Friday Freebie on Facebook

I'm doing a spontaneous little giveaway over on my Facebook page and wanted to make sure my blog readers knew about it too, if you aren't already following my page there.

Here's what I've got up for grabs: winner's choice of the two purple trimmed blankets from my latest batch of Stablemate blankets.

They were made on the G3 Stockhorse and will fit similar sized molds.

If several people enter, I'll most likely draw two names and give the both away.  :)

Giveaway Done - New Pad Underway

This evening I drew names for the Giveaway on my Facebook page.  I was offering pick of 4 prizes to one winner, but I decided to draw 4 names and give everything away!  (it is Christmastime after all)  ;)

Today we went to town and picked up some feed for Bo and also cardstock, for product picture backgrounds, and clock parts.  We have some clock designs for the laser that we hadn't made yet, but last night we received an order for two of them!  Now we have the bits to get them done.

I'm well underway on my latest saddle pad, using my newest frame idea.

I haven't gotten any different wood or pins/tacks yet, but obviously it works well the way it is!  I like that I'll also have room to stitch a few mini pads along the bottom too.

I really enjoy making these saddle pads, but I'm thinking this might be my last one for a little bit - mainly because I really need to get busy on the laser for the Stock Show AND I need to get back to work on finishing up some custom horses, for past orders and future shows/donations.  There is a show in March I'd like to go to, before our big move.  I'd also like to get back to work on the Stagecoach (gasp!).  I haven't worked on that for a while and I think it would be a neat display piece for the Stock Show, if I can get some major work done on it by then.

Tomorrow we are going out with some friends for a little while.  I'll probably do more work on the saddle pad, and also some work on the laser.  I would like to work in the Studio room at least a bit too, we'll see!

 

Giveaway! - First of Many

I love to give gifts, I think it's easily as much fun to give as to receive - or even more so!  I almost always try to include "extras" when I ship off orders and for a while now I've wanted to do some sort of giveaway on my Studio Facebook page.  I've seen a lot of other pages organize giveaways as a way to increase traffic and so on.  I've wanted to do it for that reason, but also just because I love to give things away!

So, today I set up the first ever Giveaway on my Facebook page!  I couldn't decide what to offer as the prize, since I have a bunch of different things that I make, so I decided to offer a choice to the winner.  Whoever wins (I'll draw a name on December 6th) can chose from something in the picture:

Up for grabs are two Christmas cards, a dreamcatcher, a cross necklace or two Stablemate-scale saddle pads.  I already have plans for future giveaways - with more prizes and larger prizes too.

Ideas for future prizes...  More of the above...  plus: larger saddle pads and custom horses - maybe even NAN-qualified custom horses!  I might do some craft supply giveaways too, since I am wanting to pare down my "hoard".  The ideas are endless and I'm really excited about the opportunity to get more of my work out in the world, hopefully gain some new FB friends and fans, AND spread some cheer - not only during the holidays, but all year long.

Most giveaways ask you to like and share their page, I decided to give multiple entries for doing things.  So... Like the post = 1 entry.  Like and Comment on the post = 2 entries.  Like, Comment, and Share = 3 entries. 


In  other news, I've spent a few more sessions on my latest saddle pad and here's how it looks right now:

I did decide to go with the black, though I feel like I'm really itching to use a tan/sand color in a design, possibly in the next one.  I'd like to stitch this design again using shades of pink...  maybe it will turn out to be pink and tan? 

I love the way the 18 count pads turn out and the amount of detail I can work into them, versus the 14 count, but boy do they take a long time!  I've heard there are some pads stitched onto even higher count fabric - yikes!  While looking through my collection of fabric recently, I did find that I have some in a higher count - 20-something..  (I scored a bunch of fabric and floss for a few dollars at the thrift store a little while back and hadn't fully picked through it all until recently)  I'm thinking I'll break some of that out soon and see what kind of smaller scale pads I could make.  I'm not sure I'd do them in the Traditional-scale though, it seems like they would take for-ever.  Though knowing me, I'll probably try and do one anyway.  Yeah...  I'm nuts.  ;-)

Picture Day - New and Old

Well, it's getting near the end of the day and I didn't actually start "the great purge" of the Studio room yet and it's probably safe to say it won't happen today.  BUT..  here's what I did do...

I spent hours photographing, formatting said photos, and uploading them to the Facebook page for the laser business.  Here is that page.  I think it's looking pretty good so far and I'm happy to see it's getting some Likes already! 

One product that we are making is a picture frame.  I haven't put any of them up on Facebook yet, but I did take pictures of a couple of them.  I wanted to put pictures in the frames, to show how they look and I decided to find a couple of my old model horse pictures to use for the model horse-themed frames.

