I am happy to say that yesterday we completed another site update. Even though I have done many projects that needed to be shipped off the the magazine lately, which meant that I couldn’t sell them just yet to my own customers, I am getting new projects released all the time that I am able to put up on the site and have new items for everyone to make. It all balances out, I suppose.
Another thing that helps is having a partner. When I am working on a painting pattern or something that takes me a bit longer, Keith is busy working on his own projects to keep new things flowing, as well as having his own items released from the magazine. This really helps us keep our customer busy with new choices of projects.
While it may seem to be troublesome that the magazines are so far ahead of the actual seasons in the theme they are highlighting, it does work to our advantage at times like this. As those of you who read know, I had just finished my Christmas and holiday submissions and sent them off last week. Here it is only the first of June, which may seem quite a bit early. But the good side of that is that the past issue of the magazine had featured all of its summer themed projects and now they are being released to us to sell. That falls just about into place for us, and it allows us to offer these projects to our customers who may not be able to get the magazines.
Some of the great projects that Keith made are as follows . . .
A set of Sea, Sand & Sun wall plaques (SLDK318)
These are just awesome little projects that are lots of fun to scroll! What Keith has been doing for the magazine is designing an extra set or two of Bonus Ornaments for each issue. In this particular issue, he designed two sets of filigree ornaments – one is of Tropical Fist (SLDK319):
And other one is Filigree Sea Shells (SLDK320):
The coolest thing about them is that all the pieces are interchangeable! Since the main designs in the plaques are overlay pieces, you can pick whichever shell or fish you would like to make a beautiful themed set or wall mural! I loved this set and thought it was really clever and beautiful too!
Keith also added another Bible verse plaque. His other plaques in this set have done very well and people are asking for more. I think this one is also going to be a winner.
(This is item SLDK317 on our site)
As for me, my Patriotic Word Art pieces are up on the site (SLD417) just in time for the Independence Day and Canada Day holidays. That was the project that I first used the beautiful rhinestone embellishments from Rhinestone Canada on and I also have a video which shows me decorating the pieces.
So I suppose that is quite a bit of new stuff for everyone to enjoy. Today I will be writing and sending out our newsletter to our customers announcing all the new items. It will probably be pretty much the same as the blog here, and will also announce our new sales and the new free pattern that I showed yesterday. I will spend the morning taking care of that and getting it out. If you want to join our mailing list, you can do so HERE.
Besides that, I am re-working the “12 Days of Christmas” key ornaments that I had shown on the blog here a couple of weeks ago. Artist’s Club wants to carry them, but not in “key” form. They sent me some ornament surfaces that they want me to transfer the designs to for selling on their site. This worked out well for Keith and I because we do want to spend our summer doing as much designing as we can and while we want to do some production work, we don’t want to be inundated with it. I am also designing my own surface to sell along with the “12 Days” theme so I don’t infringe on anyone’s copyright for the other surface. I’ll be spending the rest of the week re-creating the design, and I think that I will also offer the key version of them on my own site, as there are many who were interested in that when I showed them last time.
All in all, it is going to be another busy week. It seems that I have enough to keep me busy for quite a while – not to mention all the stuff that I still have ideas for that I want to make.
With that said, I will get to it. I wish you all a wonderful day today and I hope you do something that you enjoy!
Happy Tuesday!