by Kristy on May 16, 2012
Being a entrepreneur isn’t as simple as having an idea and running with it. The idea is the big starting point but there are some things to consider if you are thinking about making that hobby or idea into a business. I worked on creating my business for 9 months before opening the virtual doors then over a year before it got to the point it became a second full time job in itself to the one I already had, and we could even ponder the idea of making Some Odd Girl my day job. You have to take a long look at yourself, your habits and what it will take to make it feasible for you and what your definition of success means for you, your biz, and your family.
- Am I a self motivator? The idea of staying in bed until you get want to get up and start your day is SO alluring but unless you can motivate yourself daily to get out of bed (you don’t always have to get out of the PJs, but it helps) and do what needs to be done without a boss or coworkers looking over your shoulder and asking where things are or why this or that isn’t done, well, then you’re in for a struggle. Being Self Motivated is something that you can learn and work on but its not easy for everyone.
- Do I have self discipline? Being self employed means a lot of flexibility in your schedule but it also means there are lots of chances for distractions. Facebook. Twitter. Hulu. Friends. Naps. Besides being able to motivate yourself to get the To Dos done you have to be able to make your own schedule and stick to it. Say no to things that would distract you, turn off the rest of the world and hunker down. Its another practice that you can work on but again, not easy to keep up consistently.
- Am I organized? I find this one the easiest to fall in and out of. Staying organized is more than just keeping papers, notes, and your work where its easy to find and at hand its also about setting yourself obtainable goals and mapping out multiple areas that need to be worked on and how you will do it. Maintaining the schedule, marketing, email, and everything else without letting any one thing take over. Organization is about balancing all your needs. I have a few things I do to help. I keep a big white board of the master list, I have clipboards and files for my papers, my To Do list is on both my phone and tablet (synced) broken down in all the steps to each item. Organized doesn’t have anything to do with the messy state of my desk lol. That’s a mix of many things. ;)
- If I don’t know, am I willing to learn? This is almost the biggest one because so many people think the answers are easy and if you can’t quickly find it then *shrug* you must not need to know it. Learning a new skill or way of thinking isn’t a quick endeavor with easy text book answers. You have to willing to put in the effort to learn and grow yourself on your own. Did I know how to design stamps and make digis before getting started? Nope. Is that what I wanted to do? Yup. Did all the people I emailed with my questions answer them? Not a one. Did that stop me from making my own answers and doing a crap ton of research? OF COURSE NOT! You have to be willing to dig and do that hard work without help and learn as you go. Its not fast or easy but it is doable.
Starting a business and quitting a job for the business are two totally different things mind you, a lot more goes into that decision! But if you are thinking of starting a business that you don’t want to just be a hobby biz, then taking these things into consideration is a big step. I’m not the best top notch ever at them every single day but consistency pays off is what I’ve learned.
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by Kristy on May 15, 2012
Today I have a tutorial up on the Copic Marker Blog and their theme for May is Weddings. I was asked “to do something paper crafty that goes along with it.” Let’s just say I had a lot of wiggle room 
So the pic above it the finished project of the tutorial. I am starting out the tutorial here bc frankly I did SO many things with it that it all couldn’t fit there, I already had to get uber creative with my photos (I took a ton) lol. So part one of my Custom Wedding Gift Box is how to make the box then on Copic’s blog is how to customize it. What’s in the box?! (get the movie reference? I can’t talk about any box without that quote poppin in my head. Not funny in the movie but its funny now).
So to make your own box to go with this tutorial, that is 5x5x1.5, you will need:
2 12×12 sheets of cardstock
(a color to match your scheme and one for the top mine is a Heidi Swapp resist paper the copic portion of the tut needs that but any sheet will do for the box)
Paper Trimmer
Ruler
Xacto Blade
Paper Scorer
Tape Runner
The first thing to do is to cut both of your 12×12 cardstock sheets into an 8×8 square. If you use the same resist paper I do I cut it out of the top right corner to avoid the printed pattern. You might like the pattern, it just wasn’t for me, I just wanted the resist. After you have both sheets cut down score on all 4 edges 1.5″ in on both sheets.
Then take your ruler and blade and cut the lines at the top and bottom that run vertically just to the first horizontal line they meet.
Now we have the flaps of our box. Fold your flaps up along the score lines until your box looks like this:
Flip your paper over and apply your adhesive to the front of just the little flaps we cut earlier then assemble the box. I’m applying to the flaps vs the back of the side to make sure I don’t tape runner too far and have sticky residue inside where whatever gift goes in. I think things thru on occasion ;)
Now you have your box! Easy Peasy! Now hop over to my tut on Copic’s blog to see how I took it from plane jane to what was at the top 
Lots of different ways to use your copics!
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by Kristy on May 14, 2012
I have very few photos of her and I don’t really need them, though it would truely be nice to have them. Old polaroids to hold on to I remember how much she meant to me.
