Luksi Creations

Painting and Stuffs

2012-02-06T20:54:00.000-06:00

I have been busy painting lately. Now that my kids are older I am now able to do this more often than I have over the last 9 years. I love it because it's one of my favorite things to do beside beading. I could buy out any art supply store of their canvases and be happy forever if I had the money to do it. So I have been doing a lot of bright pop art type things. It's more of what I like to do. I am not a traditional Native American artist, I don't do strictly Native motifs in my art. I do this mainly because I hate how people try to pigeonhole Native artists into this archetype of doing strictly Native inspired art pieces. When I do include Native themes in my work, I do portrait work or I do interpretations on creation stories and other stories I have heard as I was growing up. I was heavily influenced by comics and cartoon art as I was growing up so that shows in what I do. I had a stash of comic books in my room and I would sit there by my window and practice drawing in the sunlight. I would also make my own comics and flip animations. All this has evolved into this crazyness I try to put out to the masses. So enough of my rambling, it's show and tell time!

Here are some paintings in progress. I am going to paint them soon.

WIP by ~luksicreations on deviantART
WIP by ~luksicreations on deviantART
WIP by ~luksicreations on deviantART
WIP by ~luksicreations on deviantART
WIP by ~luksicreations on deviantART

Here are some finished paintings and some painted wood charms:

Cute Paintings by ~luksicreations on deviantART
Misc. Painted Wood Charms by ~luksicreations on deviantART
Painted Girl Charms by ~luksicreations on deviantART

And these are some images I am making into charms and stickers:

Charm and Sticker images 1 by ~luksicreations on deviantART
Charm and Sticker images 2 by ~luksicreations on deviantART

So even though things might be quiet on here, I am working like mad making things all the time. Maybe that is why it's so quiet on here! Until next time!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-16T11:52:00.000-06:00

Way late as usual. Just wanted to come through here real quick and wish everyone a great 2012, it is the year of the dragon so it's supposed to be a lucky year! I was born in the year of the dragon so hopefully some of that luck will come my way (fingers crossed!) Not been a lot of action here on the blog lately, mainly because I decided to lose the L key on my keyboard and kept forgetting to order a new one, so it makes it hard to type. However I do have a new one coming so I shall be more active when that happens. Also holiday season is just so busy I kind of lost track of time.

Here is a quick rundown of what is going to be happening here:

1. Revised logo, I finally finished it. So our cute little turtle will be back as our mascot and included in the logo. I missed him, those colored dots were just not doing it for me anymore, they were temporary anyway.

2. More art is going to me included in our stores. I am painting up a storm plus making bookmarks and selling prints of some of my digital art. Also going to try to get into some local art shows.

3. New dolls. I am finally going to take full advantage of Spoonflower and make me some awesome printed plush dolls, these will be added to my already growing line of handsewn original animal plushes I make already.

4. The husband will be making more wooden merchandise as well, swords and shields for kids and adults plus small furniture for children.

5. More craft shows! Will still be going to Live on the Plaza when we can, sending in the application today for that and hopefully Deluxe again as well. We are also going to be at the Canadian County Fair Grounds in March, more on that on our facebook page. I do a lot of last minute updates about shows on our facebook page so please like it!

So far that is the to do list, I am also still trying to get other people to help with the blog but so far they are still being stubborn. I am learning web design now so this place may get a facelift as well. Especially the individual pages, I can make custom slideshows of my own without using flickr. Just need to figure out where to host them from and we are good to go. So lots of exciting new adventures for us this year, lots of growth and maybe one day I can actually make a living off all this crazy stuff I do! Be back soon! Take care everyone!

Mustache Mania

2011-11-15T19:00:00.001-06:00

Wow, it's been a busy fall so far! Birthdays, shows, general family madness. It never seems to end. I had planned a wonderful Halloween post, but it kind of fell through because I lost track of time and the costumes just didn't get done like we wanted. So yeah, upset about it a little but it happens. Now we are gearing up for the holiday show season. Going to be doing Deluxe again this year, which we are super excited about. I love that show, you meet so many awesome people there. Also doing some smaller shows, one at my kids elementary school and one at Chesapeake Energy. So lots to do!

My daughter got me started on the whole mustache thing a few years ago. She likes to buy the stick on mustaches from the vending machines and freak people out as we drive by them in traffic. I have always made plush ones, but this time I decided to make some out of Crayola Model Magic and dowel rods so you can walk around with your stache. I have to hide them from my four year old, he likes to wear them around. His favorite is the Fu Man Chu stache. It is very easy to do. I mainly make things I think kids are going to like to play with and plus it is made out of non toxic materials so you don't have to worry if they stick them in their mouths. Enjoy the pics I remembered to take! I actually did process photos this time ( I am so bad about that)

So here is my layout of clay and sticks. I also have wax paper on the table so I have somewhere to put them while they dry. It takes about a full day for them to totally dry enough to sit them in a container, I also make sure to flip them so both sides air dry equally. I use the Model Magic because it's just plain awesome. My daughter and I built an entire Greek Mythology Theme Park out of it and paper mache one year. It dries well and it doesn't get all crumbly, plus it stays a nice soft texture after it dries. I also don't have to bake it which is a huge plus! I have black and red here.

Next I pull some clay off and start to roll it. I put it into one piece and taper off the ends. I also did this on top of my calendar, which was a dopey thing to do. After this I shape it to the shape I want and shove a stick into the middle of it all.

I do use some sculpting tools for whatever I feel I need them for. Not much but they help when smoothing things out and curving things. Then I lay them out and let them dry.

Ta Da! Then when they are all dry, you hand them out and let your family members take unsuspecting pictures that you then put on your blog. I am sneaky like that! My sister decided to add a pop cap monocle to her picture, my daughter just had a giggle fit because she used the ginger stache as she calls it.

She somehow reminds me of the Mayor from the Power Puff Girls. All she needs is a jar of pickles.

The fun never ends in this house, let me tell you!

Time to go, hope to update again soon, providing I don't get sucked into another black hole. See you soon!

Author:
Kiamichi

Pretty Pretty Pin Ups!

2011-10-20T21:47:00.000-05:00

New store is now open! Now I just have to add the link to like everything I have online. Worth it though. I am adding to it as I go. I have a calendar's worth of images I am drawing in Illustrator right now. I was having so much fun doing them for other people I am now doing them for me. It has been a blast working on them. So check out what is there so far, remember it is still being added too for now and I need to make a banner for it.

Pretty Pretty Pin Ups at Zazzle

There is also a box for it over on the side of the blog.

Plaza District Festival 2011

2011-09-12T14:49:00.001-05:00

We will be here, come by and see us and all the other wonderful artists and crafters who are going to be there! Support Local Arts and Buy Handmade!

How to make a holder for your yarn out of a pop bottle

2011-09-04T12:03:00.000-05:00

Hey there fellow crafters! I come bearing a small tutorial for you, it's my first one, hopefully the first of many. First a little background on this tutorial:

My grandmother was a very creative and crafty individual. She taught me and my mom a lot of what we do today. Well, back when my mom was a kid, my grandmother and her cousin came up with this idea on how to hold your yarn so it wouldn't get tangled while you were crocheting or doing some other kind of yarn work. She was a crocheting fool, my grandma. She made afghans, dolls, scarfs, doilies, all kinds of things, so it makes sense that she would come up with this: a pop bottle yarn holder.

All you need for this simple project are the following items:

1 clear plastic pop bottle

1 pair of sturdy scissors

That's it! For this one, I used an empty Sprite bottle. After all the pop is gone just wash it out with a little soap and water then let it dry for a bit. Once it is dry you are going to cut an oval shaped hole into one side of the bottle like you see in the pictures below:

Make sure the hole is large enough to squeeze skein of yarn in but not too big because it might fall out otherwise. Basically you are done at this point, told you it was simple. Next thing you do is put your skein of yarn into the hole you just cut. Make sure you pull some of the yarn out first because you are going to thread it through the opening in the top of the bottle where the cap used to be. Once you have it threaded, put the rest of the skein in and voila! You have a nifty gadget for your yarn! It should look like this when you are finished:

All you have to do now is start your crocheting project! My mom uses this one. She loves it. She has others as well for when she is working with more than one color at a time. Hope you all found this useful!

Art Process

2011-07-23T10:20:00.000-05:00

Hey there everyone! Hope your summer is going well, no one has been fried like an egg or anything have they? Can not wait until this heat wave has passed. Summer is really not my favorite time of the year. It has however allowed me to get caught up on things since I refuse to go outside. I was working on a commission last night and decided to make a post out of it. I am going to share a bit of my art process with you guys. Ready, here we go!

First, I draw a sketch of what I am going to draw and then I scan it into my computer:

It is just a quick pencil sketch done on some white paper, nothing fancy at all. So after it is all scanned in I open up Adobe Illustrator and get my layers set up. In the first layer I place the image I scanned in and lock it. I use the layers above it to draw the linework and color and shade. The next three images show you a bit of what I mean:

This takes about and hour or so to do, depending on how bad of a perfectionist I am being. It really is a lot of trial and error and finding out what works best for you. Now here is the final product after I have smoothed out lines and added shading and all that fun stuff:

Pretty cool huh? There are a ton of tutorials out there in internet land. I learned a lot from them and also just messing around with the program. I prefer to use Adobe Illustrator to draw with instead of Photoshop. Still messing with the whole digital painting thing in Photoshop. But, this is mainly how I do most of my digital illustration stuff. Hope you like my little show and tell, I know it isn't very detailed in information but I wasn't writing a tutorial. Until next time, stay cool and try not to melt!

Author:

Kiamichi

Blog Mention!

2011-07-21T12:30:00.000-05:00

Disciples of Etsy: OKEtsy Featured Seller: Luksi Creations

We are being featured on the OKEtsy Blog today! Nice little interview to get to know us better. Check the rest of the blog out while you are there and get to know the rest of the team!

