Latest Commissioned Pieces #2

It's no secret that I love to paint and make art. However, I do sometimes struggle when it comes to figuring out what to make. I find myself amidst periods of "creative droughts." As such, it is always so fun for me to create commissioned pieces. For once, I can spend less time thinking about picking the words, and instead, focus on the execution itself. 

This post features two commissions that I did earlier this December before the rush of the larger Christmas orders came in. Creating these two pieces was the perfect balance. This first one was a completely new style that challenged me, and the other was some kind of familiar.

Here's to the one that gave us life

Here's to the one that gave us life — in terms of biology, and in terms of teaching us about faith, hope, and love. To the strongest woman that we know, and the kindest. From the big things like carrying us in her stomach for nine months, to the littlest details that often go unacknowledged. To the greatest unsung heroine that deserves more, but never asks for it. To the one that cooks for us and prays for us, the one that worries about us and thinks about us before herself as if it were second nature. You have made it your life's mission to love us and to make sure that we grow into the best people that we can be. We have learned so much through your example, having taught us the definition of the words compassion, grace, and generosity. 

So here's to you on your special day, our hero, role model, life-support, and more importantly, our mother. Making you proud drives us to continuously reach for constellations despite our shortness in height (inherited from you, of course). Most of all, besides stature and outward appearances, we hope to take on the world in the same way that you do — with heads held high, hearts on our sleeves, and souls rooted in Christ. 

Happy birthday, love always,

Kim + Anne 

Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animals

'Tis the season to get along with your family and be grateful for all that you've got, and the both of us are exactly that. Ever since we have started Flux + Folk, we have never run out of feeling loved and supported. For that, we are insanely grateful. Here's to each and every single one of you, and here's hoping you are all having a very merry Christmas.

The rest of this post contains 2am Polaroid shenanigans. Enjoy!

Hearts, Heads and Bodies

I semi-recently wrote this poem for English class called "Hearts, Heads, and Bodies." We were told that to write a poem entailing our identity within a group of our choice. After long moments of staring blankly at a sheet of paper/borderline banging my head on the desk, I picked up an idea amongst the hurricane of my jumbled thoughts. The group that every person in my class fit into; the species that is teenagers. Suddenly inspired I translated my jumbled thoughts onto paper and came up with 54 lines that somehow made sense in the end.

Free Downloadables: Wallpapers #2

Colossians 3:12 Let's Explore

At last, a couple more contributions to the world of wallpapers! Hope you're all enjoying these. As always, we'd love to see pictures if you do end up downloading. Tag us on instagram @fluxandfolk and use the #fluxandfolk for a chance to be featured on our page. Without further ado (how dramatic, I know), download links are below the jump! 

Here's to the older one

 TO THE OLDER IBASCO 

We were never the one to be mushy with one another. So I'll make this as short and as painless as possible. Most days when we were younger, we wanted to tear each other's head off, and even sometimes now, the same can be true. However, I'm glad that we have evolved to being able to spend prolonged amounts of time hanging out with each other without starting off Word War III. I'm grateful to have you as an older brother even if I don't always show it. Thanks for feeding me, for driving me around, and for sending me links to lame things on the Internet. I will always have your back, no matter what you choose to do in this life — Kimberly

Happy 23rd Birthday! Even with the large age gap between us you have taken it upon yourself to not just be a good older brother, by being responsible and watching over me, but to befriend your youngest sister as well. You've found an abundance of ways to bridge that age gap with things we have in common and activities we both enjoy. You have taught me plenty in my 14 years and even though I'm growing up faster than you or anyone in our family would like, I'll always be your little sister. I constantly find myself looking to you for help even in my desire for independence and you have not failed to be a great older brother. So now all I have to say is thank you for everything!—Anne

Mulberry Press Co.

I recently came across a wonderful California based store called Mulberry Press Co. They sell these amazing graphic tees that promote such inspiring messages. My sister first tagged me in a giveaway they were having and once I viewed their clothing I instantly fell in love and entered the contest. For some reason I had a really good feeling about entering, but then again I always try to keep positive about my chances. However, I was still incredibly shocked when I found out I was lucky enough to win a $75 gift card. You can't imagine how many times I read over the announcement to double check and when I finally came back to my wits, I placed an order for the following three shirts

Welcoming the Holiday Season with New Prints

21st at Fort Langley

For the longest time, it had always bugged me that on birthdays, people would always ask how it feels to turn the age I'm turning. You're 21 today?! How does it feel? Do you feel any different? Well, yes, as a matter of fact,  I did turn another year older, but no, there is no marked difference between who I was before and who I was after the clock struck midnight on the 11th of November.

