How do you sell your art and how to make it better?

I work from my home studio. It's a nice little set up in the Florida room. It opens to a lush green backyard where I can watch my kids play, watch birds do their thing, and find some natural inspiration. It's great- and I honestly love what I do. The question is, how can I do it better?


I have been a seller on ETSY since 2011. It's been great, until 2 years ago, when they switched all the search methods around.  In 2014 I had 17,000 views of my shop. That's a lot of people looking at my art, which made me so very happy. But last year I only had 7,816 views. That is a terrible jump! It downright makes me angry!

 

In order to make up for all those lost views, people who could have been potential buyers, fans of LuckiiArts, I have been searching for other sites to sell my fine artworks on.  It's tough combing through all of the sites out there that promise customer reach, great exposure and low fees for artists.

They all kind of promise the same and all fall a little short. So, I have moved on to sites such as Redbubble and Society6 and Zazzle. These sites allow me to upload my artwork and place them on dozens of products. They are really a great alternative and I can scan my original pieces of art into the computer and use them even after I have sold the original pieces.

This little guy is one of my best sellers on Society6.  Blue Manatee can be found on techy things as well as T-shirts, housewares and totes.

 These super cool high-tops are a new product on Zazzle.  I am in the process of adding images to high and low tops on this site! It's really fun creating products with my art. I can't even imaging what I'd do if I ran into someone wearing one of my images!

I have been checking books out at the library too.  There is so much free information out there on how to make your business grow, organize and just be better! This has been a great book to read through, as it has info on pricing artwork, how to make a profit and how to handle taxes. All things I thought I knew, but have learned I really could improve on. I recommend taking a trip to your local library and just see what they have...you might be pleasantly surprised!

My latest find is a blog called: by Regina. She has some great- and I mean great ideas on making your business successful. I particularly love that she has a creative action plan instead of your typical business plan. I don't know about you, but I have tried more than once to write an understandable business plan- and all I end up with is a bunch of terms and direction that has little to do with art. Regina has a nifty 10 page free download that is all about the creative side of business...how to engage, and really draw possible customers in. I am on #3 and am having lots of good ideas and fun brainstorming and thinking of ways I can up my social game and improve clicks, customers and fans!

That's all I have for now. What places do you sell...and how do you find new venues? How do you plan on upping your social game? It's a good discussion to have with fellow online sellers don't cha think?

Cheers
~Casey 

Welcome 2016

Happy New Year!

Christmas in Downtown WPB

As this is the beginning of a brand new year, I thought it would be a great idea to post some of my favorite highlights from 2015. Favorite places and events, as well as great art that I had fun creating. 

Hope you enjoy my mix of 2015!

south Florida fair

south Florida fair

This was a great day at the South Florida Fair. The boys had a blast rolling around in these water balls!

This was a day at a marina park over on Palm Beach. The banyan trees over there are stunning. The boys climbed every one!!!

This was the summer of lizards. Cuban anoles, Knight anoles and regular old brown anoles. You name it, if it lives in Florida the kids caught one! Oh...and butterflies!!!

Monarch butterfly

Yellow Sulphur butterfly

We hatched so many beautiful butterflies. 

lots of chrysalises

Fun artwork I created:

funny signs

custom piece for a new therapist's office

beachy doorway sign

I made some pretty cute custom signs! 

New moves:

new house gate!

front door view

sold!

My friend bought her very own house...pink with gargoyles! It is perfect!!!

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To finish the year off: more artwork, my new favorite whiskey drink, Honey :) Canvas WPB show and some clay sculptures by my kid!!!

present for a little girl's bedroom door

Arlo

portrait of Daddy

My little at Canvas WPB

beautiful

some new mini canvas's in my etsy shop

 Hope everyone had a great year! 2016 has started off a little differently for me this year. Facing lots of new challenges and life changes, but everything works out in the end...at least that's what I've been telling myself. I am excited for new prospects in my art business and life in general! 

Wishing everyone a stellar 2016! 

~Cheers

Casey

Getting my Etsy shop back in the swing!

