Yummy Scripture

God is good all the time 
He put a song of praise in this heart of mine 
God is good, yes He is, all the time 
Through the darkest night, His light will shine (Dean McIntyre)

This verse is a call to action.  I can't be satisfied with my Bible just lying on my nightstand or hearing an occasional Sunday sermon.  God is calling us all to be more than being a passive observer but rather He wants us to come pull up a chair, grab a fork and "TASTE" that He is good!

Time to Get Rid of the Dust and Cobwebs

With the coming of a new year, there are lots of resolutions and commitments made to improve health, making new goals and promises to finally get organized.  There is just something uplifting and inspiring about new starts, new beginnings and new calendars.  It is also the perfect time to give your online presence a good cleaning up.

That is what I've been doing the past couple days.  It is important for me to maintain the branding I have already created for myself so I want to make sure that all my online platforms have a similar look.  I'm pretty happy with the changes I've made so far.

First, I'm still considering changing up my motto from "Telling Stories with my Paintbrush" to "Telling Paintbrush stories To Make You Smile".  I really like the idea of working the concept of the Smile into my motto.  From experience I have first hand observed over and over the reaction that my art causes when an individual steps into my booth or views my display and I can honestly say there is usually a smile involved. 

So let me show you what I've come up with for my website home page.  It is so important that the first impression you get is visually impacting.  You want your website landing pages to grab you and make you want to stay.  I'm hoping that from there the natural thing to to is to checkout the rest of my tabs and spend sometime in my gallery and not just immediately click on to the next site.

I've chosen Dancing Script as the font for my studio name and KG Be Still and Know as the second font.  It is really important that you stay consistent with the details.  I can make some adjustments with the layout of the artwork across the different platforms but the font needs to stay the same.

Here is an example of a page banner design that I created to use on my Facebook Studio page or on my Etsy Shop.  You can still see the theme remains the same.

business card front

Another extremely important marketing tool is that of your business card.  Here is currently the draft of what I have worked out for my new design.  I'm not quite ready to order cards yet so I will probably make a few adjustments.  I do have my phone number listed on the back of my card but covered it up here on my blog for privacy sake. 

business card back

So I encourage you to take some time to consider your website, Facebook Page or Blog and perhaps do some sprucing up of your own.    It is amazing how just a change of color palette, font choice or adding a few images can make such a difference.  If you don't have an online presence for your art or whatever creative outlet you do, then I encourage you to make that a goal for 2019.

Feel free to comment below or message me if you have questions about marketing.  Please consider following me on my Facebook Studio Page 

No Looking Back

My Julie Townsend Studio Verse of the Day.  Feel free to check out my Studio Facebook Page or follow me on Instagram @JulieTownsendStudio.  I post all my newest work there first.

Remember the Tortoise Wins

Here is my VERSE OF THE DAY!  My word for 2019 is FOCUS and what better to focus on than my relationship with Jesus.  Everything else will fall in line if we make living a life pleasing to Him our first priority.

Hold Your Horses and COWS...2019 is HERE

HAPPY NEW YEAR!   2019 came in with a bang...literally between the fireworks and the gun shots!  

Looking back at 2018 I can say it was a great year of growth that my little studio has seen in 2018 and I couldn't be more pleased. 

It has been my habit for the past few years to take a few minutes on January 1st to record specific marketing data on each of my social media accounts and on my Etsy Shop.  I do this so that I can make a comparison to the previous year.  My likes on my Facebook Studio Page  have doubled to 723 and on Instagram there has been a 35% growth in the number of those following my art. 

Here is something new I've decided to do.  I'm keeping a map of sales locations by state for 2019.  For 2018 I went back through my shipping records on Pirateship.com where I mail out all my package orders.  This is both Facebook, Ebay and Etsy sales.  It doesn't include local sales via galleries, art shows or personal sales deliveries here in the Las Vegas area.  This represent mostly sales of cowbells but there were some print orders included.  Now I didn't start using Pirateship.com until mid year so this is really a 6 month picture.  The purpose here was for me to see a visual of where my art is being collected.  I can see that I need to do some work to grow a fan base west of the Missouri River. I'm really anxious to start seeing the 2019 map fill up.   

