On 'Vacation'

Okay...I HAD to do it...I just fell too far

behind in my Shipping and I still have

a couple of Commissioned paintings to finish...

so...

I've put my Rustic Goth Etsy Shop

on vacation

until I am ALL caught up.

Hopefully that will be by this coming week-end!!

I've left my Non-Etsy Shops open...as I'm not nearly as busy on those sites!

Still buried....

My gosh...I am still so buried...

I haven't yet completed my 'Joey the Bat' painting...

thank goodness Daly is so very patient!

I'm caught up to 10 business days shipping and my

shipping policy is 7-10 business days...

but...

I really prefer to get everything out within 7 days

whenever possible...

otherwise I feel like I am so very far behind.

Then...it 'dawned' on me that our first show

is coming up September 18th...

YIKES!!

So...I am far..far behind in reading my favorite blogs...

I haven't done many new paintings or digital pieces...

I just feel '''still buried'''!

I really am thinking seriously about putting the

shop on a short 'vacation'.

I think once I get the shipping to within 7 days...

I'll feel much better!

My Sale Really Does End Today....

Finally....my two (plus) week long

"48 Hour Sale"

is coming to an end.

I'll be ending the Sale later tonight...or early tomorrow.

I'm also pulling the 'Clearance Items' and the Bookmarks.

Wow...my Shop is really going to look bare.

Who knows...maybe I'll put it on vacation until I get all

caught up with my shipping and have a chance to do

some new paintings.

I'm Pulling my Bookmarks

I thought I'd let everyone know that I am

going to be pulling my bookmarks in the next few days.

Having fallen so far behind in my shipping

because of my computer 'woes'...

I find that the bookmarks

are probably the one thing that I offer, 

that is most difficult to keep up with.

I have to get Jaime to print them for me,

one of my son's takes them to get laminated,

then I cut them, pack them and ship them.

(It isn't as bad when I have several bookmarks...

but when it's only one or two...

it becomes problematic.)

So...half the work has to be put off on one of my kids

who are all way busier than I am.

For now...I will be doing away with the bookmarks...

to try to make things a little bit easier on everyone.

A bit of a Set Back

Losing my computer...during a Sale...isn't good.

It's created a bit of a 'set back' for all that I had

planned to get accomplished during this time.

Normally, I do only ship once or twice a week...but

I'm usually getting everything all packaged and ready to go.

I'll be all caught up by the end of the week...

but I'll have to put everything else 'on hold' until I am.

I still have to do my Joey the Bat painting...

(those pictures went down with my computer)

so that may be the only painting I work on during the week.

For now...I'm not going to post until I am caught up...

except little updates on my Facebook Page.

A little 'side-note'...
one of my digital collage pieces
'Cleopatra'
was selected as the EBSQ Art of the Day yesterday!

Sale through August 28th

I was almost finished putting my 48 hour Sale in my Shop

when my computer went down.

The Sale was supposed to end on the 14th...

well..guess what...it's been extended to the 28th...

So..a two plus week '48 hour' Sale...

that's 'different'.

Honestly...it takes me somewhere around 3 hours to put a Sale in

and to take one out.

I couldn't ask Jaime to spend that much time on working my Shop...

she was already doing my listing..corresponding..etc.

I wasn't sure how long I would be without my computer until about the 5th day...

So....now I have so much shipping and catching up that HAS to take

priority...that I'm not going to be doing much else.

My birthday is the 28th...so it just seemed like a good date to schedule

the last day of All of the Sales.

I'll be ending my Summer Print Sale...my Clearance Sale

and my '48 Hour' Sale 

on Saturday...August 28th.

Hopefully I'll be caught up to the point that I can start back on the

new paintings I want to do.

I've already sold a number of the new paintings I was able

to paint during the time my computer has been out of commission...

and I am so very anxious to keep painting more!

O.M.G.....I'm finally back on!!

....and I'm sooooo buried!

Wow....life without one's computer can be so very challenging!!

I won't go into the chain of events that lead up to losing my computer

for well over a week....but I do have to give so many Thanks

to my daughter, Jaime....

for helping me getting items listed

and 'manning' my Shop

whilst I've been without!

It's been 'fixed'....at least temporarily...

and I will continue to use it until I can get something new.

I'd been holding out for a Windows 7....

but I think I'll have to get something

a little less pricey...for now!

I'll see what I have left after all my bills are paid...

hopefully it's enough for something 'decent'.

In the meantime...I am sooo buried.

I've got TONS of shipping to do....got to find some varnish

somewhere here in town...I've sold a batch of paintings that really need to go out...