It's already been a month!?!

2011-07-15T17:33:00.000-05:00

What happened to the time???

I swear, between this post and the last one it seems like I got sucked into some kind of vortex. Mainly because the entire household was gearing up for my daughter's dance nationals competition in Orlando. I would share pics but in truth they aren't spectacular or anything. We went to Disneyworld in between things and it was all kind of a blur. Never again lol.

In the mean time, things have been developing on the business front in certain interesting ways. We are officially showing at Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar again this year! I am extremely happy about this. We had such a great time at it last year and are much better prepared for things this year. I can't wait to see who all sets up and talk to all the customers. We have also been acknowledged by Zazzle.com as one of their ProSellers! This means something, I am still learning about it, but it is exciting nonetheless. I got a cute little badge to put on our storefront there and I think we will get more traffic because of it, not sure, like I said, still reading on what it all means. So we are slowly growing, which is fantastic! I am glad for all the support and people who like us enough to buy something. It makes me so happy! So thank you!

Been working on small commissions here and there, it's been a lot of fun. Still doing the pin ups. I have lots of examples in the Deviant Art gallery. Working on some bookmarks right now. Going to put them up in the etsy shop in the printables section. Also going to bead some team logos for sale as well. Gearing up for shows in the fall, that's when we like to do them. Weather is nice and you don't feel like you are going to melt. That's about all for now, let me leave you with a pic of my sis, daughter, and youngest son taking you to the gun show:

Thank you! They'll be here all week! Take care everyone!

More Pin Ups

2011-06-15T15:28:00.000-05:00

I am taking commissions on them for a while through Fiverr. You can also go through here and Paypal if that is more convenient. $5 a pic. If you want something more elaborate it will cost more, as is it's basic black line art with out too many details, colored of course, with a simple background color. So here is the newest one I have done:

Pin Up Commission 2 by ~luksicreations on deviant ART

I am having lots of fun doing these. Been wanting to for a while but life and other things were more of a priority. Now I have the time so full speed ahead!

Hats and Girlie Pics

2011-05-26T19:40:00.000-05:00

Just a few things I have been working on. Still doing random drawings to pump up my portfolio, which is always fun, but also going to start selling some prints so I have been drawing for those too. If I get enough money together I would really like to transfer some to canvas. Also been doodling on some hats. Was hoping to get them painted and heat set for the weekend but I don't think it's going to happen cause of time. So some quick pics and then I am off to finish things up for the show at the Funky Hair Ranch in Edmond on Saturday!

Have a nice weekend! If you are in the area hope you stop by the show!

Attack of the Plush Doll Monsters

2011-05-16T18:58:00.000-05:00

If you follow me on twitter, you would have seen I said something about sewing some plushies. Well I did, and I feel like showing them to you now. Not only that but my awesome husband has started making these amazing hand carved wooden swords and wands. I have added a page for them at the top of the blog here. He plans on making other things other than just swords and wands. He wants to make canes and bows and arrows and all kinds of really neat items so as he makes them and I get pictures of them they will be added to the flickr stream. There have been lots of new pictures added to flickr and they are on here as well in their respective pages, so take a few minutes to check them out.

On another note, my sister is relocating back home after many years away, so hopefully I can get her to let me post more of her process photos here since she will be living close by now. Now, on to the pictures!

Here are all those dolls I made.

There is a flying pig in there, some ponies, a couple of dinosaurs, a frog, an octopus, a snake, some mustaches, and a pair of riceballs. I am going to save them for the show in Edmond next week. What doesn't sell I will put up in the Etsy store, plus I will make more. The pig has to be my favorite new one. He is really fat and squishy.

Here is a couple of pics of the swords my husband made:

There was a dagger and a wand, but some kids snatched them up before I could get pics of them. He carves them all by hand. Our sunroom is covered in wood shavings and sawdust! As I am typing this he is sitting out there carving a broadsword and several wands.

We are gearing up for the show at the Funky Hair Ranch in Edmond next weekend. Hope you can come by and visit us if you are in the area. I love doing shows, you meet so many interesting people and see so many interesting things. As always we will also be setting up in the Plaza District next month so come by and hang out with everyone there. That's about it for now. I have a four year old waiting for me, lol. Will update again soon!

Just a regular day in the life

2011-05-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

For my family at least. We sit here and play with glitter and hot glue. Here is my daughter making a pickle bacon rocket for her science class:

And here she is after she painted her face, cause that is what happens when you give her a paintbrush:

Then she attacked her brother with it:

Handsome, and colorful!

As all this crazy was going on, I was beading on this:

and I was also building myself a light box out of poster board and duct tape. I think it came out pretty spiffy if I say so myself. Why buy a light box for $80 when I can spend around $3 and make one myself with some trusty duct tape. Here it is in all it's glory:

So then I took pics of my awesome new business cards I ordered from MOO.com. I got their mini cards cause you get more of them for your money, plus I love the size. I also love how smooth Moo's printing is and the paper they use is sturdy, and you get cool little boxes to keep them in!

As usual, getting things ready for the Plaza District next week, so make sure you all come check us out!

Cymbals, Strings, and Other Things

2011-04-22T17:10:00.000-05:00

It's a new line we are implementing. My sister makes some really awesome jewelry out of repurposed drum cymbals and bass guitar strings her friends donate to her (she has a lot of friends in bands!) She is out of the Dallas area. She has made a page just for her so here I am pimping it out like a good big sister should!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cymbals-Strings-and-Other-Things/125373974206456?sk=info

Go check it out, like it, share it, stare at it. Love it!

Upcoming Shows and Stuff

2011-04-17T13:06:00.000-05:00

Don't you just love my incredible ability to come up with exciting blog entry titles, I should share my amazing secrets with you all some time! (I have none, they are horrible, I acknowledge this)

It has been a while since there has been anything posted here and I sincerely apologize. Things have been a little crazy here at Luksi Creations central lately. We finally decided to dive head long into making this a viable business. My mom and the rest of my family have jumped into the ship and we are all trying to work together. I (Kiamichi) have final say and quality control over things though. My mom (Cathe) is amazing and has gotten all our legal and financial stuff under control and well, the rest of them are busy making things and brainstorming ideas for where to go and how to display and advertise and all kinds of stuff. It really requires a lot of work and I am grateful now that I am not doing it all alone. My goal is to eventually have a physical store, but I know that will take some time. I have a friend who started much in the same way I am and she just now opened up her store in Tonkowa, Oklahoma. It has taken her around 10 years to get to that point, but it can be done! So we have been adding merchandise and getting rid of merchandise, because a lot of it you really don't know if it's going to work until you have heard some customer feedback, which has been tremendously helpful. If any of you out there who have bought our items could send me some pictures of you wearing it or with it that would be great! I have a nice little album on the facebook fanpage for pictures like that.

Ok, now for the upcoming show list I have been meaning to post for the last month. ( I know, I know!)

Live on the Plaza OKC, OK: Every second Friday of the month. We will be there, except for July because we will be in Florida pretending to be Disney princesses and heroes. So we will be there these dates though:

May 13, June 10, August 12, September 9, October 14 all from 7-11 pm

JC's Funky Hair Ranch Art Show in Edmond, OK:

May 28, 2011 22 East 3rd Street, Edmond 9am-5pm

Will update this list if we are accepted to any more shows, we are hoping to get into the plaza district show again this year and are going to apply for deluxe again as well. Booth fee money is another catch we are getting used to.

Here is something I have been meaning to share for a little while, it's an illustration I did for a dear friend of mine. She is a strawberry fiend, it's her favorite berry. I drew it in Illustrator CS3.

Will be selling as a print soon. Finally found some place that will print with the budget I have so will be adding original prints and cards, bookmarks, and paperdolls soon! Also will be updating the Etsy shop over the next week. Taking pictures of merchandise now so check us on facebook or twitter for the latest updates! Back to work now, lots to do!

Author: Kiamichi

Beading Gone Wild

2011-02-26T22:37:00.000-06:00

Been busy beading lately, so much so that I wasn't paying attention to the time! I can't believe it's been a month since anything has been posted here. I really try not to go that long. I apologize. Let me share with you what I have been working on lately. First up are the pieces I am working on for my husbands grass dance outfit for the upcoming pow-wow season. There are two of these, so far one is completely finished and I am working on the other one:

Here are some headbands I have made that are available in the Etsy store. I have several more in the works. Having to find time to bead for work and bead for family and still do some artwork in between! It's fun though, I like all the work!

I have also been working on some screenprinting designs for some shirts I am going to do. My mom, Catherine, is making some new jewelry. I am in the process of uploading some to the Etsy store, so check in during the week, lots of new items are becoming available every few days.

We are also going to be showing every second Friday of the month in the Plaza District at their Live on the Plaza events. I can not tell you how exciting it is for us to be part of it! It really is great being able to be part of this amazing local artist community we have growing here in Oklahoma. There are so many awesome people and the things they are creating are astounding. So look for us there every month and quite possibly other places, will keep things up to date as to where you can find us! Plan to get back to at least posting every two weeks, if not weekly again. Maybe get some of the others to post something, if I can convince them to come out of their shells hahaha.

Author:
Kiamichi

Quick Update

2011-01-27T10:11:00.000-06:00

The new year has been pretty busy so far. Getting all our ducks in a row and getting ready to launch as an official store has been kind of crazy. I think we have it all worked out for now, at least this part. Have all the legal stuff taken care of at least. It's all part of trying to live the dream!

Have been working on a custom order for my daughter's dance team. Screen printing some graffiti shirts for her hip hop routine. I would have some process pics to share but someone took off with the camera so all I have are the pics of the finished product. Here they are:

Not bad for someone who has no screen printing press. Amazing what you can accomplish with some freezer paper, fabric paint, and an iron. I think I like it better than with an actual screen. I am going to make more of these to sell in the etsy shop, different words of course. It was just so much fun! Maybe next time I can do process photos so I can show how it's done.

