Thank you thank you thank you

I am so happy! All the hard work getting the website up and running is paying off!! We have a great little webstore complete with 17 kits ( a super start!) and adding more every week. Im going to get some winter/holiday on today and work on my fall and halloween stuff too. Ive recently added a pool/swim kit and a beach kit. We are selling kits every day and the downloads are seamless!!! Im so grateful for the support we have received, and our ability to get things up and running as fast as we have.

We are going to the CHA tradeshow as Digital Scrap Chicks with a booth on the show floor, selling kits on CD to retailers. By that time we will have 9 CD collections available! Each with 5 or 6 coordinating kits organized by season or life event. See us at booth #212 just inside the main entry in the first eisle!

More fun with websites!!!

After a few months of trying to do it myself, Ive Joined up with friend Rosemary Primavera and started a new site useing a pre-built commerce site.... with automatic fulfilment!!!!! No more waiting for me to send a link... no more searching for emails from paypal every hour, its all automatic and its up and running as of May 24, 2007. Its great to get back to the art and not trying to re-invent the wheel every day. Our store site is at www.digitalscrapchicks.com , we are loading new product every day.

On another note, I am getting ready to go to the Licensing show in New York, Im almost ready... Just need to print a few more banners for the Booth and get the portfolios updated....
I have, of course, once again put off the output of new designs and the portfolio stuff is going to be quite extensive....probably 40 or 50 new sheets... my assistant will be sooo excited!
If your going I will be in booth #1775.

Ebay... is it working???

I've been working diligently on my store website, loading jewelry, digital paper kits, prints. But still not selling much. I want to think its getting a little better and more professional every time I update it. Ive also began selling a few items on Ebay, 8 items at a time and Ive been doing steady buisness for the last two weeks. Im trying to rotate my 16 kits so that my line up changes weekly, with the very newest going straight to ebay and then my two selling sites Daisie and kpmart with links to both. Its an interesting process, what to sell, how many to list, what fees are being charged....what works and what doesnt... As it stands right now, Ive been selling the lower priced items only, and getting charged alot 15-30% by paypal and about 10% by ebay. It seems that when I sell an item for 1.00 paypal charges a minimum of .34 so Im ony making .42 on the 1.00 items, by the time I figure in the listing fee of .14 each and the selling fee of .10 each!!!

Yesterday I spent a full day on an art call for a gift bag manufacturer...framing, adding backgrounds, getting things in the right size and format for the art director. I ended the day with 32 designs, in 9 categories.... Now I need to load them onto my Illustration site for other directors to see.... maybe you will see these in Target some day!

Time for a little free bee!

I have hidden this cute little easter bunny on my website www.kpmart.net . Find him, click and you'll be directed to my freebee for the week.

more new stuff!

I am having a blast creating all these patterns! Ive been working on a collection called tiki burst, sort of a retro floral thing in a really warm palet. I have been scanning in black and white sketches and then pulling them into illustrator to manipulate the size and color.... Every day I learn something new about photoshop and Illustrator and I realize that Im probably only using 10% of the softwares 'ability'. I plan to have this full collection on my site www.fcocdesign.com by Friday.

A new Site for new work!

Ive been working with www.daisiecompany.com developing and selling digital scrapbook kits online. So far I have added 8 sets to thier website. At the same time Ive been trying to learn dreamweaver software to develope a new site for myself where I can sell my art and jewelry. I have a few kits up this week, for a while I will just be rotating 6 kits in and out of the site, until I figure out a better way to download the kits. My site is www.kpmart.net and soon it will have jewelry and giclee prints available... for right now just the scrapbook kits!

Back from the Trade show

I just returned from the CHA winter trade show. Ihad a booth in the Licensing and Design area, wich is still really small but strong. I lucked out when the person next to me didnt show up and the show mangement asked me to spread out to fill the space! The show overall was slow, but I got some good leads and contacts. We were all disapointed about the traffic in our area, but I think we all went away with a positive attitude anyway.

Its Semisweet!

My new collection is finally finished and ready for press! I will be unveiling the new semisweet collection at the Craft and Hobby Associations winter trade show (booth 5424) in Anaheim in two weeks. I ve finished drawing, painting and scanning, Im creating patterns and borders and stripes by manipulating the images I scanned. Im on my last two themes with a total of 13 themes. This is from the birthday boy theme, featuring dogs and monkeys and tons of fun! All of this has been done for licensing, there is no client. In otherwords, no pay until I sell it! Ive been working on the collection for six months, inbetween paying jobs and at night. I love what I do....

New Years Resolutions

Starting in 2006 my family set a goal to eat healthier and we did it! My husband, 6 yr old daughter and I, swore off fast food (almost) we still allowed ourselves a once a month trip to In and Out, a California based hamburger chain that serves everything fresh, they even cut their own fries from fresh potatos. We still eat out, we just stay away from any place with a drive through or that serves breakfast all day.

THis year we are going a step further. We are going as organic as we can, not crazy all organic.... but stuff that makes sense. Anything that we consume on a regular basis (eggs, bread, milk, rice, veggies and fruit) we will buy organic. All other stuff will be fresh, no cans! As little processed foods as possible, no more american cheese or balogne for Juliann, and no fake stuff! No more microwave popcorn with fake butter or diet soda. We always weigh ourselves and measure Juli on Jan 2, so tomorrow, I will know how a year of cutting back on fast food went for us.

As for me personally, my goals for this year are simple. I am a freelance designer/illustrator. My goal is to do what I love, and be happy and successful doing it.
I will say no to projects that will interfear with bigger and more important projects.
I will make beads for one hour every day m-f.
I will not work after 5:00
I will not put work before family
I will explain to my clients that they will be charged 1.5 times my normal rate for overtime for any work that I have to do over a weekend or holiday. I will also get 'permisison' from my family before I take a job like this.
I will keep up my portfolios on a monthly basis
I will add to my website on a monthly basis

The last two are the hardest... I still find that doing things to promote myself seem to be the lowest priority, and I need to work on that the most. I got the new dreamweaver software for building my website and I will be starting this afternoon, re-building my sites.

May your year be filled with good fortune and great adventure!!!

Happy new year