Remember how I was so excited about doing the craft show next month? I don't know what happened, but I'm not so excited any more. I still don't know what I'm going to take or how much to take. What if no one buys anything? What if all my stuff is just stupid and I'm wasting time and money trying to start this little business? Blah, blah, blah....I know I'm not the first, only or last person who is freaking out about his/her creative endeavors. Ugh! Self doubt, you would think someone in her mid 40's would be beyond it!
One thing that has been good is that yesterday, I figured out how to set up my own cards in Word and correct some potential printing problems in Paint. I'm going to take them down to Kinko's to see how they print. If they are good reproductions, this will really help me. I can just set things up on the page the way I want them, then run down to have them printed. It's taking some time to get things cleaned up and set up, but ultimately, it's nicer to have this control. I should eventually get some other kind of software program to do some graphic design.
I sold a couple of card packs this past weekend. My dad's cousin bought Peter's Tree and Action Flowers. I'm really excited about it. It's nice to have some business.
Well, I think that is all for now. Thanks for stopping by.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Happy Spring!
We were lucky to have some beautiful weather today. Very sunny, which is what my brain needs. It has been a dreary winter and my family and I have been passing "cooties" around for about 6 weeks. This week I had strep throat and pink eye and my daughter had pink eye. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!
I sold my first ACEO a couple of days ago. I'm excited to have gotten a sale. Here's what my customer bought:
I do really like this. It was fun to make, but I am surprised at how many people say they like it. I guess I shouldn't admit that, but it's true. It's so simple, but maybe that is part of the appeal.
Here is my latest painting:
I like this, but wonder if my drawings are too weird. I'm not sure this is one I would turn into cards, or not.
Ok, I'm realizing this isn't the most upbeat post I've ever written. But it's late, so I think I'll just call it a night. Thanks for dropping by.
I sold my first ACEO a couple of days ago. I'm excited to have gotten a sale. Here's what my customer bought:
I do really like this. It was fun to make, but I am surprised at how many people say they like it. I guess I shouldn't admit that, but it's true. It's so simple, but maybe that is part of the appeal.
Here is my latest painting:
I like this, but wonder if my drawings are too weird. I'm not sure this is one I would turn into cards, or not.Ok, I'm realizing this isn't the most upbeat post I've ever written. But it's late, so I think I'll just call it a night. Thanks for dropping by.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Why Did They Have to Go and Do A Thing Like That?
When I was 10, Grand Funk Railroad had a song out called "Locomotion". I loved that song and thought I was hot stuff when my friends and I would do the dance that went along with it. In fact, I remember that for some reason, we got to "perform" that dance in front of the class. I brought my 45, put it on the classroom record player and rocked out with a few others, while the rest of the class looked on.
I thought it was a new song; I didn't know that it was actually a remake of a song that had been out in the 50's or 60's and I was completely unimpressed when I heard the original. We tend to think that our music is/was the best and that most of the newer stuff just ain't so great. At least, that's what I think. Just 14 years ago, I pretty much knew all the popular musicians and the newer music. In fact, I was pretty good at music trivia. These days, I wouldn't recognize most famous people (including actors) if they slapped me in the face! 14 years really isn't such a long period of time to be losing all that knowledge!
Anyway, I work part time in a department store that plays satellite music. It's ok, but I rarely hear music I really like and often hear music I don't like. But the thing that gets me is some of the songs that are remade. I mean, there are just some songs in this life that should never, NEVER be remade. Either because they were bad in the first place and don't need to be resurrected or because they were/are perfect just the way they are.
I know this isn't a new song, but one example I can think of is Bye Bye Miss American Pie. That is a song that was fine the way it was and didn't need Madonna adding any new twists to it. There's some new version of Janis Ian's song At 17 that I think is awful and doesn't at all convey the emotion that Janis did in the original. There are others too, but I can't remember them now. There are artists whose songs should never be remade because they are perfect: Stevie Wonder, Barry White, The Beatles... If there is ever a remake of "Dream On" I will not be happy.
I don't know why I thought this would be a good blog post, maybe I just feel like going on a petty little rant. I also know that it reveals my age and makes me seem like an old lady. But I guess I have to live with that, don't I?
Ok, so it's official (our money has been sent in and received) that my friends and I are doing the craft fair in April. I'm really excited, but I don't have many things to sell. One would think that I would be thrilled to have a legitimate excuse to craft my head off, but I'm actually feeling a little hopeless about it. I have a lot to do, plus I have my real life to take care of and the two don't exactly work well together most of the time.
