Can you believe it’s the end of January already? I certainly can’t. So are you one of those “New Year, New Me” people?
Every year I make goals and resolutions, and every year I fall a little short of them. That’s okay though, because I always still make progress. So while it’s a new year, you won’t likely get a whole new me.
For 2023, I’ve set a few goals:
- One blog post per month. I want to do more, but let’s be honest…I’m not great at blogging. The aim is one post at the end of the month to let you know what I’ve been up to.
- One email newsletter per month. Another thing I’m trying to be better about is communicating with you. If you sign up for my email list (which you can do right here!), you’ll stay-up-to-date on the blog posts and have direct links to new products on my Etsy store and on Red Bubble.
- One new listing on Etsy every month. Easier said than done, and I’m going to miss January because I’m still cleaning up the image, but I’m close and should have it up by the end of the week.
- One new design on Red Bubble every other month. Not all my designs translate well on to Red Bubble because a lot of them are customized, but my goal is to make some that work well on a variety of products.
- Grow my social media and email lists. I love social media, but I don’t particularly love being on social media, so I have to find a good schedule that will work for me. I also need to work on growing that email list because as great as social media is, you can get tossed in “jail” or banned for no reason other than they just decided to. Having an email list allows me to send you to my website for content I own AND you can easily find.
What have I been up to?
I’ve worked on a couple of things for Etsy and my graphic design season is starting to ramp up.
Sadly, I’ve had a couple of friends’ mothers pass away so I painted some cards for them.
One friend’s mom passed away from a fight with pancreatic cancer; the gladiolus is a flower for warriors, so I painted this one purple to honor her battle.
Although you can’t see it in the picture, there are metallic accents, which I’m finding I love and may make my style.
I have plans to adjust the text on this design to say “Thinking of You” so it can be used for either someone currently fighting or as a sympathy card to the family of someone who has passed.
I also want to do a number of these cards in various colors matching the cancer ribbons.
So I know this card will not be for everyone…🤣
That being said, it did serve it’s purpose in making the recipient smile.
I love the juxtaposition of the traditional painting with the…ahem…less than traditional wording.
I do love how this card turned out, but I’m not sure if it’s something that I’ll be putting up on Etsy. What are your thoughts on that? Would you buy this if you had the right person for it?
This is the project I’m working getting up on Etsy and Redbubble. This design is now in it’s third iteration; it’s one that just won’t get out of my mind.
The Celtic cross with it’s ring of stylized roses is something I designed over 15 years ago; I first did it with markers and colored pencils, then a completely digital version.
I have to say this watercolor and ink version is my favorite.
I’m in the process of cleaning up the scanned image so I can size it in different formats for a digital download on Etsy and to upload on Red Bubble.
What’s coming up?
In February, I have a big watercolor/design project I’m hoping to finish up, but I can’t show it in it’s entirety until the client has presented it in May.
I’m also going to work on getting another monogram listing up on Etsy. I painted it for my cousin’s wedding gift last October, and it turned out beautiful. It’s in the same style as the cards above with the metallic accents, and I hope people really like as much as I do.
While you’re waiting for new things, be sure to go check out my offerings already up on my Etsy shop and my Red Bubble Shop.
