Kelly's Embroidered Navy Wedding Guestbook

Hi blog...long time not talk. This year has flown by, which unfortunately included any free time to sit and post an update over here. I just finished up a local Holiday market yesterday and now I'm gearing up for Renegade in LA this next weekend! The home stretch! 

I've been making a lot of new things, including temporary tattoos, lots of calendars and quite a few traveling sketchbooks. In the midst of stocking the shop, I've also had some really amazing commissions pass through the bubble. There's one that I CAN'T WAIT to share! 

And there's this gorgeous book I made for one of my favorite people that got married in October! I just got my hands on some of the photos, which were taken by another favorite, Rebecca Rivera. How gorgeous are these photos?!

I'm seriously in love with this guestbook. 

On the cover, we did an all over navy watercolor wash. For their names, I painted them in silver ink and outlined them in mint embroidery. Inside we went with a watercolor floral frame on each page so guests had their own space to write inside. I posted a video on Instagram after I finished it up where you can see all the pages inside. Hooray for clip on phone tripods!

Okay, time to get to that lengthy to do list. If you're in the Los Angeles area, I'd love to see you next weekend at Grand Park! I'll be in booth 43 with all the Sketchy goodies (and even some Cursive Cursing...)

Still having craftbacks to this wedding guestbook I made a few weeks ago. I hand painted and embroidered the cover first. Then every page inside had a printed watercolor frame of the brides flowers. One big beautiful beast! If you have a friend, besties, fiance, sister, cousin or mom looking for a custom one-of-a-kind guestbook for their special day, send them my way! I have a few openings left for late fall and winter guestbooks and photo albums.#soloverly

A video posted by 👻SKETCHYNOTIONS by Chelsea (@sketchynotions) on Oct 13, 2016 at 11:54am PDT

Katherine & Eric's Chicago Firehouse Guestbook

Hello again blog! The other downside to a lack of blogging and no access to my computer this summer is that I'm terribly behind on sharing my recent projects! Albeit, a few of my most recent project couldn't be shared until after my departure day. There were a couple that I finished right before I left that I absolutely love the results of! 

This wedding guestbook was such a fun challenge. Katherine contacted me about making a custom guestbook featuring the refurbished firehouse in Chicago that they'd be getting married at! It's such a gorgeous building, I couldn't resist.

I love painting buildings, particularly older buildings covered in brick. We decided to do a purple skyline of Chicago across the inside spread as well to go with their wedding colors. I really loved how this building turned out. I always love to get a project where I can just channel all my focus into the cover and a few small personal details.

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...

Sketchy Spring Line!

Eek! It's been a while since I last posted to the blog. Lots has been happening and being made in the bubble these days. I have two custom children's books I need to finish up, a wedding guest book, some more wedding goodies and another children's book to write! Double eek! (There was also a shop update in the Notional Notions Etsy shop on April 1st if you missed it!)

On top of all that, I've been working to get new prints ready for the Sketchy Notions shop. And they're finally all done, photographed, and listed! There are 9 new print designs and 4 notebook designs! I also made it an option to order any print as a postcard too. You can mix and match any of the postcards as well. 

To celebrate the new product launch, there's a couple special coupons. You can get three notebooks for $10 with the code: NOTEBOOKLOVE

And for this week only, you can also get 20% off your whole order with the code: SPRINGLOVE20 Might be a perfect time to get a jump start on Mother's Day shopping! 

Take a peek at some of the new prints and such below and head on over to the shop to see more. There's also another project slowly brewing...a little more PG-13 than most of my work. I'm ridiculously excited to get it finished and launched! It will probably take me a month or so but it is going to be so much fun when I'm done! Keep an eye on Instagram for updates with that.  

 

weekend of shopping mayhem

Happy belated Thanksgiving! I hope you are warm and cozy and still under the influence of a delicious turkey induced coma! If you haven't seen on Instagram, I'm currently over in Utah with family. More or less off the grid too. There's no cell service back in the canyon and wifi only works around the house. So when we go off on 4-wheeler rides up the little winding trails, we are completely disconnected. And it's lovely!

I'm taking a quick break from the incredible technology silence to share a couple quick reminders! As I'm sure you know, today is the dreaded Black Friday. I have mixed feelings about this shopping day but there are some great deals out there to snatch up. 

Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday! This day is one of my favorite excuses to shop! Shopping combined with supported small businesses, hard to say no! Then Monday is Cyber Monday for all those last minute deals you may have missed (or opted to miss in order to stay home in pajamas!). 

I have some sales happening in the Notional Notions Etsy shop and the Sketchy Notions shop as well! If you're on the mailing list, you already got a head start on the sales but now everyone can get in on it! Until midnight on Monday, you can use the coupon THANKFUL20 for 20% off in BOTH shops! (This excludes custom work in the Etsy shop, sorry!)