In the midst of getting some new beaded items made. Finally. It's been a while. Sorry for the post and dash! Have to whittle this to do list down before it becomes a monster!

Author:
Kiamichi

Pirates and Geishas and Brides, Oh My!

2011-01-12T19:39:00.000-06:00

Been a busy little bee making new illustrations for the masses. They are all up in the Zazzle store and will be on items in the Etsy store soon. Just have to keep plugging away. Keeps me sane! Just a quick post to share and then back to work:

Thanks for looking! Sorry for the shortness of the posts lately, just rearranging things a bit.

Today's Best Award for 1-11-2011!

2011-01-11T18:28:00.000-06:00

I think I am going to faint if this happens again so soon! My Red Skull Onesie got this honor today from Zazzle.com. Always nice to get noticed out of the herd! Thanks!

Red Skull Onesie by LuksiCreations
Browse Skull T-Shirts

Still moving along and trying to get pictures together for the site, takes a bit more effort when you are relying on other people and their schedules. Something I have to get used to. My sister is working on some awesome jewelry she makes out of broken drum cymbals and bass guitar strings. She is a demon with her dremel tool. Headbands are being made, and many other things are in the works. Will update as it happens!

Author: Kiamichi

Today's Best Award Winner from Zazzle!

2010-12-27T13:54:00.001-06:00

Ice Cream Dream iPad Speck Case by LuksiCreations
View other iphone 3 cases

Pretty cool huh. Second one I have ever gotten there. I just finished this last night too!

Puppy Love

2010-12-26T19:01:00.000-06:00

Done in Illustrator CS3. You know how your first crush can go. You like him/her, they think you have cooties. This is my version of that.

Author:
Kiamichi Goodbear

Merry Christmas! Have some bacon!!

2010-12-25T16:18:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday with their friends and family. It's been pretty laid back here. Everyone is all warm and comfy in their flannel pajamas and fleece blankets. Coffee is flowing because the adults here all need caffeine to function. Plus, I got this awesome present from Santa:

Love it!! I got a Major Award!! I was just saying last night while watching A Christmas Story that it would be awesome to get that lamp and that I would forever love whoever was able to procure one for me. So happy to get this, you have no idea. I am such a nerd.

I also have been busy drawing things up. I am also offering custom silhouettes in the Etsy store, if you are interested. Here is my ode to pork, because who doesn't love bacon?

I have a warped sense of humor. I have also made a wall pattern of the background and will be putting it on items in the Zazzle store, the individual little pig will be on items as well. The whole thing will be sold as posters and maybe some other items as well. More to come so check back often!

Author:

Kiamichi

Last Vector Practice

2010-12-22T11:58:00.000-06:00

Deciding to go ahead full steam and offer this type of service in the Etsy store, or you just contact here as well. Prices are as follows:

Single Portrait: $30

Couples: $40 ($10 for each additional person)

Full Body Portrait: $50

Black and White Line Art: $15

Here is the last practice image I worked on, I worked on this off and on cause I have been kind of nursing my hand from all the sewing I had done before Deluxe. First I will show the original image and then the vector image. Enjoy!

Original Image:

Vector Painting:

This one was challenging because of the hair and all the little details in the clothing. Had tons of fun with it though, the more challenging the better!

Portfolio Site

2010-12-21T10:03:00.000-06:00

I have a new portfolio site made specifically under my name because I think this business here under this name is going to start incorporating more people so I want a specific space just for me and my illustration work. By more people I mean Luksi Creations is becoming more of a family affair than just me trying to go it alone so much. My daughter is joining me in my crafting ventures and I told her when she turned 14, legal working age, then I would let her become more involved, plus my mom is getting in on it all as well as my husband, sooo more changes are being made here. Pages will being changing or disappearing all together. If it concerns my illustration work, I will still post things about new things here, but the portfolio part of it all will be here:

http://kiamichigoodbear.carbonmade.com/

all nice and neat and in one space. This will be our main blog for me and everyone else concerned. It's been a long time coming actually. Just bear with me while I rearrange stuff.

I hate coming up with titles to things

2010-12-15T09:13:00.000-06:00

I really do. It never goes well. If I could leave everything Untitled and then just put a number after it I would. It's agonizing to me. I mean, it took me a 8 years to think of a name for my daughter (mind you I started thinking of it when I was 10) and my oldest son was almost born nameless cause we couldn't figure out what to call him until three days before he was born. I suck at it. Same thing with blog titles, art piece titles, facebook status updates, the list can get quite long. Don't even get me started on usernames for forums and other things. It makes my head want to explode. I think this is why I can't make my mind up on a decent logo and banner too. I have loads of them, just can't decide which one fits me the best cause I am really all over the place. I am a creative hurricane. I have a point in all this, I really do. It has to do with the vector painting project I am doing this week. I have another one to post today. The title sucks. Fair warning has been issued. Beware. This one is another random image pulled from some random image search I did when researching Japanese Harajuku fashion, cause I really just love it, so much insanity and cute, I adore it. Anyhow, the image is a girl with a large stuffed doll. Hence the mindblowingly awesome title of "Doll Girl", yeah, amazing isn't it. Ok, enough with the sarcasm, on to the art!

Original Image:

Cute huh, I also obviously have something for girls with pink hair. I think it may be time for me to rock the pink hair again myself. If anyone knows the source of the image, let me know. I don't have it.

The Vector Painting:

It was particularly fun drawing the tights. I love stripey things. I think I am getting the hang of this pretty well. I paint like this with acrylics all the time. Not much difference with the drawing tablet other than the fact that it's cleaner and I don't have to worry about my kids dumping my paint on the floor as they run screaming through the room.

Well, that's that. More to come. I have at least 3 others that I want to do. Then I have some original illustrations I need to finish up and get posted as well. I am having some fun with these at the moment though. Enjoy!

Vector Painting Practice

2010-12-12T23:21:00.000-06:00

I am going to be practicing my vector painting this week so I will be posting my efforts here when I am done with them. This is the first one I have done, took me about 7 hours. Found the image on tumblr and will try and find the source, if anyone knows alert me so I can credit their photo. It is a very colorful photograph and that is the reason why I used it to practice on. So here is the original image:

Pretty isn't it. I really love her pink hair, I had hair that color once. It's fun! Now, here is the image I drew in Illustrator:

I think the hair and the decorations in it took the most time. Also you have to remember to draw things in a certain order, or rearrange your layers after you group your paths, it is a lot more brain work doing digital art than people realize. You really have to think out each step, not that you don't have to do that when doing art by traditional methods but I think you realize it more when you are working on the computer.

Now the reason I am doing these little practice runs, I am going to start selling portraits and taking on commissions to do digital portraits for people through Etsy and Deviant Art. I decided I needed to do some dry runs before I worked on any for money. Always good to hone your skills. This should be an interesting week!

Blog Mentions

2010-11-15T12:50:00.000-06:00

You should go check out the blog for Deluxe and see all the amazing artists they are featuring for the Craft Bazaar.

http://www.deluxeok.net/

I am being featured today, YAY!

Back to work now, lots to do!

Star Wars Bunch

2010-11-07T13:12:00.000-06:00

I made this for my son. Originally it was just a black and white coloring sheet I made for him to color in. Then I decided to color it in as well, cause I love to color. I think I may print these off as ACEO cards, but I don't know. I am a little iffy on the whole selling fan art thing. I think I am going to look into it more so I don't step on any legal toes.

Still working on new items for the upcoming Deluxe Show. Really excited! Also working on some digital cards and dolls to sell in the Etsy and Zazzle stores. Those should be up within the week, hopefully, time willing. Will be updating with new illustrations and such throughout the next few weeks. Have a lot to share!

Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar

2010-10-22T11:40:00.000-05:00

You can find me there this winter!

Pretty excited about it. Especially since my experience at the Plaza District went so well. Had a great time there. Met some really nice people and enjoyed some great food and music. I put some photos from it up on my Facebook Fan Page.

Have been taking a well needed rest for the last two weeks. Reading some books, doodling, ideas, making some patterns for new dolls. Ok well, I have been working some, just not like a crazy person. I can't help it. I have a real hard time dealing with trying to relax and do nothing. It just isn't me. Back to creating!

Here comes the Catbus

2010-10-02T13:18:00.000-05:00

Here are the Totoro shoes from earlier, all colored in and finished. Came out pretty good I think. My daughter loves them, which is good because she is the one who has to wear them.

For some reason Blogger is not letting me upload photos from my computer today so I will have to post the other things later. I had some bags and other things to share but since there are technical glitches beyond my control I will have to do it later.

Still getting ready for the Plaza District Festival next weekend. Really looking forward to it, hopefully I remember to bring my camera so I can share it with everyone later. More to come!

Bead Madness

2010-09-25T14:08:00.000-05:00

I have been beading like a maniac for about 2 weeks now, I think. My perception of time is a bit wonky cause I work from home so I never see weekends anymore, but that's a whole other post about the side effects of working in your pajamas every day.

These are for the upcoming Plaza District Festival on October 9th in Oklahoma City.

The top one is going to be a bag and the others are hair pieces. I need to edge them and put them onto some barrettes. Then I decided to show my mess. I have this HUGE stack of drawers that are full of nothing but beads in them. I am slightly shocked though cause when I went through them the other day I realized I am running out of a few colors. I haven't had to buy beads in about 5 years, I buy in bulk, so it was a bit of a surprise to me.

Other than this, I am just trying to get my whole look for my booth together. I haven't had a real booth in a long time and I have changed what I sell so coming up with a cohesive look is stressing me out a bit. I want it to be simple but pleasant to the eye, but not to where it is distracting from what I am selling. The crafts are the stars after all. Until next time, happy creating everyone!

