I met Lincoln Kamm at the very first Craftcation Conference – he’s a cool dude that’s always up to something creative and awesome with his Craftosterone brand.

He’s writing a book called “The Neo-Artist: A High-Tech Guide to Making Art and Products“, and I’m on tap to contribute to the project, which is exciting!

But I don’t get to do that unless you help fund his book project.

So you get where I’m going with this, right guys?

Please consider supporting this creative Kickstarter project so I can contribute to the book

I’ll be in some really great company if this Kickstarter gets funded and Lincoln gets to work on it! Who else is getting involved? Oh, you know, only…

• Cathie Filian
• Crafty Chica
• Tim Biskup

Totally geeking out over the opportunity to be in the same book as these folks! Two of them you recognize as crafty superstars – and Tim Biskup? If you don’t know the name, you know the art. He contributed to the look of Gama Go for years. I’m nerding out so hardcore on that.

So there you have it.

I wanna be in a book with Cathie Filian, Crafty Chica, and Tim Biskup.

I want you to help make it happen.

Lincoln Kamm explains 3D printing at SIGGRAPH 2012

Kick in a few bucks for Lincoln’s creative Kickstarter project today!

As added incentive, if you kick in $40 or more to this project and email me proof at info@heartsandlaserbeams.com, I’ll draw a doodle like you’ve seen me post on my Instagram for free. You’ll get the original doodle artwork. I’ll even write something to you on it if you want!

(Small print, you do not receive rights to reproduce or sell the artwork. It’s a present from me to you, but I retain all rights to the artwork. Artwork will be about 4.25″ x 5.5″, and will arrive unframed.)

Thanks in advance for supporting Lincoln’s book project, guys. I hope it gets funded so I can contribute to it.

Thanks for reading Hearts and Laserbeams, don't forget to check out all our great art and design work at www.heartsandlaserbeams.com!

This week has been all about educational kid stuff!

Monday we talked about a great new educational day camp in Orange County (which you should sign up for now). Today I’m asking you to consider supporting another great project that will help your kids learn their multiplication tables.

I’m super happy to support Monster Mutants Multiplication because it’s being created by one of my favorite animation teachers from college. Kids love games, kids love monsters. Kids don’t necessarily love learning math… But these monster mutants will help!

Give a couple of bucks to this educational Kickstarter project now!

The donation levels for Monster Mutants Multiplication are great, and almost all of them include a copy of the game, which I love. I kicked in for the $30 level that comes with a CD-Rom – who knows what computer I’ll be on when Phil gets a little older? I wanna hang onto this thing so he can use it when he gets into school!

As of today, the project is only 11% funded – can you help with just 5 bucks?

I’d also appreciate if you shared this educational Kickstarter project with your social media network – pins, facebook, tweets, pluses!

Thanks in advance! High fives to math!

Thanks for reading Hearts and Laserbeams, don't forget to check out all our great art and design work at www.heartsandlaserbeams.com!

Thanks to my friend Chris Booke that posted this quote on his Facebook page last week, it was something his mentor Tom Kubis had said to him in the past.

A nice little kick in the pants, if you ask me.

Thanks for reading Hearts and Laserbeams, don't forget to check out all our great art and design work at www.heartsandlaserbeams.com!

Dylan Fryer is a pretty dang inspirational kid.

This 9 year old has grown up with a total and complete love of animals, and a respect for our earth. He’s always learning about the world around him, and is constantly looking for ways to help.

I’ve told his mom Michelle (who chronicles their adventures at Life With Dylan) that I tip my hat to her in a crazy, crazy way (imagine crazy hat-tipping action here) for not only encouraging his own love of learning, but supporting his drive to be involved.

Last year, he raised $1000 for the tigers at the San Diego Zoo. This year he’s aiming higher, and instead of just asking people for money, he’s providing a community service.

Introducing Dylan’s Animal Adventure Camp!

