ATC

As you may know I have been designing the free printables that come with the weekly bundles at The Graphics Fairy Membership site, since last summer. It is always such a pleasure (and an honour!) to be able to work with those images and designing printables is something I LOVE to do. Sometimes it is challenging to try and come up with something unique (although Karen and Emily are helping me come up with new ideas ), but it is good to be challenged and some of the things I’ve designed, would never have come to life if I hadn’t been invited by Karen and Emily to do this.

I am offering some of these printables in a slightly altered version in my Etsy shop too. And here’s an overview of what I’ve added over the past few weeks:

Wouldn’t you wish these printable postage stamps were real? Included in this pack is a gorgeous set of postage stamps with vintage harvest fruits and vegetables, dictionary and paint textures. Use them in your digital projects, or in any other (paper)craft project. Or print them and use them to decorate an envelope with a gift for a nature lover! Each stamp comes in a large version and in a small version, and I’ve added sheets for easy printing.

Included in this pack is a gorgeous set of 6 artist trading cards (ATC) with vintage botanical fruit prints. Use them in your digital projects, or in any other (paper)craft project. Or print them (best on heavy paper) and use them as tags or labels. Or frame them and hang them on your wall - these will make a gorgeous fall decor!

Your tea will taste even better if you wrap your tea bags in one of these shabby chic tea packets + matching label! They were created with a dot pattern paper and vintage teacup images. A wonderful DIY gift idea for friends and tea lovers! These tea bag envelopes are very easy to assemble, instructions are included in your ZIP files.

This tea party invitation can be used again and again to invite your family and friends to a high tea party, to a bridal shower or baby shower, or to any other occasion where tea is the main subject. Included is a front and back, and an editable Photoshop file, that will allow you to customize the invitation - I’ve included information about the fonts that I used. If you are not good with graphic software, simply print and add your own text in writing, or use a program like Word or Picmonkey to add text.

These printable tags were created with vintage fairies and flowers and soft grunge sheet music backgrounds. They have a burlap reinforcement. Use these beautiful tags in your digital scrapbooking or art journaling layouts, or print them for your hybrid projects, for art journaling, for gift tags and so on.

This is a gorgeous set of printable bookmarks, with a sheet music background, some paint, ornamental fragments in gold, and gypsies and flowers. These bookish gifts would make a great surprise for booklovers or for music lovers, for a sister, mother, wife or friend!

Included in this pack is a set of printable CD sleeves, created with vintage fairies and flowers and soft grunge sheet music backgrounds. You can use them as storage for music CD’s, or CD’s and DVD’s with family photos and videos. They will brighten up your (music) library ànd they make a wonderful gift wrapping for presents. They are really easy to assemble (instructions included).

For now, all these packs are exclusively available in my Etsy shop, but I’ll be adding some of them (if not all) to my Oscraps in the weeks and months to come!

Have a great day,

Anja

I’ve been busy busy busy (but I like it!)… I get up early in the morning and I go to sleep wayyyyyyyyy to late… Why? Well, for various reasons… Let me fill you in on the details:

1) I participated in a local market as an exhibitor

A few months ago I was asked to join the Pukema 2015 market in Puurs, a small village in Antwerp. Not only did I get a call from the Pukema organisation, I was also contacted by the organizer of a local fair in Eeklo (10-11th October), and I was accepted for participation in a third fair in Ghent (29th November). I have never been an exhibitor on a market or fair but there’s a first time for everything, right?
With a market and two fairs ahead of me, I started to make my preparations weeks in advance. I had a stock of my cards printed at Moo, had some posters made of my artwork , and prints from a small collection of designs that I’ve made for Etsy. If you know me, you’d know that I always strive for perfection (not always a good quality!) and I wanted to add something extra. That something extra was a collection of vintage style jewelry with pictures from my designs. Jewelry is not really my specialty, I spent a lot of time on making them, but I love how they turned out!

Having a stock of items for sale is not enough, I had flyers and business cards printed, and I thought of ways to present my products in the best possible way, that would reflect my style and the look and feel of my designs.

Because I was so well prepared the building of my stand went very smoothly and quite fast (I had practiced at home). I had everything with me that I needed and that helped to feel confident about myself. I took my daughter with me (because I know she loves doing those things) for some extra help.

