the Sketchy Notions rebrand

I've been working late hours and posting teasers galore and last Thursday I finally revealed all the big changes! It may not seem like it, but there are quite a few changes and improvements to my little Sketchy Notions world...

First off, new photos and look! I enlisted my besties, "the Kellys," to help me take new head shots. I had the idea for my personal website to have collages of brushes, paint, tools, treasures and assorted things from the bubble (similar to what I've been doing in some photos for my Weekly Postcard Project this year). 

Taking photos for my website menu photos was simple, but getting a giant overhead shot of me surrounded by a life-size I Spy photo was going to require more than a stupid selfie stick... 

So, this is pretty much what the photo shoot looked like. Kelly 1 on a chair standing over me. Me on the floor laying on giant pieces of watercolor paper in front of a bright window. Me holding another piece of watercolor paper to reflect light. Kelly 2 helping arrange and set up all the goodies. Then after a little editing with Gimp,  voila! Clean white backgrounds and new photos galore! 

My personal website got a huge overhaul. New menu photos, new bio, new links...the works! I'm a bit in love with the new menu photos. It's all just a lot cleaner and easier to navigate.

The new changes also carried over to the Sketchy Notions Etsy shop with a new name, new headers and new products. There are new sketchbooks and my new babies, Embroidered Wedding Guestbooks! I've been wanting to make some of these for a while and they're finally here! There's new designs in the works too and I'll open up a listing for custom covers too. 

One of the biggest changes is to the Etsy shop. I'm now listing a select selection of cards and prints in the Etsy shop as well as the Sketchy Notions shop. It was time. I've been having more and more people going to my Etsy shop searching for my postcards and prints so it only made sense to finally offer them in both shops. 

The Sketchy Notions shop also looks a bit brighter and cleaner as well! All new products and prints, including all three of those designs up above! The little girl throwing leaves is by far my favorite! 

I'm working on Christmas cards and new products too so those will be coming soon. If you're not already signed up, you might want to pop over and get on my mailing list. That's the best way to stay up to date with new product launches and upcoming Holiday deadlines! Christmas is coming, whether I want it to or not...oofah...

new year, new rules

Last sunrise of 2013!

So New Years Eve came and went without much of a fuss at our house. To be honest, I was in the middle of taking a break from working to watch some Big Lebowski and work on a puzzle and didn't even realize we had passed into 2014 until 12:08 am! A calm beginning to a year that is going to be anything but calm...

There are a lot of changes coming to Sketchy Notions this year! I launched the first one on New Years Day: price changes! My Etsy shop is slowly but surely gaining traction and helping support my little Sketchy empire. It has been years since I changed my prices so the time has come. The changes aren't that large, a couple dollars here and there, but just enough. I think the quality of my work has improved greatly since I first started offering custom albums, books and watercolors and I want my prices to reflect the confidence that I have in my ability to create a unique and valuable product. I'm also rearranging products, shifting cards and such to the Sketchy Notions shop to leave Notional Notions just for custom goodies and artist books. 

Another biggie and quite awesome thing happened yesterday too! Back in September I applied for copyright of Sketchy Notions. I got a phone call from the Office of Patents and Trademarks yesterday to finalize a couple details, meaning in a matter of days or weeks Sketchy Notions will officially be trademarked! This doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things but it makes this little business of mine just a little more mine, legally speaking at least. Plus having the legal protection of that little © will give me a little more peace of mind spreading my work across the interwebs. 

The newest addition to my Etsy shop: custom watercolored cards! Perfect for weddings...

Other notable news to share, I won't be going to Japan this year after all. But I will be going back to Italy! It has been over a year since I was last among the cobblestone streets and Tuscan sun and I'm itching to hop on the plane! No dates yet but this also means another sketchbook like Terzo is in the works. What do you think of the name Quarto? Quarto Quadro? Q²? 

The last bit of news to share is that I won't be doing another list like 25 before 26 this year. With Sketchy gaining speed, I lost focus on my original list. I still accomplished a lot on that list and a significant number of things not even on the list! So this year I'm switching it up. I'm currently working on a new list: 12 goals for Sketchy, 12 goals for Chelsea. Still a daunting number of goals (24!) but by separating my business goals from my personal ones,  I think I will be more successful at accomplishing all 24. I'll share all of those soon once I can figure them all out! 

IF: faded + NEWS!

A quickie for Illustration Friday's theme this week: faded. Instantly reminded me of my faded and destroyed favorite pair of jeans. I swear I'm going to wear them to shreds. 

And big happy news! My Pearl Snap Earrings are now in an actual store! HOORAY!! They're now at the cute new store in Los Olivos, California: the General Store. I'll snap a picture of it sometime this week. 

Anyways, here's the quickly illo of my favorite faded blue jeans! (I keep struggling with our scanner...it kills the blues then saturates everything else and I can't seem to find a digital way to remedy this....che palle...)