the hearts and laserbeams blog!

recently blogger decided we can't publish my blog to my own website anymore so here we are! pardon the dust, and please visit us online at www.heartsandlaserbeams.com!

hearts and laserbeams is the wacky good-times art and design by me, steph calvert. i team up with robots, cupcakes, and stick people to show people art isn’t all about seriousness, missing ears, and deep thoughts; it can actually be tons of fun.

1.26.2009

please vote hearts and laserbeams! pretty please??



hey there folks!

have you heard of spoonflower? it's a great new website that lets you design and print your own fabric!

every week they have a fabric design contest, and my hearty plaid pictured above is in the running this week! the winner's fabric is available through spoonflower's etsy site for a week after voting closes - buying this design directly from them means you'd be able to get this fabric $4 cheaper than when ordering through my own site!

so please - take a visit to their polls and show some steph calvert of hearts and laserbeams love; if i win there'll be a big fatty sale to celebrate! i think it's possibly a vote once per day kind of situation - if you'd be so kind as to vote as much as you can that would be superrad!

thanks so much for the support, have a great week!
steph

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1.25.2009

25 things you absolutely have to know about me or else you may die...

ok so i've been tagged to do this a bunch of times on facebook and am juuuuuust now getting to it! let's all meet your friendly neighborhood steph!

1) i just had a cup of coffee, that is pretty important. it was delicious and i want another one. it had some of that flavored creamer in it, i believe it was "spiced vanilla rum" by international delights. and i agree, that shit was a delight!

2) i've always been a very casual swearer, i have no idea why. like this has been going on since grade school.

3) i was gonna put this first but coffee and swearing is more important - i started going blind in my left eye back in 2000, and finished going more blind by about 2002. it started with central serous retinopathy that happened twice in different parts of my left eye, and then all kinds of other wacky shit that snowballed from the scar tissue from the laser treatments. it was a really scary time in my life because they weren't really sure what the eff was going on with some of it, and i was tested for all kinds of things from syphillis to brain tumors. the start of it was unclear but most likely stress-related, and the end of it was a pretty large blind spot in my left eye. i still have peripheral vision in that eye so wearing an eye patch is unfortunately not an option because i can still sort of see outta that eye, which leads me to:

4) i heart pirates and eye patches!

5) i also LOVE trashy tv, some favorites include: bold and the beautiful, americas next top hobag, wifeswap, boston public, 90210, the bachelor, clean house, uhhhhh whut else did i forget OH YES also real housewives of atlanta is freaking awesome.

6) i should've met my huzzzz josh like years before i actually did, because he'd been friends with my sis michelle for ages beforehand!

7) i've had braces for almost 2 weeks!

8) i've been self employed for aaaaallllmost a year and it's the best and i am so grateful for it. commuting and corporate environments are not necessarily the best fits for me

9) i met my bestest buddy jenn when i moved to wisconsin to work at oshkosh bgosh, and once we got in trouble for work for being too loud and jovial about having gone to work dressed as pirates. (see number 4)

10) my favoritest movies ever include the life aquatic and zoolander. and i saw pulp fiction 6 times in the theater when it came out. i also hated no country for old men.

11) i learned to knit in the winter 2003 because i was bored as hell in wisconsin, but have continued with it and love it! i've picked up a little crocheting here and there but knitting is definitely my yarny weapon of choice

12) when i was like 3 or 4 i danced with my dance class in a HORRENDOUS ruffley pink costume at dodger staduim during the 7th inning stretch. if my photo albums weren't packed up in storage i would totally show you that crap!

13) i miss savannah georgia like crazy and cannot wait to move back there someday soon.

14) i can't handle eating kraft macaroni and cheese without having apple sauce on the same plate - it just seems sick and wrong.

15) i like to shoot a lot!!! i'd never been around guns and stuff before meeting my rad husband josh, and have picked up a lot since we got together, and totally like shooting! everybody freeze!!!

16) i have an idea for a book that's been rolling around in my head for years and i think it could be really cool but i have yet to write it or even start it. i just know that someone like cameron diaz would be perfect for the lead should they ever take my unwritten book and make it into a movie.

17) i almost joined the oc rollergirls about a year ago, but the distance to practice coupled with the money involved made it not really an option for me... i am still entertaining thoughts of skating as scary poppins, because the savannah roller derby team practices about 15 minutes from where we'll live and is only $25 a month as opposed to the $65 the oc league charges.

scary poppins totally isn't my first choice in names; i really want helen killer but there's already someone skating under that name and there can be only one. it's like highlander with shorter skirts and more asskicking.

