I’m writing this at 11:30 pm and I have been working for the last 5 days from 7am to midnight most days (7-4 nannying and 4-11pm illustrating) so please excuse me if this post is a little all over the place.

I have bags under my eyes and I am tired, but I’m not complaining. The past week has been an absolute blessing for my business and I am a bit overwhelmed but I am certainly not complaining. I can’t tell you how many times this week I stopped and thought about the times in college I would look at other peoples’ Etsy shops and wish I could do something like that. This is my dream and it is better than I could have ever expected. I just keep reminding myself that being a full-time illustrator is the end goal and it will happen if I continue to work.

As I have mentioned before, one of my main marketing tools for my shop is Instagram and although it may seem like just a social media network to post silly pictures, I assure you, it is not. Instagram is a huge part of my business plan and strategy to get my work out there. This past June when I was reaching out to some illustrators for advice, my all time favorite illustrator, Jamie Lee Reardin, told me to collaborate with people on Instagram who had a lot of followers and ask them to repost. Not until recently, did I feel like I was ready to tackle this. Two of my illustrations were reposted this week. One by an amazingly kind fashion blogger (@saralrash) and the other by a handmade shop called Lemons and Lace. Combined these ladies have around 15,000 followers so that was HUGE for my business to be exposed to all of those potential customers. As exciting as it was, I am incredibly overwhelmed at the same time. I don’t have a business degree and even if I did, I would still be trying to figure all of this out for the same time. With that being said, the handmade community is absolutely amazing and I am so happy to be a part of it! I am meeting creative people across the country through social media everyday and they are so darn supportive of my art.

Update//

::1:: A new favorite of mine. This gal is the first one I did not draw from a picture. I made up this outfit and put her in a Lemons and Lace headband.

::2:: Some fun new packaging for my feather illustration. This is available here in my shop and it comes as a notecard, greeting card and prints in a few sizes. I needed packaging that was a little less girly than all pink everything.

::3:: Participating in my first Coast to Coast Challenge on Instagram. I am obsessed with headbands and headscarves so this one was perfect for me. If you haven’t heard of it search the hashtag #coasttocoastchallenge and you can see what the challenge is that day. It happens every Tuesday and Thursday and it is a really fun thing to join in on. I think I will try to participate in it more often and illustrate some looks too because it was just so fun.

::4:: I have my first art show coming up and I toured the venue this week (which is called the venue…how confusing!!). The show is through RAW Minneapolis. RAW is an organization that showcases “underground” artists and helps them grow their business. I’m so excited to be a part of the show. It is on October 24th from 8-11pm and tickets are $10 online. You can buy tickets through my profile here.

I’m pretty sure this journey is the best darn thing I’ve ever stumbled into. Thanks for following along with me. I appreciate every last bit of support.

xoxo,

Katie