I'll hold off listing anything new...

until I have all the existing orders taken care of.

I've really missed my online 'activities'....but I'll have to

wait until I'm caught up to resume them like I've been.

Ending this Week-end

Here's a list of items that I will be pulling from the Shop

this week-end.

They're scheduled to end -tomorrow- August 14th...

Sorry Print
Conjoined Twins Print
FeeJee Mermaid Print
Tatooed Lady Print
Creepers Carnival Print Set
Mercy
Ravenwood
Lady's Bath
Forest of Light BM
Midnite in Garden BM
Sorry BM
Betrothed BM
Under the Sea BM
Point of View BM
Wishing BM

Dang it!!!

Here...I've had a few weeks and no problems...

I "almost" thought the computer/ internet connectivity problems

had been resolved.

For several days now...I have SUCH limited connectivity

that I might as well not have internet at all!

Oh...this does frustrate me so much!!

TWC claims not to be having problems...even though

Jaime and I both were without the internet, at the same time,

on Monday night.

I guess they may not have 'noticed' the 'outage'....

since Jaime lives about 10 to 15 minutes away, the outage was a little more

widespread than normal.

(I could say something very snarky now...but I won't!)

Anyway...I don't know why...but just giving a

'heads-up' that my internet is so sporadic at the moment...

that I'm not sure When I will be back at full strength!

Wordless Wednesday 18

Cutting Back

At some point...in the coming days/weeks...

I will be cutting my blog posts back to...

every 'other' day.

While I do schedule a lot of my posts....

I don't always have a lot to 

'talk' about...

I guess that comes from my limited access

to things in the 'outside' world.

Since I've 'made up my mind' that I want to

make some "serious" efforts towards art licensing and obtaining an agent...

I've got to grab that time from other sources...

one being my blogs.

We'll see how that works out for me...

On another note...

tomorrow's 'Wordless Wednesday' will also

be the last of those...

at least for a while.

I am featuring one piece by each of the 

'original' family group of artists that

started out on eBay in 2004/05.

Mystery 'solved'?

In the six years that I have been selling my art

online...

I have probably had a dozen or so pieces of art

come up 'missing'?

During my years on eBay...I ended up having to start

requiring a 'signature upon delivery'...

just to safeguard myself.

(It can get pretty pricey to refund painting purchases...especially with all the

'do's and don'ts' of insurance claims.

Then..when eBay went to buyer feedback only...if we got an impatient

buyer...whose painting didn't 'arrive'...and they didn't want to wait for the

insurance claim...under 'threat of negative feedback'..we'd have

to refund their money...thus our reasoning for signature upon delivery...

and our eventual departure from eBay.)

Anyway...I do digress a bit...

since coming to Etsy...I have 'relaxed' a lot of the 

shipping policies...

I don't ship as much with UPS 

(they are somewhat 'notorious' for being known to just leave a package

at someone's front door)

but I still have those darned 'missing packages' 

from time to time.

Most of them are internationals...which means...

I have "NO idea what-so-ever" how to track those packages down.

(Course...I had a package to WA that seemed to go missing in Bothell...

and that package Never Has turned up.)

In mid-May I sent a package to the UK..

a month later I got an email saying the package was never received.

So I plugged in the customs number

(that's the only number I have to track USPS Internationals)

and it showed that the package was 

'received' by my Post on the 19th.

That was it!

So...for weeks emails went back and forth...

I checked the tracking every week...same message...

until finally...I refunded the purchase and just sent a new print..on me.

Saturday I got the print back....

the original one.

It arrived in the UK on May 25th...where it 'sat'...until August 3rd.

It had a pink sticker on it that said...

"Not Called For...Non reclaime"

It was shipped back to me on the 3rd and I got it on the 8th!

W.T.H!!!

I still don't know if the second package ever arrived or not!

The tracking just tells me it was sent...

I do sooooo wished there were a more reliable service with which to ship

my international packages???

I've Got a 'Plan'

Having the kids for the next two weeks...presents a 'challenge' of sorts.
I've put many things on the 'back burner' ...
since I have to have the daylight hours to work on
actual paintings...
(my eyesight isn't what it used to be)
and I'm not brave enough to try this
with curious little fingers hovering close by.

During one of the visits with my husband's brother...
he was chuckling about watching my husband and I...
back in the day...
painting and assembling clocks that we made and sold
on Military bases in the Midwest.

"You used to sit there and paint with a baby in one hand
and a paintbrush in the other."

And...I did.

But..I'm older...and probably a little less patient these days...
so I've got a plan...so that I can work 'after hours'.

