What a day! Well two days actually...

 My car broke down yesterday, major bummer!  I was stuck down in center city Philadelphia and needed to get myself and the car back to home territory, Germantown.  After trying to reach close by tow companies to no avail, I finally reach one even further away but available, cost?......$175.  On top of that I could not reach my favorite mechanic and ended up having the car delivered to a Midas station which was walkable from my apartment. They determined it was a dead starter and a poor battery, their estimate $1265 and change.  No way.  I did some investigating. I checked out how much Midas mechanics make an hour in Philly (about $25/hr).  I checked out the prices of starters. I checked out how long it takes a qualified mechanic to change out a starter (about two hours).  No way did things add up to $1265.  In a panic I was finally able to reach my regular mechanic and had the car towed yet again over to his place another $140.  My car is ready! His price.....$725. So much better.  However as all this was going on I was down to $55 dollars in the bank. Yep $55.  I reached out to one of the two house cleaning jobs I do, yes at about to turn 75 I still have two homes that I clean regularly (artwork doesn't provide a steady income).  So I reached out to one and had them advance me next weeks pay and then I contacted my life insurance company and grabbed $600 that was available in my policy. Lets hope I don't die too soon cause I just rendered that policy dead. Anyway the car is ready and as soon as the money gets into my bank I can pick up my car.  I am completely drained from the panic and stress. Not what any person living in our now stressed out Country needs.

So lets catch up on the art work side of life.  I haven't had any success yet selling the second sheep painted chest but have just relisted it on Facebook Marketplace. Fingers crossed.  There was one person interested in it but things kind of got messed up and she opted to have a similar painting on canvas done. See below the chest.  She said she'd send a photo when the framer is done with it. I'm anxious to see it frame.  I don't do 'hang on the wall' paintings very often.

 

I bought myself a older model new Epson printer about a month ago and I have to say its great!  I can do so much more with a printer that can accept heavier papers.  I can print my own cards in various weights depending on what I'm making.  I always had prints of my ACEO paintings printed by PrintFirm but now I can print them here myself.....I love it.  I've turned a lot of those prints into playing cards, a matching card game. I've made a standard ACEO card size game and a mini version (so cute).

The mini set of cards: 

 

And the regular size ACEO cards:
 

I also continue to try different papers for making greeting cards.

Today I spent a little time throwing together samples of work I've done over the years onto a collage template from Canva.  I'm going to post that on Facebook and advertise for commission work painting furniture that folks already own. Finding pieces to paint is really hard and adding to that I'm not as strong as was in my younger years and living on in a second floor apartment with no elevator makes delivery to and from a real issue. Gosh I miss my younger self. 

 

Again long time since I've posted!

I guess the best place to catch up on what I'm working on is to check into ebay every now and then, or find me on Facebook.  I've just started listing ACEO prints of my work on ebay. It was difficult deciding on a price with everything going on lately......times are really tough for everyone.  I landed on $4 a print and I mail them in a magnetic pocket so you can slap them on the frig to display without having to worry about framing or sticking them in book, they should be seen.

 I've also listed some furniture pieces (two chests).  For some reason (no....for several reasons) I find Facebook Marketplace difficult to use, mostly because I forget to check on things I've listed. People seem to get upset if you don't respond to them fast enough.  Then there are all the no shows after making appointments etc.  I sold my first sheep chest on ebay, selling locally only.  It took awhile but once it happened the buyer experience was quick and easy.

Now I'm trying to sell Sheep dresser #2. It's had some interest but she's a hard sell because she's large (48" wide). Homes are much smaller now than when these vintage pieces were used in a home. 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?item=336416231125&rt=nc&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l170197&_ssn=karenhetzer

 

                                        

and a chest of birds, another large piece.

All for now 😁
 

Missing in action....

 I been busy cranking out ACEO paintings the last month or so.  Furniture sales have dropped off, but thats Ok, I don't mind having beautiful painted pieces around me ;-)

Some of the latest ACEO paintings.

