If I could only pick one color combination to use for the rest of my life, it would easily be blue and white. I'm definitely team #blueandwhiteforever. One of my favorite pillows that I've ever created is this one featuring floral motifs in different shades of blue (click here for more details about this pillow in the shop). The pillow itself is about 8 inches x 8 inches - a perfect accent for your living room furniture.
Creating pillows is quite an ambitious process for me. First, I spend months stitching the design, figuring out how I want the piece to look and what size I want it to be.
Then I source trim that coordinates with the embroidery. In this case, I found the perfect periwinkle blue grosgrain trim. I then work with a wonderful local upholstery partner here in Durango, CO, who expertly works her magic to make my canvas into a pillow.
This one-of-a-kind pillow is available in the shop.
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It's been three weeks since I started my Instagram break. You can read more about the reasoning behind this decision here. I promised to share some updates about how the break is going in case you yourself are curious about taking time away from social media. Here are some observations I've made from my own personal experience.
1. Embracing and enjoying the absence. I don't miss Instagram as much as I thought I would! I thought I would end up regularly swiping to the now-missing Instagram button on my iPhone, but this has not been the case. In the first few days, there were a few times I gravitated to the button, but it hasn't happened since. I was surprised by how quickly my phone habits changed.
2. Not much FOMO. I thought I'd feel a lot of FOMO (fear of missing out) without being able to see what my favorite accounts were up to. To be honest, there are occasional times when I wonder what some of my favorite artists, celebrities, designers, and companies are up to, but the feeling passes pretty quickly.
3. WAY less screen time. This is major. The amount of time I spend on my phone has drastically reduced. This is kind of a no brainer, but I was shocked to see how little I use my phone since I don't have Instagram on it.
Here's a screenshot of my screen time before the Instagram break. On average, I was using Instagram about 1.5 hours per day. That adds up to 10.5 hours per week! That makes me feel pretty icky.
And now here's a screenshot from earlier this week. Pretty dramatic change, no!?
If you are curious about your own screen time, on your iPhone go to Settings --> Screen Time.
4. Increased focus and productivity. Prior to deleting Instagram, I would engage in an activity (stitching, reading, writing, watching TV), but see my phone after a bit of time (because it needed to be near me) and think, "Oh, let me just quickly check Instagram." I wouldn't think twice about this interruption and then I'd find myself going down a scrolling rabbit hole for 30 minutes. So much wasted time. During this detox, I have noticed that I'm able to engage in a "flow" state with regularity and ease, engaging in focused activities for long periods of time. I find myself reading or stitching for an hour straight with limited distractions. It's quite nice and overall I have felt way more productive.
5. More time to read! Directly linked to #4, I am reading a LOT more. I've always been an avid reader, but without the distraction of social media, I'm finishing many more books and articles in a shorter time frame than normal.
In my next blog post about this subject, I plan to share some of the resources I have found helpful in making the decision to take some time away from Instagram. Stay tuned!
First off, thank you for visiting! I am hoping to get back to posting on the blog here at Happy Cactus Designs with more regularity.
Secondly, I'm writing this post as I prepare for a "digital detox." It seems to be a catchy phrase these days used as a catch-all for taking time away from our devices, networks, and time-consuming sites. If you reached this post via my Instagram, then you are likely aware that I've decided to take a few weeks away from Instagram (and Facebook, although I mainly just use it for cross-posting from Instagram).
Why? Over the past few months, I've felt overwhelmed and sometimes annoyed by the role that social media sites have been playing in my life, both personally and professionally. I'm sure some of you feel the same way. While I LOVE connecting with my followers and customers via Instagram and am so grateful to be able to share my work with a wide audience via that platform, I have also started to feel a nagging urge to disconnect for a bit. I'll elaborate on these feelings in some future posts.
I have also been quite curious about what running my business would be like without the ability to quickly reach an audience on social media. What if Instagram disappeared tomorrow? How would my business and studio operations change? If you own a small business with a social media presence, this may have crossed your mind as well. Over the next month or so, part of my plan is to use some of the time that I have previously spent mindlessly scrolling to focus on other areas of outreach, improve my website, and write on my blog. I also want to make more space for creative exploration and experimentation.
Stay tuned for more blog posts about this digital detox. And I'd love to hear from you. Have you taken a social media break? Do you run a small business and sometimes feel tethered to social media? Do you have questions for me? Shoot me an email at hello{at}happycactusdesigns.com or add a comment below. I'd love to hear from you.
I've been playing around with this amazing new clip-on macro lens for my iPhone all week. It's been so fun to see all of my stitching details up close - up to ten 10 times closer than the regular lens.
