2011

Happy New Year folks!

I must say 2011 was a pretty good year for me.

• I kept a steady job all year long, which makes it my first job that I had for this long in about 6 years. 
•  found a great freelance gig that I get to work on some awesome posters for and something else that I can't say until the new year! 
•  have my work being sold in a store for the first time ever. Plus the store is totally kick ass and it just feels right to have my work there. 
• organized a craft fair this year! How awesome is that? I think over-all it was pretty successful besides a few minor things. 
•  had a table at Hal-Con this year and it was fun! 
• am officially registered as a business this Spring and now I have no idea what to do for my taxes! :C But I'm sure I'll figure it out!
•  also did a few small design projects for friends, pro bono
• was asked to design my cousin's wedding invitations for her wedding next Spring! I can't wait to post pictures of them! I am super happy how they turned out and they look great printed!
• praticipated in the Mosaic for Mental Health art exhibition
• started acrylic painting, which I now love to do! I still need to get better at it, but it's a lot of fun and I'm happy with what I have been doing

That's all I can think of right now!I met a lot of awesome people this year due to branching out and participating in events and putting myself out there.

In 2012 I am planning on organizing two fairs for Art vs Craft. I'm hoping to get a table at a few other local craft fairs. And getting a table at Hal-Con for the 3rd year in a row! Maybe a table at Animaritime if I can find a way there and back (maybe we'll have a car by then).
But that's mostly my plan for 2012, just selling at more fairs. Getting my work out there more. Maybe then I can actually sell my work online.

Other than a few personal goals, I think all of that is all very accomplish-able!

I wish you all the best in 2012! Have a Happy New Year! <3

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas season is upon us again! And I thought I'd give my fans and supporters a little gift. It's nothing much, but it's the thought that counts! :)

Cute little Christmas tags to use to put on your gifts! Just download, print and cut!

Stuff, Stuff and more Stuff

It seems like it has been forever and a day since I posted here last.

Now that Hal-Con is over, I have been taking 'er easy and just farting around. The past few days though, I have been starting on some small projects in hopes of selling at my little spot at Plan B and at future craft fairs.

I went to the dollar store the other day and had a feild day with some of the new frames they sell there now. Plus I bought a ton of glitter. Which makes everything more fabulous.

I printed off some Christmas cards that I designed last year and added some hints of glitter on them. And now my desk is covered in the stuff. Which is wonderful but it's also a complete mess. Anyway, I'm selling the cards in the store for $3 each. If you want them you can go there, or you could always email me about purchasing online if you're not in the area.

I also have some sketches of what I want to put in the ever-so-fabulous frames I purchased. Let's just say it will all be girly, pretty and sparkly!

And I still have some of my ACEO cards left over that I made to sell at Hal-Con. If you would like to buy them let me know! They're going for $3 each. Either water color or pen drawings. Get them while you still can while they are cheap! I do plan on doing more of these ACEO cards, but I will be putting more effort into them, so I will be charging more.

From left to right top to bottom: Sailor Moon (Pen), Sailor Moon (pen & marker), Sailor Moon (water color), Sailor Jupiter (water color), Sailor mars (water color), Sailor Venus (water color), Sailor Pluto (water color), Wonder woman (water color), Mermaid (pens), X-Men: Storm (pen & marker), Victorian Belle (water color).

Other than that, nothing else is new with me! Been busy with making posters for a local pub and working at my part time job. It's all good! :)

Hal-Con 2011

Big date coming up! One more week until the Second Annual Hal-Con Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention will be on its way!

And once again, I have a table in the Artist Alley!

Last year was so much fun I just had to do it again! I met a lot of people, had a lot of fun and even sold stuff! At first I was so over whelmed with all of the people, I thought I was over my head, but this year I am a bit more organized and have bacisally everything done and printed. But of course, I have a few last minute drawings I want to work on. Which hopefully will be done in time. If not, there's always next year!

