We've arrived!

We (me + husband + cat + monsters) have arrived in California. The monsters took a later (slower) flight than we did. So they just arrived this week.

The etsy store is back up and running. So monsters are again available. I don't have a lot of shirts right now. They're still in storage until we're a bit more settled in. I imagine that will be sometime next month.

I'm working on a few projects for monsters, but mostly my husband and I are working on starting a Dessert Truck here in San Francisco. You can follow us on twitter (we're testing recipes right now) @DessertLabs.


We're also trying to enjoy being in California. It's still practically summer here and we're taking advantage of all the trails and beautiful scenery that we've been missing for the four and half years we were in New York.

Sale Ends Tomorrow!

Have you been thinking of buying something in my sale section? Maybe a mystery pack of pins or a grab bag t-shirt? You still have 2 days left to do it.


Tomorrow evening I'll be shutting the shop down for the move. The Etsy Shop will be closed from Sept 17th thru Sept 24th. Feel free to sign up for the RSS feed so you know when the shop opens again, or just keep your eye on this space.

Last chance to get monsters in New York. Next stop, California!

Ninja Bunnies

When I was first coming up with the Ninja Bunny Design. I drew this.

I keep going back to look at it and thinking that something fun needs to come from this sketch. Any ideas?

Psst... more sketches here.

Psst... SALE

Karen's Monster On-line Sale!

I have a new sale section in my Etsy Store. Things will be making their way in and out of the sale section until the move at the end of September.

A few special deals:

$7 (including shipping) T-Shirts

It's a grab bag, so you give me the size you want and I send whatever shirt I have in that size. I have some plus sizes available too.

Mystery Surprise 4-Pack of Pins!

You've seen them at shows, now available online.

I'll be photographing more things that I normally only have available at shows too. Some might go up in the sale section, some will be regularly priced. Feel free to request things you've seen!

Back in the city. Ithaca Fest Recap.

I'm back from Ithaca. Maybe you noticed me back on Twitter already.

Just a few highlights from my weekend. More photos on Flickr.

Got a new tent after my last one broke unexpectedly.
Seemed to do really well, but it is significantly heavier than my last one.

Saw lots of people I didn't expect to see, including old boyfriends, roommates, and professors, plus almost all of the people I had expected to see.

I loved seeing people wearing my shirts. Some people bought shirts from me on Friday and then showed up wearing them on Saturday. Brings a smile to my face!

I also loved hearing from people that stopped by my tent because they knew I was going to be there. Yay for mailing lists!

Visited Wegmans and Green Star. I like the idea that some (ok a lot) of the money I made this weekend went back into the community via all the shopping I did on Monday. I just keep telling myself that I saved money in the long run by buying in bulk things I can't get in Brooklyn or can't get so cheaply.

This might have been my very last trip to Ithaca for many years. My husband and I are planning to move to California this fall. Which means it won't be so easy to escape to Ithaca for a weekend. While I think we'll always migrate back to that wonderful place, it may not be any time soon. Though we're seriously considering Apple Fest again in the fall. But timing is everything.

Thank you to everyone that stopped at my tent. You are what made this weekend so great.

Thrifting on the Job

Recently acquired blank shirts

One of my favorite tasks in the monster business is buying supplies. I hear similiar reports from jewelry designers that started because they couldn't stop buying beads.

I love to buy fabric, to run my hands over every piece in the store finding the texture and color that really makes me happy.

Since my recent re-introduction to silk screening, I've started buying clothing, blank shirts, dresses and sweatshirts. Sometimes they're things that you wouldn't normally consider screen printing on, but I think that makes them more fun. In an effort to be both fiscally and environmentally conscious (and conscientious) I buy almost all of my blank clothing from the thrift store. While I'm very selective, there are some startling pieces that I've found. I've learned to love simple, repeat patterns to screen print over and deceptively girly clothing with a giant monster screen printed on it.

Maybe it's more fun to dig through a rack of clothing where each piece is one of a kind and maybe it's frustrating to find something you love in the wrong size. Either way though, I think it's a successful venture at the moment and I hope to have a few new images soon. Though I might start fading out some of the older designs in the process.

I think my next design is going to be smaller so that it fits neatly on baby clothes. All of my current designs are too big for a onesie, despite the apparent interest.

You can find some examples of my t-shirts in my etsy store.

Wardrobe Refashion: Stenciled Shirt

My next installment of the Wardrobe Refashion Challenge posted over at the {NewNew} Blog. My friend at This Tiny House made this wonderful shirt (available on etsy). Rocking the revolution.

Women's Monster T-Shirts

They do exist!


I've finally put women's shirts up on Etsy, with my Three Grinning Ted Monster Design. Ninja Bunny Shirts are still only available in kids on etsy. But you can always ask me for a specific size! Or just stop on by Artists & Fleas any weekend and take a look at all my shirt designs.

Busy Little Bee

Spent yester evening screen printing with my friend AJ. It's been awhile since we hung out and he's learning the art of screen printing (thankfully not from me, what do I know about it, really?).

I'll have all of these at Artists & Fleas this weekend. So you should come by. You know you'll have fun.

Things have been pretty busy lately. Monsters are coming along as usual. But I've been really excited to get a bunch of custom orders too. It really helps to pay the bills (oh, hi rent), and it's fun to have to wrap your brain around something new.

The sewing machine is getting a work out. If you want to hear more about the trials of tribulations of my custom work, I've been talking about it a lot on Twitter.