The lens is easy to use - I just clip it over my iPhone lens (I have to take off my case first) and I'm ready to go. It would be fun to experiment with taking photos of anything with a lot of texture. I'm excited to take it out on hikes with me, too, to capture flowers and leaves up close.
I thought it'd be fun to pull back the curtain a bit and share the steps it takes to launch a new collection of hand embroidery. I released a bunch of new work last week, including brand new pins and pillows. I'll share more about those new products and how they came to be in a future post, but for now wanted to write about releasing a new artwork collection in particular.
I spent a lot of the summer stitching away and creating new pieces (Happy Cactus is my full-time job), so I built up a stack of new embroidered works and kept them tucked away in a box. I released a handful of these new works just after Labor Day, knowing that I wanted to release another batch at the end of September.
Once I have a collection release date in mind (in this case, September 30), I create a few additional designs if I want to, develop a master spreadsheet of all of the pieces (with design notes, dimensions, price, etc.), and then begin preparing to frame the pieces.
Framing is a time intensive process. First, I make sure that I have enough frames, mat boards, and related accessories (the hardware, the backing foam core, etc.) on hand and order more as needed. Each mat board is carefully selected to coordinate with each piece of embroidery, both in size and color. Once I'm ready, I inspect the frames and mats for any blemishes, trim the linen down to size, adhere the mat board to the piece, screw in the spring clips that hold the pieces together, hammer in the hanging hardware, and then do another check for any blemishes. Exhausting, right!?
Next up, I photograph all of the new pieces. I mainly shoot these photos on a DSLR camera and then edit the images in Adobe Photoshop. This usually takes a few afternoons with a few more afternoons spent editing. I do all of the photography in my living room because it has amazing natural light, so I'm able to capture the embroidery details well. I organize all of the uploaded photos by SKU into folders on my desktop and add my favorite high-res images to a special Dropbox folder reserved for press access. I also shoot some photos on my iPhone so I have some Instagram-ready images available.
Now it's time to create product listings so you can shop the items. Happy Cactus Designs is hosted on Shopify, and their interface is pretty easy to work with. I write copy for each piece, upload photos, double-check price and SKU. At this point, each product is saved on Shopify, but marked hidden.
The day or two before launch I'll create a newsletter draft in MailChimp using some of the new product photos and include any important studio news. In the weeks leading up to the particular launch date I've set, I'll tease the new releases on Instagram and encourage followers to subscribe to my newsletter. Newsletter subscribers get first access to a collection before anyone else.
Finally, it's release day! I'll spend the morning publishing all of the previously hidden product listings and then double-check everything once they are live on my website against my master spreadsheet. I sync the new products with my inventory cloud software (Stitch Labs) and add a new slide to my website homepage announcing the new collection. I push send on the newsletter and cross my fingers that people enjoy what I've created!
I've been able to streamline this process over time and now have a checklist that I go through before each launch. It's taken months to truly get this process down.
Want more of my hand embroidery tips? You can find them here.
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When you launch a new product or brand online, there are two usual ways to go: create a storefront on Etsy or open up your own online store using a third party provider like Shopify.
Before I launched Happy Cactus Designs in late 2011, I spent a lot of time researching my best options. Was Etsy the way to go? Did I need my own shop? From the get-go, I made the decision to have my own storefront rather than start on Etsy. A few reasons:
1. Autonomy: I wanted to have more control and creating my own storefront allowed me to have my own "space" that represented the look and feel of my brand. With Etsy, you are beholden to how Etsy formats their pages. Every shop's page looks the same and there is little room for customization. Shopify, on the other hand, let's you use various themes (some for purchase) to better customize the look of your shop.
2. Wholesaling: I also knew from the start that I wanted to wholesale my stationery, so I needed to have an online spot for retailers to visit that wasn't Etsy. This was pre-Etsy Wholesale, which I also now participate in.
3. Options: I had more options with my own storefront than what was available on Etsy. I could craft a detailed about page. I could add lots of photographs. I could have a press page and a page about my custom work. I could add multiple ways for people to find me on social media or sign up for my newsletter. You are really limited with what you can do on Etsy in terms of these actions. Yes, you can add a bio, but Etsy doesn't allow you to include linkable URLs in your profile. And it's unclear if shoppers even click on your profile to learn more about your company or your policies when they are browsing your products.
4. Preparing for future growth: I have heard countless stories of brands that exclusively launched their products in an Etsy storefront. As their brands grew and they began to do sales at a higher and higher volume, they were stuck with their Etsy shops. And stuck with paying hundreds or thousands in monthly fees (transaction fees, Etsy listing fees, etc.). Many of these brands then elected to finally open their own storefronts and have had to juggle enticing prior shoppers and loyal Etsy customers to jump over to their own storefronts. It's tough.
