Annual Autumn Post

"Swing" 2008 by Lea Keohane. All Rights Reserved.

Every Fall I seem to find myself writing about my absolute love for this season. This year, however, I think this drawing says it all. Sold yesterday to a lovely friend, but I will certainly be offering prints in the near future. Enjoy!

Oh! Before I go, I must send you over to Indie Parade, where one of my little pendants is being featured today.

Mississippi Street Fair!

It was a long day on Mississippi yesterday, but it was fun! Temperatures got into the 90's so it was really hot, but luckily our booth was snug against some bushes on the East side of the street so we were in the shade for most of the day. Here's a shot of our booth!

My friend and booth-mate, Danielle, organizing her earrings and stitch markers. At the end of the day I bought a stunning pair of her earrings--they are very dramatic, I can't wait to wear them! She has two great etsy shops--MissPurl and PoeticPurl.

Here's my half of the booth, with Nancy of Karma's Kreations sitting to the side. It is always fun to see her--I was happy to find that she was our neighbor for the day.

Here is a shot of Mississippi Ave. all the way down the street! The crowd is stunning. That lady doesn't look too happy that she's in my picture, though :) Across the street from us was the fabulous Fresh Pot coffeehouse, with a Starbucks under construction in the same building right next door!! Appalling. Apparently I'm not the only one to think so, as there was a group of people doing anti-Starbucks performance art in front all day long. I am sorry that I didn't get a photo of it. I'm also sorry that I didn't take a photo of my amazing sandwich--grilled portabello mushroom with pesto, basil, and feta cheese.....drool.... It was just too yummy to stop and take a picture.

Tiny Fig & Baby Hoot!

I must be one lucky girl, because in June I won 2 blog drawings!!! The first to arrive was about the cutest pair of earrings & stickers I've ever seen in my life from The Tiny Fig. Those little apples on the earrings are made completely out of polymer clay! I've already been getting so many great comments on them, I just love showing them off :)

Just yesterday my 2nd wonderful prize showed up, this adorable sushi bib from BabyHoot:
Isn't it the sweetest? My own baby is 8 years old now, thankfully way beyond bibs, so I am sending it along as a gift to my godson Ashton in Baltimore. I hope he gets it really messy! (love you Alisha!)

Be sure to check out both of these wonderful etsy shops the next time you need some extra cuteness in your life!

Before I sign off for the day, I am taking a note from my good friend Melissa and writing my goals for July here. Every month she writes her goals on her blog, and at the end of the month she compares notes with how the month actually went. What a great idea! So here goes, for July, starting with my artwork and my LeaKarts shop:
*finish updating my website, which still needs a page showing off my custom work
*make 10 sales in my etsy shop
*create and list at least 5 new original works of art
*have really successful sales at the Mississippi Street Fair & PDX Etsy shows! I would like to make at LEAST $200 at each of them!

And for SupplyRiot:
*Find 10 new items to list in my shop. My eventual goal is to consistently have 100 items in my shop at all times. Right now there are between 60 and 70.
*increase my sales by an average of $10/day
*make it through vacation at the end of the month without stressing out about shipping! :D

Happy 4th of July everyone!

It's my 2-year Etsy-versary!!

Today is my 2-year Etsyversary! Yay! I honestly can't remember anymore how I found etsy, but I know that when I did, I fell instantly in love. I saw a lot of potential there, and opened my 1st shop http://LeaKarts.etsy.com to sell my artwork. A lot has happened in two years, and now as you probably know I also have a successful supply shop. I have had a lot of memorable moments on etsy, from selling my 1st ACEO, to meeting some amazing chicas at PDX Etsy Tea to sleeping on the half-pipe at the Etsy Labs when I went there for the PDX Etsy Trunk Show (I've heard that the half-pipe has been taken down to make room for more practical space now).

So, in celebration of 2 years, I am offering FREE SHIPPING in both of my shops all day today (until midnight EST)! That includes everything from original artwork, prints, the pocket mirrors you see above (which I will be listing all day today and feature my artwork on the other side), washi paper, adjustable ring blanks...if it's in either shop it ships for free. Just go ahead and pay and I will refund the cost of shipping (or you can ask me to send you an adjusted invoice). Yay!

This is my Brain on Craft

It appears to be my dining table (yes, I swear it's under there somewhere), but it mirrors the state of my brain. On craft. Here are 10 easy steps to having a brain just like mine:

1. Wake up early, at least 6am, and make the strongest pot of coffee you can stomach. Feed the cat and then stare into space like a zombie while the coffee is brewing.

2. Draw for awhile, forgetting about the cup of coffee. Suddenly remember that you have coffee only to realize that it is now cold. Start to walk into the kitchen to heat it up, turning on the computer on your way.

3. Sit at the computer and check your etsy shops and email. Be so distracted that you don't hear the microwave ding. Suddenly realize that you forgot the coffee again. Pull it out of the microwave only to find that it is, once again, quite cold.

4. Fast forward a little to later morning, work time. Start a custom painting. Decide that you are not sure what to do next with it. Set it aside. Pull out a canvas and put a neutral-toned wash on it for another custom painting. Set it aside to dry. Start making magnets. Realize that the glue needs to dry and set them aside (all of this is happening on a 3 x 3 foot table--very important!).

5. Go get more of your damn cold coffee out of the damn microwave.

6. Check both etsy shops, your email, myspace, twitter, facebook, linkedin, squidoo, flickr, deviantart, craigslist, myspace again, email again, and both etsy shops again.

7. Realize that shipping tomorrow will be much easier if you put together all of the washi paper scrap packs today. Squeeze all of your other projects, coffee cups, vitamins, and housekeys to the perimeter of the table and make a little assembly line of paper packs. Yay paper packs!

8. Put the paper away and finish the 1st painting, then the magnets and tins for the magnets. Clean it all up.

9. Decide you need more coffee. Repeat the early morning process minus the blank zombie stare.

10. Finally, and most importantly, during this entire day, throughout the projects, lukewarm coffee, and obsessive computer checking, scribble notes containing thoughts, ideas, projects, things that need to get done and things that need to be ordered, errands to run, goals, life plans, budgets and more on little scraps of paper and leave them all over the apartment, wherever you happen to be sitting at the time.

Viola! You have now entered the Brain of Lea. Now to figure out how to get out again...I'm sure it's written down here somewhere...maybe on that scrap under my empty coffee cup???

You asked for it--you got it!

Let me introduce my latest LeaKarts goodies--magnet sets! The first set is called "Inner Woman" and the second is "Wild Animals." They are tiny prints of my artwork carefully sealed on the back of fabulous glass squares and attached to super-strong magnets and packaged in super-cute tins.

Thanks to the survey contest that I had a couple of weeks ago, these are the first in a number of items that I will soon be offering in my shop. More to come, including pocket mirrors, prints, and.....well you'll just have to wait and see!

Survey Says...

"Flirtation," 2008 by Lea Keohane. All Rights Reserved.

I have been long considering offering prints of my work in my etsy shop, rather than just originals. I know that buying original artwork online can be daunting, and I understand why, especially when the originals are in the hundreds-of-dollars range.

So today I am introducing a poll (see the top right-hand corner of my blog) and a contest! First, take the poll, then leave a comment in this blog post. Be sure to leave some way for me to contact you! A shop link, link to your blog, or your email address. When the poll closes on June 4th, I will draw all of your names from a hat. The lucky winner gets $10 to spend in my LeaKarts shop, plus some extra goodies. Yay!