This weekend was an absolutely ridiculously busy one, including all sorts of fun times that have left me with absolutely no chance to update.

That said, LOOK! SHIRTS!

Threadless has launched four brand new designs. Misplaced Things by Aaron Hogg diagrams the little creatures that often move our keys and other items we whose disappearance we tend to blame on… well, anyone but ourselves. Fun.

Ashkefardic Ultra Refoconservadox by schmoopa is a brilliant cultural mashup of Judaism and apparently (read: obviously) marks the first Jewish shirt to be printed on Threadless. Mazel tov!

Migratory Patterns of the Popsicle is, well, a bunch of popsicles. (And, for the record, said pattern appears to be “downward.”) Quirky, and not for me, but there was some really good feedback in the comments. And a few people who thought they looked like tampons. To each their own.

Hipster Doll resembles a fun doll set, (and how cool would it be if it came with a matching cardboard punch-out set?!? OMG!) so that you can put together your very own Hipster. On your shirt. In your mind. Since they’re printed on. Yeah. But hey, it comes complete with vegan water, studded-Hot-Topic belts, square glasses and your very own brownie camera. Fly.

Threadless also reprinted a few favorites, as they do.

Fabulous Four New Shirts:
Misplaced Things
Ashkefardic Ultra Refoconservadox
Migratory Patterns of the Popsicle
Hipster Doll

And Three Reprints You’ll Love And Cherish:
Sad Psycho
The Things You Love
Emotional Trip

Dear Threadless,

Please don’t bother approving designs that required exactly 20 seconds to execute and upload. “Rothkoesque” or not.

One brush, with “wet edges” turned on, using #6186A8. It’s inspired. In its mindless simplicity.

I think I’ll submit one of these, in a different color scheme, and with the brushstrokes turned vertically.

Awful. Kthx, Love Me.

Verdict: 0 (View Submission)

Staffell has posted the first round of Joy of Text submissions to make it into the Threadless voting stables. The Joy of Text contest was originally created by Staffell back in January as a way to prove that designs centered around text and built with text can, in fact, rock. Since the submission deadline has finally passed, the submissions are making forcing their way onto Threadless, leaving shimala weeping and trembling.

Now, Staffell has gone further and launched Threadies.org as a venue to quickly view all Joy of Text submissions and vote for that contest separately. (Remember, Joy of Text is separate from the submission voting.) Check it out and send your email-vote using their instructions.

In the meantime, check out some of the absolutely great text-based designs in the giant Staffell thread.

Pancake love is a bit disappointing, as pancake-centric submissions go. One commenter mentions how perfectly circular they are, and how unappealing that is.

Pancakes, I take seriously. These make me sad. The butter pat could be so much better, and the heart has no depth. Fluffy, tasty pancakes are the kind I truly desire. And while we’re on topic, IHOP is giving out a free shortstack to every customer THIS TUESDAY. Seriously. Free. Pancakes.

What’s almost surprising (but not at all surprising) is how many people love pancakes. And seem to want to vote accordingly. Hell, it’s the only reason I’m giving this a 2. Pancakes = Potential. This shirt is unfulfilling, sadly.

Verdict: 2 (View Submission)

Threadless today launched their ExtraTasty Loves Threadless Competition. Check it out by clicking that last link, or by visiting http://extratasty.lovesthreadless.com, as I’ll be mirroring this and all new Loves Threadless competitions as a subdomain here.

ExtraTasty, for the uninitiated, is a SkinnyCorp project for the hollow-legged. It’s a user-populated compendium of drink recipes, complete with tagging, favorites, comments and the ability to list what ingredients you have in house, so you can see only recipes you can actually make. Add to that a dash of SMS (recipes texted to your cell) and a squeeze of fresh AJAX, and you have a pretty neat project, if you’re not a friend of Bill W. (Or, perhaps, especially if you’re a friend of Bill’s…)

The competition kicks off today and ends a month from now, on March 27th. They want an ExtraTasty themed (but not “branded”) design, just like previous Loves Threadless competitions. The prizes are pretty nifty, including a 4GB iPod nano, 2 ET shirts, “a bunch of other cool ExtraTasty stuff,” $1,250 cash and a $250 Threadless gift certificate.

Embrace the crazy hedonistic fun of alcoholism and create a design we can really drink down. If you’d like for us to feature/review your design and link to it, send me a quick email to seeme [ at ] lovesthreadless [ dot ] com. (You have to type the @ and ., kids. Don’t be dumb.)

What’re you waiting for? Submit Yours. Competition Details. Current Submissions.

I’ve added a new frame on link outs (links away from the lovesthreadless.com site; most are to Threadless anyway) that shows the latest ♥’s Threadless posts along with links to the newest shirts on Threadless, directly. You can kill the frame if you’d like, but I’m hoping it encourages some user retention.

Tell me what you think, won’t you?

This is a Joy of Text design that I really do enjoy. I love that the animals make up the letters themselves as it lends so much more personality to the design.

It’s a charming little design, although I have to admit, from a distance, it does appear a tad hard to make out the word itself.

Either way, this gets a 5, and I’d probably pick it up, if I was feeling frisky.

Verdict: 5 (View Submission)

One last notice for any of you looking for a great deal: $10 shirts if you buy at least three. I bought two shirts at regular price during the sale period, and, well, could’ve gotten a third if I had bought them at the same time. Look at that. (Actually, it was a matter of there only being one that I wanted at the time I wanted it… Yeah, whatever.)