About Dylan’s educational day camp

Dylan’s goal this year is to host a one day educational day camp for kids in Orange County (Newport Beach, to be specific). Here’s what your kids ages 5-11 will do, as stated on the camp’s registration page:

• Travel to Asia and learn about Orangutans, Pandas, and Tigers
• Travel to Africa and learn about Rhinos, Elephants, and Gorillas
• Travel to South America and learn about Jaguars, Dart Frogs, and Galapagos Tortoises
• Create fun arts and crafts from recycled materials
• Learn about the Snow Leopard and critically endangered Amur Leopard
• Meet Rebecca Harvey from Remember Wildlife and her friend Irwin the red-tail boa
• Bring home fun projects to learn how you can make a difference every day
• Grab your cool camp t-shirt and goodie bag filled with treats from our sponsors
• Bring a sack lunch. Snacks will be provided.

I’m sorry, did you see that? Your kids could hang out with a real live boa constrictor! If we still lived in southern California, we would be there in an instant.

Rest assured, adults will be on hand to supervise and make sure this day goes off without a hitch!

Sign up TODAY

Here’s where you as parents of Orange County kids come in. Are you ready? I’m gonna guilt trip you a tiny bit.

This kid has poured his heart and soul into creating this day camp to help animals. This is literally his life’s work. At 9 years old.

So far? No signups. Not one.

This makes me so sad. It’s our job as parents to steer our kids in the right direction, and it’s our job to teach our kids how to support each other in their endeavors.

Kids… I’m sorry… people… like Dylan, they don’t come along all that often anymore. He cares so deeply about helping, and if there are exactly zero signups for his July day camp? He is going to be crushed. I hate to think that it might affect how involved he gets in future efforts to save the environment.

Are you busy on July 25? Do you have $35 to spare for your kid to support this young philanthropist’s dreams of helping animals?

Would you please sign your kids up today, like right now?

Incidentally, July 25 is my birthday. Do it as a present for me. Please.

Have you signed up yet for Dylan’s educational day camp?

As an added incentive, anyone who shows me proof they’ve enrolled will receive a free art print of a piece of Dylan’s Animal Adventure Camp artwork from me. For free. If you like the full color art seen above, done! Want it without text? Done! Want just one of the animals? Done! All prints will be printed on 8.5 x 11 archival quality paper and signed by the artist, valued at $20.

Proof of registration can be emailed to heartsandlaserbeams@gmail.com

If you’re an Orange County parent, please do your part. Sign your kids up, and help get the word out. Pin this post, share it on Google + and Facebook, Tweet it.

You can read more about the start of Dylan’s Animal Adventure Camp here.

Dylan is one in a million, and he deserves way more support than he’s receiving.

Thanks in advance guys.

Thanks for reading Hearts and Laserbeams, don't forget to check out all our great art and design work at www.heartsandlaserbeams.com!

I used to be into laminated paper wallets big time. Shopping for new ones from local craft show vedors was always fun and exciting! I had one with horses on it from 11:11, one with maps from Kelso Doesn’t Dance… I know there were more, but those are the stand outs.

As time went on, I realized I couldn’t keep spending money on new wallets. I’m just too hard on them, and shopping for a new one every six months got to be a little outta hand.

So I graduated to a cute tyvek number from Dynomighty. It was just what I was looking for at the time – funky design like my paper wallets, but tougher. And this one I could doodle on with Sharpies!

Here we are over 2 years later, and that wallet is still holding up. BUT. I’ll be honest, it’s definitely looking worse for wear.

I’ve been looking for it’s replacement, something that’s functional and sturdy. Something I can bring out in a business meeting, no matter who it’s with. As much as I loved my old wallets, I have to admit they’re not necessarily the most professional looking when you’re grabbing coffee with a potential client. When a paper wallet’s brand spanking new, it makes you look funky and cool. But when you bring out one that’s obviously seen better days… yikes.

Last week I got an email inviting me to check out All-Ett Wallets, and they’re so in the running to be my new go to wallet!

I really dig the different colors these babies come in, from basic brown and black to purples, blues, reds. And big chunky zippers get me every time. Check out all their great styles for the ladies below!

1)Petite Wristlet 2)Clip n Go wallet 3)RFID security credit card case 4)Womens sport wallet 5)Pick and Mint pack 6)Checkbook wallet 7)Clip n Go wallet 8)Coin purse 9)Checkbook wallet 10)Petite Wristlet

Did you see that RFID security wallet? I had no idea wallets were getting so high tech – it’s nice to know my credit card secrets are safe with… me! I also love that in their quest to create some of the thinnest wallets around (like the Womens sport wallet), they’ve developed a toothpick and breath mints pack that slips into one of the credit card slots of a wallet.

