I'm still here...but I'm tired and cranky.
Well, I'm more tired than cranky. I have some fun news. Drum roll please.......(me making drum roll sound...everyone in my office looking at me like I'm nuts). My stationery company Blue Pumpkin Press will be showing at Surtex next week! Listen, can you hear the crashing of the symbols? (at the end of the drum roll : ) So you are probably wondering...ok, you have a stationery company but your showing at Surtex? This is a very good point. My partner Jessica and I decided a while ago not to show at The Stationery Show. We felt like it was too big of an expensive risk at this point, plus we were getting conflicting opinions from people in the industry and store owners about the benefits of The Stationery Show.
Anyway, about 3 weeks ago I decided on a whim to contact a licensing rep that a friend of mine had just signed with. I went into this phone call with no expectations, just said what the hell let's try it out. The rep wasn't taking on any new artists but she was able to refer me to a friend of hers that also had a booth at Surtex. So, I contacted this new person and I have been a crazed loon ever since. The licensing agency is LW Associates. Libby Wilkie is the rep as well as an artist. She loved our work and agreed to show us at Surtex.
The news of this was so exciting, but the reality of the work that needed to be done was something totally different. Let's start with problem #1. My wide format printer was broken and HP wanted $400.00 to fix it...yup you heard me right. So we made the decision to buy a new printer. FedeX couldn't find my address so I had to drive a half hour to go pick it up. Once I set it up, I needed to color correct EVERYTHING! because I print the stationery designs on my smaller Epson. This was a nightmare, because I got all crazy and flustered. I started playing with my color settings and my monitor display and still couldn't get my colors right....then came the bugs.
My Illustrator program started telling me that I didn't have enough memory and stopped working. Luckily Jessica's husband is a computer genius and discovered that I had a bug. He dumped my preferences and we were back in business. As I am being told I have a bug in my computer, I notice I have a couple bugs flying around my head...I look down at my tablet and there are a few squashed bugs on my drawing pen! I look up and there are thousands of nat's swarming above my head. I called my husband (more like screamed) and he came in looked over the situation and calmly said..."Oh there must have been a hatch" A HATCH ? What the heck is a hatch and what is it doing in my studio? Anyway, he told me to turn out the lights, go to bed and they would be gone tomorrow. So I did.
The next night after work I entered my studio, cleaned up the dead bugs and tried to figure out why I was having so many issues. I had less than 2 weeks to pull this all together. I started thinking about what my energy was like through all of this. I also started to reflect on my mind chatter. It wasn't good. That little voice in my head was also very hard at work. It was telling me how I wasn't good enough, that I had some nerve thinking that my work could compete with the other way more talented artists and designer showing at Surtex. Then of coarse it went for my horrible self image, all the bad things were laid out on the table. It was winning.
I was so wrapped up in the problems I was having I didn't even notice the abuse my mind was putting me through.
So, I regrouped, gave myself a big hug and softly said "I can do this". The energy shifted, you could feel it move. I got out of the way and let the new energy flow. The printer issue was gone, I reset all of my settings and got a grip on myself and was able to see clearly. Things have been rolling smoothly ever since.
I have been working around the clock for 2 weeks now and am exhausted. Plus, I have my full time job to deal with too.
Basically, I have taken all of our stationery designs and made them into 12x12" squares/repeats. I also designed coordinating pattern, and colorways for the designs and am introducing some new designs that came out of all of this. I believe there are well over 100 patterns. I then took some of those patterns and made product sheets from them. You know... what that design would look like on paper products, linens, scrapbooking, etc. I also am making boards and if I have time I would love to make some mock ups, but I am running out of time. I have to deliver everything on Saturday and the show starts on Sunday. Oh, and I have nothing to wear!!!! I will be there Sunday-Tuesday. Jess and I plan on walking the Stationery Show and will be spending the remainder of our time at the Surtex booth. I would love for you to come and see me if you are at Javits! We will be at booth 910, it is on the second floor of Surtex in the back against the windows. Below is our reps contact information. Wish us luck! I am going into this with good thoughts and no expectations...nothing more. This, or something better, now exists for me, for the highest good of all concerned.
