NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
I'm back in the fold again with the Design Bundles Plus program! After finally having some time to review my products and get them categorized properly about half of my original shop is again available to subscribers of Plus. Unfortunately Design Bundles has strict criteria about how much can be offered in a single listing in the Plus section, so many of my products don't qualify. I'll be slowly working on making some adaptions to relist mini selections so that subscribers on the site can access some of my work. If you are not familiar with Design Bundles, check them out!
This month on the blog I'm offering a Dog a Day in freebies. Each day features a group of images for a popular dog breed, all month long! These fun graphics are sized at a big 12" so that you can use them in a wide variety of craft projects, POD products or as just digital papers. Get all the freebies right in your inbox as well as exclusives offers when your subscribe by email. All the details can be found on my blog at www.lovelytocu.ca.
This month I launched a brand new store front on the marketplace platform goimagine. I've been really excited about this newcomer to the world of handmade, because they have an amazing viewpoint about handmade marketplaces that is much more in alignment with the spirit and intention of small artisan business. This is a growing platform that still has some way to go but the future is looking rosy and I have high hopes for them.
This new shop is a brand new product line niche I've been working on this year that is specifically for paper crafters in vintage, junk journaling or scrapbooking. With digital overlays, masks and stamps the first round of products is live and ready to go! Please check it out and give some love to any of the sellers that are pioneering this new handmade space :)
As I settle into my new digs on the Jersey shore there are plenty of changes taking place here on the website as well. If you saw the announcement this summer about my participation in the Design Bundles Plus program, I'm very sad to say that the arrangement didn't work out. DB hadn't thought through some of their communications and policies for the sellers they recently added to the program and unfortunately in the end my product listings didn't meet the requirements for being part of Plus... turns out I offer too many pieces in my listings! So while I have parted ways with DB on the Plus subscription service I am continuing to host my clipart archive there exclusively and have adjusted pricing to reflect competitive changes in the marketplace.
Going forward however, I will be putting all my new products right here on lovelytocu.com! These products will consist of the new direction I am taking as a designer with lots of crafty patterns and textures, more vintage style imagery, and all perfect for paper crafters or digital designers looking to make their own creations to sell.
I am moving house yet again! Another big move for us which is taking place at the end of this month involves a coast to coast journey from California to New Jersey.
Big moves like this are a little bit more work. Our stuff, our car, our dogs, ourselves, all being transported separately. And we'll be in a series of temporary accommodations for a while so disruptions to service may ensue.
If you've known me awhile you'll know this isn't new for me. I started my shop while living in the UK, having moved there from BC Canada. Then I came back to Alberta Canada before moving to the west coast of the USA. So I'm currently in southern California, and while the endless sunshine is delightful it is just too.damn.hot. And while I don't think New Jersey is at the top of anybody's list of places to move to I'm looking forward to green leafy trees and a more familiar landscape from the desert life I've been living.
As part of my re-structuring of the Lovelytocu brand I will be closing down my own web store on this site as of Oct 1 2023. An announcement to this effect went out to my email list in March that the store front would no longer be accessible from late May and this has now taken place. A link to login and access previous purchases will still be available until the end of Sept and multiple reminders will be sent out until then.
This may seem like a strange move when all the advice points to "have your own website" ! But I have been with my current service provider for 10+ years and they simply haven't kept pace with the innovations happening in e-commerce services. Paying for a service that isn't fully functional just doesn't make sense. I will note that to their benefit the cost was kept very low and was very reliable.
I'm instead looking for up front cost saving measures and platforms that can handle the administration of the storefront. Like Design Bundles! It frees up my time for stuff that is a lot more fun to do ;)
Great news! I'm back to posting freebies on my blog! With the advent of AI art generation exploding in popularity I'll be using this medium to create free content for a while as I learn to navigate the technical and practical aspects to newly developing tools. While opinions currently vary considerably on this topic and many people are worried about what it means for the future I believe it's important to know the issues from all sides. Not only am I utilizing the tools to understand how they work but to get a better idea of what they can't do as well as keeping abreast of the conversations regarding copyright and potential regulation. AI will be used across many tech industries and likely we're barely scratching the surface with it yet. Even if you have no interest in this particular work I hope you'll stick around, I'm planning explore many other digital product types in the coming year alongside this!
After 15 years of selling on Etsy via my shop Lovelytocu I am leaving the platform! It's been a long and interesting journey but after much consideration I've made the agonizing decision to move this shop away from the Etsy platform. I've not left Etsy altogether though as my second shop Terrific Templates continues to do well there.
So why the departure? In part, changing trends and increased competition has seen my sales dwindle significantly on Etsy. Instead of re-inventing my shop for Etsy I'm choosing to focus on other projects away from Etsy. The direction the platform has persisted in, and the inability to load larger products onto the site makes other venues far more attractive. Going forward I'm looking to work with sites more dedicated to digital sellers specifically.
That's why I'm happy to announce that all of my past products and new designs to come will be hosted on Design Bundles. With this announcement I'll also add that I will no longer be creating character clipart in what has been my signature style for the past 10 years. Instead I'll be working on all new products. The next year or two will likely be an experimentation phase and I hope you tag along for the journey!
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