My New Greetings Card Range

Well have I been busy or what???

I have a demonstration at Lytham Art Society on Saturday, I am preparing for a craft fair I am doing next Wednesday, my own group starts up again on Thursday and in between I came across this lovely company who create greetings cards for artists called

"Love from the Artist"

I heard about it from Alison Board's facebook page or blog, can't remember which,  and decided to check them out.

I have needed new cards for a little while now and been putting it off as it meant I also needed to get technical.....my son has always set the artwork for my cards as he has all the relevant software like photoshop (and more importantly the relevant know how) which I don't have but it was time I became a big girl and started sorting things out for myself........

So I got a new ipad for my birthday and thought that might be the way forward and my son found a programme which he thought would be suitable (although I have to admit he did say the ipad is not really for creating cards!!) and I had a go....I was only on the first card when I had a problem which I couldn't get round...all to do with the orientation of the text on the back and in the end I nearly threw my brand new ipad through the window and just as that was happening........I stumbled upon this little gem......hmmm interesting I thought, very interesting!!

I set up an account with them before we went away and when I got home last week I got into the brains of it and loaded some cards. The site really is user friendly- something I had checked with the owners before I even signed up with them and they have DVD's with easy to follow instructions showing you just how to do things... I was still a little challenged but then I am not the most technically minded and I think in the end I have done rather well and feel immensely pleased with myself as today I received my first small sample batch of cards which have all turned out rather well.

I wanted to wait until I had got those before I placed my big order of xmas cards and others so I have spent most of today creating and uploading cards to my site where they are now all available to view and in fact purchase.

Here are some of the benefits of this site from an Artist's perpective

1. You can order as few as 10 cards all of different designs at the same cost as 1000 cards or even more. You will of course pay a higher relative cost for P&P for the smaller number but it is an ideal way to check out the quality and settings before you order a larger number and now I have set things up, whenever I add a new card I can simple add it to a larger order to check it.

2. The ability to order just a small number of cards to test the sales potential is such an advantage compared to having to do a large run of cards with a printer to get a decent price.

3. The cards come with envelopes and cellophane bags. I have historically bought these separately but here they are included in the price.

4. It is easy to set the artwork on the cards and now I have the hang of it I can do a new one in less than a minute.

5. The owners are extremely responsive and have come back to me re queries very quickly and at any time of day.

6. Cards are available for not only the artist to order in whatever quantities they want and but lso for the general public, as well as card retailers so a real win win for we artists. It means we have an online presence with a good selection of our work available as cards to a good cross section of potential buyers.

7. There are lots of ways to search to find what you are looking for, be it the type of card, the artist the medium etc....as mine are some of the latest to have been loaded they appear at the end of the searches as they must load in order of addition to the site... just something for you all to remember lol!! If you search on the artist their selection of cards is then available to view.

8. Now it is all set up I will always have access to greetings cards for my workshops/demos and odd little outlets who sell my cards and I can replace the best sellers quickly. Also whenever I want to create another card it will be easy not only to set up but I will be able to add to another run so that I can get new cards into circulation very quickly.

9.The service has been very good and I am told the order I have placed today should be with me in 3 days.

10. The quality of cards I have received today is excellent, the paper is a good weight and the surface shiny but not too shiny... very pleased with them.

11. The cost of the cards is more than I have paid at my printers in the past and they are smaller in size but I have had to order considerably more to get that price historically and therefore lay out a lot more money which takes a lot longer to recoup. This way I have ordered a lot less at a still very good price and will get my money back much quicker.

12. Very easy to edit the cards if the images or text needs tweaking.

Here are a few of the cards that came today

So I am really excited about this new little venture....and here is my site...ta da!!!

https://www.lovefromtheartist.com/artists/bolton/art-by-judith-farnworth