Some Advice, Wear Sunscreen.

When today's prompt was to "give a piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all." I had to really think about this. I mean, am I in the position to be giving advice to people? What the heck do I know, I wear scarves in the summer and I have yet to figure out exactly what it is that Meatloaf won't do for love, so what can I possibly say to others that is worth really saying?

I guess the only advice I can really give anyone is to:

• Enjoy any free time. Working full time has made me appreciate any spare moments that much more. I can't go grocery shopping at 11am on a weekday nor can I just sleep in a bit if I feel like it. I absolutely hate the concept of a 9-5 job because I feel as though life should be spent making memories and not making money.

• Take a lot of pictures. My friend, George, died at a young age (23) and I don't have too many photos of him. Part of the reason is because he passed away in 2005 and I didn't own a good quality digital camera back then nor did my little nokia, whose only form of entertainment was the snake game, have a camera attached to it.  It takes seconds to just capture a moment on film forever. In the end when we leave this earth those photos will be the only thing to be able to tell our stories to future generations.

• Embrace "bad hair days", some people out there are not lucky enough to have a bad hair day if they are going through an illness or radiation. What seems like an inconvenience to you is something someone out there dreams of having.

• Always hold hands with your significant other. Bubs and I have been together for 5 years now. When we go out in public together 90% of the time his fingers are intertwined with mine (the other 10% is him running away from me because he saw something shiny that he has to touch). When people see how we interact they assumed we've only been together for a few months. I never want to take him for granted and we are constantly wrapped up in each other.

 

see? Even when he makes me fall out of hammocks we are still holding hands. True love folks.

• Send snail mail. How stoked do you get when you open a letter or package from someone you love? I will never send an "e-card" to anyone, I'm also super sentimental and save a good chunk of my cards and scrap book that shiz.

• Always pack an umbrella and rain boots on vacation. Trust me, if you're going to be exploring Europe or Disney and you have out door activities planned and you do not have the money to be visiting these places more than once you MUST pack this shiz. Extra points if they are super obnoxious looking like mine.

• Buy gifts for people throughout the year. I don't know about you but for me I have to buy christmas presents for at least 25 people, and all those 25 people also have birthdays too. The holidays are stressful enough already and I don't want to be spending 72 hours at the mall the week before christmas trying to buy gifts for all those people in one shot. So instead I buy them in dribs and drabs. If I am out and I see something that I think someone will love I pick it up and hold onto it. Sometimes I do this a few weeks in advance, sometimes its a few months. It saves me money, stress and I usually end up buying my friends and family something nicer if I pick it up when I see it rather then buying something just for the sake of buying something because I ran out of time.

• Wear good quality make up. The only drugstore make up I can get away with is mascara since mama blessed me with some crazy lashes (thanks ma!) I have tried so many different types of drug store make up and none of them hold up and look as nice as the brands i get at Sephora. Maybe you have different experiences with drug store make up and thats ok too! But I find that I save more money by spending a little bit more on good quality make up that lasts longer throughout the day rather then re-applying cheap make up all day long and going through more of it.

• When all else fails, wear sunscreen. Don't know what I'm talking about? Check out this blast from the past
 "Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth, but trust me on the sunscreen"

What is some advice you can give me?

How To Protect Your Products in a Handmade Market

Last week my Photoshop for bloggers partner Gina asked me to do a guest post over on her blog.

She has a series called Handmade 101 where she gives tips and tricks for how to run your handmade shop.

I was so stoked to be a part of it! Thank you Gina for letting me be included in this awe-some series!

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HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GOODS

I wish someone had told me how to protect my work better. Here was little me starting in such a HUGE handmade community, I didn't even think I would make a sale let alone have someone try to copy me.

You work HARD, no one should reap off your success. You should definitely keep that in mind when putting photos of your products online.

3 Ways on How To Protect Your Business

1. Watermark Watermark WATERMARK.
This was a big mistake of mine. I'm a graphic designer so I make all original artwork prints that I sell in my shop. I also make original artwork necklaces and plushes. Some of you might not be a graphic designer so you are thinking "why do I need to watermark my photos, they're not artwork that someone can steal and re-print and sell themselves"

And yes, this is true. But there are awesome sites out there now like pinterest and tumblr where people place images on there all the time with out any links on them. If your product is an original painting or a necklace it doesn't matter, you ALWAYS want people to know that that photo they see circulating on pinterest belongs to YOU.

You don't have to take away from your products shots by adding text to them. You can see what I did with my necklace photo below. I kept the font small yet big enough to be read comfortably and I also made it a light gray color so when it is being views as a thumbnail its not distracting.

If you can't fit all your links at least include your shop link and your blog. You blog most likely has a section in there where people can contact you through other social media outlets. Now if your product photos go circulating online with out a link back to your shop or blog people will still now how to find you and your product.

Also this will hopefully detour people from copying your work. People tend to try to steal other people's work if they can not find the original place from where it came from. It happened to me. The person who copied 3 of my prints point blank said to me "well, I saw it circulating on pinterest with out a source link so I figured I'd copy it"

[arrow necklace by yellow heart art]

2. Get 1/2 Payment Upfront For All Custom Orders
Regardless of what you sell online I am sure you have had at least ONE person contact you and asked you to change your product slightly to make it fit their needs OR ask you to come up with a new product completely for them.

For most custom requests I ask that my clients give me a 1/2 upfront. That 1/2 fee is non-refundable. I can't tell you how many blog posts I read from other graphic designers who created invitations for a bride and then the person never paid them. Or someone took the time to order new supplies to make 10 necklaces for a bridal party and then the bride flaked out. Offering a 1/2 non refundable deposit will help you work with people who are serious about your work and respect you as an artist. They will most likely not flake on you knowing they will be out half the money for your product if they do not pull through.

source

3. Help Others But Beware Of People Trying To Copy
I am ALL about helping my fellow handmade show owners out whenever I can. I constantly make blog posts full of my favorite Etsy finds and are constantly tweeting links of other handmade owner's new products. Thats what makes this handmade community a community.

But be careful of people who ask you too many questions in regards to how you make your products or where you get your materials. Some things I don't mind telling people. For example a lot of other graphic designers ask me what printer I use. I always give that information out because me telling them what printer I use has nothing to do with my product itself. Me using the same printer as another graphic designer does not mean they will automatically copy my designs.

Now I have also had people ask me what fonts I use, and unfortunately there I have to draw the line. My fonts are part of my branding, and even if you're not a graphic designer I'm sure you can understand that picking the RIGHT font is such a "AH-HA!" moment. It could take me HOURS to mix and match fonts together. So it kinda stings a little when a fellow graphic designer asks me for a font that I use when they too know themselves how long it can take till you are happy finding that right font.

If you make purses and someone is asking you where you got your purse pattern you might want to hold back that information to protect yourself. The last thing you need is someone trying to rip off your unique designs because they see that your stuff is successful and selling really well. But maybe you don't mind telling them where you purchase your thread or the type of sewing machine you use since that information is still helpful to them but allows you to protect YOUR designs.

(source)

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also in case you missed it we are having a HUGE sale over at fab.com right now! There are 11 designs from Yellow Heart Art at a discounted rate till August 22nd. But HURRY because there are only a limited number available of each design.

Thank you to everyone who has already purchased an item from fab, all your support gives me the warm and fuzzies <3