My friends Jason and Shelley (Shelley was also the Woog’s Mother’s Day Out teacher last year) are in the process of adopting two sisters from Ethiopia. Ansley is 4 1/2 and Karis is 3 1/2 years old. They may gain custody of the girls by late spring (they weren’t expecting this to happen until the fall). Because of the abbreviated time table, they are trying to quickly raise money for their travel expenses to Ethiopia (about $10k). You can read their story adoption story here.

This is a truly awesome family and already have a biological daughter who is very (VERY!!) excited to become a big sister, twice over.

I’m asking all my readers to consider helping these two sisters have a forever family. I’m forgoing unnecessary purchases this week by donating and trying to help spread the word for them. You can help by praying, donating (even if it’s $1, every penny helps) or by re-blogging this post. If you were not planning on putting up a blog post today, I ask you to please blog this. I made it real easy and all you have to do is copy the code below and past it into your blog post section. Thank you so much for your support!

Just copy the code before and paste it into your blog post section:

<div align=”center”><a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetypejunkie/3401097575/” target=”window”><img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3537/3401097575_e1bd6d881d_o.gif” border=”0″ width=”450″></a><br></div>
<a href=”http://abeautifultapestry.blogspot.com” target=”window”>Jason and Shelley</a> are in the process of adopting two sisters from Ethiopia. Ansley is 4 1/2 and Karis is 3 1/2 years old. They may gain custody of the girls by late spring (they weren’t expecting this to happen until the fall). Because of the abbreviated time table, they are trying to quickly raise money for their travel expenses to Ethiopia (about $10k). You can read their story adoption story <a href=”http://abeautifultapestry.blogspot.com/2008/01/our-adoption-journey-begins.html” target=”window”>here</a>. Please consider helping these two sisters have a forever family. You can help by <b>praying</b>, <a href=”https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=a_1bGC4G1dAO7rQi-8xsTNx6-IevACg0FJ8XC8FTxhaAATSg7ytIlhQbcxO&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1fa798f5a5f5ae42e779d4b5655493f61722cd6b76e9a2739e” target=”window”>donating</a> (even if it’s $1, every penny helps) or by <b>re-blogging</b> this post (see instructions <a href=”http://www.agirlwhocreates.com/2009/03/please-consider-helping.html” target=”window”>here</a>). Thank you so much for your support!

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Psst…hey…click the bee to see today’s Woogie Wednesday art.

I’ve been setting up some photo shoots in the studio to get a promotion picture for twitter and my press kit for Surtex. So, above is the real me. I’m still not sure what image I’ll use for my “press picture” though. I wavier between a serious or whimsical shot. I don’t have much time left to decide!

How I took my images:

I have this light kit with a softbox on each one. I then use my little Nikon remote to shoot the photos. And wha-la!

I’m working on a new mailer for my group that’s due next week. I did a similar type of illustration way back in the beginning of my career and have had several variations in my sketch book since. I was planning on doing something similar in our fall mailer that had leaves around but I just didn’t have the time. So this week I’ll be working on this in clay and am going to “attempt” to record my process, start to finish. We’ll see how it goes. Stay tuned!

My daughter’s lunch box note this morning.

I’ve been able to flush out my booth design in the last few days and I’m feeling pretty good about how I’ll have it organized. I do have to keep telling myself that it’s not a one-shot deal for me, they have Surtex every year and it’s not my last trip to New York, so don’t try and cram everything in while I’m there. So the first thing I wrote in my sketchbook when planning my booth was:

I need to ingrain this into my brain. I don’t have to show everything I have on the wall. I’ll have a book with all my designs in it, and I only need to show my best and most relevant work on the walls. I also realized that I may need to take things down after each show and keep them in the secure area of Surtex or take them back to my hotel room. Yesterday the need for that came to the forefront of my mind again when I read Ellen’s post on someone stealing her design book. I need to really plan out how many 3-D/removable objects I’ll have since I’m going to have to lug them in and out everyday! So keeping this in mind I started sketching and making notes:

Like I’ve said before I’ll have a corner booth and as of last week the local has been changed. I’m now at booth #349:

Seeing how my booth configuration is opposite than what I originally had, I sketched out the booth layout:

There are eight “categories” I want to show things in and this will work perfect the way the walls are physically set up.

I am also working out how to use the space on the vertical corner post I have. I want at least one dimensional element on each panel just some my booth is more dynamic and not too flat. I’m working on some easy shelving issues that will hopefully work.

Now onto tourism. This will be my first visit to New York and I would like to see a few things while I’m there but need to keep in mind that I will be back and I don’t have to see everything in a day. One thing I need to decide is do I go to the Met or MOMA? At the moment I’m torn. I could do both, but that cuts into other site seeing time. Any suggestions? Any must sees while I’m there?

I meant to get this up yesterday, but ran out of time. I don’t have anything too exciting to share. I just keep plugging along. I’m slowly getting a game plan together. Thanks to google maps, I can now see exactly where I’ll be staying in relation to the Jarvis Center and scoping out the best way to get there. I plan on doing a lot of walking to avoid cab fees so hopefully the weather will be good while we’re there.

For promoting, we’re still researching more companies trying to get a list together for a postcard mailing. I want to send out 2 or 3 mentioning Surtex, just not sure who on my list I should send them too. I’m slowly working on what samples to show and how to display them within the booth. I’m starting to get some visual ideas, but nothing specific yet. Since the National Stationery Show is at the same time and location as Surtex, I’ll be getting together special samples for those companies coming over to our show. I’m also trying to think of some kind of shelving system and 3-D elements so everything isn’t just flat against the wall. It’s been a challenge since it needs to be lightweight, compact and not much assembly needed when we get there.

I have to admit that my mind has been all over the place with licensing. There’s just so much that can be done! I’m working on rubber stamps, greeting cards, partyware and even product development ideas to show. There just seems like there’s so much to do and even more that can bee done. One big thing I’m working on is physical mock-ups of projects to show. Last week I purchased a few things to use and am constantly on the look out for other things I can use. If I didn’t learn about spray mount or have a packaging design class in school, I would be totally lost on how to mock anything up. I’m also trying to get as much work out there and submitted before Surtex so I can go ahead and be “seen” plus “introduce” myself to those going to Surtex. I’m still panning on unveiling some new designs specifically at Surtex so I can use that teaser as a promo too.

I’ve also been looking at who will be my booth neighbors. So far it seems a little empty around me but hopefully those will fill up with last minute exhibitors. That reminds me, I need to look this week and see if anyone new has been added.

The most important thing is that I’m doing something everyday to grow my licensing business!

EDIT: Just got an email from Surtex that they are changing the layout of the show and my booth number has changed to #359. There was also a mention of maybe staying open for half a day on Wednesday. That cuts out my site seeing time, but you can’t turn down the extra exposure!