Thanks so much for all the love, support and understanding. I savor each and every comment, and gain perspective from them too. I thought it only fair to show you some happy photos of the transition as well as the painful ones from the last post. Above, we were just heading out from home. I said it was the "Prius as clown car" moving method. They look happy here, but started complaining a bit a few hours in of leg cramps haha.
Here is a happy shot of my babies (no matter how old they get, I can call them that, no?) in her dorm room, pre lunch and ensuing departure. (She bought her bedding online from Target )
Here I am with my girl as well. Just wanted to show you that the day wasn't all heartache and tears. We are very excited for her, and she is so happy. She worked very hard her whole life to get this opportunity, and we couldn't be more proud and excited (and a wee bit jealous, truth be told) for her and her college experience. {See the poster in the top left corner? It's the one I was working on here. - more on that in a minute} All reports from college are happy happy. She even sent me a first day of school photo as this was the first time in her life I wasn't there to document the moment. (sniffle) We are all adjusting to the change around here. So lucky to live in this age of technology, Skyping makes it easier.
Before she left, I made a plan to recommit to my art making, and to making a business of it, and to getting organized as a focus and direction to grow in when we got home from the move. I had to postpone the immediate jump into it because a couple more pressing extended family issues came up that took all my attention, but now that those have settled, I am excited to really focus on some dreams I've had for years. And the first one came as a result of requests. That's where the snippet of the poster in the above shot comes in. I made the poster and someone pinned it, and from the blog and pinterest, I've gotten so many requests for prints. I am grateful for the interest, and am diligently working on making that happen. I am super excited about it, and have so much enthusiasm that ideas keep popping into my head for many different designs. I have been spending many hours lost in the creating. Want some peeks?
This one makes me think of Kelly Rae and her sweet baby True. {Love that name, love the word, love the meaning.} I've had tons of learning to do in this making prints out of these. Tons. Still learning, still researching. Still trying to find the best, smartest way to end up with the highest quality product. My friend Tammy has been quite generous with her knowledge, this forum on etsy, and I also have found Kelly Rae's info in this particular book very helpful. This post of Kelly Rae's is how I feel right now. Over the years I've learned lots of things, one of which is how much I do not know :). At times I am overwhlemed and find it daunting, but I have promised myself that now is the time to tend to those needs. For me. And hopefully for you, so that finally, I'll have something to offer for those that are interested. Everyone else figures it out and gets it done, there is no reason I can't too, I tell myself. During a phone conversation about art/business with Jenny this week, she said she was recently told by her accountant when she asked if she was the worst client as far as cluelessness, "oh no! there are way worse out there than you" hahahahahha. That cracked me up! That's a new motto for me; when feeling like I know nothing with a capital N, I will remember that I am never as bad as the worst! I'm still laughing at that concept of cheerleading even as I type it! I may suck, but someone sucks worse than me, hahahahhahahaha. Not exactly what I'm going for!
So far, I've taken a few things to a printers to see what the result woud be, both look and cost, and am still waiting on that. But all the research I've done and all the sellers on etsy alone seem to indicate that buying a printer like this one here, is the way to go. Which then means figuring out the scanning; have profesionally done at a printer? photograph? buy a large scanner (super super expensive)?, photoshop? etc. And then there's the buying of all the different papers to see which I like best. They do sell sample packs, but I wish there were somewhere I could go, in person, to feel and see the papers. I hate spending money on researching, seems wasteful.
Next up, how to package. To mat, or no mat, protective bags, mailing tubes or envelopes, sizes to offer, etc. etc. And all my heart yearns to do is go draw and color, so I sneak that in here and there. My reward for sticking to the work.
So that's where I've been, and where I'm going right now. Thanks for checking in. xo
