chintzy

Well for some reason I was in a bunting and chintz kind of mood this week, I'm not sure why, maybe all the Jubilee celebrations and summer picnics have got to me ;o)

This little lady looks like she's ready to dance in a summer show, with all the sports days, shows and summer fêtes coming up with my kids at school you can see where the inspiration for this one came from ;o)

The Gathering:

Well the red white and blue in this one has clearly been influenced by all the Jubilee celebrations in the past month here in the UK but the title of this painting is a personal one drawn from a couple of friends of mine who are going through tough times right now.

The Garden Of Courage:

I don't even like tea, lol but for some reason I was in the mood for chintzy wallpaper and teapots ;o)

House Of Thoughts:

All 3 paintings are now available in my etsy shop:

Check back on my blog next Wednesday for another 'Etsy Wednesday' blog post and next Friday for more new paintings ;o)

Happy Weekend

X

Giveaway winner and the first Etsy Wednesday

I decided to be boring and go to Random.org to pick a winner

There were 22 people signed up in total and the winner is........

Number 11 which is Jess 

Congratulations Jess I will email you for your address and I will be be painting this up for you in your colour choices next week :o)

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So with that all done and out of the way here is the first of my Etsy Wednesday blog posts:

I thought I was going to be doing one long blog post about this but when I started typing I realized I had quite a lot to say so this is going to be the first in a Wednesday weekly etsy info session in smaller bite size chunks rather than one huge post.

Ok so I’ve been around on etsy for a while now and along the way have learnt a few things and made plenty of mistakes, I often get asked questions by customers and other etsy artists about how I managed to make so many sales when others have not.

One particular artist even got cross with me because she had gone to art school, got her degree and found that she didn’t sell a bean on etsy or in galleries and was annoyed that someone who (in her words) “had far less talent than her could make sales when she could not”. Lol, well with an attitude like that it’s no wonder she’s not selling.

Truth be told I have made a fair few sales, not millions though and I am not one of Etsy’s topsellers and I am definitely not the best artist out there but for what it is worth this is the basics of what I know about setting up shop on Etsy:

It's all about the research/Before you set up shop:

That’s right before you even think about opening up shop there are certain things you should think about doing.

There are tons and tons of people trying to ‘make it’ (whatever ‘it’ is) on etsy, so where do you even start?

Etsy like any other selling venue is a tough nut to crack but it’s not impossible to sell your art if you work hard at it and I really mean that, selling on Etsy is damn hard work there is no easy option.

I am going to start by presuming 2 things about you first

1.       That you are new to selling on Etsy (or have been on a while and haven’t figured it out yet)

2.       That you make art/paintings/mixed media work (plenty of this info is relevant for all artists and crafters alike but I only know how to do what I do and that is art/painting/mixed media if you want more info on other things on etsy I can’t help much with that sorry.)

For now you need to start by opening your eyes, look at some of the better sellers on etsy the ones that sell often in the category you think you fit into.

What are they doing that you haven’t thought of? Really study them closely….….I’m not talking stalker alert here guys just look and learn.

Don’t just choose one seller to look at either try and find at least 5-15 high sellers that are in your category.

Do they put up new work once a week? Everyday? Do they sell all original work or mainly prints?

What is it you really want to make and sell? What are their price brackets? Do they sell cheaper and more expensive items or all of one type? How do they photograph their work?

Look at their shop categories, titles, types of listings, tag words and prices.

Take notes ( I like to have a pretty notebook just for these occasions - any excuse to buy or make something pretty is good for me) and keep them to hand for when you open your shop but: do not copy word for word someone’s listings, these Etsian’s have worked hard to get where they are and their wording in the listings is unique to them and quite possibly copyrighted.

For me and my Etsy shop: Well I love to paint and I like to do it often, I’m not keen on making my own prints, I spend enough time at the computer as it is and I don’t like crafting fiddly things with prints of my work on so I opened an ‘all original’ etsy shop (with the odd exception now and then ;o)

I have fairly low prices compared to other etsy artists and that is to keep things flowing and moving fast, I don’t have a ton of spare room in my house so I like to paint a lot and (hopefully) sell them quickly.

