A "Free" Photo Editing Site & A "Free" Photo Book!

Wanna make a "free" book!!! I just found out about this!! It's Awesome!!! Snapfish is offering a "free" photo book and all you have to do is click on the "Oprah Viewers Click Here" button on the Snapfish website. You have until 11:59pm PST Saturday, November 22nd to create your free book! It's a $29.99 value and would make an awesome gift for your Mom or Grandma ~ Happy Creating! I would love to see your book once you create it {cuz I'm just geeky like that}, so please do feel free to email the link to me .

And I bet you're thinking....I wonder how she rounded the edges on that little owl picture? It's all done in "Picnik" Talk about fun & exciting! You can do all sorts of things with your pictures and, the best part, it's totally "free"!!!! Click here to get started ~ and once you create some really cool things with your pictures, you can make a book with them :)

Well, I'm off to make some new things with some gorgeous Pearls & Ocean Jasper I got today!
Happy Friday!!
♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

The Etsy Seller Handbook.....

In case you didn't know this was available. It's a handbook with great tips & advice on selling, advertising, pictures, mailing, etc. Basically everything you need to know about selling on etsy. I just thought I'd pass it along in case you didn't get the e-mail.

Happy Selling!!!

A New Online Boutique for North Carolina Artists...

Here is a message I received today, so I'm passing it along to everyone. It's time to get in the "Holiday Shopping Mode" *Yay*:

"I was wondering if you would let the members of the Transylvania etsy street team know about indieNC, an online boutique featuring products exclusively from North Carolina designers. Now we've added a blog featuring multiple contributors (think domino's daily dose) focusing on "hip" North Carolina covering topics like cool business profiles, designer interviews, NC street style, music, green NC, student work & art, road trips, food & more. http://blog.indienc.com

Also, we are working on a holiday gift guide featuring North Carolinians so if you have a tip, please send a convo to Michelle Smith."

Hope everyone is going good - we are still working on getting that marketing meeting set up over at the Duck Pond Pottery shop. If you are interested in attending, please respond to this blog post. Please also let me know of anyone else that may be interested. I would like to get a group of at least 10 people before we have the meeting. And, Nick has internet service @ the pottery shop, so that will be available to us.

♥ & peace ~ Kathy

Thank you Nick & Jen....

...for another awesome "Duck Pond @ Dusk" season.

And "Thank You" Suzanne & Jerry {Moon Shine Babies}, for bringing out the "musician" in all of us......"Happy Autumn"!!!"The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards." - Anatole France (1844 - 1924)

Etsy Workshop, "Free" Art Show & Music.....

1st of all, I want to remind everybody about the last "Duck Pond @ Dusk" for the season. It will be this Wednesday night (October 8th) starting @ 7:00 pm. {POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE} ~ Lots of past musicians, including the "Moon Shine Babies" will be playing. Hope to see you all there!!!!

2ndly, "Poppies Market" will be having their annual "Harvest Open House" on November 15th, starting @ 11:00 am. Booth spaces are totally "free" but limited to a first come/first serve basis. In order to reserve a space, please contact Nancy @ Poppies. Her telephone number is 885-5494. I think this will be a great time for us to get together and talk about how things are going with each other and share some thoughts & ideas. Hope to see you there, too!!!

3rdly, I've been talking to Nick from "Duck Pond Pottery" and we are trying to set a date/time for a "Etsy workshop". We want everybody to come to the workshop and bring your lap-tops, if you have one. No worries if you don't a pen & paper will be just fine for taking notes. We will be talking about setting up an Etsy shop, selling, marketing, packaging, listings, photos, etc. If you are interested, please let me or Nick know and please bring anybody you feel could benefit from selling their handmade goods on the internet! It's awesome!!!

Keep up the good work!!! xx00 & peace always ~ Kathy

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." ~ Aristotle

Mark Carter ~ the mind of an Artist....

An Autumn Treasury & Words of Wisdom....

Hopefully, this list will make the front page of Etsy! Wouldn't that be awesome! I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather. Happy Autumn!!!

I don't know if any of you read the interview with today's "featured seller", but I love what she said:

Etsy: What advice would you give to artists who are new to Etsy?

Cristina: Be assured that running an online shop does take a lot of work to do it well. Don’t be afraid to invest a decent amount of time into it. There are millions of sellers and buyers out there, chances are there is a good match for what you sell, don’t give up!

Our Team Info for your Etsy Shop!

