giveaway: for your favourite young and impressionable hooligan

Somewhere, on a highway in the United States, a truck rolls along carrying a few hundred first-edition hardcovers of The Dread Crew. Somewhere. The exact date of delivery is still loose, but it's on the way. Meanwhile, Canadian stores are now stocked with brand new softcovers, the second edition. And it's just as pretty as the hardcover. Yes, I've rubbed it on my face. Confirmed.

To celebrate, this week's thank-you giveaway is this: an exclusive Dread Crew t-shirt in forest green / YOUTH Large (see the design clearly here). A very limited supply were printed up for the book launch, and one could be yours. Inspire a child near you to consider piracy!

comment to win: your photography and art finds

I've got photography and art on the mind tonight, with the new sweet | salty photoblog (I'll be updating it regularly: subscribe here).

Want to adorn your kid (or a kid-friend) with Hector THE WRECKER Gristle, Captain of the Dreads? Comment with who's inspiring you these days. A photograph or photographer that you've discovered and love, or a crafty type that inspires you to get out your fabric stash again, or an artist who paints or bends metal. Anything tactile or visual. I'd love to see.

The winner will be randomly chosen from the comments in 24 hours, at midnight AST tomorrow (Tuesday) night. Good luck!

Congratulations to Tricia, the 20th commenter (not including my own comments), who's won the Dread Crew t-shirt for her piratey girl. Thanks again to all for playing along, and for the inspiration, and watch for something different next week!

Stop for a moment and meet Fiona the Freckle-Free, the pirate queen who won. It'll make you smile. 

In total, there were 28 comments, two of which were uncounted, as they were mine.

Comments

[Angela]

Congratulations to you! (Loobylu has been inspiring me for over ten years now: http://loobylu.com/ )

[thordora]

You know what's been inspiring me to create lately? The buds bursting on the trees, and the air. The air tonight was humid and hangy and full of tomorrow, and all I wanted to do was write and run out with my camera.

Until it started to pour and I saw the laundry.

This spring has been fantastic to me...so really, it's just been life.

[Neil]

Why no adult shirts?

[sweetsalty kate]

Neil - I'd been trying to find a supplier, and sort of gave up, although I would absolutely love to. Problem is that I end up becoming my own merchandiser, and it became a bit daunting. So the small run we did ended up being given away at the launch. And to Sydney of course. And then I got busy writing and doing other stuff and never really followed up with the idea.

Should I look into this again? Would you want one?

[Alex]

Nikki McClure (http://www.nikkimcclure.com/)!

Here's the thing about all these people disagreeing with you regarding your instability/craziness/lack thereof- partly it's that we see that, and we love it. Partly though, it's that we see it all from a different angle than you. While you see yourself all up-close, pores, blackheads, icky-bruised-banana kinds of things, we see the effervescence that you miss because you see it every time you look in the mirror. Trust us on that one. And besides, maybe some of us like bruised banana- it makes us feel dangerous and alive! And another thing- don't argue with your readers. They are right. Smile and nod, and trust that, all together, they have a little bit of sense.

xo,
Alex

[sweetsalty kate]

Alex, you're beyond sweet. Thanks. Bruised banana. A mushy mess. That's about right. :) And Nikki McClure? What an insane coincidence. I wondered what felt so familiar about that name - before printing my own (I use them as thank-yous when I send a print or send anything) I used her 'Take Care' postcards to go along with the review copies of the book. I absolutely LOVE her work. She is so, so cool. I wish I could wallpaper my house with her stuff.

[Gwen]

Learning how my camera actually works is really inspiring me. I am now the one who is letting the kids run around with my husband while I get further behind while I am playing. I think I am even getting some interesting shots out of it too. Now if I can just get my sons to stop making the "Cheese" face I will be happy.

[Katy]

Long time reader, not-so-frequent poster, inspired by the awesome shirt (and yes, I'd love an adult one too) to give you a couple of blogs/photographers that inspire me:
My Topography (http://www.mytopography.com)
Teaworthy (http://teaworthy.com/ ) and her Paper Boat Photography

And my boys, one of whom is also a Ben, are my daily inspiration.

[melody]

Love the book. Love the t-shirt...have boys who can fight over it. (They've been pirates forever now.)

My artistic inspiration of late is my 12 yo son who lives with Asperger's Syndrome. Man, I love it when he lets me inside his head.

[skatey katie]

my eldest son danny is such an inspiration. i have many memories of him as a little 'un, dressing up all piratey and leading his brothers on ex-parrrrrrgh-ditions. he's now nearly twenty-one, but he's still a pirate at heart X

[Kirstin]

Nikki's from my hometown (Olympia, WA). Gawd, I love her stuff. I used to get a calendar every year.

