Screech Owl Design

George and Jacqueline of Screech Owl Design are a renaissance couple if there ever was one. This talented duo exhibited next to us at the National Stationery Show in 2008, and we couldn’t have asked for better booth-neighbors. While we both had several opportunities to hear all about the greatest paper cutter in the world, we were also able to get to know these guys over the weeklong craziness that is the NSS. Both painters, George is also a fantastic furniture maker and Jacqueline is a whiz with the knitting needles. You can see examples of their handiwork in addition to their beautiful line of cards on their website.

Jacqueline is now also the Creative Director at Moomah, a family-oriented creative arts café in NYC. How do they have time to do it all? We’re not quite sure, but we think it might have something to do with the fact that they don’t own a TV.

Web gem: Can’t we all just get along?

The nuclear crisis in Iran. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Homegrown terrorists plotting attacks. A bitter health care debate. The whole Jon and Kate fiasco.

We here at Old Tom Foolery say enough is enough. Let’s stop all this fighting. And who better to help us spread our message of peace than the late, great "Tattoo" from Fantasy Island? His uncanny ability to sing-speak the truth—combined with some killer special effects—makes this video dee shit, dee shit.



Thanks to Forrest Healy for pointing it out.

Other People's Pooches

We have a confession. One of us has been cheating on Old Tom Foolery. *Gasp!*

It’s true. Lauren has started a dog photography blog, Other People’s Pooches. Frustrated about not being able to own a dog (yet), she’s filling the void by taking pictures of other people’s dogs. If you’d like your dog to be featured on OPP, shoot us an email and we’ll do our best to set up a photo shoot.

Let's all go on a field trip.

Thanks to Smithsonian magazine, we can all get cultured this Saturday, September 26th. Museum Day 2009 lets you enjoy free admission to all kinds of top-notch museums across the U.S. of A. For a list of participating museums near you, click here.

Web gem: "Who's the best cat in the United States?"

This lady's not crazy or anything.



Via Everything is Terrible.

SATURDAY, SATURDAY, SATURDAY!

Retailer Spotlight: Greenwich Letterpress

We’ve found that cool stores tend to be run by cool people. And that definitely holds true for sisters Beth and Amy Salvini, and their NYC shop, Greenwich Letterpress. This beautifully designed store is solidly stocked with fantastic letterpress cards, notebooks and gifts. They also print their own line of cards and luxurious invitations. Tucked away on picturesque Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, this store is a must see for anyone visiting or living in New York.

Contest reminder

Only three weeks left to submit your footnote entry for a chance to win $100 and have your words immortalized as part of The Footnotes Collection by Old Tom Foolery. On top of that, we’ll even send you a free half-dozen of the cards you authored. Entries will be accepted through October 15, 2009.

More info on the contest here.

A shoutout

If you’re a certified Card Dork™ like we are, then you probably already know about The Mincing Mockingbird and The Frantic Meerkat. We’ve posted about them before, but they deserve a little more electronic ink. Owned by Chicagoans-turned-Los Angelinos Matt Adrian (The Mincing Mockingbird) and Kim Bagwill (The Frantic Meerkat), these two companies are blowing up and gaining legions of fans on the Renegade Craft Fair circuit. And for good reason. Their work is funny and quirky and smart and beautiful, all at the same time.

We invited Matt and Kim over for a cheap dinner at OTF headquarters when they were in town for the SFCB Roadworks event last weekend. It’s always fun to talk to people who are in the same boat as we are, trying to make a living doing something they love. Can’t say enough good things about this talented duo. Now go buy stuff from them.

SFCB Roadworks 2009

The San Francisco Center for the Book is a great place to learn about letterpress and take classes. This weekend was their annual Roadworks event, where huge prints are made by a steamroller driving over hand-carved linoleum blocks. It was a feast for the eyes.

If you're interested in purchasing one of the prints, they're going to be auctioned off at an event on October 3. More details here.

