Tag Archives: Blog Contest

Social Marketing 101 – Getting Past the Fear

BRAND NEW DIGITAL CLIP ART KIT $4.95 AT ETSY.  Just click on the picture to go to the store.  There are more sizes and shapes in this collection.

A CONTEST EVERYONE CAN WIN:  I want to build my Facebook page up from 204 likes to 500 as my first goal.  Will you help me do it?  If you do, you can win the kit I’m showing in this post.  The minute we reach that goal I will post a link to the kit on my page as a thank you to everyone that helped as well as to be enjoyed by everyone who joined!  So if you have friends that enjoy digital art, please invite them so I can give away at least 500 kits!

Social Marketing 101 – Getting Past the Fear

I took a great class yesterday from Constant Contact (the people I’ve been paying to host my 5,000+ name mailing list for 3 months, but have never sent out an email to yet!!!)  Am I lame or what?!  I’m not sure what the hold up has been, but I’m determined to get past it.   My darling friend, Karla Dornacher has even agreed to hold my hand through the process so I’m going to take the plunge… very soon…

The conference was actually 2 classes, Social Marketing was the morning topic and Email Marketing the second.  Does the word “marketing” scare you?  It isn’t my favorite word either, but I realized that if you take the word “marketing” out – it’s really about connecting, I hate to “market” but I LOVE to connect.  What’s not to love about connecting with people who share your likes and passions.  Connecting with people that enjoy what you do and vice-versa.  When I started to think of it in those terms it immediately became much less scary to me.

After listening to Kelly Flint – Constant Contact’s LA Regional Development Director give the presentation, I did a lot of thinking about what I have and haven’t done in the past.  She is delightfully hilarious by the way, if you get a chance to go to any seminar she’s teaching do it.  You can find her Facebook page by clicking on her name, it’s a live link.  Kelly is a wealth of ideas and information and I’ll share bits and pieces of her tips via my twitter feed in the next few weeks.  If you haven’t connected with me there it’s TWITTER @audreyjeanne.

Kelly shared a lot of real life stories.  While listening to them, it dawned on me, I don’t believe I have ever told anyone that reads my blog that I HAVE a Facebook Page, much less invited you to come visit.  I did say I’m at the 101 course level.  You can find it here: facebook.com/audrey.jeannes.expressions

I enjoy Facebook because it’s so interactive – much more so than a blog.  I would love to dialog with you.  I would LOVE to hear about your passions.  What arts and crafts are you into?  What do you want to learn more about?  What are you making and selling or just making to give away?

Do you have friends that love to create with digital art?  Are they professional crafters that love to find new things to make, new art that they can use for selling at craft shows?  Do you have friends that scour the net for the next hot craft and would love to share what they find?  I’d love for you to invite them to come connect with us.  I’d love to see what people are doing in their creative spaces and try to encourage you to bring more creativity and beauty into your life.  AND I’d love to have you come and post those kinds of things on my Facebook page so we can all go check them out.

Now, if I can figure out how to post a “find me on facebook and twitter button”, I’m in business…  Oh Cheryl, are you out there?!  (she’s my favorite geek helper!)

Wow! I’ll Go Over 700,000 Hits this Month!

I’ve been blogging a while now.  Sometimes I’m more faithful than others, depending on my work load – which shifts rapidly day by day.  My previous blog had over 300,000 hits before I was forced to change to a new one.  This new blog will go over 400,000 hits some time in the next 1-2 weeks.  It simply amazes me.  THANK YOU to those of you faithful readers that have been with me since the beginning or come alongside of me during the journey.  It’s a joy and a blessing to share with you.  One I never take for granted.

So, what am I up to?  I’m finishing up a kitchen goods collection today, that will be out in January with a fabulous manufacturer.  I will show you the designs when I am allowed to.  I love their quality and look forward to seeing the final products when they are done.  I hope that this will be the first of many collections with their company.

I am also working on a room sized rug, and paper party goods how’s that for variety?!  That’s one thing I love about what I do.  It’s hard to get bored when things can change so quickly.

I WAS hoping to start painting a new collection today that I had sketched out during my recent trip to Las Vegas for the Licensing Show.  While the show was rather disappointing as a show for an artist to peruse, the extra day and a half that I had to fill with doing something was actually fabulous.  It forced me to sit down and plan, something that we artists aren’t always that great at.  I’ve already finished and licensed one of the collections I designed while there and am ready for the second.  I guess being bored is a good thing sometimes?!