One last thing I wanted to share with you this morning...I'm having a drawing on Facebook that I'm really excited about.  A few months ago I found a little set of 3 faux wooden books at the thrift store for $.50 and brought them home and painted little mice on them.  The set sold right away.  I decided I would try to find more of these little faux books to paint on.  That wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.  Apparently, these were made in the 80's and are not available for purchase online.  I managed to purchase one set on Etsy and another on Ebay so I have a total of 6 more I can paint on.  I'm hoping soon that my husband can make me up something scrap lumber that will duplicate them for the future. 

Because they turned out so cute, I thought it would be fun to have a little mousie faux book as a studio giveaway.  I decided to team up with my friend and distant cousin, Jolene Worm of Jolene's Gathering of Old Folks and add one of her cute as heck mouse dolls to make a "Mousie Duo". 

To enter the drawing isn't hard.  You must hop over and "LIKE", "SHARE" my Studio Facebook Page and "LEAVE A COMMENT'.  The drawing info is pinned to the top of my page.   If you don't have Facebook you can also enter by joining my Studio VIP list through my website.  It only takes a minute and you just might be the lucky winner!

This is a Second Cup of Coffee Kind of Day

Just a week and one day away and so much more yet to do.  Today, I am going to wrap the gifts I've purchased.  That is always a dreaded task that I find no enjoyment in but it is something that must be done.  I have all the wrapping supplies assembled including the gift tags I designed this year and offer as a free download on my website.  Here is the link if you want to print out some cute Country Christmas Gift Tags for your own gift giving. 

Free Stuff at Julie Townsend Studio

My gifts are all sorted by recipient and spread across my dining room table.  I even had to cover them up with a tablecloth because I had surprise visit of grandchildren drop in.  Yes, today is the day and I'm going to have a second mug of coffee as I mentally work up the courage to begin this dreaded task.    

I will leave you today with this quote as I am rolling up my sleeves to lay waste to a lot of scotch tape and rolls wrapping paper.

“Christmas is forever, not for just one day. For loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away.” Norman Wesley Brooks

There is Humor with Mice in Edwardian Fashion

I am a HUGE fan of the PBS series "Downton Abbey", so I can't wait until the new movie comes out in September 2019. Hopefully it will live up to my expectations and not disappoint. 

The series had been showing several years when I finally decided I needed to watch it.   I actually made the leap to upgrade my Amazon to a Prime Membership so that I could watch it.  It was well worth the $100 cost for me and of course I like the other Prime perks too. 

There is something intriguing about the formalities of and properness of British society.  I recall the episode where there was much discussion about wearing the black tie rather than the white tie to dinner.  "Indeed, one of the most tragic events of Season 3, Episode 1 (hour 2) was the hullabaloo over Lord Grantham’s black tie dinner jacket (aka tuxedo). His Lordship’s white tie dinner jacket went “missing,” “missing” as in hidden by his trusted, yet devilishly conniving valet (personal butler).  Lord Grantham is forced to look like a pauper at dinner and wear a black bow tie.  Ghastly informal – the Dowager Countess, his mother, actually mistakes him for a butler." (http://www.dirtyandthirty.com/beauty-fashion/lessons-learned-from-downton-abbey-white-tie-vs-black-tie/)

"Black Tie Event"

It was this episode that inspired my drawing called "Black Tie Event" and to have the matching black tails this industries little rodent uses a jar of black ink to dip the tip of his tail into.


Oh and don't even get me started on the hats and dresses.  Can you just imagine not being about to get yourself dressed without the assistance of a butler or servant?  What a different time that was but the whole of the Crawley clan seemed to have their own personal assistant that was there to curl their hair or help put on their jacket. 



It was this photo of the hat worn by Mary Crawley on the show that inspired me to create my own sketch of a little mouse wearing an Edwardian hat and feather boa in my drawing that I called "M'lady".  

"M'lady"

With a little Photoshop magic I have taken the two separate pieces and combined them into one composition that I'm calling "The Mice of Downton Abbey"  I then added a vintage postcard background and now you have my newest listing on my Etsy and EBay Shops.  Here is the link if you are interested in purchasing a print.  I also have greeting cards and magnets available too.  Julie Townsend Studio on Etsy

"The Mice of Downton Abbey"

Mockup

Mockup

Greeting Card Mockup