The Things You Discover When You Check Your Web Stats

I'm okay with most things online. I understand that people will come across artwork and be forever in love with it. But every once in a while, I get worried when I see multiple links to image searches of my work. For those of you that don't use them, I totally suggest a Free Web Stats program for your site. Motigo is a definite favorite of mine, since I can see when people come and go, search words used, the amount of traffic on any given day, and how people are clicking through to my site.

When I checked up on some stats, I noticed an unusual Czech site as a direct link to my own. I figured someone wrote about me in a blog, since the name was unfamiliar to me. After translating the site, I spied this little gem at Základní článek Hnutí Brontosaurus Slunovrat or Basic Rule Movement Brontosaurus Solstice: a non-governmental, non-profit organization dealing with volunteer work focused on helping nature and historic objects (castles, ruins, chateaus). It associates young people who enjoy improving the environment and offers an alternative to the current trend of today’s consumer society. Take a look at the translated page, for all of you who do not speak Czech. It's a little clumsy, but you get the gist of the group. Why all the hubbub, bub? They came over and snagged my 'Tea Leaves' design to use on their page to promote a Tea chat. It's cool, they credited me for it. Just... next time guys... drop me an email first? ;)

Double-Take Derby 7

Flight Derby

Shooting For The Moon (Goodjoe.com)

Based off the quote "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." ~Les Brown

Don't aim at easy-to-reach goals. Go for something that shows the best of your ability. So aim high, because even if you don't quite get where you're going your first time, you'll get close enough to try again.

Marshmallows Never Looked So Good!

I'm usually on top of things: watching for shirt sitings both on the net and when I'm out and about. So when I found out a little while back that some people had seen a Shirt.Woot print on the Nickelodeon show, iCarly, I was curious to see if I'd ever see one, myself. Oh, in the afternoons I'd turn on Nickelodeon, on the off chance I'd spy a hint of desu here, and a horribly designed entry there, desperately hoping to only see decent shirt prints. A couple times I thought I noticed Spencer (actor, Jerry Trainor) in a piece like woot's More Skulls, or glanced at the screen, thinking I saw Urban Meltdown peek out from beneath one of his many flannels and cowboy plaid shirts. But I never laid my eyes on a woot shirt there, with exception to the one everyone at woot had seen: The Madness of Miss Stereo. So as is so common with my rare woot sitings, I stopped watching for them and went on about my business. However, I never stopped turning the TV on in the mid-afternoon to Nickelodeon to see if I caught a glimpse of something as I walked from the computer room to the kitchen. You know... should that odd happening occur.

For the first time in months, I was busy with designing, planning for the debut of my first curated piece at RIPT Apparel, and constantly reminding myself I was due at a small get-together last night. Just as I was finalizing some information and walking out the door, I noticed it: a new PM in my shirt.woot inbox, plainly labeled - iCarly. No... I couldn't have missed someone's shirt tonight? I quickly clicked on the fresh message to see a simple, two sentence post from mrtuba9 (a wooter I've never seen before on the threads.)

"So you probably already know this, but they just showed your shirt on iCarly on Nickelodian! Spencer, Carly's brother, was wearing it for the first half of the show. Congrats!"

I was struck dumb. (Family and friends who know me well, will attest that this is quite the rarity.)

I quickly replied to the PM and went off searching the forums to see if it had been mentioned in our "Woot shirt sighting... seen any Out There?" thread. Lo and behold, another wooter had spied it on the same episode, ever-so-politely posting the link to the shirt seen and the name of the specific episode. BLAST! I couldn't look now! I was late for the party I was to attend. It would sadly have to wait.

