Kissy kissy and aha moments

Here's a little magnet I made with a cute phrase by Gale. It is 3 inches by 3 inches. It turned out pretty cute, I may make a bookmark with it and maybe a greeting card... who knows.

I'm rather disillusioned with the whole art show/craft show scene. I have a craft show this Saturday and I'm ready to bail. As a matter of fact I'm pretty sure I'm not going now. I feel like we're beating a dead horse here...  I don't know if it's the economy or just the general lack of interest but we (my partner and I) are tired of putting so much into our pieces and just not getting anything out of it, including sales. She's busy, I'm busy and nothing is getting my full attention.

It's a little bit of a relief to say it out loud and liberating. When it starts to feel like a burden, I guess it's just not right. I'll still keep my Artfire and Etsy shop going, and maybe even continue to add items but the shows are just not a viable way for us to sell it seems. I hope to concentrate on my son and spending more time with him as I know these precious years are fleeting. I don't want him to think that Mommy is always on the "puter" and not making things or spending time with him, so I'm going to make a change.

I still plan to blog, as this is an outlet for me and I've made such wonderful friendships with a lot of you. I really enjoy reading your blogs as well. And who knows, this may change in a year or so, I'm rather emotional at the moment so I can't seem to keep my mind made up but my soul feels lighter now that I've decided this and I don't like feeling yucky and not good enough.

So please, keep coming around... you guys are my only cheerleaders since I've lost my mother. Speaking of which the 20th of this month is the one year mark.

*long breath*

a long and lonely year. I miss her terribly and wonder will this pit in my stomach and tears running down my cheeks ever stop?

Witchy Woman

I have been working on some Halloween cards through GeeJaycreations and got into a fun and spooky treasury last night and I'd like to share it with you. A real nice eclectic mix. It's called "Don't make me get my wand" by curator Magpie Sue. Ours is the red headed sassy and brassy witch, which is a fun greeting card.

I've been getting ready for Funk In The City art show this weekend and it seems like it's slow going, but I keep plodding along. It sure makes me feel good to open up my Etsy and discover I've been included in a treasury, especially since I've been struggling with my newest cartoon illustrations. If you get a chance, check it out!

Keep creating out there!

The Fall... an alternative perspective!

I can't believe my luck! Another treasury for my partnered Etsy Shop, GeeJayCreations this time, a piece called "When two people fall in love". We have an art show the 25th of this month called Funk in the City, and I hope that we'll have this kind of luck then too!

If you have a chance, please look at the talented curator of this treasury named Tash Goswami and her Esty shop called VioletSands which currently has beautiful jewelry in it. Tash also has a well rounded interest in illustration, painting, beadmaking, ceramics and many different media.

I have many things to share with you all... in due time.

GeeJayCreations made a treasury!

****Squeal*****


I'm so excited to share that my GeeJayCreations Etsy shop made a very nice treasury! It feels so good :)

Now, if I could figure out how to show you all a picture of the treasury page. Click treasury to link over to the page.

Summer colds are the worst

Ugh... that's how I've felt the last few days. Our household has come down with a bug and we are all hacking, snotting, snoring, sluggish and miserable. Why do summer colds seem to last forever? I expect to get a cold in the winter, but I'm insulted to get sick in the beautiful summertime!

I have taken advantage of being inside and have created a few more things that I will hopefully have ready for my GeeJayCreations Etsy shop. Sales have been dreadful, but it's probably my fault at not keeping the shop fresh by adding new stuff all the time. Summer is for being outside, I say. Except when you're sick... ha ha. But today I got all doped up on cold meds that I had to sign my name for and got out there and watered and did a few things to cheer me up. My flowers are good at cheering me up. Tiny frogs jumping from their hiding places as I water and butterflies fluttering about. Hummingbirds dive bombing. Joy! If the snot wasn't flowing freely from my nose every time I bent down it would be a lot more enjoyable, but I'll take it. At least I'm not moping on the couch channel surfing. We were supposed to be enjoying a fun weekend with family in Chicago this weekend, but since we're all sick that's out. Hopefully another time.

Well, my movie is on Lifetime right now... hey at least I didn't mope on the couch all day! Besides, I need to catch up on Work of ARt, which I'm behind on. Have a fun weekend my friends!

GeeJayCreations made 1st Etsy Sale!

I'm so happy to report after just one week, GeeJayCreations made our first sale. It is a lovely wedding montage with the most beautiful poem called "When I Say I Do". The buyer opted for a white mat which looks stunning. It comes with a white or a black mat and the picture here with the frame is just to show how it would look in a simple matte gold frame.

We are not offering anything for sale in a frame on Etsy but we do at our shows. Does anyone sell work that is framed with success on Etsy? I'd be interested to know your thoughts on it.

