Mood:  not sure

Well, on this, a cloudy Tuesday afternoon in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, I've been spending some time trying to sandwich the top photo between a couple of other images (via the Blog Builder's "Advanced Customization" tool), and only succeeded in messing up the main page layout a tad.  Hence, hitting Cancel on these efforts, I've concluded that I still have a thing or two to learn about the code in Advanced Customization.  Meanwhile, the content is what I really ought to be focussing on.

I want to begin by saying a word or two about the first LairShop we opened sometime around the turn of the millennium, Artifacts of the Lair.  Its theme has always been a bit ill-defined; it's sort of, more-or-less, promoting Kari's Lair, though it may actually have predated this site.  It's first images included a really rough version of the Official LairLogo; a quote from one of my original short stories, "The Young Clan Mother's Tale" (here is an excerpt from that Neolithic-inspired story); and our Wyoming sunset photo, taken in the late summer of 1988 on the ranch in Granger, Wyoming, where my first-ever contract archaeology crew was camped out.  In other words, it was not the most sophisticated marketing effort ever.  I was introduced to Cafepress stores by my friend, Seattle artist/photographer Shannon Kringen (of "Goddess Kring" fame), who also referred me to hang images at Art/Not Terminal Gallery, beginning in 2004.

In any case, Artifacts of the Lair was the beginning of my association, for better or worse, with the e-commerce phenomenon known as Cafepress.  Now, if only they'd bring back HTML and paragraph spacing for the Basic shops' storefronts!  I've been fighting with them over this for a couple of years now.  Meanwhile, it will soon be time to update all the apparel-based shops for spring, including the addition of new black hooded sweatshirts.  Anyway, here is a sampling of products available from this, our first-ever LairShop (click on the images for easy access to their LairShop pages!):

*****

Mood:  happy

Hello from Seattle, LairCronies!  And a hearty welcome to the brand new LairShop blog, The LairShops Beckon!  We at Kari's Lair felt a need for a kind of newsletter blog specifically to promote our lovely Cafepress LairShops, but wanted to control the format of this sucker--hence a blog, instead of an official Cafepress Newsletter!

In each future entry, we will be discussing and promoting different aspects of our LairShops, their available products, and the images featured on said products--including the processes that went into creating said products.  However, on this, our first post, we'd just like to introduce you to the LairShops themselves, and to provide convenient LairLinks to each one:

• Artifacts of the Lair: Our first LairShop, featuring our Official LairLogo and other Digital artwork that promotes the crazy website known as Kari's Lair;
• The LithicLair: Neolithic LairShop: I've been studying the dynamic art forms of Neolithic Europe privately for many years; and a few years ago, I started experimenting with Neolithic symbols, designs and motifs while making original ornaments out of Sculpey polymer clay.  Wanting to share these ornaments and their inspiration with the rest of the world, I scanned a bunch of them and gave them digital backgrounds.  The results of some of these projects can be found on products here.
• Éireann85: This is a showcase of my favorite photos taken in Ireland, both South and North.  My first trip there was during 1984-85, when I spent my third year of college studying in Dublin, and traveling around the country intermittently.  My second trip was 21 years later, in 2006, when I spent a month traveling all over the island, visiting all the prehistoric sites and trad music sessions I didn't get around to on the first go-round.
• All Bunnyz, All the Time: This LairShop has a very different theme from all the others, dominated as it is by a very weird bunny pic that my Dad created on some primeval version of MS Paint a number of years ago, and emailed to me.  I adapted it with a couple of new backgrounds, but kept the scary eyes and teeth.  It has to be seen to be believed.  Quirky, much...
• The Lair of Cards: This is our only Premium LairShop, and the only one with an all-paper-products focus.  In this one, we borrow images from the other LairShops, but also use a large supply of other photos from Seattle, Ireland, Tennessee and elsewhere, as well as some of the digital art images.  Here, you will find some of the prettiest notecards, posters, framed prints, calendars, stickers and greeting cards available anywhere on the internets!

Anyhow, this is our introduction to the LairShops we'll be busy promoting via this blog!  In future posts, we'll provide logos and in-depth discussion on each of these shops, along with images of the actual products on offer.  And there is a huge array of them, indeed!  And, to share the Lair's Official Motto with all of you:

 TOGETHER ACROSS THE WORLD!!