MY ART SHOP
Friday, December 17, 2010
Baby's First Santa Pictures! (precious memories)
MY ART SHOP
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
What to do (and not) as a first time vendor ( with an 8 month old baby)
ok, so I have been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember, but have never had the guts to put my stuff "out there". 2 years ago, I started an online shop and completely half-assed it. Randomly posted stuff here and there and never promoted myself (so if it failed I had an excuse for why) and of course I was going to fail! No one even knew the darn thing even existed. The only people I told about my shop were family and some friends. That didn"t work for me, because these people all expect artwork from me to be free!!!! I was and still am totally clueless!!
My husband keeps telling me to put my stuff "out there" and I think he is just saying that because he's my husband and is suppose to, but then he signed me up for a craft-mini-fair type of a thing, with a Christmas theme. I was freaked out. But it was a very small venue and only lasted for 2 hrs. Good for practice, he said. Surprisingly we sold quite a few prints, mainly to one nice lady, who just adored my quirky style. But just a few people is all it takes! I was so proud of myself and happy Patrick made me do it..... but there were soo many things that could have gone better!!!! and here they are:
1) Like with everything in life, DON"T PROCRASTINATE.
I'm a horrible procrastinator, but when you throw a baby in the mix, it gets a million times worse.....( you also develop A.D.D.) I knew I needed to print off my artwork, but I was totally unaware of how long that was going to take. Silly me, thought I could do it all the night before. I ended up getting only 2 and a half hours of sleep because of it. Could have gotten more but I am still breastfeeding, so that ate some time. haha, I was working with photoshop while feeding the baby.Once more,5 minutes before " Vendor Wonderland" Alexander Rene decided he was very hungry, so I ended up being very late and my eyes were bloodshot. I looked like a crazy person. Doesn't make for a good impression on people... So don"t procrastinate! I didn't get half of my pieces printed in time..... They could have been potential sales! Oh well, live and learn.
2) HAVE BUSINESS CARDS
I kept thinking as the big day approached, " I need to make business cards, I need to make business cards, I'm hungry." The A.D.D. or Zander's crying would always interrupt. So while I had to feed the bless-ed babe at the beginning of my big-small debut, I was determined to print off business cards. They weren"t going to be pretty, but atleast I'd have something to give out to people! It's good to have neat polished cards. Just to look more professional, but mine were handwritten with a stylus on photoshop...... If you haven't used one, it's like trying to write out all your info ( not sign, mind you) on a credit card machine . It was kinda hard with a baby kicking me in the arm! Lil punkasaurus! ADDADDAADDDDADDADDADDADD. What was I saying? Oh, yeah, and all I had was bright pink, green and yellow cardstock. THEY WERE MAGNIFICENT! ..... right. .... Well they didn"t look great, but if people are truly interested, they don"t care how beautiful your information looks, they just care if it's legible.......... Oh God, I hope it was!!! ha
3) LEAVE YOUR BABY WITH A SITTER
I love my baby, and want him with me at all times.... but the truth of the matter is, while he makes for a good conversation starter, he isn't much help with keeping the conversation going or selling your product! Way too distracting!!
4) TAKE MORE PRODUCT THAN YOU THINK YOU WILL SELL.
I didn't give myself enough time to print my items, and I really should have because certain things sell alot more than others. People tend to like the same thing over and over. We are all more similar than we think. :)
5)LET PEOPLE APPROACH YOU
This is just from experience as a consumer. I F-ing hate it when pushy sales people keep bugging me. Just let me look and give me your card... maybe say something like, " If you have any questions, I'm here." but that's it.
Oh, Zander is waking up from nappypooland. This looks like a good place to leave off. So it was a rough debut, but I had fun, for the little time I was there. I sold quite a few art prints, which was really exciting! Here are some pics:
My husband keeps telling me to put my stuff "out there" and I think he is just saying that because he's my husband and is suppose to, but then he signed me up for a craft-mini-fair type of a thing, with a Christmas theme. I was freaked out. But it was a very small venue and only lasted for 2 hrs. Good for practice, he said. Surprisingly we sold quite a few prints, mainly to one nice lady, who just adored my quirky style. But just a few people is all it takes! I was so proud of myself and happy Patrick made me do it..... but there were soo many things that could have gone better!!!! and here they are:
1) Like with everything in life, DON"T PROCRASTINATE.
I'm a horrible procrastinator, but when you throw a baby in the mix, it gets a million times worse.....( you also develop A.D.D.) I knew I needed to print off my artwork, but I was totally unaware of how long that was going to take. Silly me, thought I could do it all the night before. I ended up getting only 2 and a half hours of sleep because of it. Could have gotten more but I am still breastfeeding, so that ate some time. haha, I was working with photoshop while feeding the baby.Once more,5 minutes before " Vendor Wonderland" Alexander Rene decided he was very hungry, so I ended up being very late and my eyes were bloodshot. I looked like a crazy person. Doesn't make for a good impression on people... So don"t procrastinate! I didn't get half of my pieces printed in time..... They could have been potential sales! Oh well, live and learn.