Retailer Spotlight: Perch

One of our favorite shops in San Francisco is tucked away in the cozy neighborhood of Glen Park, and it’s called Perch. The shop is owned by Zoel Fages, who has been a huge supporter of Old Tom Foolery, and we’re thrilled to have our cards in his store. Not only does Perch have a fantastic selection of high-quality of cards, but it’s also a great place to pick up candles, home goods, baby gifts and affordable original art.

And Perch isn’t the only reason to make the trip to Glen Park. The quaint little neighborhood has some fantastic restaurants and other cute shops, like the vintage furniture store across from Perch, Modern Past.

In the news: SF Chronicle

We were pretty excited to have had an article written about us in the San Francisco Chronicle, even if they did call our cards “salty.” (I guess we’ll take that as a compliment.)

We’re renegades

Last month, we participated in the Renegade Craft Fair at Fort Mason in San Francisco. We had a blast, and want to thank everyone who came by our booth to buy our cards or just to say hi. It was great to meet some of the crazies who think our cards are as funny as we do.

We also enjoyed meeting the people behind other lines that we admire, like Eva and Kirk of Sycamore Street Press, Mara and Anna of Dutch Door Press, Marina of Honeylux, and Hannah of Pie Bird Press.

We were especially psyched to hang out with our friends Matt and Kim, creators of The Mincing Mockingbird and The Frantic Meerkat, respectively. These guys were our booth-neighbors at the National Stationery Show this year, and we had a great time getting to know another pair of California cardmakers. They’re some of the nicest, coolest people you’ll ever meet.

Renegade was also a great place to indulge at bit and pick up some great stuff for ourselves. Joel walked away with this shirt from the fantastic Ohioans at Campfire. I snagged some cute silver jewelry from Anna at Handmade Whimsy. And we picked up a great print of a deer with ginormous antlers from illustrator Nate Duval.

Renegade Chicago is coming up, September 12-13, so if you can get to that, we definitely recommend checking it out. There will also be holiday Renegades coming up in Chicago and San Francisco. More information is up on the Renegade site.

Henley Mpls

Everybody loves a cool t-shirt and we’re no exception. Henley Mpls is a Minneapolis-based t-shirt company that silk screens black t-shirts with original designs in white ink. We love the black and white scheme, and the fact that each shirt has a pop of red on the sleeve, where the company’s button logo is embroidered. Not to mention, founder and designer, Mike Ritter, is a stand-up guy.

In the news: Degourget

Every now and then we stumble across a post about our cards on the World Wide Web. This article on the Australia-based site, Degourget, has to be one of our favorites.

Welcome to Old Tom Bloggery

Well, it’s official. With this inaugural post, Old Tom Foolery has joined the blogosphere (about 5 years after blogging jumped the shark, we know, but here we are nonetheless).

With that proclamation, let’s move onto the meat of the site. We want to give you, dear readers, plenty of reasons to visit to this blog, and maybe even add it to your bookmarks. So how are we going to start? By bribing you with straight cash, that’s how. Scroll down and we’ll explain.

Win $100 in our “Finish the Footnote” contest

Back in May, we launched a “Finish the Footnote” contest at the National Stationery Show in New York. During the four days of the show, some quality entries were submitted, but before we choose a winner, we feel it’s only fair to open this contest up to those who weren’t able to attend the NSS. After all, not only will the winner of this contest be the proud author of our 80th card, they’ll also get a nice fat check for 100 big ones.

So, as the images below show, we’re looking to you to write a witty footnote for the following prompts. Here's our original NSS prompt:

And we’ve also added a second prompt to spice things up:

Write a snappy punch line to one prompt or both, and enter as many times as you like. Entries will be judged on overall hilarity and giveability, and we’ll pick one overall winner. The victorious entry could come from either prompt; whichever one-liner makes us laugh the hardest wins.

Email your footnote(s) to info@oldtomfoolery.com by October 15th and write “CONTEST ENTRY” in the subject. The winner will be notified by email by October 30, 2009.

Have fun. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Official contest rules:

By submitting an entry, you agree to transfer all ownership rights of your submission to Old Tom Foolery. You also agree to let OTF print your submission on an actual greeting card to be sold and marketed as part of The Footnotes Collection. 
Thanks, and good luck!