Friday, February 29, 2008

A Soft Open

Have you ever heard of a soft opening? As I understand the term, it is when a restaurant opens quietly, no advertisements, no big fanfare with a limited menu and often with just invited patrons. This soft open is used as a dry run, so to speak so that the owners can be sure all things will run smoothly when the real opening day comes. I know this term is used in the restaurant business but Im not sure of any others.

Well, I am now "soft opening" ArtfulINKables.com as of March 1st. I had originally planned to have a grand opening by this date and I know many are eager to buy some of my more familiar sets so I dont want to let those folks down. I have the pond friends set, thought I'd bug you and many others available now. The newer sets have not arrived quite yet though so I'll save the fanfare for when all my anticipated stock of images is available. The time should not be far off so 'stay tuned' for more news and updates.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Contest Winner

CONGRATULATIONS to DINA KOWAL for winning my Logo contest!! She is the lucky winner of FIVE Artful INKables stamp sets of her choice. She created a Beautiful logo for me and I hope to use her services some more in the future!! Here is her entry, isnt it wonderful??



Thanks so much to all who entered, all the work was lovely and I appreciate all of you for participating and working so hard to help me out. The response was overwhelming and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know so many of you are reading my blog and cheering my design efforts on.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

A few more

WOW! Most of those stamps went FAST!!! Thanks so much for all the interest...it is getting me really excited to get this store up and running!


I do have a few more wood mounted left if anyone in still wanting some flowers, unfortunately all the critters are gone. Here is what I have (see the previous post for samples made with these stamps):

$10.50 Chrysanthemum


$15.00 Friendship Flowers


$14.50 Various flowers


$7.00 Frog and Bee


$3.00 Bee

Email me at artfullyinking@comcast.net if you would like to purchase these.

NOW, back to making more samples! :D

Friday, February 15, 2008

For Sale

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's day! Did anyone else OD on chocolate besides me? Mmmmmmm! :D

So today I have some stamp inventory on wood blocks that I am putting up for sale prior to our grand opening. These stamps are all I have left of the wood mounted sets from last year and since I am only offering cling-mounted sets on the webstore, I need to unload these babies. I thought I'd but them up on ebay but first Im offering them here for sale as sets. There are only a few available so it is first come first served. This is what I have:



Pond Friends



Thought I'd Bug You



Friendship Flowers



Chrysanthemum



Stay Cool


Daring Ducky




Hummingbird



Hybiscus



Leapin' Lizards



Sweet Snail



Froggy Friend

So If you be interested in purchasing any of these sets in the LAST AVAILABLE wood mounted format please email me at artfullyinking@comcast.net. I'll let you know if it is still available and get your address. Price includes shipping, Paypal is my preferred form of payment.


Also, I want to thank all of you who have entered the logo contest!! There are some real beauties being sent in!! Im going to have a hard time choosing a winner!! For those of you still working on your entries...dont forget to send them in by the 20th.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Logo Contest

Well, things seem to be coming together nicely here. Some of the rubber has already arrived and Im getting busy with the packaging, pricing and marketing ideas. The one thing I've decided I really need though is a LOGO!! Something graphic that I can use on all of my packaging and ads. Hand drawing is easy for me but computer graphics...well THAT is a whole other ball of wax. Plus I probably dont even have the right programs I need to create what I need.

So a thought occurred to me...I could host a contest!

Create a logo for Artful Inkables and submit it to me by February 20th 2008. The winner will recieve 5 free stamp sets of their choice!! Specifics: I want the logo to be somewhat triangular so it will fit in the corner of a web page or stamp box, I want the words Artful Inkables to be the main focus and I want the colors to be compatible with those I have used on my e-store web pages: HERE . (Browns, golds, blues and greens) Also I need the file in a format I can use on my computer. Please email your entries to artfullyinking@comcast.net by 12:00am on Feb 20 to qualify. The winner's name and logo will be posted on the site on Feb 22nd. You dont have to be a graphic artist to apply just be handy with your computer software and creative!

Disclaimer: If I dont get a minimum of 5 entries, I may have to suspend the contest...however I will compensate those who took the time to enter with a free stamp.