Making Stickers from Your Artwork

Stickers seem to be such a small thing and I realize most artists wouldn't even bother with them but I actually enjoy designing them.  Especially when I'm using my own original artwork in that design. Surprisingly, there are many individuals that really love to purchase and collect stickers and the space needed to store you inventory is really small.  

It was actually my desire to learn to make stickers that was the driving force for me to take the time to teach myself a little Photoshop.  That determination to make myself familiar with this software and the use of Layers, Magic Erasers, Lasso Tools, Magic Wands and  Spot Healing Brush Tools has been instrumental in opening the doors of possibility wide open for my artwork.  

Another BIG advantage that I found with offering up stickers was when it came to the opening of my Etsy Shop.  For your shop to even have a chance at being found in the ETSY SEO searches I'm told you have to have at least 100 listings.  Also, buyers often rely heavily on other customer ratings and the history of sales in a particular shop.  When you are first starting out as an ETSY seller, both of these statistic benchmarks maybe difficult to achieve.  I even read the suggestion that you consider padding your numbers by giving your friends money to purchase inexpensive items on your shop and then give you 5 start reviews just to get you over that "NEW SHOP HUMP".  

Creating stickers was a way for me to increase my number of listings and I found that a buyer was more apt to be comfortable spending $3.50 for an item on my brand new shop then forking over the money to purchase one of my original artworks or even a print from me.  Also, those small sales do add up over time.  For example, I have had $494 in sticker sales on my Etsy Shop from the period of January to May 2020.  There you have it!  One of my ETSY tips for you to consider if you're thinking of trying your artistic hand at opening your own ETSY Shop.

I need to get this post back on track here.  Yesterday, we had the privilege of keeping our 3 darling grandchildren (we now have 11 total).  Little Miss J is 5 years old and loves to spend time with me in my studio.  I jokingly call her my studio assistant in training and so I followed through on a previous promise that I had made to her  that we would turn her artwork into stickers so she could see my Cricut Explore Air 2 in action.

The original art scan after it was cleaned up in Photoshop

She carefully used watercolors to paint these 3 little flower doodles that I helped her create.  They turned out really cute.  When the watercolors were dry, she placed her master piece on the flatbed scanner and we scanned them into Photoshop.  I showed her how to clean up her images using the eraser tool and she did a lot of the editing herself.  Here are the 3 edited flowers.

Next, I created a new Photoshop file that was 6.75 inches x 9.25 inches and had a transparent background. (This is the standard size of the Cricut cut files)  Using the Lasso tool, I selected each flower and brought them over into the new file.  Using the "Stroke" edit function, I created a "white stroke" around each file that was 52 in size.  This gives the white border that all stickers have.   Then using "Ctrl J" (she liked that because her name begins with a J) we copied each flower 2 more times.  I then arranged them on the file so they were not touching.  The result is a sheet full of beautiful stickers.

6.75 x 9.25 PNG file with a transparent background

I then opened  up my Cricut Design Space on my computer and uploaded the PNG image to my projects.  You then select "MAKE IT" and  "Complex" and then create the project.  Now it is time to print out the stickers on matte sticker paper.  For my stickers I'm going to sell on my shop I use a paper made by ROCK.  Here is the Amazon link:  MATTE STICKER PAPER for my ETSY Shop  If I am printing out stickers for my own use (shipping stickers to decorate my orders) I use this less expensive sticker paper.  Here is the Amazon link for that paper also:  SHIPPING STICKER PAPER

I then sent the file to print.  We attached the printed stickers to a cutting matte and loaded them next into my Cricut with the cut setting on "PAPER" so that it would just kiss cut around each sticker.  As you can see by the BIG smile on my Granddaughter's face, she was very pleased and I think I helped make a memory.   

What is the #1 Complaint among Cows?

"Being SEEN but not HERD!"

I had so much fun yesterday designing this "For the Love of Cows" planner sticker sheet and this sheet of mini cow stickers to go with it.   After all, can you really have too many cows?

