Tag Archives: art

Wedding Decorations!

Posted on by

Here is the introduction to Chocolate Dog Studios newest product. Poms on a ribbon for wedding and shower decorations. These are fun and classy all at the same time. I can make them in almost any length that you would like. The Poms can be as small as 2 inches in diameter to 4 inches in diameter. They can be made out of cotton, satin, tulle,and taffeta! They can match your bridesmaids dresses or ribbons on your bouquet. You can  hang them in the tent, garden, church, use them as table decorations, center pieces or hang them individually from the ceiling! I pack them in a sturdy box so that they do not get crushed and they are ready to go.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/71488170/white-fabric-poms

I hand cut each circle that goes into the pom and then sew them by hand and fluff them when they are done. They are then threaded onto ribbon, monofilament, string, or yarn.

I can customize these in any way you want, two colors, three colors, rainbow. Cotton fabrics, reclaimed bed linens, white muslin, satin, taffeta, tulle the list is endless. Just send me an e-mail to let me know what you would like.  Extra ribbon is available to match should you need it.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/71922344/fabric-poms-yellow-cotton-on-yellow

Custom orders do take extra time as I may need to order ribbon or fabric. So please plan accordingly.

Can you tell that I am excited about my newest creation? I sure am. What a lovely way to decorate for a wedding, fuss free.

Still Organizing!

Posted on by

Well, the organizing has deteriorated into cutting and creating… it always does. I did, however accomplish three things.

1. I found fabric I didn’t know I had

2. I cut a bunch up ready to go for some projects.

3. I jump started the creative process.

So I am a bit rejuvenated and ready to get back to work. I have had some awesome buyer requests for custom work and suggestions for new product items. The weather here is dark and gloomy and rather dreary so I am sure that I will get to work in the studio today. I just bought a new tool for my gift tag creating and I can’t wait to share the ins and outs of using it. I do need to work with it a bit more first.

I am excited about the new products so I will create the few custom orders and then get to work on the new products. They are eco-friendly and green and also useful. So that fits in with my shop’s vision statement or theme!  It also fits in with my desire to reduce the fabric storage foot print in the studio!

Next week Becklee cottage will be with us again as a guest blogger.

I can’t wait to find out what she will share with us.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

Taking your knitting a bit too seriously!

Posted on by

I think this takes knitting a bit too far, but it is still so cool. I just had to post about it. May it make you smile too!

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2011/03/knit_ferrari.html

 

 

 

There is also this for those folks with too much yarn and time on their hands!

 

Monday fun day post! May this make your week brighter somehow. I know that my relations have wondered when I would go off the deep end and do this myself.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Recycled Art

Posted on by

Something new to think about: recycling and art. It seems that those two words should probably not go in the same sentence.  I found these online and I am now intrigued. Many of the tags at Chocolatedogstudio are recycled but there is so much more we can do with left over packaging. So here is a little food for thought!

 

http://www.recyclart.org/2011/03/leftover-house-paint-art/

 

 

 

http://rubyreusable.com/artblog/?p=991

http://inhabitat.com/new-submission-21/

http://www.infobarrel.com/Top_10_Most_Amazing_and_Creative_Recycled_Art_Displays

 

What are you going to do to reduce the trash in the world? Let me know your crazy and neat ideas, send me a link and I will post them here!

 

Til later, Karen

Super quick Valentine Party!

Posted on by

I decided about 2 pm on Valentine’s day that our family needed a special dinner. Specifically, that the man that bought the roses needed a pampering dinner. He doesn’t make much of a fuss about not getting special treatment, but he has been working extremely hard and needed some appreciation. So youngest dear daughter baked her first cake (chocolate wacky cake), and I frosted it.

Here is the Wacky Cake recipe:

3 cups of flour (being sure to level off the top of the cup measure after each scoop)

6 Tablespoons of cocoa

2 cups of sugar

2 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of salt

Put all of these in the sifter and sifted them into a bowl. Then she stirred in the last four ingredients

2 cups of cold water

3/4 cups of salad oil (we used canola)

2 Tablespoons of vinegar

2 Teaspoons of vanilla

Stir it all together and pour it into your cake pans. We baked this at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool it and then frost as you choose.

The kids helped set the table, and iron a real red and white checked tablecloth. I do have a thing for table cloths besides they absorb spilled milk before it reaches the floor. :0) I started using tablecloths when the kids were much younger and the table over a carpet.