The market was not an overall success, I had many viewers but just a handful of buyers. I don’t think that Pukema was the perfect market for me though, Pukema is more about music (there were concerts all day), having a drink with your friends, something to eat, fairground for the kids, some street amusement… I’m expecting more success at the other fairs. Still, Pukema was an unforgettable experience and I had a lot of positive feedback on my designs.

Some helpful tips :

1. Being prepared is not a guarantee for success but it does help enormously to feel confident and calm the nerves.
2. Make sure that your pricing is clear. I found some gorgeous little chalkboards in a dollar store - perfect in the whole concept but most of all: very practical!
3. Have a little notebook with you. It was a great tip that I got from a friend, and I was happy I took her advice. I took some notes from things that I experienced or thought of and wanted to do better next time.
4. A few years ago I bought a chalkboard in a store for just 5 Euros. It’s a great way to present yourself and your business. I saw many people watching it and reading what I had written on it.
5. If the market is outside, make sure you can rent a tent (or if you have one from yourself, be sure to take it). A tent comes in very handy with unexpected showers!
6. Make sure you have a stock of flyers and business cards with you. I may not have sold that much, people did often take a flyer and a business card with them, and you never know what might come out of that!
7. A jar with candies is always a good idea if you have families with kids passing you by. While the kids asked for a candy, the parents took a flyer or a business card.

Here are some pictures:

The chalkboard that I bought for 5 Euros, perfect to present my business!

A stock of flyers and business cards. And a jar with candies! Note to myself: a note with ‘take me’ would encourage people even more to grab them, usually they only took a flyer or business card (or both), after we explicitly told them they could.

My vintage style jewelry. I didn’t really know how to present them, but then I found the wooden tree, the perfect display!

Having my cards spread out on the table was the best idea I had all day LOL. I hadn’t planned on presenting them that way, I was just going to put them in the baskets, but people would never have taken the effort to look at them if I hadn’t spread them out like this.

My daughter, all set and ready. She did a great job in helping me out.

And then we had a few showers… glad that I had rented the tent!

Street amusement with Monsterbob

The streets were crowded, despite the rain.

2) I have been allowed to open a shop at Creative Market

Creative Market is a platform for handcrafted, mousemade design content from independent creatives around the world. I had my eyes on them for quite some time, all the best designers have a shop at Creative Market! You cannot just open a shop though, you need an invite. About three months ago I applied but wasn’t accepted. The message was that they wanted to see more of me and then two weeks ago, I applied again! And was accepted… Still cannot believe it.

I will still sell my designs in the VectoriaDesigns shop, Creative Market is just a second outlet.

I have to make new previews for my products (the format is different than the Etsy format) and I have to make new zip files (no TOU or links are allowed in the zip files). Making new previews and rezipping everything is a lot of work, but I’m nearly there. I’ve already had some sales and a product ‘handpicked’ by the staff. ‘Handpicked’ means that your product will be shown on the main page and that makes for a lot of likes and views for your shop. It was my Worn & Tattered Vintage Newspaper Textures that was handpicked by the staff and yes, it’s on their main page. Just scroll down until you see ‘Handpicked’.

Or see the rest of my shop here.

3) New designs

Of course I keep adding new designs to my shop(s). These are the latest additions:

Are you planning on throwing a Halloween costume party this year? Then this invitation template and pack of costume contest printables will be the perfect tool!

6 artsy Artist Trading Cards with vintage mushroom images, with grungy textures. The mushrooms were scanned from prints that I found in a box that belonged to my father. In the box were so many old books, magazines, schoolbooks and other fun bits and pieces.

And then this paperpack in warm autumn colours, a bit worn and textured, for an extra cosy feeling, with faded vintage textures and images. With this pack you will get 8 textured/patterned papers and 1 solid paper. They are perfect for your fall or thanksgiving projects!

Among The Shadows Collection - Sneak Peek

Oh yes, it’s coming! It will be available in a large Halloween themed pack at a very affordable price, somewhere in the first half of October. Stay tuned!

That’s it for now. Enjoy your week!

Anja