 

So Far Behind in Updates

 Wow.  I've done a lot of painting since my last post.  The gray chest I last posted sold as well as the green glass door cabinet (now blue).  I'm just going to post several (before then after) pictures of some of the projects I've been working on and or recently completed. I've been experimenting with Facebook Marketplace but I've become a bit disillusioned after several inquiries on the possibility of reducing the price.  I had a price of $250 listed on this chest (just below this writing) and after looking at Etsy prices on painted furniture I thought it way more than fair, but still people ask.  Someone suggested I list things higher just so I could reduce it to the price I want to get....I hate playing games. 

 

 

 

There are still pieces I'm working on.......

I think I will just list now on local community pages to avoid some of the other drawbacks of the Marketplace.....people not showing up,  people saying oh you're too far away.....

Just About Ready.......

 Love this old vintage chest

 And it's just about finished.  Still need to get some small knobs for the top drawers and I think I may add a couple more small birds somewhere. It will be available to purchase soon.

Just about finished

This will be the next project.......

 

Still wearing her original finish from I'm guessing around the 40's maybe?

 

I've had this piece for a few years, it housed a lot of my art supplies.  The lower part of this cabinet is identical to the cabinet I painted in the previous post, I didn't even realize it when I bought it. Inspecting the other cabinet though there are obvious signs that it once had a cabinet top like this one.

 

I also finished this little set. Its another vintage piece from maybe the 50's?  Its a telephone/gossip table and chair set.  Too cute.

Before

 

After

Project Done

 Hmmmm?...Maybe need to add some more decorative detail on the legs.

On to the next one....

Next project....

Ok....the chest in the previous post was listed on Facebook Marketplace and has had 264 views but no contacts from potential buyers :-(.  Not true, I did get one contact from an interested buyer but the size did not work.  And I got a contact from someone just telling me how much they liked the piece...that was nice 😊

I put on hold the tall chest of drawers (also listed in a previous post below) still not sure what I will do with it.  Instead I'm working on a piece I've had for quite some time.  When I first found and purchased it, it looked like this.....

and right now this is where its at.

 

I had started first working on the door to this piece but then when I started working on the base (going in a totally unexpected direction)  I decided the door design I had started just wouldn't work with this, so I'm rethinking on the direction this will go.  Yes those are upholstery tacks on the top portion of the front legs, its really more stunning in person, I really like the look.....but oh what to do with the door front???🤔 It started as a serene pasture scene with a stream and fields, cows etc.....but that just won't work for this now.

I think while I'm trying to figure this one out I'll start the sanding of the tall chest of drawers tomorrow.

 

Chest is finished!

 OK, so the white chest I bought is finished and it was so much fun working on it.

Oops....forgot to put the top drawer handles back on before taking the picture but you get the idea.  I love how it turned out, so much so that I'm hesitating on listing it for sale, but I will eventually.

I got a bit careless today and spent money a bit to close to rent paying time. I saw this other chest of drawers for sale by the same person I bought the one above from and I'm sorry, but I had to have it.  It was delivered today.
 

No definite plan yet design wise.  The cabinet part and maybe the small drawers will be painted, probably a very dark grey framing whatever I will paint on the front. Not sure yet what design will go on the rest of the front. Not crazy about that swag thing on the one drawer but it may be too hard to remove without damaging the veneer underneath. We'll see.

Oh My Goodness!

Down in the dumps lately, not sure why 🤔

Today I saw this charming, charming, charming buffet on Craigslist for $85 and it brought back all the feelings of being in a studio/shop painting furniture......I have to have it, not for me but to paint/resell!!  Maybe its time to turn my (never used as a dining room) dining room into a studio? Just made an appointment to see it in the morning :-) 

Next day........So I ended up not buying the one below (the buffet), she was just in a little too rough condition but I did buy something else, a nice vintage chest of drawers in really stable condition, clean and ready to paint. Now to decide how to make her stunning! Scrolling down are a couple done in the past that I really like. I think I'll take a sneak peek at Etsy to see whats popular and selling now days.

 

 

Canceled My Facebook Account

 Canceled my Facebook account today, ha...not that anyone will notice.  I never spent much time on it and when I did it was just time wasted.  Plus.....after all this news reporting on the three who will be sitting by Trump as he is sworn in its a bit of a political statement on my part.....I think Amazon is going to have to go as well.