18) i went through a phase in high school where i was REALLY into the band queen. to the point where i think at last count i had like 13 cds of theirs...

19) i heart karaoke like no ones business, because i am a huge fan of making an ass of myself in public.

20) i buzzed my head twice in college - twice because i didn't learn the first time around. as a girl, when you buzz your head it looks awesome at first, but then because all of your hair is the exact same length as it grows in it's very puffball and stupid looking!

21) don hertzfeldt is my animation hero. except for his newer experimental stuff... i remember watching "the meaning of life" and going uh... what happened to this dude?

22) 2 of the worst jobs i've ever had: working at mr. wok at the oglethorpe mall handing out samples and scoopin chinese food (and cleaning their bathrooms which perpetually had pee EVERYWHERE), and cleaning houses. cleaning houses SUCKS.

23) i caused a ruckus in 8th grade when my class went to the white house - i had one of those combs that looked like a switchblade in my purse and when it went through the xray scanner, security went apeshit and searched the next bag that came out of the scanner and found nothing. because they weren't looking in my bag. aka i got to keep my comb. aka AWESOME.

24) an email i wrote got read live on good day wisconsin once - i wrote in to pete petoniak's weather whys feature saying "please explain the phenonemon of raining men and predict when it will happen again". and they did a whole feature on it about how it rained frogs somewhere once and how presumably that means it could quite possibly rain men someday. and they played the it's raining men song a lot, and had an awesome animation of raining frogs and i have that shit on vhs in storage and i wish i could put it on youtube for you. PURE COMEDY GOLD!

25) i stole a fire hydrant once and it sat in my living room for about a year before my friend brian gruhn helped me lug it outta there because all the plans i had for making it into a table or a lamp or something never happened.

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1.21.2009

sharing the robotty love!

just wanted to give a shoutout to april at creativeapples.etsy.com, she gave hearts and laserbeams a totally great review on her blog today! click here to see what she had to say!

three cheers to creativeapples, thanks so much! a free set of robot buttons is on it's way to you for your support!

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1.20.2009

i did not throw up!!!

that is one of the awesomest things about whale watching yesterday with josh and his friends - I DID NOT THROW UP!!

the last time i went whale watching, i think i was in 8th grade, and no lie i spent 87.5% of the trip back then hurlin in the bathroom. this time josh and i were totally prepared and took the max dose of dramamine an hour before activity, and no chunks! gods be praised!

it was a really fun trip followed by margaritas galore - we didn't actually see any whales, but we DID see a buttload of different kinds of dolphins and it was totally effing sweet. we were standing right along the railing at the front right corner of the boat, so these dolphins that were swimming with the boat were literally RIGHT below us. totally sweet.



click on the dolphins to see all the cool pics i got of em!

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1.18.2009

love is in the air!



i had so much fun working on valentines for fred flare's snail mail event i kept going and made some new designs for your v-day enjoyment! thanks for looking!

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1.16.2009

rock the vote, don't rock the vote baby, rock the vote don't tip the vote over!

dear dudes and dudettes,

i implore you to please pay a visit to http://misshb.org/vote_2009.html and vote for our friend emily z for miss huntington beach; she'll get a rad scholarship for college that would be super appreciated by her and her family!

sincerely,

steph

ps did you vote yet?

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1.13.2009

brace yourselves...

really the best way to show you these pics is to give you the conversation i was having with jenn as i shared em with her:

dehdohdee2: BRAAAAAAACEFAAAAAAACE1

pantone220: YESSSSSSSSSSS
pantone220: LETS SEEEE

dehdohdee2: thats what all the nurses chanted at me as i left the dentist
dehdohdee2: and then they threw things at me

pantone220: HAHAHAHAH

dehdohdee2: containers of wax and toothbrushes

pantone220: good good they got my message

dehdohdee2: HAHAHAHAHAHAH
dehdohdee2: ok i'm gettin the pics off my camera give me a couple of minutes

pantone220: yeah!

dehdohdee2: here's what's awesome about braces
dehdohdee2: i'm trying like hell to stop biting my nails and it's damn near impossible with em on

pantone220: more imporatantly what CANT you eat now

dehdohdee2: and they give you tons of NO SODA propaganda so that'll help
dehdohdee2: no sticky stuff like taffy and shit like that
dehdohdee2: no beef jerky is the killer

pantone220: bahahahah

dehdohdee2: cuz i dont eat it much
dehdohdee2: but i heart it so

pantone220: im sending you a ten foot tall taffy basket

dehdohdee2: HAHAHAHAHHAHAH i'm sending you to hell!!!

