goimagine.com

 I mentioned months ago that I had found a new platform for selling #handmade I did it in kind of a sneaky way because it was still in beta and I was still working on my set up. Imagine that. . .(previous post)

While building my shop and working on adding listings one at a time I noticed some people in the facebook group having troubles with one thing or another mainly because it was all new and different.  I saw a couple of them expression frustration and a desire to give up so I wrote a post encouraging them to keep trying, ask for help if they need, and don't give up just because New can be scary. . .(previous post)

As the months have passed I have mostly made up my mind that I will be moving to goimagine and eventually shrink my etsy shop.  The realization of just how much etsy was costing me with those little .20 cent listing and renewal fees was kind of shocking honestly, which lead me to say and so it begins . . . (previous post) 

I have felt from the beginning that goimagine.com was going to be different, it was in the way Jon and Steph were so present and engaged. They were always asking how sellers wanted things to work, always willing to listen to everyone's view point. The weekly webinars explaining how things worked and why they decided the things they did, asking for feedback, being willing to change things. I love the charity aspect of donating the platform's profits to charity, I love that they chose children's charities.  This past week they have done yet another thing that I love by recognizing the sellers who were willing to join early and help build the site during the "beta" testing phase, to me this shows a level acknowledgement and partnership with sellers that no other platform has. Also I just love my Founding maker badge. (previous post)

"Founding Maker"

I am so proud of this badge.  

I am actually pretty proud of myself, if I'm honest about it.  You see I am not exactly what they call an "early adopter" of new technology.  I don't usually like new things, I have trust issues, normally I would wait until it's been around a while and see how everyone else's experience goes. 😏

Seriously, I didn't join facebook until 2012 even though it started back in 2004. I didn't start my etsy shop until 2015 even though etsy started in 2005. So you see how slow I can be. 😊

I have been disappointed before like when I joined the A.C.Moore marketplace right after they opened. That sadly did not take off due to a lack of follow through and commitment from upper management and ownership. 

However, I got a good feeling for and decided to take a chance on goimagine.com and I am so glad that I did. I think Jon and his team are doing an amazing job of building this #caringeconomy and seller community, they are hardworking, responsive, thoughtful and honest.

I am so happy to be a part of this new platform and I am super happy with their acknowledgement of those of us that joined early. 😇

And so it begins. . .

Today I posted my first "exclusive" to goimagine.com listing. 😁

Since I signed up with goimagine months ago I have been simply working on copying all my etsy listings, one by one. I have a considerable inventory in finished goods and things like chainmaille which can be remade I like to leave listed even when they sell because I can usually make another.  So the transfering of hundreds of listings has taken up quite a bit of time, especially since some (many) have needed new listing photos. 😒

In the meantime I have still been creating new stuff that just has not been getting listed anywhere. 😏 This morning I decided to add a "new" item to goimagine, a fresh from scratch listing just for goimagine.com not available in the etsy shop.  I think I will be doing more of that in the future, I am considering cutting back the # of listings in my etsy altogether and limiting the art I put there. 

Forever Love family tree

Just working. . .

I haven't been as regular with my postings, not just on this blog but also intagram, pinterest, overall I have just been busy with other things.  😉

I have been creating, making, painting, imagining, daydreaming. . .

I think the new style is off to a rockin' start.  I really am loving the words on canvas, Liz is the best-est at making just what I pictured. 😁

I started with the "RainbowPride" because ya' know rainbows and Pride, what could be more awesome.  😍

Well the only thing I could think of better is Love, because all you need is love, right!? 😇  Love makes the world go around, Love is powerful, Love is kind, Love wins, we all need a little more Love. 

Sticking with online. . .

For months I have been looking forward to getting back to in person events, unfortunately at this point, I just do not see that happening this year.  😔  Many of the events I had scheduled were cancelled and I have resisted scheduling new events due to concerns that they may also end up cancelled on short notice. 