On a brighter note, I'm back to painting :-) and sold two on ebay this past week.

Still others looking for a home :-(

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?item=335770467377&rt=nc&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l170197&_ssn=karenhetzer

Is It Possible For Someone With Little Money To Get Anything Done?

 I'm thinking don't get your hopes up. I made a small collage to get printed as sticker labels for my small card holding boxes for the Match Me card game, the labels would be 3"x4".  I chose GotPrint to do the job, I had used them in the past with good results. The least you could order was 100. I uploaded my design, got a message it was approved, and waited.  The stickers arrived yesterday and at first glance they looked good.

But as I looked further I noticed the color missing in a LOT of the images. The stickers on the left, perfect, the stickers on the right no so much.  The cats jacket turning partially or totally from green to yellow, the blue sky disappearing, the blue and white birds head turning white in some, The green foliage turning yellow. About 30 of the stickers were perfect all the rest had color issues. When I contacted GotPrint about this I was told the fault was mine because the resolution was too low and this would cause pixelation and graininess.  I do not see pixelation or graininess in this printing, I see color loss. How could 30 be perfect and the rest not be? I was told I could redo what I had sent them (with higher resolution) and they would redo it or I could have $45 in store credit. They refused to admit it was a printing error, clogged heads? low ink?  70 stickers into the trash. Ugh.

Just got word my stickers (from a different printing company) for the back of each card are arriving today. Fingers crossed🙄

Holidays Approaching

 The Holidays. Seems I'm more of a humbug kind of person when it comes to holidays, even as a kid they were always more tense than warm and loving times. Expressing warmth and love I don't think came natural to my parents. Ha.....I was trying to think about my parents the other day and realized I didn't even know them, as people I mean. Silence seemed to be the best survival skill you could develop to try to keep tensions at bay. But I digress........

Fourthwall :-) I finally mastered creating the website, now I have to learn (at 73 mind you!) how to use social platforms to promote it.  This is not going to be easy. 

I removed the prints part of the website for now.  I continue to mess around with designs and ways to create the prints (mostly the note cards) in the least costly way. I'm leaning toward printing them myself mostly because I've spent so much time and money on trying different papers, buying ink, learning how to print them properly etc etc.... I'd hate to give up and resort to using an outside company, but time and money will tell.  This is the main reason I removed the prints part of the website for now......I have to know if someone orders something I can fulfill it confidently. 

I'm also continuing to rework the Match Me card game, redesigning the label a bit of the cards box, ordering more prints of more recent works to add to the collections and figuring out ways to lower the cost of producing the end product.  For example, the cards themselves aren't that expensive but add on printing on both sides or rounding the corners of the cards things begin to add up. So of course I purchased a corner cutter and I've ordered stickers to adorned the back of the cards (just til I learn how to make my own stickers ;-) at home.

There are two versions of the game, one of birds of course, and one for still lifes of fruits and vegs. All prints of my ACEO paintings.  I had these free logos created via AI online, the stickers of each will arrive in a day or two as will the new labels and cards and I'll be back on here with pictures of the end product.

Fourthwall !

 A couple weeks ago I learned about Fourthwall.com via some Youtube videos. For those who also never heard of it, its a site where you can set up for free (yes! for free!) a shop and use products that they have from Printful to put your designs on, you decide your commission.  The products they have are I'd say pretty limited but Printful is about to merge with Printify so that could change as far as product inventory goes. You can also list your own products which is pretty cool.  I've started listing things on there but as usual its another learning adventure.  Its ok, I'm figuring out most of the stuff but I'm still confused on how to organize the 'pages' and keep things in their rightful place....but I'll get it eventually ;-).  So far I've got some mugs listed (they have mugs :-)  and some cards/prints.  The cards I'm making myself and I price what I want.  I need to get a lot more card designs up I think and maybe get a page for jewelry? Not sure about that yet. http://karenhetzer-shop.fourthwall.com

 

 

I'm also trying to train myself to get more involved with using social media to get some attention. This morning I listed some images on Pinterest and will try to do that daily.  I was using Instagram quite a while ago but a month or so ago I got a notice saying they took it down because I hadn't posted in a long time.  Wonder if I can get back on?