Last year I did some small $5 chibis drawings and this year I'm planning on doing some $10 ACEO cards and $15 on the spot sketches. Samples of how I'm going to do the ACEO cards:

I'll be selling 8x10" prints, buttons, bookmarks and Christmas cards. I'll also be selling the rest of my watercolor abstract paintings and my original colored pencil Star Trek pinup drawing. I won't be taking any other original pieces with me. If you would like to have an original drawing by me, commission me for a painting or purchase one at Plan B.

For more information about Hal-Con and who will all be there, check out their website! www.hal-con.com

And check out these awesome artists! Some friends who will also be selling in the Artist Alley:

Nicki Sullivan
Melanie Mialythia D'Entremont
Ariel Marsh 
Sandy Carruthers


I hope everyone can make it out! It truly is a fun time and a great experience where you can nerd it up, meet awesome people, and buy awesome stuff!

30 day count down!

The count down has begun! 30 days until Hal-Con!

I will be once again in the artist alley selling prints and original pieces. Maybe a few little nick knacks too, like buttons and bookmarks.

Can't wait! I have a lot of work to do in 30 days.

I was planning on dressing up, but I doubt I will find what I want for my costume idea, so I'll just wear a wig and do up my make-up. :)

Commissions

I'm offering a few spots of commission work for the holidays. Paintings make for a great gift for someone or even yourself. I am offereing two types of paintings, they are listed below. Please email me @ aprilmdesigns@gmail.com if you want one! Will be done before the holidays!

Acrylic Painting $35 -8x10" canvas with a picture of whatever character you want. Perfect for RPG characters or fanart. Will do personalized paintings. These paintings are girly and whimsical. Please supply a ref picture if if you want a certain character/person done. Let me know if you want anything additional added to the painting. Like stars, hearts, etc. Or if you want a custom painting, just let me know what you're looking for. Like hair, colors, theme. Samples:

There are five spots available for this kind of painting: 

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Digital Pinup paintings - $75 - 8x10" on semi gloss photo paper

$100 - 8x10" on streched canvas

Pinups can be personalized. Perfect for that special someone in your life. You will need to give me a ref picture to do this type of painting.

Or if you want a custom pinup girl, just let me know what you're looking for. Like hair, skin color, what she's wearing, theme, and what pose you're looking for. Please note I will only do classic like poses, and will not do full nude, I will draw boobies. No backgrounds. If you want 2 girls in a painting add an additional $25 to the price. Samples:

There are three spots available for this kind of painting:

1.
2.
3.

Additional notes: 

These paintings are one of a kind works. I will NOT be reproducing any commissions. These are 100% yours. You CANNOT RE-SELL these paintings. You CANNOT REPRODUCE these paintings. If you want a tattoo of your painting, sure, send me a picture of it when it's done! :) I am allowed to post paintings on my sites for showcase only. You can post paintings, but please link back to my site so that people will know who did it.

I will only take paypal payments. I will take half of payment up front and once I receive that, I will start on your painting.  No refunds if you change your mind halfway through painting progress. If for some reason I do not finish your painting, you will be refunded what you paid. When you email me about getting a commission done, I will email you my paypal info.

I will only ship within Canada (for now! Might ship to the States at a later date). Please note that I only ship through Canada Post, that way shipping doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

If you have any other questions or requests, please comment below or email me @ aprilmdesigns@gmail.com

Shop set up!

So today my friend Mel and I did a little setting up of our space at Plan B. I thought to take some pictures to show it off a bit. We're going to be putting up some shelves next week for some of the smaller items we plan on selling. Probably will organize things a bit better too. But things are up and are for sale, so check it out! (Maybe buy a few things too... lol). Pictures are a bit blurry, but they were quick snapshots.

Wedding invites!

One of my best friends, who is also my cousin, is getting married next year. She is the first of our batch of cousins to get married. I always thought I would get hitched first being the oldest, but she bet me to it! Her husband to be seems like a swell guy, never met him, but I'm sure he's great.