2) HAVE BUSINESS CARDS
I kept thinking as the big day approached, " I need to make business cards, I need to make business cards, I'm hungry." The A.D.D. or Zander's crying would always interrupt. So while I had to feed the bless-ed babe at the beginning of my big-small debut, I was determined to print off business cards. They weren"t going to be pretty, but atleast I'd have something to give out to people! It's good to have neat polished cards. Just to look more professional, but mine were handwritten with a stylus on photoshop...... If you haven't used one, it's like trying to write out all your info ( not sign, mind you) on a credit card machine . It was kinda hard with a baby kicking me in the arm! Lil punkasaurus! ADDADDAADDDDADDADDADDADD. What was I saying? Oh, yeah, and all I had was bright pink, green and yellow cardstock. THEY WERE MAGNIFICENT! ..... right. .... Well they didn"t look great, but if people are truly interested, they don"t care how beautiful your information looks, they just care if it's legible.......... Oh God, I hope it was!!! ha
3) LEAVE YOUR BABY WITH A SITTER
I love my baby, and want him with me at all times.... but the truth of the matter is, while he makes for a good conversation starter, he isn't much help with keeping the conversation going or selling your product! Way too distracting!!
4) TAKE MORE PRODUCT THAN YOU THINK YOU WILL SELL.
I didn't give myself enough time to print my items, and I really should have because certain things sell alot more than others. People tend to like the same thing over and over. We are all more similar than we think. :)
5)LET PEOPLE APPROACH YOU
This is just from experience as a consumer. I F-ing hate it when pushy sales people keep bugging me. Just let me look and give me your card... maybe say something like, " If you have any questions, I'm here." but that's it.
Oh, Zander is waking up from nappypooland. This looks like a good place to leave off. So it was a rough debut, but I had fun, for the little time I was there. I sold quite a few art prints, which was really exciting! Here are some pics:
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Zander's Mom
Chunky Monkey is screaming at the dog, Sanda from his walker..... Atleast she"s good for something. I'm so bored here at home and would love to go outside and exercise, but it is too cold to take Zander. What to do, what to do? I think I will start a blog....................
About what? Zander. He is 8 months old, if your are counting week by week. ( some people count by the actual month to the number date so they can land on the baby"s birthday at 12 months, but I don"t think thats acturate. there are more than 28 days in a month.... except for leap year!) I don"t know how old he is otherwise!!! His hair is a dirty blonde, he has pale skin and blue, green, brown spotted eyes..... There's no telling how he is going to end up looking... but whatever it is, I'm sure he will be a cutie!! He is freakishly tall. He was wearing 1 yr old clothing when he was 3 and a half months old.
Go boy go! Scream at that pesky doggy, daunting over her in your magnificent Dino-walker!! Ha. I hate my husband's dog. . . . and I love her. She is really cute, and is very obedient ( like him, hehehe) but it seems as though it"s her mission in life to hop under my feet at any opportunity she gets!!! UUUUHHHH! So annoying!... and she is a terrible begger ( again like my husband, hahaha! I hope he never reads this.)
So we were Christmas Tree hunting ( for a plastic tree) when someone at my husband"s work said they had an extra one. He said we would take it, then they said they must have given it to someone else....... so we bought the one we had originally were going to buy, and I decorated it and I think it looks pretty good. It has some of my old ornaments, his old ornaments, and some new ones we just bought. It is our perfect little tree. We already had a 3 ft tall fiber optic tree, so my sweetie decides to dig that one out as well. It is now parked next to our perfect tree. Looks a little "off" but whatever, my sweetie wants it there. Yesterday he comes home with that monster tree that his co-worker was gonna give him, didn't have it, but I guess ended up having it!!! oh did I mention that my husband is a HOARDER! So now we have 3 trees and he was going on about looking for a fourth so the dog could have her own! AHHHH! Patrick, I LOVE YOU, but you are crazy!
About what? Zander. He is 8 months old, if your are counting week by week. ( some people count by the actual month to the number date so they can land on the baby"s birthday at 12 months, but I don"t think thats acturate. there are more than 28 days in a month.... except for leap year!) I don"t know how old he is otherwise!!! His hair is a dirty blonde, he has pale skin and blue, green, brown spotted eyes..... There's no telling how he is going to end up looking... but whatever it is, I'm sure he will be a cutie!! He is freakishly tall. He was wearing 1 yr old clothing when he was 3 and a half months old.
Go boy go! Scream at that pesky doggy, daunting over her in your magnificent Dino-walker!! Ha. I hate my husband's dog. . . . and I love her. She is really cute, and is very obedient ( like him, hehehe) but it seems as though it"s her mission in life to hop under my feet at any opportunity she gets!!! UUUUHHHH! So annoying!... and she is a terrible begger ( again like my husband, hahaha! I hope he never reads this.)
So we were Christmas Tree hunting ( for a plastic tree) when someone at my husband"s work said they had an extra one. He said we would take it, then they said they must have given it to someone else....... so we bought the one we had originally were going to buy, and I decorated it and I think it looks pretty good. It has some of my old ornaments, his old ornaments, and some new ones we just bought. It is our perfect little tree. We already had a 3 ft tall fiber optic tree, so my sweetie decides to dig that one out as well. It is now parked next to our perfect tree. Looks a little "off" but whatever, my sweetie wants it there. Yesterday he comes home with that monster tree that his co-worker was gonna give him, didn't have it, but I guess ended up having it!!! oh did I mention that my husband is a HOARDER! So now we have 3 trees and he was going on about looking for a fourth so the dog could have her own! AHHHH! Patrick, I LOVE YOU, but you are crazy!
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