Banner Update...

I was able to get to the store and get some black, white, and blue paint to finish my banner!

I wasn't sure if I was going to do the blue in the background. I'd considered leaving the plain canvas as the background. But, in trying to hide some of my stray tracing marks I'd made with washable marker, I ended up making it worse when the paint caused the marker to smear into the paint. So CJ suggested doing a blue "swish" in the background in order to hide the mistake. And I'm really happy with how it ultimately turned out. I'm glad I have some blue in there after all.

I hope having the website at the bottom helps make it clear that there are supposed to be 2 A's. (the white one that belongs to the end of "Kira" and the second one, larger and in black for the beginning of "Arts") A lot of people think there is only one A, and the business name is "KirArts" (instead of KiraArts), because of how I designed the logo and placed the 2 A's overlapping. I never though of that when I first designed it. I'm stubborn though and I like my logo. If I ever do a redesign, I may change it a little. But most of my branding stuff has been done with this logo, so I'm going to plan on keeping it for awhile. I've already changed the monster once. The original monster in the logo had yellow eyes that were looking towards the text. I decided to change the eyes to being completely black (with white "reflection" marks) and different sizes to make it look more like the Nubbins. I think it's slightly more engaging too, since the monster looks like it is looking right at you, rather than off to the side and looking at the text.

Anyway...enough graphic designer jabber from me! I just can't wait to see how this looks at my booth! :D

Banner

Working on a banner for my booth at the 4th of July craft show. I cut a strip from a canvas drop cloth and used my opaque projector (similar to this one)to trace my logo onto it last night. I'm painting it today (although I can't seem to find my black paint! Arg! So I have to go out this afternoon and buy some!)

I am planning on ordering a professional banner at some point. I just wanted to have one ready for this weekend. Although, I may end up liking the whole handmade look (since handmade is the basis of my business and all!) We shall see I guess.

Unexpected gifts

I got a lovely, unexpected surprise gift recently from Nicole, my brother's girlfriend...

I came home last week and found an envelope on my front porch. It was addressed to me and was from Zazzle.com. I was confused, thinking "What? I didn't order anything from Zazzle!" When I opened it, I found 5 sheets of address labels with my KiraArts logo on it. My confusion continued until I found this message on the invoice...

Awww! That was so nice of her!

A few days later, I came home and found another envelope from Zazzle on the porch! "What?" Again, it turned out to be from Nicole. And this one had KiraArts postage stamps in it!

Pretty sweet huh? I can't wait to use these on something!

RNEST Logo Update

I've been working on the RNEST logo some more. They turned out agreeing on using mine...mostly because no one else submitted any. There were some notes from September's meeting (which I was not able to attend) about the logo...that they wanted a color version. I was stuck on using the Hand version I had done and was getting frustrated with trying to color it. The best I had come up with was the version below, but I was still not satisfied with it. It just didn't look right to me.

October's meeting was last night and I was able to attend. We talked about the logo and the difficulty I had been having with figuring out a color version. It tuns out I was trying to make it too complex. For one thing, they liked the most basic logo (the one with no extra graphics). They agreed that it was hard to make a "color version", but someone had the brilliant idea of just putting a colored "swish" behind it. Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that? (oh...that's right, because I was trying to make things too complicated!)

So pulled out my laptop and whipped up a quick "swishy" version while we moved onto other business. They loved it. Then when I got home, I came up with this version with colors for Halloween (when I asked about color scheme at the meeting, they said it would be cool to just change it with the seasons).

I did another version with a little spider for some extra Halloweeny spookiness...

A square avatar/icon version with just the "R" was also requested...

The other night, I was taking a break from the frustration of colorizing the logo. I was looking at new fonts on DaFont.com and after finding some new, crafty fonts, I was playing around and came up with this alternate version of the logo...

It's a bit edgier looking, I think. I don't think we'll change to this logo or anything. I didn't even really bring it up at the meeting. I really just wanted an excuse to play around and use some of the new fonts...particularly that button "R".