Good Morning!!! I have created a profile for our Team on Etsy: http://www.TransylvaniaArtists.etsy.com ~ please incorporate this into your "Announcement" on your Etsy shop page. You can take a look at mine to see what I'm talking about: http://www.DornickDesigns.etsy.com ~ I also signed up for a forum for the group: http://artistsoftransylvania.freeforums.org ~ I'm not very familiar with that site, so I would love for someone to try to sign up and post a comment in the forum, just so we can see how it works.

BTW ~ I think the little bat was a perfect avatar for the group! Happy Thursday!!!

xxoo & peace always ~ Kathy

"Not all who wander are lost" ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Hints, Tips & Smart Advice...

...is actually the name of a book I have, but I always thought it was quite a "catchy" title. Now I'm not sure about how much "smart advice" I can give, but hints & tips I'm pretty sure I have plenty to share. What I understand from most people on Etsy is that their biggest challenge is pictures. Of course, when you are photographing jewelry, the challenge is even greater. I've found that you can get the best pictures outside, under the shade of a porch, with indirect sun light, or even better on an overcast day. Use the "macro" setting on your camera and get the lens as close to your subject as possible, without losing the focus. Take at least 10 pictures, at all different angles and use whatever props you have available. I have a giant seashell and several big flat rocks {readily available around here!} that I use most of the time. I also have several childrens picture books that are great for backgrounds, as well:But I guess the most important thing is software, so you can lighten/darken your pictures and crop them to the all requested "Etsy Square"! I personally use "PhotoShop CS Version 8.0", but there are lots of other options. If you want to purchase software, "PhotoShop Elements 5.0" is great. It's not very expensive and you can purchase this book "Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Classroom In A Book" that will teach you hands on lessons on how to use the program. But, if you want something for "free" that is totally awesome, I would suggest downloading "Picasa 3" from Google. It is a wonderful program and allows you to do tons of really cool things with your pictures. I promise you will love it!

Well, I gotta run for now. I have to get dinner fixed, so we can eat before we head over to "The Duck Pond" for some awesome music! But before I go, I must share this awesome necklace I made with one of "Jen Kott's" Raku Pendants! She just opened her shop on Etsy and it's called "BlazingEarth" ~ Please do check out her awesome designs & Welcome to Etsy & our new team, Jen!!Remember, it's all about networking & the more places you can set up a bio for "free" the better off you will be in the long run. Listed below are all of the places I have set up my bio that have actually brought me customers:
http://www.dornickdesigns.com
http://www.dornickdesigns.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dornickdesigns
http://www.myspace.com/brocsmom
http://www.twitter.com/dornickdesigns
http://www.dawanda.com/shop.dornickdesigns
http://www.indiecollective.net
http://www.talentdatabase.com
http://www.artsofbrevard.org

xxoo & peace always ~ Kathy

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life" ~ Pablo Picasso

Totally "Free" Camera Flash Diffusers...

You know how you get the "evil eye" from people when you point a camera at them and the flash from it literally blinds them for several minutes? Well, there's a totally "free" and really great way to avoid that. If your camera has a pop up flash, you can use an empty clear/opaque film canister {I got several from the local CVS, they have them in a drawer @ the Photo counter}. You just cut out a rectangle with a hobby/exacto knife a little larger than the flash on your camera, so that it will fit on there snug enough to not fall off: And that's it! This also works great for taking photos of your items when you don't want the "flash" taking away from the pictures. Another "free" diffuser is an empty cigarette packet. I've never tried it, but people I know who have says it works great:

xxoo & peace always ~ Kathy

Our Team Has Been Added to Etsy!

Yay!! Our Team has been added to the listings on Etsy: "Artists of Transylvania". Now we can start to build our group and decide what we can do to help each other. Any suggestions are welcome. Just so you all know, I LOVE Etsy! Etsy has changed my life and I hope with the help of each other, it can change lives for all of us here. Thanks for being a part of this {soon to be} great Etsy team!!

There is an article today in the "Etsy Storque" about building teams and goals. When you have time, please try and read through it, so we can all get a little bit more of an understanding of the whole "team" thing. I don't want to be "the boss lady", I want us all to share ideas. Thanks!!!!

Hello & Welcome....

I really want to get a street team started for the Artists in Transylvania County. If you are reading this and are an Artist in our area, please, please let me know and you can join our team. Thanks so much & I'm looking forward to getting things going. Please send me an e-mail if you have any questions. My e-mail address is: Kathy@dornickdesigns.com