Here are the codes, if you missed them. The sale ends tomorrow, but I don’t know if that means it’s good through midnight of tomorrow, and with Chicago being in who-knows-what time zone, (oh. um. Central.) you’re just safer buying them straight away tonight. Get cracking.
tenbucks20
tenbucks45
tenbucks87
tenbucks34
tenbucks85

Offer ends on February 25th. Get cracking.

This is the sort of design that I’d normally pass over with a plaintative vote and not bother writing about, but I thought I’d give it my two cents for the hell of it.

It’s a pretty simple design, and while I like the sense of flying and freedom you get from the direction of the roots, I think that there could definitely be more background and perhaps a few elements around it to bolster the concept.

Plus, it looks like a tree from We Are Made Of Carbon broke free… I also think that since the tree is the color of the shirt, use of another color might spice things up a bit. Though I’m sure plenty of folks will like its milquetoast simplicity.

Verdict: 3 (View Submission)

This shirt made me laugh for about a minute solid. It’s simple and adorable, and while it’s based on an older comic/concept that’s been around for awhile, it’s perfect for a t-shirt and executed well enough that I don’t mind.
Because if you’re a fish, and you have exactly three liters of water to call your home, you’d be hoping for a balloon… and string… and paper… and pen… and opposable thumbs to land in your tank, too.

My only complaint is that it’s on that damn light blue color. I’m just sick of it in general, though it obviously needs to be on a blue.

Verdict: 5 + Would Buy (View Submission)

I’ve been thinking of different contests I could throw here… If you have any original ideas, let me know, will you? (Email: chris [ at ] lovesthreadless [ dot ] com )

How attractive would a Threadless 12 Month Club prize be?

Let me know, and if you don’t feel like emailing me, just leave a comment here. It’s easy and… um… fun.

I’d love to grab a few more submissions to review, but I need to be up for a meeting tomorrow, so it’s off to bed for now. I’d love to hear what you guys think, though.

The astute amongst you might notice I’m never sure what rules of capitalization to play by when writing up a submission. I usually follow the submission’s style as a guide, with the first word capitalized, but I figure that absolutely none of you could possibly care less no matter how hard you tried.

Indeed, without that mindless ramble out of our way, I direct your attention to “the ninjas are bored,” by Gringz. The illustrative style is pretty catching, and I like that it’s on sagestone. (Can you tell I’m a fan of that particular shade of green?) I do agree with one of the Threadless commenters who thought to mention that it’d be perhaps more fun (”full of whimsy,” et cetera) if the other ninja was squaring off his own marionette to boot. I concur.

Aside from that, it’s a wonderfully cute presentation.

Verdict: 4 (View Submission)

While I’m half-tempted to flick designer jublin’s ear for his first comment on his piece, (”It’s raining cats and dogs! Have you ever heard that saying?” Storm Warning is a striking design that’ll grab anyone who loves dogs. Or, just anyone, really. Jublin asked me to take a look at his design, and here’s what I have to say about it.
Featuring several different dog breeds, each showcasing various stages of disarray through their wonderfully drawn expressions, this is another design that you’re surprised could be pulled off in just four colors, yet still has the flexibility to be hue/saturated into whatever color scheme one might like.

I love the sense of motion from the falling-frisbee-dog, and his expression that goes with it is perfect as well. I think that the strength of this piece is just how well thought out it appears—everything fits together quite well, although as some have mentioned, not being able to see the tiger is a slight bit disappointing—although it might have been somewhat the point, just a single eye might have been clever.

Regardless, the design stands up rather flawlessly on its own, and I could easily see it printed in golds, reds, or any other color scheme, really. Jublin did a great job here. (Although I do wish he would have included a yellow lab like my dog, Cisco.)
Verdict: 5 + Would Buy (View Submission)

This is a fantastic shirt for the hipster-cum-literati-
cum-art-grad-school-student. And for a lot of other folks.

While I think it’d be best-received in academia, the truth is, a lot of people I know would love to pull this off.
In the Threadless blog comments, a few people were complaining that the “only” was ruining the concept for them, or souring it slightly. To me, the “Only” is vital. When you say “There are only (x) people more creative than me,” it forces the reader to believe that you plan on conquering that number.

Finish the sentence here: “There are only (x) people richer than me, but just you watch.” That’s how I read the shirt. And that’s how any A-type who wears it will think of it. And while designer g_man has “Fill in the blanks with permanent marker” on the composition, I think it’d work brilliantly with magic marker or something washable—so that I could show the world (or rather, my friends) the progress I’ve made, at least in my own mind.

My only qualm with this shirt might have to do with placement. I like that it’s legible, it’s simple and it’s effective. OMG and just think of the awesomeness/garishness of using miniature LED counters ticking slowly down in place of the “form field” look. Fantastically original, this. (And thank God, he used “than” instead of “then.”)

Verdict: 5 + Would Buy (View Submission)

Oh how cute. I love that the mouse has the afro comb and the square glasses. Attention to detail: A+. Plus, the “model” Mat0fr used to showcase the design on is perfect. It’s a fun, charming little design that really rocks it, Saturday Night Fever style.

Verdict: 4 (View Submission)