Etsy Workout

I've been working hard on my Etsy shop. In particular, I have been beefing up my collage sheets of ATC backgrounds. I'm never sure how far to go with these. They are backgrounds after all. I want to leave some room for creativity.  If you want, stop by and check it out.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/NeonSun

Feel free to comment on them or convo me. These are some I've worked on in the last few days.

© Neonsun studio, J. Currie All right reserved 2011

New Design on My Blog

Yes. You're in the right place. I thought I'd try something new.  Thanks for checking in.

One more ATC.

I Have a Facebook Page & Other Random News

In an attempt to flog my Etsy shop and sell prints I've started a Facebook page. It's working well. I've already had 5 new hits on my page and 17 likes in about an hour or so. You might want to try it for your blog. The like button is on the top right of my blog.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/NeonSun-Studios/118553958205893

I'm looking to buy the full version of photoshop. You'll see another Etsy widget on my blog that I'm trying out. Also I've re-designed my Etsy shop and added a few prints.

There is a new banner on my page. It's for Art Trader magazine. They accept art and print submissions. I don't know if they pay or if, it is for the glory of seeing your work in print on the web.
http://www.arttradermag.com/

Also I've discovered that there is a company that offers cruises and trips for crafters. Yes, lucky you; cruising and crafting. Quite pricey though. Sounds like a great idea to me. Tim Holtz offers yearly craft cruises with supplies included.
http://scrapmap.com/tours/caribbean_0911.html

Last but not least I checked out some You Tube videos on copic markers. I'm thinking of buying some. You can do great things with these markers. This link will get you started.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sSA6nL_iPI

This is an ATC made for a trade that I could only use magazine clippings. Thank you National Geographic:

©NeonSun Studios. Jody Currie All right reserved 2010

Thank You Mutsie

I was at Brusheezy the other night. As you may or may not know, you can load new brushes into Elements or PS. Brusheezy is a good place to start. You can also make your own brushes. If you make some, you can post them there as well. I found some great ones there by Mutsi, so I made some Mutsi backgrounds for ATCs for people to share. Also I just like the sound of her name, Mutsi. So it gives me the opportunity to say it a lot. Here's a few of the backgrounds.

 

 

I made a couple of cards with the backgrounds and Kathleen Holley made one that she lent me for this post.

© 2010 NeonSun Studios

© 2010 Kathleen Holley

So as you can see the love keeps spreading. 

Thank you Mutsi. Love that name.

http://www.brusheezy.com/Brushes/1601-Banner-Brushes#

Please Mr. Postman

It's been a busy month. In the last month I:

- joined an ATC Trading group on Yahoo

-  set up a Flickr account for Trading cards (100 views on one set)

- made a website

- started to work with photoshop

- started a blog

- participated in 3 swaps

- made 15 private trades

- made 45 ATCs

- Got to know the guy at Canada Post.

So, suddenly I show up at Canada Post to mail a bulky envelope to another country. Then the next day the same thing; and on it goes. Maybe it was me, but I couldn't help feeling he was becoming suspicous. Then (because we're Canadian) there were polite enquires about the nature of the bulky envelopes. Perhaps he'd taken a workshop at Canada Post titled, "Why middle aged women smuggle drugs through the mail". I would politely (because I'm Canadian) provide him with small scraps of information on the contents of the envelopes. I wasn't trying to be elusive; I just didn't want to hold up the line because...

Yesterday, I tried to explain what I was doing. He looked perplexed. The woman in line holding a small baby cleared her throat in a meaningful way. I left.

Today I brought some ATCs for him to look at. No one was there, so it was perfect. I elaborated and explained how it all worked. Maybe it was my imagination, but he seemed to be relieved. At last the cloud of suspicion was being lifted. It was going so well.

Then, behind me I heard someone politely cough.

And what About the ATCs?

Most of the work I do, is making Artist Trading Cards. I like to keep a good mix of handmade and digital. Someone asked me yesterday where my handmade one were. While compiling them I realized that I was suffering a severe shortage. So today I made a few more. I'll show you a few here. If you want to see scads of them, proceed to the website listed below. It looks as if that might be my home for ATCS.

http://sites.google.com/site/randomatcs/home

In the end I couldn't resist going into PS; while there, I made this.

                                   The Seagulls are up and squawking. Time to go to sleep.

© 2010 NeonSun Studios