Support an Artist Without Spending a Dime

Tis' the season, and that means that some of your favorite artist's and illustrators will be posting work and products they created for the holidays. If you are anything like me, you don't buy a lot of gifts. Maybe you make your own gifts or just don't celebrate in a huge way but you still want to support the independent sellers and artists. Here's how to do just that and it won't cost a penny!

All you have to do is SHARE!

Here are a few simple ways to do it.

FACEBOOK

Share an artist's shop updates.

When an artist posts new work, hit the "share" button and say something like " Check out so in so's page, I love her/his work!" or "Isn't this cute?"

Also, giving the image a "Like" doesn't hurt either.



How cute is this little Mini-Bot from Robin Davis Studio? I simply had to share it on my FB page for all my friends to see!

INSTAGRAM

"Like", comment and re-gram the images. 

If you think a friend or colleague would be interested in the artists feed, tag them in the comments.




See what I did there? In the comment section I tagged someone. I want this cute Artsy Bag from my friends over at  Aunt Henri for Christmas. That guy I tagged happens to be my husband. Hopefully he will get the hint!

ETSY

Like shops and items by clicking the heart.

If you are already on etsy and are looking at an artist's shop, click the heart. It helps that artist get found more easily in the search and this means everything to an etsy seller!

You can favorite the whole shop or individual items.

All I did was clicked the heart under Angela Staehling's name to favorite her shop. I happen to love these little trays so I also clicked the heart next to the listing-so easy....

Also, you can help spread the word more by clicking the "Share" "Save" or "Tweet" buttons.

PINTEREST

Pin an artist's images and shops to your boards.

Start a board called "Shops I Like" or "Art I Like" and pin images from an artist's etsy page or blog?  Naturally you can also re-pin it to  board that you already have.

I pinned this tea towel by Tammy Smith Designs to my Pinterest board titled "Tea Towels". I pinned it directly from her website so that if someone clicks on the pin, it will go directly back to her shop.

Easy right? and you are helping spread the word which is so important to an artist and independent sellers.  I know I greatly appreciate all of the shares, comments and hearts that I get on various forms of social media. 

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start clicking!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

"I Don't Know How To Do That"

Sign up for my blog and get this print for FREE! Offer good for a limited time.

Just reading the title of this post makes me cringe, but it’s something that I hear from people on a pretty regular basis. Someone will be seeking advice (not necessarily from me) about art, marketing, politics, their career, any number of things really. They want a solution; one or more are offered and you hear “Oh, I don’t know how to do that”.

In today’s world, these words really don’t apply. EVERYTHING you want to know is right at your finger tips. There’s Google, YouTube and “How to” instructions all over the internet and it’s all FREE!

Back in the day, we had to look things up in an encyclopedia or go to the library but today “I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO THAT” just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Now I get it if someone says to you, “Maybe your headaches would go away if you preformed brain surgery on yourself” or “Perhaps you should grow wings and fly” In those cases; the offensive phrase, “I don’t know how to do that” is an acceptable response.

However, if the question is something along the lines of “How can I get more people to see my art?” or “how do I make a change in the world” and the solutions offered are things like “get on Instagram”, “build a website”, “open an Etsy shop” or “start a petition” and they utter the offensive phrase, it’s all I can do to not slap the person.

What you are really saying is I don’t want to do that, I am too lazy to learn something new, or, in the case of politics, someone else will do it. And, often times, these words are about FEAR rather than lack of knowledge. That’s ok, we are all afraid of moving forward at times whether we realize it or not.

When I was younger, I didn’t truly understand the value of learning or maybe I just didn’t understand how to learn. I admit that I was a late voter (in my late 20’s) because I didn’t take the time to learn about what I was voting for. It never occurred to me to seek advice from people who I admired or people whose values I aligned with. That, and, I was lazy about the whole thing, so I’ve been there too.

Now it’s a different story. I can’t learn enough and not a day goes by that I don’t Google something, look for a quick class on YouTube or grab a book on a subject that I am interested in. I have learned so much and I can’t wait to learn more.

Now for the good news…….

There is a pretty amazing group of people who didn’t utter this phrase and they are changing the world that we live in. I’m talking about the young people who started the “March for Our Lives” movement. None of these students knew how to raise money, start a movement, or knew much about politics and how the system worked. Probably most of them had never given a speech in front of 10’s of thousands of people either. They do now and they learned it all in less than a month.

Whether or not you agree with their message, I think we can agree that this is an exceptionally impressive and inspiring group of people, and most are under the age of 19.

Don’t tell me you aren’t voting because you don’t know who to vote for. Inform yourself ! Talk to people whose beliefs you align with and ask their opinions. Turn off the nonsense on television, skip the happy hour, get online and do a little research and figure it out. What could be more important than voting?

Don’t let me hear you say you really want an Etsy Shop or an Instagram account or want to upload photos from your phone but don’t know how to do it. Google it, look for a video on YouTube or ask someone to sit down with you and LEARN how to do it. You have no excuse, and you will feel empowered, you might even do a little dance.

If there’s something you have been wanting to do, don’t let fear or any other excuse stop you. Take baby steps, do a little online research and don’t expect to have the answers all at once. Give yourself time. As the saying goes “Rome wasn’t built in a day”

Now, take a deep breath, move beyond the fear and, go out there and learn something new!

Challenges:

If you aren’t registered to vote-do so.

Write down three things that you have always wanted to do but used the excuse “I don’t know how”

Pick one

Google it

Do it

Pat yourself on the back and let me know how it goes!

Enjoy The Journey-My First Fabric Line

One of the fun things about being a licensed artist is seeing your illustrations come to life on a product. Opening the boxes of samples is like Christmas Day. It’s always a thrill to see the end results and to hold an actual product that you designed in your hands.

From start to finish, it was almost a year before my boxes of fabric arrived from Henry Glass. And when they did, I tore into them with reckless abandon, squealing at each new bolt that I unwrapped. As the photo below demonstrates, I was delighted with the results.

See how excited I am!

Seeing my name printed on the fabric was pretty exciting too.

All was happy in the Kingdom of Paula, but it was about to get even better……

A couple of months ago I noticed that someone going by the moniker Aunt Henri was stitching up some beautiful bags and totes using my friend J.Wecker Frisch’s “Draw Near” fabric collection and posting them on Instagram. After getting my fabric samples, I wondered if they would want to sew up some lovelies with the “Enjoy the Journey” collection. I made a quick phone call to Janet to get the low down and then I contacted Aunt Henri (turns out they are a mother and daughter team). They were funny, professional and just all around wonderful. More importantly, they agreed to stitch up some goodies for me. The results blew me away, and once again, I was delighted.

Small bag stitched up by Aunt Henri I think it's my favorite!

Well wait, maybe this large shopping tote is my favorite.

Hmmmm, this vinyl tote sure is cute, maybe it should be my favorite.

I can't decide, they are all my favorites! Especially this cutie!

The Kingdom of Paula was ecstatic at this point.

For years I have wanted to design fabric and my dream finally came true. It has been a wonderful journey from beginning to end and the wait was well worth it. I have learned a lot, made some new friends and have caught the sewing bug. I enjoyed every minute of it.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by!

Where to buy “Enjoy the Journey”

eQuilter

Bear Creek Quilting Company

Fabric com

Needle Craft Inc 

If you retail my line and aren’t listed, please contact me and I will add you.

Where to find Aunt Henri:

Etsy

Instagram

Blog

Facebook

If you are interested in what inspired this collection

click here

for a past blog post

Follow me at Paula Joerling Studio on Instagram for updates.