More New Products in my Zazzle Shop

These are a few of my newest items listed in my

CMZ Art Zazzle Shop.

I am stoked about all of the new products that are being made

available to us on a regular basis.

I will be creating...

throw pillows,

kitchen towels,

messenger bags,

candy jars,

tea pots....

and oh so much more..

over the next few weeks.

I'll keep you posted as more 'pretties' get added to this shop.

Honey Badger products on Zazzle

The video that is going around everywhere,
about
Honey Badger,
really made me laugh.
It does have some 'language' so be prepared
if you decide to watch the short video.

I guess the popularity of the videos
created a demand for
Honey Badger products...
and with the election upon us..
I couldn't resist creating a few myself.

So...
I did this t-shirt
and I'm waiting for other
non-apparel items
to upload...
with the same design.

I've got a couple more
Honey Badger
ideas that I'll be working on in the next
day or two.

Check my Zazzle Store
to see what else I do with this
nasty little creature:)
As soon as I'm ready to move
the items from the
New Products section...
I'll be giving them their own
Honey Badger section.

A move, some down time and change

I am getting adjusted to moving to a new home...new to me anyway.

I find that I've become a creature of habit and routine

and both have been battered.

My habits and my routines have had to take on

some major changes...

so I am still getting adjusted to the change.

My work routine has been most affected...

I think having the grandbabies for six hours on the weekdays

plays a big part in this...

but school starts in just two or three weeks

so things will maybe get back to normal then.

In the meantime...I have added new items

to my

CMZ Art Zazzle Shop

and my

Tuscan Art Zazzle Shop.

In the coming weeks I'll be adding a LOT more to both shops...

with heavy emphasis on a line of greeting cards

and some smaller gift items.

I've posted a couple photos of my newest items.

It has been a while...

I haven't done any new CMZ Art pieces in quite a while...

and it may be fall before I'm able to do anything new.

Skittles is now four months old and she is still quite the little handful...

I LOVE it!

She does require enough attention that it's all I can do to keep up with

my Rustic Goth pieces.  

This summer, Jaime and I will be watching my two youngest grandbabies

so their parents can work....

this will cut into any spare time I have available...

so you see my dilemma.

I am hoping though...that by fall, Skittles won't need quite as much of my time.

She's a lot like have a mischievous little toddler at the moment...

she puts things in her mouth that she's not supposed to...

she still thinks nipping is playing...it's not...and her little teeth are sharp...

and we're still working on the potty training...

she's much better but still not completely 'there'.

So this blog will surely 'suffer' as a result of

'no new news'.

In this New Year

I'm working, as I can, on my

CMZ Art Bonanza Shop.

It will be the only place exclusive to my

'sweet' CMZ Art pieces.

I don't have many items in the shop at this time...
since I'm working primarily on getting new items in my
Rustic Goth Shop first.

I'm pretty happy with how things are going there,
so I've begun working on new items for
my CMZ Art Shop.

I've listed some new 'positive thoughts' posters...
and some of my 'cute' characters.
I will be painting some new character pieces, working on
new posters, and filling this shop
with pieces that are exclusive to it.

I'm actually very excited about what all I have planned there!

Next Year...

I'm starting to make plans for some new pieces

especially for CMZ Art

in the new year.

I will be pulling all of my Rustic Goth pieces from my Bonanza

Shop and offer the new pieces

exclusively through that shop.

I'll have some 13 x 19 inch Posters

with sweet graphics and 'sayings'...

some original paintings...

and a new series or two.

Look for the new 'offerings' right after the first of the year!

I'm very excited about them!

CMZ Art Bonanza

Since I make my living via my sales over the internet,

I have several different venues from which I offer my art.

Here are a few wearable art pendants,

that are only available in my

CMZ Art Bonanza Shop 

 

And right now I'm having a Half Price Sale

on them..

Under the Weather

I have been feeling a bit 'under the weather' the past few days.

It started out with a little bit of chest congestion...then a sore throat...

and a nasty little pain on the right side of my back

whenever I move or take a deep breath.

