My 15 Minutes of Fame If you can get hold of the latest copy of "Get Creative" magazine (vol 2 issue 10) there's an artist profile of ME . . . yup and there are some great papercraft projects in this issue, too, including the announcement of an ATC competition. Here's the scoop: Your ATC is to be portrait orientation 64mm x 89mm and must feature one or more rub-on transfers and at least one metal item. (I dunno why - I didn't make up the rules, I'm just repeating them.) Sign and date the back and include your contact details. Send your entries by 31 July to: ATC Competition Get Creative Magazine Locked Bag 4321 Sth Melbourne VIC 3205 Entries will be displayed at Melbourne Paperific 27-29 October. They will not be returned - sorry. The winner will receive a papercrafts hamper courtesy of the exhibitors at Paperific! Ya gotta be in it to win it . . .

Keeping a journal can help you remember tasks and ideas you might otherwise forget if you are like me and your mind is a sieve.

A Big Weekend
Wednesday 26 July 2006

Here are some of the ATC's I swapped for at Sydney Paperific. Not a lot of swapping going on, but what was there was real quality. Well done, Sydney artists!

I am recovering from Sydney Paperific. Whew! One of my two biggest weekends for the year. Getting ready for an expo demands so much attention - I am doubly hit as both organiser and exhibitor. I was bracing myself this year for customer criticism about the size of the show, but just one person bagged the show to me directly - and her tone softened when she learnt that we will not be bringing Paperific back to Sydney in 2007. She wanted specialist paper tole exhibitors, which I have only been able to attract to one of my shows - Melbourne 2000. Paper Tole just ain't very popular, sorry folks, and I cannot force businesses to exhibit. What I did manage to achieve this year at Sydney was a good mix of stamping and scrapbooking with a smattering of punchcraft, die-cuts, paints, thick embossing enamels and other stuff. I was very pleased with the show, even though we had eight fewer exhibitors compared to last year. Fewer exhibitors meant better returns for the businesses that were there. They were pleased with their takings, and took the time to tell me so. Big sigh of relief. We went out on a high note.

I also had many, many customers tell me they had enjoyed Sydney Paperific these past three years and were sorry to see it - and my stamp-making for Studio Astarte - come to an end. I so appreciated this feedback at the show. The customers have always loved it, of course, but as I've said before in my blog, the economy is taking its toll on craft businesses. Last year's shows in Sydney and Brisbane weren't profitable for the majority of my exhibitors. I dearly want everyone - customers and exhibitors alike - to be satisfied.

Finally there is the consideration of how profitable the expo is for me, since it is a huge investment of my time and money. I gave it a shot interstate and now must concede that only Melbourne Paperific is worth continuing.

Incidentally - Sydney Paperific and Studio Astarte are two completely different aspects of my business, and the decision to give up these particular aspects was arrived at separately.

I have had SO MANY emails from customers since announcing I'd be giving up stampmaking. Wow! Thanks for your kind words and well-wishes for the future. A few people have asked if I am feeling sad to be giving it up. Strangely - no. When I realised how closely my business has been tied to my EGO, I could step back and acknowledge it wasn't actually serving me to keep it up. This is largely a decision coming from my SPIRIT, and my spirit is doing a little dance at the thought of moving in a new direction.

Naughty, naughty
Wednesday 12 July 2006

Another couple of ATC's using new stamp designs. I always wanted to do some nudie stamps!

My house is a wreck.The feng shui is all messed- up. There are boxes of stamps and craft products everywhere - stock for the Studio Astarte stand at Sydney Paperific next week. This is the down-side of running a home-based business.

And of course I felt DRIVEN to design new stamps for this show, which was really a lot of extra work I didn't need on top of everything else . . . But it is one of the more fun aspects of the job. And I really wanted to do it one last time.

Yes, one last time before I give-up making Studio Astarte stamps. Which I will be doing before the Melbourne Paperific Expo at the end of October.

This is gonna come as a shock to some of my readers - particularly my faithful customers. But when I set-up this business eight years ago I knew it wouldn't be forever. And I have been rehearsing the words more and more frequently these last few weeks, "I'm giving-up stamp making". And you know what? The words ring true. I'm saying them out loud and I feel strong in saying them. Yup, it is time.

What will happen to Paperific? Oh, it will continue on, in Melbourne definitely. What will happen to the Studio Astarte stamp designs? I dunno yet. Maybe some other stamp manufacturer would like to buy them. What will happen to this website? I dunno exactly. But I imagine I'll retain the business name and the website, so the blog will continue on. In fact, the journey ahead looks pretty interesting! I have some re-inventing of myself to do.

Good thing I slipped in those naughty nudie stamps while I still had an opportunity.

Time out to stamp
Saturday 8 July 2006

	ATC's made with the new Camille stamp. Click image to open a new window with larger version.
It's one of those crazy times of year - the weeks leading up to a Paperific Expo where I'm trying to work full-time as the expo organiser and full-time as a business owner getting ready to exhibit at the expo. The pressure is on to make as many stamps as possible while fitting in all the other stuff that's gotta be done. Tonight I spent time playing with a couple of the new face stamps.On the one hand, this is work, because I need to make samples to display on the stand. On the other hand, this is what I enjoy doing - creating stamp art - and it's the reason I started this business all those years ago. (What is it now, 7 or 8 years?) I made a bunch of these ATC's to swap at Sydney Paperific in two weeks. I LOVE these face stamps! The one in the ATC's above is called "Camille". The one used below is called "Half Face".

Design! Design!
Friday 30 June 2006

Psychologists and graphic designers know this for a fact: Humans are attracted to faces. Flip through any magazine. Your eye is drawn to photos of people - in ads and editorial alike. This is a subliminal appeal of scrap book spreads. When I look at a page of greeting card designs in Somerset Studio or Stampers Sampler, the cards featuring faces jump out at me.

I'm in stamp designing mode right now. I do this two or three times a year for Studio Astarte. This morning I designed some new face stamps using vintage artwork. The new stamp design at right is taken from the sepia print shown above. I enjoy the process of designing new stamp images. I scan images into Photoshop and tweak them, then play with sizing and text in Corel Draw. I usually make a prototype stamp and do some test stamping before going into production. This one ain't cooked yet. When I'm happy with the image and start manufacturing it, I make a few sample cards and other items using the new stamps. This is an enjoyable part of the business, too. Occasionally I will design a craft project and write up instructions for my website or a craft magazine, or I will teach a class like these coming up in Sydney.

So I get to create the stamp design, I get to create arty stuff with the stamp, and sometimes I get to create an article or class on how to make the arty stuff. Very cool. Design! Design! These are the creative aspects that caused me to establish this business in the first place. So how can I arrange it so that I just focus on the creative aspects full-time?

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