August 2018

I haven't written for awhile. Maybe I didn't think anything I had to share was important. Life just clicked on. I have been listing/selling my stuff on Ebay and Etsy but that has been slow too.

 This whole year has been off. We have had hot, cold, dry weather and have had to work around it. I have bees and this year when it got to 90 degrees in the early spring, I had one hive swarm. I have been nursing the other one along and am ready to remove that honey. It will be interesting to see what is in there. My vegetable garden got a family of rabbits that ate my cole crops and there was still a baby in there so the only thing I planted was tomatoes and the rest went to weeds.The gate is open now. I am hoping the chickens will forage in there and perhaps clean it up. My other gardens have been hit and miss. Deer have found them and eaten on the hostas and the lilies, and the flower seeds I planted. I just gave up.

I have been looking for work and even though there are jobs out there, I don't want to be a truck driver, cna, not sure if I could handle factory and have had enough of retail. My sister gave me an option that I need to look into. I really don't want to sub again, but it pays better than many things. I finally did get a job offer for an art teacher but it was 45 miles away and I was thinking of winter with snow and ice on back country roads. There have been other teaching jobs pop up, but most are a distance similar to that. I have an interview today for a local one and that would be nice if I would get chosen. I spent a couple of weeks of hard, heavy, grueling work setting up a store and then not chosen to get a permanent hire - which I think ended up to be a good thing. I need to go in there and tell them that I quit. The hard part was with subbing, I was like a subcontractor and had freedom. Working in a store it would be odd hours - when they say jump, when and where you have to. It is hard to give up your life/freedom unless it is worth it.

I do my online sales, but it is hit or miss and usually summer is my busy time. This year it was not. I have listed more but my free listings fill up fast so I can't get everything on. I am thinking about other options. I have my Ebay store for paper dolls, sheet music and other misc (julesartstuff). I have another Ebay account for art, postcards and prints. (julespaints2). I am on Etsy (julesartstuff) but that can be hit or miss. I was on Daily Paintworks for 8 months and had one sale - a $5 ACEO so I cancelled it at the beginning of the month. I probably could have done better if I had gotten involved with the community. It was nice to see people actually looking at your work. I signed up for Truegether but haven't done the social media thing and nothing is happening there without it. I closed my Bonanza store because it was too much work for no sales. Everytime they did an update from Ebay, I would end up with duplicates (a lot!) to delete off. Somebody on Facebook was saying if you want to get your Ebay moving you need to make changes in the listing - like change the title, price, etc. When I did that, those ended up there along with the original listing so the whole thing was a mess. I think both Bonanza and Etsy now want more money to promote your items. I am not sure if it will help or not or if they are just padding their bottom line.

What I am thinking of is this -

1) Orangenius for my art. I know it is fairly new but they also help with copyright protection. I signed up but haven't put anything on it yet. I need to go the profile and everything. I think that will serve as my art portfolio/website.

2) Linkin -  have had it for years but haven't done anything with it. I need to get it together.

3) Look at my sister's option and try that out.

4) Cancel Bonanza, Truegether (possibly)

5) POD - on Etsy. As an artist I already have plenty of designs.

6) Sub (If I don't get a teaching job) or look for something else where I have regular time off to plan my life. I can also get a pt job - even maybe an online one to suppliment my finances.

7) Get a tent. Sign up for both art and craft shows and do them.

8) Check with Artisan Forge and see if they still want my art or if they want to switch it out to something fresh.

9) Print sale is coming up again. I want to make some new ones to put in there. I was thinking of making some prints also ACEO size.

I always have plenty of ideas - I just need to find a way for this to pay - even on a part time basis. I have sold some art this year, which is nice, but it has been lower price. Just trying to get some strategies going. Everything takes time and money.