1. New, Improved Work Space! I had the urge to purge, and at the end of December I just went with it. Remember the jewel I wrote about stirring up your energy back in 2009? (OK, no?! ha!)

The Chinese have a saying: “If you want a change in your life, move 27 things in your house.”

I easily moved 10 times that. I emptied out my office; had long-overdue plaster repairs completed; repainted the walls and ceiling; purged paperwork and put a LOT of stuff in the yard sale pile; rearranged the furniture; created a new work space since a good friend took the large chaise that she had long admired in my office.

I now have physical and emotional room to think and create more freely. LOVE IT. Try it for yourself!

2. New, Improved Work-Flow! Many of my friends know that to step into my house is to walk into a production zone. At any given time, the dining room table may be covered in cards or bookmarks; the living room might have inventory and displays piled up, ready to be loaded for a show.

Well, NOW our first floor looks as if a couple of normal people live here! I reconfigured what’s stored where: the office purge/rearrangement yielded an opportunity for me to move a working inventory upstairs, and a basement rearrangement allowed me to get the rest of it and my show stuff all down there. Yay!

Our living room is for living; our dining room is for dining…..and the office is for…officing? Ahhhhh…you know what I mean.

End result: more room to work more efficiently, and my downstairs looks pretty again. Woo hoo!

3. New Help and Support! I came to the realization that I cannot do it all by myself. There. I said it!

Confession: I did not arrive at this conclusion alone! Thank you, Chief Butt Kicker and Main Focuser Nancy Giere for coaching me to this epiphany.

I have a full-time job that I love, so a perennial challenge for me is to balance my career with my photography business/passion. Right now, I’m getting in the way of my studio’s growth because there isn’t enough time in the day for me to a) be a rock star in my amazing day job (which, by the way, I totally am) and b) still find time to photograph, figure out what I’m going to put the images on, produce them, sell it all, ship the orders, make sure the bookkeeping is done, etc. etc.

Nancy has helped me tremendously with the concept of “The Power of Subtraction”: creating more time and space by deleting and delegating.

I definitely achieved the “more space” with the office reconfiguration. I am in the process of creating more time for myself by coming to terms with DELEGATING (something I have never ever been good at. Yes. I am a control freak). I have to learn how to delegate effectively in order to grow and get to the next level.

I already have a graphics guru (Tish!) and a fabulous sales person (Debbie!). I realized that if I handed over some of the marketing and PR stuff to an expert AND if I automated more of the bookkeeping/back of the house matters, I could free up more time to do more of what I love.

Joining my Able Stable is the fabulous Nan Johnson of Nan Johnson Public Relations, to help me on the marketing/PR front. As she says, “Why hire in when you can hire out?”  I could have called a thousand other people, but there’s only one Nan. We had the pleasure of working together on a project when I was the marketing director for a large travel management company, and I’ve always hoped we’d have a chance to collaborate together once more. I have some things in the pipeline that need a little spit shine and polish, so we’re taking them on with gusto. And, you know what? If I don’t want to “deal,” I can now say, “Talk to the Nan cuz the Cheryl don’t want to hear it.”

I’m also in the process of streamlining the back of the house/bookkeeping process. If I can give up the 10,000 spreadsheets I currently use to process and track my orders, then I’ll be thrilled. I’m so inefficient right now, it’s a JOKE.

And….a new licensing opportunity has arrived. A former boss and my counsel are helping me get to the next stage in negotiations. I’m thankful for their help!

******
Morals from this lengthy post?

• Figure out what you love to do. Make room so you can do it.
• Figure out what you don’t like to do or in what areas you’re not an expert. Let someone else help you with it.

Click to view slideshow.

Tips:

• Start before it’s pitch black outside. The ambient light fills in the background nicely.
• Tripod: makes a world of difference – if not making these images a possibility
• ISO 100: dial it waaaaaay down
• Aperture: open it waaaaaay up (most of these were f/18)
• Use the self-timer button or a cable release to avoid shaking the heck out of everything

What nutcracker designs?

EXACTLY.

Sheer brilliance from my friend, who happens to also have a great collection of nutcrackers.

Shot some this morning, and here’s a glimpse of some card and holiday tag ideas in the pipeline.

Click to view slideshow.

We’re having fun playing around with captions on the Lucky Ginger Studio Facebook page. Come on over if you have something fun to contribute.

This was my first foray into a double booth space, and I have to say: I really like it.

a) I totally have enough space to spread out and get everything displayed beautifully

b) don’t feel like I am “on top” of clients when they come into the booth

c) people seem more willing to come on in…because it’s not a 10×10 “trap”.

