Modish: the blog

Try This at Home with Maddy: LAST MINUTE FIX- Crafty Mother's Day Ideas on a Tight Timeline

So you totally blew it, again. Mother's Day snuck up on you like the littlest kid in the playground, and you want to do something that has a personal handmade touch with, oh, three days or so. Impossible? I think not. Here are some great ideas to add personal touches with fabulous crafty flair that show a lot of effort in little time.

MAKE BRUNCH FOR MOM AND ACCENT THE TABLE WITH "FLOWERS". Thanks to Michael's, Martha Stewart Crafts is all over the place and you can probably find this great tissue paper flower kit with ease in a drivable distance from your house. Why not throw a few kits together and get the griddle going? The won't die like real flowers, and your mom will have a memento of all of your hard work putting together a great meal so she could relax and enjoy the family time. Even better - stick a bunch of the flowers on a tray and serve her breakfast in bed!

AWAKEN HER INNER FLOWER CHILD. Grab a set of seeds from your local garden store and put them in personalized seed packets with our dieline here. Grab a gift basket (and, if you wish, cellophane) from your local garden store and deck it out in ribbon. Want to really go all out? Substitute a tissue or crinkle paper base with fake moss (available at most craft stores - if they carry silk florals, they'll probably have it) and set your seed packets among the moss and gardening tools to boost the overall "wow" effect.

SHOW HER HOW SWEET SHE IS. If you're mom's got a sweet tooth, bake her cupcakes! Cupcake Bakeshop has a wide variety of recipes that can suit any palate - from fruity to spicy to good old traditional choco-licious. Run to your local crafts center and pick up a bunch of stock paper in any color or tone group you wish. Bring them home, cut them into strips, and fold the strips in half so they are doubled over lengthwise, cutting the original width in two. Insert a toothpick into the center of the fold - the top of the toothpick should be just under the top edge of the paper. Glue the paper together ensuring the toothpick stays put, and you've got yourself a basic decoration! Write on each flag one reason you appreciate your mom (awwwwwww), and insert the flag into each cupcake after it's been iced. Feel free to decorate as you wish - try layering papers or using decorative punches!

GIVE HER THE GIFT OF TIME - IN A BOOK. A lot of families these days are moving at the speed of light, and it's hard to find time together, so find a moment to reflect on what you all have done together. Go to a craft store or somewhere that carries scrapbooking supplies and buy yourself one, or a couple books. Make sure to purchase tools: buy a LOT of adhesive (even more than you think you'll need because you'll run out fast!), paper and embellishments. Wrap them all up in a box and then let her unwrap it on Mother's Day. Take the afternoon to go through family photos with her and any other family members who want to join in, then spend the afternoon creating scrapbook pages so you all contribute to the book. At the end of the day, she'll have a keepsake that not only reflects on memories, but created one as well!

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try This at Home with Maddy: PROJECT- Mother's Day Classic Silhouettes

Continuing on with Mother's Day is a project that has a classic history but thanks to cyclical trends, is now thoroughly hip - the paper silhouette picture! The task seems totally daunting, especially if you're creative but photorealism isn't your forte but that's okay! There's an easy way to get that classic look while not freaking out about freehand. Gift silhouettes of yourself and your siblings (if applicable!) to your mom, or snap a few pics of the children of any other mommy in your life and start cutting! Remember that silhouettes don't have to just be cut out of black paper with a white background - make it more modern and unique by using hip color combination like chocolate brown with a blush pink backer paper!

CLASSIC SILHOUETTES

Archival Paper in Contrasting Colors
Surgical Scissors (you need a smaller blade scissor for the tiny details)
Glue Stick
Tape
Digital Portraits of your Subjects in Profile
Access to a Computer, Digital Editing Program, and Printer

Snap several shots of your subjects in profile, with white or light backgrounds preferred. Keep the backgrounds against a clean, flat wall to save yourself time in the editing phase. Load your shots into your camera and open them in Photoshop or a similar editing program. Convert your photos to black and white. If there is any tone or objects in the background, paint them out with the Paintbrush tool in white. Also using the Paintbrush tool, paint highlights and light tones on the subject carefully with black. You ultimately want to end up with a digital silhouette as a starting point, with the face in the direction of whichever way you wish it to sit when it's finished.

Save and print out your image. Take printed silhouette page and stack it on top of a single sheet (or double if you plan to make a duplicate) of archival paper in the color you wish your silhouette to be in. Tape the sheets together hinge style, with one piece on either end of the top sheet that folds over to the back sheet. With your surgical scissors, begin to cut the face side first. When you get to the hair, stop. This is where you will want to stylize your silhouette, because you clearly can't cut each individual hair if your subject has flyaways! For curly or wavy hair, follow the general shape of the hair and add in some graceful curly pieces to give a sense of the texture - it's okay to follow the hair in your printout, too, just remember to simplify! For straight hair, remember to cut slightly into the ends in thin, triangular slivers so the hair doesn't appear as a blocky mass.

When you've finished, use a glue stick to apply your silhouette onto your backer paper. Don't use liquid glue - it will add moisture to the paper and will cause it to buckle. For an even more personal touch, sign your creation with your name (and a note, if you wish) and set it in an antique-feeling frame prior to wrapping and gifting.

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try This at Home with Maddy: PROJECT- Mother's Day Spa Salts

Hello, everyone! Sorry I missed Tuesday's post, but I've been quite sick since coming back from San Francisco for work. It's quite a persistent cold! Anyway...

Mother's Day is coming up and I thought it would be great to start a series on gifts to give to all the mommies in your life! It's been a tradition since childhood that my mother generally receives some sort of handmade token from me on Mom's Day, and I love the fact that something you make is so much more meaningful because you took time out to create something. I'm starting out with a favorite of mine - bath salts - which becomes the gift that gives back if you "accidentally" make extra! If you're looking for some recommended sources for all of these materials, click on the links in the ingredients list for some companies I prefer.

TRIO OF BATH SALTS
Bath salts are a quick and easy way to make any bath more soothing. Including them in multiples allows the receiver to choose a fragrance that best suits their mood, or the mood they'd like to be in!

Large Coarse Salts or Bath Salt Base
Essential Oils or Fragrance Oils
Food Coloring (optional)
Bath Salt Containers (in your choice of size and material)
Wax Paper and a Large Surface to Dry Salts on
Disposable Spoon or Other Mixing Tool
Mixing Bowl or Container (Must Not Be Used for Food!)

With a kitchen scale or by eye, measure out the number of ounces of salts that your container will hold; add on an additional two to four ounces to compensate for any salt shrinkage that may occur as you add wet materials to them. Move measured salts into a mixing bowl or other large container that you will NOT use for food in the future - obviously, not a good idea to eat essential or fragrance oils, even if it smells like chocolate, or blueberry muffins, or whathaveyou.

