bloowabbit: cards

Showing posts with label cards. Show all posts

Sunday, 11 December 2016

ABADID 11...Etsy shop, a no-go this year...

I had great plans to open an Etsy shop in time for Christmas 2016 and had been making all sorts of stuff throughout the year that might have sold. Jewellery, cards, smash books, junk journals, bookmarks, artwork and more.

I'm aware that in 2012 Etsy had over 800k active sellers (https://blog.etsy.com/news/2012/notes-from-chad-7/) and that figure may have fallen or risen since then. So it was quite competitive in 2012 even with 40 million visitors to the site each month. But that's not why I didn't open a shop.

I started to open one, naming it 'Sticky Papers', but that's as far as I got. And I had experimented with shops over the years on Folksy. I sold jewellery on 'The Thieving Magpie' and paper crafts on 'Harry Rascal' and mixed vintage bits and bobs on 'The Mudlark' making enough to refund my expenditure but not make any profit. All about funding a hobby because craftwork and collecting can be expensive.

Why I didn't open a shop was because I wasn't convinced I'd sell enough to make it worth the effort. I didn't have a decent sized following on any of my social media sites and I believe that's an important factor in having a successful online store or website. Otherwise you fall into the trap of having a lovely looking shop and no-one ever sees it.

So, the items I've made are getting used as Christmas gifts - friends and family seem to like receiving handmade things from me so that in itself is enough to make me think I might open that Etsy shop in 2017. And I've a few ideas to give me a slight edge on so much of what's for sale online. What I need to do early in 2017 is to make more of my social media pages, draw followers...and I don't find that easy.

Here's looking forward to Christmas 2017...

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Friday, 9 December 2016

ABADID 9...bunting, bookmarks and cards...

I make a lot of stuff. On the higher shelves in my artroom are boxes of handmade cards, handmade necklaces, tree decorations made from vintage brooches and more. It's inevitable that a lot of my Christmas gifts are handmade.

I have a friend who likes bunting (you know who you are) and I'd had this idea about using up the old Christmas cards I've kept. So this evening, while watching the remainder of Rita (Danish series about a teacher with attitude) and then the North and South mini-series (I'm working my way through Netflix), I made some bunting.

I like to use scissors rather than a paper cutter for small projects. It took a few 'go's before I was happy with the size of the bunting pattern which had to be small enough to work with the sizes of the Christmas cards. I settled for a 13x15x15cm triangle. Choosing cards that had red in their cover I began cutting and glueing. Each pennant was made from collaging 2 or more cards. I covered seams with red washi tape and glued card on the back to strengthen. Small holes were punched at the top corners. Green garden twine worked well to string them together with knots at the front to prevent the bunting from bunching up. As a final touch I added some Christmas card decorations to a few of the pennants.

I had half a dozen book mark fittings which I wanted to attach to beads with chain-link. Beads used were odds and ends left over from days of jewellery making, some from recycled necklaces bought at charity shops and car boot sales. Using both small jewellery pliers and round-nosed pliers I used headpins to attach beads to each other, snipping off the heads and curling the ends into loops. I was out of fine silver plated wire so needs must.

Small pre-made jump rings were used to make fine chain. Finished bookmarks ranged from tasselled, shell animals, and semi-precious.

I had picked up a gorgeous paper pack from Easons called Kaleidoscope containing glittered, pearlescent and patterned sheets of card and heavy paper.

Using pre-folded white A6 card stock and a LOT of Pritt stick I glued two different papers to the front of each card. Strips of washi tape covered the joins and finished the edges of each card. As a gift, 5 card with envelopes were placed in a poly bag and when I pick up some fine ribbon or thick butcher's twine I'll wrap the packs and attach a gift tag. I love making simple cards that stand out on their own because of beautiful patterns. And it's nice to sit and watch/listen to a movie on my laptop while making things.

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Wednesday, 7 December 2016

ABADID 7...ARTWORK - 3 cards GIVEAWAY...

I had thought about doing a giveaway while I was making packs of cards as gifts. So this giveaway is a hand drawn and coloured card, signed, written and posted to you. There will be three winners. I'm also planning to have a special postage 'stamp' on the front of the envelope.

Theme of the cards is Snowy Moon with each figure having a different expression - Thoughtful, Hopeful & Wishful. Cards were sketched first in pencil and then inked with uniPin fine liner.

I used Letraset ProMarkers and flex markers together with Copic ciao. Some snowfall was coloured with JellyRoll white gel pen. The cards are A5 when opened and are also signed on the back.

To win a card simply leave a comment at the bottom of this blog page (not my facebook page) putting the three cards in order of favourite - if you're a winner I'll know which card to send. To comment you may be asked to register with an email address and may receive alerts whenever I blog. I not only want to share some art with readers but need to begin creating a little traffic via my comment section. Good luck!

thoughtful...

hopeful...

wishful...

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Monday, 27 June 2016

Not even July and I'm planning for Christmas

Yes, just halfway through the year and I'm thinking of Christmas. I have to, I make a lot of gifts. Time is of the essence and all that. I know there's a large box of handmade jewellery on the shelf and beside it a large box of handmade cards, but each year I think of something special to make family and friends - last year it was junk journals. So far this year I haven't yet decided.

What I can do though is make this year's Christmas Planner. Last year saw a planner cobbled together from an old games board with a lot of festive stickers and inside were four months of planning space. Each month had its own decorative theme to make using the planner enjoyable:

September: Paris (had a lot of Parisian stickers to use up)

October: Autumn/Fall

November: Blues and greens of Winter

December: Traditional red & green Christmas

Each month's section also had a 'duty':

September: Craft ideas plus links to YT 'how-to'

October: Shopping lists for making and baking

November: Gift lists & budgets

December: Christmas card list, Christmas food list, Christmas Day dinner countdown schedule (yes, I time it all)

PARIS...using flat and 3D stickers from high street stationery shops and sub boxes, plus notepaper illustrated with scenes from the city. Sticky notes allowed me to make lists of craft ideas and then scrap those for newer, better ideas.

AUTUMN...beautiful transfer stickers from my sis-in-law included pheasant, pumpkin, late flowers and leaves. Shopping lists for materials to make gifts and ingredients to bake on sticky notes were transferred into my personal planner to have at hand at all times.

WINTER...although there was not a pick of snow when I started to used the November section, the beautiful scrapbooking stickers really got me in the mood for Christmas. I could keep on top of what gifts I'd made and what I had yet to create.

CHRISTMAS...in traditional reds and greens. How many Christmas cards to make, write and post and how many sweetmince pies to make. Presents to wrap, friends to meet. And the Christmas Day dinner schedule - when to put what in the oven.

By using a Christmas Planner instead of a series of notebooks and a page at the back of my recipe book I have a single record of what I made, what we ate and what gifts we received. Something to look back on.

For Christmas 2016 I'd hoped to have designed a planner that I could sell as a downloadable online, complete with illustrations, but it may take me another year of honing my ideas. I began last year by looking at what was for sale on etsy & amazon and ended putting together pages from an undated planner pad, page markers, sticky notes and stickers, all held together with lashings of sticky tape.

This Christmas might see a better organised book. I may keep the lists, craft and gift info at the back as I remember flicking back and forth to find the info. I'd like both sides of the pages to be printed - the ready bought planner pad wasn't. And to any crafter out there thinking of Christmas...yes, I'm running late!!