Also! If you order over $40 worth of goodies in either shop, I'll throw in a set of Holiday cards for free! Hooray! There's also some other coupons in the Sketchy Notions shop. PRINTLOVE gets you any TWO large prints for $32! PEARLYLOVE will get you THREE pairs of Pearl Snap Earrings for $30, a nice way to knock out some of those stocking stuffers. My special listing for a pair of earrings, a card and a hand-printed pouch is still one of my favorites too! 

Happy early Holiday shopping guys! I hope you are able to find some gifts (maybe even for yourself!)

Have you found any killer deals? Any Etsy shops having amazing sales out there? 

Valentine's Collection

That sappy, lovey-dovey holiday that you either love or can't stand is just around the corner! This year I'm pretty indifferent towards it, which could possibly be because I had V-Day designs floating around the art bubble around Christmas. Trying to stay on top of seasons has the odd effect of just kinda being "over" the holiday when it actually rolls around... But either way, it's a good excuse to just treat yourself or that person to a special day. Speaking of spoiling yourself, there's a killer Mod Cloth giveaway on Kitty & Buck this week ($75 to spoil yourself!). I'm also plotting a giveaway for my birthday week (the 26th) so stay tuned for that! 

If you haven't seen them yet, I have some cute new Valentine's Day cards in the Sketchy shop! And I've been playing around with embroidery with my artist books for the Notional Notions Etsy shop. They would make a pretty adorable Valentine's Day gift...

The full set of Valentine's Day Cards! 

Cross-stitched Heart Artist Book

My favorite little Heart Doodle Card

Hello! Another cute embroidered Artist Book

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! 

farewell 2013, hello 2014

I mailed off my last giant commission on Friday so I'm officially on a mini and much needed Christmas break! In this downtime to clean and reorganize, it really hit me: the year is almost over! So much happened this year, and so much was made! That's the part I'm most excited about... If you follow along on Twitter, you already know I did the math a couple nights ago. My sales increased 324% this year! Insane! I started participating in small artist markets this year. This year I also officially filed my business name and for copyright of Sketchy Notions. I also opened up my second online shop, Sketchy Notions. 

This year I had 13 big commissions! Including 1 custom brand logo, 6 custom photo albums (three of those are the New York Triplets I'll be sharing soon), 2 custom children's books, and 6 weddings albums. I can't wait to share that last wedding album, I'm really blown away by how sweet and considerate this client was. January will be full of sharing of all these secret projects! 

Although not much progress was made on my 25 before 26 list, looking back at all the progress I made on my business is a very nice consolation. I'm already making lists for changes to make to the shops in January, as well as Valentine's Day designs and dreaded tax season in April. There's a lot of really great advice floating around the blogosphere for starting up and running a small business. Reading it all was a nice jump start to get motivated to make my lists for January and start preparing for what I want to accomplish next year. Here are some of my favorites: 

• Silly Grrl - Small Business Planning for a brilliant 2014
• Design Sponge - 5 Steps to gaining confidence in your business
• Paper n Stitch - A quick guide to setting and meeting your goals in 2014
• Design Sponge - How to tap into your core message to grow your business
• The Nectar Collective - Dream Chasing

Here's a peek at some of my latest secret commissions and a look back at some of my favorite projects from this year! 

1. Adventures with Grandma and Grandpa, custom photo album 

2. Curren Christopher's custom photo album. 

3. Jaime's Custom Wedding Keepsake Album

Here's a peek at all the new projects I can't wait to share...

4. Paige & Lola, custom children's book

5. The New York Triplet albums

6. The very special and insanely sweet "wedding" album

bits & pieces and Monday goodness

Is anyone else kinda freaking out that it's already December? Christmas will be here in no time, then the New Year, then my birthday and Etsy shop anniversary! It will be my golden birthday (turning 26 on the 26th) so expect some sweet sales and giveaways! And then Valentine's Day...if making Christmas stuff on Halloween felt strange, I'm sure making heartsy stuff on New Years will feel just as weird!

Speaking of sales, it's Cyber Monday! Today only, I upped the ante on the discounts! If you use the code MONDAY20 you can get 20% off in both the Sketchy Notions and Notional Notions Etsy shops! There's no minimum order today but the coupon won't work on custom orders. So stock up on some hand-printed wrapping paper, Pearl Snap earrings, travel postcards and Holiday card specials! 

Here's a peek at what's been happening this past month according to Instagram...

1. Last month I had my first Holiday market in Santa Barbara at Monte Vista! It was really fun decorating and trying out some new booth arrangements. It went surprisingly well too! I had an awesome booth slave helper who kept me going and on top of everything all day! I really have some awesome friends. 

