. I might or might not had subscribed back to Netflix3 to watch his One Night in Manchester show.

• The Vampire Lestat: Listen. I have waited for 20 long years to see my bisexual king grace our TV’s in his over-the-top, campy rockstar era. I have been devouring every single piece of promo they’ve put together, because this is as close as what I had imagined back when I was 14 reading these books for the first time.

• Veronica Mars4: At some point in the month, I got this weird feeling of being homesick while being at home and I realize that I was nostalgic for Veronica Mars’ outfits. And sass. And father-daughter banter. And Logan Echolls. And… well, you get the point. So after watching the movie, I decided to rewatch the series. It got me through being sick for a week.

• Karen Jerzyk: Last month, we went to the Manchester Craft Market and I came across this fantastic photographer that took my breath away! I got two of her prints that will be proudly added somewhere in my studio or home. Not sure where yet.

Anniversary Trip: Lac Beauport, Quebec

Despite being our third year (officially) married, this is our first (official) anniversary celebration. We headed back to Quebec, about a half hour where we exchanged our vows (on day I’ll write an essay about it) to the beautiful, idylic lake town of Lac Beauport, where we spent three glorious days in a tiny home, loverlooking the Quebec mountains and resting up.

The views were incredible! It was peaceful and eerie quiet. I got to experience a Nordic Spa, which was surreal. I mean… I was in a jacuzzi with a winter hat and snow falling all around us. If that doesn’t mess with my head, I don’t know what does!

My husband found the Odd Pieces puzzles, and we got addicted to it, so we spent hours by the fire, figuring out what the story was. It was hilarious, super cute, and highly entertaining. I cannot recommend it enough!

During our trip across the border, we left Skittles with a neighbor that owns two other Goldens, and they had a blast. Skittles slept for four days straight once we got back, which is not a very Skittles thing to do.

The Northern Lights from our Yard!

Besides going back to Quebec, this was the highlight of the month. Scratch that, the year!

We live near a mountain reservation. We’ve captured mountain lions, foxes, bears, deer, and even a Moose in our security cameras at night. In the summers, we fall asleep to the sound of the laughing loons from the lake next door. But we’ve never been around whenever there is a northern lights sighting.

This time, we were.

These photos don’t do it justice, but (besides that one time we saw the Perseid meteor shower while camping in Utah) this was the most magical thing I’ve ever witnessed. The sky painted with reds and greens around 9:30pm for about 20 minutes. It was windy and I was FREEZING, but it was worth every single second.

Holiday Prep and Thanksgiving

Since we’ll be leaving mid-december to Pittsburgh and then Puerto Rico, this is the first time in… 6 years we won’t spend the Holidays in New Hampshire. My husband convinced me to decorate a full week before Black Friday (which is our tradition), so the house is fully decorated and the tree is up! And, of course, Skittles got a new friend, Pickly! He’s obsessed with him and doesn’t sleep without it.

Thanksgiving was wonderful! We headed over across the street to celebrate with our neighbors. I made arroz con gandules (my neighbor is always begging me to make some!), my sweet potato casserole, and a dessert platter, consisting of chocolate chip cookies and german chocolate cake and cream cheese frosting cupcakes. Putting this thing together made me realized I never took photos of the final thing, so enjoy the making-of ones.

That’s it! November was wonderful and cold and full of family and friends and the start of celebrations. And here’s a picture of Skittles, embodying all of us at the end of the month.

Here’s a round robin for the summer.

Hot Air Balloon Festival

What a cool experience it was to be able to see this in person! We have a lovely day seeing hot air balloons take off, while eating donuts and kettle corn. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Revere Beach Sand Sculpture

A classic New England tradition. I happened to be in Revere a weekend after the official festival took place, so the sculptures were still in good shape. Here are some of my favorites.

Wagon Hill Farm Off-Leash Hangout

Waking up early on a Sunday morning to take Skittles to go swimming at Wagon Hill Farm was a highlight. Especially because my co-worker took this photo of him. I’m absolutely obsessed.

