Etsy Meetup in Santa Cruz

Hey guys! I'm just popping in to let you know about this event tomorrow. If you're an Etsy seller (or even thinking about setting up shop) and you can make it to Santa Cruz you should totally come to this Meetup! It's sponsored by Etsy and Santa Cruz County and organized by the Central Coast Small Business Development Center (the same folks who host the Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship course that I've been teaching). I'll be there to do a short talk and shop critique and there will be others presenting as well. It's bound to be a great time to do some networking and meet other local creatives. Click here for more info!

P.S. Photo above from my marbled paper tray diy.

Friday Finds 5.1.15

Happy Friday! I have a bunch of new projects in the works, but I feel like I'm always saying that, huh? I like making new, special products for up-coming shows so I made these new acrylic pins with my trailer, vespa, and doxie illustrations. They're so cute - I'm thinking about making them regular products in the shop. I'm also working on restocking a bunch of products, so I've been busy in the studio lately. In the meantime, here are some links from around the web that I thought you'd might enjoy:

• These earrings are lovely!
• I'd love to find one of these during my afternoon walks.
• Betty Willis, the designer of the iconic Welcome to Las Vegas sign passed away last week. I enjoyed reading about her and her work.
• The best wetsuit I've ever seen.
• I've been planning a bunch of sewing projects and researching patterns and tutorials. Check my Sewing & Fabrics Pinterest board for my favorites.
• Patchwork Shows are coming up! You can find me at the Oakland location, May 10th.
• I'm having a spring cleaning sale over in the Etsy shop! Once these items are gone, they're gone, so act fast!  

Photo via my Instagram account. 

Pop-Up Event At West Elm!

Happy Friday! I've been getting ready for the SF Etsy Pop-Up Shop event this evening (5-9) at West Elm Emeryville. If you're in the area, stop by to hang out with a bunch of wonderful, local Etsy sellers, enjoy some treats, and take advantage of special deals! Speaking of special, I'll have some of my handmade flowers for sale. If they do well I may have to take a bunch to Renegade!

Have a great weekend!

Top 10 Etsy Selling Tips

I wrote a guest post for one of my favorite craft and DIY blogs, The Crafted Life today! Head over to read my top 10 tips for a starting a successful business on Etsy. I hope they're helpful to you, and of course, feel free to ask any questions. I'll do my best to answer them!

New summer products in the shop!

Can someone explain to me how it's Friday already? I guess time's flying because I've been working on so many different projects. In addition to getting ready to sell at the West Elm Pop-Up Shop event in Emeryville next Friday and Renegade SF in a couple weeks I've been wrapping up a couple DIY projects and working on some guest posts for a couple other fabulous blogs. I can't wait to share those, but in the meantime I'll share a few brand new products that I just listed in the shop.



First of all, What the Flock? Available on white and magenta stock, this card features a flock of long-legged flamingos, just hanging out, asking the hard-hitting questions.



My friends and family know I love me a weiner dog. I can't believe it took me this long to design and a card featuring my favorite short-legged canine, but here it is! So Long! This card would be perfect as a "going away" card but would also work as an anytime card, because dachshunds are just so long, ya know?



New Vintage Trailer coasters. I have this design available on notebooks and cards, so I'm happy to add coasters to the trailer mix.



Speaking of trailers, Let's Go Camping features a Mini pulling a teardrop. Makes me want to plan a summer getaway to the redwoods.



And speaking of summer, Surf's Up! 



If you follow me on Instagram you got a peek at these designs. My new cacti and succulent cards and coasters are based on papercuts. I love them and I hope you do, too! Coming soon on tea towels!



Brand new thank you cards in black and swanky gold ink. This designs is also available as a rubber stamp so you can stamp your envelopes yourself.
 
That's a quick run-down of the new products I've added in the last week or so. All products available on my shop site or on Etsy here and here. Looking back it's no wonder I'm having a hard time keeping track of the days! I hope you have a nice weekend! 

Around the studio

I made these fun zippy bags for Patchwork and Maker Faire and wanted to share them here. These aren't a standard item that I stock and I only have a couple left, so if you're interested, head over to my Etsy to snag one while you can! Mini bags are available in red and yellow.



These bags featuring my Retro Ranch print are extra special because I screen printed the fabric myself! Available in a bright coral and teal.



I've also been working on a few new designs.  Here's a sneak peek at one: a new papercut based on my own succulent collection.

Happy Friday to you! As if that wasn't enough of a reason to celebrate, today is National Donut Day! Treat yo'self.

New Shop Site!

I'm excited to announce that I have a new shop site! You can find all of my products for sale on one site right here at vitaminimodern.com.

I'm working on adding some new wholesale accounts, so if you're a retailer interested in carrying my products, there's a page just for you. Please get in touch! I'd be happy to send you my wholesale catalog. 



I'll still be maintaining my Etsy shops (Vitamini and Vitamodern), but I'm excited to start branching out on my own. Take a look at the new site. I hope you like it!

Vitamini is 6!

Wow, how time flies! I can't believe that it's been 6 YEARS since I opened up shop on Etsy. Thinking back, though, it feels like so much longer ago. Back then I was in my early 20's and was struggling with transitions. From graduating college to moving to new cities for work. Living on my own and acting like a "grown up" but still having no idea who and what I was supposed to be. I had also been ignoring my creativity for a while (why did I do that?!) and was feeling pretty down about it. It took a chronic illness to make me realize that something was really wrong with how I was living. I put everything on pause: quit my job, gave up my sweet little apartment, and moved back in with my parents to re-group and focus on getting better. I wanted to learn how to screen print for years so I bought a kit on eBay and taught myself. It was January so I started working on some Valentine cards. My mom's friend told me about Etsy, so I figured, "What the hell?" and listed them. I jumped for joy when I got my first sale just 4 days later! If you're considering starting a handmade business of your own, the best advice I can give you is: Just start!



