Warning....

Brain Dumping Ahead!!

It's late, I want to go to bed but my head is swimming so here goes (don't say you weren't warned!)...

• JB is once again on a roll. The start of her "rolling" was this, quickly followed by Mr Owl. In the past two days, she has whipped out 4 or 5 more, each one better than the last. As she was putting Mr. Owl together, I was across the table from her, mesmorized, watching her work. Wow, she's good! It's so much fun watching someone "in the zone"! Tomorrow I'll take pictures and get some listed.
• Up until last week, we've done all of our collages and signs on pieces of wood. JB found some simple glass frameless frames (does that make sense?) and now most of what she's been doing is in those. I'd have to say, I like the glass frames better than the wood.
• Monday we're going to bring some of our signs and wall hangings into the local Dunn Brothers Coffee shop. They let local artists sell their wares off their walls. The manager told me rewards are two-fold...Supporting local artists and their walls are decorated at no cost to them. Super slick for us. The manager warned us that she has never sold anything yet, but I think it's time to turn that around. Our stuff is way, way different than what they have hanging now.
• Sister K got our business cards done. They are very professional looking! She e-mailed me a copy today and I can't wait to see them in print! I'll post one on here someday!
• Mom is on her way to another doll show as we speak. (I really have to feature her some day!) I called there this evening to chat and my little sister A told me she was in Phoenix. I had no clue she was going again. I called her cell phone and gave her the third degree (where are you, who are you with, where are you going, when will you be home)! Role reversals are so much fun!! (er....at least in that case it was!) She took the leftover cards along with her. Crossing our fingers that she comes home empty handed (or empty boxed). She claims everyone else knew she was going again. JB didn't, so there.
• We started a Flickr account. You already knew that though. At the time I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. I decided tonight that I really like it because it gives me a place to write a very brief history of an item. I have been getting requests for contact left and right. We're at 67 now and counting. I posted our Flickr link on the Etsy message boards, so that's what I get! (not complaining, just saying...)
• able mabel is an awsome name! Know why? Because it's usually one of the first names to appear on lists of user names! (on blogs and flickr and such)
• JB was getting a little discouraged today because nothing much was selling. She was looking at our sold items and commenting that everything that we've sold lately has been created by someone other than herself (myself, sister K, sister M). We had barely finished our conversation and I got not one, but two e-mails from PayPal confirming payment. What had sold? Two of, ahem, JB's things! Have no fear, sister....
• One of the things that sold was the "Sing it loud" collage. It was so cool looking! I'm not at all suprised it sold. It had been featured in Annie Howe's treasury (see earlier post about that). I'm going to feature Annie Howe tomorrow, so stay tuned!
• I picked the brain today of a family friend who is also a photographer. I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere with my pictures! My camera is just a point and shoot and I basically know the bare minimum about taking pictures. I was getting frustrated because I wasn't getting very good shots of our stuff. I was taking and retaking, posting and reposting. Much time wasted. Her advice was very helpful and I am thankful she was willing to bear with me. I don't think I'll go back and retake all the pictures again (except the really bad ones), but use the info I learned today going forward.
• One last thing...on the forum boards today, someone was looking for artists who were interested in sending her a little ad to put in with her customer's orders. I am a little torn on this one because I don't want to turn off potential customers (who might think of that as snail mail spam) yet at the same time it would be cheap advertising. I was thinking about sending this to her, adding our web address, laminating it and adding a magnet to the back. We'll see if we end up doing it.

Okay, now my brain is tired, my fingers are heavy, you're bored and it's late. Good night! See you tomorrow!