My top picks in this wallet shopping adventure? Definitely the sport wallet and clip n go wallet! Both look extremely versatile which is a must in my life. Between running around doing farmy things out back and going out to business lunches, I need a wallet that can keep up!

What are your must haves when wallet shopping?

Do you insist on a certain color, or a certain style in your money holder? Let’s chat about it in the comments!

This was a sponsored post, but all opinions are mine.

Thanks for reading Hearts and Laserbeams, don't forget to check out all our great art and design work at www.heartsandlaserbeams.com!

This has been one of our beefiest projects to date – our clients needed a fresh new look to go along with their updated packaging. They really wanted to put their best (most organic and natural) face forward as their products step into Motherhood Maternity stores nationwide!

Along with the facelift and mobile responsive web design, functionality was added that I’d never worked with before. We’re talking about an affiliate program, folks. 3 Girls Holistic wanted to reward their supporters by setting up a system that tracked who was sending traffic to their site. If someone signs up for the affiliate program on the 3 Girls Holistic web site, (under the about tab on the top nav bar), and then uses their specially coded link on their website, any sales that person is responsible for through that specially coded link earns them 20% of the sale.

Our latest responsive web design project for 3 Girls Holistic

Since I’ve never set up an affiliate program before, I used my own site as a guinea pig – you can get in on our own affiliate link action here.

There were so many intricate pieces and parts that went into making this site design work, and I’m really proud of how it turned out.

A little more about 3 Girls Holistic

(From the 3 Girls Holistic philosophy page)

3Girls Holistic has one simple company philosophy.

You look your best when you feel your best.

Our line of products is intended to not only nourish your skin, but your overall health as well. Our skin is capable of absorbing up to 60% of what we put on it; we believe that you shouldn’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t want to have inside your body.

With that company philosophy in mind, our entire line is 100% natural. Our natural skin care line is handcrafted with either organic or wild-harvested ingredients that have been carefully selected due to the demonstrated benefits that they bring to our skin.  There are no synthetic materials whatsoever – you’ll often hear us saying that our line is actually so pure that you could eat it!

When you make the switch to pure herbal skin care, you’ll be amazed at the transformation your skin will go through.  You’ll find that your skin is softer than ever, that your pores diminish in size, and that blemishes will be fewer and farther in-between.  You might also find that any fine lines you have begin to be a little less noticeable, and that your skin has a firmer feel and look to it.  Skin that glows and radiates health!

Did you go check out our latest responsive web design work?

I’d love to hear your comments on it!

Thanks for reading Hearts and Laserbeams, don't forget to check out all our great art and design work at www.heartsandlaserbeams.com!

Guess who happily got tasked with flyer design and artwork?

Two thumbs. Boom! I’m always happy to help out with church projects, and I love how this project is turning out. I just wish it was happening under happier circumstances.

Make sure you mark your calendar to get to the Rincon Dairy Queen on Highway 21 during the assigned time slots on June 6 and June 20 from 6-8pm. 10% of all sales from those chunks of time goes to Oklahoma to help make everything ok.

This is building up to our big corn hole fundraiser event in July:

How you can help

Help us get the word out! Pin, twitter, share this blog post on facebook. Grab the poster art above (right click and save it to your computer) and then share it on Facebook that way if you like. Sign up for the corn hole tournament, volunteer to help out at it, get to the Rincon Dairy Queen on those dates and get some ice cream!

What if I’m nowhere near Effingham County?

I’ve set up the artwork for these flyers on Society 6 so folks that are out of the area can still participate in our fundraiser efforts:

Everything will be OK shirts, art prints, and more

Everything will be OK Oklahoma and Georgia shirts, art prints, and more

I’m proud to say that 100% of the artist profits I receive from the sale of anything with this art on it in my Society6 shop goes towards relief efforts in Oklahoma. Buy something big, buy something little. Buy something. It makes a difference.

Let’s help the tornado victims in Oklahoma know…

That everything is going to be OK.

I do live in Effingham county – should I get one of the Society6 shirts?