I have re-opened my etsy shop and I am continuing to build my goimagine.com shop, so for the foreseeable future I will be sticking to online sales only.  This will be a challenge, mainly to my sub-par photography skills 😅 but I'll manage.  I look forward to more reviews like "Pictures don't really show how awesome these really are, " "The photo didn’t begin to do it justice.  " Yes these are actual quotes from previous reviews, it is something I hear regularly. ~LOL~  😇

So if you are interested but on the fence, I know buying things online without really "seeing" them can seem risky but I would say take a chance you may end up pleasantly surprised. 😉

Jinkies !! I'm messy . . .

Or maybe I'm just a mess. 😏  

Ok, so it's a bit of both, I guess.

When my easel was new it was all clean and pristine, now 4 years later look at the mess I've made with my drips, splatters, drops, whoopsies and oopsies.  It's a good thing I have a large drop cloth under there and yes it's a mess too. LOL 😄  

As a person I'm also a bit of a mess.  I have some health issues both physical and mental.  I try not to dwell on them but they do get in the way sometimes.  Also worth noting when going slightly mental I have tendencies toward rhymes.  

I chalk the rhyming up to the mental circus, like the OCD, social anxiety, impostor syndrome, yup I'm nutz and it's OK.  😇  Physically, I have early onset arthritis developing in my hands.  I also have some pretty serious vitamin deficiencies that cause uncontrollable numbness and muscle twitches at times. 😏

So, yeah my arts and crafts are challenging for me and my photos almost always suck.  I have taken all the photo advice, I got a better camera, I got a tripod, I have banks of lights, I have solid clean backgrounds, I've tried natural light next to a window, I've tried colored backgrounds instead of white, I have multiple versions of editing software.  I do my best but accept that "my best" is still not that great.  😕

Self acceptance a.k.a. acknowledging I am a work in progress 😇

Not what I planned. . .

That's life though, things often do not go according to plan. 😄  

I bought these crates for storing and transporting my art.  I thought they were a great idea and a good solution too, they are nearly the perfect size, the built in handles make them easy to carry.

Ok, so they were plain and a bit ugly but function was the key factor as I can always make things pretty. 😊  So I contemplated ways to brand them and brighten them up.  I started with the idea of using peel and stick lettering to trace and then hand painting and edging, it was time consuming and tricky as my hands tend to shake at times.  

I got one done and I was super happy with it, but when I looked at the other 4 and realized how long it would take me I sighed and nearly cried.  😔  But I did like the way it looked so I started. . .

On the second one at the very last stage, there was a paint pen explosion of sorts. ~sigh~  Yeah that's not exactly the clean logo look I was going for there. 😕  I was so disappointed in myself as well as the exploding tipped paint pen.  Then I found a fellow seller with the amazingly perfect thing that I didn't know I needed.  She made me custom signs.  

I thought "heck yeah, that will make it easier!"  ~LOL~ I'll paint those up pretty and then just attach them to the crates, bing.  Well, painting them up with tiny brushes and my shaking hands turned out to be it's own time consuming tricky test.  It took longer than I thought because I had to do several coats of paint to get the brightness and depth of color I wanted. When I went to do the silver on the edges I had lots of oops and had to repaint the front.  😒

Eventually, I did get one done in a fashion that I was happy with and ready to seal.  I laid it on a canvas thinking I was going to gloss varnish it, the nature of the cut-out means it has to be laid on something and I was afraid the varnish would stick to paper or cardboard and cause problems after.  Once I laid in on the canvas though. . . I fell in love with it and my mind started running amok with so many ideas.  😲

But this one is Mine!!  as so many first attempts and prototypes are.  I am using in my office and plan to use it as booth signage (if I ever get to an in person event). Also I made it into logo photos for my social media. 😁

Now I'm off on a whole new line of art, thanks to Liz Wengerd of LizsWoodDesigns on etsy