New Cards (Midwest)

I made a huge discovery completely by accident. My Epson printer will produce prints that can be exposed with my Gocco flash unit. Apparently the toner has carbon in it, which has been the elusive ingredient needed to image a screen. I've been sending out for laserprints. I can now work totally in house. Whoohoo!

With this new capability, I had some time this afternoon, so I printed up a new batch of cards. I designed and illustrated these really quickly, but didn't feel the need to do endless tweaking to the design like I usually do. I have three designs in this style. I sketched all of the illustrations first by hand, then scanned and recreated them in Illustrator. Here is the set thus far.


I'm wondering if I thin the line weights, these might look nice on my letterpress. Maybe that could be my first project. Perhaps as postcards. Hmmm.

Ready to Mail (Midwest)

I'm posting a peek at my print for a swap I'm doing with some folks in the EtsyTeam Loco for Gocco. I'm not going to post details about the print because I want it to be a surprise. Ya never know when a stray Flickr viewer could stumble upon this blog. Hey, it could happen.

Also, I was reading the threads at the Flickr Periodic Table Group and saw that the project had a mention on Poppytalk. I went over to read what Poppy had to say and saw that my print was pictured. So cool.

This week is the first official week of summer vacation for my kids. I need to line up some Mother's Helpers so that I can find some more time to print cards, art and maybe start a letterpress project.

I Don't Make Lawn Spinners (Midwest)

Saturday I attempted to sell my wares at "The Taste of Wisconsin Dells" craft fair. The weather was perfect. The attendance level was good. The market was, well, not my market. So, it was a learning experience. Here is a line list of information gained from the event:

- Preparing for a fair is a lot of work, but exciting, fun work filled with anticipation.
- Preparing for a second fair would not be much work, and would still be exciting.
- It is important to put the tent all the way up so that people can fit under it. Don't ask.
- Rocks come in handy (for holding down product, not flinging at customers, silly you!).
- Popular fair items (at this fair) were, lawn spinners (see photos below), cat beds that look like big fish, toe rings, wooden roses - I bought 3, beer can lamps, fishing lures, etc.
- When bored at a fair find things to amuse yourself. I decided to photograph the most popular item, lawn spinners, as they walked by my lonely tent.
- Think about better marketing ideas for next time. This reminds me of the man in the soap booth who said to me "Oh, you sell greeting cards? You must have a lot of Father's Day cards today." Me, frozen face, smile, thinking that would have been a really, really, good idea. Doh!
- Have a buddy to enjoy the experience with. Thanks Joy!

Even with the lack of sales it was fun. I would do it again, but I would research the fair better and find a better fit for my products. On that note I leave you with photos of the ever so popular lawn spinner. I heard they were only 5 dollars. My kids would love them. No wonder we saw dozens go by.

Stick Figures in Peril (Midwest)

The title of this post says it all. Almost peed my pants with this one.