The Society6 stuff is great, but the reality is we only earn a couple of bucks on each sale to donate to tornado victims. If you’re in Effingham county, and you’re going to the tournament, shirts with a 1 color version of this artwork will be for sale, and 100% of those profits go to Oklahoma. So there’s more money going towards the recovery efforts if you wait and buy a tee at the fundraiser in July.

BUT – those shirts will be slightly different, as they’ll only be one color prints and not full color like the Society6 tees. So maybe get both!

Please help us get the word out about this fundraiser for Oklahoma!

Consider making this your Facebook header image through July 20:

(Just right click and save to your computer, then set it as your cover photo on Facebook!)

Share this blog post, pin the images, tweet it, google plus it, facebook share it.

Thank you, friends. Oklahoma thanks you, too.

Thanks for reading Hearts and Laserbeams, don't forget to check out all our great art and design work at www.heartsandlaserbeams.com!

Talking about the bees in my sons room in that blog post inspired this quick illustration:

The funny thing about that post, is that when I wrote it Phil totally did have a nightmare about bees in his room.

But since then, the “bees in my bed” line has been a ploy to get to sleep in mom and dad’s bed.

Stay tuned for a future blog post talking about how we handle that with… homemade toddler repellent?

Click to read our post on Moonfrye.com!

What would you put in homemade toddler repellent?

Make sure you share your recipe in the comments below!

Thanks for reading Hearts and Laserbeams, don't forget to check out all our great art and design work at www.heartsandlaserbeams.com!

I still haven’t, and I live here now. But at the very least I took it in tonight online thanks to their live stream of the event!

If you’ve ever watched a Livestream event, you know the stress that comes with really not wanting to miss something that’s going to be broadcast. Especially if it’s like 8:05 and you’re not seeing the screen change to a live event. Your heartbeat starts to race a little, you get nervous… Is everyone else out there seeing the fashion show starting, and are you just outta luck?

I kind of thought I was going to miss the SCAD Fashion Show this year, too, because that’s exactly what was happening on my screen. Nothin.

But then, finally, I heard them announce the school’s president Paula Wallace – she came on stage to say a few words, and then she turned things over to none other than Andre Leon Talley.

Guess what he was wearing.

Did you guess cape?

You win!

Andre went on to present the Andre Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement award to fashion designer Francisco Costa, who said a few words. It was neat to hear how many major brands Francisco’s worked with in his career! And I don’t mean to rush on to some screengrabs, but SCAD Fashion wasted no time in getting down to brass tacks. Everyone was there to see the runway, and they delivered.

I loved how impeccably all of the models were styled, from hair to makeup to shoes, the whole 9 yards. This runway show was so fun to watch from my home office, and I really hope I get the chance to go in person next year!

I was having such a blasty enjoying the fashions and live tweeting that I didn’t realize until a few minutes in that oh snap you guys would want to see what was going on too!

I managed to grab a handful of screencaps of the 2013 SCAD Fashion Show for you to check out – enjoy!

The thing I like about watching runway shows is the stream of ideas that can be incorporated into design projects. This outfit obviously makes me wanna work with big bold patterns and electric blue. Any bright jewel town, really. The mix of neutrals with pop color is awesome.

I’ve been on a big Macklemore kick lately, and I’m sorry but this is a fancy version of the coat he’s rocking in the Thrift Shop video. I mean that in the very best of ways, seriously.

I thought the shapes on this tan bubble cloud dress were interesting, and her stance in this photo kind of feels like a monks robes. I’m just into the shapes; I wanna know how the designer created them.

The highlight of the show for me, no surprise, were the kids. Super cute, all of em, and I totally dig that bear hoodie. Adorbs!

Some great examples of repeat patterns and colorblocking – The pink dress in the middle was part of a series of bright pop color dresses, and every one of them was pretty cool looking.

I totally loved the royal blue and black hand painted repeat pattern created for that middle dress. In love with it. The wiggle dress silhouette? Also a win.

Loved the quirky folk art inspired feel of this dress – I wanted to just make her stop on the runway so I could see everything going on with it!

Dear Jenn. This gal reminded me of Fanny. Just a really cool vintage inspired retro style dress with a classy clutch.

The details coming off the shoulders of this evening gown were great!

I loved the mix of fabric textures and colors in these pieces, color blocking that isn’t necessarily just straight lines going horizontal or vertical. Adds so much visual interest when other angles are added!

