Here Come the Boys!!

So my shop was inspired by my daughters and as a result there are no little boy prints. I guess I am just more involved with little girls now and love drawing the dresses, so it hasn't been a priority. However, after a few requests and the realization that half the babies are boys I have decided to add a couple of boy prints.


So the first is the obvious choice..."Brothers" to pair with my sister's print. I am hoping to turn the drawings for these two prints into the ability to make custom "family" prints. Stayed tuned for that one. I am hoping to get that listed by December first, but I don't know how long it will take to figure out. The custom work has become really labor intensive and although I love doing this I think my time is worth at least minimum wage :-)

The second boy print is titled EnGarde and although it depicts two little boys it is based on my daughter and husband. From the time Maya could pick up a stick Zee would hold a stick and say EnGarde. They have duels all the time and so far no one has lost an eye.


Let me know what you think of these new prints. I hoping they will help sales after all I have now doubled my market :-)

Time Flies....

So it seems like only yesterday that I was waiting for our daughter to be born and yesterday she was four months old. Of course I wasn't so excited when she decided to show up two weeks early before I had even stopped work, but at least she decided to be born on the weekend.

So her being four months old marks the end of my maternity leave. After Thanksgiving I will be going back to work full time. In some ways I am looking forward to it. It will be nice to talk with adults again, but I will miss the time I have had with Maya and Abra and the extra time it has given me for Gingerwinks.

So in honor of Abra being four months old I took some new photos...WOW has she grown from the 6lbs 1oz. she started at. She is quite the opposite of her sister. Very mellow, calm, and quiet.

New Card Designs and a Great Opportunity

A friend of mine is involved in a company called Jack Cards... http://www.jackcards.com/ If you are one of those people who remembers birthdays, but always remembers them a week late then Jack Cards is for you.

You can create a calendar with all your birthdays, anniversarys, holidays etc.. and then you can select cards from their shop for each event. When the event is close they will send you a stamped self addressed card for you to sign and mail out just in time to reach the recipient for their special day. It is a great service and they have cards by a number of small artists.

So, I have been working on some sample cards to see if they would like to feature my work on Jack Cards. What do you think so far.....





I am also thinking of featuring these in my Etsy shop with coordinating envelopes from Paper Source (another store I just love).

Business Cards

So I was asked to be in a charity show in New Hampshire in a few weeks. I am really excited and also really nervous as it will be my first show...actually my first anything since I just started Gingerwinks two weeks ago. So in preparation I know I will need business cards for it. I spent a little time last night designing these.

Front

Back

Any thoughts? I think I have included everything I need on it, but I don't know if it is clear and if it represents my work well enough. If you have a minute I would appreciate any feedback.

Oh and check back soon for more info on the show and some giveaways I have planned for the next couple of weeks.

I got a treasury!!!

So I was on the computer when a lot of the treasuries were expiring and managed to get one. I only wish I had a plan before I got it. Since I didn't have a plan I made it about the first thing that came to mind.....ITALY

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=21009

I titled it Bella Italia because a year ago I was in Italy on vacation with Zee and Maya. It was the best trip we have ever been on. We rented an apartment in a town outside of Siena for a week and then stayed in Rome for a week. I lived in Rome for a semester while in college so I knew where to go and what to see. It was so much fun and so relaxing.There is nothing like Italy and it is the small details that truly make it special.

Since I am an Architect I guess I am naturally drawn to the buildings, but I think it is the hidden stories behind all the age that seem to intrigue me. I would rather have a picture of someone's laundry drying that a photo of the Colosseum. Here are some more pictures from our last trip.....

Oh I wish I could go back.

Custom Banners take time!!

So I decided to list custom name banners in my shop because I made one for Abra when she was born, however I didn't realize how much work they could end up being. Fortunately they seem popular and have the most views.

Abra's banner was simpler in some ways and more complicated in others.

For Abra's banner I made the letters and butterfly image entirely in Adobe Illustrator and then printed each letter and mounted them to pink card stock. I also strung the letters with different colored ribbons. It came out beautiful, but a lot of work.

So for Etsy I decided not to back them in card stock and just string them with a single ribbon color. However for Etsy I also decided to hand draw all the artwork and only do the background and letter in illustrator. This extra step has proved more time consuming.

So far I have designed two custom banners and despite the work it has been fun. The first was a modified butterfly banner with new colors. I thought it came out nice.The second one I am still in the middle of.....but here is a preview.

It has a new theme ....SURFBOARDS.....which is good because now I have some more boy friendly artwork. Having two girls and being a girl has definitely effected my work.

Tis the Season for new items in my shop

So yesterday I posted some new holiday themed items in my shop. I am very excited since they are my first cards. I have drawn both a Hanukkah and a Christmas themed design.

I converted to Judaism before I married my husband, but I grew up Christian. So since I have a very diverse family now I thought it was only appropriate to do both designs. Anyway you can never find a cute Hanukkah card so I really wanted to do that one. I figure even if they don't sell well i can use them for my own holiday cards.

What do you think...

I also decided to offer them as 8x10 prints since I thought they came out so cute. I hope I sell a couple, but either which way they were fun to do.