Craft Show Madness

2010-09-16T09:57:00.000-05:00

I have been busy the last few weeks getting ready for an upcoming craft show here where I live. I was accepted to have a booth at the Plaza District Festival here in OKC in October. I was busy anyway getting new things made for my Etsy store, but I like making things so I just decided to make more. It is mainly a lot of beadwork. I am making some beaded floral hairpieces, I will show them later when they are finished, and am also beading some hand sewn velvet clutch purses. So for today's show and tell, I have some shoes, a screen in process, and some really cute charm pendants with some of my art work in them.

The shoes I have are just some regular canvas shoes, I am making them for my daughter. She asked me to put Hayao Miyazaki's Totoro characters on them. My Neighbor Totoro is one of our favorite movies to watch as a family and if you haven't ever seen it you should. So, one of the shoes is Totoro and the other shoe is the Catbus. I haven't painted them yet so they are just drawn in at the time being. I have them on my agenda to do this weekend.

I have another blank pair to do as well, but I am still trying to decide what to put on them.

T have also been making screens for some shirts I am going to make. I took a pic of me drawing in the design on my Zombie shirt:

There are two more designs that I am going to have as well, but I figured I will take pics of those after I make the shirts. I do have to say, I love my mod podge after all of this. It is amazing and I will never use anything else.

I ordered some resin stickers and some glass cabochons to make pendants with. I spent several hours in Photoshop as well making templates for my pendants so I can put in different designs without having to make new sheets every time. I am going to me making smaller ones as well so I can make charm bracelets with them. The pendants are all 1 inch in size and all the artwork comes from some of my illustrations and doodles I have done.

These were a lot of fun to make and a lot easier than I thought they would be.

If you want more information on the show, you can go to their site: http://plazadistrictfestival.com/

More to come!

The Quiet Before the Storm

2010-08-29T12:22:00.000-05:00

Things have finally calmed down a bit enough for me to start updating regularly again, or more than I was before at least. That huge project of mine is completed, will share it with you when I can. It was a lot of fun to do cause I got to do a lot of different things. Now that it's done I am preparing myself for a craft show in October. Needless to say, I had to clean and rearrange my workspace, I can actually see my table now! I know how everyone likes pictures so I took some and here they are:

I bet it stays that way for about 3 days. I also have a wonderful case of tendinitis, which makes it a bit difficult to type since my hand looks like it was attacked by a mummy.

The finger is just a job hazard. I'm turning into a cartoon monster. Dreams do come true!

Well, my hand is starting to spaz a bit so I am going to have to cut this entry short. Off to plan screen prints and canvas shoe designs! Will update progress when I get started on them. Ciao!

Star Wars and Ice Cream

2010-07-09T09:30:00.000-05:00

Things have been a little hectic, working on a project and it's kind of taken up a lot of time, hence the long wait in between posts. Here are a few pieces I am working on and will be finishing once I am done working on the current project I have to do. I will definitely post more about this project once it is completed, but until then I kind of have to just say that I am busy and some things are on the back burner until it gets completed.

So I am going to preview for you my Ice Cream Dream and Star Wars Bunch illustrations. I will also show you my extremely messy work space. I try to keep it clean, but it never stays that way.

I am going to finish this one up in Illustrator later. I really can't wait to work on it more cause I think it's cute and silly. It basically sums up my love of frozen dairy products. YUM!

It's a nice little family portrait. This one is going to be finished in Photoshop after I ink it by hand. I basically made it for my son, he is a huge Star Wars fan. He wants to take fencing cause it will be like fighting with light sabers. So he will be getting a copy of this to color all on his own once I get it inked.

Here is my laptop. I do everything on it. Everything. I also own multiple USBs and that is where I keep all my illustrations so I have enough space on my laptop to work. I love my laptop.

Yeah, here is my messy desk. It was clean a few days ago, now it looks worse than this. At least I know where everything is, it is a very organized mess. I really need to clean it again.

I am going to attempt to post every Friday from now on. I need to be more consistent. Even if I am busy and can barely check my emails. See you next week, hopefully with something interesting!

Changing Layouts, Again

2010-06-19T14:17:00.000-05:00

Since Blogger has this wonderful new Design feature, I decided to take full advantage of it and give myself a new background and layout. I kind of got tired of seeing this sea of white every time I logged in. I am also working on a new header, so until that gets finished, I am using the blogger default. Not quite as attractive as I would like it to be, but it will have to do until I get my new one completed. It has my new logo on it and it just fits me better than the previous one did. Of course since I am changing it here, I have to change it everywhere else also, fun fun fun!

I also got to thinking that I may start doing a weekly feature on here on how to draw things. I got the inspiration for this from the project I am working on currently. Now they aren't going to be these mind blowing how to draw things in Illustrator or Photoshop, there are enough of those all over the place. I just want to do your old fashioned, pencil and paper, how to draw things. I get kind of tired of everything having to be digital all the time. It's just for fun and for people who like to doodle cute things. This probably won't start for another month or so because I am kind of back logged with my ever increasing to do list.

I will be updating again soon with some pieces I have been working on. I have some really fun images I have sketched out and will share with you, hopefully this week. I will also put up the final images up when they are completed. I am also excited about some new things coming up for the Etsy store. As soon as I get them ready to launch, I will share it here as well. So many things to do and it seems like I never have enough time. Glad to be busy though!

Bubblegum Baby

2010-06-02T10:51:00.000-05:00

Done in Adobe Illustrator CS3. Another one is the series I am doing on weird holidays. This one is for Bubblegum Day in February. Will be available for prints in my Zazzle store. Please do not use without my permission.

Sugar Shock

2010-05-31T22:51:00.001-05:00

Here is what I have been working on the last two days. It took me so long because Adobe Illustrator was being a pain in my butt and crashing. First time it crashed before I could even save anything. Next time I saved things every 5 minutes! So, yeah, those of you out there who are just now delving into the wonderful world of digital art, save your work every few minutes or end up screaming at your computer for your own stupidity. I was so upset at myself the first time that I just went to bed. I posted the line art to this in the previous post, so I am just going to put up the finished piece here in this one. Prints are available on my Zazzle site. This is one in a series I am working on for weird holidays. I think this is for National Candy Month.

I especially like the bon bon and the gumballs. They are my favorite out of the whole thing. This took me about 6 hours, mainly cause I do a lot of back and forth and I had about 17 layers. Each piece of candy was its own layer and group. Plus, I am still just not as quick with digital art as I am otherwise. Mainly because of the whole saving issue I spoke of earlier. Still not second nature to me yet. Really I am just a perfectionist who redoes everything at least 3 times before I am semi happy with it. More to come in this series, next is this cute little ice cream freak or the bubble gum girl, haven't decided yet. Plus more to draw out. Have a really fun Star Wars one I am working on.

Bubblegum and Sugar Attacks

2010-05-17T14:19:00.000-05:00

I have a few illustration in the making. They are two in a series I am working on dealing with fun and weird holidays. Potentially they will become a calendar, but I am having some creative issues with a couple of months out of the year, mainly January, April, and December. The rest I have ideas for. I also may turn them into a coloring book as well to sell on Lulu.com but I am still debating that idea. I am going to make them all digital illustrations though and sell prints of them on Zazzle. I also have some digital paper dolls I am working on. I love paper dolls, I used to play with them all the time as a kid.

The girl is for Bubblegum Day in February. I wanted something cute and what is cuter than a little girl with curls blowing a bubble with her gum. The finished one won't have all the black inking on it. The pile of candy is for National Candy Month in June. I may or may not keep it inked in black. I still haven't made my mind up on it yet. Plus the image is sideways, thanks blogger. I will post these up as soon as I get them finished. Hopefully soon cause I am getting frustrated with my lack of time due to crazy family, end of the school year stuff. I also may just finish up my other sketches and then color all of them. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Also, may be making some jewelry soon too. Still thinking on that though.

New page and rants about Image Galleries

2010-04-29T13:20:00.000-05:00

I decided to add a children's illustration page so that I could split up my illustrations a bit. I think that putting cute images next to zombies and other more mature content is a bit much.

I am still looking for a better format to show them in though. I like how you can place images on tumbler but I have been here for a long time and I just had a bunch of stuff printed with this site address on them so moving now would be kind of a pain, but the whole image gallery thing here drives me nuts. I don't want to have to get a flickr account just to be able to show my work. I have a photobucket that I barely use as it is. I also have most of my things on Deviant Art. I wish I was able to find some kind of slide show that allowed me to do what the DA Portfolio does. So far I have had no luck.

Well, now since I have this new page I need to redo the slide show in the Illustration page and make a new one for the new page. I really should do this while I have time between projects. I have a few things keeping me busy now since I am working for a greeting card company. It's nice to be able to do it. I have always liked making cards. I have always made hand made cards for people since I was a kid. I only do that if I really like you though!

No Illustration Friday post this week, I really did not like the theme. They have been a bit obscure since I joined and it ends up taking me a week to think of something so I just don't. Maybe next week I can make something, until then I have my cards and my other illustrations I have sketched out to do for posters and promo items.

Illustration Friday: Detective

2010-04-23T13:35:00.000-05:00

It's a little late but I had fun doing it. India ink and Prismacolor markers.

Blog Mentions! oh my!

2010-03-21T14:37:00.001-05:00

I have been mentioned on a blog for the work I did on "The Quilt That Wouldn't Quit". I have never been mentioned on a blog before so I am kind of geeking out a bit. It is nice being recognized for your work. Here is the link:

http://blackthreads.blogspot.com/2010/03/quilt-that-woldnt-quilt-by-cynthia.html
Go check it out!

If you want to see all the illustrations for the book, plus a few concept illustrations for it you can go to my deviant art gallery here:

http://luksicreations.deviantart.com/gallery/#Quilt-Book-Illustrations

Cards! Lovely litttle Love Cards.

