new cards .....

 

..... some new card designs

 

originals for sale

back a few weeks ago ... here ...  i very excitedly waffled on about finally having originals for sale. 

 well there was a bit of a hiccup .... i couldn't part with them.

every weekend i found an excuse not to take them with me to my market stall.

new cards :: quirky quotes

here are some new cards for the market this weekend.

.... and ... a big and ... at last weekend's market a lovely woman commissioned me to create some personalised cards for her real estate agency.  they are *congratulations on your new home* type cards with her name on them.  great idea i thought.  

if you'd like personalised cards please get in touch as i'd love to create some for you.  having said that, i am not a graphic designer but can use some of my funky backgrounds and add some funky text to it.

 

:: love bunting ::

about six months ago i decided my market stall need to look a little more funky, so i made myself some vintage style bunting using the fabric that I had printed to sew onto t-shirts.  well ... the bunting turned out fabulous (evidenced below) and i have been inundated with people wanting to buy it.

new cards

gosh ... i'm on a roll. two posts in one day.  wowee.

thought i'd just upload some cards i made yesterday that i'll have available for sale at my future markets. the backgrounds are cropped parts of some mixed media paintings that i've done.

  

new card for next market

i quite like my new card design.  if it looks familiar it is because i designed the background as a badge (see left) to promote my markets and thought i'd make it do double duty as a card. 

:: market schedule ::

 Market Schedule


2014 UPDATE:

I will be having less markets on my schedule this year as I have started a new business to wholesale my art to retailers .... you can find that over here ... it's called Being Whimsical.

I will always be at the following two markets every month though.  Or if you want to purchase online you can visit my shop.

1st Saturday of every month

:: Olive Tree Market  
www.theolivetreemarket.com.au

The Junction Public School, Union Street, Merewether, Newcastle
9am to 3pm 
Additional Christmas Markets : 16 November and 21 December

4th Sunday of every month 

:: Avoca Beach Markets
www.fixxevents.com.au
Heazlett Park Foreshore, Avoca Beach, Central Coast NSW
9am to 2pm

ghostly designs

i have seen the most beautiful simple dismantled lamps shades over the past year or so and loved and coveted them, but have never taken too much notice of how they were made.  then a week ago i decided that i just had to have couple of them for my market stall.  the hunt was on to try and locate one so i could see how i could create my own. google to the rescue with a weird combination of words and surprise surprise i came up with some beautiful photos in a wonderful blog that i read very (far too often) regularly  ... dotti angel ...

apparently they are called ghost lamps ... who would have guessed that?

so here are my attempts at a couple of small lamps for decorating my market stall.  lets see how they go on the stall.  will post photos of the stall soooon.

the photos are not good ... my apologies ... but you get the idea.

more more and more paper

as i constantly mention,  i love colour and i love paper.
i recently acquired some wallpaper samples in the most amazing colours and designs.

they are the most fabulous papers that, although i want to use them in artwork, i can't bear to cut them up as they are so special and delicious.  is anyone else like that?

a little aside story .......

before i started selling my own cards i always had a huge stash of cards in an attractive box so i always had an appropriate card to hand for whenever i needed one.  my challenge with having this stash of cards was that when i needed to choose one i would question whether the recipient was worthy of the card.  seriously.  mostly i would say - no - i don't think they are worthy and that divine card would be sent back to the stash.   so, now that i am selling my cards and prints of my designs i get a lot of comments from people saying that they like to keep a stash of special cards so, like me, they always have cards to hand.  well i told a customer one day of my feelings that my recipients were often not worthy, and this person said they were exactly the same in parting with their card stash. yay.  i now mention it alot and guess what ......there are lots of card crazies out there that hate parting with their fantastic cards.  lots. love it.  although not good for business if you sell cards like me is it.


anyway, back to wallpaper ....... here is a selection of some of the samples i obtained from this most fantastic wallpaper outlet.

paper paper and more more paper

this may seem a bit odd to those that love art, craft and colour (as I do), but my first visit to a scrapbooking shop was just a year ago.

when i entered i had such an overwhelming feeling of bliss that i thought was going to hyperventilate.  it was the papers. the designs on the papers.  the colours on the papers. the papers. all i could think of was how long have these shops been around and why didn't i know about them sooner (still don't know the answers) it was a revelation to me.   i had been into paper shops that sold A4 sheets for invitations and those beautiful japanese papers, but never anything with such an array of colour and design.  I now am obsessed and have a stash of hundreds of sheets.

