Some New Things

New Water Tower Painting.

It's been months since I posted some new originals in my shop, but I finally did just that today. There are two new pieces in my shop right now.

Inspired by a Dog Mountain Hike

I was looking through my Flikr page yesterday, trying to come up with a couple of images to draw and paint. I forget how many photos I have over there. I found these two images and I knew I wanted to recreate them with pencil and paint.

While I was looking through those photos I came across a number of pictures that I took while I lived in Michigan. They brought back a lot of memories. This photo in particular reminded me how much I used to love selling on Etsy and getting so many orders everyday.

So many!

 It's hard to believe that I used to send out a stack of orders like that almost everyday! I don't get that many orders in a month these days. I'm okay with though. My wholesale/consignment business has been growing steadily and I feel like it's just going to keep growing. I'm going to surpass the sales I made last year, and the two years before that!

It's hard not to miss those days sometimes. It was such an immediate transaction and it made me feel so validated. I also really loved packing all those orders. Really!

Ah well. I'm going to mention television again because I remember this clip, from The Office, whenever I start to think about "The Good Ol' Days."



 Oh Andy, you really summed that one up nicely.

2,000!!

Holy smokes I hit 2,000 sales on Wednesday!!

Dancing Mountain Cat knows we can achieve our dreams with a little hard work.

Wow! It's hard to imagine that I've done it. It's hard to imagine all those handwritten thank you notes! I really wasn't sure if I would make it there. It's taken me almost 6 years to get there and I really worked those last 1,000 sales.

 Things have become unbelievably slow the past year. I've enjoyed making all the new things I've been creating the past few months and I was so confident that others would enjoy it too. However, that doesn't seem to be the case, and my Etsy sales have been barely covering the cost of my supplies these day. It could always be worse, I know that, but it's been discouraging to say the least.

I've been brainstorming more wholesale opportunities and I'm really hoping to get into more stores this year. I've talked to two card reps that I've worked with at my day job for years. They've both offered to rep my cards for me and I feel like maybe I'm ready for that. They do take a percentage, but I'm thinking that maybe it might be worth it. I want to think about it a little longer before I make that decision...

I took this week off from work to work on some new card illustrations and just catch up a little. I've been able to focus on creating. This whole week I've been filled with that feeling of this is what I WANT to do with my life. That feeling of this is what I NEED to do with my life.

One day I know it will happen. I just know it! I just need to work a little harder and a little longer.

Product Photos

Let's Build a Boat

This week I've been trying to revamp my little shop. I feel like it needs a little styling, so yesterday, during sun breaks, I began the epic undertaking.

Imperial Red

So far I like the results. I'm using natural light, a frame with no glass and the little shelf in my office. I'm trying to keep it simple and clean. I need to add another angle or shift sides of the shelf, to change it up a little bit.

Along with some revamping I also added two new prints to my shop yesterday. Larkin Cat and Monday is My Sunday are now available in my shop.

Larkin Cat

My sales this month have been amazing. Far passing the sales from last year at this time. It's given me a little motivation to work harder on my shop. Funny how that works, sometimes.

Monday is My Sunday

Crafty Wonderland is next weekend and I still can't wrap my head around it. I have a lot of new work and a lot of new cards. I have a good feeling about it, but still a lot more work needs to be done.

Sale Time!

I've been away for awhile.

Little winter fox.

To be honest, I've been having a bit of trouble balancing all things life. Work, art, friends, running, holidays. It's been challenging trying to keep up with it all, so my little blog.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. Ours was small and quiet and perfect. We have lots of leftovers, which I'm kind of excited about! I'm treating myself to some pumpkin pie and coffee for breakfast as I type. :)

Along with Thanksgiving comes one of my only two sales of the year, which I'm also kind of excited about. Right now I'm offering 25% off my entire Etsy shop, and I'm also offering free world wide shipping. Use the coupon code POPPYTALK12 at checkout.

The sale ends on Tuesday, so don't wait too long.

I'm going to support handmade and small business this year. I suppose most years I have done this. It means so much more to me knowing my money is going to sellers like me, and back to my community. Besides, shopping in my cozy house online vs. going out and fighting crowds seems much more appealing to me. I can drink coffee and hang out with my dog too. So awesome.

There are some really spectacular sales going on this weekend by some truly beautiful shops.
You can see a wonderful selection over at the Poppytalk Blog. :)

Yes!

So..I've been really down lately about my Etsy sales.

This time of year I'm usually so busy I don't know what to do with myself, and I start to seriously contemplate getting an assistant. However, things have been very very quiet in my shop.

I'm not sure if it has to do with the fact that I've been working at my other job more, if it's the economy, or if my work has just gotten stale. Maybe a combination of all three. I don't know.