pantone220: hahahahah!

dehdohdee2: ok so here we go

pantone220: OMG

dehdohdee2: the nurse who was setting me up

pantone220: yea

dehdohdee2: when she got all the contraptions in my mouth that hold it open so they can do their dirty business,
dehdohdee2: she's all aw it's too bad you don't have someone here to take pics!

pantone220: hahahaha

dehdohdee2: and so i gestured that i had a camera and she took a pic for me



pantone220: yeah!

dehdohdee2: HAHAHHAHHAHHAHA

pantone220: HAHAHAHA OMG
pantone220: LMAOOOOOOOO

dehdohdee2: and then an hour and a half later i finished gettin my grill on



pantone220: HAHAHAH OMG

dehdohdee2: it totally feels like a grill too
dehdohdee2: i'm so hip hop

pantone220: so weird!

dehdohdee2: HAHAHAHHAHAHA

pantone220: HHAHAHA

dehdohdee2: it's like alien torture devices

pantone220: omg i cant believe it
pantone220: awesome
pantone220: you are goign to be americas next top hobag in no time

dehdohdee2: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAH sweet!!!

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1.11.2009

hearts and laserbeams book report: skinny bitch

when we got to the airport on the way home from our savannah trip this new years, i realized that i had zero reading material for the 6+ hours of travel ahead of us. i ducked into the airport book shop to see what they had in store for me, and came out with skinny bitch.

i am a new year's statistic; before picking up this book i'd planned to make this the year i actually start taking better care of myself with workin out and eating better and not drinking soda anymore, etc etc etc. couple that with the fact that it was slim pickin's at this partcular airport bookstore and that this book was the only one that looked like it would be remotely interesting to me, and there you go.

and without further ado...

hearts and laserbeams book report: skinny bitch by rory freedman and kim barnouin

this book, i have to admit, started out strong. it's billed as a no-nonsense approach to getting healthier and eating better and blah blah blah, and the first few chapters really do deliver some good information on reasons you should and shouldn't eat certain things. thanks to the first few chapters i will probably stop drinking soda alltogether.

as you get further into skinny bitch, it turns into full-on vegan propoganda, featuring all the reasons we were never meant to eat meat, a chapter on slaughterhouses, how you're a fuckin stupid a-hole if you ever eat this stuff...

and it just snowballs from there. once it starts on the VEGAN OR DIE message it does not fucking shut up, just keeps going on and on about all the conspiracies surrounding the fda and how the completely animal-products free lifestyle is the only way to be unless you wanna be a murderer, you dont want that do you?

here's some of the problems i have with the book - number one, the entire thing is written to make you feel completely shitty about yourself and it WORKS. for about 4 days after reading it i really actually felt like an a-hole every time i ate something this book said was terrible. number 2, there are messages in the book that are flawed - they basically believe that there are only two kinds of eaters out there as far as animals are concernec, meat or veggie eaters - and that since we have flat teeth and no claws we are not supposed to be eating meat and we're fucking with nature every time we do. BUT; why do we have incisors and such in the front of our mouths - y'all are forgetting about omnivores, and that doesn't fit into the meat is murder message so i understand why ya left it out. they make it sound like if you don't buy your fruits and veggies organic-style you are fucked because it's gonna kill you.

AND their main way of helping you to become a vegan is to gross yourself out every time you eat something, like thing of all the shitty ingredients the thing contains, think of something that will make you vomit, and then don't eat that thing. that is an AWFUL way to eat.

basically the book sucked ass and i would not recommend it to anyone. it is the only book i've ever read in my 31 years that ended up in the trash:



also, one of the things josh and i talked about after i read this was that you gotta keep in mind that it was written by a former model and a former model agent - models aren't supposed to eat anything at all, so it's basically a how-to guide for someone who only wants to eat the bare minimum to survive and not actually ever really enjoy food. eff that shit.

so i will not be following much, if any, of what this book suggests. i will from now on only buy cage-free eggs and milk that says it's got no horomones in it, and eat more fruit and veggies. but i will also continue enjoying cheese and ice cream and coffee and salmon and hamburgers and steak and french fries and non-organic veggies and fruits because dammit who can afford to buy EVERYTHING organic??! not in this economy thank you very much! i am much happier enjoying my food than worrying about every single solitary thing i eat and giving up shit i love.

and that's that. we at hearts and laserbeams do not recommend or endorse this book and if you read it please promise us to have a big ol ice cream sundae afterwards!

ratings
1 hearts:
it did make me eat more fruits and veggies i aint gonna lie to you

4 farts: if i start to tell you all the things i hated about this book i will get all pissed off again so just don't read it.