Begin with your food coloring - if you choose not to color your salts, you can skip this step. Color choice is based on personal preference; if you have a color theme that your scent doesn't fit into, it's not a big deal. Because food coloring is a wet ingredient, it is important to add this in slowly and in small quantities at a time. Add it in drop by drop, mixing the salts as you go with a spoon or other tool that you can dispose of after the batch is complete. When you have achieved your desired color intensity, put the food coloring aside and continue to mix for five minutes or so as the salt dries and absorbs the last bits of dye. If after this the salt still appears wet, spread it out on wax paper over a large, flat surface to allow it to dry further before proceeding - it will not absorb the fragrance well while it is still too wet.

Once your bath salts are dry, you can begin to add fragrance. There is no exact formula to tell when you have exactly the right amount of fragrance added, but you can certainly under- or over-fragrance these salts. When you've added too much, the salts become incredibly wet and begin to shrink. There's no "in-the-process" way to really tell when you've added too little - you just have to wait until they're dry to test their aroma. If it's too weak, you can just add more fragrance and let them dry again. Since you need to air dry them, some of the fragrance will be lost in the process, so personally, scenting salts stronger is better for me.

After placing your salts back in the mixing bowl, begin adding your fragrance, blending it in as you add (as you did for the coloring). Eye droppers are extremely helpful during this process so you can have a greater "drop by drop" control of the fragrance - you don't want to add a lot at a time. It's good to take short breaks between adding batches of fragrance to ensure your salts are absorbing them by mixing without adding additional fragrance.

After adding the fragrance, the salts should look a little slick, but not sopping wet. There should not be excess fragrance in the bottom of the bowl after blending; if there is, drain it out of the bowl. Distribute salts evenly over a sheet of wax paper on a large, flat surface and let them dry for a couple of hours (or until dry to touch). The salts must be allowed to dry thoroughly before being placed in containers.

All that's left then is to pack them up and design the packaging! Your salts will be able to be used immediately, although I've personally noticed the fragrance pops a lot better when used after a week or two - so for best results, start planning early for Mom!

Enjoy!

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try This at Home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- Shopping for Your Prop Closet with $50 or Less (Part Two)

Happy Unbirthday to me! I'm out in New York, my home turf, to visit family (my birthday was yesterday, the 16th, so I'm out to spend some time with them) and to finish some wedding planning up. In the meantime, here's a preprogrammed fun list of props from around the Internet...

ETSY: Don't underestimate Etsy - the place for a great assortment of handmade goods also has a lot of good finds for vintage items that work very well as props. From the top, reading left to right: Vintage Brass Pear Bell from squirrelaway, $9; Cordial Glasses from seaglassvintage, $16 for 6; Vintage Brass Deer from thriftygoodness, $12; Perfect ACEO Frames from seaglassvintage, $18 for 3; Vintage Brass Swan from thepinkboutique, $16; Pair of Dove Figurines from edelweissvintage, $16.

REPRO DEPOT: RD is always a great resource for some interesting fabrics, and was browsing their site when Amy Butler's Midwest Modern Martini (say that ten times fast!) caught my eye. They're great graphic and simple patterns that are almost tone on tone in multiple color ways, so they can add a little pop to your photos without being too busy.

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try This at Home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- Shopping for Your Prop Closet with $50 or Less (Part One)

As promised, here's my list of picks from around the internet for great pieces to prop with. To keep them affordable for the standard small business owner, I've also kept all of these pieces under $50, which can be quite difficult sometimes! Also, because this post is mighty long with images, I'm dividing this into a multi-parter, so keep checking the Try This at Home article for more great ideas!

PAXTON GATE: A kooky little garden and home store in San Francisco - but here's the thing: the stranger the store, the more likely you are to find great props. I'm not sure you'd want to go after the taxidermied and costumed mice that they have here, but the bell jars ($14-48), hour glasses ($25-30), knobby starfish ($1.50-9.75), and sputnik sea urchins ($6.50) are fantastic finds that will add a lot of character to your product photography.

URBAN OUTFITTERS: With their eclectic, funky style, it's not hard to find items at Urban that would make for great prop items. Throw an under $50 goal into the equation, and you present yourself with a little more of a problem. Their mini punch lantern ($12, also available in blue and pink), etched metal trinket box ($6), and little birch jewelry stand ($26, also available in white) are all on the affordable side and can add a lot of visual interest to your shots.

ANTHROPOLOGIE: Anthro is definitely not a place many people would consider $50 to pay off, but with their fabulous vintage modern aesthetic, it's worth a dig. I was definitely loving the recycled bottle lanterns ($18, also comes in orange), the silver leaf votives (globe and u-shaped shown, $6 each), the zinc letters ($18 each), and the the honeycomb lanterns ($15-20 each). Anthro is also definitely a great site to scour for sale items - you never know what great stuff you'll find suddenly on the cheap!

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try This at Home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- Starting a Prop Room

photo from Nantaka Joy by Karen Wise

As I've written before, one of the things that separates really professional looking product photography from your average shot is the overall presentation. You want to aspire and inspire your guest, and propping is a huge part of that. A great benchmark I recommend is looking at Karen Wise's shots for Nantaka Joy (two are above). They're professionally done, but what makes them so successful is that even in a small crop you can get a sense of the space and the world that the person lives in, and that while it's all visually interesting, it's not distracting from the product.

Start collecting items that work with your product to add more dimension to what you're trying to convey about it. Props can help define scale, dictate use, or illustrate a lifestyle that your customers aspire to. Look at your favorite magazines and shopping sites and see what they put in their shots for ideas. Props can come from your home or can be items that are specifically for photography purposes only. As your collection grows, find a closet space or shelving system and consider organizing it by color or by aesthetic style (modern, antique, natural, distressed, et cetera).

Here's a checklist of staples to get you started - edit as needed based on your industry:

• vases and/or other interesting glass vessels, such as bell or apothecary jars
• flowers, silk and real
• frames
• plates
• fabric, in solids and patterns
• wood surfaces, distressed and polished
• calligraphy pens
• vase filler: sand, stones, polished gems
• small pottery
• pencils and sharpeners
• cake stands (basic white ones are great to display product on)
• dried botanicals: lavender, eucalyptus (stems and pods), pine cones
• vintage or unusual stamps
• vintage dress form or bust
• antique hand mirrors
• metal trays, modern and antique
• books with interesting spines, particularly older hard bounds with foil stamping

I'll be taking a break on Thursday, as I'm out of town on business, but next Tuesday we'll look at some great finds around the Internet to get you started. In the meantime, hit up your local antique shops, and get prepared for garage sale season!