So much has changed since then, but screen printing is still one of my favorite things to do, I still jump a little whenever a new sale comes in, and I still love dreaming up design ideas! Another reason for a happy dance: I just passed the 1K mark for sales in my shop over the weekend. Yahoo!



To celebrate these milestones, I'm having a sale in both of my shops (Vitamini and Vitamodern) through Friday. Use the code Happy6 at checkout to get 15% off your entire purchase! Just in time for your Valentine's Day cards and gifts. I don't have sales very often, so I hope you take advantage! Here's to the next 6 years!

Restocking and a special sale!

Happy Saturday, friends! I've been busy restocking the shops. I just printed a new batch of my heart bonnet tote bags in red and (new!) in black on the bigger totes. I haven't gotten them photographed yet, but they're coming soon! Can you believe Valentine's Day is in just a couple weeks? Also, make sure to come back on Monday as I'll be announcing a special sale. :)

The image above is an accidental test print I made the other day. I'm kinda loving the crazy mixed colors. Have a great weekend!

New products!

I'm kicking off the new year with a few new products in the Etsy shops!

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and I made these cute cards for the occasion. "Love in Tow" available in kraft brown and white.


These Happy Birthday cards are new, too! A MINI pulling a giant cupcake? Sounds like a party to me!

Everyone knows Minis are British, but we Americans love them, too! Brand new Stars and Stripes coasters available in white and red.

I'm working on boosting up the inventory in my Vitamodern shop, too! First off I have a new fabric print, "Tiki." Remember when I made this card design out of paper shapes? Now it's on fabric! It goes great with my "Retro Vases" fabric print. I think I need to make some potholders out of these two. Two colorways available in the shop.

I'm hoping to kick this cold for good this weekend and jump back into my other to-do list items. I also have a fun DIY in the works! Have a nice weekend!

New Boot and Bonnet totes in the shop!

Just popping in to share my new and improved Boot and Bonnet tote bags! These are made from sturdy 100% cotton canvas and are made in the USA! They're roomier than the last model. So far I only have them in the new MINI design, but I'm hoping to get the other designs printed soon!


Check them out in my shop! And you can use your 10% off coupon code, too. It's still valid through tomorrow! Happy holiday shopping!

Holiday Sales!

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! And with that, it's already December! For those of you in holiday shopping mode, I've got some sales going in my Etsy shops for the next week! Use the codes MINIHOLIDAY2013 in my Vitamini shop, and MODERNHOLIDAY2013 in my Vitamodern shop for 10% off your purchase!



I make all of my items in small batches, so don't delay. I may run out of something you've been eying! Thank you for supporting small, handmade businesses this year! If you're looking for more small businesses to support, Door Sixteen has a great running list of indie shops that you can check out.

From my sketchbook: Holiday Card

All of my design work starts with sketches. I often sketch and idea multiple times to work out design elements and refine proportions. Here's a little glimpse at the preliminary design work for this year's holiday card.


I ended up drawing the background landscape and stars by hand, but I made a papercut of the Mini to place into the scene. I just love how papercut edges look, and having to work within the constraints of something I could cut in a nice challenge and lends a little more interest to the design.


All of this (and a little more behind the scenes work) combined to create this!

These and my other cards are available in my Etsy shop.

New Fabric Ornaments for Vitamini

I'm excited to share my newest item in the shop - new Mini fabric ornaments!



I've been busy getting the shop and my inventory ready for the holidays and I thought it would be fun to make a new fabric ornament. I printed these in red, black, and deep navy and sewed them together with fun contrasting prints on the back. I think my favorite is the black with pink polkadots.



You can find all three in my Etsy shop (along with the last two ornaments that I have left from last year). Happy Friday!

A little reminder...

...that You Got This! Beautiful hand-lettered desktop wallpaper downloads for your computer by Oh My Deer for Designlovefest. Head over to download this one and others. Happy Monday!

New: Mini tees in the shop!

I'm so excited to have tshirts for sale in the shop!

Available for little kids sizes 2-6 and adult unisex sizes XS to XL. All hand screen printed by me on nice American Apparel tees. Cool gray and white stripes for adults, heather gray for kids.


Thanks to my sister Annie for taking the photos of me. And thanks to my little niece Madeleine for being such a good model for the kids shirts. She's a Mini lover, too.



Have a wonderful weekend!

An Afternoon at West Elm

I had a wonderful time at the Etsy Pop-Up Shop on Saturday! Here are a few photos of my display snapped with my iPhone.



It was so nice meeting some of my Etsy customers who said they came out to the event just for me. How sweet! I also met lots of new people and got to connect with the 5 other sellers who were there. All in all it was a great afternoon and I went home feeling really excited about my business and future opportunities. I also have a few new products that I'll be listing in the Etsy shop soon.

I didn't get a chance to snap photos of the other sellers and their displays but definitely check out their shops:
Unique jewelry and hairpins: iluxo by Mariko
Lovely hand-thrown ceramics: RossLab by Rossella
Cool screenprinted tea towels: The Heated by Cristina
Beautifully simple paper goods: 45Wall Design by Traci
Fun French food illustrations: Géraldine Adams Illustrations by Géraldine