Attendees have been an interesting mix of shoppers who would NEVER miss this show and a healthy-dose of first-timers.

I need to get out tomorrow to walk the floor and see who’s new! Saw a couple new beautiful things (in addition to my line, naturally), and I’m sure that there’s more out there….

No matter whether you’re counting the days (50) or weekends (7) we have until Christmas, the holidays are getting mighty close. Why not a) support a great cause b) avoid the crush of the crowd at the mall c) support some talented local artisans d) attend a swell event where there will be fab food and prizes? Bring a friend!…and bring canned food! For every can you bring, you’ll receive a raffle ticket to enter into our drawing for fabulous gifts.

Follow this link for a list of artisans!

Many of you know that my posit is a camera is just a box with a hole in it and that the best equipment is unavailable for purchase, as it is lodged in your cranium in between your ears. And while you (I) can (have) spent a zillion dollars on equipment, some of the best images just “happen,” and they can happen on really cheap stuff (to wit: my $20 Holga).

That being said…….better equipment can give you more options.

So, here’s to figuring it all out on my new baby. Stay tuned for results.

SAT 11/5 ~ 4p-8:30p
Holiday Show & Sell – to benefit “Feed More”
2320 Castle Hill Road, Midlothian, VA 23113

Chef Tammy Brawley of The Green Kitchen will be cooking up yummy food. Kacy Cosentini will have plenty of wine to pour, and Gary Plotycia will have beer and football out on the deck. A portion of all proceeds will benefit Feed More (supporting the Central Virginia Food Bank, Meals on Wheels and The Community Kitchen). Please invite a friend! Bring a can or bag of food, and receive raffle tickets for the chance to win some wonderful gift baskets.

Local artisans include:

SAT 11/19 ~ 11a-4p
Flying Pig Productions Inaugural Show & Sell
4227 Brook Rd, Richmond, VA 23227 (Ginter Park)

Adore Jewelry: unique, handcrafted designs by talented artisan Kristin Opalka. Please visit www.adorejewelry.net to see her beautiful bling!

Exclusive Illustrations: Personalized watercolor art of homes and animals on commission by Robin Ingles. To see Robin’s portfolio, visit http://exclusiveillustrations.blogspot.com

Fun Of a Kind: Fun and unique gifts & entertainment pieces by Pam Soddu

Marion Elm Designs: Stylish, whimsical, original jewelry, wall art, bell jars, key chains & bookmarks…with a twist by Lynne Cunningham

Round Up Bags: For that “Carytown Look” at Southside prices…Fashion luggage & purses by Margaret Wooldridge

Lucky Ginger Studio: Creative photography-inspired gifts including wall and desk calendars, Christmas cards, bookmarks, sticky holiday gift tags and more…by me! Visit www.luckgingerstudio.com to see what’s new!

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SAT 12/10
12p-4p
Christmas on MacArthur
Sammi’s Grotto
4027 MacArthur Ave, Richmond, VA 23227 (next to Dot’s Back Inn in historic Bellevue)
Great group show. Remember to bring an unwrapped toy if you care to donate to the “Toys for Tots” drive.

Hope to see you soon!

If you do craft shows, trade shows or art exhibits, and you agonize over your display (as I often do), please saunter over to Bruce Baker’s web site. Bruce is a Vermont-based artisan-cum-booth merchandising guru, and he offers great tips and advice to help exhibitors improve their booth design and sales.

I stumbled on Bruce last year, and I spent all of last show season trying to improve my booth’s layout, as I was convinced that getting the most amount of merchandise in the “magic zone” (30″ off the ground and no higher than 65″ or so) would help increase my sales.

I keep a composition book with me at all times when I do shows to put anything from client requests to (rather poorly drawn) sketches for ideas I have relative to new products or display fixtures. I scribbled down my observations about my line, what people were drawn to, and then I presented a pile of torn out pages to (coincidentally-named) Bruce, my uber-talented contractor of choice and asked him to help me get my idea off paper and into reality.

I outlined some of the challenges for my new display idea:

1. It had to be collapsible and portable

2. It had to be reasonably light, since I would be lugging it in and out of shows

3. It had to be sturdy, since pipe and drape do not equal load-bearing surfaces

4. It had to be able to fit in the back of my car AND leave enough room for me to also get in my merchandise

5. It had to be adaptable….both from per-unit configuration stance (e.g. sell out of something? need to be able to re-merchandise it mid-show, possibly with a different shaped item) + from a booth configuration perspective (most booths = 10×10, but you just never know where you’ll end up if you’re doing  a show at someone’s house or if you’re in an abandoned retail space…you could have more or less room!)

