Ladybugs for Digital Scrapbooking Layouts

I've been working on some of my own original designs to use on digital scrapbook layouts for my customers. I have one customer with two little girls and I recently wished for ladybugs for a summer layout. I was inspired by a "thank you" note my mom sent to me awhile back that had ladybugs on it. This ladybug embellishment and paper are the result. I can't wait to use them in a layout!

*You can buy these items as a mini-kit for just $1.49 at my online store here! *

I'm just back from a week-long trip to Washington state where my husband and I spent time with his dad and step-mom, and also his brother and family. We had a great time even though it was a few days before our thin California blood adjusted to the cloudy and rainy Washington weather! I hope to be posting a few photos on my personal blog in the next couple of days. Hope you'll pop over and check it out! (www.debztalkin.blogspot.com)

So I'm WAY behind!

Hi all, I am SO sorry I'm so far behind this month. I have not gotten my newsletter out. I did attend two workshops on email marketing, and that includes newsletters, but have not had a chance to implement what I've learned. Why? I am swamped with orders for page layouts! Now, that's awesome news for me, because it means my little Biz is doing well, and the page orders are coming in, but the bad news is that because of that, I don't have time to write the newsletter! But I WILL! Just give me a few more days!!!

I hope you will all have patience with me during this growth period. It's very exciting, yet challenging, and because I'm a Newbie to being a small business owner, it's a little stressful! I had thought I'd simply handle everything as it came up - the reality is there are not enough hours in the day! I am so grateful that the work is work that I love, and that's a whole different universe from what I was doing in my LAST job!

I left my corporate job so that I could "relax" a bit, and do something that I LOVE, and I have definitely found what I love to do: scrapbook for others. But, I didn't realize the extend of the OTHER related stuff, like marketing, and taxes, and paperwork, and sending out invoices and receipts, and streamlining layouts.....whew!

Bottom line is: I will be discontinuing the freebie calendar pages because I just don't have time to create them right now (although I love 'em!) but I'm definitely KEEPING the templates, as they have proved to be very popular amont my digi-scrapping friends, and it is not too hard to offer templates based on layouts that I've recently done. However, I want to offer something for my CLIENTS, those all-important people....and I have not quite decided what that will be yet. Any suggestions? I will be working on that -- I'd like it to be something that they could download and use right away, but it's hard to imagine what that might be. It may take awhile, but I will come up with something.

I appreciate your patience in the very busy time for me. Please also read my personal blog: www.debztalkin.blogspot.com, since my personal life also has an impact on my "business" life! I'm planning a trip to China soon; you won't want to miss my blogs from Louyang City!

Title and Journaling Added

Here is the layout I posted earlier in this blog; now it has the title and other elements added and is completed. This is one of my customers and her family in 2006 as they searched for, and found, the perfect Christmas tree.

My apologies to Mulberry Lane Papers for not acknowledging that the background paper is their design. Love their stuff! They also made the tree and tag elements. You can buy the whimsical Holly Jolly Christmas kit in Missy Artsy's Esty store here. So cute! And a commercial use license is available! LOVE that!

Anyway, I love the way this page turned out. Of course, it helps a lot to be given great photos of photogenic people!

Scrapbooker for Hire, Scrapbooking for Others

Ahhh, the magic phrases that seem to bring new customers my way. Gotta love Google!

Lately, I've had some more unconventional requests from people. Several have called wanting advice on starting up their own digi-for-hire business. I'm only too glad to talk to them and share what I have learned as I've organized and built my little business. I believe there is more than enough work out there for lots of scrapbookers for hire.

Another lady has requested tutoring in PhotoShop Elements so that she can do her own digi-scrapping. We will have our first telephone lesson today. I use PhotoShop CS3 so the menus and such are going to be different - I'm hoping that won't be too big an issue. I have used Elements in the past so I hope I can remember enough to make the tutoring worthwhile. This very nice lady from Massachussetts will be in San Francisco next month, accompanying her husband on a business trip. Since I'm only 35 miles from S.F. we are going to take advantage of the close physical proximity to get together in person for hands-on tutoring. It will be great to meet her, too!

I find a lot of inspiration for my page layout designs from magazines. Recently I came across an ad in a women's mag (I think it was Ladies' Home Journal) that I based the following layout on. It's probably not everyone's cup o' tea, but I like it. Now if I could just figure out where to put a title and journaling!

My new Logo -- at Last!

Well, it's been a long haul, trying to figure out what to use for my company logo. I knew I wanted California poppies but I didn't know whether I wanted a drawing, a photograph, or what. After many false starts and frustrations, I finally come up with a design that I love. It is a line drawing with a water-color wash behind it, and I love it. And it only took 11 months to design it!

You may have already noticed this new logo in my "blinkie" which you can now see on this blog (take a peek at the upper right-hand corner). You'll be seeing a lot more of it as I incorporate it into my website, business cards, stationery, address labels, brochures, newsletter, and other advertising materials. Orange and green are my two favorite colors (even my cats are orange) and California poppies are one of my favorite flowers (it's also California's state flower) so I think it's the perfect logo for me.