These sunflowers are from my newest collection at Zazzle “Sunflowers ‘n Swirls” and are perfect for  late summer and into fall uses.  It’s August already!  Fall will be here before we know it.  So make the rest of your summer really special.

I’m adding a second contest to my normal blog contest.  For anyone that doesn’t know, if you leave a comment on any or all of my posts during the month that serves as an entry into the contest which is drawn randomly at the end of the month.   If you enjoy my blog and refer it to 5 people, you will be entered into a drawing for a second prize.  That prize is a $4.95 item of your choice from my Etsy store, or a discount equal to that if there’s something more expensive that you covet.  Just send me a message saying that you have referred me to 5 people and each time you do 5 people it will count as an entry.  Thanks so much for being a part of helping me to grow!

Vintage Peacock Wedding Invitation Ensemble, New at Zazzle

I found this vintage image of a Peacock and immediately thought how elegant and stately it would be on a wedding invitation.  I designed the first with a Peacock blue accent color, but it has been set up on Zazzle to be easily customized by the bride to use any color that fits with her wedding.  All that’s needed is the Hex# of the color (selected from your color picker in your graphics program or just ask me), plug that color into the background and in the appropriate text and presto, custom wedding invitation!

I created a matching envelope as well and then ran out of time yesterday.  The entire suite of products should be available by the end of the week.  The customizable color envelope hasn’t been created yet, but I would be happy to create it for anyone needing a specific color combination.

One of the things I adore about Zazzle is that you don’t have to have any minimum quantity to do a custom invitation, try that in a brick and mortar store!  The more quantity you order the less expensive the cost per invitation and they ship for a flat fee.  Remember that any invitation can be customized for any event.  If you have a birthday party, you don’t just have to look at the Birthday invitations for your party theme.  Also great for 50th anniversary parties or Family reunions.

Remember that there are just a few days left in the month to get your comments in for the drawing.  You can comment on any and every post and each comment counts as an entry into the Blog Contest drawing.  The winner gets their pick of a $4.95 kit at my ETSY store.  Good luck!

Stopping to Enjoy Life!

Yeah, yeah, I know it’s pretty trite saying isn’t it “Stop and smell the roses?!”  But today, that’s what I’m doing.  I’m stopping to think about all that’s right about my world.  Are there troubles?  Of course.  Are there frustrations?  Duuuuhhhh!  But all in all, life is GOOD.

It’s too busy, but a lot of that is my fault and how I choose to prioritize my work.  I’m working on that one.  Working really hard on that one and making some significant progress. Some times you have to work harder and longer in order to work less — but if you have a plan you can get there.

Why is life good?  My family loves me and I adore them.  We have FUN together, not just tolerate each other 🙂  We actually get along with each other.  We love to play together, whether it’s playing a new board game, watching a movie (if we can stay awake long enough to catch the ending).  We like to 4 wheel together, at least those of us with backs strong enough to take the pounding.  We’re going camping together next week in one of the most beautiful places on God’s green earth and it’s in our own backyard so to speak.  I’ll take some pic with my new DROID phone and see if I can figure out how to post them.  Isn’t that the key?  LIFE is really about the PEOPLE we share it with.

I’m just writing to remind each of you.  Stop and think.  What’s GOOD about your life?  Who is good in your life?  Have you told them that?  What’s AMAZING about your life?  What are the things that God is teaching you out of the tough times in your life?  It’s all a matter of perspective, even tough times can be incredible blessings.

Would you please share with us what’s good in your life and share your blessings in the comments section so that we can remind each other about how wonderful life really is?  Remember, there’s one week left in this month’s blog contest.  Each comment is an entry into the contest.  Feel free to post those comments away.  Any day of this month is eligible.  You will win your choice of any of my Etsy store $4.95 digital kits. Notice on the right hand side of the blog is a new “Pocket Shop” provided from the wonderful website “Craftcult.” Thanks to them for making ways for those of us who hand craft to get the word out about what we do.

LIFE IS GOOD!  Take time to remind yourself.  Like the picture below says “RELAX!”  Have a cup of tea with someone you love.  Enjoy the sunset.  Pamper yourself or someone you love.  Enjoy life…

Christmas in July Blog Contest

My NEW KIT shown is available at my ETSY store: LINK TO STORE and will soon be available at Aimee Asher as well.  Click on pictures to go to the store or the link.  There are 1 x 1″ squares, 1 x 2″ dominoes in collages there to match as well as lots of other new art sets.  Much, much more to come!  On the left side panel of this blog is a link to the store that will be active at all times if you forget how to get there 🙂

My long time readers know that I used to do a monthy drawing for a FREE kit for the people that left comments.  Leaving a comment on a post was an entry into the contest.  It fell off because I simply wasn’t posting enough at the time so it made it difficult to justify having a contest.  However, since I have become a regular at posting again, I have decided to revive that Contest again.  I really enjoyed the feedback and the daily chatting!