Howdy do-

I am back from the world of oral surgery. Oh what fun it was :) Hopefully I will never have to go through that again!!! I still have 3 wisdom teeth left- so I guess we shall see!

So- new week...new ideas...and new listings for my shop. I just posted all the order dates for the 2013 Holiday Season...actually- maybe I'll post them here too:
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Holiday Ordering Info: >>> ORDER DEADLINES For delivery by December 24th <<<

>> US Customers <<
Ready to Ship items - Order by December 15th.
Made to Order/Custom items - Order by November 22nd.

>> International Customers <<
Ready to Ship items - Order by November 18th.
Made to Order items, the ordering time has passed.

*Delivery dates not guaranteed*

The cutoff for custom orders or made to order items to be delivered by Christmas is November 22, 2013. My holiday production schedule is filling up quickly so please place an order soon to ensure your gifts for this Holiday Season 2013.
_________________________________________________________________________________

It is good to set cut off dates I think. That way I have ample time to fulfill the holiday orders and don't feel like I am cramming...nor missing out on fun holiday stuff with the family.   I have been busy the last few weeks creating little new bits and finally got around to taking pictures and putting them up in the shop.

These little trivets are new. Well- they could be trivets or spoon rests for the stove or just cute little tiles you stick on a shelf.

Cute right?  I like them :)

Actually- the red birds are for a Yuletide Giveaway that I am a part of. My favorite Etsy Team- FEST, Florida Etsy Street Team, is having a huge giveaway of 16 items. Wow right! If you would like to enter to win this little gem- along with 15 other fabulous Florida items- please visit our Treasury.
(check back because items are being added all the time)

ENTRIES are VALID when you visit the FEST Yule Treasury and LIKE, SHARE, AND COMMENT on the giveaway treasury. (Must do all three.)

*In the comments of the Treasury Give-away page, entrants must provide a link to their social media showing where they liked, shared, pinned or tweeted.We will use RANDOM.ORG to draw a winner.*

I also completed this little painting: Blue Jelly

He is painted on all sides- and I love the stripes and dots all over. I have a thing for Jellyfish I guess...love all the curly tendrils! The handsome Tage is my model! Ain't he a cutie?

Well...that's all folks. Until we meet again...
~Casey

Happy November!

I have been busy with Etsy work these last few weeks. It seems people are shopping early this year- which works well for me, as I do mostly custom pieces.

I am having to take a little time off this week though. Having a wisdom tooth extracted. Yay! I am 40 years old- and one would think that those buggers would have the sense to stay put...but nooo- one has decided to give me hell and start to come in. Headaches suck- but a never ending headache is just the pits all around!  So wish me luck! It is my first surgery- my first "twilight" experience. I think that part scares me the most- the being out of it part. Bah- C'est la vie.

To prepare for my outing- I have been cramming, trying to get orders out to people in a reasonable time. I did 14 tiles last week- and am finishing up a big Memory Illustration today. Busting butt for sure. It is amazing what you can accomplish when pushed for time!

we love the beach

As for the family: we have been having  lots of fun.  Hit the beach a few times...

new entrance to the science museum

 Visited the newly remodeled South Florida Science Museum. 

dino exhibit

hurricane tunnel

It is awesome. They have a giant room of aquariums now- with a touch tank and Florida Everglades exhibit. The dinosaurs are a super fun exhibit too- but we LOVED the hurricane tube. You stand in this little clear tube and push a button and the wind inside gets to hurricane force winds! Awesome!

Oh- and Oktoberfest!!! We went with some friends this year and had a great time.

in-case we wanted to go back at night without the kids

the kids had a great time too

snow cone faces

So that is what we have been up to. Hope you all have been keeping busy and enjoying the Fall
weather!

I'll leave you with a beautiful fall day in West Palm Beach, Florida!