This led to a bit of a trip down memory lane as I flipped through so many pictures of horses I'd painted - and forgotten about.  I know several of them were sold years ago, several more were donated to live shows.  It was fun looking through the pictures and I think I might try and photograph or scan them in to share on here.  For now, here are two of them, in our laser-cut picture frames:

I remember I had named him "Chocolate Dunit" - he was fun to paint

Some of my custom minis on my table at a live show - many years ago.

Productivity FTW! and... Purge Alert

I ended up getting a lot done today, mostly domestic chores (cat boxes, guinea pig cage, three loads of laundry put away, kitchen cleaning, dish washing, juice making, and so on and so forth).  But I also got some creative type work done, if not hands on crafting things (which I would have liked to do, but tomorrow is another day - more on that down below). 

I did some research for a color scheme for an Arabian Horse Native Costume (as far as why, that'll be another time... it's a surprise).  I created a Facebook page for our laser business, did some messaging back and forth with some fellow model horse people I met at the shows, and continued to catch up on reading some other blogs.  Another little project was to create an album on the Studio Facebook page for the cross-stitch saddle pads.  I realized that though I've talked about them and put several pictures on here, I didn't have anything up on FB about them...  took care of that!


I only set foot in the Studio room a couple of times today, but I was reminded how lovely it is in there during the winter.  We were below zero for about the first half of the day, but it was nice and warm in the room, due to the sun shining through the window for a few hours each morning.  I've always loved going in there and feeling the warm carpet under my feet, even when it's subzero outside! 

However, I haven't been spending much time in there, and pretty much none since returning from the last show, save for partially unpacking.  The reason?  It. Is. A. MESS.  I haven't even wanted to go in there and deal with it.  I've been battling against the clutter in there for as far back as I can remember.  The problem?  Too much stuff.  I've done a few minor purges over the years and have donated some craft supplies here and there, but I still have too much.  I keep thinking if I can only find the perfect way to organize it, everything will be fine... but that hasn't happened yet.  The biggest contributing factor is that I have way too many creative interests - and each of those requires a bunch of supplies.

So I've been considering it for a long time and it is a tough decision to make, but I think I'm going to have make some choices in my creative pursuits that may involve stopping some of the things I like to do.  As much as I enjoy making all of the things I make, I just don't have room for all the STUFF - and I certainly don't have the time to make ALL of the things I'm into. I suppose "hoarding" supplies and future projects is a pretty normal part of the creative process, but right now my studio room is such a mess I can't hardly move in there, never mind get any work done.

I want to be able to be happy in there, light some candles, play some music, sip my coffee, and MAKE THINGS.

I think it's time for me to finally narrow my focus back to what I'm most passionate about - horses.

I think I'll start the purge tomorrow.  Oh boy...

Nice Days - Then Snow Days

Today I did a bit of sorting/organizing at my computer desk, a bit of cross-stitching, and quite a bit of online time.  I've now "liked" 50 or so other model horse artists on Facebook and have put them all on an Interest List.  I'm discovering that it's a handy way to keep up with a bunch of pages.  I have always felt inspired when looking at other people's work, particularly works in progress, so it's my plan to take a peek at what they are up to if I feel the need for some motivation/inspiration.

Winter has officially arrived here.  It is currently about 0 degrees with the wind howling outside.  Yesterday it was snowing and blowing all day.  Though this past weekend the temps were in the 60s on Saturday and 50s on Sunday...  I'm happy that I was able to get a quick ride in on Bo, Sunday afternoon, before the temperatures plummeted.

We rode up the road and across a field from the barn to check on the horse trailer for the winter

My ol' blue trailer looked good, time to head back.  I promised him a short ride, temps were already dropping thanks to a cold wind that was just getting started.

He was also able to graze on green grass, for the last time this year. 

Om nom nom

I had also cleaned his pen, trimmed his feet, and picked him a bunch more green grass to nibble on throughout the afternoon. 

24 hours later, this is what it looked like outside:

Why, hello, Winter!

I left Bo outside in his run (with shelter) for Sunday night and last night.  However, tonight the temperatures are predicted to be minus 5-6 degrees, with wind.  So I brought him into the barn.  We are supposed to have a couple nights of sub zero temps and days with highs in the low teens.

Jeff had the day off today and goes back to work tomorrow.  I'm hoping to make more progress with my (never-ending)organizational projects around the house and maybe, just maybe, get in some studio time!

Playing Around

Well I really liked the looks of the Facebook "Like Box" that I had up here, but it doesn't seem to be working anymore, so I've removed it.  Maybe I'll try it again later and see if they've fixed whatever the problem is...  In the meantime, while exploring ArtFire, I found that they offer a Mini thing like Etsy - only it comes complete with its own shopping cart!  So, if I'm understanding it correctly, someone could buy an item from me right here in the sidebar.  That's an interesting idea. 