I'm not one to run to the doctor, unless all my own efforts fail...

so I'm pouring down the Echinacea Teas...Zinc and Vitamin C...slathering myself with

Vicks VapoRub...bundling...and trying to rest.

Mostly...I'm trying to 'will' myself to feel better...

believe it or not...

that usually works.

Show Season Over

I have posted much of this information on my

other blog

but I wanted to be sure to include

this information on both...

since this is the blog that I give on the business cards

that I hand out at local shows.

We will not be doing the November or December Shows

at the Lancaster Event Center.

I have been dealing with a family emergency since

mid October...and we just will not have the time or resources

to be able to finish out the scheduled shows.

Our apologies to those who had planned to visit our

booth for their Christmas shopping!

You can find the same items in our respective shops...

CMZ Art d.b.a. Rustic Goth

Mike and Jaime Best d.b.a. Best Art Studios 2.

Be sure to visit our shops frequently as we will be offering items

especially for Christmas...

not available at other times of the year...

I'm working on some new product for my Zazzle Store.

This is my

'Chicken Noodle Soup' mug

complete with the soup recipe

now listed on Zazzle.

I also have a Chocolate Chip Cookie Mug

and a Salsa Mug.

(Which I will probably take off at some point.)

What I plan to do is to have a whole

series of 

Soup Recipe Mugs

in the Store over the next week or two.

I personally think it is such a clever idea:)

I think I'm figuring it out....

It took me a few days...but I think I'm finally

figuring out

Bonanza.

Actually...I sold a couple of items and the

kind person who purchased the items

was so sweet to offer a few suggestions of what

I might do to make this shop a little

easier to find.

How very sweet of her.

I wouldn't normally have opened a new shop anywhere

at this time of year..since I am always

busier than normal during the Fall Season...

but since I didn't really want to lose all the work I'd put into

the Shop at 1000 Markets...

and 1000 Markets was acquired by Bonanza...

I didn't really have much choice.

But..I might actually like being there..once I get it all figured out!

Bonanza

I'm not if I'm 'happy' that my 1000 Markets site
is now
a 'Bonanza' site
or not.

Time will tell I suppose.

I recently received an email saying that Bonanza had just
acquired 1000 Markets...
the shops would migrate to Bonanza
and 1000 Markets would
'be no more'.

I had just begun to get used to 1000 Markets
and rather liked the site...
it's much different at Bonanza...
and I'm not going to have time to familiarize myself
with that site until after the first of the year.

Anyway...
such as it is...
my
CMZ Art 1000 Markets Shop
is now
CMZ Art Bonanza.

So many things going...all at the Same Time.

I have got soooo many things going...
all at the same time...

I wished I were a bit more organized.

I've set a 'goal' of the number of original paintings I want to

keep in my

Rustic Goth Etsy Shop 

and I'm close to reaching that goal...

the trick will be..

keeping that number.

Obviously I want Need to sell those paintings...

so

I've got to always keep new ones working.

Now...I've decided to include...

'portable art'

in my shop.

I'm working on abstract paintings....

I really have 'missed' doing those...

but I'm rather messy...

I 'lost' my studio to my youngest son

a couple of years ago...

so I have to do my abstract paintings...

outside...

needless to say..

my time is very limited...and depends so much on what

the weather is doing.

I'm also working on some new pieces to add to merchandise in

my Zazzle Shops...

I'm pretty sure I have many other things going 

I just can't remember them all right now.

Thank goodness for my little 'list' keeper.

Going Weekly...

I tend to spend the summer months...

experimenting and coming up with new pieces

for my Etsy Shop.

It's a good time too...for designing new pieces

for my Zazzle Shop

and my other sites.

I just take my time...so that I don't feel too much

pressure to create...working at my own pace.

Because so much time is spent

in experimentation...

and I tend not to reveal my experiments

until I am happy with them...

so there's not as much to

'talk about'.

So...for the time being...I'm going to scale this blog

back to 'weekly' posts.

I'd already gone to twice weekly..

since I don't spend as much time on my

CMZ Art creations as I do on the Rustic Goth creations...

and because of this...

I just don't have as much

to say.

