daisyjanie

new logo attempt #7351

That number is inflated - though not by much. Thinking about all that I put myself through to get to it makes me very sleepy.

My sister is a graphic designer, my officemate is, too. And I know a few other talented ones are reading this...how the heck do you do it?! Day in and day out, looking at all those letters, scripts and font families!!! Give me shapes, colors, movement....no more letters! I pored over, stared at, experimented with font after font after font. Holy crap!! I have so much respect for graphic designers!!

None gave me the vibe I was seeking. Nothing. Couldn't put my finger on a font that spoke "simple-happy-professional-unique-but-not-too-whimsical-frou-frou-or-childish" to me. I also wanted something somewhat classic/timeless yet with a free-spirited feel - all things that encompass my business, my aesthetic and essentially me. When I thought I had my finger on one, I would realize it was similar to someone else's or that I would be sick of it in a month - back to the drawing board. I messed around with upper case, lower case, stretching, smooshing, a hand-sketched daisy behind one of the letters, a daisy around all of the i dots (since most of my designs are based on doodles)....ew to all of them!

I finally got out my bamboo tablet and started writing it myself. Better but not great. I grabbed a stack of glossy paper and a black sharpie.....and 23 pages of writing "Daisy Janie" later....done. Scanned, manipulated, lined up, vectored. All good. I'm really happy with it b/c it captures what I was looking for, I don't *think* I'll get sick of looking at it, and it's certainly original.

Believe it or not, this has been a major road block for me. Does that happen to you, too? I stop making progress b/c I can' t do this until I do this, and I can't do that until I do that....it goes on ad nauseum until you realize you've gotten NOTHING done b/c of that one little thing! A jewelry artist whose work I really admire and really love, Tay MacIntyre of honey & milk, had a post on her blog yesterday about her journey in changing her business name from twirl to honey & milk. I resonated to all of it and was so glad to find out I'm not the only one who toils and obsesses over these things. Her work and words are lovely...worth adding to your bloglines.

in my etsy shop

These 4 totebags are now in my etsy shop, $45 each.

It's been on my to-do list now for awhile {and dum-da-da-dum}....The Big Spring Purge has begun!! I will be adding more handbags to my etsy shop each day - transferring what's left on my regular Daisy Janie website to the etsy shop as well as items I haven't had listed anywhere for 2 years. All are discontinued handbags that I am anxious to sell-off to make room for new items in my new fab fabrics! Some of these relocated handbags are pristine, some are shop-worn from being toted to shows, some have minor flaws - all will be duly noted. Prices will reflect status.

I've also added a few more supplies to my etsy shop, and fabric scraps are on the way, too! Lotsa good stuff!

Happy Thursday! I am bouncing off the walls today - sun is out, supposed to be 75 degrees this afternoon - yeeeeehaaaa!

articles and etsy treasury

• Product photography: A task I have long struggled with - I am open to any and all the info I can get. This article from Lindsay Landis of Purr Design and Pattern & Paw was immensely helpful (I've mentioned this one before). I just found this one at The Boss of You (a great resource for female business owners, recently posted about by Holly on decor8).
• Thoughts about art and the business of art: Renee from Wolfie & the Sneak posted this thought-provoking article last week. As I mentioned to Renee, it hit me like a ton of bricks in a very good way. As someone with a B.S. in Marketing and still working in the field, I cannot help but bring that aspect of 'my person' to Daisy Janie - all the branding, positioning and packaging. Sometimes I don't want to bring this person to the decision table, but she shows up like clockwork - and therein (sometimes) lies the problem. I want my work to be perceived on some level as creative and artistic - to stand apart from one crowd while being lauded by another and being purchased by yet another. But all of these crowds change as my aspirations and ideas change, and marketing-girl is always tagging along trying to spin the ideas into a product that can become a cash cow. Can't help it. I sense a business plan on the horizon...
• Etsy treasury: This past Saturday, the hearts on my etsy 'hearts me' page went from 94 to 162 in a 4-hour span. I'm sure I had to be listed on someone's treasury, but I could never find it! Bummer for that, but yippy-kie-yay for the hearts. Wish I could thank the person who picked one of my fabrics. Love to sift through the hearts, BTW, and see who they all are - and feature their work on Scoutie Girl!

purple "e" custom fabric update

Remember the purple "e" fabric? Well, here's what a 26" x 26" square of custom fabric will get you: 1 uptown handbag, 1 roxy wristlet, 1 zoey mirror/pouch, 1 headband, 3 key fobs and 4 extra fabric-covered mirrors. How about that?!