5. Fees: They are inevitable either way. With my Shopify storefront, I choose to pay an annual fee upfront (versus monthly payments) to host my shop on Shopify. I also pay a transaction fee each time someone makes a purchase on my site - either PayPal takes a cut or Shopify does via their payment system that I use to process credit cards. Fees are unavoidable. That said, with Etsy you also have to deal with listing fees ($0.20 per item) and obligated to pay a fee each time you want to renew that item.
So did I totally ignore Etsy? No! The same time I launched my online store I created an Etsy storefront as well to secure the shop name. I didn't really do much with it for a few years, but after a few years I took the time and effort to list my products in the shop. Some benefits to having this second storefront:
1. Discovery: It's fairly easy for Etsy shoppers to find me. For example, my "Beautiful Mother-to-Be" card is a top seller in my Etsy shop because shoppers are specifically searching for "pregnancy card" and I pop up in the results. These shoppers may have never found me otherwise.
2. Single Card Sales: I rarely fulfill orders of only a single card in my Shopify shop. I find that buyers are usually placing larger orders - a mix of singles, boxed sets, art prints, etc. On the other hand, the majority of sales in my Etsy shop are single cards! This goes back to point number one: that many times Etsy shoppers are looking for something specific.
3. Press Discovery: I have also found that I've received press coverage because editors have found my products through a simple Etsy search. It's an easy one-stop-shop for an editor to search for a specific theme or type of product. I've had various greeting cards, notepads, and more featured on blogs that I have never pitched just because an editor came across my work on Etsy.
4. Wholesale: Etsy added the Etsy Wholesale component to their business a little over a year ago. I was able to join when the program was still in beta. I've found a number of stores love being able to place their wholesale orders online via Etsy, so I am able to direct them to my linesheet there. I spend a lot of time marketing to new and existing retailers, but with Etsy Wholesale, a lot of the work is being done for me because retailers can search by location (Colorado) or by specific product type (Christmas gift tags) and come across my line in the search results. I have developed relationships with awesome retailers this way!
Managing two shops can be a little overwhelming at times, especially when it comes to adding new products or keeping an eye on inventory, but I've been very happy with both so far!
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I spend a lot of time at my desk and have been making adjustments to ensure that my desk space is more ergonomic. Aside from working on my posture and taking frequent stretch breaks, these three products have really helped to improve how I function at my desk.
Aeron chair with lumbar support
This chair is amazing and hands down one of the best desk chairs on the market. While it is quite pricey, you can usually find gently used ones on Craigslist. I perused listings for weeks and was finally able to locate an unused chair going for nearly half off the retail price!
No more hunching over to look at the laptop screen! This stand keeps my screen at eye level.
A few months ago I began experiencing some weird nerve pain that I associated with using my standard wireless mouse. One of the changes I made was investing in this more ergonomic mouse. It reduces strain on your wrist because you grip the mouse more naturally like a handshake. The pain is now gone!
Do you follow Happy Cactus Designs on Pinterest? Two of my most popular and growing boards are both dedicated to small businesses.
The first board is Small Business Resources. On this board, you'll find interesting articles and tips I've coming across for more effectively running your small business.
The second is Small Business Social Media Resources. This board is dedicated to useful articles for more effectively and creatively using social media to promote and run your small business. You'll find tips about using Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms here.
Hope you find these boards helpful!
I love connecting with fans of Happy Cactus Designs across different social media platforms. You'll often find me tweeting small business articles, sharing sneak peeks of new products on Instagram, pinning inspirational images from the world of fashion and design on Pinterest, and offering exclusive promotions just for my Facebook fans.
Hop on over to your favorite channel and follow Happy Cactus Designs on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.
Design Sponge, one of my favorite daily reads for design inspiration, has a great new series called Veterans and Startups that interviews newbie and veteran makers in the same creative area. Last week, the blog profiled Jonathan Adler as a veteran in the world of ceramics.
In the post, Grace mentions Inspiration Point, Jonathan's new web series on AOL. I checked it out and loved the short videos of Jonathan sharing a behind-the-scenes look at where he finds inspiration for his company and life. He also meets and interviews a number of other creatives in their studios and homes, too, to talk about their creative visions and motivations. See it here.
Where do you turn to for small business news, advice on running a creative enterprise, or the latest trends in social media marketing?
Here's my list of essential reads on all of the above. I highly recommend subscribing to these newsletters and adding these blog feeds to your reader. I take time each day to read posts and watch videos from the sources below. It gives me a moment to pause on whatever I'm working on and think about my business - its past, present, and future.
Small Business Gurus
Especially for Creative Business Owners
News and Insights for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
WSJ Journal Report: Small Business
Stay Up to Speed on the World of Social Media