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try This at Home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- Working with a Designer

Photo by dailypoetics | Design by Elixir Design

If you're looking to refine your brand, or give it a distinctive look from the get go, it's worth investing in a designer to execute your vision. The collaboration can lead to amazing results that will bring your products to a whole new level and will give your brand recognition with your customers. The most important part is going to be the choices you make upfront, so here's a checklist:

• Choose your brand's style, and choose your graphic designer. Is it slick and modern? Is it fun and cartoony? Is it inspired by retro or antique imagery? This is an essential step, as it will help determine who your designer is. Most graphic designers can work in a variety of styles, but some may not be his or her forte. When you've decided your brand's voice, look at some portfolios and decide who works best in the style you're imagining.
• Determine your collateral. What items do you need your branding applied to? This could include, but is not limited to, business cards, stationery, invoices, pamphlets or brochures, a website, shipping labels, multiple packaging formats such as boxes or hang tags, and rubber stamps. Think carefully and list out what you need ahead of time - if your designer works on it all at once, you may be able to negotiate a package deal on pricing. If you leave something off the list and need it later, you may end up paying more.
• Calculate, and stick to, your budget. While hiring a designer is always a good investment, it can be expensive. Figure out how much you can set aside for working on your brand. When you get a quote from your designer, and it's higher than you were hoping, be upfront about your budget. If you work together, you may find a price solution that's fair to both of you. It may also help to identify what items from your collateral list are not a priority. Understand your copyright agreement for the work they're doing - you may be able to use their elements to make some items yourself.
• Find your benchmarks. Are there any brands that you aspire to or feel have a similar style as your own? If you have examples - and the more, the merrier - that will definitely help guide your designer. Visual direction is just as important as verbal, and if they get a sense of what you're looking for through image, you'll start off closer to what you want.
• Don't be afraid to come bearing design "gifts". If you have a pretty strong idea of a color direction and a font choice, definitely bring that up when you start speaking with your designer. If you have a color or font sample to provide, do so. Remember that it's important to leave the designer open to exploration, however - they may end up finding a solution different from yours that you may like better!

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try This at Home with Maddy: BUILDING A (GREENER) BUSINESS- A Little Goes a Long Way

No April Fool's jokes here - going more eco-friendly is a huge trend as we become more and more aware of the effects of our day to day lives on the environment and our resources. When it comes to going greener, I take the stance that a little goes a long way - it's better to make slight changes to your routine than go all out.

Why's that, you ask? Well, I consider myself a pretty average person, and when I look back at all of my New Year's resolutions - the ones that I've kept are ones that don't alter my lifestyle drastically, but in steps. If everyone suddenly dropped what they were doing and were more aware of their consumption, that would be great - but it's not going to happen, and I'll admit I'd be one of those who wouldn't be able to keep it up. If everyone changed one or two things in their routine, however, that could add up to a huge impact. Think about a common daily commuter, for example. if we have John Doe traveling roughly thirty miles one way and he's driving a car with average consumption, but he opted to take public transportation to work instead, he'd save nearly 14 gallons of gas per week. Blow that number out to the whole year, and you get over 700 gallons of fuel saved. If John Doe did nothing else, he'd still make a huge impact, and it's a change he can most likely commit to because it's not altering his routine drastically.

It can be hard to think of little changes you can make in your personal life since it's such a case by case basis, but it's even harder when you think of what changes you can make in your business - especially if you've been at it for a while. Efficiency comes with knowing your process and streamlining it, and changing your routine to become more resource and environment conscious can slow you down. Never fear, Maddy is here: I've created a list of ideas that you can adopt that are not process-intrusive but can still go green.

• If you use a letterpress machine, clean it with baby oil rather than mineral spirits or other standard chemicals. It's true, it works! When I purchased my machine, I was concerned about using chemicals. They're bad for the environment, and bad for you - not to mention extremely flammable and dangerous. It also didn't fit in with my eco-friendly hopes for my press company. The man who sold me my Craftsman Imperial had been a printer for 60+ years and had the same environmental and safety concerns I had, and showed me this nifty trick. The baby oil cleaned it perfectly, and better yet - the whole press was oiled at the same time! Killing two birds with one stone, eh?
• Request digital receipts rather than paper where possible. If your bank or some of your suppliers offer you the option of a PDF receipt, take it to save paper. Make sure you purchase an external hard drive (I recommend LaCie) to back up your receipts, though!
• If you work with paper, look for "tree free" cotton paper or recycled papers. I prefer cotton papers since they're from a renewable resource. You should always order paper samples first - some cotton papers, if they're not prepared properly, can feel tough rather than soft. Crane's Lettra, which was designed for letterpress but can handle multiple printing processes extremely well, is an ideal cotton paper.
• Work close to home. If you need a studio and can't work in your home space, find a location close to where you live so you can more easily take public transportation or use less gas.
• Streamline your packaging. Take a look at what you're putting your products in. If you're selling a travel tin candle, does it really need an additional branded box around it, or could you brand the tin itself with a round label? This will cut down on your costs as well as your consumption - a win-win situation!
• Fabric can be recycled, too. This site lists a few places that will buy up fabric scraps for recycling if you can't find different projects to use your leftovers on. Also, consider starting a "scrap swap" with friends or local crafters to trade leftovers so each of you can be inspired and can create without spending more out of your pockets!
• Sell any leftover supplies at a Salvation Army or similar store. If you can't use it, somebody will want it - don't throw it out! Do a charitable thing while avoiding waste - you can probably also get a tax write off for it.
• Take an unconventional look at what "recycled materials" means. You know the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure?" Hop around garage sales and estate sales for unexpected, unique materials that might otherwise be thrown out. Fabulous curtains from the 1950s? There's a lot of heavy duty fabric right there! Old silverware or dusty jewelry? Re-purpose the metal or break apart the jewelry elements to make a new piece.

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: PROJECT- Seed Packets (Part Two)

Better late than never, right? Here are two pre-designed seed packets to use for your personal use. I am retaining the copyright on the patterns themselves, so please do not use them for any commercial purposes!

You'll notice these PDFs do not contain the dotted fold lines - check Part One for the master dieline and folding instructions which apply to this one. Enjoy!

Download the Green Flowering Vines pattern or the Red and Aqua Flower Pattern - or both!

Have fun!

-Maddy

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- Selling on Etsy for Dummies

Note from Maddy: Hi guys, unfortunately the past few day's I've had to bring work home from my full time so I haven't been able to take a crack at the pre-designed seed packets. I hope to get those for you on Thursday, but in the meantime - here's what was programmed for that day! Sorry about the switcheroo. Love, M.