2010-03-19T13:56:00.000-05:00

Like I said previously, these were supposed to be for Valentine's Day but hey, love is an every day thing and not a once a year thing so I decided to finish them and VOILA! They are block prints done with magenta speedball ink. The ink is the water soluble kind so it will run if it gets wet. Though it does stain your fingers for a little while. They came out a lot brighter than I thought they would so it was a bit shocking. I like the designs though, so I think I will play with them as vector images and put them up for sale in the Zazzle store as well. These cards are going into the Etsy shop, hopefully in the next hour or so, definitely by the end of the day.

This is the first time I have done lino cut block printing in a very long time. It felt really good to dig into those blocks and scrape around. I always draw my design out first then transfer it on the block. I am too much of a control freak to just start cutting on those things without knowing where and what I am drawing. Also, you have to remember to do it backwards since it is basically a stamp. I think they turned out pretty well. I think the next batch will go smoother since I finally got the hang of it again.

One more thing, I received an extremely cute photo from one of my mom's co-workers, her boss really, and it is of his grand baby playing with one of my handmade teddy bears.
It is so cute and it made me really happy to see it being played with! Here is the photo:

I need to make more plushies. Have the ideas and the patterns made, just need more material!

Construction over and Cards!

2010-03-17T12:46:00.000-05:00

I am a fast little worker bee when I want to get something done. I have some temporary slide shows up to show my work. I am using those until I can find better ones, maybe with flickr or someplace else. Most likely flickr, just need to get my stuff set up there and no time for that until this weekend. So enjoy the newness.

I have also been block printing cards again. Will get a post of those up in the next few days. Letting them dry so I can take photos of them. My fingers are stained magenta, it is a bit strange looking, almost alien like. It's more hot pink than magenta really. Very delayed love cards. I had intended to have them done for Valentine's Day but then life got a bit crazy so half got done and then I just now got to finish the rest. Love happens every day though so who says you can't make love cards any other time of the year! Will be sharing them by the end of the week and they will be up for sale in the Etsy shop. Going to overhaul that shop soon too. Need to be more descriptive and all that fun stuff. Back to work now!

Under Construction for a tiny while...

2010-03-14T23:55:00.003-05:00

With all my stressing out about websites and portfolios on websites and blogs and all this crazy information which makes your head spin if you know absolutely nothing about HTML like I do (cause frankly, I never took the classes and even when I tried, it was like a foreign language to me), I FINALLY decided to figure out how to reconfigure my mess on here. How about that, amazing isn't it. Well I found out I can add pages onto my lovely little blog here and get my tabs set up and I don't have to move anywhere! YAY BLOGGER!!! I can't remember if it's always been that way, I don't think it has, but it probably has since I am not the most observant person in the world about this kind of thing. ANYWAY, I am rambling and what I am really trying to say is, SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

This place is being overhauled for a bit to make it more functional and not such an eyesore. Tabs have been made and information is being moved to those nice little pages I have made. Until all the info has been moved, the links to my hot mess will still be available over here on the right, or the left, depending on which template I have thrown it on. Sorry for the inconvenience, mainly mine, not like you guys care all that much. I shall now go celebrate with lemon lime soda and an aspirin. *swoosh*

Guess what's back

2010-03-03T14:09:00.002-06:00

Back again, shoes are back, tell a friend. (Dork Alert engaged I know)

Anyway, I have new Hi Top Sneakers in the Zazzle store. I decided to have shoes again since they are now carrying Hi Tops. I had taken the previous shoes out. Here they are:

Sweets Hi Top Sneakers by LuksiCreations
See more Candy Keds Shoes

Bubble Hi Top Sneakers by LuksiCreations
More Shoes Keds Shoes

I think I am going to streamline the store a bit more soon. Plus I will be making custom hand painted shoes to put in the etsy shop too. Soon, I have lots of exciting things to make and share!

The One Man Hat Band

2010-03-02T09:30:00.002-06:00

I decided to do my baby sister a favor and bead her man a hat band. It was supposed to be for Christmas, which he got to look at it but I hadn't finished it yet. It's now March, I just got it done last week, lol. So much for me being swift on this one. Granted though, I have to be in an emotionally stable place when I do any kind of traditional bead work. I can't bead when I am feeling crazy or for certain other reason I do not care to share with the population at large, kind of personal spiritual reasons that I just do not feel like explaining. Basically, when you are in a rotten mood, the beads seem to know and they will hate you for it and not do what you want them to then the item you are making is just going to be a source of frustration for you and you will resent it the whole time you are making it. This is why it took me so long, I didn't want to resent it. It isn't necessarily a pattern I would normally do, it is very different and one of a kind. Kind of like the person I made it for. He really is a great guy. So here is the hat band I made for him to wear with his cowboy hat. The photos are progressive and I made it with nylon thread, beeswax, seed beads (size 11), card stock, felt, and backed it with leather.

That's my son holding it for me. I think he would kill me if he knew I posted his picture somewhere, he is kind of shy lol.

Now that I have that finished I can start on another piece. Well several pieces actually. They will all be part of a traditional grass dance outfit for my husband. He is going to start dancing again and we are hitting the pow-wow circuit hardcore this summer so of course, he wanted brand new bead work. Here is kind of a sneak peek at it and a few pics of the beginnings of his cuffs:

Please, this is a family design so no stealing it. As in, everyone in my family has this on their regalia so if I see it on yours I will shame you out. You know what I mean. Use it for inspiration all you want, just don't blatantly rip it off. I will have some more updates soon, shoe related ones! EXCITED!!!

I come bearing dance costume pictures!

2010-02-24T20:43:00.003-06:00

This month has been a bit hectic, dance season has descended upon my household so we have been scrambling to finish costumes. Mainly one costume. My daughter is dancing a solo to Eartha Kitt's "I Want to be Evil" this year and I designed her costume and helped my mom put it together. My mom did a lot of the sewing, I glued a ton of rhinestones to it, one at a time because I am clearly insane. The pink dress is made out of organza and tulle with sequin and rhinestone accents. The unitard underneath has a tulle cumberbund and bow with rhinestones all over the front and back of the top. So this is what I have been working on all month, along with a few other things I will post about when finished. Here are the pictures:

Doesn't she look thrilled at having her picture taken :/

Cleaning out the clutter

2010-01-23T21:07:00.002-06:00

I decided it would be a good idea to get rid of frivolous items on my Zazzle site. Of course this would have to be the day the site was having weird tech glitches and now my store is full of wonk. Wonk wonk wonk, wonderful, wonderful WONK!!! I am so frustrated. I must have magical timing or something. That or the internet gods like to screw with me. I am leaning towards the whole internet gods screwing with me thing. I think they are sitting there pointing with their stylus' and LOLing at me. LOLING AT ME, cause we all know they don't laugh like the rest of us do DUH.

ANYWAY. I deleted a lot of merchandise because I thought it was not relevant anymore. I really just want to sell prints, posters, shirts, and a few other things. All that other mess was just there. That means the only holiday category I have left is Halloween, and its not going anywhere. The rest of my holiday stuff just moved to other categories because there wasn't enough of them for me to care. That is pretty much it.

Ok done with my ranting and my small little update. Back to beefing up the old portfolio so people will notice me HUZZAH!

Cowboy Aliens from Space Stole my Princess Cake

2010-01-17T20:41:00.007-06:00

New illustrations, and yes they are for sale as prints and other items in the Zazzle store. These are just some really cute designs and drawings I came up with for a proposal that didn't come to fruition. I liked them so much I decided to use them for myself since they weren't going to be used otherwise. Such is the way things go when you are bidding for work though.

I especially like the one with all the sugary food. MMMMMMMMM sugary food. Makes me want to make cupcakes. Too bad I am all out of sugar. :(

Still tweaking the new site a bit. Should be up and running soon as long as nothing comes up and eats my money, like evil student loans >_<.

My inane ramblings have taken a new form

2010-01-14T01:07:00.000-06:00

I have a Tumbler now. Daily inspiration things I feel like posting and sharing. Little photo snippets into my warped brain! Come and look at the madness:

http://luksicreations.tumblr.com/

and I also made a fan page for Facebook. Let's see if we get anyone! O_O

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Luksi-Creations/245385691533?ref=mf

so go fan me!! I shall lounge on a bed of roses while well built men feed me grapes.

I also am now a proud member of OK Etsy Team!!! YAY!!! go team!!

Ok enough of my late night ramblings, off to bed for me! (Exclamation Points!!!!)

Changes are inevitable

2010-01-04T10:54:00.002-06:00

I have been talking about it for at least 6 months or more. I am finally going to be moving to my main website here in a few weeks. Funding my domain has finally become possible! I am happy as a bunny in a vegetable garden! I am going to try and bring the bloggy goodness here to the new site, if not then I will link it up in the first blog post over there. The new site will have all my stuff in one neat place. I will have my new blog there, my portfolio, contact page, store stuff, all there in one site. It will be nice to not have to click all over the internet to get to everything. I love blogspot, I really do, I may start a new blog not related to my business here for the fun of it if I get a good idea for one. I will keep my deviant art page for all the other things I won't put into my portfolio, it will serve as my place for "additional material" in case any one is interested. I am just so excited!! New year, new beginnings, new site, 2010 is going to be exciting!

Craft Show stuff!

2009-12-12T15:42:00.012-06:00

I have been meaning to do this update for about a week now. I let things get away from me and lose track of time because my weeks get so crazy with three kids and my new part time job.

I was part of a craft show at my mom's place of business. It was their annual Christmas Craft Show. I tried it last year but was not that successful.
It gave me a year to think about what to do next. I clearly
am not a jewelry maker. Frankly, I hate making it. I do however love to sew things by hand. I spent time at the library pouring over all kinds of books about sewing bags, hats, clothes, you name it, but nothing was really making me feel passionate about making it. That was until I went digging into my grandmothers old craft folders. She has patterns in there from the 1950s! It made me remember how much I loved making dolls with her when I was a kid. So I sat down and sketched some ideas out and then made the patterns for them. I also read a few plush toy books to get some ideas on sewing and materials. Then, I got down to business. I made dolls like crazy. I had to hide them from my kids. They kept trying to steal them, especially the youngest one. I made them out of felt, fuzzy fake fur, velvet, and canvas. I dug up my embroidery thread and my buttons and just had a great time. I also painted a few with acrylics. I worked like crazy to get my stuff done for the show. Day of the show and I can say I did much better this time. So now I am sharing my little creations with you. I still have some left over and they are going to go up for sale in the Etsy store.