I've painted several backgrounds for some check covers...
a large journal and a small journal.
I'll sketch out the subjects on those and paint them
after the kids go home.
I won't get as much done...but it will keep things going.

I like to try to list 'something' new...at least once a week'
in my Shop.
So this way, I should be able to do watch the kids and still list something
new over the next two weeks.

If that doesn't work...I'll do some new digital pieces.
I can work on those later at night...since it's all computer work.
I'm just 'bound and determined' to make sure
I have some new pieces to list!

Course...I still have my Joey the Bat piece that I am working on...
I've got a background painted...but I'm thinking I might want
to wait and get some different canvas...
we'll see.

My little 'list' books are coming in Handy!

With the kids coming over every day...starting Monday...

I know that I'm not going to get a lot of painting done.

(Although Jaime and I are kind of 'discussing' something that we might try

to work on...if at all possible, during that time.)

So...my little list books are really coming in handy...

as I make my lists of what I need to get done during this time.

I'm working on the Zazzle sites...all computer work...

and I'm designing all new lines...for Zazzle...

and I will be replacing a lot of the photos on my new website

with the collections...as they are finished.

The lists really do help me keep all my ducks in a row:)

Licensing and Zazzle Sites

I have a limited amount of space in which to store

original art...

even the art covers are beginning to

take up space in the little container I am using

to store it in.

So...with that in mind...and needing to 'gear' up for fall...

I've begun to slow up a bit in creating new pieces.

I'm still creating..mind you...just not as much as I have been

the past few weeks.

Instead...I've begun to divide my time between my Shop..

Promoting my art and the first stages of

art licensing.

I've decide to really clean out my Zazzle shops.

I started each of them without a lot of knowledge about art licensing...

only to discover that a Zazzle shop is,

for all intents and purposes...

a form of licensing.

So...over the coming weeks...my shops will end up looking pretty

sparse as I create new product lines...and looks...for each one of my shops.

I think it will be very helpful as I search for an agent to represent

my art.

It's finally....done!

It's taken me months to get a website design that I

am happy with...

After a lot of 'consideration'..

I decided to build a CMZ Art website...

It's a whimsical little site that I designed

from 'scratch'...

it's evident that I'm not an 'expert'...but it's the first site

I've been even 'slightly' happy with.

The site is hosted with Homestead/Intuit and the first

month is free!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday 17 - Heartache and Poetry

Happy Birthday to my oldest daughter, Wendy:)

Thinking 'Fall'

Last year 

we did the State Fair

Arts Show in August/ September.

It was a long 10 days....

and we were pretty 'beat up' when it was finally over...

but, after a hundred plus years...it was the last year that the Fair

would take place in Lincoln, so we felt 'compelled' to participate...

and it has proven to have been a good call...

we're still getting sales from it!

Anyway...we did the Fair at the 'last minute'...so we weren't as prepared

as we needed to be...

then we found ourselves in the middle of Art/ Craft Show Season

and trying to maintain a good 'inventory' online...

it was rather a 'mess'.

So this year...we're already 'thinking Fall'.

I've gotten a few inquiries in recent weeks,

to do shows we've never done before.

One in Texas...another here in Lincoln.

So...we need to get busy now.

I need to go through the Shop

decide what to keep...what to 'retire'...

I really need to step it up on the Art Covers...

they will be something

completely New at the Fall Shows

and I think I can develop a line 

'just for the guys'

thinking...great gifts for Christmas.

I want to do some different pendants

from years past...

so you can see...

I'm 'thinking Fall'...

now I just need to get busy, so that I don't

turn around and find that it's already upon me..

and not be prepared.

My scheduled Posts aren't always posting...

The one thing about blogging...with my schedule...that I've always

liked..

the ability to schedule some of my posts.

Here the past month or so...

I've had, at least, one post each

week that doesn't post...

instead it just says 'draft'.

I don't really know what the problem is...but I was going to

'announce' my week-end sale on Friday...

then on Saturday noticed it didn't post...it saved as a 'draft'...

so I ended up having to move it to Sunday

as a 'last day of sale' post instead.

Drats...I guess I'm going to need to check it

every day after all!!

Shop Wide Week-End Sale Ends Today

I had a

Shop Wide Sale this Week-end!

EVERYTHING has been discounted...

from 10% to 50%.

I'll be discontinuing some of the bookmarks and prints

once this week-end sale is over...

to make room for new items.

I'm 'gearing up' for the upcoming fall

Arts and Crafts shows

so I want to go through all of my items

and decide which ones need to be

'retired'.

Hopefully this sale will help me decide.