I'm not entering because it wouldn't be fair--I don't have a kid to give the shirt to--but here's someone local to where I live now. Her paintings of homeless people are hanging inside my church (and how cool is that?). http://www.lewloosewatercolors.com/

[Emily]

My good friend, Robin, is an amazing painter; Here is her website:

http://fingerfold.blogspot.com/

And here is a post about the early stages of a four-panel painting I had to have, and is now hanging in my stairwell, under three long skylights:

http://fingerfold.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-still-make-art.html

It's the second piece down, with all the flowers floating across as if they were bubbles blown by an easy wind. It looks so tiny in this shot, it doesn't do it justice, but... I love it. Also, Robin is mama to two gorgeous little nubbins, and struggles with combining art and motherhood as many of us do here, so that makes her even more of an inspiration.

[starrlife]

Courtney Bent is my this week inspiration, a photographer who started a program for folks with severe disabilities to take pics and exhibit them (see my post on "Shooting Beauty" a documentary made of this process that I just saw and blew me away!)
http://starrlife.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/its-open-your-mind-monday/

[Fer]

My sweet buddy T is my continuing inspiration: http://www.theresa.vernetti.net/index.html

[mnkathy]

This guy inspires me to eat, travel, read, write, live...oh...and to cook.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25773211@N07/4554463643/

[rebecca]

The amazing photo bug over at sweetjuniper dot com gets me looking at familiar things, especially urban decay, in a new light. He did a whole series of abandoned homes in Detroit that have been overtaken by the natural trees/growth/shrubs and the pics are haunting. Nature reclaims everything in the end. Love your blog. Lurk but do not comment until now because my boy would look adorable in that shirt.

[melissa]

thank you for this offering. inspired by gabrielle roth and anna halprin (and their new movement/dance documentaries).

[Angella]

I'm inspired by the fact that my own photoblog is the works. Excited to check out yours, friend.

[Melissa]

Tanja Tiziana consistently inspires me with her moody shots of Toronto. Her photos look like the pages of a book I can't wait to curl up wth. Find her shots at www.doublecrossed.ca.

[magpie]

Ooh, pirates.

I am oft yearning at the color, photographs, crafts, lifestyle that Julochka shares at Moments of Perfect Clarity:: http://julochka.blogspot.com/

[Tricia]

Looking forward to the book, I have a copy pre-ordered through amazon, and I know my pirate daughter is going to love it!

I have to say I draw inspiration from many, but these are two in particular who really make me look at things in new ways. One is a friend from high school who does amazing things with glass, in many nature-inspired ways: http://foxandclover.com/ The other is a photographer friend of mine who takes the most amazing travel photography, almost makes me feel like I'm tagging along on her wonderful journeys: http://www.penelopesloom.com/gallery/

[mamie]

i tend to be a broken record lately but everything alabama chanin and everything natalie chanin do inspire me...
http://alabamachanin.com/content/bridal-page-1
that is from her wedding collection and makes me think if i start now i could finish that in time for a 10 year renewal vow ceremony (that gives me three years...ah, to get married again in a tshirt)

who wouldn't want to live in couture jersey knits for the rest of their lives? i have made piece after piece from her books but currently i have to make this quilt, she had it on display at her trunk show in berkeley in april and it made my heart flutter.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16401019@N00/4518780487/
it is made out of sample pieces all stitched by hand...aaaaamazing, right?

if i do win the tshirt i am going to refashion it to fit me because it is way cool. saw neil's comment and would say please please look into more shirts. bring 'em to blogher.

[Mary]

I couldn't bid on her so I splurged on a ski vacation...but I still can't quit her:

http://www.wix.com/hturner/strawberrygoldie

[Erin]

I tried to order the hardcovers from Amazon, but it says that it hasn't been released yet. :(

Lately, Me Ra Koh's DVD's on photographing your children (a gift from my husband for my birthday) have been utterly inspiring. Take photos of them doing what they're doing, capture the details of who they are! No poses! Sounds so simple, but it was revolutionary to me.

[Alison]

I'm inspired by the quiet.. and time.

If I want to take a good photo, which hardly ever happens, but if I do....

I don't want to be nagged to hurry up. Just give me 10 seconds to stop here and do this.

I don't like being rushed. :)

[sweetsalty kate]

Erin, were you looking on Amazon.com? It's available for pre-order, and the books are on the way to U.S. warehouses right now. They'll fill your order as soon as they receive them. You can also order from Amazon.ca, or if you want to get fancy (and be awesome), order from Halifax's Woozles. They have softcovers, and they may have a few hardcovers left. http://www.woozles.com/order.php

[RDavis]

Photography wise I am inspired by so many people it's hard to name one but a recent new craft-y inspiration for me in Joel Henriques of Made by Joel http://madebyjoel.blogspot.com/

Some awesome little crafts to try out with kids on his site.

[ozma]

This isn't exactly a sweet internetty art find but I went to the MOMA and kind of tripped out on this incredible performance art exhibit:

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/965

It's sort of indescribable. There are people, some nude, posed in was that forces you to truly look at them, their bodies, their faces. But there is also an endurance test of the artist, where she looks into the eyes of whatever person is across the chair from her for as long as they can possibly stand it.

There was quite a line though. I couldn't make it to the front.

Human beings. They inspire me in every way. They trouble me but nothing else inspires me more.

Well, bugs. I've really gotten into bugs lately. I saw some beautiful beetles' wings today.