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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

How to prepare for holidays on Etsy!

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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!

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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

Finding Time for Art.

    Hello! Last night I unfortunately wrote out an entire blog and then when I went to post it and the whole blog deleted!! I was so upset. I stayed up just to make sure I could get one out and I couldn't stay up anymore. So here we are. What should we talk about today? 

                                              TIME TIME WHOSE GOT THE TIME!?!?!

Yesterday I had such a busy day. I had my first day back at work after being off for almost 2 weeks. After that I spend a few hours in a car dealership with my grandmother and father and I took home a new 2015 Ford Escape (which I named Ruby for her color). By the time I got home I was exhausted and just wanted to curl up in bed and play on my phone or tablet. 

(Some new Disc Golf minis or Coasters)

      Instead I decided to hit my studio for at least an hour. Now whenever I plan to do this most of the time one of two things normally happen. I either sit down and end up getting sucked into something for much longer than I planned messing up my schedule for things afterwards, or I sit there trying to start or work on something for only an hour and end up wasting my time and getting nothing done.

         Yesterday neither of those two things happened! It was a great breakthrough with me and my art. As I wrote about in a recent blog I am planning on doing the Ferndale DIY Art Festival. So I have two months or so to come up with a comfortable amount of stock inventory to do well. I think mentality has really effected my work process for the better. Finding time to do art when there is no reason to other then personal satisfaction is much harder for me than when I have due dates and time lines that I need to meet.

(Check out this lovely little Etsy item that fit perfectly for today's topic!)

        Finding time for art can be hard even if it is something that you want to do. Setting goals and deadlines is crucial for making sure you set aside even a small amount of time dedicated to art. It could be a goal of everyday do something whether it's working on that pencil drawing you've been trying to finish for weeks or doing a small doodle on a napkin while out at the bar with friends. Whatever your goals are make sure you stick to them!! This will make it easier to find time for art.

I am obviously no expert on this subject but I can tell you what has worked and not worked for me. What are some of your problems or struggles with finding time for art? Is it a young baby taking up your time and focus? Is it your strong will to procrastinate or distract yourself with other things? No matter what the excuse for finding time for you and your art I have come up with this list to help you FIND TIME!

I am going to create another post today to make up for yesterday giving you a list of ways to help you find time to make art!

Stay Tuned! - Dream Away!

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Thinking about participating in an art fair?

        It's an early night for me tonight as I lay in bed rest for some sleep. I want to make sure I'm really rested to wake up tomorrow and be fully ready for my day ahead, so today might be a shorter blog since I'm feeling the sandman already trying to wisk me away. 

         I have an opportunity at the end of next month to participate in an outdoor art fair that is very DIY friendly, in fact it's encouraged. I have never been apart of an art fair and am apprehensive and motivated at the same time.      

     Being apart of an art fair can be very rewarding if you have a great booth with great products in a great location; so long as it doesn't rain out or have poor attendance. I have always felt that the type of art I produce would sell really well at a fair.

           Any artist thinking about doing a fair needs to take in account that you have to take off work all weekend. So you want to try and make at least as much as you would at your normal job to make it worth it. Also there is normally a booth fee to just be there as an artist and sell work. So if you think your inventory of work can sell more than the time you might take off and to pay off your booth fee then you are off to a great start!

 

Another thing to think about is the networking opportunities that an art fair provides. So maybe you don't make quite enough to break even for the weekend like you thought. The contacts you made with the other artists or people walking in the fair,  might pay off triple that in the long run! That alone makes a strong agreement to why it's always a great idea to do an art fair if possible. 

            I have been to many art fairs and some I've had some money in my pocket I was willing to spend and other times I have had little to nothing,  but I've always seemed to walk away with at least one item. When setting up inventory for an art fair I think it is extremely important to make sure you have a wide variety of different priced items. If you bring all large and high priced pieces you may bomb because the people walking around only have $20 in their pocket and they want to spend it but can take on your pieces because you only brought your best and most expensive work. So think variety in size and price.

         My current inventory is a decent size and when I get home after this week if I decide to go in on  this fair I will really start turning out some work to make sure I have a sizable stock. Anyone have some pointers they can give me that I haven't already covered? Is anyone thinking about doing their first art fair too but don't know where to start?

                                        Until tomorrow - Dream Away 
                                                 Samantha Menzo 
                                               Cloud Nine Studios