Stickyfingers

Happy Sunday!
Hope you all are enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. To help jump start the holiday season, we're offering up some fun DIY projects to get you in the spirit!
Enjoy and most importantly, go and make something!

I just discovered the amazing talent of Kellie Medivitz. She has designed this modern take on wrapping paper and tags and gives you the instructions "It's A Wrap Trees Please". Enjoy her free printable file here.

I just love advent calendars, especially now that I have a young child. Here is a chic and modern design, thanks to Papier Valise. Her blog is pure eye candy, choc-full of DIY projects.

Sarah and Abraham posted this tutorial last year for simple, scrapbook paper ball ornaments. Aren't they lovely? Click here for the instructions.

Round Of Applause For Sara Tams

Please join me in a round of applause for Sara Tams, the imagination behind Sarah + Abraham. Woo Hoo! She just had her 2,000 sale on Etsy, and as I post this I'm sure a few more have trickled in.

Over the past 1.5 years since I started InkSpot Workshop, Sara has been the best online mentor a girl could have. As a stay at home mommy of two and home based business owner, she has always been open and quite generous in sharing her time, information and experiences with me. The area where she has helped me the most is when it came to choosing a web designer (used hers because I had serious site envy) and then what to do when it came to getting my own site up and running.

Thanks to Sara, I now pay the generosity and support forward and readily assist women inquiring about starting their own business.

Thanks Sara and a BIG Congratulations Hug to you! I wish you many more thousands of happy sales!!

Stickyfingers

Hello everyone! Hope you are having a wonderful Memorial Day. Today I am launching a brand new blog feature called Stickyfingers. It is here where I will post some of my favorite craft tutorials finds. I hope you not only enjoy this new feature, but get inspired to CREATE something new yourself:)

Jennifer Stuart of Simply Designed and Etsy Finds is making this cute Herb Garden

Amy over at The B-Line made these fun Pinwheels

Sarah and Abraham is the master at making personalized Note Pads

How about these colorful and easy Hammered Flower and Leaf Prints? compliments of Build Make Craft Bake

I just can't get enough of these Fabric Flowers from Nest Decorating

iCANDY - Mother's Day Edition

Directions: For optimum viewing pleasure click on collage

This week's iCANDY is brought to you a few days early in order to show you some last minute Mother's Day ideas. These are my favorites!

1. Memento Jewelry - Jeanne Flint, Atlanta, GA $125.00

2. I {heart} U Mug - Vessels and Wares, Atlanta, GA $20.00

3. Mommy Tee - Fire Daughter Clothing, Scottsdale, AZ $26.00

4. Luxury Gift Set - Sweet Petula, Seattle, WA $42.00

5. Custom Silhouette Pillow - Le Papier Studio, Chicago, IL $24.00

6. Custom Mommy Calling Cards - Sarah and Abraham, Chicago, IL $14.00

ENJOY!

Where have I been this week?

Well it's been quite a crazy week over here at the workshop. I have taken this entire week off from my {day} job in order to spend some much needed time on items for my new InkSpot Workshop website, to be unveiled in the very near future. The items on my checklist have included making some new designs, redoing most of my pictures and adding item content to the website itself.

In the middle of being extremely productive all week, our poor 12 year old dog Jake, fell ill. In 10 short days he lost weight, kept throwing up and the vet just could not figure it out. Had to take him to the Beverly Hills of all vet specialists yesterday and poor guy had a stone in his gallbladder, which required immediate surgery and a nice fat bill of $3,500. Jake is recovering nicely in his Beverly Hills hotel and will return to us in a few days:)

Here's a sneak peak at some un-retouched pictures. I've been experimenting with new designs, new props and camera. What do you think?

This is the doctor's eye chart of a form I have to fill out for each and every product I will be selling in my shop. It is tedious and is making my neck hurt but will be worth it in the long run. A big THANK YOU goes out to Sara Tams, who is the person responsible for getting me into this whole mess:) I love her website, with it's user friendly interface and have hired the same design group. She graciously spent at least an hour on the phone with me Tuesday, walking me through every detail I needed to know. So nice to finally put a voice to a face.

My reward!! This is my destination starting tomorrow! Hubby and I will be dropping off our toddler at Nana and Grandpa Michael's in the FL Panhandle and heading over to this spot of paradise ALONE!

Can't you just hear the waves?

Ciao for now, will be back next week. Hope you have a wonderful weekend too!!

Change is in the air

It's a NEW year and I have some new things in store for InkSpot Workshop. In addition to upgrading my printer I'm happy to announce I've also upgraded the thickness of card stock I had been using. Now, all flat note cards, invitations and tags previously printed on 110# smooth, white card stock will be printed on a "double thick" 110 lb card stock. I won't bore you with the details but I got a "gsm" weight education and learned that all 110 lb card stocks are not the same. WOW! what a difference this makes.

I'm super excited to announce that I have just started working on InkSpot Workshop's very own website with the talented team at Aeolidia Designs. I have been dreaming about this since I started my Etsy shop back in April, and know this is just the group to make my dream into a reality. I plan to keep a sampling of my popular items in my Etsy shop and offer a larger selection of items on my site. I first heard about Aeolidia when my friend Sara Tams, of the popular SarahandAbraham.com had them make her site. I instantly fell in love with how clean and easy to use her site is. When you shop online there is nothing worse than a cluttered, hard to navigate site, especially when you are dealing with customized products. Stay tuned for my unveiling which will also include some new products.

Lastly, I leave you with this image... It is something I'm working on that is fury and for charity:) I'm still not 100% ready to launch it to the world but keep checking back.

Thank you everyone for a successful first year of business and I'm truly looking forward to bringing you even more fun, hand crafted paper goodies to make you smile!!

Photo Credits: Sea.Benn, AJFishleder

Thank You Santa!

Oh! I guess I've been a very good girl this year:) Look what Santa left under my tree!

I'm just ecstatic about my new printer and have been playing around with it all week. I think I finally have all the settings figured out and really love the way every one's orders have turned out. InkSpot Workshop has really grown since launching in April 2008, so much it warranted a new printer. It was time to retire my trusty HP, which is now my backup, and upgrade to the industry standard, an Epson.

Thanks to the suggestion and support from Etsy pal Sara Tams of Sarah and Abraham, I asked Santa for the Epson Stylus Photo 1400. I really wanted something that would superbly print large areas of solids onto card stock and that's exactly what it has been delivering.

Having this new printer will allow me to print on thicker card stock so more good news for my customers! Starting this week, all InkSpot Workshop items will be printed on a thicker weight 110# card stock than offered before.

Stay tuned for more good things coming your way in 2009!

Website Envy!

I've got a BIG BAD case of website envy thanks to the new Sarah & Abraham website, just launched by fellow Etsy seller, Sara Tams.

Sara is a true inspiration to all Etsy sellers. Her shop is not even a year old and has over 1,200 sales, which is a very high number in Etsy terms. When I first started out this past April, Sara graciously and patiently answered as many questions as I could toss her way. It is also because of her that I now am a blogger:)

I've been anxiously waiting to see her new site and now that It's here, I'm speechless {which if you know me, is a rare occasion} When she first mentioned in her blog that she was seeking out the expertise of web designer Aeolidia, I was half expecting the new site to be reminiscent of a children's fairy tale book. Now that I see the finished product, all I can say is I WANT ONE TOO:*

Check it out http://www.sarahandabraham.com/. You will see her signature children's line of stationery and prints, plus be introduced to some new fun stuff.

I wish you well Sara! Thanks for all your help and continued success!!