RNEST Logo

I've been working on a logo for a craft community I'm a part of called RNEST (Rochester NY Etsy Street Team). At the last team meeting (which I actually made it to!), we talked about designing a logo for the team, and having a contest among the members to determine what logo we would end up with. I am a graphic designer (it's what I actually went to school for) so I got all excited and have been working on my submissions. I have one central "RNEST" design...

And I have 2 more elaborate designs that include the basic design. My main goal was to encapsulate as many craft types as I could, since the team has members who work in many different crafts and mediums. It's challenging to come up with a way to say "handmade" visually without sticking with one particular craft...like sewing or knitting.

(I used Adobe Illustrator for these and "drew" most of the aspects freehand. I'm a big fan of the "fude" brushstroke. The only non-brushstroke aspects are the R and the main part of the E...where I used a font for the text. And obviously, the "Rochester NY Etsy Street Team" part is a font.)

I'm leaning toward liking the "hand" one better (the first one). We'll just have to see which one my fellow RNESTers like...If any! Another artist might make a logo better than either of mine. Which do YOU like better? (tell me in the comments!)

KiraArts Etsy Shop Logo

Here's a sneak preview of my Etsy shop logo. I just designed it today. What do you think?

Here's a second version...probably for a business card.

Don't get too excited...the shop isn't up quite yet. But soon...

Encouragement & Issues

Sometimes I get nervous that no one will buy my work if I start an Etsy shop. But this article on Etsy's "The Storque" has encouraged me some. The only thing that intimidates me is that there are so many plush artists out there. I get paranoid that my stuff isn't unique or well made enough, and that I will get lost in the fray of the monstrous number of plushie makers out there.

I'm also trying to make myself a name & logo for my shop and I keep running into a snafoo. I have two main things that I do...sock monsters and paintings. But they tend to be on different sides of the spectrum from each other. My monsters are wacky and whimsical, but my paintings are more serious. And I'm having trouble figuring out a logo that represents them both and doesn't lean too far one way of the other.

Business Name Change

I decided to look up "green baby" on Google to see if any other businesses already had the name. Well...unfortunately, one does. There is already a company named Green Baby that sells various baby products (http://www.greenbabyco.com/ ). I wasn't sure if it would matter since we're a diaper service and not a product compay. But we've decided not to risk it and changed the name to "Green Bottoms" instead (which I looked up and is not taken as far as I know) and I edited the logo.

It's so easy being Green!

Rachel (my friend and downstairs neighbor) approached me this week with an idea of being partners in starting a diaper service for people who use cloth diapers. She has used cloth diapers for her kids and comes in contact all the time with other moms in the cloth diaper "movement". And the subject of a diaper service (or lack thereof in this area) always comes up. So we know there's a demand for it in our area.
Using cloth diapers is cheaper than constantly having to buy disposables, plus it's better for the environment. And with more and more people going "Green" and being so environmentally conscious nowadays...that's a big plus. We actually are playing off of that concept in our company name..."Green Baby" Diaper Service...with a tagline "Making it easy to be green!"

Right now, Rachel is doing the business end of things by figuring startup costs and I'm doing the creative side of things by naming the business (which was actually a joint venture), designing the logo and enlisting my computer-genius husband to help me with setting up the website. I had an image for a logo pop into my head last night during church and I drew up a sketch in my notebook last night and cleaned it up and drew it in Illustrator today when I got home from work. I'm really happy with it...and everyone else I've shown it to is too!

I made the diaper green instead of the whole baby. A literal green baby is just a little too "Shrek".

Don't you just love the little recycling logo on the bum!

We're still in the preliminary planning stages and have no idea when this business venture will actually officially start...it could be in a few months, it could be this summer (when I'm off from work), or it could be next year. Who knows? But I'm excited. I love the idea of working from home and having a home business. And the diaper service could be some "solid" money coming in when I finally decide to sell my sock monsters and other crafts on Etsy (every time anyone new sees one of my sock monsters, they say "you should sell these!", and about 1 out of 5 will mention Etsy)