My client is jumping for joy - she said her son has never been so excited to give his sister a gift! Yay!! Glad I could be a part of making people happy - good karma!

Email me at jan[at]daisyjanie[dot]com if I can help you with a custom fabric design or printing project.

me 1, brown pants 0

[All fabric and handbag designs copyright 2008 Daisy Janie. Copying is not cool!]
Get outta my face brown pants - I took you down (to the washing machine). I was very motivated last week, and the brown pants are folded and put away! Here's one of my victories. Stress doesn't touch what I felt as I cut (ack!) my new, most favorite collection of beautiful fabrics with an actual goal (not just to ship an order). There were some other cold-sweat firsts for a Daisy Janie product: darts, topstitching in a mondo contrasting color (in a non-random place), and big, fat grommets (hooray, the press got here yesterday...very fast!). My heart rate was through the roof as I progressed through each step of making this bag, esp. the grommets b/c if they get screwed up, the whole bag is scrapped. I had to swallow hard on the little voice that was telling me, "it's too zany, it's too non-traditional, it's too imperfect." That's when it hit me that this handbag design couldn't be more spot-on for me! Since I know there are more me(s) out there who will like it, too, I forged on! I am in love with this one! The fabrics look better than I imagined, and the frayed edges & frayed knots are totally hip. (Do you know the 'frayed knot' joke - not you Beaner...I know you know it!)

As always, necessity played a big part in the final design. I had to get a handbag done for a charity auction this coming weekend for the Children's Alopecia Project, and I was NOT going to give them any of my clunkers. They've been peddled a-plenty around here. So the debut of the bag will have me excited and jangled, I'm sure. Testing the waters with a new design is always nerve-wracking. I have another one of these to make tomorrow for my sister's fundraiser with her Hadassah group. Then, back to getting my samples D.O.N.E. (Hello? Brownpants? Is that you? Gotta a job for you.)

Using the new grommet press was freakin' awesome! I had to put it on the floor and kneel to get enough leverage so the dies would cut through the fabric layers and the grommets would magically seal. Being on me knees to do this part was a challenge b/c I fell down the steps leaving my day job today!!! What a dork! My shoe got caught in my pant cuff and down I went. My shoe came off, some workers thought their tarp caused the freakish tumble...nope, just me being me! This lady nearby helped me up and put my shoe back on! No playing that one off either, like I meant to do that or that I tripped on something. What in the Sam Hill is my problem - Matt used to call me "AWTH" (accident waiting to happen). Totally bruised ego...and nobody around to laugh hysterically with.

Couldn't get a good scale shot whether I took it or Matt took it. He was laughing too hard at how blurry each one was, after about 25 attempts. (Where was he when I fell down the steps?) Oh brother.

me vs. the brown pants

I have a pair of brown pants. They're from Old Navy. I love them. And they love me. (No, this is not a Barney song.) I wore them on Tuesday, first day off from work for a week. Made a pledge to myself that I would not wear anything else, save my comfy TV attire, until I had all my new purse patterns figured out and all raw materials ordered. I gave myself a deadline of today. The pants are getting pretty gross (peanut shell remnants, olive oil fingerprints, soft-pretzel mustard), but I'm very close - I will forge on in the brown pants (I've showered; they have not!). Maybe there's too much eating going on in these pants and not enough pattern-making!

I have all my thoughts aligned for the patterns and my brain *mostly* wrapped  around my approach for each. With that, I was able to go ahead and order the raw mats. In the past, I would waste $$ ordering things I think I might use or that would come in handy or that I might like to experiement with. Some of those indulgences are now for sale on my etsy site. However, I finally ordered a grommet press! It's an item that I've written consistently on my wishlist from season-to-season, so I didn't feel it was an impulse purchase. I'm not going hardware happy on my handbags b/c that's not my gig, but I do want to add a few select things here and there for utlitarian things. I'll let you know....well, you'll see for yourself on the handbags soon enough!

Hope you're having a great week! Happy Friday!!

art star craft bazaar

Just applied to Art Star in Philly. Show dates are Sat, May 31st and Sun, June 1st. I did this show 2 years ago, and it was a great show for me.

