Archive for the ‘affiliates’ Category

I think Tara Reed is pretty amazing. I bought two of her ebooks as I prepare my collections and look for a licensing agent. Yes, I’m an affiliate, and if you sign up or buy something, I will make a small commission. But as I have stated before, I only present to you  materials and people I have done business with and am completely satisfied with the product. You can’t go wrong with Tara.

Number 1, she has an extensive library of articles to read, free. Free. LOADS of information, and with the caveats that licensing is hard work and you need to do your homework.

Number 2, she’s got a great blog with lots of ideas in each. Again, free.

Number 3, her work is quality, all the way. Tara makes her living licensing her art. She’s learned the hard way, and she has a wealth of information.

Number 4, great products available. Her Repeat Patterns in Photoshop answered a lot of questions for me, as I stumbled through teaching myself a very complex program. My first repeat pattern as I worked through the ebook:

Browsing her site is well worth the time. And…if you are further along in developing your collections and ready to “get out there,” Tara, along with Maria Brophy (another master at licensing) has a new book out on understanding licensing contracts.   I have a different book that is pretty convoluted in understanding; not Tara and Maria.

Now, if you need help setting goals – and accomplishing them – something I’ve had trouble with in the past……check out her Goal Setting wheel. There is also a blog to go along with this – free – with Tara’s current goals. It’s always nice to go along with someone as they work through the same problems we artists have! It’s December 8, and I know while many of us are finishing up commitments for the year, a lot of us are thinking about next year’s goals. I just wanted to put a few things out there for you to think about…..

Get 10% off orders $100+, or 15% off $150+ AND FREE SHIPPING on orders $99+ with promo code CCXA (see details for terms)!

Disclaimer: According to FTC guidelines, I need to let you know I am an affiliate of Dick Blick and do receive a small compensation if you purchase anything from this site.

PS – at least three spelling errors I needed to correct….sheesh, too early on a Monday!

Some interesting thoughts going through the mind over the last few days, primarily thinking about future directions for the business. We really enjoyed our guild demo and would like to do more, so moving up the to-do list is a plan for making that happen. We also spent a good chunk of time yesterday planning out two now major art pieces, something we haven’t done in a long time. Hubby has some great designs from a number of years ago that we want to bring to fruition. So it’s been really fun to look at the artistic side of planning.

Thanks again to Laura Bray and her e-course on Multiple Streams of Income (also available in an ebook – Click here to visit katydid designs.). For the first time I understand marketing and art-planning. I was too focused on marketing and not enough on actually creating art to increase income. My second season on 100 days ends on November 18, and I am already thinking about new sets of goals and increasing the range of goals. It’s turning out to be another good month for us, and I so want it to continue. My linking you to Laura Bray’s work is an example of a passive income strand, another area I am focused on building; you visit sites I recommend, purchase something, and I receive a commission. If you visit the Resources tab for the blog (at the top), you will see people and businesses I recommend – some of which pay me a commission, and some who don’t. Either way, I am only sending people to you that I use/have used and have confidence in.

That said, I keep reading and processing more information about building success as artists. Here’s a couple of articles I’ve found in the last few days that may be timely for you.

Thinking about giving up the art business? From Fine Art Views blog comes “Boiling Point.” A good read if you are discouraged by success as an artist.

From Joanne Materra comes a great post on potential scams we all have to be on the watch for. Called “Don’t Fall For It,” it’s a look at potential scams.

And along the same line, from Artsy Shark comes an article about applying to exhibitions, “Five Tips on Getting into More Juried Art Exhibitions.” A word about Artsy Shark – we will be a featured artist sometime in the next few weeks….stay tuned!

Have a great week marketing and building your joy!

Well, actually….they’re fabric bowls, but somehow “introducing fabric bowls” doesn’t have the same ring. So this has got all the goodies of a holiday basket, but it comes in a fabric bowl that you can use throughout the year, rather than trying to figure out what to do with another straw basket. Which I must admit I thought was waaayyyy better.

Here she is! This holiday treat starts with a hand-crafted fabric bowl, in a subdued color that makes the bowl perfect for year-round use. Then it’s filled with goodies from the marbling tray: a fat quarter (18 by 22 inches) of 100% hand-marbled cotton; 4 pieces of hand-marbled Offray ribbon, in assorted sizes and width, all 18 inches in length; a 10% off coupon for our Etsy store (fabrics and small art quilts and table runners); coupons from other artists with offers for their websites; a Smapler Package of eight 6 by 9 inch hand-marbled pieces; a selection of hand-marbled silk leaves and flowers, perfect for embellishments; a set of four Digital Marbling (TN) note cards; and…a small mystery gift.

I want the fabric bowls to be in a rather subdued set of colors, as I want them to 1) fit just about any decor, and 2) be useful all year round. A “red” bowl tends to limit use. The actual bowl in this package is a nice mellow green.

The “basket” comes wrapped in plastic and fits in a priority box, surrounded by shipping peanuts. You can have it sent to yourself, o4 let us know the address and we will ship it.