Some of the artwork is from my original art and others are digital images that I found online.  It is fun to combine the two and create unique designs and color schemes.  I don't even use a planner but have a blast designing the sticker kits for them.  Maybe next year I will have to give it a try.

Both sticker sheets are listed on my Etsy Shop as a printable download.  That means with only just a couple clicks you could have these stickers right away and you can print them out as often as you like.


For the Love of Cows planner stickers
Mini Cow Sticker Sheet

 

 

It's the Little Things that Add Up

Handwritten thank you note...check,  I appreciate you free greeting card gift....check, lots of protective bubble wrap and tissue paper...check.  I guess I have everything ready to pack up this little sweet honeybee and ship him off to his new home in Pampas, Texas.

I think the little details are important and you want to create an excitement when that cowbell box arrives.  This week I designed a 2 x 4 inch sticker that I can use to decorate my cowbell shipping boxes with.  It says "Spreading Joy Around the World One Cowbell at a Time".  That is perfect and you can see by this image it really stands out on that box.

When I shipped off my first set of 4 cowbells early last week, I scrounged around the house and found some boxes that I had stuck back.  One of the bells was a bit wider and so I actually emptied a case of K-Cups to find a box that it would fit in nicely. That is when I immediately logged onto Amazon and ordered a set of 25 shipping boxes that were large enough to handle shipping of 2 bells but yet small enough that the costs were kept reasonable.


My tips for you on shipping artwork- 1. invest in a postage scale.  I paid $20 for that one on Amazon  and it work GREAT!  2.  Create and account with Pirateship.com.  They allow you to purchase postage and print out the labels at a commercial rate that is lower than if you went into the post office yourself.  They a have been great so far. 

On Sunday, I was shocked when shopping at Sam's Club to see this set of 10 small white shipping boxes that measured 6 x 6 x 6 and cost only $4.98 each.    If I put the 7" cowbell in the box diagonally it fits very nicely.  I bought 2 sets of these boxes so now I'm flush for boxes.

Yesterday was the first bell order I filled using the new box and while the bell fit great, I realized that my usual free gift to show my appreciation didn't.  I usually pick out a greeting card that is similar to the artwork that they purchasing.  In this case they purchased a bee cowbell and so I wanted to send her my new honey bee greeting card.  The only hitch is that they are larger than 6 inches.  I put the card in the box but I'm afraid that when it arrives it will be bent.

Today, I decided the thing to do was to give a way a smaller note card.  Still a nice gesture and I know it will arrive unscathed.  Here is the 4 designs I came up with and I think they are very cute.

So as you can tell, my focus this week has been on painting, marketing, selling cowbells and shipping out cowbells. It has been so exciting.  I've made some great connections and added a few new friends to my little art group.  I'm blessed and humbled by how well these bells have been received.

So you might ask, "How do I purchase a cowbell?"  Well first, I would suggest that you like my Facebook Art Page @JulieTownsendStudio.  It is there that I post all my new work first.  Second, you might want to join my studio email list.  I periodically host drawings and giveaways and I'm pretty sure as we enter into fall, I will be giving a way a cowbell or two.  Just send me a message with your name and email address.  Third, and this is for those ready to give a cowbell a good home.  Message me with your zip code and I will give you an estimate of the shipping costs and with an email address I can send you an invoice that included the $60 cowbell purchase price and the cost of shipping and handling.  That isn't so hard.  The hard part comes in deciding which bell to buy.  I have one collector in Montana that has purchased 12 bells.

Let me leave you with the 2 newest bell designs.  I actually sold the Rooster bell today but I still wanted you to see it because I will be painting some more.  Each picture is showing the front and back off the bell.

Pretty in Pink

I like most flowers but peonies are hands down one of my favorites.  I can vividly recall my Grandmother's beautiful peonies and so I decided yesterday to create and design a planner sheet that focused on this amazing flower. I titled it, "Peonies and Lace" and it is now available on my Etsy Shop as an 8.5 x 11 digital download.  You can print it out yourself on your favorite sticker paper and even if you don’t use a fancy planner, these stickers are so beautiful that there are plenty of applications that you can use them for decorating on.