2 funny things about that 2006 show:
1) Jen from Indie Fixx was at the booth next to me - she really *seemed* like a total newbie. It was veeeerrrryyyy windy and rainy the first few hours on Sat, so her nice husband went out and bought her a tent but nothing to hold it down with. Then they spent the entire time taking turns holding it down - I felt badly that I didn't have a cinder block to lend her! During takedown on Sunday, I pinched my finger in my tent pole, and Jen's husband rescued me. He was quite the helper that weekend! Jen was so sweet & unassuming (I'm sure she still is) - who knew Indie Fixx was in the works! What a great resource!

2) Etsy also had a small table there, and some of their peeps were handing out cards and talking it up to anyone who would listen. I was such a craft-snob, and said, "Oh, no thanks, I have my own website." Little did I know what a powerhouse of indie goodness they would become! I guess that's what I get for being on the arts & crafts scene for too so many years - I've been approached by every Tom, Dick and Harry with snake oil and empty promises, trying to get me to do this or that for this fee or that fee. I trained myself to say 'no thanks' without even listening to the pitch anymore.

And I DO have an etsy site, now. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

**Illustration by Julie West, Copyright 2008 Art Star LLC**

first fabric sale!

I have not made a big, fancy, official announcement that my fabric is up on my website or on my etsy site b/c I'm still waiting for 4 more designs to be delivered. And I'm wrapping up some new products for these most delicious fabrics! So, this is a "soft launch" right now. It's there, but I'm not shouting from my rooftop yet. In due time...

Regardless of all that mumbo-jumbo, I did wake this morning to my first fabric sale!! It was Bloom (pictured here). She's one of my fave, fave, faves. But I don't say that out loud...the others will hear and that's not nice! Yippee for Bloom!

fabulously fantastic fabric!

Yes, I like alliterations, and I really, really like starting off the week with special deliveries!

Look! Look! Look! The fabric is here, the fabric is here! 8 of the 12 rolls at least. Forget about my ear-to-ear grin, I'm singin', I'm dancin'!! Cotton-linen blend was def. the way to go - they are so gorgeous! It's a good day!

I'm prepping my website and getting some images taken so's I can load these beauties up - I'll let you know! I'll try to get a couple preview shots, if time allows.

Once these are up, Daisy Janie will have officially moved in a new direction (one I've mentioned more than a year ago...took me that long to wrap my brain around it).

All previous inventory is currently 50-60% off to make room!

new bag style

Hope you had a great weekend! I was wildly productive, making headway on new handbag styles, ordering raw materials, fine-tuning my to-do list (super short-term business plan) from now until August. Feels great. Try it out, why dontcha?!

About this bag: Not sure what to call it yet. It's 18" across, 10" tall, 3" deep and handles have an 8" drop. It's a soft-bottomed bag (no jokes now), and handles are sturdy and tubular. Nice shape and a big flouncy flap with a magnetic snap. No pockets on the inside, just wide-open space. Hooray for that!

Made from carefully pieced together strips of fabric in all sorts of colors (i.e. will go with everything). Flap is a quad patchwork of the same fabrics. There are 4 altogether, with the arrangement of the fabric strips slightly different on each one.

Price: $65

They're not on the website yet (later this week). Email me at info AT daisyjanie DOT com if you'd like to reserve one.

at the printer

[2/19/08 Update: The fabrics are in my hands and will be available at Daisy Janie by Monday, Feb. 25th.]

The next collection of lovely fabric is being printed as we speak! 12 designs inspired all at once by mod, retro, vintage, abstract, bohemian and Mother Nature. I worked my bu** off on these, and gratification does not begin to touch what I'm feeling.

They're being printed on a cotton/linen blend and should be in my hands in early March. I can barely get over myself and my excitement at this point!!

I am back in the sewing room after a long hiatus, and I'm brewing and scheming a few products for these custom fabrics - handbags (of course!), pillows, tea towels, aprons, boxes, __________ - available on a limited, small-scale basis initially. Can't you just see them on everything! (oh, is that just me?!)