I have a few more ideas, I know definitely the big dolls are getting made in more colors and in a bigger quantity next time. I sold all but one of them! I am also going to work on more screenprinting and block print note cards. My plan is to enter more shows this year and have fun meeting new people. I have to get out of my cave some time! Here are the rest of the pics. Make sure to check out the Etsy store some time in the next day or two because I will be posting the rest of my stock there.

I am such a procrastinator

2009-12-06T16:12:00.002-06:00

I updated the Zazzle store again. About 8 new cute kids designs. I made dolls with them too that I will be putting up in the Etsy store once the weather here decides to clear up. No good taking pictures on a cloudy day! Especially when you do not have a light box to take pictures in, I really need to make one of those, or be lazy and buy one.

I plan to be more active with the blog. I am just a huge airhead and forget about it. Plus once I get my domain paid for, all this loveliness here will be moving to the new site. Monetary issues and all, sucks to be a grown up some times lol! I also need to start tagging things. I forget about that too.

Zazzle store updated!

2009-12-03T10:10:00.002-06:00

Bubble Print by LuksiCreations
See the other art on zazzle.com

this is available in posters, shoes, mousepads, skateboards, and in my brand spaking new binder section. Check it out! Huge update coming soon, I need to do some photo editing before I post my new line of plushies.

Portfolio Updated

2009-11-01T16:32:00.002-06:00

http://luksicreations.deviantart.com/gallery/#ABC-Illustrations

This was a project I did for a client who wanted an ABC curriculum illustrated. It was a lot of fun to work on.

Paintings for OKC Indian Clinic Fundraiser

2009-10-27T20:28:00.003-05:00

I participated in making some paintings for the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic's annual fundraiser this year. It was great painting again, I don't get to do it as often as I like because of the kids running everywhere, lol. I created two pieces, they are both 10in x 10in and are acrylic on canvas.

The first one is called "Earth and Sky" and was made using the arabic paper folding technique I learned in a workshop a few years ago. I like how symmetrical it makes everything when you use it. The second painting is called "Cookie Cutter Creation" and is based off a creation story my grandmother used to tell me. She would tell me we as people were cooked in an oven like cookies and that is why we have different skin colors. Some are overdone, some underdone, and then some are perfect, lol. She was a funny lady.

Don't forget to get your Halloween merchandise! 10.31% off when you use the code TRICKORTREAT at the Zazzle store!

Halloween is coming!!

2009-09-14T12:35:00.002-05:00

I have to say it is my favorite holiday of the year, which is why I have a plethora of Halloween merchandise in my Zazzle store! So check it out, I have a teaser panel here for your viewing pleasure. Go to the store to see more. Thanks!

buy unique gifts at Zazzle

Happy September! Long time no see.

2009-09-05T16:00:00.003-05:00

So I have been a bit neglectful to my poor site. I feel bad, Twitter is just so much easier to use as far as updating goes I kind of forget I have a blog O_O. I have also been a bit busy. I beaded a new stethoscope and painted some journals, the journals are for sale in the Etsy store. You can see them in the little mini Etsy widget over on the left. I think that came out pretty good, they were also a lot of fun to do. I am going to try my hand at making journals from scratch now. Keep your fingers crossed that I don't poke a hole in my hand! I have some more projects I am working on. I am painting some more things and getting ready to make some doll patterns. I like making dolls and plushes, I sew them by hand. Not a big fan of using the sewing machine for things like that. I also am wanting to do some block printing. I just have this huge creative surge going on now so I am going to take full advantage of it! Here is a pic of the stethoscope:
I am still working on the Weebly site for portfolio purposes. I just want it to look a certain way and I want to pay for the domain. It will happen eventually, I am taking my time with it.

Weebly.com

2009-07-23T11:53:00.003-05:00

Building a site there. Maybe I can link the blog area up to where it leads here, otherwise I am going to have to start over with the whole blog thing. Oh well, you have to do what you have to do. I like it though. I can have everything all in one spot. It does for me what Wordpress wouldn't. Needless to say I am a happy happy person. I don't think I will mind having to redo the blog, not that my blog is highly exciting in the first place. I think twittering is more fun because I just can not seem to get in the mood to say much. Not much of a blogger. If anything I think I would be a photo blogger being snarky about stuff because it requires minimal typing and more pictures. I am digressing but it happens. Anyway, new site should be up soon. Maybe in about a month once I get it all prettyfied and what not. I also will wait until I can pay for the domain, which is really cheap thank goodness. Then I can start advertising again. Oh the things you have to do to make money and be able to stay home with your kids!

Uh, NO

2009-07-19T17:20:00.002-05:00

No new site, staying right here. As much as I like the way WordPress has all these neat gadgets, I hate how you can't customize your layout unless you buy the software off WordPress.org. So the free version is kind of stagnant. I will just make a portfolio site and link it up here and find a contact form I can use. I am going to pay for the domain service here so I can have it as luksicreations.com instead of having blogspot.com at the end of it. Look more professional to me. As you can see though, I have changed the layout here, at Zazzle, and on Twitter. It looks so much brighter and more me.

New site?

2009-07-17T00:52:00.001-05:00

Seriously thinking about moving everything over to Wordpress. I like how you can make pages over there and I can put my portfolio on it and it would all be in one space. I think I will do this soon. I just need to finish up a few designs so I can have a nice header and maybe background as well. I really need to get some money so I can take that web design class I need. It was the one class I needed to take and did not get the chance to do. So look for me to be moving soon. I like blogger, but I need to be more practical , I feel like I am all over the place right now.

I went on a crazy drawing binge!

2009-07-13T01:38:00.002-05:00

I did so many things today, I made two designs for potential clients, I drew three new designs for my Zazzle shop, I also just finished up a project for another client earlier this week. I like being busy, I have a lot of other things I am getting ready to do too. I am going to make a new banner, I kind of don't like this one and I now have a better idea of what I want as a total package. So I am going to work on that, plus use it for a new twitter background as well. I am also slowly working on a website where I can have everything together and more professional. I like having a DA account and all but it really is not the most professional way for me to showcase my portfolio. I will keep it, but I want a seperate professional portfolio to use when people ask for work samples. Ok, it is late and I think I am beginning to ramble (I am prone to do that when half asleep!) so I will get on with posting the new designs at Zazzle. Remember, I have them on more than just the item I posted.

Dance Biscuit Shirt by LuksiCreations
Many more tshirt designs available on zazzle.com

Stained Glass Card by LuksiCreations
View other Angel Cards

Deadly Spider Woman Poster by LuksiCreations
Browse other poster prints at Zazzle.com

Ok, will post some more later. I am off to sleep!

Some recent crafts

2009-06-09T16:45:00.005-05:00

I just made these beaded stethoscopes. I was asked to make them for some graduating surgeons. I think they came out pretty nice. Took me about a week for the blue one and about 4 days for the yellow one. It takes a bit because it is done one bead at a time. I think I may make some more things like this, it was nice to be doing it again. It has been a while since I have made anything with a peyote stitch.

New items at Zazzle, plus they now have pet shirts!

2009-05-08T18:28:00.001-05:00

Angel Bear Kids T-Shirt by LuksiCreations
Create personalized t shirts At www.Zazzle.com
More Angel T-Shirts

Angel Bear Mousepad by LuksiCreations
Make a mouse pad online at zazzle.com
View more Angel Mousepads

Devil Dog T-Shirt by LuksiCreations
Create a Customized T Shirt At Zazzle
See other Devil Dog T-Shirts

Angel Dog T-Shirt by LuksiCreations
Shop for a tee on www.zazzle.com
View other Angel Dog T-Shirts

2009-05-06T13:50:00.002-05:00

I think I am going to go back to my old colors and red and yellow. It fits my personality more. Been staying busy. Mainly sewing because Pow-Wow season is getting ready to start and we are coming back to it after so many years the kids all out grew everything.

Have a new painting almost finished, it is all drawn and everything. Just need painted. I have one done that I need to put up in Etsy. I was playing with tape and painting so it is kind of weird. I like it though.

New items at Zazzle

2009-04-06T21:48:00.001-05:00

Rock Star Women's T-Shirt by LuksiCreations
Buy a t-shirt online from Zazzle.com
Browse more Cartoon Art T-Shirts

King of Pain Men's T-Shirt by LuksiCreations
Make Custom TShirts At zazzle
See more Cartoon Art T-Shirts

Update for Zazzle

2009-04-03T11:03:00.003-05:00

Here are a few new things on Zazzle. Mainly posters, I did make some stamps but I am waiting on approval for them. They have to approve all the stamps since it is federal and all. Plus I have a ton of art posted up in the gallery on Deviant Art. I finally got around to taking pics of things I still have with me. I sold a lot of stuff a while ago and never got decent pics of them. Still kicking myself for that.

Here are the new posters from Zazzle:

B&W Block Print Poster by LuksiCreations
Browse the other posters prints At www.Zazzle.com
More Fine Art Posters

Skull Poster by LuksiCreations
See other poster Designs on Zazzle
Browse other Internal Posters

Ballerina Foot Poster by LuksiCreations
See the other Prints posters From Zazzle
See more Figure Drawing Posters

I need to finish uploading to Etsy and getting back to making things. Life has been a bit busy lately though. It happens!

Etsy store is open

2009-03-28T21:00:00.002-05:00

I have only a few items in there at the moment. I am still uploading and it is taking me longer than I expected. Plus my daughter has dance competitions this weekend so it has slowed me down a bit. Most of it now are things my mom has made. She likes to make jewelry. I made the picture frames and am going to do some journals and dolls to go in there as well. I also have some coin purses and other beadwork to finish so I can sell them as well. This should be interesting. I have never done this before!

