Sorry all – I’m trying to get over a miserable, long-lasting cold and holiday traffic has picked up quite a bit, so I’m utilizing all my energy to work on orders then going to bed at 7 or 8pm at night.
The silver lining in this all is that I’ve had some of the best sleep in months. Ever since our older dog developed Cushing’s disease in the spring, I’ve been woken up every night, several times a night to let her out which led to pretty bad insomnia for months. Luckily we found some great herbal and homeopathic drops for her and she sleeps until 5am. I am thrilled to get up at 5am with her because it means I get a solid 6-7 hours of sleep a night. With my latest cold, my dear hubby has been kind enough to let her out up until he leaves for work (3rd shift) and I’ve been able to sleep a whopping 10-12 hours a night in some cases. It feels great to sleep so much.
In addition to my art shop, I still run my supplies shop where, among other things, I make and sell blank, folded cards (white and Kraft colored) for people to make their own greetings with, so this time of year is busy as a lot of DIY’ers are hitting me up for supplies for their holiday card making. I’m very appreciative of the business!
My parents are also due in today for their annual trip to our home. This time it’s a 9 day visit so I’ve also been been spending free time cleaning up, getting things organized and prepping lots of food. I’m also in the final crunch of organizing my portfolio and getting my images that I’m licensing ready for the Atlanta gift show in January. It’s been a busy, tiresome, stressful couple of weeks!
I do have some new material I want to share with you. First the tree you see up at the top; trees make me happy…I have another one similar to this as well and hope to create more down the road. I also have created some vintage ladies, like the one above, using the 100 y.o. french postcards I procured from France…love those girls. I also created a collection of whimsical birds, like the one below:
I’m working out some kinks with my “girls” right now but hope to have some to share with you in the near future, so stay tuned!
As for my art shop, I’ve added new options like matted ACEO’s for those who like to collect mini art but don’t have a great way to store/show them. These double mats fit perfectly into a 5×7 frame:
I’m also in the process of creating mounted wood blocks…that is, taking a print and adhering it to a wood block so that it has the feel of an original but is much, much cheaper to do so as it is a reproduction (though still handmade by me!). I’ve been wanting to do this for a while and when a buyer recently contacted me about replicating some originals to give out to her staff, I knew this would be the perfect option. I was in a hurry to get them out to her so I forgot to snap a picture, but will let you know when those options are listed in my shop! (Of course, let me know if you’re interested in anything in particular meantime!).
I’m also ramping up my options of journals, sketchbooks and planners for the new year which is just around the corner! I’ve always had these but didn’t necessarily show a lot of options. If this is of interest to you, don’t forget that I have Pick Any options which allow you to pick any image to go on any piece of merchandise.
Finally, in honor of Small Business Saturday, which occurs every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and promotes small and local businesses, I’m offering 20% in my shop for a full week, starting today 11/22 through the end of next Monday 11/28 (shipping excluded). Just use the coupon code SBS2011 when checking out (click on link that says Add on Coupon Code, next to the Paypal icons). My mom is all excited to help me out with orders this we and I’m grateful to have the extra hands!
Thanks for waiting on me during my hiatus; sending you and your family love during this holiday week! ♥