There's a lot of questions on everyone's minds about how to take the plunge... and start an Etsy shop! There's a wealth of information out there, you just need to know where to look. For now, it's right here - a mini directory of great articles and discussion threads of some of the most frequently asked questions.

GETTING STARTED

Picking Your Etsy Name (at Piddix's Guide)
Startup Tips for Newbies (at Craftster)
What Makes a Good Description? (at Craftster)
Easy Ways to Photograph Small Items (at Piddix's Guide)

GETTING YOUR FIRST SALE, THEN GETTING MORE

How Long Do I Have to Wait for My First Sale? (at Piddix's Guide)
When is the Best Time to List on Etsy? (at Piddix's Guide)
Tips for Selling More on Etsy (at Piddix's Guide)

GOOD TO KNOW

Buyer Turnoffs (at Craftster)
Buyer Turnons (at Craftster)

Here's some of my favorite advice that I've kept as a text file on my computer over the past few months (yes, I know, may sound a little lame but it's worth it). Big thanks to my mom for her expertise in EBay that's also applicable to Etsy!:

• List as frequently as you can so you'll always have something for a person to click through to in the first several pages of your category.
• Always use Flat Shipping boxes if you're sending things to Alaska or Hawaii.
• Always use Delivery Confirmation on packages, period. You can skip the cost of it if you print out the shipping label through the USPS Site and then bring it to the Post Office rather than waiting in line.
• Overseas rates are reduced through the USPS site, as well. Direct from the site: "You'll receive a 10% online discount on Global Express Guaranteed, and 8% discount for Express Mail International, or a 5% discount on Priority Mail International shipments when printing and paying for postage online using Click-N-Ship®!"
• Try unconventional marketing. While actual internet ads are always fantastic means of driving hits to your store, consider supplementing it with profiles on networking spaces like MySpace, Indiepublic, and Facebook. Blogging and exchanging links are also great alternative marketing strategies. It may seem a little more obvious, but many people also forget that local Etsy Street Teams and groups related around crafting or your specific business are a great way to get your name out there.

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: PROJECT- Seed Packets (Part One)

It's the day I look forward to every year - the first day of Spring! (Sorry, Southern Hemisphere folk.) Ever since I moved to Minneapolis, it's become even more overwhelmingly happy experience because severe winters make you appreciate this day even more.

In celebration, I've got part one of a project for you: custom Seed Packets! They're great for favors or gifts if you chose to harvest seeds from your garden this year or use them to store seeds for next year. First thing's first - download the dieline.

When you've got the image downloaded, you'll open it up to see the above layout, just without the numbers. The numbers represent the following panels: (1) the principal display panel, otherwise known as the front; (2) the back panel; (3) the top flap; (4) the bottom flap; (5) the side flap. Dotted lines are fold lines; solid lines are cut lines. You can customize the template with your own art in two ways: you can either print it out and draw directly on the reverse surface of the paper (you don't want to draw on the side with the fold and cut marks), or you can add art to the digital file and print that out. To edit this file, you can either import the PDF into Photoshop or Illustrator (or similar programs) and apply art directly over the template.

When your packet is finished and you've cut it out, fold the back panel (#2) up towards the front panel as dictated by the dotted line, and put pressure on the crease with your finger (make sure your hands are clean first!) or a bone folder. Repeat with panels 3, 4, and 5, folding once again toward the primary panel.

Prepare panels 4 and 5 with a glue stick or strong double stick tape. Try to avoid using liquid glue, especially on thinner paper stocks, as this introduction of moisture can warp the paper and could keep your seeds from staying dry in storage. With panel 2 folded over panel 1, press down panel 5 (the side panel) down first to create the primary packet shape. Press panel 4 down next - by putting this one down second, it helps reinforce the structure created by joining panel 5 to panel 2. Set aside your packets to dry - it's best to try to keep them as flat as possible while they dry, so find a book or weight if possible to place on top of them.

When you're ready to use them, place the seeds into the packet and apply glue stick or double stick tape to panel 3, and press down towards the packet's body to seal closed. Store in a cool, dry place.

On Tuesday in Part Two: Pre-Designed Templates and Photo Instructions!

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: LESSONS LEARNED- Setting Goals

As some of you may know, I'm in the process of starting up a letterpress stationery line. Since a large number of you have already commented saying these articles have helped you in your own pursuits or have inspired you to consider going out on your own. I thought it would help for me to share what I've been going through getting prepared. This first installment is about the all-important goal list.

I admit it: if I don't have a deadline, I procrastinate. It wasn't a problem in school, and clearly isn't a problem at work - but when it's just me, with no one to answer to but myself, I'm certainly slower. Either it's one of the kitties being cute, or something good on TV, or the laundry has to get done. Suddenly, the day is gone and I've gotten nothing done. I know I'm not the only one who is like this, and if you don't set goals for yourself without real time lines, you may find that your dreams of your own small business will be pushed back indefinitely into the future.

Sit down and write a list of important milestones in getting yourself off the ground. If you can't get started without doing it, put it on the list - including acquiring a EIN, buying supplies, and attaining any necessary licenses. When you've got a completed list of "to dos", number them according to where in the time line they belong. For example, if you can't start purchasing supplies without a business bank account, opening a bank account would clearly come earlier in your numbering. With your numbering complete, group your goals by what's achievable at the same time, then assign due dates to each group. Make sure they are achievable in the time period you're allowing between groups, but you don't want to give yourself too much time either.

Here's a simplified version of the one I made for myself when preparing for my opening:

February 15
- complete designs
- acquire press, Boxcar Base, registration quoins
- have FEIN and Minnesota EIN
- have a valid DBA (Assumed Name)

End of February
- have a business bank account
- order inks, paper
- order and set up Quickbooks
- begin printing
- research advertising

March Week 3
- register website
- design website

End of April/May Week 1
- website up
- advertise

Realistically, you're going to run behind because of things that are out of your control. I'm currently two weeks behind for reasons that are out of my hands. The only thing you have to do in cases such as these is take a deep breath and take another look at your timing. If you want to keep your launch date, are there any areas where you may have overestimated how much time you'll need for it? Add that to whatever group of goals is held up.

-Maddy

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: GET INSPIRED- Updating the Craft Circle

[ photo by Maddy ]

If the idea of craft circles inspires you to think of your Grandma and her nearest and dearest and, say, a hundred balls of yarn, you're not alone. Having a creative full time job while also seeking out others, who like me enjoy creating outside of the office, made me think: if the "make it / make it mine" attitude is becoming such a huge culture trend now, can't we redefine the idea of the craft circle?

Certainly Etsy is helping to change the face of crafting from the ground up. With more buyers and sellers registering daily, I can't help but think of the new "craft circle" as a tool for the crafter that works similarly to the group critique of a fine artist. It's an opportunity to explore ways to improve your work and bounce ideas off of each other while in a relaxed social atmosphere. Why not bite the bullet and ask some creative buddies over for some relaxing arts and crafts time?