Bruce built a prototype……and I “lived” with it for a week with assorted merchandise on it, made my tweaks and then got him to build me several units of my improved version.

This past weekend, I got to “test drive” the new set up. Funnily enough, another exhibitor next to me was trying out a new set up for her line. We both stared at our piles of stuff for awhile before we got going. For those of you on the show circuit, you know what I’m talking about. It’s all a big “puzzle,” whether that pertains to how your display is arranged or how your car gets loaded and unloaded (which is why offered “help” is seldom helpful….I have to get it all in and out in a certain way or order, or my world is ROCKED). The fact that Jana and I were both starting from fresh points meant it took a little more time to get going and get the puzzle pieces together.

At any rate, it got up effortlessly….and once I got it merchandise and we opened for business, it out-performed my greatest expectations. I had amazing sales yesterday.

Click to view slideshow.

Things I love the most about my new set up:

1. Really easy to get in and out of the car

2. Since the car was packed “right,” I was able to unload my tables…then get them draped…and then get the displays on them right away. This freed up a ton of floor space, which is critical to me during set up (again, fellow exhibitors, you know of what I speak. That time when it looks worse before it gets better? When your stuff is not only cast all about your 10×10 space, but it’s spilling out into the aisles and other exhibitors are giving you death glares?!)

3. LOVED being able to hide my empties right under my tables. We’ve all worked those shows where there’s some storage space behind the booth….and then there are the rest of the shows where that space simply does NOT exist. I don’t HAVE to count on it now!

4. Love being grid-wall free. Not that the grid-wall wasn’t good to me in the beginning. Don’t get me wrong. It was. But, my car meant I was restricted to only being able to load 5′ panels in it. I always felt like my booth display was too short; I didn’t have a lot of vertical room to get everything out there…and that stuff is heavy.

5. This display held a TON of cards. I brought a back-up card rack (like I usually do) for card overflow, and you know what? I threw it back in the car. Didn’t need it. Cross THAT off the next packing list. I actually have room to pack more merchandise. Woo hoo!

6. Mid-way through the show, I sold out of some things, so I had to do a little re-merchandising. My movable shelves made that a snap. Got the booth all gussied-up again and sold some more. Good times!

So, that’s my story. I’m really happy with this version of my display. Hope this post was helpful for anyone looking for new display ideas.

She came to one of my shows recently, and she asked about the images I shot of the angels in Hollywood Cemetery years ago. Honestly, I had put them out of my mind. Even though I loved them, the black and white images didn’t really catch on as well as the color work I was doing.

That being said: earlier in the week, my friend Sabena contacted me to see how many angel cards I had….and she cleaned out my stash.

Perhaps it’s time to bring back these images?!!

This morning, I designed a composite image of the angels I love the most, and I’ll introduce it at my next event, which will be Saturday, November 5 from 4p-10p at 2320 Castle Hill Rd, Midlothian VA at a show to benefit Feed More.

Lucky Ginger Studio "Angels We Have Heard on High"

Tell me what you think!

I’ve invested a fair amount of time (and some dollars) in redesigning my booth set-up. Those of you who are on the show circuit probably periodically think in terms of your 10′x10′ world. I’m always looking for better ways to show off my wares, and this summer I finally took the next step (e.g. took my really rough sketches and handed them over to my trusted contractor of choice, Bruce, and asked him to “make it work,” a la Tim Gunn). Fingers crossed for a good set-up!

Anyway:

Show is tomorrow, Sat 9/24 from 11a-4p:
2005 Huguenot Road, Richmond VA, in the old Confetti location (shopping center is at intersection of Robious and Huguenot; store is a couple doors down from Williams & Sherrill)

Local Virginian artisans include:

Karen Gellatly (the “Recycle Lady of New Kent”): beautiful stained-glass lamp shades, suncatchers and glass treasures

Kristin Opalka of Adore Jewelry: unique handcrafted necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings

Lynne Cunningham of Marion Elm Designs: Stylish….Whimsical…Original!!
jewelry, wall art, bell jars, key chains & bookmarks…with a twist!

Robin Ingles: personalized watercolor art of homes and animals done on commission.

Jana Stephenson of JJ Jewels with her sparkly bookmarks!

…and me: creative gifts incorporating my photography, including wall and desk calendars, Christmas cards, bookmarks, gift tags and more.

Hope to see you on the show floor!