Soooo…. this month’s prize will be “AJR-ETSY-DC010-ATC” Christmas, Love, Joy, Peace; is an elegantly collaged art collection of Christmas Trees, snow covered trees, red snowflakes, beautiful word art, swirls, texture and line art.

This digital collage sheet, has 9, rounded corner rectangular step shaped tag backgrounds on a sheet. All the art used on these digital 8.5 x 11 collage sheet was hand painted in watercolors, scanned on a high quality Epson 10000 and then digitally designed with the addition of some original art brushes.

Use for ATC cards, card making, package tags, scrapbooking, magnets, stickers and more! Sent as a png file. Open with your graphics program and add text or monograms if you wish, then print out. I have intentionally left spaces for working for you. If you cannot use png files, simply message that you would prefer jpeg or pdf.

The 9 tags are $4.95 and all of the new kits like this are being sold with slightly different ANGEL POLICY terms than I have been.  They are sold with no limit on crafting uses in a year.  Keeping track of how much you are doing with which kits is a burden, these kits don’t require you to make a limited amount.  If something turns out to be a best seller for you, go to it with my blessings!  Every little bit can help a family in these hard times.  The old terms still apply to my standard sets, you will need to look at the TOUs (which are included in every kit) to determine which they fall under.

I have been making jewelry making kits of dominioes, 1″ x 1″ squares, I’ll be doing some circles of various sizes soon.  It’s been a lot of fun envisioning new uses for my art.  Please leave me some suggestions in the comments as to what else you might like to see — and earn a spot in the monthly drawing as you do!  If any of you make glass pendant jewelry would you please private message me?

Have a great weekend and be sure to read the post below about Amanda Curtin.  A card designer and demonstrator for my cardcrafting products licensee, DO Crafts in the United Kingdom.

The Winners Are…

For the second half of the month blog post comments drawing, the 3rd commentor on this post:  POST LINK HERE

If you aren’t the winner, but didn’t know there was a freebie there, you’ll find a little bonus at this post 🙂

I missed the first half of the month drawing as I’ve been gone quite a bit at the end of this month so the winner of the first half of the month is the 2nd commentor on this post: http://audreyjeannesblog.com/BlogShop/?p=470#comments

Then on top of that I have a drawing from those that have purchased in my store that month and the winner of that drawing is:  Agnes Færch Nielsen  She is one of my international customers and lives in Denmark.

Each of the winners will receive a $5 gift certificate that is good for anything that they desire to purchase in my blog store.  Thanks to all of you that are faithful readers and purchasers of my artwork.  It’s such a joy to share a little bit of my life and art with each of you.

Have a great Labor Day (for those in the USA).  And when you’re done barbequing and put away the last of the summer equipment, and send the kidlets off to school, it’s time to CRAFT!!!

The Blog Contest Winner is…

The seventh post on THIS DAY’S BLOG POST (link here)

Congratulations to the winner!  Hmmmm…. she has so many of my sets that she might have to wait until the next new one comes out to claim her prize :-)!

If you don’t know, I have a blog contest drawing twice a month and all you have to do to enter is post a comment on any day from the 1st – 15th, or the 16th – 31st and you have entered the contest.  A number for the day of the post then is drawn at random and a number for the comment and that individual wins one of my kits for free.  The kit given away varies each time and if you already own that kit I will always substitute it for another.

Also, this is a great time to remind you all that I have a new contest each month that will be drawn from everyone that purchases an item in my store.  It will be drawn on or around the first of the month from the previous month’s sales.  You don’t have to do anything special to enter.

The Blog Contest Winner of the Free Digital Clip Art Kit

Free prize \for the second half of July is the second commentator on this post: July 21st Congratulations to the winner, she receives the “Everything’s Rosey” Mini Kit set.  You can see it HERE IN THE SHOP.

Remember that I will be drawing a winner out of this month’s store purchases as well.  It will be drawn on the first of August for the month of July and that person will win a free kit of their chosing from my entire catalog!!!

DebD, neener, neener, neener!  For once I remembered the contest and did it before you had to remind me LOL!  Love you girl!