I took a  minute before the cake mixing started and made this garland. Yes, I was also on the phone and I am sure that my friend thought I was insane.

Here is the picture of the garland.

It took me about ten minutes, left over pink ribbon and scrapbook paper I will never, ever use for anything!  I cut out the hearts free hand with about four sheets of paper stacked together at the same time.  Using the straight stitch on my sewing machine I just sewed them onto the left over  cream seam binding and then the left over pink ribbon. Done! A heart garland to hang where my wooden words normally hang.

Our daughter wrote super quick place cards and put them on the plates. The guys set the table and carried in the super easy tamales(from the freezer section and steamed in the rice steamer). That along with the beans, rice, chips and salad made for a great meal. Everyone was happy and dinner was special. Did anyone notice the super quick garland? Nope!  Does it bother me, no! I called attention to it and everyone was happy. Blue moody feelings banished and everyone was pleased! Was the house spotless? Nope! Memories made and everyone happy! If we wait until everything is perfect then we will never create memories with our children or I am completely stressed and they are too.

What did you do special for Valentine’s day?

talk to you later,

Karen

Book Review: Start Your Own Arts and Crafts Business by Entrepreneur Press and J.S. McDougall

Posted on by

As one of my New Year’s promises to myself, I promised that I would read at least three books about improving my business. So this is the first of several and I am going to reduce this to a bullet list of things we can do to improve our business. There is so much in this book that it would be like re-writing it to  try to condense it down to a review.

The  Top 10 list of things to do from this book to improve my business without straining my brain!

  1. Market: Identify your Market (where are you selling, online, craft shows, retail, consignment?) Think about it!
  2. Mission Statement: What is your mission statement?  Make it one sentence, Why do you as a business exist? What makes you get out of bed in the morning to create what you create?
  3. Naming: Check your name out on the web and make sure that there isn’t someone else with your shop name! Also check on any online venues you are planning to use.
  4. Legal stuff: Get good business counsel about setting up your business as far as taxes and legal requirements for your state and city.
  5. Pricing: Do some price comparisons at craft shows, online and from other venues to check out your prices.
  6. Record Keeping: Keep good records of labor costs, materials, Overhead, and of course that wonderful and sometimes elusive thing called profit. Most craft businesses start out of love for a hobby or activity (scrapbooking) so we don’t keep good records until we notice that we don’t seem to have any money in the banking account! If you are going to start a business, it might be a good idea to start with your stock on hand and to  do an inventory and then estimate the fair market value if you had to go out and buy a stock of your supplies.
  7. Shipping: If you do this get a postal scale for about $20. It will save your profits and keep you sensible about shipping costs. Handling is a big part of shipping for an internet business. Shipping supplies cost money, pretty packaging even more. Make sure that your packaging communicates the image you want.
  8. Marketing: How are you going to market your business? Facebook, twitter, Blogging, Stumble and Kaboodle offer inexpensive ways to market your business. Check into any marketing that your online sales venue might have. Budget for marketing your items. At a minimum you will need business cards.
  9. Money: Sort out your banking practices before it becomes a drain on your business or marriage!
  10. Communication: Communication is key. If you have made an error, admit it as quickly as possible and do what is necessary to solve it quickly. There are people out there that take advantage of new shops so pay attention. If you tell someone you are going to deliver a product by a certain time, then do your best to do so or communicate why you can’t.

There is my top ten list of good starting craft business practices. I am working on my mission statement. I think I have it figured out. What is your mission statement? Let me know, I would love to hear it.

See you later,

Karen

P.S. I would add one thing more: Photography: Learn to take good clear photographs of your items for online selling. If you can’t, then find and pay some teenager or college student to do them for you.

Should you start an online craft business?