The wind is STILL blowing, so I'm still holed up inside, listing items and doing more and more research on the whole online marketing game.  I've got some supplies laid out to make a few bookmarks.  I've decided I want to make multiples of some of my favorite designs.  That way I can have more than just the one in stock.  When I make bookmarks, I tend to make every single one of them different.  I've never made the same one over and over.  Although now I'm thinking it might be worth it to build a small inventory of certain designs.

That's about it for today.  Not too much going on, except in my head, where creative ideas still flow at a mile a minute!

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

Today is our third straight day of high winds.  I'm waiting for the house to be swept away at any moment and go swirling off to Oz.  I haven't been able to get much of anything done outside of the house, so I've been busy listing items for sale.  I'm slowly working on a plan for the three craft sites that I belong to, as far as what to list where.  I think I've got a plan figured out.

I took more pictures yesterday of a batch of bookmarks I'd missed.  I also took pictures of my new original Nail Necklace designs and used the pictures to design a large avatar picture for my Nail Necklace Facebook fan page.

Here is the avatar pic I put together (complete with sneak peak of the new necklaces!) :

This is the link to the Nail Necklace FB page if you'd like to check it out:

Nail Necklace on Facebook

I was contacted tonight through my Nail Necklace online store about designing a cross for a special cause.  I hate to be so secretive (like I kinda was about the Spanish Mustang resin horse a couple days ago!) but I'm not even sure myself what the details are on this yet either.  I've been invitied to call the gal tomorrow to discuss it.  I'm looking forward to talking with her.  From what I've learned so far, this is a very worthy cause and I'd love to work on a piece for it.  As before, I'll reveal more details as I know them myself.

For now I'm going to get back to listing some things as I listen to the wind roar outside.  I wonder when it's going to let up??

Endless Promotion Activities

Yesterday I worked on the Studio site for a little while.  I added text to all of the pages, pictures will come next.  I've been procrastinating working on pictures for the site because it will be a bit of an involved project - resizing all of the pictures just so and then writing the code for all of them.  A bit more to it than uploading pics here, or on Etsy or Facebook. 

Speaking of Facebook, I worked on the Facebook Fan Page for the Studio yesterday as well.  I created it several months ago but it hasn't been published yet.  That time is drawing near.  I'd like to publish that page and start inviting people this weekend.  I've had a Fan page for Nail Necklace up and running for a little while as well and have gotten sales from it even though it's pretty much on autopilot.  I need to start inviting more people and posting from that page too.

Today is going to be a bit of a strange day.  I want to work on promotion and so on some more, but I also need to get ready for tomorrow.  Tomorrow we are loading up the horses and going to a Mounted Archery clinic.  Yes, that's shooting a bow and arrows off of a horse!  This will be my third clinic and I'm looking forward to it.  I have a handful of things that I should do today to get ready for it.  And for good measure, I have a school assignment due in my new class. 

It's gonna be a busy day, I guess I'd better get started!

(Oh, and in other news - I had another sale at Etsy late last night!  That was a nice surprise right before bed.)   :)

Wow, time flies! Many Updates!

I have been so busy that I didn't realize it's been over a month since I updated this blog! Jeez...

Anyway! I finally came up with a banner for the Studio and an overall theme for the site. All that's left now is to continue taking pictures (furiously) and get them formatted and uploaded. The photo cube is working out... fairly well. I think I kinda messed up in getting a HUGE one, because I've having trouble lighting it well enough from the outside. Jeff loaned me a couple of crazy bright halogen work lights and I'm going to try them next. My little clamp on office lamps aren't quite cutting it! I have quite literally HUNDREDS of items to photograph and it's been slow going so far, trying to figure out what lighting and camera settings work best. I'm hoping once I get the details worked out, I can just start cranking out pics. It's a little touch and go right now.

The big news is that I now have TWO online stores. The first, specifically for my cross necklaces, was set up several months ago and has just been kinda sitting. The second will be my overall store linked to the Studio site and will be the location where orders can be placed from the Studio site. I'm very excited about this development as one thing that had been stalling the progress was how to set up the Studio for online sales. My html skills are still pretty basic and I'm a long way off from being able to write up a fancy sales page/shopping cart from scratch. Jeff had used a free shoopping cart software to created the cross necklace site last fall, and he just showed me how to use the software to create another store - for the Studio.

I've now actually created Facebook fan pages for both the Studio itself, and the cross site individually. Those pages aren't public quite yet as I'm still waiting on having a sufficent number of good pictures for the "Grand Opening" of the Studio site AND the Facebook pages.

For now, here is the banner!:




And a couple of the pictures I have taken, of a greeting card and a bookmark with the same designs: