i love YOU (and you love U)

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Do you want to declare your love for UPPERCASE on your own blog or website? Now you can—and be rewarded for your enthusiasm—with our new referral program. Sign up is easy (you can even use your login info from Twitter, Facebook or Gmail), then grab the code for the graphic that best suits, put it on your site and that's it! There are also social media links and emails that you can use that will track your referrals. In the beta phase, you will earn $1 on every sale resulting from the link from your referring site. Once you reach $20 or more in commissions, they will be paid out automatically on a monthly basis.

What to share the love? SIGN UP HERE

Thank you! UPPERCASE readers are awesome.

(Here are some of the graphics to choose from, with more on the way after the testing period is over.)

introducing... peeps!

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Hey, peeps!


Do you have something that you'd like to share with UPPERCASE magazine readers? Now you can publish it in honest-to-goodness ink on paper in our new "peeps" section! Think of a peep as a creative cross between a tweet, the community newspaper classifieds and a type specimen. Thanks to lithographic technology, these "paper tweets" leave a lasting impression. And with beautiful typography and design for each message (typeset by UPPERCASE designer Janine Vangool), these peeps transform a classified into something classy.

Have you just launched your portfolio site or redesigned your blog? Maybe UPPERCASE readers would love your shop with a unique offer just for them? Are you starting a special project that seeks collaboration? Do you have a special message for a fellow reader? A shoutout or just a friendly word of advice to share? Just want to see your name in print? That's what UPPERCASE peeps are for!

Easy and inexpensive, just fill in the form to submit your peep for the next issue (Issue #13 will be released for April-May-June). Deadline for peep submissions for issue #13 is February 28.

grow books press

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I always love to see how UPPERCASE pops up into creative projects. Alyson Beaton recently emailed to share images of one of her company's products—flat-packed mini play houses made from recycled paper board. Alyson writes, "I did an installation of the doll houses I developed at grow books press over the year and invited designers to decorate them for a showcase called "mini logan square" in Chicago. This is my office with none other than my UPPERCASE mags on the desk! Thank you for your continued work on your great mag, it inspires me everyday!"


I spy issue #7 on the desk!Grow books press was established in January of 2011 by Alyson Beaton as a publisher of printed matter for curious children. The goal of the press is to publish children’s books, printed matter and toys in limited quantities that focus on teaching current social issues with an urban emphasis along with a commitment to the environment.

Thanks, Alyson! These look like marvelous products.

Type Tuesday: Jennifer Wu

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I am happy to welcome Melbourne designer Jennifer Wu to our list of subscribers. I saw that she tweeted about her purchase and I followed over to her portfolio to find many great things. The exploration above is in response to the slogan "Less is a bore."

I've said it before and I shall say it again: UPPERCASE subscribers are a talented bunch! (You can subscribe right here, please and thank you.)

Addressed, Beautifully

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I received many nice greeting cards from UPPERCASE readers — thank you! Some were hand-painted, silkscreened, letterpressed, collaged... thank you for taking the time to send a card. I hope you'll forgive me for not sending a card, but in a few weeks you'll receive a brand new issue of UPPERCASE so you can see where my time was spent!

An absolute show-stopper of an envelope arrived. My photo can't do it justice (it's silver metallic paper with black ink calligraphy.)

Wow! Thank you, Micheline Courtemanche of Betty and Bing Letterpress Print Shop. I was so excited about the envelope that I photographed it first (and then forgot to take a picture of the card!) Michelle has some teaser images on her blog:


TCC: Little Big Pants

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It was so fun to meet Terra of Little Big Pants at The Creative Connection Marketplace. When she was unpacking her softies, I knew one of her creations would be coming home with me. Although I was torn between her elegant dolls and their stories of love won and lost, I was pursuaded by a little art thief carrying off a mini Van Gogh (my last name, Vangool, is sometimes mistaken for Van Gogh). I'll have to take a better picture of him (he now resides at Art Central, so Finley can play with him when he has to come to work with me.)

Please visit Terra's blog for more images of her beautiful dolls, such as this wonderfully stylish doll with chic mohair-sculpted coif!

