Fall shows

Click on the postcard for a larger version that you can actually read!

Had a great show yesterday at Art in the Park. The weather couldn't have been nicer--sunny and 80! Saw all kinds of people that I knew, was busy all day and had great sales! But I have to get better at this blogging thing because I should have taken a picture of the fair--set in our park around a lily pond with tall beautiful shade trees. I would love to have been able to show you the setting--but I didn't think ahead. Took my camera, but didn't take it out. Guess I was too busy to look for other things to do! Which is a good thing. And I already got 2 more orders this morning. Yay!

So my next show is a ShowMeEtsy team show at SqWires Restaurant in Lafayette Square in St. Louis. The postcard is posted above, and was designed by fellow etsian Haley Ping. It is also listed in the column at right. I hope that we have a good showing--if you are in St. Louis come on by!

Black Magic

Thought I would upload a couple of pics of some things I did at the Black Magic workshop I went to this past weekend. We used Pearl Ex pigments and Twinkling H2O's on different black papers. It was a fun class and I'm glad that we had Roann Mathias come teach it. But now I have to get down to business and get ready for the Art in the Park. And pray really hard that it doesn't rain, cause of course the forecast this morning was for a beautiful week with a chance of rain on Sunday!!

Roann Mathias Workshop

I am excited about a calligraphy workshop this weekend. Roann Mathias (who did the lettering above) is coming to St. Louis to teach a workshop entitled Black Magic. We will learn to write on black paper with many different tools and media. Roann used to be a member of the St. Louis Calligraphy Guild, so it will be great to have her back for a visit. She is an amazing calligrapher and I can't wait to see her and more of her work. You can see her work at her website by clicking on her name, or her blog at roanndesigns.blogspot.com

I'll hopefully have some pictures and more to tell on the flip side!

A new step

I've taken a new step today...finally signed up for a ProPay account so that now I can take credit cards! A friend of mine in the ShowMe Etsy team gave me a link to the site (http://www.propay.com/?refid=ETSYOLCM ) so that I could get the premium package for $29.99 for the first year! This gives you the opportunity to call the credit cards in from your cell phone while at a fair! I hope that it helps sales, and that calling in the card numbers doesn't take too long... of course, that is just wishful thinking that I could possibly have people waiting in line at my art fair booth to buy my art with credit card in hand! But it should also be handy if anyone wants to buy something from my website via internet without using PayPal. I'm kind of excited and would love to try it out before the first art fair....anyone?

SLUH donation

This is a donation for my son's school's card party. It is done with my Sign Language letters--love that upside-down arch--and is framed with a 12" x 18" black metal frame. I'm hoping they can use it as an attendance prize. They also have a ton of handmade stuff for people to buy--not sure why they call it a card party since hardly anyone plays cards. Most of the ladies just shop and eat lunch. I just needed to get this done so that I can try to get organized for my show on the 28th. I'm not doing a whole lot better since my last post, I just kind of took the weekend off from worrying. But it's all back now!

Just a little nuts today

I'm trying to get organized and figure out what I need to do for Art in the Park in 2 weeks and I'm going a little nuts. Too many things to consider, too long of a list, not sure of the best strategy and I'm not feeling that great. One thing I am thinking about is getting a credit card account--hoping it would boost sales! Seems most people just walk around with a credit card and no cash or checks anymore, so I guess I have to join the new millenium. Anyone have any favorite credit card services I should check out? I've been told ProPay is good....

Change happens

Barack Obama said this in his acceptance speech at the DNC and I kinda liked it. It's true....you can't stop change. And we need a little change right now! But I thought it might work well as a small 4 x 10 print using the graffiti letters. I seem to be hooked on them lately. I am getting ready for Art in the Park on the 28th, and am trying to come up with some new things. You just never know though--what will sell and what won't! I really need to take inventory and think about what needs to be done and what things to leave out! Sometimes I think I don't give items a chance, and pull them if they don't sell right away---kind of like network TV!

Meida Works name frame

This is a special order that I got recently for an anniversary celebration of a company in Maryland. It was a rather large piece (12 x 37) and I was worried about shipping it with the glass. I ended up sending it UPS, but after talking to them, I think I can do it myself now! The key, I think, is to shrink wrap it to a piece of cardboard after wrapping it in bubble wrap. It arrived there safely when they sent it, so I hope I can do this in the future. Does anyone else have any tips on shipping?

I is for Iannazzo

My friend showed me an article she found in a magazine about monograms on canvas and on walls. I told her I would do one for her (this was back in May). I finally got around to it! Her last name is Iannazzo, so the initial (I) was going to be a challenge--to make it interesting, that is. I would love to know what you think! I am thinking, of course, of trying other letters and colors, and they could be special ordered. This one is on an 18" square canvas. Not sure I can get enough $ for them, considering this one took a couple of hours, and it was a simple I!