Here are some ideas for starting your own group:

• Meet weekly or biweekly. To keep it fair, rotate houses or apartments so one person isn't always playing host.
• Keep it social. Even if you're crafting for business, it's a great opportunity to take some time out and make new friends and get to know old friends better. Try crafting over some snacks and a movie (and I know Zodiac is awesome, but try to keep the visuals on the cheery side! Freaked out crafters equals more room for unhappy accidents).
• Share ideas and resources. Try a "supply bucket" that you can all chip in for to keep your mutual costs down - it could contain anything from PVA glue to scissors to wire cutters.
• If you don't sell through the same Etsy store, find another webspace where you can come together as a group to display all of your work and link to it on your Etsy profiles. This will get you the most cross-advertising for yourself and your other circle friends, as well as enhance the community vibe.
• Why not swap? Try exchanging creations every month or two to let everyone have little keepsakes of your time together. It's also great inspiration and motivation for each individual member to work in between craft circles.
• If you get any supply catalogs in the mail, bring them to a circle! You never know who might benefit from it, regardless of whether or not they work in a similar field or medium as you.

See you next week!

-Maddy

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- The Price is... Right?

Photo/necklace by Maddy

[ This necklace I made for myself was a guinea pig for price formula testing. From different formulas, it would be worth anywhere from $10 (too low) to $40 (too high!). It's all in finding what's good for you and your product and sticking to it - it might take time to find the right formula, but it's worth it! ]

Probably the most frequently asked question I see when going on Craft Community boards is the question of how to price items for wholesale and retail. I've never found comparison pricing particularly effective; one can look to certain areas of Etsy where that method has created an environment where products seem underpriced which gives new businesses with a fair profit margin a hard time competitively and also makes prospective buyers sometimes think that the quality is just as cheap as the price (whether or not it may be!). After hundreds of browser bookmarks and notes to myself in my "business plan" binder, along with hours of calculating out different formulas to see which really works the best the most consistently, I've come to realize there is no definitive answer. It's a matter of personal preference (which sort of puts all of us back at square one, eh?).

I guess my point in this preface is that this post is not meant to provide you with the Golden Rule for your pricing, but give you some options for formulas I've accumulated over the past months. Since this all comes from a notebook I've kept but (silly me!) did not attribute to anyone in particular, I'm not sure where I found these specifically; however, in my experience, the following formulas are generally commonplace and only differ in the wording rather than the core math itself.

When you're ready to test these formulas, my suggestion is you set aside some time to actually start producing the product in question. Carefully time yourself and determine how long it takes to make one item (if it's something like candles or soap, which is generally made in quantity, divide the time it takes to make the batch by how many were in the batch). I generally find that charging about $8-10 an hour for labor usually creates a fair price range for most products; if more skill is involved than your average craft (say, glassblowing, for example) you should knock the labor rate up a bit. Itemize exactly how much of all your supplies you used and determine how much money you personally spent making the product to the penny. If you have your own domain name, use overhead to account for your hosting fees and registration fees, as well as any other paid fees you have. If you use Etsy and PayPal, use overhead to account for what you pay there. Make sure you write down all those monetary values, then plug them in to the different formulas. Whichever one comes out with the price you think is the most reasonable should be tested again with another product. If it still comes out with a reasonable price, you've found yourself a winner!

The Basic Retail Formula

Supply Cost + Labor + Overhead + Desired Profit = Retail Price   or   Supply Cost + Labor + Overhead + (Desired Profit x 1.5) = Retail Consignment Price

Assuming you have no intention to sell wholesale, or you only plan on selling consignment, this formula is pretty basic and can get everyone started quickly. Note the base formula as well as the consignment formula. The consignment formula adjusts slightly higher to compensate for the normally 40% fee taken by consignment shops, giving you a similar profit to what you would normally make. Don't feel frightened to do this, or to adjust slightly off of the consigment formula - the high volume of traffic and shoppers usually generated by consignment shops makes slightly higher prices justified.

The Basic Wholesale to Retail Conversion

Supplies + Labor + Overhead + Desired Profit = Wholesale Price
Wholesale Price x 2 = Retail Price

This one isn't that much more complicated. If you're looking to build a price with a wholesale base in mind, it's always good to consider what you're willing to sell your product to resellers for while still making the sales worth your while. You may decide to go for less money on the wholesale side simply to get your name out, or more because of the time and love put in. Whichever end you choose, plug it into the "Desired Profit", and you've got yourself a wholesale number.

It's important to also note here that while doubling wholesale is a generally accepted method of getting a retail price, I've also seen some multiply by 1.5 and 1.75, depending on the product. Just make sure to give enough markup room for your wholesale accounts!

The Fixed Wholesale to Retail Conversion

(Supplies + Labor + Overhead) x 2.25 = Wholesale Price
Wholesale Price x 2 = Retail Price

Instead of assigning an arbitrary profit amount to the item in question, this gives a fixed margin and can be applied to multiple items without having to toil over what you consider to be "fair". Like the previous formula, your wholesale can be multiplied by either 1.5 or 1.75 to suit your business.

Other Formulas and Discussions
Pricing Your Craft (Craftster)
Wholesale/Consignment Pricing (Craftster)
Craftster Business FAQ: How Do I Price My Items? (Craftster)
An Underselling Discussion (Craftster)
Professional Pricing for Craftspeople (Etsy Wiki)

-Maddy

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- What's In a Name?

When you're first starting out, one of the most exciting parts (at least for me) is choosing the name you'll be working with. With the introduction of the internet, people are competing across the country as well as around the world, and finding a unique, memorable name is more important than ever. You also want to ensure you're not violating any trademarks (eek!). Here's how to find that perfect name.