Posted on by

1. Make sure that you are making something people want to buy! Who is your customer and what do they do for a living? Where do they shop and what do they like to own? Do your friends look at _______ and say  ”I want one, where did you get it?” If so then you have a potential business right there! 2. Price your product This is the hardest for me. You can’t price it so low that you do not make a profit nor so high that no one buys your products. Make sure that you include the cost of the materials or replacement cost if you are starting with what you have add to that your time and the markup for profit. I was told to price my product at what I would pay for it. Well, I am a crafty sort of person and would not pay what I ask simply because I can and do make it myself if I really need or want it. Check with your friends or relations and see what they would pay for it. You might need to adjust your prices up or down if your item is not selling. There is a point at which people think this is a quality item I will buy it vs this is over priced! It is a hard point to find. 3. Where are you going to sell your product? Are you going to sell online or at craft shows.  There are several online arts and crafts sales venues like Etsy, Artfire Bonanzle, Silkfair, Zibbets, or many other online venues. I will concentrate on online sales as that is the most I know about. You will need to spend time updating your online shop and keeping it looking current.  Join their online community and spend time hanging out with successful on line  sellers in your chosen venue. They will help you get your shop off the ground and critique you if you ask, to a point. The main work is yours and your need to set it up and work it diligently. I spent about a year wondering why I wasn’t selling anything before I figured out more what I needed to be doing. 4. It helps your marketing to have a Facebook, myspace page, blog, or twitter account. This helps you keep your name out there in front of people. This is important as it gives your shop a space to promote, add sales, and give friends a break on your prices. Google ad words is another option though when I tried it the results were dismal. This is truly a case of you get what you pay for. You can be featured on other peoples blogs and then advertise on their sites. This is a better solution as you will put your shop name out in front of people already somewhat interested in your products. Blogs are great but need weekly if not daily updates so that you keep your readership. Project wonderful is another place you might advertise. 4. What is your product? What are you selling and are you good at creating your product? Is it something that you will want to create for a long time, 6 months, a year… or less. 5. Space considerations: Where are you going to store your product when it is made prior to purchase? Where are you going to store your supplies? I worked out of plastic tubs until I ran out of room. Are you able to keep it clean? 6. Packaging This is an important part of an online business. How are you going to package your items for store branding? I mean do you just send it or do you make your package a joy to open. Do people look forward to opening a package from your shop? Your packaging makes a difference in your virtual presence. Since people can not meet you face to face, packaging is sometimes the first contact people have of you and your product. How does this packaging make them feel. Are you an eco -conscious store with recycled packaging? Are you sending breakables? How quickly can you  pack and ship an item. Are you willing to run to the post office everyday? How much will your packaging cost you and ultimately the buyer? 5. Do you need a license to operate your business out of your home? What are your neighborhood ordinances on this? What does your homeowners association say, your city laws? Know before you start your business. 6. Money Are you bootstrapping your business? Are you going to rely on sales to bring your business onto its feet? If so you will probably need a second income.  Make a business budget… this is one area that I struggle with. I will be the first to admit. I know how much is going out as I can track it online through paypal or amazon payments. I don’t really track how much my supplies are costing me. This is an area that I am working on this year. Truthfully the downside of running a craft business is not the crafting but the money part business aspects of it. 6. Photographs Easily the biggest part of an on line business are the photographs of your items. This is the only way that potential buyers can see exactly what you are selling. Accurate color representation, finding willing models, taking good focussed photos with excellent lighting is the hardest part of online selling for me. This is another whole topic that other folks have discussed in detail. Wow, that is a bunch to think about! I know that there is more but I will get to it later. Thanks for reading! What part of online selling do you excell at and then what do you struggle with? ’til later, Karen

Organizing part 2

Posted on by

How do you organize your home work place or studio area? What do you use?

I have latched onto what I already own; mason jar or canning jars, inexpensive cardboard boxes, and  plastic storage pieces. I found some new cardboard boxes at office depot last night. I am sure that they will work well for storing the small squares of paper that seem to over populate my desk right now. The mason jars I use for all the up-cycled and recycled hand punched paper elements that I use for my tags and cards. You can see one in use below for paper snowflakes. I now have an entire case full of  mason jars. They work really well as I can see what I am using and what I have on hand. I also use them for pencil cups.

I am also using old child sized divided dinner trays to hold the gems, and more paper elements that I use all the time. Here you can see some of the jars and the carry out trays.  The black trays are black plastic produce trays washed and repurposed .

The flowers in the lower left hand corner were created byhttp://www.etsy.com/shop/DragonflyExpression. She makes wonderful dimensional paper flowers. These paper board boxes I use to keep my Christmas gift tags and covered clothes pins in. Well, these are a few of the tools I use to cut down on clutter. There are some things that I need, a recycling bin for paper that goes to the recycling center, and another trash can in the sewing area. I also need to clean up my packing center and photographing table and the area around it. That will be on the list for today!

Thanks for reading,

Karen

Send me your links to your studio, craft area or kitchen! I am always interested in how people arrange the things in their lives.

Happy New Year: Resolutions, do you make them?