That picture is from christmas 1981 and the uber chubby baby is me, all of about 10 weeks old, the size of those cheeks are amazing lol. The person holding me is the person I can credit with my love of art, design, fabric, drawing and more. That is my Grandma, Erna. She inspired me, taught me probably more than I realize and always had a big blue bowl with white roman reliefs (kind of like this one) full of M&Ms or hershey’s miniatures. Have I mentioned lemon pudding cups? A cupboard full of treats for visits.
I went to (and crashed part of lol) a Copic certification class in my hometown on Friday and I had such a wonderful warm reception from Marianne then the students (which was unexpected to say the least as I expected to be all incognito) and one of the students asked me who encouraged me to get started? That always gets me thinking of my Grandma. She passed away when I was 14 or 15 after the longest battle with cancer of anyone I know of, (in a box I inherited was her patient card from the mayo clinic from the 70s) which was way too soon, she was only 72.
She could do almost anything she put her mind to. She sewed all her own clothes, and was always dressed to the nines; made her own jewelry (some of which I wear now); she crewel embroidered these amazing tapestries that my grandpa would build frames for (he was a skilled woodworker), from symmetrical designs to elaborate portraits. She could draw beautifully and kept huge well manicured gardens around their home.
She was inspirational.
She was amazing.
I only got to see her once a month for a weekend when we would visit my dad on our visitation. He would play with the boys, lets say girls weren’t his thing, but I was happy to stay with grandma. She tried on more than one occasion to teach me to sew with her machine, I think I’m just not cut out for it lol. I’m still not great at anything beyond basic. She taught me to cross stitch and I do enjoy embroidery now. I remember in the 4th grade her and I practiced a whole weekend drawing the profile of a face in proportion. She got out graph paper and everything and showed me. I was geeked to show that off at school the next week and had a boy in class who paid me a dime to draw one for him lol. I would always bring her my drawings and share when we went to their house. She always made sure I had a pad of paper.
I had art teachers in school who were great encouragers of my talents but without my grandma, none of it would be the same.
Have you had anyone who was your inspiration? Your encouragement?
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by Kristy on May 13, 2012
Howdy! I’m back with a list of the promised winners of my giveaway. I LOVED reading all of the comments and I have so many ideas its nuts trying to figure out how to do them all but I’m going to try I’ve picked our 7 winners and each will have 72 hours (so by Wednesday) to email me with your addy so I can send these out. If you don’t email by then I will pick again. Frankly, they’ve been next to me for two weeks hanging out under my feet it seems (not really under but you get the idea) and I don’t want to have any left.
you have been warned 
Each winner will get one of the mystery boxes sent to them. Thanks to everyone for putting thought in and behind your comments/entries. Don’t hesitate to keep asking questions too! Up in my socialize buttons is a Formspring link (yellow, looks like a spring) so you can always hit that up if you think of something or ask in the comments of any post.
Here are our winners
1 Nitasha
2 Tanya
3 Amy
4 Julia L.
5 Shelley
6 SannaS
7 Jan F
Congrats everyone and thanks again! Happy Mother’s day too!
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by Kristy on May 11, 2012
Happy Friday peeps! Today’s sketch is one of the fairies I worked on but couldn’t get the post quite how I wanted it so she didn’t make it to the release. I might rework it at another point but not right now This is a shorty post today but I’m going to be heading out the door to go hang out with some awesome people (Rusty from Oozak and Marianne Walker from Copic) while they have a standard Certification class going on I’m excited for a fun day… kidless… hub-less…
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by Kristy on May 10, 2012
My Dude graduated Preschool last night and is on his way to kindergarten in the fall! YAY! I totally forgot yesterday was the last day for him and needed something to make as a teacher’s gift as she went out of her way to help him and turn it around. I found something similar to what I ended up doing using fridge alphabet magnents but apparently no one has those anymore (went to 6 stores). So I had a duh moment and switched it up to colored pencils! I got a rectangular vase (a cylinder would work too, I got the flat sided when I thought I could find the magnents), a tube of glass glue and 5 fresh 12 count boxes of crayola colored pencils and had at it! I did one side at a time to give each side time to set before moving on as they did want to slide a bit. Then I tied on the ribbon and wrapped it around a couple times with Washi tape to dry over night. The tape was to keep everything in place without it leaving some stickiness.
Then this morning I made the tag. At least the perk of not being able to take it last night is I got a great pic to make a tag out of for the front of Dude and his teacher
and on the back Dude wrote his own Thank You 
I filled the vase up with Yellow Spider and Pincushion Mums and we’ll be good to go to the Class picnic today!