1. Make a list. It seems obvious, but this step is an important one. Make sure it's written or typed, not just in your memory. Number or arrange them by your name preference so you can check the ones you're attached to first.
2. Check with the Trademark Office. Free trademark searches can be done here with the United States Government. If you live outside the states, check your government's website for more information on trademark searches. If your preferred name comes back with a trademark result, never fear! Inspect the entry more closely, and check to see the industry the trademark is effective in. If the name is trademarked for, say, medical supplies and you're making quilts, you're probably in the green. It's always good to come back to this page later to trademark your name. In the United States, you'll want a Utility Filing for a logo/logotype or drawing, or Design Filing for an invention or product design. It's not as expensive as people would expect - and the USPTO offers reduced filing fees for small entities (individuals and small businesses, which I'm sure the vast majority of you are!). Remember, you do not need to register with the USPTO to use the ™ symbol, but the ® symbol can not be used without a completed filing.
3. Check with a Whois. A what? A Whois search engine is a program that lets you check various domain names to see if they're available. Check out the domains you'd consider getting - if your business has multiple words in its name, check it without spaces (likethis.com/net/org) and with dashes (like-this.com/net/org). Take a look at the domains that are registered with that name, if there are any. What's on their website? You don't want people confusing your business with another, so if your business is too similar, or if the other website could be considered offensive in any way, either change your prospective URL or move down the list and start testing another name.
4. Check with Etsy. The easiest way to find out if another indie designer is using your name is to check Etsy. You can search by user name, and you can return more user names similar to yours that you might miss otherwise by typing in a keyword rather than the whole name. For example, if I were to start up business using Try This at Home as my business name and trythisathome as my Etsy name, I could opt to key in "home" and see what pops up. If nothing appears similar to what you're hoping for, you're golden.
5. Google it. Sear with and without quotation marks around your name - otherwise, enough said!
6. Check indie networking sites, blogs, and directories. They almost always come with a search engine, so hit these sites too for results that may hit the bottom of the barrel with major search engines.
7. Check with State and Local government. Now that you've done all you can online, it's time to get out of the house and make sure nobody is operating in your city or state with the same name. After all, not everyone is operating online yet, and you wouldn't want to settle on a name and start producing business cards, packaging, and other promotional pieces only to find out later a mom and pop shop about 30 minutes away is preventing you from using that name when filing for a business license. All it takes is a quick trip to City Hall - clerks there should be able to do a search for you.

I hope this was informative and helpful. If you have any more questions, I'd be happy to help you in any way I can - just let me know. Happy Name Hunting!

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- Build a Better Website

I admit it - I'm a very picky web browser. As a blogger I search many sites each week, looking for great new product, and I confess that I could easily be missing a lot of great stuff simply because of my internet prejudices. I'm sure in a lot of respects I'm a pretty basic Internet user - I'd say you have about 5 seconds to capture my interest, and if it's busy or cluttered, you can pretty much count on me closing the window before I get further into the site. It sounds harsh, but it's the truth - and I know I'm not the only one.

Think about it: your web presence is a huge part of what your professional appearance is. If it looks sloppy or put together with little thought or effort, how does that reflect on your brand in your customers' eyes? There are lots of "website faux pas" that are done every day, and once you recognize them and address them, people will take your company more seriously.

1. Don't use a free server. Seeing banner ads or pop ups on a business websites is frustrating to the user and doesn't give you a professional appearance. This applies to text ads like Google's AdSense. If you can't afford professional hosting services, you should be selling on a place like Etsy or Mintd before upgrading to your own site - with the extra hit potential generated by those kinds of sites, it's probably better for smaller or beginning operations anyway.
2. If you don't have web experience, hire a professional. While I love the do-it-yourself spirit of the crafters who make the great products I see every day, I get concerned when I see websites that don't demonstrate the level of craftsmanship I know so many of you are capable of. The web is a scary medium - if you don't know how to use it to the best of its ability, you run the risk of looking less professional than you actually are. Hire someone to program and design it, or if you can't necessarily pay them a huge amount, either purchase a site template from a designer or negotiate a barter system. Aeolidia offers web design services as well as really attractive prefab designs that can be easily customized to suit your needs.
3. Don't use blink or marquee tags, or use a large block of h1, h2, or other headline text. Blink and marquee tags don't work on all browsers and often slow down your load and scrolling time because it takes a computer longer to process it. Headline tags should be used sparingly - like its name, it's really supposed to be reserved for, well, headlines! If you use an entire paragraph of headline text, it's incredibly difficult for the reader to understand what call outs you're trying to prioritize. If it's kept as a navigational device to bring the reader into different sections, it's a lot more legible, and you'll have an easier time of bringing people into the information you're trying to hand them. Avoiding use of these three no-no's in internet typography will make your site seem a lot more mature.
4. Try to keep your typefaces down to three, maximum. This is probably my biggest pet peeve, and the mistake I see being used the most often. A lot of sites use a huge variety of different typefaces and try call out different product styles or categories by doing it, but it only makes the whole site a LOT more confusing. Your whole site should boil down to no more than three typefaces ("fonts"): your Internet-standard text font (Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, Century Gothic, Trebuchet MS, Tahoma) and up to two "brand fonts". Brand fonts are those that fit in with your company - you may use them in your logo or on your packaging. If you can reduce it down to one font (not including your logo), then that's even better! Try to avoid script faces in this area as they are often hard to read, especially as they get smaller. I find that san serifs work the best for me on the web - Try This at Home's blog was a good example, which utilized the typeface Gotham by Hoefler & Frere-Jones.
5. White space is your friend. Just because there's still room in your layout doesn't mean you need to fill it. White space is a great design element that helps even the busiest of layouts breath and look less "all over the place". White space, of course, doesn't need to be "white"; here the word refers more to "empty" than to a fixed light value. Of all sites, I think Wild Garden does a phenomenal job respecting their white space. The right panel has a lot of room to breathe, and the large detail images of their shirts, which rotate on each refresh, are all photographed on a white background to help give the feeling of even more white space. This could work also with a colored background - I would just advise that whatever color you photograph on matches the intended background of the rest of the site.
6. Sketch out a clear and concise way to organize your information before you get started, and always consider how YOU would use the site if you were just a visitor, not the owner. The most successful sites I've been to have a logical way of moving around their logo, their navigation, their news, and their features while still giving each area its own clearly defined space to live in, room to breathe, and an appropriate level of hierarchy. In this area, I have a lot of respect for what Freshly Blended Press is doing with their site. Their masthead is clearly defined from the rest of the site by the choice of a color (chocolate brown) which clearly contrasts from the background of the rest of the site (white); it also cleanly goes across the whole page rather than only a portion of it, making the separation more pronounced and attractive. The navigation is basic and logically placed; the faint pattern behind it is not busy or contrasted enough to distract the browser while using it. The page's content is clearly sectioned off with a lot of white space; photos, dotted rules and large dated numbers are used to help break up the areas into highly legible sections. Font size changes between the feature area and the updates help establish a hierarchy and draw you to the feature area first; the type size change gives a good range of font sizes while not being too small or too large.

Remember - having a clean, professional website does not mean it has to be devoid of personality. After all, sites like Modish: Handmade Goods and Design Sponge have a lot of it, but they're still user-friendly. The principles behind better websites are more than that - is it easy to use and legible? Is it logical? Can your visitors understand it? Does it look to visually busy or is it effectively organized? If I was a customer, could I use this site the first time I came to it?

It may be hard to answer those questions objectively if you've made it. If you find that you're not sure if you can be honest with yourself about them, I encourage you to have people test and critique it. For the most accurate feedback, try to keep it outside our circle of friends and family as much as possible - you don't want them to soften any problems or reservations they have about it to avoid possibly hurting your feelings.