Here is the link to my ETSY SHOP LISTING so you check it out.  Let me know what you think of this design.  I would love to hear from you.  I also have lots of original artwork that can be seen on my website at JULIE TOWNSEND STUDIO.COM

Pink and Gray and Pink and Brown are two of my favorite color combinations.  I decided to go with the gray because I just love the contrast of the cold cement background and the cool pink with flowers cascading from the bottom.  I got all the images from pixabay.com and so I was free to use and modify them for this project.  I LOVE pixabay.com!

Here I changed to color of the lace from the Red and Black of the original image to shades of the pink found in the peony blossoms.  I'm still playing with fonts and trying to feel comfortable with which font looks and works best.  No more Comic Sans for me.  It has been quite a challenge to break that Comic Sans habit but with practice and determination I'm will be VICTORIOUS!

I downloaded this torn paper image for another graphics project but it was perfect for this sticker collection design.  Sometimes in life we get so drug down with the mundane grind that we forget to even look for the beauty that surrounds us.  We actually have to stop and seek out the beauty in things.  It isn't always easy at times and I felt this torn paper symbolizes the effort that we need to take.  Look for the beauty. 

Watermelons and the Farm-Sweet-Farm

I'm sitting here thinking about what to include in this blog post as I am eating the last piece of the first watermelon of the season.  A life time of summer memories come to mind and watermelon is always there, chilled and sliced ready to be enjoyed.  I just can't imagine summers without this amazing fruit.

Not to mention that red and green are my favorite decorating colors and that they are complimentary colors on the color wheel.  I like other melons well enough.  Cantaloupe is good and there are also crenshaw and honeydew but they really can't hold a candle to the watermelon for taste and aesthetics.  Watermelon is really such a beautiful fruit.

With all my thinking about watermelons, I couldn't help but want to create something fun to mark the occasion.  I decided yesterday to practice my graphic skills and create a planner sticker page that had watermelon as it's central theme. 

I should at this point, regress and talk about another happening this week that played a hand in this decision to design my own sticker sheet.  My really good friend, Victoria Thatcher (we have been friends more years than we both would like to confess) is a really gifted graphics artist.  She has been creating beautiful things with her computer for years.  In the past several years she has become somewhat of a SUPERSTAR among the "Planner Sticker People".  You know those organizers that have transcended from the plan leather binder that contains a calendar and several tabs to organize everything you do and has now become more of a scrapbook everything in your life including stickers to count how many glasses of water you drink and what day is laundry day.  I personally don't get it but I do love journals and calendars and lists and so I guess I just need to try to make them prettier.  She has a Facebook group @VictoriaThatcherPrintablesGroup that has over 9000 members and I can tell that they all love her and her work.

Anyway, I'm getting of subject here.  Victoria and I had an idea to do a collaboration sticker where she designed the sticker sheet using my original art.  She called Farm-Sweet-Farm and as with all her other sticker sheets she made it available as a free downloadable file to all of her thousands of sticker fans.   Here is the link to check out all her amazing sticker collections.  If you download something, let her know that you found out about her website via my blog.

Victoria Thatcher Printables


I found myself so inspired by what she had done that I decided I would give this sticker stuff a try.  I found some awesome images on Pixabay.com and just made a little collection of images that I wanted to use.   I think that is when I decided to call it "Watermelon Summer".  Unlike Victoria,  I decided that I would add it as a listing to my ETSY Shop but it is only $1.95 to download all 19 colorful stickers.  I sized them the same as the ones that Victoria designs and so they should fit in an EC Vertical planner and with a little graphic know how, you can size them to fit other planners I'm told.  I don't anything much about those fancy cutting machines, but I'm pretty sure that you can use them for this application too or you can just do what I do and grab the old fashion scissors.

