Blog Challenge Feature: New England Crafters

Nice surprise for a Monday morning . . . I received a notice from Kris at New England Crafters via Etsy that one of the photos on they Etsy site has been included in their weekly blog challenge. The topic was Earth Day with a focus on green.

Here is a link to their blog:  New England Crafters

Very cool.

This is the image link to my Etsy store: Feels Like Spring Lupine Leaves with raindrops

Thanks for the feature!!

One of my photos is featured today . . .

on this blog:  http://the4inone.blogspot.com.ar/2012/04/bubbles.html

Bubbles # 50 blue & yellow

Pretty cool huh?

They found it at my Etsy store.

Many thanks to Mariana & Paula from the Etsy shop Branda

Introducing a new product: Glass cutting boards - Functional art for your kitchen

I’m very excited about this new product.  I have been looking, and will continue to do so, for ways to use my photography in ways other than prints for your walls, photo greeting cards, and to jazz up my blog here.  I’ve found a source – www.artibly.com that allows me, or anyone, to create unique glass cutting boards using photographic art.   Here are a few that I’ve currently got for sale on my Etsy and Ebay sites. 

Spice up your kitchen with a custom-imprinted rectangular cutting board! Custom cutting boards are perfect for home chefs and restaurant owners alike. This functional, sanitary, and heat-resistant glass cutting surface is ideal for slicing, dicing, and mincing in the kitchen. This beautiful tempered glass cutting board has a grain texture on the surface. Includes self-adhesive rubber feet.

Any image in this store can be used to create your unique cutting board. I can even include lettering or custom copy. Would make a great housewarming, wedding, or hostess gift. You could invite guests to “Meg’s Kitchen” or inform visitors that they could be the next to be “Chopped”. Just indicate, in the notes, which image and sentiment you’d like. I will confirm and send a proof of the design before creating.

THE DETAILS:

Close up of cutting board top shows grain texture surface.

Image is printed on the bottom of the cutting board. Opaque printing surface allows image to show brightly through glass.

Use as a cutting surface. Tempered glass resists stains, odors and bacteria. Board makes a unique serving platter for hors d’ oeuvres. Artistic additions to any kitchen or wet bar area.

Cutting board is safe in most dishwashers, but we suggest board be washed by hand.

Keep out of direct sunlight. Board left in direct sunlight may fade gradually over time.

Board is about 7.9" high and 11.8" wide.

Radius corners are approximately 1.2 inches.

Board is approximately .16 inches thick.

Self-adhesive rubber feet are provided to prevent slipping on countertop.

Sidewalk Arts in the Rain

Fortune's Rocks Beach Biddeford, Maine - the day after

I’m new to the arts and crafts show circuit. That doesn’t mean I’m new to art or craft for that matter, just to the concept of setting up a temporary shop for a day, weekend, or even just a few hours to sell your work. In the past year, I’ve been assigned a space between a gourmet fudge maker and a Christmas wreath crafter, a handcrafted unique bird house designer and a whoopee pie baker, and a marshmallow gun carver and my friend Judy, who makes jewelry, and who is “not in this for the money. It’s just fun . . ” but outsold me by 300%.

I have learned a thing or two from these people, though, and from these events. By making mistakes and finding myself wishing I had brought X, I thought I was totally prepared for the show I did this past weekend in Southern Maine.

My table display

The one thing I needed the most and forgot to pack: my thick skin.

The one thing I wasn’t prepared for: disappointment.

The one thing I hoped wouldn’t happen and did: rain.

The one thing I had, but didn’t get much use out of: inventory.

No, I’m not especially spleeny (a good Maine word for frail, sensitive or easily hurt). And no, I’m not generally a person who looks at life with a glass-half-empty attitude.



But it rained. It poured. The brave ones came out to the show anyway and expected to see some serious art. My first sale of the day was my largest: $100 for one of my bigger, display pieces. The rest of my sales were smaller, but were certainly sales nonetheless. It’s just that there were so few of them. I guess I’m lamenting the fact that there were points in the day that I thought I’d cry from the frustration. Rain poured down the gully on the edge of the sidewalk. It dripped in from the metal poles supporting my just-bought-for-this-occasion beige canopy (without the side walls, because I couldn’t find matching ones, which turned out to be a valuable asset to those around me to keep their work dry when the rain came in sideways). Cars drove by and splashed the back of my table, the tablecloth, the gear I had stowed beneath the skirt.



And not that I can blame them, hardly anyone came. And of those who did, many said “ah, the Saco Sidewalk Art Festival . . it always rains . . “ and they’d shake their heads and give me a small grin, like I should have known or like I did know yet chose to come anyway.

my canopy covered show space

Reality is that you sign up for these events long before the extended forecast comes out. You pay the entry fee. You try to consider everything, every what if, or if not. You – or maybe it’s just me – research display ideas and find something that’ll work for your art. You think about how to pack the car for easy unloading and set up. You consider the phrasing of your signs. You dream about making a bunch of money and being able to call your husband and tell him how great it was and that you’re taking your parents out for dinner on your big earnings and how everyone ranted and raved about your work and you have orders for more work that’ll keep you busy until Christmas and you convince yourself this will be worth having given up your day job.

And then it rains.

