Okay, it might not seem like so much to others, but to me 15 followers has been a goal to hit before the end of the year! Due to that I will be doing a give-a-way at the end of the year! So anyone that follows my blog by 12/31/09 will be entered to win any one item from my shop! So if you are a real good friend share my blog with them!
Thanks to all of you who are following! BTW..I listed 6 new items today! check them out. You may want to get your wish list ready!
Have a gleeful day!
Nikki
www.gleefulpeacock.etsy.com
Tabs
12/26/09
12/14/09
New items posted!
12/13/09
The last of the season...
So I have finished my last show of the season. It was a great note to end on. The best one so far! I thought I would share a few things I have learned on this new venture (for me anyway).
1) The first show is the hardest. Besides the fact that you have to make the displays and get the initial inventory up, it is difficult for the one fact that you have to be brave enough to try. It is intimidating to say the least. The good news is that it gets easier both time wise on preparation and also emotionally.
2) The reward is in the experience not just the monetary gain. Get out and meet the other vendors. You will meet the most amazing people and it could help you learn better ways to display, interact with customers and all in all just to get your social self out their mingling!
3) It is a social experiment to say the least. It takes time and error to discover what of your items sell, who your target market is and what shows do best for your items. Keep working at it. Ponder each show at the end of it and decide what you will do better at next time.
4) Keep good karma! Think positive thoughts about your work and about your customers. Good vibes makes it better for you and for everyone else. Art is form the soul. So get your soul in order!
5) Enjoy yourself. Trade with other artists, talk to people and realize that if you do not enjoy it, there is no way you will continue to wake up at 5:00 in the morning, drive 2 hours, lift very heavy items, unload and proceed to stand there for 7 hours trying to sell things you made. It is about sharing your gifts and a little of yourself. Only do it if you love it.
All in all I have learned so much and I have been so happy that I have tried this new venture. I have been some of the most amazing people. It was scary. I did not sleep the night before the first, second or third show. But it got easier. I got my head straight on why I am doing it and now I know that I love doing shows and that for me they keep me going. I get more compliments on my work in one day at a show then I would 6 months anywhere else.
Until next time... have a gleeful day!
Nikki
1) The first show is the hardest. Besides the fact that you have to make the displays and get the initial inventory up, it is difficult for the one fact that you have to be brave enough to try. It is intimidating to say the least. The good news is that it gets easier both time wise on preparation and also emotionally.
2) The reward is in the experience not just the monetary gain. Get out and meet the other vendors. You will meet the most amazing people and it could help you learn better ways to display, interact with customers and all in all just to get your social self out their mingling!
3) It is a social experiment to say the least. It takes time and error to discover what of your items sell, who your target market is and what shows do best for your items. Keep working at it. Ponder each show at the end of it and decide what you will do better at next time.
4) Keep good karma! Think positive thoughts about your work and about your customers. Good vibes makes it better for you and for everyone else. Art is form the soul. So get your soul in order!
5) Enjoy yourself. Trade with other artists, talk to people and realize that if you do not enjoy it, there is no way you will continue to wake up at 5:00 in the morning, drive 2 hours, lift very heavy items, unload and proceed to stand there for 7 hours trying to sell things you made. It is about sharing your gifts and a little of yourself. Only do it if you love it.
All in all I have learned so much and I have been so happy that I have tried this new venture. I have been some of the most amazing people. It was scary. I did not sleep the night before the first, second or third show. But it got easier. I got my head straight on why I am doing it and now I know that I love doing shows and that for me they keep me going. I get more compliments on my work in one day at a show then I would 6 months anywhere else.
Until next time... have a gleeful day!
Nikki
12/10/09
I could never pull that off!
I can not even count how many times I hear ‘I could never pull that off’ or ‘I could never wear that’. This is usually followed by a compliment that is about as sincere as telling the mom of the uni-browed child that she has an adorable little girl. The compliment is usually something along the lines of ‘that’s great you have the confidence to wear it’. Yeah right. Isn’t this just another way to tell someone that they can not believe that you actually dressed yourself that morning and that you actually dare leave the house in the horrendous thing?
In today’s world where we buy so much from mass produced huge retailers sometimes don’t you just want to revolt? To not wear that perfectly paired outfit? To not buy into that trend that ‘they’ are telling you is ‘in’? Wear colors that make YOU happy. That YOU think look good together? I paired a maroon sweater with lime green shoes today and I am feeling quite proud of my ensemble! Is there not a little Punky Bruster in each of us, just begging to get out? Don’t you feel your inner ‘go to hell’ rebel is begging to express her or himself and tell them all that you will wear what you want?
I have to admit, even with this rant, I have a part of me that loves it when someone says ‘I could never pull that off’. It means that I was successful today in coloring outside of the lines. I managed to muster up my confidence and wear something that I liked. That I won today. I won the war against my inner high school'er that worries abut what people will think.
Becoming ourselves is a journey. The days that I wear something that others could not ‘pull off’ is another day that I am more me and less ‘them’. That in the end is a great day!
May you be your own version of a gleeful peacock today!
In today’s world where we buy so much from mass produced huge retailers sometimes don’t you just want to revolt? To not wear that perfectly paired outfit? To not buy into that trend that ‘they’ are telling you is ‘in’? Wear colors that make YOU happy. That YOU think look good together? I paired a maroon sweater with lime green shoes today and I am feeling quite proud of my ensemble! Is there not a little Punky Bruster in each of us, just begging to get out? Don’t you feel your inner ‘go to hell’ rebel is begging to express her or himself and tell them all that you will wear what you want?
I have to admit, even with this rant, I have a part of me that loves it when someone says ‘I could never pull that off’. It means that I was successful today in coloring outside of the lines. I managed to muster up my confidence and wear something that I liked. That I won today. I won the war against my inner high school'er that worries abut what people will think.
Becoming ourselves is a journey. The days that I wear something that others could not ‘pull off’ is another day that I am more me and less ‘them’. That in the end is a great day!
May you be your own version of a gleeful peacock today!
Upcoming Show
This is a big one! I am so excited to say that I will be at Deluxe on Saturday the 12th. This is going to a super fun show. Live music, take and make crafts.. all the goods found at a indie art show! This is the last show of the season, so I have no excuses after this to update my shop with my hundreds of new items and to... yup and to Blog!
8/29/09
Today is the day I start to blog!
In a world where so many people share their thoughts for all to read.. what of my thoughts will be worth the read? Not sure.. but here they will be. I am starting out an adventure in my life. One that I knew always lied within me. Often time I tried to deny it did. But now that part, my inner artist has spoken up and refuses to be silenced. I feel as if I am on autopilot. This is just my journey and I must follow it.
Today I am creating this blog. If everyday I can go to sleep at night knowing that something came from these hands... and an idea escaped from my brain into reality, I will know it was a successful day. It is amazing to me how much can come from one brain. How much more amazing would the world be if we did not silence our creativity? How amazing could I be if I let these things flow? If rejection and fear did not rule our lives? This is my journey and my quest. I will see what can happen if I push fears, norms, and statistics aside.
I do not know where this will take me... but I know it is the path I am on. I will enjoy the scenery, experience as much as I can and work on ignoring my inner critic.
Here we go...
I am off to make something new today!
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