Posted on by

Year after year, since I was an early teenager I have made and broken more resolutions. They started simple and impossible at the same time. Resolutions  like be nicer to my brother, not to drink so many cokes, get more exercise, etc… They progressed to keep my house cleaner, loose the extra pounds, be more careful with my money, and the list is endless. I am sure that you have done this as well.

Here are my New Year’s promises to myself and my loved ones that I hope are measurable and able to graph or chart. Of course the deeply personal ones I am not going to list on the internet for everyone to read! :0) But I will share the others with you.

1.  To read the three non-fiction books about internet marketing that my DH. has bought and are sitting around the house. Yes, they are technical books about twitter, blogging, and marketing but there has to be some good in there that I will share with you! I hate reading non-fiction so this will be the medicine in the whole picture. I would rather eat parsnips (which I personally loath) than read a technical book. He is an engineer so I am sure you get the picture of the kind of book he would buy.

2. To blog on a more consistent basis, Maybe nothing more than a few pictures of what I am currently working on but fun things to share at least three times a week.

3. To continue the Eat to live variation of dietary changes we are pursuing to fight the fibromyalgia and arthritis that I currently live with.  The side benefit of loosing weight is always a good thing, which means shopping and new clothes! How can I not smile at that :0).

4. To increase my product line to include different kinds of items that still carry the Chocolate Dog Studio look!

5. To continue to promote my home state of Oklahoma and to show off our creative people and products.

6. To do better record keeping for my business!

7.  To do a craft show and maybe three or four.

Ok that is the business promises.

Since like you I wear several hats here are my personal and family goals.

1. to do a better job at recycling at our house

2. to have family nights once a week for those that can be here! Our teens are working and their schedules and social lives interfere with this on a regular basis.

3. to help them to keep their schoolwork organized much better (yes, we home school!)

4. to think of myself as an artist and to get over my self consciousness of using that label. Yes, I create artsy things and art encompasses a large variety of  items. Surely there is room for me and the things I create in the art world.

5. to garden more and spend more time outside

6. to make things beautiful, again. I guess that this would mean cutting down on clutter, cleaning, sorting, organizing, rearranging and sharing things with others. Things have fallen into disrepair the last two or three years before diagnosis.

7. to find a way to share my gifts with others in a way that is tangible to me. Hmmm, what does this mean?  I believe that God created us and knows our gifts so He must have a way for me to share my gifts with those around me. As these giftings evolve and change according to the seasons of our lives, I think what we share with others also changes and evolves.

8. to find ways to tangibly show love and appreciation for those that my life touches. Another way to put that would be to appreciate those around me and show that appreciation in ways that they will find special, meaningful and encouraging.

9.  To do a better job at planning for everyday living. Quite simply this means to do what it takes to keep the house organized, laundry done, people and pets fed and me reasonably rested and cheerful. This is a juggling act as I am still learning to live with some limitations. It will mean saying no and yes, keeping scheduled with our activities and preparing for the future weeks when I feel good. Things like bulk cooking or once a month cooking, shopping lists prepared with menus in mind, short cut cooking, keeping the kids working on their chores to cut down on the daily chaos that living with three dogs, four kids and four different work schedules (possibly five) and four different drivers can do to a family. Wow, that makes me tired just thinking about it.

10. to keep the family calendar updated and running in full view of everyone.

AH HA, I made it to ten, so I can stop now because you and I know the list is endless.

Now off to accomplish something so that the New Year actually comes in with a good hot meal and reasonable clean clothing! lol

What are you resolutions or promises to yourself and your family? Care to share them with me.

’til later,

Karen

The Studio at Chocolate Dog Studio!

Posted on by

I know that you are wondering what the studio look like. Well, I recently  moved the studio into it’s own room and here it is; a few camera shots of the true studio (well, minus all the projects that normally sit out on the counters!)

 

The yarn bin was made out of old coffee cans. It works quite well. The dolls were given to me when I was little by my Dad. Underneath this is my cutting and packaging center.

  The blue trays work well as organizers for all of the tiny pieces I put on gift tags and cards.

 The sewing center is full of fabric organized by color. These are the cozy fabrics. The larger pieces are in a big 50 gallon plastic bin.  My studio doubles as our guest room so you don’t see the futon on the opposite wall, nor do you see the computer station on DH’s computer desk. These photos were taken by OldHound.etsy.com. He is our oldest son, he also painted the large painting of the cat you see in one of the photos.

Thanks for reading!

’till later, Karen