2. I don't think I've shared a photo of these babies on here yet but I started making some little Holiday gift tags. Aren't they cute? I think they look great with my hand-printed wrapping paper but I might be a bit biased...

3. I've been getting ready for my next market, a Holiday Open House at Koehler Winery. It's such a pretty spot here in the valley! I've been cranking out vineyard watercolors like a fiend but it's no easy task.

4. Not sure why it took me so long to carve up a stamp just for me! But I finally did! It looks pretty snazzy stamped across packages.

5. My family and I had an early Thanksgiving down in San Diego with my sister. I haven't spent much time down in San Diego before but I'd like to!

6. Remember these little books? They both found new homes! I love when my little books find new homes, it always feels like I'm sending my baby off to college or something...

7. I even made some little pouches to keep them safe! Make me want to sew up some printed scarves...

8. I'm still in love with these Thank You cards. I wish I could send one to all of you sweet readers and clients and followers. You make the hard days and long to-do lists so much easier! 

cyber friday business weekend extravaganza!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you are all enjoying the day and feasting upon mountains of stuffing and mashed potatoes! I have a little surprise for you all, so snap out of that turkey coma...

I'm sure you're already aware of the craziness that starts tomorrow...Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. All of which adds up to the potential for a lot of insanity out in the shopping world, but also the chance of some sweet deals! Including in my own shops! 

Starting at 12:00 am on Friday November 29th until 11:59 pm Monday December 2nd, if you use the code WEEKEND15 you can get 15% your order in the Sketchy Notions shop and the Notional Notions Etsy shop! Huzzah! You have to purchase at least $20 worth of goodies, and I'm sorry but it doesn't apply to custom orders. But you can still snag some sweet goods, including the newest items in my shops...

1. World Traveler Postcard Set

2. Marigolds Blank Card Set

3. Blushing Denim II Mini Artist Book

4. Dark Posey OOAK Notebook

bits & pieces

14 hours...that's how many hours I worked on one day this week. Since the time change, my sleep has been thrown completely out of whack and I woke up at 5:40 am the other day. Which luckily turned into 14 hours of productivity! Most days this week I have been down in the art bubble around 7:30 am until 10 pm, and that still doesn't seem like enough time. 

I have my first holiday market in 9 days, then another shortly after. So much inventory to make and still find time to stay on top of commissions. As a result, the blogging and interneting has been at a minimum. My bloglovin' feed is now at 412 unread posts, ha! I feel the need for a nap every day around 4 and have to resist. All of this somehow feels so damn good. It's really nice when I have a full day in the bubble and have my list of to-do's crossed off at the end of the day. It doesn't happen every day but when it does, oh it feels good!

In preparation for the holidays, I finally purchased some ad spots for the Sketchy Notions shop! I currently have an ad up on Maddie's lovely blog, and my ad will soon be live on Chantilly's blog! Pop over and show those awesome ladies some love! I also bit the bullet and got a twitter account last week. Can't say I have tweeted anything of mention yet but you can follow along if you'd like @sketchy_notions! Here's a peek at what's been happening these days via Instagram...

1. I just started an after school workshop where we made watercolors from scratch! I'll share more on that once the kids and I test our watercolors next week...

2. Another perk of waking up before dawn, catching the gorgeous fall sunrises. Is it just me or does fall have the best sunsets/rises?

3. This was a rough day. This was the last print printed on the old printer. The new one is a little temperamental but has lovely results.  

4. Last month we went to the 20th Anniversary of the Nightmare Before Christmas at the El Capitan in Hollywood. SO fun! Ken Page, the voice of Oogie Boogie, came out and sang his song.

5. October had some crazy spooky foggy mornings...

6. I had a long day working and teaching then came home and carved up a creepy pumpkin. Seems fitting. 

Holiday Collection 2013 launch!

I'm sure some of you are still battling the Halloween candy coma so it might feel a little odd to see red and green so soon. But today is the launch day of my 2013 Holiday Collection line! 

This past week has been an absolute frenzy of activity, between scrapping my original production plan, finalizing designs, battling with my current printer then caving in and investing in a brand new beauty of a printer...on Tuesday afternoon! Yeah, busy week... 

But the late nights and full days have been completely worth it! Like I mentioned the other day, the sketchy notions domain would be turning into a brand new shop! The domain change is still a bit funky and works sporadically but you can still view my new holiday cards and watercolor postcards in my new Sketchy Notions shop!  Hopefully the tech side works itself out soon but it's all there and accessible! Here's a peek at some of the goodies I have been working on...

Watercolored Greeting Postcards! You can snag them individually or as a full set of four. 

Merry Christmas and Holiday Mandala cards! You can also get a special set of them...

My favorite hand-printed card, the Merry Christmas design.

And my favorite addition for the holidays, Hand-Printed Wrapping Paper!