having such beautiful papers also causes a challenge when I go to use some in my art.  i worry that if i use up the sheet and can't replace it then what will i do as i so love every (well almost every) sheet.  i am the same with cards.  i go through my stash of cards in search of the right one for the right person, then ponder as to whether the intended recipient is worthy of the card.  Usually the answer is no, so the card is replaced and my stash of exceptional cards remains intact.  honestly, i can't believe i do that. i really must get over myself.

here are some that i bought recently.  the papers in the last photo below were from a stall at The Olive Tree Market, the lovely stallholder imports beautiful wrapping papers from india.  i don't think she had a card so i can't tell you who she is, but i will ask her for one at the next market and update this post with her details.

just remembered that i also recently bought a heap of wallpaper samples. amazing.  i will get them out and photograph them.  they are too stunning for words, and will cause a huge dilema for me when i go to use them. if i ever use them.

i'm back ..... bet you didn't even know I was gone ... hee he.

back from a wonderful holiday and finally over the jet lag. 

our travels took us to .......

amsterdam

ireland

malaysia

 

.... and a great time was had by all!

new glorious frames for my girls

last month i finally managed to track down some glorious frames to put my girls in.  the previous frames not only weren't gorgeous enough, i also could no longer access them.  so here are my new frames in all their glorious-ness at my last market.

.... love love love them.

Planning ::Painting::Printing::Panicking - not necessarily in that order

... ten days until my first market and trying not to panic.  trying not to let anxiety take over.  it won't. i can do it. its no big deal. for once in my life i want everything to be perfect.  i know it wont be as i will leave so much until the last minute and not get it all done.  no i won't. 

i am going now to write a schedule of stuff to do. there will be no panic.  hooray!

it will be bliss.

to market .... to market

very very very excited.  i have booked into the Bella Vista Artisans Market!  yay to me!!!  i know it's not that big a deal, its just that I have been thinking, talking, dwelling on it for so long I can't believe that I have actually gotten off my fat behind and done something about it.

so now, apart from panicking, i am madly painting away.  have decided to sell some canvas paintings that I am surprisingly loving in every way.  i am loving making them. i am loving the end result.  really loving. and they are so different from anything i have ever done before as they are not my usual girls of varying descriptions.  i think it is the colour i enjoy the most.  as well as the two in the colour scheme below, i have also done a couple of pink-ish ones, but the canvas is larger and they won't fit on my home scanner so can't upload them.

as i am not working at the moment and want some extra money, i wanted to produce some paintings that i believe will sell that are aimed at the target market of the market, which i think would be women with small children.  i have come to that conclusion as that is the prominent demographic in the area where the market is.  hope i am right as i think these paintings would look great in a kids room .... gee i really hope i'm right! think i need to test them with some friends with small children ... great idea Jenn.

i decided on bunting as a theme as when i was researching how to make bunting in a non-laborius way (as i wanted to make about ten metres of it to string up around my market stall) I thought - hey, what about painting some as well.  and i quite like the result. and they are relatively quick to make unlike my girls that seem to take days to get their eyes and skin right.

wish me luck ..... bliss

leap and the net will appear .....

... it is one of my most favourite sayings and I have decided to finally take it's advice.

i have wanted for so long to try and sell my art somehow other than online - not that i have been online for that long.  so i have decided to try a couple of art and craft markets.  i have visited two in the past two weekends - the first not so great as it was full of hand made children's clothes.  then i visited one today that was wonderful - Bella Vista Artisans Market.

today was only the second time it has operated and there were alot of stalls, although several sellers told me that it was very quite day.  i remember reading an article years ago about establishing a market, and it said that it takes about 12 months for a market to be well know and establish, so there is alot of promise for this one as it is in a beautiful setting.

i did speak with a very talented stallholder there called genevieve who is an artist and sells online through redbubble.com.  her artwork was wonderful and i really enjoyed talking to her.  she was selling prints of her work in varying sizes as I want to do.  she seems dedicated to the market and has been there for the first two and plans to be there next month.  

so i am busy investigating the most cost effective and professional outcome for printing, designing the look of my stall (the fun part), getting insurance, oh and I must remember to book in to the market.  Bliss