Upon my arrival home at nearly 2:30am, I had to find it. I needed to see if there was a video of it on hulu, youtube, or the iCarly/Nickelodeon site. Nothing. I was beginning to think this was a cruel joke. Maybe they had seen a different marshmallow shirt from another site and just thought it was mine. I believe I dug for something on the order of 4 hours til I finally started getting somewhere. I had found a shirt I own, Wandering Bert's 'Finding Technicolor', as well as a reference to a shirt still on the woot's sale charts in an interview with Spencer's costume designer. Then it happened, quite by accident, as is so common with most of my sitings. I clicked on the wrong photo link and ended up in a livejournal conversation. And there, three photos of Jerry and his stunt double were posted wearing my 'Oh BURNED!!!' design. The LJ chatters were asking about the specific episode, the shirt, and some additional information as to the person responsible for the photos being online in the first place: Ryan Happy. Yes, that IS his name. From what I gather, Ryan is the stunt double in the photos with Jerry. If Ryan happens to slip on by, I hope he doesn't mind my using them, because I'm so very happy to see something other than a shoddy screen shot or a photo of a television screen. And if others are looking for the episode name, it's 'iHave My Principals':

(Thank you to mrtuba9 who responded to my PM with this video. Take a look at about time marker 6:01):








Oh Burned!!! won 3rd place on shirt.woot.com, Officially Released June 1st, 2008. Retired September 29th, 2008. 17 week run.

'Oh BURNED!!!' is no longer for sale (unless shirt.woot decides to offer it again as a classic). However, I know there are a few up for purchase at teetrade.org, a shirt trade/buy site where people try to get rid of shirts they hate and find shirts they love. Head on over to day and see if you can get any that are still available!


I said it on woot, but I'll say it again, if Kris Dangl ('Spencer's' costume designer) ever ventures across this site... I so <3 you right now...

Halloween Derby

Give Music Life Competition (Goodjoe.com)

You guys remember, Fender Music Foundation, don't you? Yeah, I knew you did. I've mentioned them in just about every Goodjoe.com post since I first printed there. It seems my request to have them as one of Goodjoe's organizations they support spawned an interesting connection between the two. Now Goodjoe is sponsoring a Fender Music Foundation competition called 'Give. Music. Life.' The message is to encourage individuals to get involved in supporting music education because music is life. After sketching it all up two days ago and working on it like a dog all yesterday, I finally have it up at Goodjoe for voting. Here are the pieces below for you to look at and see how you like it.

The basic concept was that, when I listen to music and find a song I really love, I tend to spread the word and make sure others hear it. Taking that idea, and expanding upon it, I wanted to show how one person, one song, one powerful message, can influence many and bring joy to their lives.

Please vote and remember that when you buy at Goodjoe, you can choose Fender Music Foundation as the company that receives a $1 donation for every shirt you purchase.

Would You Prefer Your Tea Leaves With Sugar or Honey? (Goodjoe.com)

Well, it's official. My fourth print is premiering this week at Goodjoe.com (This is my second print there.) Tea Leaves has traveled around a few places, Starting at woot last fall for their Autumn Derby, tweaked the design a little, then a few months back, I tried it at Threadless.com. Now I'm proud to say it's found a home with the folks at Goodjoe. Like All That Jazz (which is still available), it will be $10 this week, and after this week $18. Also, even though my favorite color has this shirt on brown, please consider that I asked the gentlemen at Goodjoe and found out that Men can get this shirt on Sand if they'd like and Ladies can have it on Creme, should you not care for dark shirts (Just for this week only! so choose quickly!). Please make sure to choose an organization to receive $1 from each shirt sale. I'll suggest my personal fave: Fender Music Foundation, but you are welcome to choose any of the groups that work hard to make our communities so great. And Goodjoe's community is great! Thanks for voting and commenting on it, and now buying it!

National Park Derby

Harvest Derby

This shirt received an Honorable Mention after this week's voting and will be in the following Double-Take Derby 7.

And on the B-Side, is Goodjoe (Write-Up)

Recently Gigi, a co-writer for The B-Side, went to the Art and Soul festival in Oakland, CA and spied Nathan and Jourdan selling their tried and true brand: Goodjoe. It seems she was taken with my design: All That Jazz but waited until their exodus from the festival to snag one for $10. To know there are other people wearing my shirt makes me all warm inside. Even better when people write about how much they love the shirt. Perhaps it's a good thing I grabbed a pint of ice cream to cool me down this humid evening.

Will Goodjoe Make Some Time for Tea? (Goodjoe.com)