September sales suck

Not only am I am terrible blogger, September hit and sales went down the tubes.  I was warned, it was repeatedly said September will be a terrible month.  Yep.

So what is a girl to do?  I poured myself into my graphics shop, and holy cow, I have had the best month since I opened.  I am so excited, I have added the digital prints to expand my shop and the whole shop is doing well.

I have also taken most of my photos over, again, and did SEO yet again, so let us see what happens with the upcoming holiday season.  Again, the word is, the holidays are a crazy time, so fingers crossed that it is.

Meanwhile our plans are moving forward to make this our full time business starting January 2018.  I am working harder and more hours then I ever had at any other job, it is no joke.  It is definitely a labor of love.

Meanwhile, I am working hard on getting some new products out in time for Christmas.

Christmas in July

Ok, well, all the hype and no Christmas in July sales, but I did get a lot of views, and I figure at least I can let the SEO simmer in time for the holiday season.

I admit I have been having a blast making signs when it is 95 outside, and since it is my first holiday season I figured it would be a good time to stock up.  I think my favorite signs are made from reclaimed wood,

I love getting a piece of scrap wood and imagining what it could turn into.  I have a a few with a base coat of paint on them, and now I just have to study each piece to see what it will turn into.

Here are some of my reclaimed pieces, and there are many more in my Etsy store. I am especially excited about this first sign, not for the design, but that I was able to capture a good product photo with a little point and shoot Kodak camera.  I tried a piece of white board, and with just the right amount of positioning and some Photoshop tweaking, I think I did ok.

Custom crab shack sign

I really really love this one.  I am on the hunt for some more reclaimed wood.  I made a sign for our friends but it came out badly, so I decided to redeem myself and make another one.

Score!!!

I painted the reclaimed wood then added the crab and wording.  I was not happy with just the spray spar urethane, so I decided to try some semi gloss polyurethane.

Winner!

I really want to test these guys out in the elements so I can market some outdoor signs.  I sprayed it with a spray bottle and the water rolled right off, really cool ( now I am impatient to get ours out in the elements).

I love the one I made for us as well, and nothing like a little self promoting to try and get business moving.