My crafty side...

So I mentioned that I love making things for my girls. If fact I am always up for the challenge and there isn't much I won't attempt when it comes to crafting. I just get it in my head that I want to try something and go for it. (Similar to my last post on the treehouse) So I thought I would share the two things I do every year for my daughters ... Purim costumes and birthday cakes.

So Purim is a Jewish holiday in March at which kids dress up in costumes, get/give candy and get to make a lot of noise. (This is not the religious significance of Purim, but it's the fun part for the kids). Well after my daughter was born I wanted to hand make her Purim costumes.


The first year I made her an Owl.....without a pattern and basically from a picture in my head. I made it entirely out of felt and my mom helped. She was a Home Economics teacher so sewing and baking are her thing. I guess that's where I get it from.

Cutting out all the feathers was the most time consuming part. The mask is from Panama. We got it on a cruise, of course I was to naive to think that a 1 year old wouldn't cooperate and wear the mask. That is as close as it ever made it to her face.

When she was two I decided to make her Queen Ester (she is part of the story of Purim). My mom loves to knit and wanted to make her the crown. I made her the tutu and shirt. She loved it.

Now...on to the cakes....which always seem to get a little out of control. My aunts have a tradition of making elaborate birthday cakes for their kids and my mom always made us something special, but I have definitely carried on more of my aunt's tradition.

When Maya was one I decided to make an elephant themed party complete with custom invitations and an elaborate cake. The cake takes a couple of hours to bake and then probably three hours to frost and decorate... that doesn't include the time spent decorating the flower cookies that were all over it. And did I mention that Maya's birthday is in March right around Purim, so I have to do the costumes, cake and party all at the same time. Yeah it makes for a busy month.

When Maya turned two I continued the tradition of over the top insanity and made her this cake....

What little girl wouldn't want to have a bunny and a duck come to their tea party. At this point I feel like I can't turn back. I can only make things bigger and better. So history will probably repeat itself. It won't be long before I am incorporating lights and sounds into the cakes like my aunts. Oh well as least I enjoy it and so does Maya.

Treehouse inspiration

So I write in most of my descriptions that my inspiration is my girls and that is entirely true. The first drawing I did was the sister's print, because I hope that they will be friends like the girls in the print. I have a younger brother and we are good friends, but I am sure there is a special bond with a sister.

Another print which was truly inspired by real life is the treehouse print. While on has two weeks of paternity leave my husband decided to build Maya a treehouse. He says it is for Maya, but in the back of his mind it is a place for him to go when having three girls in the house gets overwhelming.

Here's a picture of the actual treehouse....
I think it is pretty close to the print..... Of course I changed the skull and crossbones canopy in Maya's treehouse to a flower for the print. I wasn't sure how well the pirate theme would go over as a print. The treehouse was a lot of fun. My husband had a blast building it. He says it was his practice for a future deck off our kitchen. I had fun making the canopy and the pennant banners.

I made the canopy out of a painter's drop cloth. I just cut and hemmed it, added grommets, then hand painted the pirate theme. Of course I gave the skull a pink eye patch with a flower. I had to make it a little girly. I also made the pennants and flag. The flag was canvas which I sewed and painted. I then hand stitched it with some extra ribbon to the rope and pulley. Now Maya can raise and lower her flag. The pennants were made out of oilcloth which I cut and sewed together and then connected them on binding.

Maya turned 2 1/2 in September so we gave her some Pirate accessories for her "half birthday". Now she walks around yelling hoist the sails and aye aye captain.

Setting up a clean shop

So I was looking around this morning and my desk and studio area seemed to be getting a little overwhelmed by clutter. Between getting my new printer setup and taking pictures of new items it was getting to be a hazard, especially for a 2 year old. So I decided to take some time while Abra napped to get some cleaning done.

Here's the result......

I must say that I love my studio space. it is the first time in a lot of years that I have had my own desk. When we found out I was pregnant with Abra we knew we wanted a little more space since our third bedroom was being used as an office/guestroom after Maya was born and now we were going to out an office with the addition of Abra.

So we decided to finally finish our walk-up attic and it has been the best thing we ever did. We use half the attic as a play room/family room and the other half as our office space. It is great. We can now watch the kids and get some work done. One of the best parts is my living room no longer looks like an aisle in ToysRus.

Well getting organized today has helped me clear my head so now it is on to promoting my new shop, shopping Etsy for holiday gifts, and enjoying my last month of maternity leave.

My Grand Opening

So, I am currently on maternity leave with my second child Abra, and while on leave I decided that I wanted to start drawing again and open my own storefront on Etsy.

For anyone who hasn't heard of Etsy you will see that I am a raving fan. It is a wonderful site where anyone can set up a storefront to sell anything handmade. I think it is the most wonderful outlet for artists I have ever found.

This past weekend I finally posted my first items and even managed to get my first sale. My goal was to get it up by early November so I guess I am doing well. Now I just need to figure out how to handle my renewed interest in drawing with my real job as an Architect and my even more real job as a mother of two young girls.

I have one more month of maternity leave to get the shop organized and on track. I really want to make it a success but it is going to take a lot of time and energy.