©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved
Whimsy 365: Day 9
I was sitting on the couch pondering what to sketch…waiting for a creative whim to inspire me. I happened to look at my corner cupboard and saw a piece of handmade pottery that was given to me by one of my best friends.
The piece is a long rectangular shape with a hand-painted star, sunflower, crow and sheep. My friend special ordered four of these pieces of pottery from an artist in Michigan one year for Christmas gifts. The star represents Linda, the sunflower represents Debbie, the sheep represents me and the crow represents Jann. Us four our very close friends. For the past 25 years, we’ve taken a 5-7 day road trip to Ohio for shopping and antiquing. So many wonderful memories have been made through the years.
Today’s sketch is the result of taking those four symbols that represent our friendship and creating a design that I absolutely LOVE! This is another sketch I will be making into a punchneedle pattern as well as a hook rug pattern.
Blessings,
Teresa
©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved
Whimsy 365: Day 8
Today’s inspiration came to me because I needed a new design for punchneedle. I haven’t designed a punchneedle pattern where a tree is the focal point. This would also make a great rug pattern. Now to decide on colors…. I’m thinking about keeping the colors rather muted like the old vintage hooked rugs. What are your thoughts?
Blessings,
Teresa
Whimsy 365: Day 7
I’d love to paint this one and make the pumpkin sage green. We are so lucky these days to have other colors to choose from when selecting pumpkins. I LOVE the creamy white, sage green and now black! Really? Where have they been all our lives???
Anyway, this sweet lil’ girl loves the autumn. As do I.
Blessings,
Teresa
Whimsy 365: Day 6
This one took me a while. I originally just had the large mushroom with the bunny and mice but it didn’t sit right with me. I added the flowers and small mushrooms to fill it out and now I’m satisfied. I still think the large mushroom looks like it’s coming out of the top of the bunny’s head. If I were to paint this sketch and offer it for licensing, I would move the mushroom off-center to fix the problem.
I’m enjoying these cute lil’ characters.
Blessings,
Teresa
Whimsy 365: Day 5
Bunnies, Bears and Pigs, oh my! Wait….. pigs??? Yes, he fits right in, doesn’t he? I’ve been painting bunnies and bears since 1994 so it’s just part of me. It’s interesting to see how they’ve evolved over the years. Do I ever get tired of bunnies & bears? No. Like I said, they’re a part of me. They’re my friends and I’ll sketch/paint them til’ the end. Little piggy…now he’s new. I was inspired to draw him because I’ve been seeing a lot of cute little piggies on Pinterest lately…and have you seen the videos on Facebook yet? I know, I know, they are dirty and smelly (poor things are stereotyped as such) but I seriously think they’re cute!
Blessings,
Teresa
Whimsy 365: Day 4
Tis the season….as we near Halloween and Thanksgiving, images such as this one come to mind, through my pencil and onto the paper. I’m thinking this image would make a great punchneedle, cross stitch and rug pattern, too!
Happy Tuesday 🙂
Teresa
Whimsy 365: Day 2
I love sketching characters such as this one. This little fox turned out just like I wanted him to. Enjoying the process so far 🙂
Blessings,
Teresa
Whimsy 365: Day 1
Have you ever felt like you needed a challenge? Like you needed to shake things up a bit?
I did; which is why I came up with this challenge. I want and need to sketch more often…and what better way to do it than with a challenge where you help me to be accountable. So many other aspects of running my business take me away from the single reason I became an entrepreneur… to creating art.
So what exactly is whimsy365? I will sketch and post each day for an entire year whatever inspires me that day. It could be anything. It may relate to a holiday like today’s sketch. It may be an inspiring quote or an angel. It may be very detailed or loose and simple. It could be an entire scene or a single character….maybe I will add color to some. Who knows??
But what I can tell you is that I am not only up for the challenge but excited to see where imagination takes me.
Join me each day and let’s take the journey into whimsy together!
Blessings,
Teresa
Top 7 Mistakes Made on Social Media
There are so many social media platforms available today that it’s not only overwhelming but can also be a time-sucker. It’s not necessary to be on ALL social media platforms. Do what makes sense for your business. Ask yourself….who is my ideal client and where do they hang out? Which platform are my followers engaging in conversation with me and other followers? Once you determine where you should put your focus, make sure to avoid these top 7 mistakes many people are making on social media and start building your tribe today.
- Not moving your fans/followers to your email list. I have said it before and you will hear me say it often: the number one goal for your business is to build your email list. Why? Because you own your list. You don’t own your material on social media. For example, let’s say you have 5,000 likes on your Facebook page and one day, FB is gone. Maybe Mark decides he’s moving on. There’s no way for you to connect with those people once it’s gone but if you had gotten them to sign up for your email list, you can still connect with them. Go here to learn how to build your email list.
- Not talking and engaging with your fans/followers. Seriously….what is the meaning of the word social? (from dictionary.com) seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable. So interact with your audience. Make it a conversation. Don’t just post and forget it. Go back a few times a day and reply to comments. You’ll get to know your audience and they’ll get to know you.
- Not building relationships. This is similar to #2 but it’s more about reaching out and commenting on other people’s posts and pages. Find people that have similar interests as you do, follow them, and start a conversation with them. Do this a minimum of three times a day.
- Constantly selling. Biggest mistake of all. It’s a different world than it was 10 years ago…even 5 years ago! People buy from people they know, like and trust. You in a sense are selling YOU! When people get to know you and trust you they are more apt to eventually purchase something from you. It’s a BIG turn off when all posts are about your “amazing product”. You will lose followers.
- Unrealistic Expectations. Building relationships take time on social media just like in real life. Don’t expect to get 5,000 followers in a week. And when you do get to 5,000, don’t expect everyone to be purchasing everything you have to offer. Someone may be following you for years before they purchase anything from you. Don’t get caught up in this….just keep providing VALUE & GREAT CONTENT. Just keep planting those seeds and your harvest will come.
- Not providing value. Be helpful. Be entertaining. Solve a problem. You certainly don’t have to do all four all the time but you need to give your audience useful and helpful information. If you’re on your business Facebook page posting photos of what you are doing at every moment of the day, you will quickly find your likes going down. What does your audience need? What can you give them (or gift them) that would help them. It could be an inspirational quote, a PDF to help them get organized, a link to an article you wrote (or someone else wrote) that shows them how to solve a problem, and entertaining video…..the list goes on and on. Be creative. Make them look forward to your posts.
- Not being real. Be you, Be authentic. There’s only one you in the world so share YOU. We were all created unique and different for a reason…we all have a special mission on this earth that only we can accomplish and we can’t do it by trying to be someone else or trying to be something we’re not. When you are open and vulnerable, people will relate to you and connect with you. Don’t worry about everybody liking you. It’s impossible to appeal to everyone. If you try to make everyone like you, you will lose yourself and not even know who you are. Just be you and the people who are like you will become part of your tribe making engagement on social media natural and easy…..not to mention FUN!
I hope you will keep these tips in mind as you are posting to your social media platforms. I am curious….which platform do you get most the most engagement?