So she asked me to design her wedding invitations. It's quite the honor! I've always wanted to do wedding design, and what a perfect way to start then to do something up for family!

She wanted something simple with a sans serif font. Just a basic design, nothing crazy fancy or over the top. And she definitely did not want script font.  The main colors they're using for the wedding is a cream color and navy blue. But she also wanted a nice accent color too. I thought pink would be nice, but maybe also red, since the hubby's uniform will be red (he's in the navy).

Right now I just wanted to show you all the rejects. I won't be posting the one her and the hubby picked until she sends them out to their guests. When I do post the final design, I will also post the RSVP cards, place holders and envelopes. And maybe a few snap shots of it all together. :)

So enjoy the rejects!

Lots of Work

I got a new freelance gig! I'll be designing the weekly promo posters, ads and their chalk boards for a local bar & eatery called Winston's. There are also some future plans that they have that I'll also be working on for them too, but I can't announce it yet, because they're not for sure yet.

Anyhoo, redesigning the initial layout and header designs has been a lot of fun! Here's one of the posters that I've done so far:

Also have been working on some new paintings to sell and display at Plan B. I will be setting up my space later than I thought. So now I'll have my stuff up and ready for sale on September 30. I'll also have some holiday stuff up too, just in time for Halloween and Christmas! The Christmas stuff will be in later on! It's still too soon for all of that!

Still have to finish my cousin's wedding invites, but I have a few designs done for her, and can't wait to show them to her! I hope she'll love them.

Plus, keep a look out for a give away I will be soon having! Still have to figure what I'll be giving away, but it will be awesome I can promise you that!

Plan B; Merchants Co-Op

Todays post is going to be all about Plan B. It's a store that will soon be opening down on Gottigen street.

A bunch of amazing people have come together to make this store happen. Luckily enough for me, I know some of those people, and will be renting out a small space in the gallery to sell and promote my work there! :D

I plan on selling my paintings and prints! Maybe a few little other things, it all depends on the set up there. But definitely I will be selling my paintings.

There will also be a ton of other artists and crafters and local people selling their work there too. Jewellery, clothes, records, antiques, mystic things, a little cafe, and all kinds of things! Seriously, anyone can walk into this store and find something that they will like. It sounds like it would be a bit over whelming, but they have a great layout, that everyone has a little section to their own, so it's not all right in your face.

I'm not sure when the doors open, but I know that it will be sometime this month! It's located on Gottigen street, so keep an eye out for it! Check out the facebook page for more updates.

13th Annual Mosaic for Mental Health art exhibition & sale

I almost forgot about this wonderful fundraiser. back when I was selling at Alderney landing I came across a booth that was selling some of the past years tiles and I talked to them about the tiles and said that I would be more than happy to paint a tile for such a good cause. Then 2 months later, I'm like -oh crap, the deadline is approaching!

So I gathered the papers and the tile and started working. I have a great sketch done for it, now it just needs to be painted. The theme is courage, and I plan on calling mine, "making new friends". It does take courage to meet new people and to make new friends. I should know, I still have a hard time approaching people and making new connections, but I'm getting better at it! I'm not as shy as I used to be, which is great, especially since I'm trying to get my work out there.

So anyways, the deadline is September 21st, and the gallery will be open at the Craig Gallery at Alderney Landing from October 13th to October 30th. I can't wait! Tiles will be for sale for $25, and it's going towards a great cause! And there will be a ton of other artists paintings tiles too!

Here's a picture of what I have so far!

Sky Maiden

As promised a post about the new acrylic paintings that I have worked on from the past few weeks.

Here is a process picture of Sky Maiden. Though about a quarter of the way I stopped taking pictures. I just forgot about it and was just too into it to keep snapping pictures of different steps.

She's the biggest painting I have done yet, 16"x20" ans she's looking for a home. Let me know if she'd be a perfect fit in yours. :) Details here: detail 1 detail 2

Busy Little Bee

I wish I could keep this blog up to date more often.

I have quite the plate full right now of work that needs to be done in the next few months.

Now that the Art vs Craft fair is over, (and I must say it went really well for my first time organizing one!) I have more time working on my own work again.

Right now my main focus is to work on my dear cousin's wedding invitations. She wants them done by Christmas, that way when she comes home for the holidays, her and her mom can put them all together and what-not. I'm super excited to do this for her, as I always wanted to design wedding stuff. :)

I'm also planning on selling my paintings and illustrations at a few craft fairs in November and December. Plus I have a table at Hal-Con. Which I need to work on a few more fantasy paintings and sci-fi stuff, plus some fan art.

And then I want to start planning my next craft fair. I'm hoping to have the next one in March. I have to call around and see if I can get a space for then. I learned so much from the first, that I hope my second will go 1000 times better.

Then I have a few odds and ends to finish and work on. A graduation present for my sister, flyers for a friend, and to design a few things for myself.

Keep an eye out for the new blog post, which will be soon, as I will be posting pictures of my newest paintings.

Oh, and if you're interested, you can check out the photos from the craft fair here: Facebook page pictures.  We were filled to the brim with so many talented artists and crafters and everything in between! I loved it. :)

Art vs Craft

It's tomorrow!

Getting super pumped about it! I have everything done for it yesterday. Which means I won't be going balls out tonight trying to get stuff done.

I have 4 new paintings done just for this event. 3 are 8x10" canvases and one is my biggest painting yet! It's 16x20"!

I will also be selling my fruit buttons, bookmarks, and prints of all of my digital work.

I also have greeting cards for sale which have photographs printed on them that I have taken in the past.

Besides me, there will be 40 other artists from around the area who are setting up shop! Want to take a peek of who will be there? Check out the twitter feed for it. I have been tweeting about everyone and have links to their webpages, blogs and facebook pages. http://twitter.com/#!/artcrafthalifax

Be sure to come out! It's at the Halifax Forum in the Maritime Hall from 11-6pm. One day only!

Cheers!

Events!

April M Designs will be selling at a few different events this year!

First up, Boardwalk Artists at Alderney Landing at the Dartmouth waterfront. It's on July 1st! I plan on creating new illustrations with a nautical theme! Being on the waterfront and all. :) Since it is in a month's time and super short notice, I'm going to be crazy busy! Because I have nothing done for it! And I just heard that my manager is going on a mini vacay next week. Which means I work full hours every day next week. Which is great, but holy poop, I'm not going to have a lot of time to do my own work.

Next, Art vs Craft Halifax! That's the art and craft fair I am having on August 20th! Not only do I have to create new things for myself for then, but I also have to organize the whole thing! So far I have got a lot of great response! Lots of people want to sell their work, and a lot of people support me! :) But I still have quite a few tables left that need to be filled. So let all of your friends know about it!

Next up is Hal-Con! The Sci-fi/fantasy convention! Which is November 12-13th at the World Trade centre! I have big big big ideas for it this year! Which I need to work on too! O_o So much stuff to do. I had a table last year, and it went pretty well, so I hope this year it will go even better! And maybe I'll dress up too in a costume. Which would be another thing to work on. lol.

Then! I miiiight have a table at Have Yourself  a Gothic Little Christmas. Which is December 3-4th. I met the lady who organizes it the other day, and she is like the sweetest little thing ever! Plus she is also organizing another craft fair around the same time. So she said I would have a table at that for sure! And since I don't really have anything gothic or steampunk or anything like that, I need to work on illustrating something that will fit those themes! But, once she plans the other event, I'll post a link up here.

I also have my work being sold at the cutest little shop in Dartmouth at the Harbourview Marketplace. Their shop is called Toxic Blossom, and they sell a lot of wonderful things! From locals, to all over the world! If you;re into cute, loltia, Japanese street fashion, that is the place for you! Plus they just relocated to a bigger area, and they now have a dressing room! Exciting!

And if you don't live anywhere near Nova Scotia, you can actually purchase my work online! Though, right now my online store is being overhauled, so you'll have to wait for a little while before you can! But it will be back up soon! :)

And I think that is everything! Please check out all of the links. Tons of great event and shops to check out!

Flower Box

A month or so ago, my great Aunt was giving away some of her furniture and things since she is moving. I got a few things from her and one of things was a wooden flower box with artificial flowers in it.

It's pretty, but old and it wasn't really my thing. It was pretty dusty too. So I thought I could work my magic and make it into something new!

Everything I bought for this project was from the Dollar store. :)

Couple of coats of white.

I put some painter's tape on it for lines. Then I literally slapped black paint on it.

Hey is that a Zebra?

Added some dots.

And some pretty fake Gerber daises! I'm going to have to buy a few more bunches to make it fuller. I think it turned out alright! It's definitely different then what it was before. I like it.

Art vs Craft Halifax

Some of you may know that I am currently organizing an art and craft fair. And if you didn't know, well, now you know.

This was my super awesome news I was talking about last month. And I'm just making a blog post now about it. I'm a really good procrastinator.

That fair is going to be in the maritime hall at the Halifax Forum on August 20th. I'm hoping to have 45 tables of local and away talented artists, crafters, jewelers, knitters, and a whole bunch more selling their wares.  Still looking for applicants! If you want to sell and promote your work, check out the Art vs Craft Blog for more info and how to apply.

The reason why I am organizing this is that I find that there are not enough craft fairs in this city. Sure we have a lot of Christmas fairs and we have the Farmers market, but that's not enough to help support the talented people of this city and province! There are a couple of other craft fairs, but none of them are really in the Summer time. Which is what I am doing, filling the void. Summer time is a perfect time to sell, because this is the time when we have a lot of tourists coming through who want to look and buy local art/crafts/what-have-you. And since it's at the forum, we have a ton of parking space and some of the major buses go past it.

I am pretty excited about this, as it is the largest thing I have ever organized before. And I know it will do everyone some good. My main goal is to help other artists and crafters out there to sell and promote their work. We're all in this together, right?

Watercolors!

I'm still not that great at actually painting something, but today I went a little crazy and did some abstract paintings with them and then drew on top of them with ink! I saw some other artists paint like this, and thought why not try it out! So I did some of my cupcakes illustrations, and I think they turned out rather neat!

You can purchase the originals online at my shop! Or you can purchase a print of them, once I get those printed, which will be in a few days. :)

Let me know what you think!

Birthday cards & Notepads

Hello!

Yesterday I got together with a friend and had a painting day. I wanted to try out watercolors again (last time I touched them was about 5 years ago) and I made a few birthday cards! I think they turned out relatively cute. :3

I also tired out some acrylic painting on canvas, but I didn't like how they turned out, so I will have to try again! Practice makes perfect.

I'm glad I'm starting to work on things like this again. Painting is calming, and each piece turns out to be one of a kind! :) I plan on doing a lot more paintings like this and hopefully they will get bigger and better!

Onto other things... For awhile now, I've been wanting to make notepads with my illustrations on them. But every time I try to look for printing shops that offer that kind of service, I can't find a thing! Nothing! Unless I want to pay an arm and a leg for it, and for something that I don't even really want! Places are charging 5-10 per notepad, and all you get on it is a 2 color print of your company logo! BOOO! I want to get a full color illustration on mine! Then it hit me! I can do this sort of thing at my work place! So today I printed off some pages and put together my own little notebook.

 As you can see, it turned out super cute! :3 So I did up the math to see how much it would cost me to print off a few of them just for starters... and I didn't like how it was adding up. If I printed them at my work place I would have to charge about $8-10 per notebook. And I don't think anyone would pay that much for them. :C

So my search continues to find a place where I can get notepads like the one above (or a notepad that has glue binding) printed off at a reasonable price. If you know of a place link me! :3

I finally revamped my blog!

As you can see, it looks a million times better. Well at least I like to think so! I decided to use my vector doughnuts as the background and then just changed my logos colors to match the doughnuts. I think this design really reflects who I am. And if you know me, you'll probably think the sane. :)

Now that I am done of this, I need to update my online store. I already changed the look of it, so now it matches the blog. I am currently making an inventory of all of my prints and other things I plan on selling on it. So far all I have listed are the bookmarks and buttons. Once I figure out what prints I'm going to sell, I'll let you all know when they go up!

In other news, I am going to try to start painting with acrylics and watercolors! And if I feel like it's something that I'll continue, I'll be selling some pieces on here! I already have a few ideas sketched out that I think will make great paintings.

Also on the go, I am design my friends logo/header for her blog. I already had somethings sketched out, but when I put it on the computer and try working with it, it just doesn't look right or professional. So I think I will have to sketch out a few more things and hope that they work.

And I think that is it! OH!

I have some ideas what I am going to do for Hal-Con! But I'm not telling anyone about it! :P I just know that nerds of all sorts will (hopefully) love it! :D

Bookmarks!

So I got all of my designs/illustration done up for my bookmarks printed. They are ready to go!


If you live in the Halifax area, you can buy them at Toxic Blossom at the Harbourview market place. Orr... This weekend, Toxic Blossom is setting up their shop for the 42: Great Gamer Geek Getaway!

You can also buy them from my online store once I have them listed. Which will probably be sometime tonight.

Also recently, I have designed a ticket for a dance that is fundraising for the earthquake relief for Japan.

Next on the list is to design a logo/header for a friends blog and a business card too. I already have something sketched, and she loves it! So now all I have to do is make it digital! :)

Sneak Peek!

A sneak peek of the bookmarks I am making. They're all vector images that I first sketched out and then finished them off in Illustrator.



They're 1.75"x8.5" and are laminated and have a little string tassel on the end! :) I am selling them for a $1.50 each or 3 for $4.00. I should be done of all of them by next week and will be selling them in the upcoming art/craft show in April and at Hal-Con, which is in November. Or if you can't wait until then, I will be selling them from my online shop as well.

New stuffs

Hello!

I created some new vector images today and yesterday. I have plans to make them into stationary things! I just have to find a place that will print them for me for a decent price. Anyone know of a place? Link me up!

Also I am getting a table for an art/craft show in April. I have no idea what it is called, but I will soon find out. All I know it's on April 23rd and it's down on Gottigen street. I will be selling prints that didn't sell at Hal-Con and some bookmarks I am currently working on. Plus buttons!

BTW, I do take commissions for illustrations and I do graphic design freelance work. All for a reasonable price! :)

Long time no post

Oh hai! I am not lost nor dead, I was just sleeping the past months away...

I was super busy with work, and now I am not! As my contract with my superawesome freelance gig was terminated! Booo... :(

In more upbeat news, for the last 2 weeks and next week, I will be working full time hours at my part time job, as my manager and the owner are taking their winter vacations. So yea! extra money that will help me out for a while since freelance money isn't coming in anymore...

ALSO! I got a table at Hal-Con again for this year. :3 I plan on illustrating some fantasy themed pictures and some more cutesy stuff, as well as pin ups. I still have a ton of stuff leftover from last years one.. so they will be making an appearance!

Oh yah! I am selling some of my work at Toxic Blossom, which is located at the Dartmouth Harborview market place. It's only open on Saturdays and Sundays, but it's still pretty awesome I am selling my work in a store! So if you're from around this area, I suggest to check it out, or you can check out their facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toxic.....11959378865805

I plan on starting to get back into illustrating once next week is over and I get my 3 day work schedule back. :3 So keep an eye out! I shall be posting some things here and on my flickr account.

Toodles!