Most importantly, I will be offering these fabrics for sale by the quarter yard (18" x 27"), separately or in sets. You can make your own pretty things!! Please send me a note if you're interested already:
info AT daisyjanie DOT com

*designs not to scale

Copyright 2007-2008 Daisy Janie. All rights reserved. Besides stealing is not cool!

another turning point, a fork stuck in the road

Kind of a buzzkill to put up an image that's almost 100% ghosted out, isn't it?. What gives Jan? Basically, I sent out a FedEx package today that was probably the singlemost important item I've ever mailed in my life. It symbolizes a huge turning point for me, my career, my life. Even if the opportunity doesn't pan out, it still means I've gotten where I need to be to continue moving myself forward to a place that I can actually now see. You have no idea how powerful that feels! I've been in the creative arts/design business for about 10 years - I've seen a lot of things in that time. I've also learned a sh*tload! I know that I am where I am today b/c I was willing to work hard, take advantage of opportunities (some that I made myself), deal with nightmares, give up a lot of sleep, go out on a limb, jump from stepping-stone to stepping-stone without ever knowing quite where I would end up. Sometimes it is about the journey, and sometimes you just want to know the E.T.A. darn it! If you would have told me that it would take 10 years to get to your "crazy vision" - I would have said, "Get real!" Yet, here I am. My husband has been ready for Phase II (really Phase V or VI) to begin for about 9 of the 10 years, but back then I didn't know what I didn't know...and now I know it! I will let you know how it turns out...

cross it off the list!

Waaaaaay back in August, I rec'd a wonderfully generous order from the Girl Scouts of Swift Water Council; they serve New Hampshire and part of Vermont. They were looking for cool items to put into a giftset for girls who sell over 500 boxes of Girl Scout cookies! Over 500 boxes! Wow. I couldn't even imagine 25 girls selling 100 boxes, let alone 500 boxes. So guess how many wristlets they ordered? 350!! That's unbelievable to me! I think some may be used in their store, but evenso, that's a lot of cookies no matter how you slice it!

So, I just rec'd all 29 lbs-worth of these wristlets from my sewing contractor in Washington State. And I'm wearing a big dunce cap right now. Why? B/c I have to turnaround and ship all 29  lbs-worth to NH. Why, why, why wasn't I thinking straight?! A colossal waste of my financial resources, and the natural resources to ship them twice. Don't repeat this mistake! If you have a contractor, make sure they do good work (mine does!) so that you can have them ship directly to the retailer. If necessary, have smaller orders shipped back to you for inspection until you've established your contractor's quality level. I've been working with Patty for over a year now; she knows I like things consistently perfect and perfectly consistent. She always comes through!

up to speed

Since I missed Sept and Oct, quick update on what Daisy Janie is doing and some background. I went back into the mind-numbing workforce waaaay back in March. Only part-time but thinking I'd still have plenty-o-time to work on DJ - creating new collections, designs, fabrics. All of it. (And be a good mom, wife, sister, friend, doggie owner, etc.) Took me 4 mos. to figure out I am not Superwoman, and that there's a direct relationship between my multi-tasking in stressful moments and the number of times I need to go to the chiropractor in a one-week time span. Who'd have thunk?

So I took quite a few steps back from DJ, to let the important things rise to the surface and think about which direction I wanted to take - a blessing in disguise. I made a lot of lists and kept coming back again and again to the products themselves, and how much I personally disliked them. Yes, I just said that out loud. I like handbags, just not my own. Don't get me wrong: I know they're adorable and very well-made, but they're not me or my style at all. And why be in business for yourself if you don't like what you're doing? I can work for someone else and be miserable!


With that, I began feverishly designing new styles and new fabrics to construct them from, researching raw materials, crunching numbers, making patterns, etc. And as I designed each new fabric {like this one for my mother-in-law}, I thought, “this would be fab as a tablerunner…this would make a great pillow…this would be a gorgeous curtain.” And that’s when it hit me: I love fabric – I love creating fabric – I love the possibilities of fabric – and I wish I could design fabric all day! Well, I can and so I will. I’ll let someone else (maybe you!) decide what ‘life’ the fabric should have. I’ll probably do a few handbags here and there, but stay on the lookout for funky fabrics (and a few other cool things).

In a nutshell, that's where I'm at. My husband has been saying that I should narrow my focus to fabrics for 2 long years - well, it finally sunk in. Maybe now he'll get some rooms in our house back that DJ slowly gobbled up. Would be nice.

Wish me luck!

back to school, back to work...

...and back to routine! Yahooooo!! This big guy will be heading back as king-of-the-hill this year - a big 4th grader! I don't know how that happened. I must have looked away briefly while he aged 9 years. Oh my.

I love the Fall b/c to me it signifies the real beginning of the year. January 1st doesn't hold a candle to the start of Autumn. New outlooks, new goals, new energy...s'all good!

But then I look at what I've neglected for the past 3 mos, and that frightens me! Can you see it, too? What in the world is that? I have my work cut out for me literally and figuratively! I best get to it. So check in again when you have a chance.