If something isn’t selling after a few months I either reduce the price or put it on sale.

This is what works for me, it’s not the best plan ever made but it’s my plan.

Now it’s time for you to start working on your plan :o)

For more information about selling on Etsy you can step tentatively into the ‘Etsy forums’ which I will be talking more about in next week’s Etsy Wednesday blog post.

But for now, go ahead and research your butt's off ;o)

**If you have any questions about this week's Etsy Wednesday blog post then feel free to ask them here in the comments section and I will answer as best I can also in the comments section so that everyone can see**

New paintings from me will be updated as always here on my blog on Friday this week

X

It's official I am rubbish, but versatile too ;o)

Dear lovely people that give me nice things

 I apologise for being rubbish at responding to them.

I have been given the same blog award by 2 people now and failed to do anything with it......I suck..... I'm sorry!!

Well the award is this one:

Thank you to Heidi M and Rosa Lily I Love's you.....I really do x

So there are supposed to be rules to this bloggy award business but I was never any good at rules n stuff so I shall just do the first part which says to tell you 7 Random things about me and then I'll make up the ending as I go along ;o)

1. I once nearly got ran over by Kevin Keegan .

2. I used to have a phobia of clowns (Coulrophobia) but I cured myself.

3. I had an operation a few years ago to remove my gallbladder and still have the gall stones in a glass tube.

4. I don't like curry

5. The only soaps I watch on tv are Aussie or Kiwi, I refuse to watch British soaps I think they are too depressing.

6. I hated high school

7. I just bought some new funky melamine cups to drink my coffee out of.....Love them!!

Now I know I'm supposed to pass this on to a certain amount of bloggy peeps but you know what? I love you all so I am passing it on to all of you, if you want to play, play if you don't, don't......simple ;o)

If you want to know the real rules then visit Heidi M 's or Rosa Lily's blogs to find out.

X

Flowery fun

Lots of little things went wrong this week and my daughter has been off ill from school for 2 days so I only managed to get these 2 paintings done this week for my etsy shop.

I have 1 more still sat on the easel but she will have to wait a day or 2 now.

These 2 have just been put in my etsy shop and are available to purchase if you wish :o)

It's been a long time since I painted something without a girl in and it made quite a nice change.

This flowery painting is on an 8x8 inch 'loxley gold' chunky canvas.

Bohemian Blush: 

This is the largest of these girls that I have painted so far and boy did it take up a ton of time painting all those flowers lol ;o)

She is painted on a 12x10 inch flat canvas board.

The Garden Of Memories:

Well that's me done for this week, hopefully I will have more to show you next week ;o)

If you haven't already signed up for my blog giveaway please follow the link to the sign up post HERE you have until Wednesday 27th to sign up :o)

X

Celebration Giveaway

Those of you that check in regularly will know I just reached 400 (402 now) sales in my etsy shop and I can't think of a better way to say thank you to my customers and blog friends for their support than giving stuff away for free so, on we go :o)

The Giveaway:

I am offering the chance to win a custom(ish) 8x10 inch flat canvas board painting in my: ‘The garden of’ style.

Even though they take up a lot of my time to make them, I absolutely love painting these girls and their pretty flowers so I thought I would offer one up as a prize, but instead of me making one specifically to give away, I thought the winner would like to choose the colour scheme for the flowers in the painting eg: purples, pinks, multi coloured, lemon and lime, black and red, turq and gold etc…… whatever colour scheme you personally would like the most.

The winner won’t get to see the painting until it arrives in the mail so there will be a fun surprise element to the giveaway too (I love surprises)

The girl in the painting will be a 'pretty whimsical girl' with her usual long black hair and ‘sack cloth’ coloured dress on a white background but her face and pose will be anything I am in the mood for on the day of painting really and that way the winner will get a bit of a surprise when she arrives in the post and won’t have been seen by anyone but me.

So what do you think? Who wants in?

If you think you would like to win this 8x10 inch part custom/part surprise painting then do these 2 things:

1.       Leave your name and contact details (eg: a message with ‘my email is in my blog profile’ or alternatively leave your email address right here in the comment box)

2.       The important bit: the colour scheme of your choice for the flowers in the painting if you were to win.

Please leave comments for the giveaway in this post only (comments left in other posts won’t count I’m afraid)

I will announce the winner on Wednesday 27^th June!!!