-Maddy

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- Taking Better Pictures

{Family Reunion photo by Artsy}

If you ask a lot of indie business owners, one of the most daunting tasks in getting set up is taking the ever-important product photograph. Especially on sites such as Etsy, where your product really is in a sea of competing items, you need to take great photos to capture the attention of the browser. They better they look and the more they pop, the more likely you'll get the click - and of course, the more clicks, the better the chance at the sale!

While getting a professional to take photos for you can be a great option, most businesses realistically don't have the budget for it - at the same time, nobody wants their sales to suffer because the images on their store front don't accurately reflect the commitment and pride they have for their product. So what's a small business owner to do? Start by making small changes to how you take your photos! You'd be surprised by how the tiniest detail can really make or break your photos. Here are some tips:

1. Find and get to know your camera. Most people are using digital cameras these days. If you're doing product photography, you'll probably want a Digital SLR rather than your standard point and shoot digital. A digital SLR (single lens reflex) functions like a standard film camera. You can adjust the aperture and focus point, unlike its point and shoot counterpart, which tends to have a flat focus. Always try it out before you buy it, because like any other tool an artist uses, you'll find cameras you're more comfortable with. If a DSLR is out of your price range, don't worry about using a point and click for now - you can always upgrade later, or you can simply use a film camera and ask for a CD back rather than prints (though that might be a hassle). I personally use a DSLR and would never use a point and shoot again; my weapon of choice is a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT - you can find refurbished models on EBay for very reasonable prices. I bought mine online from Cameta Camera's EBay Store - I knew the brick and mortar shop since I had lived in the area at the time and knew its reputation; I highly recommend them. When you've purchased your camera, you should make it a point to set time aside to read the manual and experiment - take a couple of shots on different settings and see what you like. I highly recommend using the Macro mode on your camera for anything small, such as jewelry - you'll get very tight, graphic close-ups on details that translate very well into feature photos (remember you should also pull back to see the whole piece in alternate shots so the customer can also have a sense of scale).
2. Use natural light, or white light. I find the best shots for most objects is natural light. Don't use direct light; aim to shoot in partial shade, during a partly cloudy day, or in the morning or late afternoon. If you can't time it perfectly or weather conditions aren't ideal for shooting, turn off the lights in your room and shoot near a window that does not have direct light coming into it. If, for whatever reason, you don't have enough light or are shooting at night, you have to be very careful about shooting with household light. NEVER USE YOUR CAMERA'S FLASH - it will wash out and flatten your product, which is not very flattering. I highly recommend investing in some GE Reveal bulbs - they shine bright white so there is less of a color cast to your product. Another incredibly useful purchase (in my opinion) is either one or a couple Medusa-head lamps like this one from Target - you can adjust your light sources as well as how much is coming into the shot quite easily, rather than using a bunch of various lamps. If you do purchase a Medusa, however, make sure the plastic lamp shades around the bulb are either WHITE or BLACK, which will filter light cleanly - otherwise you will get color casting.
3. Simplify your backgrounds. A lot of times I see people shooting stuff on very busy backgrounds or environments, but I think the most successful feature shots are more graphic and are really about the product. For smaller items, solid color paper, flat table cloths or pillow cases, or wood surfaces (minor distressing is okay) are often best. Try to avoid busy patterns (if you prefer patterns, think small polka dots or simple stripes); you can make solid colors more interesting by having an interesting texture to the fabric or a pretty tooth to the paper. If you need a shot illustrating the product in your environment, simplify the space as much as possible, and use the environment photo as an alternate rather than the main picture. Most importantly, choose colors that make your product pop the most - if you're mostly metal or neutral colors, head towards bright, poppy colors. Really nice mushroom grays or warm neutrals work beautifully and look sophisticated against brighter colors or jewelry with colorful accent stones.
4. Prop simply and smartly. In the industry, professional photographers have specialized assistants known as stylists that add non-product objects to the shot to help illustrate product use, ingredients or fragrance, or help define the brand and quality level. If you choose to style your product, you need to remember to not go overboard! Keep props small and subtle in relation to the product - after all, you're not selling the props! Also consider what tone it gives the overall photograph. For example, if you have a sophisticated line of bath and body products and are shooting a lavender scented bar of soap, consider propping it with some dried lavender plants on a clean white soap dish? On the other hand, if your bath and body line was more quirky and fun, perhaps a small bath toy, like a mini rubber duck, might be right for your brand.

If you're an Etsy user, keep in mind the site will end up cropping your photos into a square when it's the feature photo - you will want to compose your photos with that in mind. If you've used natural light, I'd generally discourage bringing your photos into Photoshop unless there is color correcting that needs to be done - for example, if you have a color cast. Slight adjusting may be needed in Levels if you've used indoor lighting, which may have flattened out your product.

Good luck, and happy photo taking!

- Maddy

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- So You Want to Make Bath and Body Products

For most folks, there's nothing better than a wonderful warm, relaxing bath. For the creative, there's always an added bonus knowing you made the soap. Or the bubbles and bath salts. Heck, you even made the lotion you're going to use after you come out! Does that sound like it should be you? Here's the goods to get you into crafting Bath and Body product.

{photo by mi*2}

Suppliers - Multiple Bath & Body Areas
Bramble Berry: supplies for making soap, lip balm, lotions, bath salts, and more. Includes molds, colorant, exfoliants, fragrances, and more. Just starting out and don't know what to do? They also offer kits.

Wellington Fragrance Company: despite their name, Wellington stocks various bases (including body gel, liquid hand soap, bubble bath, lotion, shampoo and conditioner bases), molds, flavor oils, and salts. Not surprisingly, they also stock fragrances (what a shock!).

Save on Scents: I love these guys. While they carry primarily fragrance oils (their selection is great, they've started to expand their collection to packaging (vials, bottles, roll-ons, and more), melt and pour soap bases, colorants, and a variety of other bases including shower gel, lip balm, scrub, lotion, and other various bases.

Sweet Cakes: if you're looking into bath and body as a business opportunity, Sweet Cakes offers bulk supplies for melt and pour soap, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion bases. They also supply packaging, lip balm bases and flavor oils, and a wide variety of fragrance and essential oils. Want to test out the scents? They also offer themed 1 ounce fragrance sampler packs.

Wholesale Supplies Plus: offering molds, fragrances, various bases, and packaging, WSP has a good selection that covers all of bath and body crafting. There's a particularly good selection of melt and pour bases to suit anyone's personal preference.