This afternoon, however, I sold a painting! I haven't sold a painting in my Etsy shop in eons and it totally made my day. I'm really going to try to make more of an effort to work on my shop. I've been mostly neglecting it and I don't think that is something that you can do and still expect to get sales...

It is hard to do while working full time however...but...I'm just going to have to stick to my guns and work through it.

So I worked on two new illustrations and two new paintings this afternoon. I'm feeling pretty good about them. Hopefully I can get them posted tomorrow! The illustrations, that is..the paintings might be awhile. I did manage to get these two new illustrations up and ready to go in my shop :)

Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday!

New Paintings

So I didn't get much done today.

Lots of ideas running through my head, but I don't really know what direction to go just yet.
I've also been trying to brainstorm so new ideas for venues to sell at.

I'm thinking maybe I'll just do a yard/art sale at my house. I mean, all the craft fairs aren't for months, and the last one we had, well, we made some pretty good money. Maybe I just need to take some matters into my own hands, instead of relying on other people/events to do it for me. I don't know...something to think about.

Well, I did get these few paintings finished today too. I am having a very hard time photographing them. I just can't seem to find the right light in my house...I'll have to re-take these at some point, but I really wanted to get them listed today.

Well, hope everyone is having/had a good Wednesday :)

S A L E!

Happy Saturdy everyone!
Or, as my friend Kim likes to say, "Happy Caturday."

anyway, it's my two year anniversary on Etsy and I thought I would celebrate by having 20% of sale!

So, if you re interested in buying some cute art for your home, please consider my shop!
Yay!

Hope everyone is having great weekend so far.

See you all on Monday, for the continuation of my blog give away! :D

2.5 Days until Christmas!

Yes!

I love Christmas.
Love it.

I mostly love getting presents.
The family and friends thing is great too, but I love presents. I'm not going to lie.

I mean. Yeah. It would be awesome to hang out with my family and friends this time of year, but since that's not going to happen, I might as well get down right excited about getting gifts. Right?

More snow last night, and more tomorrow, and even more tomorrow night.
I ordered some cute boots on Piperlime last night to celebrate my 400th sale :D Yay!
That is pretty freakin awesome if I do say myself, and totally warrants a new pair of boots. Besides, these boots are pretty practical, so it's money well spent. They will also make really good rain boots for when I move back to Portland, and I think they'll look really cute with some knee socks and a skirt :)

It's just hard spending money on myself when I don't make a lot of it.
400 sales though. That's pretty cool.

So yeah, that was my weekend.
I decided to extend my sale a little bit, so it's still going on.
Here's a link to the sale section.

Hope everyone is having a good Monday.

S A L E

Hey everyone!

Yes, this is a post for Saturday!
I just wanted to let people know that I am having a sale this weekend!
There is a sale section of my Etsy shop where you can find screen prints, etchings, and paintings for 20-50% off! Yay!

So be sure to check it out. The sale ends Monday December 22nd!

Okay, I am going to try to walk to the post office this morning, so I gotta get moving :)
Have a great weekend everyone!

Mark Your Calendars!

I'm going to have a sale!

Yes, this Saturday December 2oth I will have a special section in my Etsy shop with items 20-50% off. Yay! I want to make some room in my shop for the new items I'll be adding in January.

Also, if you live in the Detroit area you should check out the Detroit Sounds and Spirits show!
There will be two stages with bands playing your favorite Christmas songs along with their very own. Also, I will be there along with Comfortably Lovely, City Bird, and a few others, selling some last minute Christmas gifts :) It's $15.00 at the door, and all proceeds go to the Detroit Coalition of Temporary Shelter.
An organization that provides emergency shelter and transitional housing for single men, women and families with children who need assistance in becoming economically self-sufficient.

The Magic Stick
December 19th
$15.00

Yup!

Lots of snow today. I think we got about 4" last night.
I think I can safely say that if I never have to drive in snow again, I can die a happy woman.

I can't believe that Christmas Eve is a week away! Wow. There are lots of presents under the tree for me, and I can't wait to open them. yay! I love presents.

That's about it!
Hope everyone is having a good Wednesday.

Whew!

So very busy!

Here are all the orders that I received from Monday up through this morning. I think there were 10...
Needless to say, the people who were standing behind me at the post office today were not too pleased with me.

Oh well.

I'm really pleased with my sales this year.

In other news...I found out from a fellow Etsy peep that I was featured in this months Detroit Home Magazine in their best of Detroit Gift Guide! I guess they featured 323 East Gallery in Royal Oak, and apparently I was one of the artists they focused on! Whoohoo!!

I am going to go to Boarders later to pick up several copies to send to some peeps! :)

Alright! That's about it!
Hope everyone is having a good Thursday!