New layouts and banners

2009-03-23T20:08:00.003-05:00

Change is good. I think I finally have settled on a layout and a banner. I like the black because the artwork stands out better against it. Plus I like my little bear, it is cute and whimsical like my artwork. So I have gone and changed the banners on all the stores. I am still taking photos to upload to Etsy, hopefully by the end of the week I can have it all finished. Plus this is new up on DA and Zazzle:

Etsy again

2009-03-20T18:05:00.002-05:00

Me being new to certain things, like selling stuff online, was under the presumption that I had to pay immediately to post things to Etsy. Happily this is not true. They bill you once a month for your postings. If I had known this I would have been selling stuff in there months ago. Sometimes the slowness of my mind astounds me. Needless to say, I am getting everything together and my store will be open in the next few days. At the time being I will only have some picture frames, magnets, paper weights, and some jewelry up. I need to take pictures of it all and separate it all from everything else I have in my stash. I am really happy about this because my money situation is abysmal. Now I have to finish up all the technical stuff and make some new banners. I am tired of looking at the one I have been using for the last few months.

2009-03-10T19:33:00.001-05:00

The image needs to be disregarded. Zazzle took it down because they think it infringes on a celebrity image. It is ok. I still like it. I still have it in my gallery on DA.

Zazzle Update and DA Update

2009-03-10T14:18:00.002-05:00

I put this up on Zazzle as a poster and a magnet:

Beach Betty Poster by LuksiCreations
Poster printing By Zazzle.com
View more Digital Art Posters

I made it a while ago in Adobe Illustrator. I really like it. I need to do more like this.
I also have it up for sale as a print on my Deviant Art site. I have several pieces for sale there that I do not have up on Zazzle. More of my traditional art pieces. I am in the process of taking photos and scanning others in, it is just taking a while.

Also, I have been twittering so check me out: http://twitter.com/LuksiCreations

I made an account back in 2007 and then forgot about it because I seriously did not understand why it was so boring. Now it isn't because it seems like everyone is doing it, it is quite addicting really.

New items!

2009-03-09T10:59:00.002-05:00

These are the two new illustrations I have up for sale on Zazzle:

Zombie Nurse Amy Poster by LuksiCreations
Poster printing From Zazzle
View more Science Fiction Posters

Angel Bride Poster by LuksiCreations
View more poster Designs on www.Zazzle.com
See more Graphic Design Posters

The Zombie Nurse is also for sale on shirts, stickers, magnets, mousepads, keychains, and hopefully postage. The bride is just being sold as a print and postage.

The new page

2009-03-08T22:14:00.002-05:00

I deleted it. It was kind of pointless. I have a gallery on DA and everything else is linked up through here and all the other pages so, I think this can be my main page. I think I was trying to make everything to complicated.

I have new artwork up on the DA site, and I also finally figured out how to organize everything into folders. It makes everything so much easier to deal with.

I also remembered I have a Twitter account so I added it to the links. I may play around with it a bit, but seeing as that I have had it since 2007 and I only have updated it 10 times since then, I do not know how well I will do at it. The new artwork will be up on the Zazzle site soon for sale. I also opened up the Etsy store, but it is empty at the moment.

Basically that is it for now. Will update again soon.

The Book is for Sale!!

2009-02-27T15:48:00.003-06:00

Here is the book I did the illustrations for. It is for sale on Amazon.com

The Quilt That Wouldn't Quit

Please check it out, buy it for your kids or grandkids, or any other kids in your life. It really is a wonderful story.

New page!

2009-02-23T21:20:00.000-06:00

I finally got around to setting up my professional page. It basically has my info and my gallery on it. Since I am able to do illustrating full time now I decided to get a website. It isn't finished yet. I still need to add my gallery and tweak a few things. I think it is too dark. I need to find a better background. I like the one I chose, it just doesn't suit the site. SO the whole thing is in a temporary state of construction, but it is there. I need to learn how to do HTML so I can make me a nice one when I can afford it. Right now I am using Geocities because it is free. When I can afford it I am going to upgrade and pay for my domain and try and get it all streamlined. Until then, this is what I have to do.

I saw the book. It looks really nice, but I haven't heard anything on when it is going to be available or where.

I also think I got a gig doing greeting cards for a while, so YAY me! I hope things start falling into place. I would really like to keep doing this for as long as I can.

I put a link to my site over to the right, Kiamichi Goodbear is my name, so check it out. It will look better soon, I promise.

Why Hey There!

2009-02-09T17:01:00.002-06:00

It has been a while since I have updated. I missed the new year completely and now it is almost Valentine's Day! I have been pretty busy though. I am done with school. I got an illustration job and was working on that for a while. I was doing illustrations for a childrens book. When it becomes available I will link it up here, hopefully that should be within the next month. I am really excited about it. I also have 2 new graffiti designs that I just got posted today. I have other things, but I need to finish coloring them. I have more time now that I don't have all that school work to do. It feels great.

Here are the new designs:

Hip Hop Graffiti T-Shirt by LuksiCreations
Design a Custom T-Shirt At zazzle
Browse other Musical Styles T-Shirts

Phat Graffiti Mens T-Shirt by LuksiCreations
Make Custom Shirts At www.zazzle.com
See more Musical Styles T-Shirts

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-24T12:01:00.002-06:00

I want to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season and a wonderful New Year. Thank you for supporting me and my dream, and I hope everything you reach for this coming year you can achieve!

The Etsy store is still on hold, blame the economy and me needing funds to be able to actually post items up there. They charge 20 cents an item and I just do not have the money for it at the time being. Maybe I can figure something out. I think there may be a better option. I get a bit impatient but it will all work out in the end. Maybe a Yahoo business page is what I really need to do. Oh well, still thinking about it. Have a great time with your family and friends and hope to keep on moving forward in the new year ahead!

Etsy Site

2008-12-04T19:29:00.002-06:00

Will be up and running by this weekend, hopefully. We finally got enough stuff made to where I can put some on the site and keep some for setting up at places that allow booths. We have some really cute cell phone straps, picture frames, abalone shell necklaces, magnets, paperweights, beaded wine glasses, ornaments, canes, and earrings. So when it happens I shall make a post about it and add a link on the side with the others. I am excited!!

And thank you guys for buying stuff from me! I appreciate it. I know I should get some different Christmas designs up, but I have been feeling a bit down lately and just not in the happy seasonal mood. Will try though.

My Pretty Ugly Toad got an award!

2008-11-19T09:17:00.003-06:00

I got a Today's Best Award for November 18, 2008 for my ugly little toad. I am so happy! I call her ugly but I actually think she is kind of cute. I made her for a spot illustration for the story of Thumbelina. I had to do it for a class assignment a few weeks ago. She is the ugly toad who kidnaps Thumbelina to marry her son. I am so happy other people like her as well. Here is the bag that is listed in the Today's Best section on Zazzle today:

Pretty Ugly Toad Bag by LuksiCreations
Other Canvas bags made at zazzle.com
See other Graphic Design Bags

YAY!

Text to go with the previous post

2008-11-18T12:17:00.002-06:00

I just uploaded a ton of new designs onto the Zazzle site. Some funny faces and a few new illustrations that I had done in Illustrator on the computer. There they are on the previous post.

They Etsy site will be up and running soon. We finally have enough stuff to start posting it on the site. Look for a new link soon. I am thinking it will be launched the first week of December. We have an arts and crafts show to do so whatever is left over from that I am going to put up on the site, plus other newer things after that. I have a lot of magnets and paperweights. I also have a few tote bags and journals. My mom is wanting to sell jewelry so that will be on there as well. I am also going to be doing beadwork and artwork. I will also be making some screenprintings on shirts for it as well.

I will update again soon. Thanks to everyone who is buying things from my Zazzle site! I appreciate all of you so so much! Business is picking up and things are getting exciting for me!! YAYAYAYAYAY!

Design overload

2008-11-18T11:56:00.012-06:00

apples apples everywhere

2008-11-04T20:19:00.004-06:00

I have uploaded some apple designs and one graffiti design onto the Zazzle site. I also added a nifty widget, see it over there on the side....it shows you things you can buy on my site. Pretty cool huh.
They have also started making embroidery, I need to play with it a bit more so it isnt so expensive for you all. They have a conversion fee that can really be high if you are not careful. Well, here are the images I put up, go check them out!

Halloween designs 2008

2008-10-13T20:32:00.000-05:00

I finally got them all uploaded and it took FOREVER. I seriously am lacking in the sleep department from trying to get it all in before today. I wanted to make sure if anybody bought anything then there would be enough time for shipping. I also have one Thanksgiving design done. Its cute and funny really. It is in the whole new batch of uploaded images as well as a bookworm and apple image and a couple of others that are not exactly Halloween related. I also finally have a few skateboards up for sale. Anyhow, here is what is new:

Enjoy, hope you like them! As always, thank you to those of you who are buying things. You have no idea how much I appreciate you!

another update! omg!

2008-10-02T00:08:00.000-05:00

So I have another new design up on the Zazzle site, so go check it out. I have a lot more Halloween ones to get scanned in and drawn. I kinda went crazy with it. It is my favorite holiday after all.

I also rearranged a few things. I had to break up some of the product lines since I have enough designs, and its growing weekly. Other than that not much else has changed.

I have new things to show you

2008-09-26T00:04:00.000-05:00

When I typed that title, I seriously heard it in Pinheads voice. I need to stop watching Hellraiser so much, lol. I can't help it though because I love horror movies, and now is the time of year where they are all over the tv. LOVE IT! Speaking of Halloween, I will be posting some Halloween designs here in a few days. Now I am posting other things I have finished. I also want to add that Zazzle now offers customizable skateboards. How awesome is that! So I am working on some skateboard designs and reworking a few older designs to fit the boards. I can't wait to get them done! So yeah here are some new drawings and stuff for you guys to look at:

I love these slideshows, makes things so much easier to post. I will be making some into posters for sure. So I am in creative high gear so expect me to update like crazy for the next few weeks. I finally have enough time to get these things done.

