Catching up! My first Art Fair and inside Cloud Nine Studios!

              Hello Everyone! What a busy little bee I have been lately. I am grateful to have a second to breathe now and catch you all up on how my first art fair went! The Fair was from Friday-Sunday. Friday morning was set up from 9am-11am but when I got there they were still mopping the event space! We ended up only having about an hour and a half for set up which made me STRESS big time. When the event started it was like a ghost town. Friday I went home with $6 in sales. 

I felt very defeated.

Saturday came and I showed up with a positive attitude ready to hustle my stuff! I rearranged my booth a little to help the flow of traffic enter easier and I lowered my prices to see if it made some difference. Thankfully, the amount of people walking around was amazing! I was starting to see which things people were consistently drawn to in my booth and what was selling and not. I left Saturday with breaking even for the fair. I was happy with my decisions and feeling more confident about my work and space. 

Sunday rolled around and going into the day I was already even for the weekend. So anything that I sold was profit. This made it a little easier for me to let go of pieces for an even lower price. At first I was stubborn in my pricing but then I realized I can just make more of them and the more I sold the better I would feel about my first show. The traffic was a little slower again on Sunday but I end up about $100 plus for the weekend. 

(Mikaela and her homemade dog treats)

For my first fair I am extremely proud. My goal was to at least break even and get some great experience and advertising and I ended up in sales. I now know what people are interested in and what works for displaying my pieces and what doesn't work. Selling online is very different then selling in person. I had used a lot of strategies that I would for selling online at first at the fair and quickly realized the differences!

I was able to meet some great artists and people walking through. I handed out a TON of businesses cards and have some possible commissions that I am hoping will follow up! I am so grateful for all the help that my boyfriend George was able to do for me. I am so lucky to have someone who fully supports me and is always there if I need him. Also a HUGE thank you to my room mate Jessica for taking time out of her day off the help me set up! She really kept me in check when I wanted to break down before it even all started. 

My goal this week is to update my Etsy shop and list everything that I photographed before the show so if people decide to find me from my business card that everything is looking up to date and professional! I have a lot of work ahead of me but I feel only good vibes from the whole experience.....except for the parking ticket I got trying to unload my car! Oops. Oh well! 

Click here for my ETSY SHOP!

I should be back on schedule for the blogs now! Be sure to check out my Etsy for all the new items and updates! Also be sure to click the subscribe button on the top right of this page if you liked this blog and want more!

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Recycled Sweater Coat- 2XL by - LauraAnnLyon

Song of the Day:

U2 - Beautiful Day

Color of the Day:

Little Angel

DIY - PAINT BRUSH CLEANER (Made with hot glue gun)

It has been a weird couple of days but also an AMAZING couple of days. My love took me away for a night to the west side of Michigan with another couple. We stayed in an amazing castle and saw my favorite band Lake Street Dive. It was a magical two days and I felt very inspired and in love.

(Click here for more on that image)

Since I have been away all weekend I wanted to use my last day off to really get things done in my studio. I entered the room this morning and felt SO OVERWHELMED. There were things everywhere. I have started so many pieces and each are different mediums. I just couldn't get my thoughts together so I decided it was time to clean and reorganize everything.

(Click here for more on this image)

I started by getting all the random trash out and creating more space. I felt cramped and anxious and now I feel free! I had also been putting off cleaning a ton of my brushes that were just sitting in old mineral spirits. I was actually convinced I had ruined all of them because they had been sitting there for so long. I remembered this great idea I saw and decided to make one of my own!

I understand that this video was made for make-up brushes but it works the same for paintbrushes. I made one on a metal tray that I had left lying around. It works so well I wish I had more brushes to clean. I not only saved every single brush I don't think they have ever been this clean. It took maybe ten minutes to make and if you are an artist with deals with paintbrushes of any kind I DEFINITELY recommend making one of these.

(Click for more on this image)

ANYWAY! Now that everything is clean and has a place I am going to organize my inventory on paper which is something I have never done before. I want to do this because like I already mentioned I keep starting all these little pieces for the DIY Art Fair but not finishing them and I feel all over the place. I want to know exactly what I have and how many of each so I can focus on what I want to have for the fair. I know as of now that I probably need to at least DOUBLE my inventory which is terrifying but I know if I can just get my thoughts straight I will make it happen.

(Click here for more on this image)

Before I left for the weekend adventure I did however finish my lovely little Alice in Wonderland inspired Watercolor piece! Sometimes I make pieces and I think "oh, that's cute.....moving on" but every now and again I make something I love and it might be vain but I CAN NOT stop looking at it. I really want to make more pieces like this and get prints to sell but I feel like I need to stick with what I can do for the fair for now and after this month dive a little deeper into my watercolor ideas.

(Click for more on this image)

So that's all I have for today. I really want to get to work in here now that it's cleaned up but I wanted to make sure I blogged since I couldn't while I was away. I hope you all have a wonderland day!

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

USB flash drive 8 GB, kawaii blue cat, cat with constellation big dipper, back to school , cobalt cat usb flash by - CloverPower

Song of the Day:

Garden Sessions: Lake Street Dive - "Look At What Mistake" - Radio Woodstock

Color of the Day:

 BENJAMIN MOORE CORLSBUD CANYON 076

Why everyone should be coloring.