Keds Shoes PLUS My Art

I'm not sure who decided it would be a good

idea to let ordinary folks like myself

apply their own art and design to a pair of Keds' Shoes

but I think it is 

brilliant!

I LOVE my Shoe designs on Zazzle

and plan on getting me a couple pair here soon.

I want to have them to wear during the upcoming

art and craft show season.

I really really need to spend, at least one whole day...

doing nothing but designing

Keds' shoes.

They're pricey...but soooo cool!

Some CMZ Art Pieces

I've been doing art

in some form or other...

pretty much as long as I can remember.

For a lot of years...most of my

art was distributed to family members

as gifts...

or

"just because".

Then..my husband and I started doing

the art shows...

they were lots of fun...

and a lot of long...often times Hot...hours.

I learned a lot at those shows.

Then...in 2004...

I listed a couple of my early pieces of art...

along some stuff we purchased at some estate sales...

the first thing to sell

in the very first week...

was one of my art pieces.

I don't think I got a whole lot for it..

it went at auction

on eBay...

I'm pretty sure it only got the one bid...

but I was 'hooked'.

Most of these pieces are from my

eBay days...

and I've offered so few of these

as prints...

until now.

I've got them over on

1000 Markets...

along with a small collection

of Rustic Goth pieces.

I wanted to see how these pieces

go, to decide where I want to take

CMZ Art from here.

I've got a good schedule...

I write a blog post for this particular

blog about twice a week.

Since I'm not doing as much with my

CMZ Art Brand...at the moment...

I don't really have much news anyway.

At least not with my art...so I'm

pretty happy with it's current 'schedule'...

that way

if something that I think is 'interesting'

comes up...

I have plenty of space to post it here.

What Shall I Do?

I've got so many things I WANT to do...and so little time to do it in.

It would probably not be as big a deal

if I were actually 'making a living'

doing what I'm doing...

mostly my Rustic Goth Etsy Shop.

But...things have been

more than 'strange' over there since March.

Every time I think things are

'back to normal'

they decide to change things up..

and whenever they do this...it seems

it affects a whole lot of shops

for weeks and weeks.

And...my shop just happens to be one.

So...I'm trying to best figure out

what I should do.

I wanted to do a bunch of new

floral paintings...especially for CMZ Art...

but it may end up being a

huge waste of time.

I hate being so dependent on One Venue...

but since I refuse to ever go back to

eBay...I guess I'm 'stuck'.

I've got shops at

Artfire,

Zibbet,

1000 Markets...

all of them still without even 1 sale...

maybe I'll do a bunch of new stuff for

my Zazzle shops.

I don't make much money...per sale...but

I do make sales on each of my Zazzle sites...

so that may be where I end up

putting my new floral 

and other

CMZ Art pieces.

Yep....I think I've talked myself into devoting a week

or so...to doing a whole bunch of new pieces

exclusive to Zazzle.

Sometimes I just have to

'commit it to paper'

MELANCHOLY GIRLS

I'm Learning About Licensing

Every year...after the busy holiday season..

we all experience such a slow down in business

that it gives one 'pause to wonder' if

things will 'ever' pick up...

and these times can be 

very 'trying' on the soul...

so this year I decided that..

rather than to fret and worry

(I gave 'worry' up for Lent)

that I would instead turn to new

ways to 'expand' my business

in the markets available.

Being first on eBay...and then on

Etsy and several of the other smaller sites..

which mean doing the art..the marketing..the shipping..the bookkeeping..etc..

all by myself..

I've also got 'space' on sites like

Imagekind..

Art.Com/ Artists Rising

which offers my prints

on Amazon

(see the links at the bottom of this post and my sidebar)

Zazzle

which mean that I create the image..

and they do all the work.

I get paid..periodically..in royalty type payments..

still..I have to do the work of putting my work

on the sites...and all that

goes with that.

So..I decided...since I'm not getting any younger...

that it would be a good time to 

learn about licensing my art.

I'm still in the 'beginning' stages

of learning..

but I am a fast learner.

I forgot to mention when I first published this post..
that my "go to" source in my
licensing education
is the Art Licensing Blog
by Tara Reed.

I'm finding a lot of useful information on
her blog...check it out!