Being Geek Chic is a blog for stylish geeks, sophisticated nerds and people who enjoy the musings of a complete dork. Join us as we dream of driving the TARDIS, cuddle with our eBooks and test out an iPad sleeve. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi and a team of brilliant lady nerds. Meet the team.
See that cute iPhone cover? It will fit on the iPhone 5! Even before the iPhone 5 has hit your mailbox. Now you can buy that and help fund this here website and let everyone know that you’re a future Martha Jones/Donna Noble type. How cool is that?
In all realness, I’ve decided to start a shop with Society 6. Let me tell you some reasons why:
1. I always wanted a super geeky iPhone cover that expressed my future career plans.
2. Making blog content costs money.
3. Making blog content takes time.
4. I don’t have a lot of time or money.
5. I love my readers and want to share more content with you.
6. I think you might like this stuff too.
7. Society 6 makes it so, so easy.
You may have noticed that I’ve been running ads for a while on the right sidebar and that has been going OK - But I hate how they add this ugliness to everything and are truly random. They’re unpredictable. So I started thinking: is there something that my blog readers might like to buy that I can offer? Something they might actually want? Or would just buy anyway?
And here’s the thing: buying something isn’t the only way to support this effort.
If you feel compelled, please help get the word out about these geeky items by:
1. Pinning the products
2. Tweeting about the products
3. Sharing them with your Facebook friends.
I really appreciate every single one of you and wanted to do something that not only added some geeky beauty to your life, but made it possible for me to start paying contributors, covering the cost of DIY materials and maybe even expand on the video aspect of things.
If you have an idea for a product - let me know. I’m open to suggestions and would love to spread more geeky goodness via stationary, laptop skins and iPhone 5 cases.
For her charm, entrepreneurial know-how, and solid Midwestern work-ethic, Catherine Polacek is the Lady Geek of the Week. Polacek owns Printerette Press, a quaint design and letterpress studio in St. Paul, MN. Check her out on Etsy, Twitter (@printerette), and Facebook.
Printerette Press was established in 2009 when Polacek bravely abandoned her clothing designer gig in the “big box” corporate world. We all remember 2009, right? Pretty much economic terror. Leaving a steady job was a gutsy move. But for Polacek, it paid off!
According to Polacek, the star of Printerette is her 100-year-old, 1000-pound vintage Chandler & Price platen letterpress. Each and every Printerette piece, after it is designed, critiqued, and edited, is lovingly hand-fed on the press, one at a time, with careful attention to detail.
When asked of her inspiration, Polacek whimsically states, “It comes from everywhere, and I think you can see that in my product. My imagery is far from complex! Most recently, the patterns from my collection of vintage quilts have inspired me. Also astronomy, baked goods, and my grade school days…My recent project was inspired by friendship bracelets. Other recent inspirations were my foray into canning and my dog. It’s pretty simple.”
What about the inevitable creative ruts? “I set down what I’m stewing over and move onto something completely different. Feeling blah about stationery? I’ll make a pie. Creating something of a totally different vain gets me back on track. Also, Pinterest.”
(The Being Geek Chic Pinterest boards provide a wonderful flow of inspiration. :) Have you checked them out recently, lady geeks?)
So take a page or two from Polacek and stay inspired, stay brave, and stay geek chic!
Post by Emma Bauer, who works as BGC’s official intern. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, history scholar, tea drinker, fashion devotee, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic. On twitter: @emmalynnbauer
Did you know that NASA has an image of the day every single day? It’s all brilliant and beautiful and you don’t know what you’re going to get. It’s worth checking out every couple days just to see what’s going on at NASA.
Combine the fantastic image of the day with this awesome galaxy envelope tutorial from Mini Eco and I was inspired to create a freebie for the day.
Download the Stella Star Card here.
The image is from just the other day and NASA is describing it as two star clusters merging. Here’s the details for the other space nerds:
“Astronomers using data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope caught two clusters full of massive stars that may be in the early stages of merging. The 30 Doradus Nebula is 170,000 light-years from Earth. What at first was thought to be only one cluster in the core of the massive star-forming region 30 Doradus has been found to be a composite of two clusters that differ in age by about one million years.”
So I combined the brilliance of this incredible image with the word, “Stella” which means star in Latin. I need more generic cards like this. Don’t we all have too many thank you cards and not enough generic cards for those random moments in life when you just want to say something nice?
Here’s some examples of messages you could write inside this card:
“You’re a star, baby.”
“I glow for you.”
“Reach for the… you know whats…”
It’s a 3x5 card, so go make the envelopes over at Mini Eco and then come over here and print the card. Cut it out and share with your friends and lovers.
Don’t forget… Download the Stella Star Card here.
Lady Geek Keli Catalano threw her caution to the wind when she turned her passion into a full-time career. She launched her design boutique and paper art studio Colette Paperie in 2008, but not without guts.
She’s “a risk-taker, a rule-breaker and proud of it.”
Catalano’s paperie offers greeting cards that are whimsical and wise.
Her cards spout messages like, “Happy Mother’s Day Mom…from the best thing you ever made out of an egg” and “Let’s ketchup soon.”
I love her mission to promote sending “paper mail instead of an e-mail.”
Who wouldn’t love receiving a Colette Paperie card in their post?
And before you think Keli’s mind is all tricks and no wit, check out this video blog of life lessons she’s gathered. My favorite? Lesson #7:
“Don’t give a flying crap about what anyone else thinks of you.”
Until next week, lady geeks!
Post by Emma Bauer, who works as BGC’s official intern. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, history scholar, tea drinker, fashion devotee, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic. On twitter: @emmalynnbauer
This week’s Lady Geeks are a duo who run the stationary company, Mara Mi. This two person start-up stationery company was formed in Minnesota, so it’s got a special spot in my heart.
The art of a well-written Thank You card is really under-appreciated these days. Inspiring stationary might motivate more of us to take five minutes out of our day and write a Thank You to our colleague, our aunt or our boss. Who knows what might change when you spread mutual thankfulness.
Their stationary is charming, irreverent and youthful. You’ll frankly be excited to get a card with their logo on the back. In 2010, they opened a store and cafe in downtown Stillwater and here’s what Minneapolis-St.Paul Magazine had to say about it:
The bright, open space is a beautiful paper nirvana filled with cards, stationery, invitations, décor, and more—and they even have a section dedicated to all things bridal. Find wedding books filled with inspiration, products for stress-free planning, and DIY kits including invites, thank you cards, favor boxes, and place settings. And now that the companies have merged, if you can’t find an invitation design that suits you, a team of designers in the lofted space above can help custom create your perfect look. While you’re there, be sure to stop at their quaint café for a cup of coffee or even ice cream!
If you’re in the Twin Cities, I recommend stopping by their store, but if your online here’s some suggestions worth checking out:
Thomas Paul Orange Elephant Thank You Cards
Vintage photo Invitations
Pinecone Paper Straws
Red Festive Bottle Tags
Follow Mara Mi on Twitter (@Mara_Mi_store) and check out their website here.
I know, I know. The holidays are still weeks and weeks away, but I fell in LOVE with these free gift tag freebies from Hello Lucky and just couldn’t stop myself from sharing.
The UK stationary company does a wide range of things including wedding invitations, holiday cards and note paper, but they’re offering a couple good freebies to their customers and I thought I’d share them with you.
The above tag is part of a set of 3 which come with the year 2011 or the year 2012 on the ticket.
Here’s the 2011 version.
Here’s the 2012 version.
