Cinnamon Pink

Time for a Mid-Year Review?

We're midway through the year of 2011. This may be a good time to do a review of your Indie Business. Here are some questions you might want to ask yourself.

• Are you on target in meeting your 2011 Indie Business goals?
• How about finished projects? Are you ahead of schedule - or behind - in finished projects?
• What about holiday goals? Are you currently working on art for the upcoming holidays?
• Have you regularly set aside time to work on new product ideas?
• Are there some art and/or business tasks that you can simplify?
• Do you regularly look for new markets?
• Do you actively pursue social media opportunities?

Why am I bringing up all these questions? Because these are the business/art questions that I am asking myself. How about it? Are you doing a Mid-Year Review?

Get the Most from Your 'To Do List' from HandmadeSuccess

I love making To Do Lists. When I spotted this interesting post on the Handmade Success blog, Practical Tips to Get the Most from Your To Do List, by Irene Zuccarello, I just had to share it with all of you.

On Irene's blog, Imaginative Bloom, you can snag a free copy of the E-Book, Social Media Blog Series. In this 36-page E-Book, nine creative women share secrets to succeeding with Social Media.

Do you make a daily To Do List? 

 

Summer of Color: Green

I'm a little late with my entry for the Summer of Color. This week our color is GREEN.

I usually don't use green in my art work so this week was definitely a challenge for me. But, I think it's good to take on challenges in art. Check out all the wonderful entries here.

Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy

Today is Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy.  Here's my entry:

A while back, I spotted some round wood boxes at an expensive boutique. They were simply decorated with dark, distressed ink on the box edges and a Paris label on the box top.

I adapted the idea by distessing the box edges with two shades of brown pigment ink. I then glued on a rose label from The Graphics Fairy collection. I had trimmed the label and accented the edges with pink pigment ink. Last, I attached a ribbon to match the pink & brown colors of the label.

You can see my Brag Monday project, and many other beautiful projects, here.

'Where Bloggers Create' Coming Up on July 15th

Karen Valentine, host of My Desert Cottage, is sponsoring the third annual Where Bloggers Create Blog Party on July 15th, 2011.

Here's your chance to show off your creative space to the blogging world. You can find out more details here. My own little studio is in a state of disorder right now. But if I can tidy it up in time, I may just join the party.

Last year over 300 talented ladies took part. Join in if you can - But if you cannot, you can still visit the blogs and enjoy the party.

10 Types of Digital Products You Should Consider Selling Online from meylah

Just found out that meylah is offering a new (free) eBook Supplement, entitled, 10 Types of Digital Products You Should Consider Selling Online. This informative supplement is written by Jason Dirks.

When you visit meylah, check out their other eBooks and helpful articles. I always enjoy reading their business tips and other related posts.

 

The Summer of Color Blog Event

There's a Summer of Color event taking place on the Twinkle Twinkle blog. You can find out all the details about this event here.

This week the featured color is Blue. From Monday, June 13 through Sunday, June 19, you are to post your artwork based on the color Blue. Get more information on Blue week here.

Here's my entry:

 

10 Ways to Get Inspired by the World Around You from HOW

As you probably remember, I'm always searching for ideas on how to be more creative and/or inspired. Today, I came across this neat article on the HOW Web site entitled: 10 Ways to Get Inspired by the World Around You. The article was written by Sam Harrison.

Although HOW is targeted to graphic designers, I believe this article applies to everybody who is involved in the Arts.

How do you get inspired?

My New Art at PFATT Marketplace

Today is the tenth day of the month. And that means new works of art are featured on PFATT (Primitive Folk Art Trinkets & Treasures) Marketplace.

Here's a sneak peak of my offerings. You can find more details here.

 

Trends at National Stationery Show from Joan Beiriger

Image from Joan Beiriger's Blog

Joan Beiriger has posted another fabulous article on her blog, Trends Spotted at National Stationery Show (NSS) 2011.

At the end of her post, Joan links to other articles for more information on trends that were seen at NSS by publication editors, buyers, and others attending the show. You may want to take a coffee break while you read. There is a lot of solid material to explore.

 

Mixed-Media Arts and Trends

 

On his Licensing Course site, Michael Woodward has an informative article: Trends And How It Affects Your Work. The article was written in 2007 but it is still relevant today.

In his article, Woodward says, "On many Art Publishers Web sites, you’ll have menu items such as Best Sellers as well as New Releases. These are important sections as it gives you an idea of what’s sold really well as well as new images and the colorways and styles they are starting to promote."

For more trending information, check out the Trend Watching site where you can sign up for a free monthly Trend Briefing. What about you? Do you regularly check out current - and future trends before you create?

Vintage Car Collage

Instead of a sepia tone, I decided to stay with a realistic photograph of the vintage car. The background consists of a vintage map - and an old neighbors stamp. The substrate is cherry wood.

I may add some tacks or nails to the corners of the wood.

I'm Featured on World of Color

My Etsy Shop, Koppel Studio, is featured on Chelsea's A World of Color blog. Thank you for the feature Chelsea!

Chelsea also has an Etsy Shop called Bejeweled Designs. Please pay a visit to Chelsea's blog to read the feature that she wrote - and check out her awesome shop.

Her jewelry is very elegant. I especially like this Pink, Pearl & Gold Beaded Toggle necklace.

 

Check Out The Entreprenette Gazette

Today, when I was surfing the Web, I came across The Entreprenette Gazette and I'm so glad that I did.

The first article that I read was How to Get into a Magazine. The article included 43 juicy tips from Entreprenette Experts. These amazing tips are chockful of valuable information for Indie businesses. You have to read this article!

I'm definitely going to revisit this site to learn more.

Experimenting with Sepia Tone Photographs

Earlier today, I experimented with sepia-tone photographs. I used a photograph of my brother Roddy's vintage car. The top image is the original photo.

I created the second photo in Photoshop Elements (PSE) by playing around with the brightness/contrast function and color curves.

For the third photo, I did an automatic sepia tone in Picasa. I wasn't satisfied with either of the two sepia tone photographs. I think I may do some more fine tuning in PSE, using the original photo.

Elegant Paper Mache Tea Cups from Ann Wood

Image from Ann Wood's blog

Via the Decor8 blog, I found these lovely paper mache tea cups, created by Ann Wood, to mark the 5 year anniversary of her blog,

Check out Ann's beautiful blog for the template and detailed instructions. I'm imagining a set of Alice in Wonderland teacups.

Don't forget to check out her shop to see her darling sweethearts.