CRAFTS :: Trying to get some designs online with what I have to work with...

Finding the fastest way to sell online is quite a challenge for my life.  I have been trying to list products that are available to me with drop-shipping through PRINTFUL (.com) - this link is connected to my first affiliate link, another effort to increase my income.  

My newest efforts are POSTCARDS, but tonight I added an 18x18 inch framed poster to my ETSY shop as my November discount item.  I want to add more color and other elements to my designs, but don't have that option yet.  I definitely am learning the limits of text-only designs and the Printful design tools.

This is one design I made tonight.  This is a postcard format. I think it can be small art  (4x6)  messages.  I'm trying to get messages that work on mugs, too.

I tried some of the color options for this one.  I don't like the text now that I have it saved.

I was trying to make this POSTCARD design into a listing and noticed the citation text at the bottom got messed up somewhere from design to save.  It has to be done over.

What I ended up for now is this logo design element for Working Together that is also a major statement on our relationship as Christians.  I made it when I first started WT back in 1987.  It represents the theme of what WT is trying to do... get us together as ONE Body of Christ.

This is a POSTCARD format.  I focused on the major words only in the square POSTER I listed.

I may get this onto a t-shirt as a wearable statement for all to see and think about.

I guess I get upset when I see the wonderful colorful art in Christian shops on ETSY.  I wonder what software they have.  I am not able to print in color right now... not sure why my printer suddenly stopped printing color even though all the setting are set right and it has a new ink cartridge.  One of my goals is to get a better computer system, including a better printer. 

It has occurred to me since starting this learning journey that digital art is not as good as selling physical art products.  I want to have some digital listings at my shop, but more individual physical items.

When I can find the best format for my creative expressions, I will not feel so futile in my efforts.  Finding my "zone" is the quest.

Well, this is my first post of November.  My effort to post more often is beginning to take shape.  I want to share my efforts more... and to learn in the process.  I'm moving into video as an online tool.  Once I learn the smartphone, that will be easier.  :-)    So MUCH to learn.

If you have any suggestions for my selling (income) quests, let me know them.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

work2gather.us

and more...

This statement helps me to keep going...

CRAFTS :: Searching for my creative spark...

I was posting a previous blog post (POLITICS) and quickly added a small note about my problems trying to make art at my Art, Crafts, and Recycling page at Facebook.  Now I am here, listening to my playlist at YouTube and thinking I will share another blog post about my creative challenges.

It amazes me how hard it is to find space to do my projects, how easily I can be distracted by the computer, the Internet, and all my online activities... except the ones I really need to do.  I know others fight these battles, but they are new to me.

What can I do to overcome these assaults on my dreams?  

I'm not sure.  

Making ART is new to me.  I haven't done a lot of serious practice with it... just spurts here and there.  I was an "Art Major" in high school... it mattered to me in my young years.  It just wasn't a "job" I thought would make money I could live on.

Now, looking back, I see some things that could have changed a lot of my hard times and made them a different result in my past... and where I would be today.

No one really knows how their life might have turned out if they chose a different path at certain places in their lives... we always imagine the best possible result, but there is no way to know for sure.

So we try to "warn" the kids who still have their future ahead of them.

I have some art memories I kept from one time I sat down in my van (as a homeless person with no gas parked in the desert) and started to see what I could create with the paints I had.  I look at them when I can.  They remind me I have potential.

Now, when I want to actually SELL something through my online spots, I sit down and look at a blank page.  Then I put it all away and try to find something less threatening to do... like the dishes or the laundry.  

I did go on a faith travel sometime before the desert event.  I tried to stop at churches and sell small pieces of art I had made - to pay for my gas and food needs.  I don't think I even remember what I painted anymore.  

Prior to these recent art efforts, I didn't do much with my creative talents.

I am getting to the point of just letting the paint fall on the pages I have and posting them with the phone listing option I currently can access.  Once I get going I KNOW I will begin to make and post more.  Getting that process going is my challenge.  Right now.

I suppose I am venting, looking for some kind of internal relief.

I know what I need to do.

I have to force myself to actually get it done.

If I find my way through this, I will try to share it with you.

Pray for me.  I need to overcome my small, small, small budget.  :-)

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

work2gather.us

and more...