Sure, I'd much rather make pictures or draw or put cards together, but my daughter is sort of demanding about having her poopy diapers changed. My son has to have some sort of food every couple of hours and wants to tell me stories every 10 minutes and my husband expects to have clean underwear for work (the nerve!) and dinner at night. The cat wants to be fed and petted and let out. My bosses expect me to come to work when I'm scheduled, the bills need to be paid, the dishes need to be done, I need to pay attention to my Etsy chat room friends :) and on and on! So this is what it's like to be a grown up! Ohhhhh.
I just need to come up with a plan and execute it, so that I'll have enough stuff to take with me to the fair. Maybe that should be my commitment for this blog: make a plan and be accountable for it. Now, that's a novel idea!
Ok, gotta go. I'm trying to get my craft stuff organized so that I can spend my time crafting rather than looking around for supplies.
I thought it was a new song; I didn't know that it was actually a remake of a song that had been out in the 50's or 60's and I was completely unimpressed when I heard the original. We tend to think that our music is/was the best and that most of the newer stuff just ain't so great. At least, that's what I think. Just 14 years ago, I pretty much knew all the popular musicians and the newer music. In fact, I was pretty good at music trivia. These days, I wouldn't recognize most famous people (including actors) if they slapped me in the face! 14 years really isn't such a long period of time to be losing all that knowledge!
Anyway, I work part time in a department store that plays satellite music. It's ok, but I rarely hear music I really like and often hear music I don't like. But the thing that gets me is some of the songs that are remade. I mean, there are just some songs in this life that should never, NEVER be remade. Either because they were bad in the first place and don't need to be resurrected or because they were/are perfect just the way they are.
I know this isn't a new song, but one example I can think of is Bye Bye Miss American Pie. That is a song that was fine the way it was and didn't need Madonna adding any new twists to it. There's some new version of Janis Ian's song At 17 that I think is awful and doesn't at all convey the emotion that Janis did in the original. There are others too, but I can't remember them now. There are artists whose songs should never be remade because they are perfect: Stevie Wonder, Barry White, The Beatles... If there is ever a remake of "Dream On" I will not be happy.
I don't know why I thought this would be a good blog post, maybe I just feel like going on a petty little rant. I also know that it reveals my age and makes me seem like an old lady. But I guess I have to live with that, don't I?
Ok, so it's official (our money has been sent in and received) that my friends and I are doing the craft fair in April. I'm really excited, but I don't have many things to sell. One would think that I would be thrilled to have a legitimate excuse to craft my head off, but I'm actually feeling a little hopeless about it. I have a lot to do, plus I have my real life to take care of and the two don't exactly work well together most of the time.
Sure, I'd much rather make pictures or draw or put cards together, but my daughter is sort of demanding about having her poopy diapers changed. My son has to have some sort of food every couple of hours and wants to tell me stories every 10 minutes and my husband expects to have clean underwear for work (the nerve!) and dinner at night. The cat wants to be fed and petted and let out. My bosses expect me to come to work when I'm scheduled, the bills need to be paid, the dishes need to be done, I need to pay attention to my Etsy chat room friends :) and on and on! So this is what it's like to be a grown up! Ohhhhh.
I just need to come up with a plan and execute it, so that I'll have enough stuff to take with me to the fair. Maybe that should be my commitment for this blog: make a plan and be accountable for it. Now, that's a novel idea!
Ok, gotta go. I'm trying to get my craft stuff organized so that I can spend my time crafting rather than looking around for supplies.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Finally....March!
I've noticed as the days get longer and more sunshine appears, I'm feeling motivated to tidy up a bit. I'm also wanting to make pictures and other fun stuff. I love Spring and look forward to the warm, sunny days.
I never did mention my new Etsy banner. I decided I wanted to try to do my own background (which I did in watercolor pencil). Then I took a photo of it and tried to do the text in Word, then in Paint and it wasn't working for me very well. I keep thinking Word has some graphic design capabilities, but I feel like I'm wasting so much time trying to figure it out. I wouldn't mind spending time on it, but I've got a lot of things I need to do and just want to feel like I'm accomplishing something.
My buddy Ashley of Heart Hugs Designs ( http://hearthugsdesigns@etsy.com ) stepped in and did the text for me. She's really good to me, I just asked for help and she whipped it out in a matter of minutes (and this is a woman with a less-than-1-year-old child)! Ashley designed my first banner too, which I liked a lot. She is very easy to work with and very patient with those of us who struggle with the technical aspects of banners. She has a great shop too, with a variety of products: custom photo invitations, banners, announcements, as well as cards, tags and supplies. You should check out her shop. Not only does she have nice things, she's also a lovely human being (and my first Etsy friend).
