Monday, October 21, 2013

submission.

As part of my "getting out there" goal/scheme, I grabbed my pride by the hand and we, as a team, sent in a submission for the 2014 Project Life™ Creative Team. I knew I wanted to do it the minute I saw Becky Higgins' blog post about it, so instead of hemming and hawing about it until the deadline past, I sent that bad boy in with a smile on my face and no expectations what so ever. Mainly just doing it for fun…which is just fine by me.

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I chose 5 layouts from this year, including my second 2013 album's cover page. I am becoming more and more conscience of color themes, using what I have, and most importantly: SIMPLIFYING. This should not be a project that takes me a lot of time (minus printing the daggon pictures on a printer I want to throw out in the field and bash Office Space-style) or spend a lot of money on beside the core kit and some embellishments. I have been cleaning out my scrapbooking stash (which I am going to have some giveaways soon!!) and I feel like that has transfered over into my layouts. And this excites the heck out of me

Monday, October 14, 2013

getting out there.

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I come up with ideas.

I make stuff.

I create a little stockpile of those things that I make.

Then what?

This is what I am on the search for…how do I get myself out there while still being the semi-shy, humble, observant, introvert that I am? This question has often made me wonder if this idea of a handmade business is a joke for me. At a certain point, you HAVE to let your guard down and make yourself be known. Aaaand this is where I have my roadblock. I don't know if it's insecurity or embarrassment or just plain shyness (probably a bit of all three), but it gets frustrating when I see others that are successful in their handmade business and I feel like I am still at step one-point-five. (OK, totally strange, but as I'm writing this, an Etsy sale just popped in my notification window, so at least I am on the right path!!) I wonder about what they could be doing differently (DOING being a big part of that), how they have the connections they have (BY DOING), and why didn't I think of that?(because they already DID it)…and as I'm sitting here processing this on the screen I'm seeing quite the pattern. It seems I am comparing my success to those that are already very successful and have been for some time. They might have years under their vintage leather belts and are projects ahead of me, so why in the heck am I am comparing myself to them?

Because they are where I strive to be someday. I'll just have to get over a few things first.

I love to come up with ideas and see them as a finished product. I love opening a box and there are multiples of stamps that I sat at my computer and designed for an hour or so. That feeling of holding a tangible design is so awesome. And I design them according to what I would like, and have all intentions to "sell out" but order frugally at first to see what happens. It then takes me a bit to get them on Etsy (should I move to Big Cartel??) and then I promote a little on here, a little on Instagram, and a little on Twitter. I will say, this last batch of listings was really successful compared to other shop updates - certainly giving me the buzz to continue on. Which I plan to do with some seasonal stamps and mixed paper books and a couple of holiday craft shows. So maybe I am on the right track as a focused and budding handmade business…maybe all of this preparation and inspirational comparisons I've out on myself are a good thing? As long as I see it like that, I guess so.

I just had an opportunity for one of my stamps to be featured on a daily discount site called Storefront Deals. They are new discount site focusing on handmade items who found me on Etsy and sent me a message asking if I would like to participate. I had never been approached with something like this and was a little nervous, but I didn't really have anything to lose, so I signed up for a couple day run on October 8th. They were running a promotion while they are still new where they take 15% of sales (as opposed to 20%) after the item is discounted by the seller. I chose my 'kindly deliver to' stamp and set a price, emailed a photo, and waited. I had no expectations, but I was still excited to log in and check out if I made any sales and gave out a few smiles when I saw that a couple had been purchased. I think it was a good starting point for folks to go from there to my shop and see what else I offered, and I would definitely do business with them again. They are still new, so there is only room to grow. It made me feel proud of my work and helped me feel motivated to create more, streamline my offerings, and put myself out there more…even if just a little bit at at time.

*If you got this far, I thank you. This was quite a jumble of thoughts.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

today's the day.




One of my rubber stamps is featured on Storefront Deals starting today and available at this price for only a couple of days!! It has been marked down for the occasion and isn't something you'll want to pass up if you're in the market for a new stamp! It looks quite cute on outgoing mail and sure to make someone smile. :)

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Get it here for a limited time!!

You can also check out my other stamps here…I'll be adding some seasonal ones soon!