This is a $50 retail value, special available for the holidays for $35.00. Want one? Head to our Etsy store and buy the one there. We’ll add additional ones as they sell, so you can see exactly what you will be getting for colors and fabrics.

These have been really fun to put together, especially choosing fabrics for the bowls. And if you haven’t tried making these fabric bowls, they are incredibly soothing….wrapping fabric while you’re watching television, or in the car, or waiting in the doctor’s office…..There are a couple of good books available if your LQS doesn’t offer a class:

We are affiliates for Amazon, so if you order through our blog, we do receive a commission (keeping the FTC happy….).

I’m getting caught up from a few days off, so I’m overwhelmed with all that I’m reading and seeing on line this week. The first article from Dumb Little Man has some great thoughts on productivity, perfect for me now as I try to be productive and at the same time not flit from one thing to another.  “Is Your Passion for Productivity Hurting Your Creativity?”

Also from Dumb Little Man, and in line with the last post, comes finding time for meditation. “Three Ways to Bring Meditation into the Chaos of Daily Life.” Sounds like my life on a regular basis…although not as much now that I’m not teaching. (Have I mentioned at all that I’m retired?!?!)

I enjoyed the one or two times I have dyed fabric. I played everything by ear, bot really sure what I would end up with. I discovered one very important lesson – I have a LONG way to go to get good at this. One person who already is there is Vicky Welsh of Field Trips in Fiber. Read about her process just in creating a monthly color palette, in this case reds. And many of us know just how difficult it is to achieve the right red.

Since I am actively marketing my Etsy store, I discovered a blog related to all things Etsy, called Handmadeology. Lots to explore and read about – I’ve already picked up an idea for promoting my holiday sales.

And…for those of us getting older….remember Wayne Newton as a young sensation? Check out Mad Magazine‘s send-up of a new album…..you have to go and look – won’t spoil the surprise here…..

And also from Mad – Dick Cheney’s resignation letter….you’ll laugh and cry at the same time for poor Dickey…..

I am really taken with the flash mob concept, and this one is pretty cool – Ravel’s Bolero at the Copenhagen Central Station. Imagine a full orchestra just appearing….loved the bassoon, and wondering about transporting the percussion section….

Anyone using Pinterest? I’m having trouble getting it to work – maybe it’s because I don’t understand it totally, or maybe…it’s because the IMac is over 5 years old and not happy these days….Anyway, I’m a sucker for post-it art. I’d like your feedback on using Pinterest.

In memory of September 11, here’s an update from The Best Article Every Day about the World Trade Center.

Finally, to end with a tie-in to the beginning: 20 Ways to Be Better at Life Today, fropm the folks at Nerd Fitness (how can you not love that?)

  As part of my goals for this next set of 100 days, I want to work through a minimum of three of the action goals from Alyson Stanfield‘s I’d Rather be in the Studio! Action 2 is all on organizing, something I have SLOWLY been pulling together. The business is at a point where a folder for me won’t cut it any more. Hubby handles the finances and anything with Ebay. He has the chart of accounts set up, all the ledgers updated, all Ebay items organized, and does the quarterly justifying of the books. He is the Felix in the family, and I certainly qualify as the Oscar.

That said, I can find anything I need in the organized chaos I sometimes live in – comes from 40 years of teaching and knowing immediately where something is, even if I can’t see the top of my desk. But now that I have time, I took Alyson’s suggestions and looked at so many different areas.

The answer for me was a large notebook with dividers. Now I have a place for emails, articles, lists – and every time something new comes up, I set up a new divider in the notebook. When we were on vacation for a dew days in San Diego, I brought the notebook to the beach and we sat and went through each section, brainstorming additions, corrections, new products, immediate followup, and the like. I think hubby was kind of impressed at how much I organized everything.

I particularly like that I can sit with the notebook each week, go through the sections and pick out what needs to be worked on for that particular week. I can add dates for finished items, move things around and change dates, and decide which project will get accomplished that week.

Of particular help was using the notebook to then help organize the computer desktop for all the images and emails and documents related to the business. Now I have major folders, especially for the licensing art, on the desktop, and I feel like I finally know where all the images are going to go. Case in point: we have Ebay photos from 2004, when we first started selling on line. Now there’s a folder of “old” Ebay photos, organized by year, as well as the most current images. I’ve done the same thing with the Etsy folder, and this will carry over to the Fine Art America photo. What helped in organizing all these images was finally figuring out how to work with Adobe Bridge in the Creative Suite. I love seeing all the photos at once!

If you need help in getting organized, I recommend two sources. One is the “Multiple Streams of Income” ebook from Laura Bray. (I’m an affiliate, and it you click “katydid” on the right side, you’ll go to her site for ordering. I do recieve a small compensation for sending you there, but I’ve taken the course and it helped me tremendously.) The other is Alyson Stanfield‘s book I’d Rather Be in the Studio! You can order from Amazon (and yes, I’m an affiliate there, too…..one of the things Laura Bray talks about in her Multiple Streams ebook and course is setting up affiliate accounts.).

Happy organizing – share your tricks and ideas here in the comments.