Mactop Stickers, Part 2: The Woody

Next up in our series of custom stickers for electronic devices is Schtickers. Offering custom skins based on your pictures -- as well as a plethora of artistic designs, ranging from Van Gogh's "Starry Night" to Hiroshige's "The Wave" -- these folks have got laptop skins covered.

Our favorite Schtickers design may be one of the simplest. It's a series of Macbook skins that reminds us of the famous "Woody Wagon" -- that classic 1950's suburb-mobile covered in fake wood paneling -- called the Woody.

Here you can choose to clothe your oh-so-sleek and modern white Mac in retro Birch or Cherry Woody skins that either allow your little backlit Apple logo to shine through or obscure it, depending on your tastes. (While most Mac owners would probably opt for the former, we imagine there are a few out there who appreciate the minimalist design.)

Woody laptop skins from Schtickers run $29.95, while custom images will set you back $24.95.

Laptop Stickers: MacSlaps Class Up Your Apple

First, we brought you Stick with Me, Baby -- now we bring you another (and definitely classier) option for personalizing your Mac while highlighting that iconic apple logo: MacSlaps! 

These laptop stickers are all built around the backlit Mac logo, and each utilizes it differently. There are designs that put the apple to work in obvious ways -- Snow White's apple, for example, or the apple gobbled up by Pac Man on his way through that pesky maze -- but also those that place an apple where you wouldn't expect one (behind a drum kit, or on the hood of a VW bug).

All of these stickers are constructed of tough vinyl and leave no residue when peeling off. They also work with the clean lines of your Mac by focusing on silhouettes, rather than detailed images.

MacSlaps! come in 28 different designs and sell for $24.00 apiece.

Stuff We Like: Fresh Fruit Stickers

Summer's here and time is right not only for dancing in the streets -- we think -- but for eating lots of sweet, delicious fruit. But while many varieties of fresh fruit are currently in season, not all fruit is grown in the same way. Hence, this fascinating sticker factoid: those little stickers that come on fresh fruits can tell you how they were grown.

All fruit labels feature a price look up (PLU) number. According to J-tech Systems, fruits that were grown organically feature a PLU number beginning with 9, such as 98045, while those that were grown conventionally have a four digit code beginning with 4, such as 4590.

Another fascinating morsel -- while grocery stores are not currently required to note which fruits and vegetables are genetically modified, produce featuring genes that were tinkered with in the lab feature a five digit number beginning with 8, such as 87590.

Regardless of how your fruit was raised, you'll want to remove that sticker before eating it (but don't worry about any residual adhesive -- that's food-grade).

Live Oak: Live Music Fans Share the Love

The Live Oak Music Festival is a three day concert and camping event held every year on Father’s Day weekend in the hills above Santa Barbara, California. It started way back in 1988 by a group of staff and on-air hosts from California's Central Coast public radio station, KCBX, as a fundraiser. Since then, it has grown into an annual tradition with a dedicated following.

Live Oak, as it is affectionately known, this year hosted live music ranging from traditional, folk, bluegrass and gospel, to blues, jazz, classical and world music. Headliners included Toots and the Maytals, The Wailin' Jennys, and Grammy winner Mavis Staples, among other luminaries. It was attended by nearly 3,000 people.

All those fans, of course, need a way to express their love for the festival--they'd been asking for stickers for years, but Kelli Reynolds and other festival organizers had a hard time finding a printer that could handle the colorful graphics of the festival's artwork at a price that wouldn't break the public radio bank. (This is a fundraiser, after all.)

Fortunately, Custom Sticker Makers fit the bill, giving the fest a way to show off its artwork in full color, and with unique die-cut shapes. The stickers were sold this year at the festival, and since then, Kelli has seen them on cars all over the area. 

"When I found CSM," Kelli told us, "I decided to give them a try because the ordering process was simple and the prices were very reasonable. You can submit the order online which makes it easy, but also if there is any problem with anything, you can call them up and you’ll always get a live (and very nice!) person." She goes on to note that all the custom die-cut option really makes their stickers pop.

The Live Oak Music Festival can be found at www.liveoakfest.org and KCBX Public Radio can be found (and streamed live!) at www.kcbx.org.

If you live along California's Central Coast, you can pick up KCBX on your radio dial at 90.1 FM in San Luis Obispo; 89.5 in Santa Barbara; 91.7 from Paso Robles to Salinas; 90.9 in Santa Ynez, Avila Beach, and Cambria; 91.1 in Cayucos; and 95.1 in Lompoc.

Warning: Rabid Aardvarks Gaining Popularity in Wisconsin

The Rabid Aardvarks (in case you were wondering) is a band that covers contemporary pop and modern country songs with female vocals. They're also pretty popular in their native Wisconsin, where they went home with the Wisconsin Area Musician's Industry (WAMI) People's Choice Award for 2011.  

The present incarnation of the band got its start back in 2006 with the goal of becoming one of the top cover bands in Wisconsin. Since that time the group has evolved, picking up rabid (yes) fans everywhere it goes, as well as a number of nominations from WAMI.

Like most bands that know what's good for them, a big part of what the Aardvarks do off-stage is brand management--a.k.a., helping to build awareness of the band and driving traffic to their website, where fans can connect via newsletter and text updates, or via the band's Facebook page. 

Kevin Machan of the Aardvarks told us, "I've always used custom stickers for band promotion going back to the early 90s, but the uniqueness of our current mascot design put me on the search for someone who could do relatively short-run, high graphics, which are a terrific fit to CSM's digital process."

Check them out online at www.rabidaardvarks.com

Skateboard Sticker Alert: RetroSkateStickers

Fans of vintage skateboard stickers, take note: RetroSkateStickers has got the goods--from Airwalk to Zorlac and everything in between--both for sale and for show.

The site was started by Blair, who's been collecting vintage skateboard stickers since way back in 1989. First, he went crazy for World Industries and Blind. He moved on to H-Street, Santa Cruz, Powell Peralta, and then Volcom in the mid-90s.

Needless to say, the man acquired a vast personal collection of stickers, which has now been condensed to around 350+ of his closest friends (which he will, of course, never sell). But he his "sticker vault" is also home to hundreds of mint-quality duplicate skateboard stickers, so he decided to start an online store to share the wealth.

Prices range from under $5 to $125, depending on the level of artwrork, scarcity and sought-after status of the sticker. RetroSkateStickers is also home to a gallery of Blair's personal faves, bits of skate sticker history, and rare sticker alerts.