Here's the new banner:
Two exciting things I'm working on but I'm having a hard time focusing: I'm going to do a craft show in April with my friends Beth (http://heartgrooves.etsy.com) and Jolene (http://locoMOmomma.etsy.com). It's a small show, but it will be my first and I'm just beside myself, I'm so excited! Etsy has a good article on how to prepare for a craft show, so I'll be using that for reference: http://www.indiecraftfairguide.com/articles/how-to-guide
The other thing is I've talked to a coffee shop owner in town about selling some cards in her shop! Woo hoo! I'll probably start off by putting about 10 card sets in the coffee shop to see how they do. I'll set up a display with my business cards and contact information.
Ok, that's it for now. I want to work on some cards now. Thanks for stopping by.
I never did mention my new Etsy banner. I decided I wanted to try to do my own background (which I did in watercolor pencil). Then I took a photo of it and tried to do the text in Word, then in Paint and it wasn't working for me very well. I keep thinking Word has some graphic design capabilities, but I feel like I'm wasting so much time trying to figure it out. I wouldn't mind spending time on it, but I've got a lot of things I need to do and just want to feel like I'm accomplishing something.
My buddy Ashley of Heart Hugs Designs ( http://hearthugsdesigns@etsy.com ) stepped in and did the text for me. She's really good to me, I just asked for help and she whipped it out in a matter of minutes (and this is a woman with a less-than-1-year-old child)! Ashley designed my first banner too, which I liked a lot. She is very easy to work with and very patient with those of us who struggle with the technical aspects of banners. She has a great shop too, with a variety of products: custom photo invitations, banners, announcements, as well as cards, tags and supplies. You should check out her shop. Not only does she have nice things, she's also a lovely human being (and my first Etsy friend).
Here's the new banner:
Two exciting things I'm working on but I'm having a hard time focusing: I'm going to do a craft show in April with my friends Beth (http://heartgrooves.etsy.com) and Jolene (http://locoMOmomma.etsy.com). It's a small show, but it will be my first and I'm just beside myself, I'm so excited! Etsy has a good article on how to prepare for a craft show, so I'll be using that for reference: http://www.indiecraftfairguide.com/articles/how-to-guide
The other thing is I've talked to a coffee shop owner in town about selling some cards in her shop! Woo hoo! I'll probably start off by putting about 10 card sets in the coffee shop to see how they do. I'll set up a display with my business cards and contact information.
Ok, that's it for now. I want to work on some cards now. Thanks for stopping by.
Friday, February 22, 2008
More New Stuff
It's so exciting to get an idea and watch it evolve on paper or canvas or whatever... I think it's interesting to have an idea in my brain and try to get it on paper. I had a dream the other night that gave me an idea about some flowers to draw. When I finally did the drawing, it didn't really look anything like what I had dreamed about. But I'm perfectly happy with the outcome. So sometimes it's like the end product is just a bunch of happy accidents!
I can't tell you how much fun I'm having with my crafting-I just love it. The problem of course, is that I can easily get sucked into the Etsy addiction and the crafting and totally neglect my other responsibilities. I think if I would treat this more like a part time job with regularly scheduled work hours, then maybe I would be able to maintain more of a balance between this and family things.
I've decided I want to do a series of these abstract flowers and sell them in a variety pack of cards. So the red flower is my newest edition. I'm not sure if I like it or not yet. I want to do a few more things to it and see what I think. I'm also wondering is if I should make them more uniform if I'm going to package them together: should they all be horizontal or portrait, should they all have borders or not have borders, etc. We'll see.
It's ironic that I wouldn't have a Valentine's Day card for my husband, since I like making cards so much. In fact, many, many times, I don't give him handmade cards. I just buy a Hallmark, write something mushy in it and give it to him. This year I bought him a lame card from our favorite discount store (feeling guilty as I tossed it into the cart). I was trying to justify it by telling myself "a lame-O card is better than no card...".
When I got home and started unloading all of my purchases, I couldn't find the card. "Oh Great! I spent money on the lame-O card and it didn't even make it home with me!" I decided God must be trying to bring something to my attention...like, "could you maybe put a little bit of effort in a card for your husband. The man you are spending the rest of your life with. The man who fathered and is a wonderful father to your children. The man who, every day, makes sure you get time to yourself, away from the kids - even though he's just gotten home from working all day too? You remember that guy, don't you?" Yeh, ok God...you're right.
I didn't have a lot of time to make something for him. I decided to finish a project I had been working on and give it to hubby as a Valentine's Day card. It's made out of tissue paper, mod podge (I just love that stuff) and markers on matte board. I wrote mushy stuff on the back. Here's what it looks like - minus the mushy stuff, that's private! :
I really like how it turned out. In fact, my hubby asked me if I planned on taking it back and selling it on Etsy. I'm not. But I do plan on making something similar on canvas board. I'll see how it copies, maybe make some cards, maybe just sell the original. I'm not sure yet.
