Inside The Studio: What Even Is Time? - March & April Blog

March and April have been insanely busy and while I attempted to start writing this at the beginning of March month, I was unable to get it out sooner. It's been wildly crazy both preparing for the upcoming shows, signing up for more, and also having my "day" job pick up suddenly with system updates that requires hours of training before the switch happened and then Nebraska basically caught on fire. It's been an intense last few weeks for everyone. The fires are finally out but the weather isn't helping in the slightest. I've never seen anything like this. We desperately need a good, solid rain to help in recovering from this.

We've lost around 800,000 acres in the fires and at the time time of writing this and have only recently gotten them all put out.

Anyways, I could ramble about this for hours, probably days if I really tried especially if I start slipping into the "but what if" mindset that seems to rule over me if given the chance.

I do have to say that I have signed up for Celtic Fest in Cheyenne WY June 13th - 14th.

I would also like to thank everyone who came out for Bearcat Cares and Soulfest. I love being able to meet everyone and share my art in person and if I saw any of you there, thank you! Thank you for all of your support.

I have spent the last couple of months working my butt off on preparing for these upcoming craft shows. I've added roughly thirteen new prints to my current availability in all three sizes. I also finally got around to adding all of my art onto INPRNT as well. That took, what felt like forever to get them all up but I did it!

I was also able to take the time to finally finish the mouse and berries painting that I have been working on for a while now. It does have a D-Ring on the back that I added and was so scare to attach to the painting. The wooden pallet I did the painting on is really thin and I was terrified the screw was going to be too long and come through the painting but I did it! Took a couple washers but I was able to do it!

Mouse & Berries Painting Completed

I was able to get notepads made and had them with me at the Bearcat Cares Craft & Vendor Show. I've got some notepads with and some without magnets on the back. They feature the leafy border I made and used on the Spring Wildlife prints and the fox in lower left corner. I made them to be 4.25" x 7" with 25 sheets. I've put magnets on the backs of half of them but as much as I love when my notepads don't have magnets I know not everyone feels the same.

I've also made my first sticky notes and they can go with my newest sticker sheet. It was something I decided to start at the very last minute and managed to get completed in time for Soulfest. Both are more adult in nature but they are something I had been joking about since January.

The sticker sheet kicked the entire thing off and it's got seven different designs on it. Each one is a different carved crystal:

2 Goddess Body (1 tigers eye & 1 chocolate calcite)

1 God Body (moss agate)

2 Crystal Peens ( 1 bloodstone & 1 amythist

2 Feminine Crystal Slices (1 zeusite & 1 red agate)

There are two different versions of the sticker sheet the Vibrant version and Natural version. This is due to the fact that I ended up having them printed by two different manufacturers. The first set didn't have an accurate tracking number and I got really nervous that it would arrive in time for Soulfest even though I had ordered it with enough time to. I ended up placing a second order with a different company since I knew they would arrive in time for it without any issues. Of course I ended up doing that and then they arrived within 24 hours of each other.

Crystal Banger Sticky Note And Sticker Sheets

I do have to say I am so happy that I was able to finally get around to also making labels for not only the journals I made last year but also was able to get them made for the notepads, post its, and the new sticker sheet since I was trying out something different for their packaging. I didn't feel super comfortable having bright flashing crystal dicks and bodies just on display. Will they stay like that we'll see.

I painted and finished my new sticker display just in time to be able to use it for my first show of the year. I loved how well it ended up working out and it kept the stickers visible and organized! I did decide that I will be adding a sort of riser to them after my first two shows using them. I think the little bit of extra height will make them more visible to everyone and will allow for me to add on to the display later down the line as well. I have a lot of sticker designs so it doesn't take much to fill out a display.

New Sticker Display!

These last couple of months have been so incredibly busy for me and I have been making so many little improvements for myself and my little art shop. The fact that so many of the changes have also been to things that are already making set up easier and more efficient while setting up and tearing down for shows makes me so happy and is going to make for a much more enjoyable time at events.

I have also been working on a lot of back end stuff and this has resulted in me deciding to remove a few things from my shop as well. The first thing to go was my masks, these haven't sold in years and due to that I have gone ahead and removed them from my site for the time being. I will be moving them to storage so I still have access to them if we were to ever need them again. I don't want to waste the materials put into them and they are already prepackaged at this point due to me putting them in sleeves with care instructions the last time I made any because I was taking them to craft show at first and wanted them to be ready to ship out right away if I got an order for them.

I have also been working on removing the wrist lanyards from my shop as well lately. I will still have them at some shows but I won't have them out at all of them. They are an item I tend to rotate in and out at shows based of both space and the mood of the show.

I am also going to be removing the pinback buttons from my shop as well. I tend to have better luck at selling them at my different shows so they will be still going to most of my events with me but, like the lanyards, are an item that gets rotated in and out.

I have not at this point added the mouse painting to my shop yet. Since I only have the one painting and I have a show coming up I decided it was best to keep it down for now. If it hasn't found it's home after this upcoming show it will get added.