Craft Fair Prep: Pricing Sheet / Signs

For this fair I've been reworking a lot of my standard craft fair pieces. One of the latest has been my pricing tags. I tape or afix these to the containers holding my products. I decided to incorporate my new logo and then decided to make a whole list to just put framed on the table for people to glance at. I'm not sure where on the table I'll be putting it yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out! :)

How do they look?

Tomorrow I'll be working on actual display pieces. A lot has changed since my first fair and I think this time I want to totally master what my basic display pieces are. Last show we switched out a bulky black display for greeting cards with several smaller bronze/tin vintage looking buckets for people to flip through and they seem to be working much better - it makes people more active about looking at our cards. And it takes up a lot less space so things look less cramped.

The closer we get to Saturday the more excited I get and my to do list is definitely on it's way to being totally done.

What's your big project this week?

Tools of the Trade: Business Cards

 When I re-designed the fallenpeach logo I was almost out of business cards anyway - so I made new ones and ordered more. Since I started this, I've been obsessed with MOO. I print my business cards and my greeting cards through them and absolutely love the quality of the products.

Above are my current business cards. Mini Moo Cards are about half the size of a regular business card and I love their unique qualities. They are also thick and sturdy for easy handling. But this isn't an advertisement!

What do your business cards look like? Do you use MOO or more traditional cards? How much information do you put on your cards? I'm curious to see your designs!

Magnets Set 2

 As you make things you learn lessons. My first set of magnets are good, for sale and I think look great. But I'm trying something a little different this time around. I'm putting a layer of Mod Podge over the images before I do anything else.

I'm doing this for a few reasons. One, I kinda like the texture it gives the images, two I'm hoping it'll make the colors stay a little brighter. While the originals still look great, I noticed a tiny bit of fade when I added the lacquer last time - so I'm trying something new.

These magnets are the same images I've already made - the difference is these I'll be selling individually instead of in sets. So, if you've seen an image in a set you like but don't want all 4 - be patient :).

Advertising/Project Wonderful

You've probably noticed the blaringly white ad boxes on the side of my blog. A couple weeks ago I joined in Project Wonderful and started offering ad space here on the fallenpeach blog. But after a couple weeks, I'm really not happy with Project Wonderful. You are encouraged to price your ad space at a ridiculously small price and it appears that people can pull their ad in order to only pay a fraction of that already small price. Which results in me getting .001 cent every once in a blue moon.

I want to offer advertising on this blog because I want to expose my readers to some of the wonderful artists out there, but I do not think that PW is the way to go any more. If I were to offer ad space on my blog - would you buy it from me? I'm still working out what price I think would be good, but it probably wouldn't be a lot since this blog is still growing.

Comments and questions welcome :)

Where I Work: The Desk.

While I'm awaiting questions from you folks for my more personal blog post (hint hint! :D) I decided to give you a peek at my work space. 

This is the  corner of my room in which I work, talk to you guys and get distracted. On the left you can see part of my entertainment center which stores my stock of bookmarks and greeting cards, my paper cutter, glue, cutting board, ruler etc etc etc. Basically all of the stuff I need to make what I make. On the top shelf you can sort of see my Labyrinth display (Labyrinth is my all-time favorite movie). To the right is my desk.

My organizer on the left on top of my scanner, a lot of critters and things scattered, cup o' pens, white board with weeks to do list, and of course my laptop.

I must add, this is my desk looking CLEAN. It was much much worse the other day. 

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In other news, it is Monday and it is miserably rainy outside. This does not make it easy for me to start my new regime of being more strict with my work hours. I've decided that the time has come for me to NOT work 24/7 and I need to really take some time away from the computer and away from work more often because I've been a little stressed out lately.

The rain just makes me want to be lazy, but I want to try out my new schedule today so I will try to be good.

How is your week starting out?

Tools of the Trade: To Do Lists (super long and otherwise)

An Intro

I know that a lot of you really enjoy my YTT weekly goals posts, and I'm also a part of The Meetup, which is all about having and keeping to monthly goals. So I thought that I would do a post on my day to day ways of keeping myself going and staying organized.

Getting Started

Either before I go to bed, or first thing in the morning I make myself a to do list for the day. You can use anything to do this - because I'm old fashioned I usually use a pen and paper. But you can also use a white board (I have one of these for my weekly goals), a computer program or an website to do list set up (I know they are out there but don't have a link - anyone?).

More specifically, I use the organizer you see above. I bought it at Staples super on sale. I put a set of blank pages at the beginning, before the calendar part, and every day I write my list on the first page. That way if I have to run errands, everything is right there for me to cross off as I go.

Tips

1. CROSSING THINGS OFF IS IMPORTANT. If you do something on your list, cross it off (or erase it if you are using a white board) Trust me, it'll make you feel awesome and accomplished which will only help you want to cross more things off that list! :)

2. Don't be afraid to add silly things to the list like "take a shower" or "watch LOST". These things are also important to get done and it will make you feel like you are accomplishing things to cross them off your list.

3. You don't have to do the things on your list in order, unless you want to. Skip around - do what is easiest first, or push yourself to accomplish something hard and then reward yourself with some easier things.

