I Have Been Recently Featured!!

I love writing about and featuring other artists and Etsians, but it is also wonderful to be blogged about! 

I was just featured in the Erin Peterson Art Blog by etsian weepingmulberry.

Last week, my Rainbow Crayons were also in one of my favorite sellers, Underroos, blog called Out of Character.

I love reading blogs and it is nice that others take the time to write such nice things!

The 2008 edition of  "Create. Collect. Trade. A collection of Artist Trading Cards Created by Artists and Students" is now available for artists to purchase their 2 FULL PAGES and individual copy of. 

"Create. Collect. Trade. A Collection of Artist Trading Cards Created by Artists and Students" is an 80 page yearly publication of ACEO (Art Cards, Editions, and Originals) and ATC (Artist Trading Cards) art created by 25 artists and 25 elementary art students, who use these artists as inspiration. 

This book is perfect for shop and artist promotion, a great coffee table book, and an inspirational guide for visual artists, students, and teachers. 

This handbook is sent out to each of the 25 artists for them to use it as a promotional tool and given to artists, teachers, and art students to refer to for inspiration and interest.

Being featured in this book is a way to share and give back to the art community, while at the same time promoting yourself, your art, and adding this experience to your portfolio. 

I will be updating the blog on a daily basis and providing more information about the book. Please convo me on Etsy or send an e-mail to art2theextreme@yahoo.com

***Create. Collect. Trade. was inspired by Project ATC, where Flickr and Etsy ACEO and ATC artists have donated their cards to swap with elementary art students in the hopes to make this art form become more well known and provide students with the visual opportunity to view actual artist work. 

****Thank you to TimothyAdamDesigns for help and guidance! Please take time to check out his ETSY shop. His work is AMAZING!

I am Creating a Book!

My student-artist ACEO and ATC trade has become so successful that it has snowballed into something HUGE!  I am in the process of creating a book titled "Create. Collect. Trade. : A Collection of Artist Trading Cards by Artists and Students."

I will be looking for shops and artists to fill the space in the book along with student work. This book makes a great promotional tool for you and a wonderful coffee table book as well!  

My purpose in creating this book is to help teach and spread the knowledge and inspiration to artists and visual art students of this unique art form and eventually hold a nation-wide contest for visual art students to be seen and published alongside true ACEO and ATC artists. 

For more information, please visit the book blog.

Create. Collect. Trade.

Or these forum posts...

ETSY thread about the book

ETSY thread about the ATC Trading Experience Between Artists and Students

If you have more information or would like to be a part of this wonderful opportunity, please convo or e-mail me at art2theextreme@yahoo.com

**Blog Image is by Etsian AnnaCox with Purty Girl Designs

I Made the Front Page of the "Handbook to Handmade"!

"Handbook to Handmade"

This is very exciting news for me because I have never been in a book before, let alone on the front cover! 

The item featured is my Rainbow Crayons seen at the top, left. This item has been a top seller of mine because they are both very unique and an inexpensive gift for children at only $3.00 for 5 rainbow crayons. I even started making them in different shapes such as Jumbo Stars and Rainbow Hearts.

You can check out more information about TimothyAdamDesigns by visiting his shop.

More information about the Handbook to Handmade Vol. III can be found here:

Etsy Promo Book Blog

Want to be featured in Vol. 4?  See below for more information!

Volume 4 Coming Soon

BUY YOUR OWN COPY HERE!

Handbook to Handmade Vol. III

TOPIC TALK #1: Packaging and Creative Ways to Good Customer Service

I have been poking around in the forums a bit recently, while at the same time wondering why my Rainbow Heart Crayons had not sold after a week of listing them (the basic shape has been my most sold item). After a shopping trip and several impulse purchases, I found the perfect way to add to these listings without charging a penny more!

I found these wonderful pink and red mailboxes and some cute tissue paper to package with the crayons and voila! I had four sales of Rainbow Crayons today!

This got me thinking... with a little more effort, a lot of sellers items could really take off. Many shops package their items with precision and care, adding that "finishing touch." I was then on my way to discover shops that offered me a little more...

My main inspiration for this article comes from Etsian, Raisinlike, who gives other sellers the opportunity to send her promo items and business cards and coupons to include in a Promo Pack she ships with some of her larger orders. What a cool idea is this?! It is going to be my goal soon to make my business cards and send her samples of my Rainbow Crayons to include!

I then decided to post in the "Crafting and Business" forum asking to see shops who package things in a special way. Here are some of the unique and eye-catching things that I found...

Coonies has special handmade boxes with fun cards.

SarahsSky posted this thread about "New Packaging Photos" and was great to read! She posted a stained glass pendant that had a picture of the box it came with. The silver name plate on the box was a great touch!

Shayaaron promotes their shop through Raisinlike's promo pack with these rings and Moo's.

More Promo Packs...

Stonesandstarling packages her jewelry in these very cute boxes.

Gigglinggoldfish packages her pendants in cute containers, then in a brown box with a label and ribbon. Very well put together in my opinion. The containers for the pendants match the pendants too!

SmellsandBells wraps her soaps individually with cute paper, clearly labeled information, and a unique ribbon tie. 

Sweetgracieforme carries a variety of bath and body products in her shop. This is a sample of her packaging!

MyBotique has new packaging for her products! Sobenarts created the logo and pixelbypixel created the stickers.

Check out these suppliers and Etsy Shops as well!

Bayley's Boxes

The Mayberry Sparrow (custom stamps) ETSY

Nashville Wraps

Trails of Paper (Wonderful selection of envelopes, tags, and papers) ETSY

These are all very inspiring to me and I will be posting more as I find them in my hunt. Please add links to your items in the "comments" section if you have a picture or listing to share that might be a great example! I would love to hear feedback as well on what you think about these items I have listed and if you think nice things that "complete" the order are a good thing or a bad thing.

***Thanks to ANORIGINALJEWELRY for her forum thread today. Many of these tips and links were found because of the response.