I went to a coffee shop the other day with my friend Jean. While I was there I talked with one of the owners about selling cards at her shop. She was open to the idea. Now, I just have to figure out what items to take there and how to display them. I'm excited about the possibility of having a display in a retail establishment.
I'm working on getting my packaging together too. I have several cards printed and finally made folders for them but haven't decorated the folders yet. It's amazing what a saboteur procrastination is! If I would just get my packaging together and photos taken, I could have 3-4 new things listed on Etsy and a display down at the coffee shop. Not to mention I have an order for a friend I still need to fill.
As I'm writing this, I'm struck by the fact that there are so many people on Etsy whose blogs reflect the same battles: procrastination, self doubt, "if only I would..."s.
I wish the world was filled with more people who knew how valuable they are to God. Who understood when and where to hold themselves accountable for their weaknesses and who know when it is ok to just be kind to themselves.
By allowing myself time to work on art, I'm learning how to be kind to myself. I'm acknowledging my need and desire to create and I'm letting myself do it. I think the desire to create is definately a gift from God. there are so many ways creativity shows itself, not just in visual arts or music.
Oh no, it's getting late and I feel a philisophical rant coming on...since this is a blog and not my own personal journal, I think I'll stop here and go do something else. :)
Thanks for reading.
I can't tell you how much fun I'm having with my crafting-I just love it. The problem of course, is that I can easily get sucked into the Etsy addiction and the crafting and totally neglect my other responsibilities. I think if I would treat this more like a part time job with regularly scheduled work hours, then maybe I would be able to maintain more of a balance between this and family things.
I've decided I want to do a series of these abstract flowers and sell them in a variety pack of cards. So the red flower is my newest edition. I'm not sure if I like it or not yet. I want to do a few more things to it and see what I think. I'm also wondering is if I should make them more uniform if I'm going to package them together: should they all be horizontal or portrait, should they all have borders or not have borders, etc. We'll see.
It's ironic that I wouldn't have a Valentine's Day card for my husband, since I like making cards so much. In fact, many, many times, I don't give him handmade cards. I just buy a Hallmark, write something mushy in it and give it to him. This year I bought him a lame card from our favorite discount store (feeling guilty as I tossed it into the cart). I was trying to justify it by telling myself "a lame-O card is better than no card...".
When I got home and started unloading all of my purchases, I couldn't find the card. "Oh Great! I spent money on the lame-O card and it didn't even make it home with me!" I decided God must be trying to bring something to my attention...like, "could you maybe put a little bit of effort in a card for your husband. The man you are spending the rest of your life with. The man who fathered and is a wonderful father to your children. The man who, every day, makes sure you get time to yourself, away from the kids - even though he's just gotten home from working all day too? You remember that guy, don't you?" Yeh, ok God...you're right.
I didn't have a lot of time to make something for him. I decided to finish a project I had been working on and give it to hubby as a Valentine's Day card. It's made out of tissue paper, mod podge (I just love that stuff) and markers on matte board. I wrote mushy stuff on the back. Here's what it looks like - minus the mushy stuff, that's private! :
I really like how it turned out. In fact, my hubby asked me if I planned on taking it back and selling it on Etsy. I'm not. But I do plan on making something similar on canvas board. I'll see how it copies, maybe make some cards, maybe just sell the original. I'm not sure yet.I went to a coffee shop the other day with my friend Jean. While I was there I talked with one of the owners about selling cards at her shop. She was open to the idea. Now, I just have to figure out what items to take there and how to display them. I'm excited about the possibility of having a display in a retail establishment.
I'm working on getting my packaging together too. I have several cards printed and finally made folders for them but haven't decorated the folders yet. It's amazing what a saboteur procrastination is! If I would just get my packaging together and photos taken, I could have 3-4 new things listed on Etsy and a display down at the coffee shop. Not to mention I have an order for a friend I still need to fill.
As I'm writing this, I'm struck by the fact that there are so many people on Etsy whose blogs reflect the same battles: procrastination, self doubt, "if only I would..."s.
I wish the world was filled with more people who knew how valuable they are to God. Who understood when and where to hold themselves accountable for their weaknesses and who know when it is ok to just be kind to themselves.
By allowing myself time to work on art, I'm learning how to be kind to myself. I'm acknowledging my need and desire to create and I'm letting myself do it. I think the desire to create is definately a gift from God. there are so many ways creativity shows itself, not just in visual arts or music.
Oh no, it's getting late and I feel a philisophical rant coming on...since this is a blog and not my own personal journal, I think I'll stop here and go do something else. :)
Thanks for reading.
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