4. Calendar's are helpful too, but don't try to squeeze your to do list on a calendar - it just won't fit. And it'll look messy. Use a fresh sheet of paper.

5. Don't forget to add your errands - that way you won't forget that one place you can never remember to get to.

Do you make daily lists? What are your tips to add to this list?

OOW: Graphic Design

As you may or may not know, I am a photographer but I'm also a Graphic Designer. I'm currently working on a freelance basis and debating whether or not to offer my services on Etsy. I won't be the cheapest out there, but you will get high quality work.

One thing I love about graphic design is the process. I have a lot of great ideas and begin to work them out, at some point I get completely frustrated and need to step away.. but when I come back it all starts to click together. I love logo work the most, I think, but also layout and basic web design. My fallenpeach logo is a collaborative work with my boyfriend, who also does graphics work, though the website is entirely mine.

I have a new freelance client whom I met with yesterday and I'm really excited to be working on a graphics project again. Before I get back to work on it today, I just wanted to show you some of my previous work. Some of you have seen these over at my other (very neglected) blog, but here they are:

Soltek is a high end handbag company who is beginning to really make a name for themselves. I designed their logo, business cards, tags for their bags, and several catalogs. I also did product photography of their bags and continue to work with them when new projects are needed. More of my work for them can be seen here.

360 degrees by JACS is a company selling recycled clothing on Ebay; I designed their logo, banner, website, promotional bookmarks and a promotional postcard. You can see some of my work at their website, here. And the rest over at my portfolio, here.

I've done other work for my previous employer, which is also on my portfolio site, but these are my most recent projects. I'll keep you updated with future work though, if you'd like :D

Happy Friday Everyone, have a great Weekend!

Monday Updates: The Craft Fair Post!

Happy Monday Everyone! I'm finally back from craft fair insanity (though I'm looking into two more fairs for this month, I won't have to do crazy prep for them really).

The fair was at the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School in Newtown, CT. It's a private school that teaches kindergarten through 12th, I believe, and the fair was set up in various classrooms and the hallway of one of their buildings. The fair itself was not exactly perfect for me and my work, but it was a great experience and I'm really glad I went.

I had a great time talking with Adrianne and Morgan over at the Fragrant Offering across the way and really had fun talking with customers about my work.

Here's what my table looked like:

As you can see, I had bookmarks, greeting cards and prints (and I promise to start selling greeting cards and prints at my store soon, I just need to make sure I have enough if I do another fair first) as well as the fabulous banner that my boyfriend painted for me.

Here's a sneak peek at some of my greeting cards on display in dish racks from Walmart. And a really bad shot of my new business cards (better one coming soon) which were a big hit. Moo mini cards are so amazing and I'm really proud of the design.



And another long shot of the table.



Above is the pocket gnome that I bought at the fair hiding out in my apron (made by my mom). I picked up a business card at the table, but the website shows only beads not gnomes so I think I might have grabbed the wrong card. I'm sorry I don't have a link to the wonderful creatives behind this awesome gnomes. I'll do some reasearch and see if I can find them later this week.



And finally, here's a photo of me in my bowler hat (you can't see my mad hatter type name tag sticking out on the other side) in front of my banner. :)

All in all, I had enough sales to make the fair worth it, but it wasn't the perfect venue. I'm looking into a couple more for this month which I think might be more up my alley. A lot of the parents and teachers at this fair were looking for kid oriented things, not really prints. The greeting cards sold really well, though, and so did a few of my bookmarks.

What did you do this past weekend?

Monday Updates: pt 2 Craft Fairs

And on to part 2. The main thing I did this weekend (other than make a fabulous treasury) was search and buy display items for the upcoming craft fair. I'm still not sure how this is all going to work on the table, but at least i have most of my display pieces I think.

I found this perfectly colored storage box at Home Goods on sale because it was missing a top and a little beat up, and I think it'll be great for my larger prints:

Here are two white wooden crates (that my bf or I will be adding peach stripes to) for my smaller prints and a book box for some of my bookmarks:

And, in our most creative thought process - molding from Lowes will be cut into 2 ft pieces (I think) to put my bookmarks on. Twine has been bought to line the bottom just in case they slip forward too far, but I think it'll be good:

I also bought a fabulous wire piece to put my greeting cards on, but I forgot to take a photo.. I'll take one later :)

My boyfriend has also been working hard on a banner for my table/tent. Phase 1 was to project the logo onto the canvas and trace it with a pencil

Phase two was to paint paint paint!

As I type he's on the last phases of painting, then we get to decide if we want to cut the canvas or just fold it back to fit the table. I'm leaning towards cutting right now, but not sure.

So far so good, and pretty cost efficient so far as well. I'm really happy with all this, and I'm eagerly awaiting my photo mats and greeting cards... which hopefully will arrive this week.

Tools of the Trade

I spent a long time searching for a box to store my bookmarks in while they are waiting to be bought. It had to be something cute, preferably with a handle and something that was small-ish because I don't have much space. After a few false starts with plastic containers and an unfortunate recipe box, I finally found this beautiful box at Joann Fabrics the other day.

It's the perfect height and size, and adorable to boot!