This year however, my response was a little less prickly. There was no massive change that delineated my earlier years from where I am now. However, rather than preoccupy myself with determining pivotal, life-altering points in my life, all I could think about was how lucky I am. 

21 years on this Earth, and I am still standing. 21 years on this Earth, and I have gotten past every problem that I thought would lead to my demise (dramatic, I know, sue me). 21 years on this Earth, and I have stumbled into some kind of wonderful. 

And on my 21st year on this Earth, I got to celebrate with some of the greatest people I have come to know. 

Best Wishes to You

Photo by: Winnie Estranero

Best wishes to the greatest sister in the world! Today is my sister Kimberly's 21st birthday and in those 21 years of living, she has grown into such an amazing person and has become my constant role model. I am so grateful to have her.

"You lead, I follow." — My sister is such a positive influence in my life. The amount of times she has made me laugh, watched over me, and encouraged me is immeasurable. She has helped me become the person I am today with everything she has done for me. By the time I'm 21 I hope to have become an as amazing person as my older sister. One that always thinks of others and who's presence fills so many people's lives with happiness.

 I would like to wish my pirate partner in non-crime Katy Peggy, a very Happy Birthday! I'll buy a ticket to New York with you any day and I hope the rest of your special day is full of love and joy. — Peggy Leg (your little sister/sidekick)

Latest Commissioned Pieces

Oh man, do I love to create, especially if it's for other people that have better use for my artwork rather than gathering dust in piles under my bed. Here's a peak at some of the pieces that I have had the pleasure of making these past couple of months, paired with some of my ramblings as usual.

October Favorites

Already almost two months of school has rolled by, and now that autumn has begun and schoolwork is picking up, I'd like to focus on little joys like my October favourites. 

Playlist #1 | How Am I The Lucky One?

Free Downloadables: Wallpapers #1

Fix You — Coldplay

Author unknown

I'm not quite sure if it's just us or if this is a global problem, but for the longest time now, we have been having difficulties with finding good wallpapers for our gadgets. The usual avenues like Pinterest have been generating the same old same old, while scrounging up images from Tumblr can be overwhelming (especially if you're not really sure what to search for specifically). Anyhow, I thought I'd make some of my pieces available for you to download for free in hopes of making a contribution to the solution of this problem.

Download links can be found just below the jump!

DIY: Cut-out t-shirt

I did this t-shirt DIY awhile back, around the same time as my sister did hers actually, but I thought of maybe saving mine for later. The previous DIY actually had the highest amount of views compared to our other posts, so seeing as how much you guys seem to have enjoyed that one, I thought maybe later should be now.

I love the new shirts with subtle cutouts that seem to be popular these days, so this shirt was inspired by those. However, in all honesty, I just began playing around and experimenting. I had no idea how it would turn out and I just hoped for the best. In the end I was extremely pleased with the results. It actually surprised me how good it looked even though I was only able to wear it once seeing how the weather has changed so quickly. 

Back to Uni

I'll be the first to admit that heading back to school after a good long four months of steering clear from it had my stomach in knots. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the idea of learning new things and expanding my mental capacity. However, I have two thumbs down and a bitter taste in my mouth regarding what comes hand in hand with when classes are in session; namely, the omnipresent stress, the constant lack of sleep, and the ubiquitous urgency of meeting deadlines after deadlines.  

Now, I could go on and on whinging and whining about all the issues I have with university, but that would only add fuel to the fire. Rather, I decided to do something that would force me to have a more positive, la vie en rose outlook on my current situation. Instead of sulking about the struggles of going to school, I encouraged myself to find things that would make each challenge a little less unpleasant to overcome.

Free Downloadables: Anne's Favorite Quotes #1

These are just a few quotes that have really stuck with me. I find that quotes are good friends that give good advice and reminders that I can look to — and then there's some quotes that just make me smile. Click to read more below the jump!

Styling The Classic Striped Shirt

Just a classic Outfit of the Day post that lead to my closet vomiting all over my bed. Keep reading to see the 3 different outfits I styled, centered on this one classic piece:

Classic Striped Long-sleeve
Gap (link)

This is a very basic shirt that I have come to love because of how easily it pairs with practically everything -- as you can see in the picture. It has grey and cream stripes, and it is very lightweight so you can leave it on its own or throw something on top to wear in different types of weather.

September, please be good me

How is it already past the first week of September? I could swear to you that it was mid-August yesterday and my days still had endless potential for adventuring and sleeping in. The end of summer came and went way too soon, and now it's back to round four of university for me. Since back to school season is upon us, I thought I would share some of what I have been loving during the first few weeks of September -- which admittedly are the same items that I anticipate I'll be loving straight through to the end of the month, and maybe even for the rest of the season.

