Some of the art I created especially for the Holiday Season

2013 Calendar

My 2013 Calendar

it's Free.

Download it here.

Save it as your desktop wallpaper

or print it yourself...

my 'gift' to you

and

wishing you

"A Happy and Joyous New Year"!

Framing your print art...on a budget.

Over the years I have painted many

small OSWOA paintings...

and I often try to offer them

with a frame included.

The frame above was a very cool find
that I found at a yard sale
and it worked 'perfect'
for my original little painting...
it sold pretty fast too...
just with the frame included.

I do quite a few small paintings each year
on sheets of acrylic or watercolor paper...
or small pieces of unstretched primed canvas...
and as often as possible...
I do try to make sure I put these in a frame...
not always though.

 A lot of my art is created digitally,
which means that in order to display it...
a frame is needed.
My favorite frames are not the
pricey ones found in framing shops...but rather...
the little 'treasures' one can find
at yard sales or thrift stores.

I found an interesting tutorial about

framing with 'thrift store frames'

here.

Prices lowered for some International Packages

As of December 17th...I am no longer

charging International Priority shipping rates on

standard sized or large limited edition prints.

I am now offering First Class prices, which are significantly

lower in price...

however...

the shipping times on First class packages is usually

longer in duration...

just an FYI.

I will also offer First Class shipping on my smaller paintings...

again...

the times are longer

so Priority shipping is an option for anyone

wanting to expedite shipping.

Originally my thoughts about charging priority shipping prices
was that I would be able to 'track' the packages through
to delivery...
such is not the case...
tracking updates cease once the package departs
the final US Sort Facility.

Also...I don't have a car...so I couldn't make regular trips
to the Post Office to mail my International packages.
To solve this problem...
I will 'catch a ride' to the post office
once a week...
so the 'turn around' time on International packages will
be a couple days longer than the US packages.

Deadlines for Shipping

While I have been completely caught up

with my Shipping,

I thought

I would post a reminder that purchase

deadlines

for shipping packages in the US is:

Tuesday - December 18th.

 

Both first class and Priority Mail can still be delivered 

by Christmas with this deadline.

 

Sorry...but all International Shipping

deadlines have passed.

 

 

Eight Years and Counting

I have been selling my art, online, since 2004.

I started with my own 'shop' on eBay...

and then joined forces with my husband, one of my sons,

my youngest daughter and her husband...

to become a Family Art Group...

and we listed our art as the

ZOA Group...

the Z.O.A stood

for "Zatloukal Original Art".

While on eBay...I painted everything from 'Tuscan Folk Art' to 

 

Modern 'statement' paintings to

 

Florals and Abstract Tree Art Paintings...

It was easier to manage the site as a group.  

 

The year following my husband's passing...eBay began to make changes that

directly affected the artists selling on eBay

and where we had been making a fairly comfortable living on eBay for three years...

our sales began to 'flatline' because of the changes.

 

And my art reflected how I was feeling...

 

 

 

Soooo....

we all went our separate ways.

Patrick decided to go back to school...

Jaime and Mike opened their own shop and...

I opened my Rustic Goth Shop on Etsy...

why

"Rustic Goth"?

 

 

Well...I was still dealing with the loss of my husband and kind of

'saw myself' as one of those 'tragic widows' from the

Gothic Novels I used to read in my teen-age years...

and Heaven knows I love anything 'rustic'...

and I just liked the name...

Rustic Goth.

 

To be honest...I didn't really associate the word 'goth' with the kids

who dress all in black, wear black eye makeup and lipstick...dye their hair black

and wear black fingernail polish.

So...in that sense of the word...I'm NOT 'goth'...

 

 

My 'melancholy girls' were a reflection of the stages I was

going through personally...

 

 

...though my Creepers were an even better reflection...

 

But....

life goes on...

and I am finally moving on too!

I have recently opened two shops...

one on Artfire and one on Etsy...

which I've already talked about...so I won't go into that...

and I've taken on the attitude...