And only the brave few come to the show.


And thankfully you make enough to just cover the entry fee and your gas.


And . . . you learn.



And you meet a few people and chat with them and bathe in the compliments.



You listen to their stories of this place or that one and how they shot this amazing sunset and oh here it is in my digital camera do you want to see it?



And your face hurts from smiling because despite all of that, you do like doing this.



And you’re happy about giving up your day job and spending the last four nights gluing mattes together and making signs.

And there’s a certain satisfaction when you back up and take a look at all you’ve created and think about the trail of an image to this point. How it goes from something you see through the viewfinder to your computer to the printer to the table with the glue and mat board to a finished product with your name on it that goes up on someone’s wall that they see every day and it makes them smile.

Ocean Park Beach Path Saco Maine

It takes a lot to put your work out there. Not only do you have to have confidence and pride in what you do or create, you have to have a marketing concept of some sort. You have to know no only what you sell, but how you sell. What kind of image do you intend to project? What psychological nerve do you want to touch in the people who walk by your booth? How are you going to get noticed, in a sea of white canopies and colorful signs? I don’t know the statistics on the amount of money spent by the typical consumer visiting an art or craft show. I understand that for someone to earmark some of their time and energy to going to one of these shows, they have to have an interest of some sort. Sometimes they drive long distances. Sometimes there’s an admission fee. Sometimes it takes the coordination of several friends or family members who enjoy this sort of event to decide to go together and make a day of it. I get it. These people have an investment into this before they even get to the gate. This earns them the right to some sort of expectation. Arts and craft show attendees want to see and buy things that are on a different level from the things on the shelf at Walmart. They want to meet the artists and talk to them about their art. They want a story to tell when someone asks them about the photograph of the sunflower they’ve hung in their living room.



My Dad asked me the next morning if I would do it again. I was sore from moving everything and standing on my wet feet all day. I was struggling to repack the car with items I didn’t sell. My patience was thinning. I had a long drive ahead of me and unpacking at the other end.




I said yes.

Tangled lobster buoy ropes on the beach

Talking about Etsy.

You know how it can happen. For years friends tell you about someone and how you should meet them and you kind of blow it off like, yeah yeah I’ll do that sometime . . . tomorrow . . next week. When by chance you finally do meet that someone and you wonder how you ever lived without them.


I’m not talking about a person here. I’m talking about Etsy.

For those of you unfamiliar with Etsy, it’s www.etsy.com, and it’s a creative marketplace for artists and crafters to sell their work and share ideas. It’s a community of people online who work with their hands, their heads, and their hearts. Okay, that’s a little corny, but these people really seem to care about each other, their crafts and the potential of the enterprise.

Being a creative kind of person myself, once I was on the Etsy site, I just got sucked in. There are painters and knitters, quilters and metal smiths, jewelry designers and soap makers. And there are photographers like me. I looked around at the stores that others had set up and decided to give it a shot. I uploaded some of my images, wrote up descriptions, researched pricing and listing strategy, and hung up a shingle. I’ve already had my first sale and was thrilled. To see my store, click here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ccotaphotocraft. Bookmark it so you can come back and check it out as I add more work.

Just in the few weeks that I’ve been operating this store, I have browsed and adored some of the items available. I’ve put quite a few of the stores and work into my “favorites”.

And I bought stuff.

I really couldn’t help myself. You would do the same thing in my shoes. I know it.

In the spirit of giving back for everything I’ve learned in the short time I’ve been a part of the Etsy neighborhood, I thought I’d showcase some of these items here.

My first purchase was this bright and cheery shoulder bag from Heart2Handbags. I just love it and can’t wait to start using it. I really liked Amy’s little personal note inside. Nice touch Amy. Such a wonderful change from the mass produced bags I had been looking at. So fresh and lovely, I just had to go back to her site and buy a small cosmetics bag to go inside of it. Check out Amy’s shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Heart2Handbags

Next I found myself searching for a cool scrabble tile necklace. I wanted something to inspire me to create every day and I found it at PrettyWhimsical, http://www.etsy.com/shop/prettywhimsical. It came in such a nice little bag it was like getting a gift from a friend.

My daughter’s name begins with the letter “N”. For reason, she has a difficult time finding N stuff and when you’re a tween, that initial is important. So I went on an Etsy search for an N scrabble tile necklace and found this fun and sassy letter N for her. I found it at Mytwinscoops, and here’s the link to her store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mytwinscoops. Bet you’ll find more fun and sassy stuff.

And the last of my first shopping adventures on Etsy was at the site of XOHandworks. I loved the blue of these earrings and have a sweater that needed pairing. Here’s the link to the shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/XOHandworks. She does some wonderful pendants with sections of map inside that I loved, and along with my earrings, I got an added bonus gift of this button with the section of map where I live. How cool is that?

I’ve done more shopping since then and will show off my purchases in a future post.

I’m having fun learning from these artists, and understanding how it works. I’ve joined some teams and have been participating in forums. I’ve linked it to my Facebook page and actually, just yesterday, started a Twiter account. I am learning about marketing and promotion and how treating others well really does have an effect on your daily life. I’ve always believed in karma but the community on Etsy is giving and encouraging and I hope that I can contribute even a bit to the general good.