Once the winner has received the painting and they are happy with their prize I will post a piccie on my blog for everyone to see ;o)

Anyone can enter just remember to leave your contact details so I can get in touch with you if you win.

Good Luck x

I'm Back ;o)

Well we had a lovely time on our holiday but as always for a hermit like me it’s good to be back home.

Before I went away I worked hard and got these 4 paintings ready to pop in my etsy shop as soon as I got back, I chose the colour purple for this week, not a colour I use that often but I think I might be converted ;o)

These 4 are all available to purchase in my etsy shop right now.

First up is the 3^rd of my ‘The Garden Of’ series

This one is painted on one of my favourite cradled wood panels,

9 ½ x7 inches

The Garden Of Wonder:

Yet another girl with fabulous blossomy hair, I think I’m getting addicted to these girls a little bit.

8x8 inches on flat canvas board.

Flourish:

This girl is very serene looking and seems totally at peace surrounded by her flowers.

6x6 inches on flat canvas board.

Sanctuary:

I chose a bit of a folky laurel leaf feel to go with this girl and I am loving this bright purple background.

A5 on flat canvas board.

Whispers in the Garden:

Well that’s me done for this weekend

I will be organizing a give-away this coming Wednesday (20^th June) to celebrate my reaching 400 sales in my etsy shop.

The week after that: Wednesday 27^th June will be the first of several ‘Etsy Wednesday’ blog posts in which I will give bite size weekly chunks of information about the up’s and down’s of selling on Etsy for beginners.

Stay tuned

Micki x

400.....Yay!!!!

Thank you to everyone who has purchased from me over the past 2 years, love you all x

Thanks for the piccie Michele....loves you x

So a giveaway will be in order when I am back to blogging sometime soon after the 16th June, keep your eyes peeled ;o)

Micki x

Pretty In Pink

At the start of the week I decided to limit my colour palette to pretty pinks and neutrals and I am so glad I did, I love the look of all of these ladies.

They have all just been added to my etsy shop if you are interested in purchasing :o)

My kids are now on their school half term break and I will be taking some time out from blogging.

 My etsy shop will stay open until Thursday 7th June then it will shut until Saturday 16th June, so you have a few days left to purchase or reserve items if you so wish ;o)

Ok on with this weeks girl's:

As always I have a favourite of the week and this girl is it ;o)

She is the second in this kind of style and I seriously love painting them.

 I am thinking of doing a series of girls on 'white with flowery backgrounds' in similar styles so keep an eye out for those coming over the next month or so.

This one is called:

The Garden Of Wishes

Who doesn't love pretty cherry blossoms? I don't know anyone that doesn't, I have 2 cherry blossom trees in my garden and I adore them, painting this girl was a joy.

Blossom

I got heavy with the texture on this girl, she has a ton of fiber paste surrounding her and she's in a lovely peachy pink coloured background.....am I the only one that thinks of textures and colours like food? I think she's yummy and makes me think of cake lol ;o)

Blush

I love the pretty but huge flower on this girl's head and the simple but shabby background is always a favourite of mine to create.

Daydreamer

Some of the kids at my son's school (unfortunately him not included) have just been on a French exchange trip and it got me in the mood for something with a French flair, a different look for me but I really like her.

Free As A Bird

Sometimes neutral with a splash of colour can be so striking, I left this girl 'none fussy' and I love her simplistic look, she looks so fresh and calm, I wish I felt like that more often ;o)

The Winds Of Change

That's me done with blogging for a couple of weeks, I will post again with some more new paintings on 16th or 17th June so be sure to check back then.

I will also be hosting a blog giveaway (hopefully) soon when I reach 400 sales in my etsy shop (only 3 more sales to go) and I also have plans for a blogpost all about selling on etsy for newbies with questions that I have been asked frequently. 

I will share what little info I have and you can ask me anything about selling on etsy in that post too and I will answer as honestly and correctly as I can ;o)

For now though, thank you for reading my blog

See you soon

Micki

X