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Today’s fairy is Mushroom Fairy. Sketching one night I came up with her and its what set off the whole Fairy release this month as she needed to be in the store I love the idea that, if you’ve ever seen the Tinker Bell movies, that the fairies have to make their clothes and stuff from what they find around so when I draw them I try and do that. They just seem a bit more “real” that way
Mushroom Fairy is a little different today as I colored her with a base of copics then added texture, shading and highlights with Prismacolor Pencils. With the copics I didn’t just add one color for the base but did trio shading to give it dimension *then* added the pencils. I went a little far with the hair as it didn’t leave the normal highlights that I like but I got some really neat colors in there. For the skin shading I used 3 different shades of purple and an Indigo for the darkest areas. I used the Indigo thru out too. On the wing where I was adding the little bit blue for texture I’m not sure if it was the pencil I picked up or the copic from her hair that added that extra bit. I’m going to experiment and see though.
I like how the coloring turned out though it was my first go. You can click them to see it bigger too. This is the pencil set I bought. They are the scholar level though I found that they blended with the blender pencil SUPER well, I colored on Xpress It. I don’t know if the smooth paper added to the smooth blending but it worked well for me.
I hope everyone liked the fairies this week! 
I hope you’ll share what you create with us! HUGS!
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Today’s fairy is wee Dandelion Fairy I’m kind of in lve with her though I’m not exactly sure of the reason overall lol. Maybe I just wish I had a petal dress? That could be 
But either way I hd a ton of fun coloring her! I played her some more with the V20, V22, V25 to shade my skin combo of E00, E02, E11 and I’m still really happy with it. You can get a nice graduation of color in the shadows with those too.
The papers for this card are special bc I got them from a lovely lady named Annette! She sent me a package of cards for the SOG CHA booth and inside was a sweet treat! Thanks tons Annette!!! The papers (the sentiment is on an Amy Tangerine tag) are all from Heidi Grace’s new company Clever Handmade. They ended up going super awesome with Dandelion Fairy so this card didn’t take long at all! I wanted to stitch the card too but my Singer and I are having a dispute since it ate a hole in the last thing I put in its jaws so I kept it simple and layered the green in for another boarder. Heidi is wonderfully sweet and it shows in her paper designs. Love that!
HUGS peeps and check you tomorrow for our last fairy and the one if you follow my Instagram feed was the one I mixed copics and pencils with this weekend.
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Release day! I hope you all like this latest installment of the fairies line we started a couple of months ago. The fairy that will be up on Wednesday got the whole ball rolling on this entire release. It took the direction to some younger fairies and I cant help but to like their spunky spirit .
I have a couple of sketches to share later this week of 2 fairies that didnt make the cut too. I just couldnt get the poses how I wanted them so decided to set them aside and give them a go at a later date.
Giggle fairy today reminds me of my daughter alot though her hair couldnt be more opposite lol. Shes been in more trouble in school in the last week than in months but the happy smile and pink brightness is all her. Not to mention the bright card! The design started really randomly and its really different from my normal thought out designs but it ended up being alot of fun. I got some really bright, almost neon colors in without making you want sunglasses to look at it. Quite a feat lol. The papers are Amy Tangerine and Studio Calico.
Her dress is colored with the RV20s, which is a group I dont use often bc of the blinding tone but it worked with the paper well. I also played a bit using V20, V22, and V25 to shade the skin and clothes. The V20s have a couple of this years colors so I had to test them out and I think I really like them for that. Not too red or blue or grey, a nice shadow color.
I had to reward myself with a little playtime after all the appointments last week and stress. We can pick up the game today lol. I also got all the clear stamp sets done for our trip to cha and get to start on our first catalog that will see full print. A ton of fun but kind of daunting too. I hope to be up for the task! Luckily I know I have some girls going eith that will be some great support as long as I can get all the pieces together. Booth design is in the works too
Well now that I rambled at you for a bit have an awesome Monday! The new fairies are in the Some Odd Girl shop right now! Checkem out! Proceeds go to helping us make this first CHA a success lol!
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Your comments on my giveaway have inspired me to have a play with something that I was encouraging my friend Leah to do, mix pencils with Copics. So I did a little research before buying this scholar set of Prismacolor pencils at Hobby Lobby with a coupon. From the reviews I read, the scholar brand is just as good as the ones that come in the tin for half the price (lower cost due to packaging, plastic not tin, and they market them to students which usually has a lower retail). I haven’t got to test them out yet but I’m not a stranger to colored pencils so I don’t thing the learning curve will be too bad.
One thing I want to say if you are thinking of doing this too is lay down your copics *first* then your pencils.
The pencil will rub off and stain your tip (I’ve done this with regular pencils before) but it won’t ruin your marker. I’m not sure exactly how the colored pencil would effect the tip, especially since this lead is softer than your regular pencil so copics *then* pencils. I’ve been getting some work I was a bit behind done but I’m hoping to have a play this weekend! Maybe you’ll see something next week with our latest Digi Release These are too cute to boot!
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Hi! I'm Kristy and this is my blog! I'm an artist, an entrepreneur and the owner of my very own stamp company Some Odd Girl! Here you can find more of my art, crafts and ramblings on business and life.