In true Skittles fashion, he got lost in the woods because he followed another dog and took off. I found him when someone yelled, “Did someone lost a Golden?”

Sunflowers!

My garden came out really good and even got plenty of bees before I had to put it all away for the winter. I was so happy to see this rare burnt sienna flower come up.

I’m sure there are more things I forget, but all in all, it was another great summer for the books. We hiked around, cleaned the yard, played outside, and enjoyed the warmth.

We visited our friends in their beautiful 13-acre homestead at Underhill, then made our way to Essex Junction.

Our friends at The Overland Shop in Vermont invited us for a cookout at their garage, where we were able to hangout, meet, chat with fellow off-roaders. We even saw a 1st Gen Toyota 4Runner (sadly, I was too dumbstruck to take a picture) and talked to someone who is planned at 4-month US expedition with their spouse and two kids.

Living life the right way!

Skittles played all day long with other dogs around the shop, and he was exhausted for the next three days. Anyone that has a 3-year old Golden pup, knows this is a feat, so yeah, it made it to the month highlights.

We stayed at Grand Isle State Park, which was a stunning drive. Although when we set up for the day, we realized we forgot our usual camping blanket (I’ve been using it as an emotional support blanket in the house, and completely forgot to pack it!), so we bundled up and hoped for the best.

It was all fine. We even got hot halfway through the night and opened a window.

Ongoing Project: Bee Haven Entrance.

For a while now, I’ve wanted to spice up our house entrance, which in true rural New England way, it’s been half abandoned. So once the rain let me, I ended up repainting and making a plan.

For the many trees we have and some wild flowers, we don’t really have a dedicated place for bees to find flower clusters around us. And the wild flowers are all over our backyard, so whenever we cut the grass, the flowers also go and so do the bees.

So I decided to paint the front of the house, get some raised beds, and plant lots of flowers and small edibles (mostly perennials because, let’s be honest, I’ll forget to plant stuff come March every year) so the bees have a place to hang out.

Let’s ignore it’s the entrance of the house and they might sting our guests. So we’ll see how it all turns out.

So far, I’m in love with the progress!

Skittles and water.

Having a water dog and living in a lake are the best highlights of the Summer. During our lunch walks, Skittles pulls me into every water creek and beach we pass along.

The only downside is the wet dog smell in the house, but I leave him outside for an hour or two: he loves hanging out at the deck and I love being able to work in peace.

Win-Win!

Art Experiments

The mess in my art studio right now is unreal. I’ve opened the creative floodgates and have been digging into all ideas, colors, even materials I had no idea I owned (who doesn’t go into once or twice yearly art supply shopping spree? Come on, don’t judge!)

Loved dealing with reactive ink, although it’s too messy and unpredictable for my liking.

And here’s a quick Gouache study I did earlier in the month. I challenged myself to use darker colors and something I wasn’t sure of, so here’s a kitty on a window.

I might be biased, but New England is the best place to live in the United States. Sure, the winter sucks (re: the weather in general), and sure, the cost of living is astronomical, but whenever I think of moving, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I mean, everywhere we look, we have a view very similar to the one above. A weathered, old bench overlooking mountains, lakes, peaks, or even the ocean.

It’s been 15 years since I moved up here. New language, new culture, new weather, no friends. Countless times I’ve been close to moving on. Even yesterday, my husband and I were talking about it. Pittsburgh is cheaper, it’s closer to family. But everytime I go for a drive… there is no other place that feels like home.

Skittles is happy that the out of towners are back for the summer. He now has his bestie, Parker, down the street where they play every lunch hour. And our yearly Memorial Day off-roading trip took him to Plymouth, New Hampshire, where he was able to run and enjoy the freedom of the mountains.

Last, but definitely not least, I was down in Boston for a week at the beginning of the month to visit the office, enjoy my co-workers in person (Met two of them for the very first time!), and hear the latest thinking from leadership. It was a packed couple of days!