Art

Hello everyone,

I haven’t logged into my website in months (can you tell??!). The last post was over a year go too… There has not been many changes in terms of where my art is going. All has been super quiet to be fair and I’m thinking about the direction I would like to go. I’m not even sure if I want to continue with it if I’ll be perfectly honest. Etsy and Folksy have been quiet for a long time now and I don’t have the time like I used to do update my shops, make work, do markets… I feel like that side of me no longer exists. I’m not sure! Maybe I’m going through some sort of career crisis; I don’t enjoy my full-time job either and I’m stuck in a situation where I can’t leave because of the hours. In a perfect world where money is not a worry (forget about paying for nappies/mortgage/food) I’d love to spend all my time investing in myself and creating art. This is only something that I need to figure out for myself.

In other (sad news) I have only recently found out that my Society6 artist account has been closed for good (tbf there was an email back in February but I didn’t open it- my fault!). I even googled it just to be double-check! It seems like on their behalf they wanted a more curated and streamlined ‘look’ if you want to put it that way. I’m actually quite disappointed about it as I was with them since 2009/2010 when they first opened and I was doing really well with them.

Maybe all this is some sort of sign I now need to push myself to quite my day time job and find something less stressful/worth my time. Have that balance of parenthood/family time and art. Perhaps that’s my goal for the next few months.

Anyway, I’m going to end my post on a positive note. I hope you’re all enjoying the start of spring!

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Art

A rather big hello to you all and a very belated Happy New Year! As you can probably tell, judging by the lack of posts, we’ve been very busy being new parents and looking after Louis. I’ve not had the time to update my website (or do much creative work- as expected) but I have finally opened up my Etsy shop again (a big whoop whoop!). However, I’m not selling prints for the time being as I need to get my printer sorted out first as its been out of action for over a year and the blooming thing needs cleaning, which I’ve been putting off for a long time now! I really want to get into the swing of things again and create more work, however, I’m guessing most people work late at night when their child/children are fast asleep (or lack of lol).

I’m going back to the drawing board and designing cards for the year now, or how much of it I can get done before Louis wakes up!

Wishing you all a lovely Sunday!

Jo

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Art, Baby Louis

 

Hello everyone! How’s your Platty Jubes weekend been going? In no way am I a Royalist, but, it’s been pretty nice having a four day bank holiday weekend. I’ve spent this week catching up with my friends and squeezing in the prenatal yoga when I have the time. I’m trying to have some sort of schedule each day for it, but me being in holiday-mode, I’ve been super lazy! It’ll be nine weeks until the baby is due, so I’ve been washing loads of baby clothes and getting his things sorted out. I want to paint his room at some point (or get Sam/friend/kind person) to do it as I’ve been looking at paint colours online (yes, I’m defo in nesting mode now).

Just to let you all know that my summer sale is now live on my Etsy, Folksy and Urban Makers shops. I will close all my shops at the end of the month as I want to spend July taking it easy, getting all the sleep I’ll need- basically, I want to be chilled out as much as possible and not have to worry about customer’s orders being out on time or swearing at my printer because it’s not doing its thing.

With that being said, it almost feels like it’s an end of an era but in a good way. We are both starting a brand new chapter in our lives; one where we’ll get no sleep for the next five years haha. Seriously though, the thought of closing my shops is like saying goodbye to illustration- do you know what I mean? For the last ten years or so illustration has been a massive part of my life. Even though it’s something that hasn’t turned out to be full-time (didn’t really expect it to be like that until I entered full-time work in something else) it has stayed with me side by side. Now it’s like letting that part of me go and life changing event is stepping into our lives. I’m getting really deep here lol but it’s better to be open here than on Instagram.

I will end it here on a positive note because I am looking forward to being a parent- bring it on! Wishing you all a fab weekend however it may look like.

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Art, Shop

Well, I’ve been keeping this one very quiet for the past couple of months but I’m so happy to share with you all that we are expecting a baby boy due in August! Honestly, my heart is already filled with so much love and we can’t wait to meet our baby boy.

What does this mean for my shops? I’ll be taking a year out to look after a tiny human being (I don’t think I can run them on 0 sleep!). So I’ll be having a sale next month as I need to make space and raise some funds before I go on maternity leave. I’ll be closing my shop at the end of June as I want to take a well-rested break as much as I can before the baby is due. My Society6 shop will still be running though, so if you’re looking for gifts and homeware things have a look here.

I’m sure I’ll be spamming you all with lots of baby photos here and on Instagram.

Until then, keep your eyes out for my sale in my Etsy, Folksy and Urban Makers shops.

Thanks again for reading as always and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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Art

So you may have heard that on Monday 11th April, Etsy have increased their transaction fees from 5% to 6.5%, that’s a rather big increase considering that this will definitely hurst small businesses like myself. I have therefore increased the prices so that I am able to cover myself. Some Etsy sellers have decided to strike this week in protest of the hike in the fees, however, I’m not taking part in it as I fear it will make a dent on my profits.

Dorothy and Belle on Twitter are transparent about their profit and what Etsy takes.

It’s something I didn’t want to do as I want to make my work accessible and affordable which it always has been, whilst at the same time Etsy takes a huge chunk of what I earn hence the rise in prices. Don’t get my wrong, I have enjoyed using Etsy’s platform as it has allowed me to test products out and to get my work out there to a larger audience. I have probably shut myself into a tight position as I no longer offer shipping to international customers- no thanks to Brexit- and, admittedly, it has been rather quiet over the past couple of months. See this post from Kittygorian on Instagram, the post explains clearly what the increase in fees mean for Etsy sellers and customers.

I’m going to be quite frank here but say if I sell a postcard I make no money from it due to the fees. And if I sell a print then Etsy will take £3+ from it- crazy, right? So I can see why sellers are constantly pushing their work out there on social media. In all honesty- and so like many other Etsy Sellers- I will see what happens in the next few months. If it’s not worthwhile then I will simply close it and open up a shop which I can integrate it with my website. It’s not an easy decision to make as I have spent many, many hours writing up product descriptions, editing photos, writing SEO for all the listings… the list goes on and on. I’ve had my shop open for more than 10 years now so it’s not a choice that I can make overnight.

If you’re an Etsy seller then I’d like to hear your thoughts on it. What do you think of the Etsy fees? Are you going to stay or leave?

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Art

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