I would also like to thank those of you who have been buying my hats and keychains, oh and the shirts and mugs too! I hope you like them, it really makes me happy. As far as the Etsy store, still working on getting enough stuff to post on there. Beadwork takes a lot of time, but its getting there! Talk to you soon.

New items at Zazzle!

2008-08-04T00:21:00.000-05:00

I have some shoes over there now. They are custom Keds. I think they are a really nice addition to the site so go check them out!

Holy Carp its July already!

2008-07-13T19:38:00.000-05:00

I am so lazy. It's sad. I have not been motivated to do anything lately. I really need to get on the ball and finish everything I need for the Zazzle store. I have not updated it since April I think. I am pretty upset with myself about that really. Not that I don't have the stuff, I just need to color it and upload it and I have been hating the computer lately. I think I just got fried and needed a break. Anyhow, I have the Etsy store started. Once I finally open it there will be a link to it from here. I am excited about the Etsy store because I can sell my handmade stuff there. I am also collaborating with my mom and my daughter on the Etsy store so you will see stuff from them there as well. I think I may ask my daughter to collaborate on me with the Zazzle store as well, she is a very good artist for being 11 years old. My husband already helps me with the graffiti art, he is so much better at drawing it than I am. I just tweak it a bit and color it in. I try to get him to draw more cause his drawings are amazing but he just won't do it. He has such an amazing gift but has no interest in it what so ever. It kind of makes me crazy lol. So in the Etsy store you can expect beaded bags, canes, paper weights, magnets, picture frames, all sorts of earrings and bracelets; I am really excited about it! Once we finish up a few items I can load them up and my store will be open over there.

And to those of you buying my hats and buttons, THANK YOU!!!! You have no idea how much I appreciate the fact you bought something from me. If I could meet you, I would hug you!

2008-05-22T17:50:00.000-05:00

I feel like a bad mom or something. It has been forever since I updated anything. I put a YouTube player on the bottom of the page for your enjoyment. I wanted it on the side but the size of it was a bit too big and it was cut in half so you couldn't see half of the video. So weird but I am going to figure out how to fix it. I have a ton of things I need to color and upload, I just have been busy with school. Life gets in the way at times. I have some posters and am working on a calendar for next year. I am also thinking of making myself a page on Etsy so I can sell some of my other pieces such as paperweights and magnets that I paint by hand. I also may sell some of my beadwork on it.

I have also been doing some graphic work for a dance studio. Baby steps people. I just wish things would go faster but patience will pay off one day. Keeping my fingers crossed on that at least hahaha. Promise to be around more, I have a break coming up so I can concentrate on more things that just school and kids.

Thanks for your support, you have no idea how much I appreciate all of you who come by.

i am on a roll, better watch out!

2008-03-28T17:42:00.000-05:00

i have more, i just need to color them by hand and scan them in. enjoy!

One more new design

2008-03-19T17:56:00.000-05:00

I drew this last night for my digital illustration class and I liked it so much that I decided to go ahead and use it in the store. He is my bad apple. He takes nothin from no one. He is hard core (horrible pun indeed!)

I particularly like his tattoo.

OMG Update!

2008-03-13T23:59:00.000-05:00

I know I am awful about updating this blog. Things have been a tad busy with school. So I have new designs up in the store. A few of them are belated Valentine's Day designs but at least I got them in there, haha. I have been drawing a lot lately. I also have an idea for some color it yourself shirt designs. I am patiently awaiting my graphic pens so I can ink my drawings and get them uploaded so I can make them into posters. Oriental Trading is taking forever in getting my order to me. I finally got me some business cards. Zazzle now has a section for you to make your own business cards so I ordered some. Now I have some cool cards to hand out to people. It is pretty nice. I made a slide show of the new designs, that way I am not clogging up the blog with a ton of pictures. I need to use that feature of Photobucket more often.

Here they are:

OK I will try and be more diligent.

I also want to thank those of you who have bought anything recently! I greatly appreciate it! I think I make up some bumper stickers for advertising. That would be fun.

Well I did it.

2008-02-13T22:32:00.000-06:00

I closed the CafePress site down. I made no money on it whatsoever. I just did not see the point in paying almost 7 dollars a month for a site that was doing absolutely nothing. I am going to use that money instead to get a subscription to a freelance site and see if I can't get any jobs from it. I want to do some illustrating. Anyhow, the Zazzle site is kicking butt. I got my first check in the mail from them a few days ago. Thank you to everyone who purchased something from me. I have some new things to upload, been busy with finals so I have not had the time to load them onto the site yet. Which is a bit unfortunate because I had some cute Valentine images. I am going to post those anyways, just so they are there later. Other than that, I think I made a good decision.

New ad up

2008-01-10T18:18:00.001-06:00

I just bought a text ad for a week on Pink is the New Blog. I like that site, Trent is funny and I like how he goes about dishing the gossip. So my ad will be there for a week starting tomorrow. I am going to work on a new gif image so when I renew my adspace on Crazydaysandnights it will have a new pic. I might also put one on Pajiba but I am not sure yet. I am looking for high traffic sites. I also just made three flyer ads that I am getting printed off so that I can pass them out and see if I can get any business that way. Maybe I can have my daughter pass them out at her dance class. I am really excited! I am also working on a few more V-day designs, also some anti-V-day ones. I am thinking cupid is a bastard is a good one. Maybe I just feel a bit jaded this year hahaha.

They work!

2008-01-09T17:23:00.000-06:00

Using those online ads have definitely worked. I had more traffic in the last week than I have since I opened the stores in September! Now I just need to save some more money so I can get some more. I also need to make a better GIF image. I didn't really like the one I used, but I did not know the specifications so the cool one I made in Photoshop was too big. Now I know to make it smaller. Thanks to those of you who bought stuff! I greatly appreciate it.

CafePress is fixed

2008-01-03T19:27:00.000-06:00

It was them being all glitchy. Thank goodness, I was not looking forward to having to redo everything. I did however change the background. I like the blue better for now.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T10:20:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! I have made a resolution to try and blog here more often. I tend to pay more attention to my personal blog and forget about this one sometimes. I have been working on advertising the sites lately. I have paid for a weeks worth of ad space from blogads.com and have 2 ads. One ad is on the gossip site http://www.crazydaysandnights.net/ and the other one is on http://www.rockstarmommy.com . Paying for ad space is kind of expensive, but these two were reasonably priced for me. I paid 41 dollars for both. Some places wanted up to 1, 000. It was crazy. I can see how you can make extra money that way if you have a high traffic site though. Maybe one of these days I can do the same, hahaha. I have also been sending out fliers.

The site over at CafePress is being all wonky. None of my icons are showing up and all my categories are showing up twice. I can't figure it out. I think it is a glitch with the main system because when I checked it a few days ago it was working just fine. I guess if it is still like that in a few days I will have to go through and delete all my icons and find some new ones. That is such a pain in the butt. I am beginning to think that the CafePress site is a waste of time. My Zazzle site is selling more items, I have yet to sell one thing on CafePress. I am going to give it a few more months though, maybe I am just being impatient.

I got my screen printing materials. Now I just need to find someplace who will sell shirts to me in bulk. I also need to buy a few more screens. It will probably be a while before I get it started but at least I have the ball rolling on it.

I will be working on some more Valentine designs, maybe a few birthday cards as well. I need to make some Yard Signs and bumper stickers. I have not made any of those yet. Should do a few before school starts back up next week. I have an art history class to take, yet again, ugh. If i never have to take another art history class it will be too soon. That is about all for now! I will check back in a lot sooner, promise!

Possible new site

2007-12-16T14:46:00.000-06:00

I have been thinking that I may get a centralized site where I can keep everything. I am going to start doing screen printing and would like to make shirts and other things that I can not sell at the other stores. I am going to make some one of a kind prints, bead work, hair pieces, coin purses and other things. I can then link up the stores and the blog to that site as well. I may go with Yahoo, they only charge about 7 bucks a month for web space and then I may also get AdWords for a bit and see what kind of traffic I can get with it. I am going to think about it for a while, I may not do it until after the new year. I am not going to do any New Year's designs, I just can't get over how it all looks the same. I am however going to try and make a calendar, if I can think of 12 different illustrations and a decent theme. I also have a few Valentines Day graphics and some for St. Patrick's. Just a bunch of ideas I have running through my head, my insomnia is working over time lately hahaha.

I have new designs!

2007-12-12T23:54:00.000-06:00

But goodness, I had not realized it had been so long since I updated things. Life gets busy this time of year, I guess I got caught up in it all. Plus I have schoolwork and kids so I tend to lose track of time. Oh well, I have been working on things and have several new items up in both stores. Business has been picking up on the Zazzle site, I am very grateful for all of you who have found something you liked. I really like the Zazzle site because it is very user friendly and the customer can still customize your design to something they want as well. It is really very cool. I am going to stay with the CafePress site for a while longer to see if I can get any traffic to it. I have yet to sell anything on there. I have some really cute items there that are not available on the Zazzle site, like clocks, teddy bears, messenger bags, pillows, yard signs, pet shirts, and a few other things.

Now on to the new designs! I have one Christmas/Holiday specific but the others are for any time.

Will be doing this more often now that I have the time. See you next post!

New design!

2007-11-05T18:18:00.000-06:00

I have put up a cute graduation design. In the Cafe Press store you can find it under gifts and a set of cards in the journals and cards area. If you go to Zazzle then it is under the Graduation link. I have been trying my best, but I have to admit I do get discouraged when I think about it too hard. I was hoping business would pick up more than it has. Oh well, got to keep going, get my name out there, make people notice, and keep making new designs!

Here is the new design I have up: