Art Makes a Wonderful Holiday Gift- All of my Paintings Have Been Marked Down by 25% or more

O.K. so here I go......maybe it's a good ole Southern girl thing, but I HATE promoting myself. I was taught to not toot my own horn but wait for it to come from others- a "good old Southern value" indeed, but not so great for business purposes.......Even though I really believe in my work, tho' THAT took a long time to accomplish as well.   So here's the first in a series of postings sharing my holiday specials.

In addition to all paintings being marked down for the holidays I am also offering:
Free Shipping for all items in my Etsy Shop
Black Friday~ Cyber Monday Special
All Journals and Altered Books are BOGO- Buy One Item, get the Second at Half Price!

"Metamorphois 02- Becoming" Regularly $65.00 ~Holiday Special $55.20

"Interlude" Regularly $198.00 ~ Holiday Special for $165.00

"Klimtishness" Regularly $325.00 ~ Holiday Special for $187.00

"Parrot Tulips en Masse" Regularly $165.00 ~Holiday Special $125.00

"Metamorphosis- Through the Veil" Regularly $65.00 ~Holiday Special $55.20

"Moonlight Serenade Parrot Tulip in White" Regularly $87.00 ~Holiday Special $69.00

"Feminine Mystique" Regularly $300~ Holiday Special $175.00



"Apricot Beauty" Regularly $95.00~ Holiday Special $72.00

So, there you have it, my first attempt at self promotion via my blog!  I'll be doing another posting for my Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale........

Cheers,

Stephanie

Have you marked down your prices on Etsy for the Holiday Season?

"Feminine Mystique" 40% off until January!

You might notice that I did not use the word "sale" in my title.....it's because of this post I read yesterday in the Etsy forums:

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6685824
which starts with a quote from one of the admins,
"We're making these changes to make it easier for sellers to use Etsy On Sale. However, yes, it appears that even having the word "Sale" in an item title may negatively affect Google Shopping search results. So, sellers should choose their titles wisely."

I scheduled a holiday sale on Etsy On Sale and the first thing it did was rename all my listings to begin with "Holiday Sale". At the time, I thought that was a good thing until I read this post and all of the comments that followed. I would have thought having the word "sale" in your title would HELP you........so I Googled myself with the terms "stefny68 holiday sale" and the only relevant results I got were from blog posts- mostly from LAST Christmas!

SO, I used Craftopolis' handy little bulk editing tool to remove those pesky terms from all of my titles and now, when I Google myself, it does pull them! I DO still have all my items tagged with Holiday Sale and Free Shipping which evidently is not problematic! I'm quite confused, but SO glad I ran across this, because I would really like to have a nice Etsy season like I did last year!
And just to warn you guys, I probably will be doing a posting featuring my holiday specials- I hate self promotion it feels all "look at me, look at me...." but, evidently, a lot of people find Etsy stuff through Google searches and I want to make sure that they are linked!

Cheers and some Wednesday love to all bloggy friends,

Stephanie

What's UP in the Studio- A Bit More Midnight in the Garden

Here's a little more, I was only able to work for a couple of hours yesterday due to the constraints of domestic duties......however, today is ALL mine for painting- at least until 3:30! So, perhaps, I'll get close to finishing today- I'm really ready to work on making the statue all old and mossy :D

Please excuse my feet in this one ;)

Here's to having a creative, upbeat kinda day!

Cheers,

Stephanie

Silent Sunday- Better a little late, than not at all......

What's UP in the Studio- Progress on "Midnight in the Garden"

Hello all, I actually made a LOT of progress on my new painting these last couple of days. Tho' I'm pretty sure that I won't be done for IA's new challenge :) I do have something else I can use so it's not that big a deal....This particular painting is the biggest canvas I've ever worked with- it's 16" x 20" which doesn't sound that big, but for me, it's approaching HUGE! Anyway, here's what I have so far, and dare I say it without jinxing myself? I'm VERY happy with the way it's going!

So that's all for now, I'm off to get some more work done!
Happy a great day!
Stephanie

I feel like I've been missing in action.....!

Sorry it's been so long since I wrote anything. It's been crazy around here! My Mom and I host a home a Home Show twice a year and last week was our Fall show. So, while I've managed to poke my head in around other people's blogs and leave the occasional comment, I haven't had time to do anything on my own blog; not even Silent Sunday!
Right now, I'm trying to plan my entry for our new theme at Inspiration Avenue- Community and how it realates to food. Tough one! Plus, I need to get going on my new painting, so I'm trying to combine the two! AND, once again, I've got artist's block........
Here are a couple of pictures I took at the Atlanta Flower Show, that I'm thinking of trying to make work:

I'm not even sure how I can make this work with the theme, but I'm hoping once I get going with the painting I'll be more able to make it work. I think half my problem is that it's been a couple of weeks since my last painting, and I'm in some kind of withdrawal.....

Sorry for the bleccky mood.....

Hope everyone else is having a great day at least!

Stephanie

Weekly Challenge- "Create"

I love it when the weekly challenges match up with what I'm already working on! In this case, Tammy made the challenge relatively open ended with a nice long list of possible themes and her only caveat was that it had to be aged or vintage-y......so I decided that my vintage "center piece" for my Queen of Hearts chapeau was just the ticket! 
I used an image of an antique Queen of hearts playing card and mounted it on a doily.  Trimmed with a bit of red textile and mounted THAT on a piece of cardboard that I'd painted red and covered with micro glass beads.

My hat, cape and necklace

Peri was fascinated with my hat...

In hindsight, I wish I'd NOT used the white face make up it made my cheeks look weird in the pictures- but I'd wanted the heart on the lips to show up......and truthfully, I'm not wild about me with Heart lips as it is......ah well- maybe next time,I'll leave well enough alone!

but  there you go- my entry for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue AND my costume reveal as promised!  Pop over to Inspiration Avenue to see what everyone else whipped up for the challenge!  I'm sure the entries will be beautifully varied as always!
Happy Halloween for those of you who celebrate it~
Stephanie