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1.09.2009

new sponsorship!

check out our new sponsor!



(site not actually sponsored by calvin klein, but i think you already knew that!)

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1.08.2009

hearts and laserbeams book report: i know why the caged bird sings

i don't know if i've told you before; i heart maya angelou a ton. i'm not sure exactly what it is about her, but number one i could listen to her talk all day, and number two i wish she was my grandma.

she was the keynote speaker at scad the year before i graduated, and because my buddy trav was a year ahead i was there to hear her talk in person and i would be lying if i told you i was not all choked up and kind of crying like an ass a little by the time she was done.

on a sidenote, the next year when i graduated our speaker was nora ephron. i was kinda really peeved about that at the time, because how do you go from someone as freaking AMAZING as maya angelou one year, to the writer of you've got mail the next? but looking at that imdb page i'm being a little harsh... she also wrote my blue heaven and that movie is effing amazing so all is forgiven. also, i got to shake hands with bernie casey at my graduation and that may be the most badass thing ever in the world. he's best known for being the leader of the black fraternity the nerds join in revenge of the nerds, and he is a total badass.

but i digress! without further ado, the latest hearts and laserbeams book report!

hearts and laserbeams book report: i know why the caged bird sings by maya angelou

i can sum up this book about maya angelou's life from childhood through about age 18 in one sentence: girl has seen some shit.

if i liked her before, i love her now. three reasons: anyone who opens a book about their life by telling about how they almost peed in church, anyone who lived in a junkyard for a month, anyone who taught themselves to drive stick shift the very first time they've ever driven so they can get their drunk parent back from mexico to california because the parent is passed out drunk in the back seat - anyone who has shit like this to talk about is all right by me.

as i was reading this one, josh would periodically ask me "do you know why the caged bird sings yet!??" and i'd be all no she didn't say! i don't know if there's a sequel or something where they disclose this shit for real, but at no point in this book did she actually say "hey that caged bird sings because _____ fill in the blank. what a ripoff!!! it was one of those titles that is supposed to make you think!

my best explanation of it is the caged bird sings because that's all it has - birds weren't meant to be cooped up, and if they didn't sing their lives would be completely drab and pointless. all of the shit this woman's been through and the crappy situations she was stuck in, if she didn't dream of someday having a better life and work towards that end then hope would die and what the hell would be the point.

honestly this may be one of the best books i've ever read - it reminded me in a way of push by sapphire, which i also loved. but what's so significant to me here is that you can go through the completely crappy things maya angelou's been through, and still turn out to be someone like maya angelou. and that right there should be hope for anyone in those situations as long as they're willing to work to rise above it.

ratings
5 hearts:
this book was totally freaking amazing and if you've never read it you totally effing should, the end!
0 farts: if i said anything bad about maya angelou i fear i may be struck by lightning, sorry folks.

this may have been a deeper book report than you're used to, but this book was effing awesome. stay tuned, cuz tomorrow i'll review a book i read that i flat-out hated and that one'll be much more full of swears and crap!

also, if you've never been to the bolsa chica wetlands before, you totally should go! i went with my sis and her kids this morning and it was rad - you can see pics here!

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1.07.2009

happy new years!!!

omg i am awful, it's already a week into the new year, i've been home from vacation for like 3.5 days now, and i STILL have not updated anything on the blog!!

i'll keep it short and sweet, but the holidays were a blasty! was bequeathed with a spanky new buttonmaker that will greatly expand the amount of stuff i can make for your artsy fartsy enjoyment, keep an eye out for all kinds of new designs soon!

a big ol group of us went to savannah to stay at the farm for a week and it was amazing. lots of good times all around - if ya wanna take a gander at our shenanigans, go here! if ya wanna see what celeb paid a visit to the ol' farmstead, go here! if ya wanna see actual for real pics of our farm, go here! enjoy!

i did a crazy amount of reading on the trip out and back, so in the next couple of days i'll have new book reports for you!

pow!!! it's great to be back!

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