Before watching this livestream of the SCAD Fashion Show, I wondered.

Would I see a Carrie Bradshaw Sex and the City moment, where someone came on stage in underwear?

Turns out I wasn’t far off. This gal rocked it, though.

This gal, she knew she was getting photographed. Her presence on the runway, the pause, the deliberate sinking into a couture pose, the pause in that pose…

And then that dress.

Totally gorgeous.

I thought about Where the Wild Things Are when these gals came out. They’re high fashion Maxes here to start up the wild rumpus, y’all.

Then, much too soon, the 2013 SCAD Fashion Show ended with a dramatic and dark finale.

No, I’m serious. It was pitch black, and I couldn’t see anything on my screen. I still heard music playing, so I figured it was still going on…

And then the black lights kicked in.

And a series of black light friendly, neon evening wear was on the stage, strutting it in the dark.

The lights came on, I realized it had been 50 minutes or so and only felt like 10, and dangit guys… Why couldn’t this thing have been like 2 hours long?

Hope you enjoyed our recap of the 2013 SCAD Fashion Show!

Which was your favorite look? And are you still on the Project Runway party train, or did you derail like I did this last season with the teams thing?

Thanks for reading Hearts and Laserbeams, don't forget to check out all our great art and design work at www.heartsandlaserbeams.com!

Ready to learn my trick to get more likes? With a bonus side effect of new followers here and there?

Tuesday night, I was working late on some illustration projects. As the night drew to a close (just a little art humor there folks), I got an idea for a really cute funny picture that I wanted to put on Instagram the next day. I stayed up for another half hour sketching, and then another 20 minutes inking this “Have a Grate Day” cheese pun.

It might be my new favorite thing.

But as you can see in my Instagram screenshot, everyone else loved it, too!

Here’s what I do to make sure the maximum number of people see my Instagram photos, and ensure they got lots of likes and comments:

1) Post the best one, not the first one.

Always start with a good photo. Whether you’re snapping a pic of a person or an object, take a few shots, maybe from a few different angles. Use that depth of field tool in Instagram to focus on the thing that’s the important part of your image, and pick a filter that helps show the details. If your pic is too dark for people to see what’s going on, their brains won’t quickly comprehend and “like” that photo. If your pic looks rad without a filter? Don’t add one.

The thing to remember is if you’re using social media to promote yourself, you need to take the time to make sure that self promotion makes you look good.

2) Keep your caption short.

I like to auto post my Instagram photos to Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter. Because of Twitter’s text limitations, I try to keep my caption short and funny or engaging. When my Instagram post shows up in that Twitter feed, the reader can get a better idea of how cool my pic is, making them want to click over.

3) Hashtag? #MakeoutParty.

This is the best part of my Instagram plan of attack, the part that makes me wanna have a makeout party with myself for figuring it out. You know on Facebook, when someone posts from Twitter or Instagram or Tumblr… and it’s just a HUGE CLOUD OF HASHTAGS? That is super annoying… and kind of spammy looking. But hashtags are really great for getting your images found on Instagram! I mean, they’re really effective!

So where’s the middle ground? In the comments, my friends.

Not the comments of this blog post, mind you – the key to more likes on Instagram is using the comments for your photo.

When I post a picture to Instagram, I give it a short cool caption and hashtag it with 3-4 of the most relevant hashtags. When I publish it, I auto post to Twitter, Flickr and Facebook.

Then, the second that posts, I leave a comment on my photo in Instagram with 8-10 more hashtags. Each hashtag you add pushes your photo to the top of the stream for that hashtag. If you come back and add your comment with hashtags later, it’s a great way to give a breath of fresh air to an older photo.

More hashtags? More likes. It’s that simple.

The nice thing about doing it this way is it balances your need for hashtags on Facebook (which are coming eventually!) with not coming across as overly spammy, along with really taking advantage of being found on Instagram. You can see this in action at my Have a Grate Day cheese illustration on Instagram. Check out the very first comment on that photo and you’ll see what I mean.

Hope this helps you get more likes on Instagram!

Who else has a social media tip? Share it in the comments below!

Thanks for reading Hearts and Laserbeams, don't forget to check out all our great art and design work at www.heartsandlaserbeams.com!