Valentine Shirts

I've started screen-printing my new Valentine's Day Design.



I'll be at Artists & Fleas in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on the 7th & 8th (the weekend before V-Day) if you want a shirt!

I was recently inspired to make some Anti-V-Day monsters too. So we'll see if those happen in time.

Bunny Ninjas are finally for sale

I designed ninjas bunnies way back last year. Finally, just this weekend did a photo shoot. Promised monsters in exchange for a willing model for a few hours. Thanks to my lovely friend's daughter, I got a whole lot of AMAZING photos. I had so much fun editing.

Blue Short-Sleeved T-Shirt, Size 6

Pink Long-Sleeved T-shirt, Size 5

Neon Green Short-Sleeve T-Shirt, Size 8/10

Pink Short-Sleeve T-Shirt, Size 6X

Orange Long-Sleeve T-Shirt, Size 8

Purple Short-Sleeve T-Shirt, Size 6

All of the shirts are available and will be up on etsy shortly! (Update, All up on etsy! Click on the photos to see more!)

And now in XL

After some controversy over at Etsy about plus sizes vs. XL, I remembered that I finally ordered my Ted Monster Shirts in XL. So I put them up on etsy.



They're the same shirts as always. These shirts are soft (my husband is incredibly picky about softness of shirts), but still nice and thick, with a high thread count that means it'll last.



I've heard now from the 30 & under crowd that these shirts are true to size and the 30+ crowd that they are a size smaller than they expected. So keep that in mind if you're interested in owning the famous Karen's Monsters Shirt.

P.S. I have Bunny Ninja shirts for kids too. Though I'm still looking for a model, any kids want to model shirts for me in the NYC area?

P.P.S New shirt design coming for Valentine's Day!

Letting go of plastic bags

Since August, I've said no to plastic bags. Everywhere. Unless I absolutely have no other bag with me, or not enough room, even if I squish it, I've said no to the cashier automatically sticking my items into a plastic bag.

There are a number of remarkably good reasons to not take plastic bags. They serve little purpose (accept maybe to collect dirty cat litter) in my life. And they're incredibly wasteful. I think we all know this. But it's too easy to take a bag. And then you have the choice of letting them take over your space (I keep mine in a cabinet, but they always seem to be multiplying down there), or tossing them directly into the garbage (which is likely another plastic bag).

So I've started using fabric bags. And well I'm addicted. You may recall the monster bag from last February, converted from a Tech Serv bag into a monster carting apparatus.

Now that my husband has been indoctrinated into the no-plastic-bags scheme, he's asking for a bag that folds pretty small that can fit into his normal shoulder bag.

After seeing a bunch of re-usable grocery bags made from old t-shirts on etsy, I had a brilliant, if not original, idea. So I cut up one of my husband's old Invader Zim T-shirts and sewed up the bottom all pretty.





And now I'm almost out of plastic bags (see above about cat litter) and need to retrain myself not to use them.

Happiness is a new screen, or three

I spent yesterday at ABC No Rio burning new screens for, yes you guessed it, new T-Shirts!

I shall have new T-Shirts ready to sell for Valentine's Day (and beyond) soon.

The new screens. Aren't they pretty?




I was really surprised at how easy it is to burn your own screens. Of course I had close supervision. And I'm sure it's one of those "Takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master" kind of things. But I feel like maybe I could try messing up on my own next time.

If you're into art and artists and making stuff in NYC, you really should check out ABC No Rio. Totally knocked my socks off, as it was the first time I'd ever been there, though I've heard endless good things about them. I was most surprised that it's the only place I've ever been that's reminded me of Mix'Art Myrys in Toulouse, France.

Monster T-shirts Now Available

You know you want one.
I already have my own. Now you can too.

Free shipping on everything in the etsy shop thru July 27th, plus free goodie bags.

Thanks Jarrod for modeling the awesomeness.

And the monster says Rarrr!

After much playing and learning, we finally have a design for the t-shirts. I suspect that in the next few weeks, we'll be testing and manufacturing. Our current goal is to have t-shirts ready for sale by the middle of April. That would be just in time for Bust's Spring Craftacular, however I won't hear from them until April 1st. Wish me luck!

Also in business-y news, I'm signing a contract to accept credit cards. No more of this cash only business at shows. I now take plastic too!

This week the monsters are hiding and I'm being neglectful. We're throwing a non-monster related baby shower this weekend and everyone is in full on party prep. So be patient if I neglect to post regularly this week. Hopefully that means I'll have some new baby (monster related) items to show you next week!

New New New and some News

So much is happening. As you may have noticed on the side bar, I'll be at Apple Comic Con in June (the first show to confirm) and I'm applying to several other shows this summer, maybe as early as April. Fun Fun Fun.

In honor of all of these upcoming commitments, Karen's Monsters is expanding. In the works we have home screenprinted t-shirts, monster pillows, monster bags, monster pins, and monster mittens (for fall 08), in addition to some new monster designs. Debuting this weekend, there will be Bini Monsters (Mini Bunny Monsters) for sale.

After much sketching and kevetching, we decided on the first design for t-shirts. This rough sketch needs to be put through the works in Illustrator before it gets turned into a screen. But it's all coming along nicely.

I'm full of optimism about the coming months and can't wait while also seeing the pile of work between now and then. I think I'm always more optimistic when there's fresh snow on the ground though. After bleak and cold days it's great to see some pure white flakes falling from the sky.

[Edit: The sketch is by my husband as he's designing the shirts.]