Art School Girl

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Put the school back in Art School Girl from artschoolgirl on Vimeo.

Congratulations to Art School Girl on her successful Kickstarter project to learn from Camilla Engman in a recent Angela Ritchie Ace Camp. The Suitcase Series 1: Camilla Engman is featured prominently! (Had I known about this earlier, I would have definitely posted it—if you have a project that you'd like to have highlighted on the UPPERCASE blog, please just email or send it as a suggestion.)

Urban Legend

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I had been coveting a necklace from Etsy seller (and UPPERCASE reader!) Urban Legend. This one, above, with its blues and oranges is now mine.

Kateri Morton writes, "I use vintage Lucite beads, sterling silver and brass chain to create playful designs that retain a sense of urban sophistication. I started making jewelry in 2006, and fell in love with vintage glass beads after finding a handful of old jewelry at a flea market. My joy in using these beautifully colored and finely crafted beads turned into an obsessive treasure hunt for more, and I've been collecting and designing with vintage beads ever since. Recently, I've especially enjoyed using vintage Lucite beads for their incredible quality, detail and lightweight comfort. I wanted to create a space to showcase these brighter, bolder pieces, and that's how urban legend came into being."

Kateri has a second shop selling these beautiful "ingredients"...

Creative Reuse of the magazine

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UPPERCASE reader Jennifer Hoyden sent in this image of envelopes crafted from the magazine. She writes:

"You may already know this, but issue #9 made superb envelopes. I was just flipping through my copy and several of the pages literally begged me to turn them into envelopes. A few others were easily coaxed to sacrifice themselves. Many thanks for a great, fast gift to give my friend next week. At this rate, my subscription is going to pay for itself."

The Art of Suhur

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I am always interested to know how the magazine inspires people. When Mustaali Raj, an avid subscriber and regular visitor to my studio, mentioned that issue #9's exploration on how food inspires creativity led to a photo project with The Western Muslim, I was curious to see more.

"Of all the meals eaten during Ramadan, the Suhur (the pre-fajr morning meal) is the most diverse amongst Muslims all over the world. We thought to ourselves, wouldn’t it be interesting to see what others are eating? And we did just that. The Western Muslim is presenting “The Art of Suhur”, a photo album on our facebook page showcasing suhur meals."

Mustaali has sent in submissions for almost every open call! We published his matchbox labels, but alas didn't have enough room to include his pet portrait in the current issue. So behold, Cuddles, the pet cockatiel:


Thanks, Mustaali!

Subscriber: Vanessa Boer

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A peek into Vanessa's studio

Vanessa Boer is a self-proclaimed "illustrator and maker of things." She has a diverse portfolio of creative offerings which include commissioned pet portraits (below), illustration, an etsy shop with prints and interesting chimes made from vintage pencils, as well as styling and custom prop-making for magazines such as Real Simple and Women's Day.


We featured six pages of pet portraits submitted by our readers in the current issue (#10) of UPPERCASE.


Pretty talented bunch of readers, don't you think? To subscribe, please visit the online store.

Mess is More

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Making things requires making a mess. In issue 10, we celebrated the creative mess in all its shredded, snipped, smeared and scattered glory by asking our readers to submit photos of their creative workspace. Here are some outtakes—we couldn't fit everything into the magazine!

My name is Jessica and I’m the maker behind Miniature Rhino. I loved this “Mess is More!” call for submissions theme. As a maker, blogger, and blog reader I often feel like what we leave out our messes and mistakes. They are far more interesting than the perfect pictures we paint. I call these pictures my craft vanitas, and hope that you enjoy them!

Home again / Renegade LA

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We've landed in Calgary. It is quite a relief to be in the comforts of home! And internet access!!! I've got dozens of photos and links to post about people and things from Renegade LA, but the internet connection in our LA hotel was so bad it would have been less frustrating not to have any internet at all.

Here is Victoria of Paper & Type. We included her in a previous issue's subscriber profiles. Check out her lovely papergoods (very appealing photos on her new website and great attention to detail!)