Julie Townsend Studio Etsy Shop

I'm Stuck on You Like Glue...or a Beautiful Handmade Sticker

My super cute packaging

On the recommendation of a good friend that really knows her stickers, I have ordered what I am hoping is a superior sticker paper to help take my stickers sales on my Etsy Shop to the next level. Why stickers you ask? Well, for me stickers have served as a way to build my number of sales and 5 star ratings, both of which are critical to a successful Etsy Shop. Not to mention that I enjoy the whole process from the design creation to the actual cutting of the stickers. Someday I will get me a fancy cutting machine but for now I cut them all out by hand.

I have had some problems with the sticker paper I have been using in that occasionally I find it turning yellow. This really scares me. What if a sticker I sold on my Etsy Shop turns yellow? This actually worried me so much that I went in a few weeks ago and changed all my Etsy Shop stickers listing to matte stickers. I hated to do that because the glossy stickers just look so much more colorful and vibrant.

I knew I needed a much better option and so I have turned to OnlineLabels.com. They allow you to order 5 sample sheets of their labels which is very helpful. I have also ordered 100 sheets of their White Gloss Inkjet sticker paper and can't wait to try it out.

If you like stickers than you might just want to check out all my sticker listings on my Etsy Shop. I will leave you today by sharing pictures a few of my favorite stickers. My images are also available in prints, greeting cards and magnets. If you like my artwork you might consider heading on over to my website at Julie Townsend Studio.

You Can Never be Thankful Enough

ALWAYS  BEE THANKFUL!      

Today,  I saw a meme while surfing through my social media accounts and of course that is a really common occurrence these days.  It seems this small little phrases on colorful backgrounds are everywhere.  There are a few I am compelled to share but most I just scroll on by barely reading them.  This meme though was different and made me stop and think.   

Sometimes we can just cruise through the day and really not take the time to stop and consider our blessings.  I know I am guilty of that very thing more often than not.  Help me Lord to be truly THANKFUL for all of my blessing.  

Wow...segueing this blog about being Thankful into my new "Country Thank You Stickers" is proving to be harder than I had first imagined.  I guess I will just abruptly change focus and just plow right into introducing my newest Etsy Shop listing. So Being Thankful and Thank You stickers...You can see the connection, Right?

I started out making my own thank you stickers that feature my artwork as a way to add that personal last touch to each of my Etsy Orders.  I place this sticker on the back of each envelop as I am ready to ship them out.  I think it would make me happy to see this cheerful sticker in my mailbox even though I haven't received any feedback specifically from my customers about these stickers.  I just hope it makes my shop stand out in their minds. 

Yesterday, I took the time to revisit this file and make some adjustments.  I wanted to include my cute Stacked Sheep design as I had just finished packaging up a nice bulk order I received this week for 50 sheep bookmarks from a sheep breeder in Texas.  I also decided to create a special "Thank You" card that I could include in some of my orders. 

These stickers I believe to be cute enough that I decided to make them a digital listing on my shop.  For just a small download fee of $1.95 you can print out these stickers as often as you like to decorate your own correspondence or just to let somebody know they are a blessing to you.  You can see just how cute they are on some of my actual orders as I am preparing to get them ready for shipping.  Here is the link to my Etsy Shop if you interested in purchasing this downloadable file.  Thank you stickers on my Etsy Shop   

 

Seeing Spots

When I see cows, while traveling down some back country road,  I AM THAT PERSON THAT ANNOUNCES “COWS” TO EVERYONE ELSE IN THE CAR!  I am also rolling down the window and shouting at the top of my lungs, "MOO!"  I can't help myself.  While I was raised out in the country with agriculture all around, I wasn't raised on a farm but cows have always had a special place in my country heart.  I guess that is why I just love to draw and paint them.

I've been including cows as a central theme in my drawings and paintings for several years now and I find them always to be fun subjects.  They have big huge sweet eyes and large curious faces.  While I suppose some can be a little on the ornery side, mostly they are just giant lawnmowers eating the grass from morning to night.

This past month, I have just been having a blast adding cows to items such as stone coaster, stickers,magnets and greeting cards. Here are just a few of the examples I have come up with so far:

Etsy Shop Sticker Listing




Etsy Shop Greeting Card listing