Suppliers - Soapmaking Exclusive
Creation Herbal: offering essential oils and soapmaking ingredients, Creation Herbal also offers organic alternatives for those crafting for that market. If you're interested in doing a more advanced soapmaking process than simple melt and pour, they have beginner recipe kits complete with all necessary ingredients and a step-by-step book to help you through it.

Suppliers - Fragrance Exclusive
Scent It: various fragrance oils available in various sizes, including sample sizes if you'd like to experiment before you buy a bulk size.

Suppliers - Packaging Exclusive
SKS Bottle: a really, really great variety of packaging options for bath and body products. I've used them before while I was in school developing a fictitious bath and body line for a packaging class - and I'd use them again.

Books - Soapmaking
The Soapmaker's Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch: featuring recipes and techniques, this book helps inspire new ways of making your soaps unique. Probably the best feature of all, Cavitch also offers insight on soapmaking for profit, including the hardest part for all of us - understanding the government's rules and requirements!

The Natural Soap Book by Susan Miller Cavitch: also by Ms. Cavitch, this book features soap recipes in the cold process method using all-natural ingredients. In addition to the recipes, Cavitch also discusses ideas for creative packaging and presentation.

Soapmaking for Fun and Profit by Maria Nerius: geared slightly more towards the business side of soapmaking, including pricing and marketing, it also addresses how to develop recipes and setting up a workspace.

Melt and Pour Soapmaking by Marie Browning: through great imagery and easy to follow directions, this book will help you make your melt and pour soaps even more unique with discussions on fragrance, additives, colorants, embossing, embedding and more. Though the title would suggest it's only a book about melt and pour, there are also recipes included on hand milled soaps, bath salts, bubble baths, massage oils, and bath powders.

Making Natural Liquid Soaps by Catherine Failor: in addition to all-natural recipes for shampoos, bath and shower gels, and bubble baths, this book gives insight into the chemistry behind bath and body product, and how to use different hard fats and soft oils to the best advantage. There's also information included about how to formulate your own blends, and addresses basic techniques that everyone can follow.

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- So You Want to Paper Craft

Hey, it's what I went to school for! Well, sort of, but it ended up being a large part of my education. Paper arts is one of those craft categories where you can pick a project that's either really, really cheap - or really, really expensive. The best examples would probably be simple card crafting on the cheap end, and bookmaking on the "wait until your next couple of paychecks" end, but both are fun and rewarding. For a paper geek like me, it gets my heart racing. Here are some supply sites and general resources on the web I find to be really helpful. I can't offer you any tutorials on the web because I still haven't found any that I like which illustrate and explain it well for beginners; I've included some good binding books in place of any web tutorials.
{photos by bird in the hand}

Suppliers - Bookbinding

Talas: they have everything under the sun  for the book arts and are the first company I went to in college for more advanced supplies. They've got a great selection of book cloth to choose from (sample swatch books available for purchase!), and their book selection is definitely worth checking out (a number of them I either own or have read).

Hollander's: I'd heard about these guys recently. Their retail storefront is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but they also sell their supplies online. If you're a beginner, they have large variety of text blocks already sewn and finished so you don't have to worry about the sometimes frustrating steps of gluing your signatures. All you have to do is add your endpapers and attach to your covers!

Suppliers - General Paper Crafts

Gocco on EBay: This little machine is super fun to use. It's an investment, but it's definitely something any serious paper geek should have.

Making Memories: Despite the fact Making Memories is traditionally seen as a scrapbooking supplies vendor, their assortment is really great to look at for card making, shadowboxing, and other crafts. I love their fabric tapes which are really handy when making books to finish off the bound edge in a professional - but colorful! - way.

Impress Rubber Stamps: In my opinion, the best, most trend-forward assortment of rubber stamps, period.

Paper Mojo: I could stare at their Contemporary Prints section all day. They've got all sorts of awesome papers to choose from, from patterned to lace to tissue.

Martha Stewart Crafts: whatever, I'm a sucker. Really beautiful ribbon, paper, punches, embellishments, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Kraft Outlet: I love brown kraft paper. I'm not sure what it is about it, but it's awesome. Kraft Outlet has a whole bunch of nifty things for packaging, stationery and other various paper-based projects in sweet, sweet kraft.

Creative Paper Crafts: I found some pretty cute rubber stamps here. They've got supplies for a variety of crafting techniques including origami, embossing, and quilling, as well as scrapbooking supplies.

Resources and Information -  Letterpress

Don Black's First Press Suggestions: want to get into letterpress but you don't know which machine to start with? Here's a good page to get your started.

Briarpress: the letterpress printer's haven. Whether printing is new to you or you're been doing it for a while, there's something for everyone, including classifieds (need a printer?), help forums, and workshop / class announcements.

David Rose's Introduction to Letterpress Printing: really resource for information about the history of letterpress, printing manuals, equipment, and supplies.

Resources and Information -  General Paper Crafts

Martha Stewart Crafts Projects: if you're doing paper crafts, might as well go the patron saint of all things (somewhat) crafty, Martha. There are actually a bunch of really cute projects here that can really  inspire new ideas and don't necessarily utilize her product. It's well explained and illustrated, too - heck, I used to design and create place cards for a living (worked at an invitation store), but I'm not sure I could have explained the process of pop up place cards better than the way it's described in the Themed Bird Party place card instructions!

Books - Book Binding

Making Books by Hand by Mary McCarthy: I bought this book back in school during my sophomore year, when I was first getting started in bookbinding. It was a really helpful reference on alternative binds or little things I could do while constructing my book to make it special. I'd definitely say it was a worthwhile purchase, especially for a beginner, because of its clear photos and easy to follow, step-by-step instructions.

The Encyclopedia of Papermaking and Bookbinding by Heidi Reimer-Epp: this book really has a bit of everything in the process of making a finished book, from the papermaking process to several varieties of binding. It's well illustrated and explained, so anyone of any skill level in either area can easily pick up the crafts.

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Try this at home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- So You Want to Sew Stuff

The last time I sewed was a long time ago. Once upon a time, I studied fashion design at Parsons School of Design over the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school, only to realize I hated the industry and... well, frankly, didn't have the patience to sew and liked the design half better. I'm sure half of it was that I just wasn't very good at it, even with this super duper high tech machines that are out now. I thought I'd share with you what's around that is getting me excited to hop back into it, and I hope you'll be excited too!

{photo by bitsandbobbins}

Books

In Stitches by Amy Butler: This book is a tasty looking book. Amy Butler in general I think has an amazing taste level for a lot of the accessories patterns she publishes, and I think this book is a testament to that. The only thing that's holding me back from buying this at this very moment is the fact I don't have a sewing machine here in Minneapolis (yet). It's on my list of priority purchases, but I doubt the boyfriend wants a book laying around while I can only use it to appreciate pretty pictures. Sigh.