March 30, 2012

I've had such an exhausting month. I hope it was all worth it. Of course it wasn't all the work that made it exhausting, it was a lot of the extraneous things (life) that did it too. Family health issues, birthdays, the woman next door locking herself out at one in the morning after I worked for 14 hours straight and pounding on the door and screaming for a half hour before someone finally let her in. And no, she's not a drunk, just a little altered from her med cocktail.

I had a semi relaxing day. I haven't sold much this week so after watching my granddaughter most of the day, I cut out the few things I sold, did the dishes and some laundry. It was nice after all the work I did.

I had bought some colored pencils on line, and was expecting them at the Post Office. I guess the people at the Post Office didn't notice them, because my daughter didn't pick them up. What she did get, however, was my new post cards. Now, I just ordered these Monday from Vistaprint and I've NEVER received anything that quickly from them. They were horrible. Cropped wrong, wrong color, just horrible. I was so disappointed. I'm not sure what they were trying to accomplish working so quickly, but it didn't impress me. Now I either have to contact them and get a refund and look somewhere else or trust they will send me a new set with correct images.

This really sets me back on my brochure, but I do have time to get better prints. The cards I got were blown up and cropped off center and kind of pinkish brown instead of the nice pewter. Not terrible, but they don't match the business card I got PRINTED AT VISTAPRINT!!!! How can I send out something to potential clients that don't match? This has just been a cursed month and I suppose that because of it, none of my product designs will sell to the huge retailers that were presented with them.

One thing about all this work I've done the past three months is that I really love designing product. I like crafting, but I love designing. And I'm good at it too. I'll share my website when I'm finished, and you can see.

March 17, 2012

Today I was asked to do another rendering of a light design I had done freelance. This means that the Store I had designed for has chosen 6 of my designs to sample. It does not mean that they will buy them, but if the company I make them for can make nice samples at a good cost, it might mean that in 2013 they will be in the retail store and I will make commission.

I find that I definitely like designing product much better than sewing. There is a toss up between making jewelry and design though. Right now my income has doubled what I was making last year because of the design work, but the majority of design work is just this time of year.

I will be having a lot of work this time of year which will let me focus on getting my jewelry to shops at the end of April as I had planned. I need to focus more on my website to get the rankings up. I planned on having a giveaway in March, but I've been too busy. It think I need to do it anyhow. I'll do a quick giveaway of the Pick your own mini bouquet brooches. They will get them in time for Easter/Spring holidays. I'm hoping that I will bring traffic to my site and also have people recommend my flowers. I'll plan for Wednesday.