Coming Soon - Baby Stuff!

Although you wouldn't know it to look at my Etsy shop, birth announcements have always been and continue to be a big part of my offline business. Most of the time, I create a completely custom design for each new mama, but I've lately been channeling a bit of my non-Holiday design energy into creating some stock layouts. In preparation for a client meeting last week, I was able to find some fun new design elements, play around with baby-inspired color schemes, and come up with some initial offerings that I really love. A little more modern than my usual stuff. Here's a sneak peek at a few of my "flowers and pinwheels" layouts.






Look for these designs to show up in the shop sometime after my Holiday line launch at the end of the month! Got feedback? I'd love to hear it!

Me? A Drama Queen?! How Dare You!

I've spent the morning thus far (2 hours or so) sourcing free vector shapes for some holiday design projects I'm working on. Yes, it's that time of year already...

Sourcing is always a drama. Licensing varies greatly from one site/artist to the next. Let's start with the premise that, unless I'm working on a corporate project, I don't even bother with pay sites - too 'spensive and I'm not interested in just plopping somebody else's elaborate digital artwork onto a card and reselling it. So I'm going to a site that advertises "free" or "royalty-free" vectors. What I'm generally looking for are simple shapes that I can stretch, skew, recolor, chop up, and render completely unrecognizable. But because the licensing issue is so complicated, when I come across something I need, I have to go through this whole big process of determining whether my intended use is acceptable. Can I use it commercially? Yes, great. Ok, can I alter it so as to make it unrecognizable? Yes? Fabulous! Can I use it on a greeting card for resale? No?! But it's just a little swirly thing that won't even look the same! Ok, so how much would it cost for me to be able to use it in my design? 100 dollars?!? What the?!

I know it's a touchy topic. I know everybody deserves to get paid for their work, and I'm definitely not attempting to make the point that all design elements should be free. But I also know that there are lots and lots and LOTS of designers out there that simply ignore the rules without consequence - the buyer certainly doesn't know the difference. You see threads about it all the time in the Etsy forums. We all pretty much use the same sources for our images, so when someone recognizes a design element in another seller's work, the assumption is usually made that an infringement has occurred. But in fact, there's no way to whether someone has paid an extended license fee or not. It's a mess.

I'm very very very careful about the imagery I use in my designs. My vintage graphics are all, to the very best of my knowledge, copyright-free and come from either public domain sites or "share" sites. I use fonts and vector "dingbats" that I've purchased legally, and then read and re-read the contracts to make sure they're ok for resale. And there most certainly ARE benevolent graphic artists out there that will allow you to use their shapes, callouts, dingbats, whatever in any way you like. And when I find them? Woohoo!! So what's my point? That it takes an incredible amount of searching and fine-print-reading to find even the simplest little design elements. And, really, who has that kind of time?

Alrighty, I'm done. PMS? Why do you ask?

Pretty Little Paper Things

A custom order this week allowed me to briefly return to my cardmaking roots (no cracks about those other roots please) - pretty papers, glue, ribbon, brads... Although I adore digital design, it's soooooooo much fun now and then to break out all the old scrapbooking stuff and start punching holes in things, pounding on eyelets, stacking papers, rounding corners, and generally being crafty. Although the mess I made to create just one 5 x 7 card was truly astounding, I love the way these congrats cards turned out.


I liked them so much, I've added them to my Etsy shop.

In other news, you'll notice the updated banner and page layout to go along with the updated avatars and ads. Blame it on insomnia and OCD, but I just couldn't walk away from the computer til I'd pulled off a complete and total image makeover. Now I can move on and get to work on the new invitation line...

Identity Crisis

Procrastination? Maybe. Completely necessary image makeover? Probably not. But fun, anyway!

I spent last night avoiding some "administrative" Mac & Glue stuff by playing around with my avatars and ads. After a great conversation recently with my PR/marketing guru friend (a great friend to have, by the way), I determined that I needed to work on my branding a bit. The goal is to use those little square images to a) compel someone to click, and b) offer a glimpse of what can be found behind the click. I determined that the vintage-y writing hand (see image top right) may not be doing the job. Plus, I've been feeling like I'm simply taking myself too seriously. My friend (let's call her "Linda"... you know, 'cause her name's Linda) suggested I choose one of the graphics from my boxed sets and work on connecting the vintage concept with the idea of a paper product. The result?



What do you think? I love it, actually. I updated my Project Wonderful ad with the new look and saw an immediate increase in clicks, so apparently it's more appealing than my same old, same old. Stay tuned to see if the banner gets a makeover too. Like the next time I'm supposed to be doing the books...

Macaroni and Who?

Ok, so I've gone about this all wrong. I set up a little blog on another site - fine, nothing wrong with that - but I've since realized that you a) need to be a member to comment, and b) would never find me there if you googled til your fingers fell off. So, if it's not too much trouble, can we just start over? Just forget about the past and make a clean start of it? Let's pretend we've just met - I'm smiling, you walk up, we shake hands. Good...

So, new friend, let me tell you why I'm here. I'm a mom, I'm an activist (more on that as we get to know each other), and I'm a budding entrepreneur. As of today, I've been papercrafting for a little over a year and have been selling said papercrafts for about six months. At the suggestion of my sister (finder of all things cool online), I set up shop at Etsy about a month ago. I continue to promote and sell my stationery line among friends, family and referrals outside of Etsy, and in the coming months I hope to begin approaching local boutiques about wholesale opportunities. I also really like parentheses... but you knew that already, huh?

I expect that this blog will largely focus on my own creative journey - my design process, the work I churn out, and the process of turning something I love into a sustainable business. I expect that there will be ups and downs along the way, and I intend to share them with you as they happen. For example, I had 10 sales in my first 30 days on Etsy (yay!), but it took Trunkt.com no more than an hour to reject my first portfolio application (ouch). As someone who crafts and sells stuff, I find it interesting to read about others who craft and sell, so I hope to be able to provide some perspective and insight as I try to figure out the best ways to do both.

You'll probably hear a fair amount about my family as well - my 2-year-old has more of an influence on my creative process than any other single factor and my husband, although supportive, has concerns that all this crafting might be compromising the housework....

In addition to me and all things me-related, I intend to use the blog to spotlight some of the amazing talent I find every day over at Etsy. It is so exciting to be part of such a dynamic and creative community! At least weekly, I'll feature someone or something that I've found to be truly special in my daily travels through the Etsy-verse.

And on that note, I have a couple of cool things for show-and-tell today! I have featured her before, but for my inaugural macaroniandglue.com post, I am giving it up once again for one of my all-time favorite designers, rubypearl.

Her women's line is stunning and her designs for kids are ridiculous (in the best sense of the word).

And back in my studio this week, there are antique sketchbooks galore. I've just begun work on a series of notecards with graphics created from drawings of children from 1907. You can see the first two of the series here and here.