When is the last time you remember coloring? Not drawing, doodling, or painting, but actually coloring in a coloring book. Well I'll cut to the chase...I colored last night and it was AMAZING! Coloring is the most calming and grounding thing for me besides meditating. Speaking of meditating......

I believe coloring is a form of meditation. So for all of you out there who want to meditate but have tried sitting with your eyes closed and felt unsuccessful at clearing your mind, TRY COLORING! You can go as easy as a color by number so you really don't have to think or step it up and get a more detailed coloring book with beautifully detailed images. Just sitting down, relaxing and staring at a page and the colors will definitely put you in a meditative trance. Don't believe me?! Give it a try!

Thursday's are very important days for me. Every week I spend time over at my grandma's house aka gramcrackers. She's my best bud. We normally talk and drink tea together. For the last couple of months I have been working on finishing a large wall mural for her but it got too late for me to work on it so we decided to color. 

(Click for more on this image)

My grandmother LOVES to color. It is something her and my papa use to do when they went down to Gulf Shores Alabama on vacation. They would sit together and color. He used colored pencils and she used markers. She still enjoys this very much even though he has now passed. She has been sick for about a week so she has really been in a coloring frenzy! I took her to a local craft store and helped her STEP UP HER COLOR GAME! We got her fun new markers and some more advanced coloring books. 

(Gramcracker's new marker set for under $15)

(Gramcracker's new coloring books! More advanced than color by number and under $15)

Here are a few great coloring finds I stumbled across on ETSY! Check out these wonderful coloring books! Oh the possibilities are just endless. There are little ones and detailed ones and buying something on Etsy helps support small businesses! 

(Click here for more on this image)

 (Click here for more on this image)

 (Click here for more on this image)

(Click here for more on this image)

Don't know what to color with? Here are also some really great things found on Etsy to color with. You can buy more expensive markers like Copic or use great wooden rustic colored pencils! Check out the links below for the wonderful Etsy products to take your coloring to the next level!

 (Click here for more on this image)

 (Click here for more on this image)

(Click here for more on this image)

(Click here for more on this image)

ANYWAYS! She worked on her color by number and I took one of the more advanced books and tried blending some of the colors together. We stuck on some meditation music and just relaxed into the pages of our books. You don't have to put on meditation music any music will do! If you want to sit in silence you can do that as well but music makes it easier for me to really relax and smile.

Kevin Braheny - Galaxies

Coloring can make you feel free and child-like again and is an easy think for people to do to awaken their creative bones! Even those who consider themselves "can't even draw a stick figure" people, can color. In fact those who do recognize themselves as not-so artistic should really be the ones getting on the crazy coloring train! Free yourself people! 

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Bracelet from colored pencils by - carbickova

Song of the Day:

Feist - The Water

Color of the Day:

Inner Glow by Benjamin Moore

How to prepare for holidays on Etsy!

(Click for more on this image)

Good Afternoon everyone! It's my favorite kind of weather here in Metro Detroit Michigan.

Yep you guessed it....Overcast and gloomy! I am working on editing images if a few special wine bottle pieces that will be going up on my Etsy shop!

(Click for more on this image)

I started painting wine bottles a few years ago when I didn't have a space to really paint or make art in. The wine bottles didn't take up much room and I could finish one pretty quickly because I didn't have much time when I was working and going to school. 

Trying to sell items online can be hard. It helps to take advantage of the holidays with making themed items for them. Wine bottles was a fun and easy way for me to do this! The thing that I have realized is that making items for the holidays takes a ton of time! 

(Check out this beautiful watercolor calendar!)

So I have come up with a system that helps me prepare! First I got a great calendar and put it somewhere I will look at everyday. Next I went through the calendar and marked each holiday with some sort of highlighter or marker. 

Then I turned back 1 month from a holiday and marked that day with a due date for getting that holiday work up online! That way I will have a whole month to promote my items! Who is going to buy a decoration the day before a holiday? It wouldn't even get to them in time! So putting them up at least a month early will really help with actually getting sales! 

After I went from that date and turned it back another month! I marked all of those dates in my calendar so that it is a reminder for starting to create products for that holiday! Nobody is thinking in August that they should start making Halloween products but this reminder date will help give you enough time to create products without too much stress!

It's exciting starting holiday items so early! It gets me in the spirit and since it's still summer and I am already thinking of fun fall festivities I am really pumping myself up for the new season! Everyone complains about stores putting out holiday decorations so early but I enjoy seeing it. 

Well today's blog is kind of a short one I will try to have tomorrow's be a little longer, but I hope this helps some of you properly prep for a successful holiday online store! 

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Jewelry Organizer Wood Wall Hanging Display Holder Necklace Earring Storage Jewlery Organization Frame With Shelf FREE SHIPPING by - DivaDisplay

Song of the Day:

The Temper Trap - Soldier On

Color of the Day:

BENJAMIN MOORE GARDEN CUCUMBER 644