Handmade Monday 126

Welcome to Handmade Monday!

This week's news involves a magazine called Quick Cards Made Easy - it's in UK shops now...

and no less than two mentions for Handmade Harbour inside its pages!

The magazine contacted me a while back about using my free cupcake digi stamp for their download of the month spot.  I was thrilled - of course - but then they offered me another spot, too ... this time I'm giving  £10 worth of free stamps to 15 people.  I figured it was pretty good publicity and hopefully the recipients will be happy too!  This is a magazine giveaway, so you'd need to go through them to be in with a chance of winning.

In other news, I've happily completed a commission for one of my personalised party cones.  This one was for a wedding where they are serving fish and chips cones, and I'm thrilled to report that the couple love the design.  This is a snippet...

However, I've realised that I seriously underestimated how long it would take to put together all the elements of personalisation and come up with a completed design!  And that means I underestimated the cost, too!  I really will have to charge more for these (sorry, talk amongst yourselves while I pop over and adjust the price... OK, I'm back) which I fear might make them seem too expensive - it's often a tricky thing, getting a balance, isn't it?  However, the good news is that I've realised I can concentrate on developing some generic designs, too - so people who can't afford the personalised version could get a real bargain. So I will be making more cone designs to put on the website - for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  I'm hoping that will give a real choice for people.

Enough of my news - what's been happening in your world?

Handmade Monday 124

Hi and welcome to Handmade Monday.  Click the link to find out more, including how to join in if you're new.  You don't need an invite!

This week I've been playing with pebbles and paint for Craftseller magazine for an upcoming rock art feature.  That was quite a lot of fun!  I can't show you the whole project until it's published, but here's a little taster...

In other news, I'm getting together with Totally Tutorials to offer free digi stamps to bloggers wanting to produce a tutorial.  I've had some really lovely emails already, with some ideas that would never have occurred to me!  I'll be looking for a mix of tutorials and ideas and it's lovely that some Handmade Mondayers are joining in.

vintage caravan digi stamp

The hardest bit will be deciding who gets the freebies, but I think this is something I'll do again anyway so there will be other chances.  The five who get picked this time will have their tutorial promoted on here as well as the TotallyTutorials blog so it should increase exposure for them.  I do like a project that works well for all parties, don't you?

Meanwhile, here's another idea that's good for all of us - it's time for Handmade Monday and you know what that means...

Handmade Monday 108

Hello and welcome to Handmade Monday!

This week's theme seems negative to begin with.  Rejection can sometimes be hard to take when you make everything yourself.  It can feel personal, even when it quite clearly isn't.  And sometimes you may need to allow yourself a little "down in the dumps" moment.  I guess we all have them occasionally, don't we?

But then it's time to turn it around.  Rejection isn't necessarily a time to give up - it's a time to try new avenues, new ways of working or possibly explore new ideas.

This week, I learned that the card designs I've been creating weren't wanted by the publisher I thought they might be a good fit for...

But when I picked myself up from my "down in the dumps" moment, I realised I still have so many exciting options and so many ideas still to explore.  Some I hadn't seriously considered before (licensing my art via an agent - let them handle the rejections for me!) and some I had (selling digital stamps for card makers).  I think both options are probably viable (maybe even both at the same time) but both need a bit more work (in particular, getting more images drawn and painted - the very best kind of work in my opinion!).

Hopefully, I will be able to share more with you as I go along.  In particular, if you use digital stamps, or would like to try them out, then watch this space!  I will want to trial them soon, so there will be freebies available for people who might be willing to give me some feedback.

Also, I've been asked to mention CRAFTfest today

which this time around features over 200 virtual craft stalls.  It's on until 23rd March, so hopefully you'll have time to pop over and have a browse.

Over to you now for Handmade Monday...