Its been a while since I last wrote. Truth is its been a case of working until two am most mornings to try to get things done for online sales and coming Christmas markets and daytime seem to have been fraught with lots of tantrums (Dominic's not mine). I finally have some cards in at Eden Flowers in Uppermill. It really is beautiful in there and they had Calla Lilies when I dropped the cards off, I nearly swapped the cards for the tub of those, I digress. Cards are done. I think my lesson learned is to not go so crazy on feeling like I had to put a range out that matched. I have four sets out at the moment, the smallest consisting of two cards and the largest of five. Really I should have stopped at five cards in total and saved some ideas for next year but once I got going I couldn't stop myself. Must try harder to listen to the little voice in my head and sleep more rather than going design crazy I think.
All that having said, I am really proud of what I have achieved. Exhausted, but proud. I'm already looking forward to Valentines and Mothers Day and next years seasons greetings (literally) and I'm looking forward to getting to work with brands who are just starting out and wanting styling from scratch or brands that are established but like what I do and want design that feels a bit more personal. What I really love is helping people to reach their full potential and create something really great that they can share (and look like pro's even if they've just started out as they do it) and I'm excited that doing the greetings cards seems to have opened a few doors in that area.
I feel like I want to stop for Christmas already but there's still so much to do! As it was thanksgiving last week I will say; I am thankful for the person in my life that makes all of this possible. Between parenting and keeping house after he gets home from work whilst I do my "job" I know he is pretty tired too but I hope that all of this will one day lead to us having more freedom in our lives to live where we want to, holiday more (and not necessarily exotic locations, just more time out of the house as a family) and have more adventures in general.
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Just read one of your comments at Design Sponge. You said you weren't getting feedback, so I was curious what you did and if it was good. I'd like to offer a couple of comments, if you'd like. I have been blogging for several years now and certainly don't have all the answers, but blog wise, I see some big things that might make a small difference.
1. Take better, bigger pictures of your work!
2. Don't double them up, side by side. This will allow for bigger, better pictures. Tis is your work and it should steal the show!
3. Don't be Debbie Downer. At least sound like you enjoy your work.
4. When you land a new client, slam their beautiful logo on your blog and make sure they see it.
Hopes this helps in some small way!,
Oh, and finally, get RID of the tool that makes people jump through hoops, just to leave a comment. I think it's called the word verification tool.
Barbara
Barbara, thanks for your comments. They certainly opened my eyes to how my comments may have been viewed by other people.
In response:
1) You are absolutely right. Photography is something that I really struggle with partially owing to the fact that there is so little natural light available to photograph in and also that I'm really not very good as I'm just starting out at it. I will get better or save up to send it out or get someone in.
2) I appreciate what you are saying but I love the old fashioned news print style of the 2 column format. As much as I love blogs and online media I'd still rather have a great big broadsheet in front of me any day, you can't beat wrestling with a great expanse of newspaper and having something that you can take in and I guess the format runs with that passion.
3) I love my work very much, a little too much at times. I am finding it very difficult to find a balance between becoming all that I want professionally and being the mama I always wanted to be and being there for my children every day. I find myself wanting to check emails while they are playing or spending weekends working because I'm time starved in my (professional) life from being a full time mama (I'm starting to get embarrassed at always being last to pick my boy up from nursery because I've gotten held up on the phone to a supplier or client too). The thought of not being the mama that my kids both want and need makes me really very unhappy and the late nights that I work after playing mama all day do tire me out and I guess that shows through in a way more negative light than it is ever meant to.
4) Absolutely. More often than not I am creating that logo though and creating/cracking on with a clients needs win over blogging.
I am trying to find a stride to balance work with life and marketing (blogging counted in that partially) and not having to work til 2am (to be up 5 hours later for the school run) and to live better. That is my challenge for this coming year and part of the "live better" ethos is accepting what I have and working with it and being happy about it and trying to work smarter to fit everything in (such as being able to blog on a regular and less sporadic basis and preferably not at the end of the day when I'm really just wanting to fall in to bed).
As for word verification, I don't honestly know what purpose it serves when it comes to blogging, to stop spam I guess, I'd be interested to hear a general concensus on whether it is really necessary and whether it bothers everyone.
Happy new year and thanks again for your comment.
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