Cheers!
~Casey

Busy as a Bee

I always heard from fellow ETSY sellers that after the first of the year sales dropped off. I was expecting to take a nice vacation.  Play with my 4 year old a bit.  Not be slammed! I have a wait list...a wait list! My Memory Illustrations have hit the scene so to speak, and I cannot keep up! I had to turn away 2 orders this week. That is amazing and sad...because I hate to disappoint and turn people away.  (They needed them asap) boo!

 

These are the gems that are popular in my shop at the moment! This is a Memory Illustration. I take all things important, fabulous, funny, meaningful  and shape them into a historic illustration of someone's life. I am quite proud of these. The happiness that people seem to have when one is complete is unbeatable! 

This one was big...for a family of 5 too.  Lots of neat stories and memories that made up this young families time together. 

And another.  I love the black and whites...the dark and lights all over the page. 

This was a smaller 8 x 10...done for a couple getting married this year! How neat is that- that I made something they will have from the very start of their marriage...remembering how they came to be! Love it!

 

Finally- I wanted to share my work space as it sits today.  It actually isn't that crazy. It has been much, MUCH worse! hehehe

Cheers! 

~Casey

Summer happenings!

Oma made this for me. I saw it on Etsy and she just looked at it and made it! Thanks Mom! I love it!

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We had my Mom...aka Oma...visiting for the last couple months- which was great...the boys LOVED having her here! We went swimming, to the beach, played outside and lots of board and card games.  Oma made brownies with Dain and made our favorite Dutch Tomato Soup whenever requested! We were all sad yesterday, as Oma flew back to California :( But we know Grandpa Skip is thrilled!

This was Tagey's 4th birthday. He had a Rayman cake...and his Oma and Lola loving on him!

Here is everyone rushing to get all of the pieces into the new Perfection game! So fun- we all jumped when the timer finished and the board went POP!

Ok- back to work now.  I've got art-o-mat blocks to paint...and a black and white Dragon I have to finish! This is what I have so far...lots to go, but I love the tail :)  I am going to try to be good and post at least once a week for the summer! Stay tuned!!!

...and for everyone that takes the time to read this blog...thank you! It's been a lot of fun posting pics about my work, and great food that my family enjoys...and I love reading comments from you all!

So- Thank You so much for reading about our lives! :)
~Casey

More Art-O-Mat blocks please!

So- lots going on these days.

First...I ran an ad on Etsy for 7 days...and spent all of $5 doing so...and the response was incredible! I took in 12 orders due to that ad...and made a pretty profit!...that we used on our family vacation last week! Thank You to ETSY- for making advertising affordable- and profitable! I will be running another ad very soon!!! These    were a few of the tiles I just did from last week!

 Second- My family did  take a week off to play in the sands of Sanibel Island.   The boys had so much fun catching fish and crabs and finding the coveted Sand-Dollar...unbroken!

 It was a great week of sun and fun! We stay at this awesome house right off the beach... LOVE IT! This was our third...maybe fourth year at SeaWinds...best 'home away from home' ever!

These are some sunglasses my oldest found on the beach...the boys wore them all week (after Daddy sanitized them of course!)

 Lots of Starfish were in the shallows at low tide...found them every 10 feet or so! We, of course, had starfish and king crown shell races.

Here is a small crab Dain caught...man, these boys were fast- catching tiny fish and all sorts of critters in butterfly nets of all things...at one point I think they had 20 plus little fish in their pails.









First thing in the morning- out the door...nets and pails in hand!

Lastly-
I have posted a few times about being an Artist in Cellophane for the Art-O-Mat project.  I am quite happy about it! I have received a few notices of where my blocks have been purchased...CA, Key West, Michigan...how cool is that!
So I was asked to send in another round of blocks...and I just finished them- all packed and ready to go!

 Aren't they cute? I got some new colors- and worked up some new little creatures...love the frogs and owls! Oh- I love them all- they are like my children! hehehe
Here is the link to find an art-o-mat near you. There are some terrific artists that do jewelry, photos, 2D, 3D...you name it...I need to take a trip down to Boca (the closest machine to me)

So that is it...my past few weeks all wrapped up in this little blog.  Enjoy! I certainly have! :)
~Casey