Stamps and Stickers

This week I was watching a YouTube video on an Etsy Store Tips and I happened to notice that the girl had a custom rubber stamp that she used on post-it notes to attach to each of her orders that thanked them for their business. Crazy Fridays-Fran Meneses

I thought that was just a really great idea, so I placed an order for one of my own custom stamp to use. I liken this investment to the idea that "if you build it they will come." I'm stepping out in faith here and getting ready for the increase Etsy sales I believe will soon be coming my way.

I decided to support another local Etsy Business (Stampcouture) with my order and now I am so excitedly waiting for my own custom stamp to arrive.

Speaking of Etsy sales, I happened to do a search this week on what items sell the best on Etsy and was shocked to find out that this particular article listed STICKERS as the number one seller. Here is the link to the article if you want to check it out for yourself. What Sells Best on Etsy

I have been toying with stickers and talking about stickers for a few months now but when I took a look at the specific Etsy store highlighted in the article and consider the phenomenal sales, this 16 year old high school girl has sold over 86,000 sheets of her hand drawn emoji stickers since the store opened in 2016. That blows my mind. Go a head and check out her store and all her cute inventory. The store is is called: TheCoffeeMonsterzCO.

I can't help but think how I need to get busy turning my artwork into stickers that can be used in planners. I had some time today and worked up a few of these garden designs just to see how they might work as stickers. I LOVE the Pink Peony and the sun bonnets. This was a lot of fun today and I hope they can prove to be sticker material.

Stuck on You Like Gum on Your Shoe

These Stickers are the best of fun

Just plop them on and you are done

These stickers are making the world a brighter place

I’m just doing my part to help the human race

Can you tell I'm just a bit excited about making my new stickers?  I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I have been fascinated with stickers for sometime.  Not just any stickers.  I know that there are a group of people that are crazy about stickers and have sticker collections.

They are cheerful and pretty much brighten up any surface that you apply them to.  I should clarify....When my niece, our last child at home moved out to leave Brad and I to finally enjoy the empty nest we found that she had put a number of cheap stickers on her beautiful solid wood dresser.  I was not happy about that to say the least so PLEASE USE THESE STICKERS RESPONSIBLY!


So applied correctly to notebooks, laptops, books, journals, planners and such they are a really nice touch.  So this week I took the step to start making my own stickers using my original artwork.  Now that is a sticker I can get excited about.  I chose 4 of my farm animal sketches to begin with.  I purchased an inexpensive laminator and a 100 sheets of matte sticker paper and when they all arrived the learning curve commenced.



With a few other adjustments yesterday I was able to add stickers to my Etsy Store listings.

ETSY STORE- FARM ANIMAL STICKERS






Besides Etsy, I want to make these stickers available locally and several galleries so packaging and display concerns I also dealt with.

Another new addition to my Etsy store is beautiful bovine magnets.  Now over this pasts year and a half I have come up with a half a dozen or so paintings of cows.  There is something about these creatures that really struck a cord in the hearts of many.  I get a lot of positive feedback on these pieces so it only makes sense to make them available in a small 4 x 6 inch format with a magnet backing added.  Now they can easily be added to brighten your kitchen appliances, office cubical, file cabinets, lockers or many other surfaces that are made of boring metal.  I even laminated the print to add extra durability and make them water and stain resistant.  These guys and gals will make an excellent gift for any country girl or the cow lover in your life.  Guys....Mother's Day is coming!
ETSY STORE- COW MAGNETS

It's Not Done Until You Put on the Dust Cover

Tools I used for finishing off the backs of my art work

I am always on a quest to bring my art to a higher level and there are steps to finishing off your artwork once it is created. These last steps are just so important to the presentation of your art and in many cases are often ignored.   My good artist friend Lily shared with me recently how she had observed that a framing shop she had patronized used a fabric as the dust cover to the pieces they framed.  This dust cover consisted of the black fabric that you find underneath your upholstered furniture and that she was switching from using paper (which easily tears) to using fabric to cover the back of all her work.

I ordered a bag of this upholstery material from Amazon and yesterday was my first opportunity to give it a try.  It turned out to be somewhat of a two man project to get the fabric attached but all in all I'm pretty pleased with the ending results.  When we opened the bag and got a closer look at the fabric we realized this looked very similar to a large roll of landscape fabric that we have.  I'm going to give that a try next to see if it works as well.  If so, the local garden store or hardware store may be my new supplier.

I first laid down a thin layer of adhesive using my Scotch brand Advance Tape Glider gun to the 4 sides of the canvas and in my case down the center support bar.  All of the pieces that I was working with yesterday measure 24 x 36 and I had 4 of them to finish off.  

Then my husband guided the long edge of the canvas to match the finished edge of the fabric while I held up the rest of the canvas to prevent it from sticking.  Once he had laid his edge down and was satisfied the everything was lined up, he took the canvas and held it while I stretch and smoothed the rest of the surface as tight as I could.  Happy with how the fabric was going to lay we dropped the other three sides onto the fabric so that the adhesive and fabric were now united.  We pressed down firmly all the sides assuring that the bond was good.

Now came the fun part.  Using my Fiskars fingertip craft knife,  I proceeded to cut the 3 edges, careful not to cut the canvas or myself in the process.  Logan makes a special dust cover trimmer that I plan to try out but the Fiskars cutter worked sufficiently for this job and I got a little more proficient at the process with each new piece.

We then flipped the piece over and my husband then used a staple gun to apply a staple at each corner while I prepared the certificate of authenticity that was to be attached.  I cut a 3 hole sheet protector in half and remove the holes to make a sturdy plastic sleeve that holds my certificate nicely and then I attach it to the back of my artwork using my Scotch Advanced Tape Glider gun.  We decided to allow the one corner staple to secure the certificate just to make sure it would stay attached and not fall off.  As you know when you are transporting artwork, no matter how careful you think you are being, there is always a problem with tags and dust cover paper being torn or falling off.  I feel that this fabric is much more durable and I like the professional way it looks.  

Now it's time to add the D-rings and hanging wire.  I measure 1/3 the way down on the canvas to install the D-rings and I use size 4 soft hanging wire.  I bought a large spool that measures 850 ft on Amazon and am so happy with that investment.  I hate the quality of the wire that you can purchase at the local craft and hardware stores and when you paint as much as I do, those small packages are always running out.  With 850' of wire,  I think I might have enough wire now to last me through the zombie apocalypse.

I would love to hear from you if you have questions or found this article helpful or if you have tried other products or have a process you think works better for finishing off your artwork.  I might include your information in a future blog post.  Leave me a comment here or email me.  Also feel free to check out my website for all my available artwork at Julie Townsend Studio or my Etsy Store at Julie Townsend Studio Etsy Store

To make this supper easy for you, I have included all the links to the tools and supplies I used :

Scotch Advanced Tape Glider

Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife

Picture Wire

D-Rings

Dust Cover Upholstery Fabric