DIY: Quite possibly the easiest t-shirt DIY ever

For the longest while now, I have been completely hooked on the superhero craze that has seemed to have taken over current mainstream media. Inarguably, one of my favorites to rise out of this explosion is Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which ended its second season back in May. In the show, one of my favorite female characters (though really I love everyone else too), Skye, went though a complete character transformation. The show's stylists thought that clothing wise, she should embody this change as well, and thus began my complete and utter style-envy. 

In the second episode of the season (Heavy is the Head), Skye wore a simple black t-shirt with a slit at the top. I had never seen anything like it before and because neutral and minimalist are two words that typify my entire wardrobe, I naturally fell in love. As soon as I had finished watching the episode, I went online to hunt for the shirt so that I could add it to my never-ending pile of black shirts (trust me, I own practically every style and cut you could name). A quick search ended with disappointment when I found that the shirt cost well over $100. Seriously? For a black shirt? I would never dare. 

I thought that I would eventually forget about the shirt. After all, most of the time in situations like these, I always eventually do. Fast-forward to several months later, and the shirt would still pop up in the back of my mind from time to time. Which brings us to present day, where I lay my thoughts to rest and decided to DIY the shirt myself and share it with the rest of you since this is quite possibly the easiest t-shirt DIY ever. Instructions are below the jump! 

Here's to you for existing

Hey folks! Let's send all the good vibes + positivity towards Anne today because it is her fourteenth year of existing on this planet we call Earth. Not even two decades on this place yet, and she has already accomplished so much and changed so many lives for the better — including mine. God knows what I'd do without her. I most definitely would not have survived this far without the constant source of sunshine that radiates from her every being. Man am I lucky to have someone so smart, loving, and kind as a sister. And well for the rest of you, I sure hope that you have someone nearly as rad in your lives. 

Happy birthday, Anne — my partner in non-crime, and one of my favorite humans to ever exist on this planet. I'm forever proud of you and everything that you do. I can't wait to see you change the world just as you've changed me — Kimberly

Heads up! We're doing an August giveaway

Hey folks! It's been almost a full summer since Flux + Folk came to existence and we wanted to celebrate. As a thank you to all of you who have followed, liked, commented, and/or purchased something in support of us, we are doing a small giveaway worth approximately $15-$20. The giveaway starts today, Wednesday, August 19th, and runs until next week at 11:59pm on Wednesday, August 26th.  Giveaway is open to Canadian residents only.

PRIZES: 

1 | Art piece of your choice from our stock 

2 | Custom commissioned 8.5 x 11 inch piece with your choice in lyric, quote or bible verse

HOW TO ENTER:

1 | Follow us on Instagram

2 | Take a screenshot of one of our art pieces that you would love to win 

3 | Post the picture on your Instagram account with the hashtag #fluxandfolkgiveaway

The winner of the giveaway will be contacted via direct message on Instagram on Thursday, August 27th. 

If you've got further questions about the giveaway details, leave em' in the comments section and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Good luck and happy posting!

Update (August 27th) - The giveaway is now closed and the winner has been announced and contacted via Instagram. Massive thanks to everyone for entering the giveaway (and for all the kind words). We'll do one some other time, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, we hope you find something worth purchasing!

Stay gold,

Kimberly and Anne
Flux + Folk

Say Hello to International Shipping!

Starting now, you no longer need to be in our immediate local area to bid on items or request for commissioned work. Isn't that stellar news?

We're beyond ecstatic to be expanding the Flux + Folk family, and we're thrilled to be welcoming all of you across the globe with open arms.

SHIPPING COSTS

Canada	$5.00 (CAD)
United States	$7.00 (CAD)
International	$10.00 (CAD)

Welcome to Flux + Folk

Hey folks!

Welcome to Flux + Folk. We are thrilled to be launching this site as a means of extending our reach to new people. We never expected the support that we got from opening up shop on Instagram, and we couldn't be more excited to be branching out. This place exists to give us a home on the web that not only shows what we've got in stock, but also gives everyone a place to put in orders and commission requests for our typography pieces. Not to mention, this space gives us more room and opportunity to let you know more about us.

Naturally, because everything is shiny and brand new, there's more than a ton of room for improvement. And so, if you have any comments or suggestions about what you like, what we need to fix, or what we need to add or remove, do let us know.

That's pretty much it for now. We're on the brink of our seats, giddy with excitement about wherever this leads.

Stay Gold,

Kimberly and Anne
Flux + Folk