I just love the animals. What a beautiful horse, Moon! So amazing how the animals help us heal.

What happened to Carrie Joy Art on FB?

Hello everyone.  I have been getting so many messages over the last couple of days asking about where I went on FB, so I thought I would post here on my blog.  I temporarily deactivated my Facebook account.  With a blog, a website, etsy, artfire, fine art america, zazzle and two email accounts and 1200 facebook friends I was getting too distracted. (For instance, I have 3,000 emails to sort through) I needed to cut back and get quiet so I could tend to my other sites, put some things in order on my computer and in my home and hopefully get to create more.  Yesterday, I was able to pack up four paintings for shipping.  I also finally got some more paintings together to send to The Stagecoach Gallery in South Dakota.

I so appreciate all the messages and once I get back to center, I will be back and everyone that is my friend on fb will automatically be my friend again.  Hopefully, I will be back with some fresh new art.  In the meantime, prints are still available and I am still open for commissions.  I can always be contacted at carriejoynyc@yahoo.com

Blessings!

Carrie

The Call

Up for auction now.  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260747367750&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Spring Rise


Cold winds are broken, bees song in flight,
swollen with pollen, engorged with sunlight;
New buds that welcome, warmth formed anew
dawn-lights first token, soft mellow dew;

The ice that enfolds, a life's hidden embers
melts all around, a heart that remembers;
The seasons roll round, on Loves subtle rainbow,
shoots spring from ground, whilst winter is laid low;

On cool crisp clear mornings, we push and move fast,
on hue speckled dawning's, we grow from the past;
If in our days, we trace birds sweet song,
natures new ways, sure to turn all along;

The winds that blew icy, from climbs that were colder,
signal times constant dance, in the rounds one loop older.
Cherish this gift, life's love freely given,
for your heart springs anew, with a soul freshly risen;

For this cycle that wheels, with and without us,
subtly feels, all the lovers and doubters.
With natures fresh kiss, a breathe, softly spoken,
close your eyes and you'll miss, dark nights spell thats broken;

Arise and renew, walk in fields lush with clover,
be as one sky thats blue, for deaths storm now is over;
So when in the dusk, we recount loves first sunlight,
rest assured that with hope, we may sleep safe the long night.

RMP (1997)

Poetry by Richard Michael Parker, Richard kindly gave me permission to use his beautiful words in conjunction with this painting. http://www.richardmichaelparker.com/

I now have professional prints available in my Etsy shop.

I now have professional prints available in my Etsy shop.  I have been trying to find a way to offer prints that are affordable and easy to buy.  Well found a great printing company that will ship the print directly to you.  I will be adding more images to my Etsy shop over the next few weeks.  For only $15 9 x 12 prints are now available.  Click here to visit my Etsy shop.

Painting with my friends!

I am cleaning out and organizing the studio.  This was a project I worked on this week. .....When our dog Finnbar was a puppy, he dug, bit and chewed until he made himself a perfect doorway in the lattice work of the deck; providing himself with a doorway which allowed him a wonderful romp around the neighborhood with Jay and I chasing in our flip flops thrown on over socks. This lattice was left over from the repairs so I made an art board out of it. I like to change out different pictures and this works perfectly. I also added some wine corks so I can use those for thumb tacks. My absolutely MOST favorite part of this board is that I am able to stick all the little cards and inserts that I have gotten from my art friends from giveaways, purchases and gifts. I love being surrounded by their love, talent and support. Terra Sheridan, Janine Parr Heifetz, Charlotte Foley Phillips, Deb D'Onofrio and Lulu Mypinkturtle are all up there on that board! (If I forgot someone I'll add it later!)


Oh and that card on the top right was given to me by Janine but the artist is Sandy Mastroni and I think she is on Etsy.

Venus Altered Art Love Hoodie

25% OFF ALL T-SHIRTS!   Use Code: LOVEKEEPSAKE   Ends Saturday

The Zazzle Post

I promised I would share what my experience has been with Zazzle, so here it is!  I hesitated to write this because there is so much about this site that I still haven't grasped.  There are tons of creating and marketing options.  I will share my experience so far and if you have questions or pieces of advice please leave them in the comment section.

For my own business, I recently ordered business cards at Zazzle.  I got 100 cards printed front and back for less than $20 with shipping.  They are always running sales so keep your eyes out for the coupon codes on the top of their home page.

When I ship a painting, I usually include a little card on which I write the title of the painting, materials used and then I date and sign it.  A Certificate of Authenticity.  I had been printing these from my home printer but I decided to have them printed at zazzle.  I used the invitation option.  Above is the side that I will sign.

And on the other side of the COA I just put an image so the buyer has a mini print that they can frame if the wish.

I started creating items with my images around mid December.  It is free to join and to create and to post for sale.  For their different items Zazzle charges a set fee and then you have the option of setting what you would like your profit to be. There is no overhead.  If someone orders one of your items, Zazzle produces it and ships it directly to the buyer, they charge the money and deposit your royalty into your account.  You do have to wait a couple months for the deposit.  I did very well for the Holiday season.  I had very little expectation because I figured all I was losing was a little time and it was quite exciting to see money go into my balance report. 

However, I wasn't quite understanding my reports.  It was showing up that I was making money off of items that were not mine.  Ahhh they give you a referral bonus if someone goes to Zazzle through your link.  After I realized this, I made sure I included my associate id # in every link I shared.  It can easily be found under associate center when you go into manage my store.  Now how this works basically is....If I have a tee and let's say it's $10 and I set my royalty to be $1, if someone arrives at this tee through one of the links I shared (with my associate reference #) then I earn a $1.  If somebody else posts my product on their blog or webpage using their own associate reference #(kindly advertising for me)  then I earn 50 cents and they earn 50 cents.

Also!  If I share a link to Zazzle and someone goes to my store but decides not to buy an item but buys from another artist's store, I still make money.

January slowed down quite a bit but I am still getting a little activity and am going to continue with this for the year ahead.  I have only advertised on my blog and on facebook thus far.  In the year ahead, I am going to be periodically sending cards printed at Zazzle, to all my customers, with a little reminder on the very back of the card. 

Since Dec 15th I have had 32 straight sales and 44 referrals. 

There is probably more I could say about design options but let's start there. 

Hope this helps and hope you all have a creatively successful and successfully creative year!

CarrieJoyArt Store

The Last Day to Enter My Card Giveaway

If you missed it before, today is the last day to send me your address at carriejoynyc@yahoo.com so I can send you a free signed Carrie Joy Art card.  I will be ordering the cards tomorrow.  Signing them and shipping them off.....so if you already sent me your address you should be getting one within a couple of weeks.  If I already have your address because you bought a painting from me in 2010 or are part of the traveling painting then don't think about it any further, you will be receiving a card.  Thank you all for being part of my art journey last year!

To all my artist friends.....Are you guys curious about Zazzle?

I was just perusing my blog statistics and I noticed that the blog post I wrote about my experience with doing prints at Fine Art America has been one of the most popular.  Well, I will tell you all, that I have not had a whole lot of sales through FAA.  However, I have been doing very well with Zazzle.  It is free to join and create.  You can also promote other artists and their products and get referral bonuses for that, which I love because I love to encourage and promote fellow artisans.  If you have any questions, post in the comment section and I would love to share and connect.  Wishing you all a prosperous, creative year!

Playing Store!

I am having so much fun creating all these different items at Zazzle with original paintings and even altered some of my art to suit the mood.  The great thing about playing store at Zazzle is it is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week but I don't have to be there!