...and I'm looking forward to, at least,

another 8 years of creating and selling my art online...

those are my plans, at this time, anyway!

 

As the Year Draws to an End

It feels like 2012 just Flew by....

unfortunately...

more often than not...

every year is beginning to feel that way

as I find myself getting older.

Ah well...it is what it is...

I tried something 'different' this year...

a Kickstarter Project to

get the funds needed for 

Steampunk Art Cards

and Jewelry.

I succeeded at reaching my goal...

spent the money on cards and jewelry supplies...

but

neither were the 'success' I thought they would be.

 

I am glad I 'went for it' though....

 

I also decided to 'go back to basics'

meaning

art designed especially for the 

'young and the young at heart'.

 

I have two shops dedicated to this...one on Etsy

and one on Artfire.

While neither shop has been even minimally successful...yet...

I do have hopes for both of them.

Why two shops...when neither are doing well?

Well...I rank higher in Google for my

search terms

with my Artfire Shop...

and Etsy tends to draw it's own crowd...

so I am hoping to gain exposure from both avenues.

I decided to go this route...when Etsy made the changes 

within their site

that have greatly impacted my

Rustic Goth Shop.

I know it's going to take a lot of work on my part

to make all of my shops successful

and so...in 2013..I guess I

have my work

cut out for me.

Last day for Scrabble Tile Pendants

Today is the last day to get Scrabble Tile Pendants

in ANY of my Shops

this year.

These are all 'made to order'

and

this year

I do want to enjoy the holidays.

It seems every year since I started doing the scrabble tiles,

I am working like crazy to get these made

and to the buyers

in time for

Christmas.

Then...on Christmas Eve...I can start thinking about

my own holiday.

I really am just getting too old for the added stress...

so I've set December 5th as the deadline for these...

no exceptions.

(though I'm sure there will be one or two

who 'didn't see my announcement'

and talk me into doing some.)

Who knows...this might be the year...I

'stick to my guns'!

In the Coming Year

I've been thinking A LOT about what to do with my life

and my shops

in 2013.

As of December 10th,

 my Rustic Goth Zibbet Shop

will go back to the Basic Shop

of only 50 items.

I really like the site, but unfortunately...

it does have some issues when buyers check out

that require me 'doing the math' and issuing

refunds for overpayments...usually on

shipping.

They have announced improvements

and upgrades to their site,

but it hasn't happened yet so,

I decided to wait until they do to go back to premium.

 

I will not list any duplicates on the site though...

it will only be pieces I've 'retired' from my Etsy Shop

and some pieces 'exclusive' to the Zibbet Shop.

It is also the only places I will offer my

Steampunk Art Calendar and my

Creeper Calendar.

 

I have opened a new shop on Etsy...

it is art for kids rooms...

and is called

Fairytalez 'n Fantasiez.

similar to my

Artfire Shop

Sugar 'n Snails...

I actually had this shop 'in progress' when

all the weirdness went down on Etsy...

I decided to wait to see what was going on before opening it...

and now that it appears to have straightened itself out...

I went ahead with it.

Why similar shops?

Well...basically because of what happened on

Etsy in October.

I don't plan to get 

"caught with my pants down"

again.

Selling my art online is how I pay my bills...

and the unexplained closing (even for only 4 days) of my

Etsy Shop...

which I might add...

has never been explained...to this day...

I'm sure it was a 'glitch' as it coincided with the

'upgrade' to the entire site...

but...

I still think it would only have been courteous

to respond to my emails

to say...

'whoops...our bad'

or something of the such.

I didn't much like just having my emails ignored

with no idea of what was going on or

what happened...and it's left me a bit 'gun shy'.

But...in a nutshell...I will be doing more

'happy' art...for the two newest shops...

fewer 'Creepers'.

Since I'm no 'spring chicken'

I also plan to concentrate on smaller paintings...

4" x 6" to 12" x 16" and 'in between' sizes.

I'll do an occasional 16x20

but not many.