Does anyone know if you re-list an item on Etsy (like the one we just sold) does it show up on "recently listed" items again? I didn't see mine and it is totally buried in the main section I put it in (weddings). Doesn't it put you back up towards the top again if you re-list? I looked all the way down to page 15 and couldn't find it. What's up with that? I guess the wedding category is really crowded this time of year.

Anyway, celebrate with Gale and I, we are doing the "Happy Dance"!!

GeeJayCreations Etsy is finally up

Good evening friends,

I had forgotten how long it takes to set up shop on Etsy! I've spent a better part of the day on it and only got 10 things listed. Oh well, it's good to spread it out a little I think. I've already had a few items get hearted and two people listed us as favorites... yippee! Gale is thrilled too. She is not used to all the wonder of the internet and she is very impressed... showing her all the razzle dazzle makes me feel like I know a thing or two... ha ha! If you have a chance and like our stuff we've created then please, check out our Etsy shop and heart our shop :) I will be adding more of our work daily.

A few more designs

Well I do a lot of Live and Learn around here... I wish I had taken pictures of these before I slipped them in their protective sleeve. I was in my slurry of Friday Frenzy before my show when I took these pictures, in hopes I wouldn't have anything left to photograph after the show ;) I could carefully pull them out and re-take the pictures, but I am so busy just trying to get them on Etsy that it will have to wait. I will have the digital shot of it without the mat and sleeve so it will be very clear for the etsy shop.

Show Pictures

Pictures of GeeJayCreations 1st Show!

Wow! Hinds site really is 20/20. Looking at these pictures tonight for the first time really gives me a peak at what the public saw of our booth. It's okay, but not great. I see a lot of room for improvement. To give myself a little credit though, I did throw this together in record time with all of the cutting, matting, packaging of everything you see on the rack that isn't framed done on Friday the day before the show. I'm glad I'm looking at these to help improve our look before our next show which looks like will be April 24th unless we run across something that is sooner. So we have some time.

The large framed pieces are from my Photomontage side of my business, separate from GeeJay Creations. Also, there are still quite a few of my original note cards on the spinner rack, which we got for $15 a flea market! What a deal! Doesn't it look professional?

My tablecloth, which is just a large piece of polyester straight from the bolt needs some attention for sure. It doesn't cover all the way to the floor or sides and doesn't cover at all hardly on the other side. Even though it opens up to the neighbors booth (see below), I want it to look nice. I also want to address the floor under the booth to utilize that space a little better.

Gale had some good ideas of adding some signs explaining what we do so that people will actually come up and read the poetry. She also had an idea for our larger 6x9 greeting cards which won't fit on the spinner rack. Let me see what you all think of this:

I think it has potential and want your opinions again. Her idea is to have a large piece of fabric (think shower curtain size) and sew clear pockets made from plastic to slide our cards in to display them. It would need to be hung so I thought of a self standing rack that we could use as a wall behind our table. It will only utilize the space above the table and people would have to reach over the table to pull them out. What do you guys think? Can you think of something else? We are looking for another spinner rack for cheap in the bigger size but until then, I kinda like the idea of having blinders on the people when they come in our booth. What I mean when I say blinders is they couldn't look into another booth unless they stepped out of ours. It would kinda shut out our neighboring booth which I don't like to seem unfriendly but we could use the vertical space that way. They may actually like it, because it would give them a backdrop for their stuff.

What are your thoughts? Ideas?

More close up pictures of some of our work we are selling on a post tomorrow. I'm about ready to set up Etsy! Thank you all for your support, you all just make my day when I read your comments :)

logos logos logos

Today or really this whole week has been more exciting that normal. Aside from losing my voice almost completely, (try yelling at your 3 year old with nothing coming out) I had a meeting with Gale my writer friend, and we have got the ball rolling. In fact, we have committed to be in an Arts and Crafts show the 27th of this month! Wow! Now we have a deadline, which is probably a good thing since I can be quite the procrastinator.

So naturally, we want to have a logo for our new little venture and that's what I've been working on today. Nothing is set in stone and these are my first better looking ones but I wanted to get my blogging friends thoughts on what I've got so far. We are calling ourselves GeeJay Creations because her name is Gale and I'm of course Jaime and we create things together. Our creations will be prints of my original art and designs along with her poems and writings mounted on a variety of things that have yet to be determined.

I was going for a fun and not so serious look with a slight feminine touch. I may add some color, but an effective logo design will always look good in black and white, so that's how I always start my designs. I have a favorite but I want to see what everyone else picks. So my dear friends, please cast your vote a, b, c or d? or gasp! if you don't care for any of them keep it to yourself... no I'm kidding. If you really don't care for any then put F :(

(I can take it. I worked in an advertising agency for years and had many dreams dashed... haha)