Back In The Game

10/15/2015

I've been designing stamps for Pink Ink for over two years now and loving the freedom of coming up with my own images, being able to respond to customer suggestions and learning to plan releases that are cute, coordinated and sale-able. But I recently discovered that I've been missing a little of the "thrill" of cross merchandising that I experienced in the licensing world.  That is, where a good idea "takes off" to jump from one category into another.  I've been feeling this again lately, as my newly hatched coloring book, Flora Bella, has crossed into the world of Pink Ink Stamps.  Here are two brand new card samples that I've created using stamp images that came from the pages of Flora Bella, ~ No. 2258 Earth Laughed and No. 7102 Curlicue Heart. These are the two page spreads from the coloring book that inspired the stamps ~ You can see how the book is fertile ground for stamp ideas!  Even more fun, is this brand new stamp image, Seed Packets, that I plan to put in to Flora Bella's sequel (not yet titled) which will be all about lovely gardens and the joy of gardening. I'm jazzed! But back to the thrill of creating new products...exciting news came yesterday as the book publisher, Sellers Publishing, has decided to expand the Flora Bella illustrations into two coloring calendars, one for the wall, and another in a large "desk blotter" style!   And so, the Pink Ink Empire grows, and I feel happy and honored to be creating new products that can bring hours of fun and relaxation to my friends and fans.  Now, I just have to think up that catchy new title.

Flora Bella

10/8/2015

It's been four l-o-n-g months since my last blog post.  Wow.  Where does the time go?  Well, in this case, I know where it's gone.  I've been working like a mad woman on a BIG project!  First, I want to thank my loyal design team, Debbie, Heidi, Kay, Sharon and Shelby,  for keeping the blog afloat in my absence.  Their beautiful projects were nothing short of wonderful and I hope Pink Ink fans appreciated their terrific contributions!  Meanwhile...back in Petaluma, I've been drawing up a storm...88 pages for a brand new coloring book titled, Flora Bella !  It's being produced by Sellers Publishing Company and will be available for sale March 1st, 2016.  Ronnie Sellers and I have collaborated previously on two children's books and I could not ask for a kinder, more conscientious publisher to work with.  I know, the publishing date is a ways off still but I felt I needed to explain what I've been up to these past four months.  Here is a sample of the distinctive cover...colored by me with my favorite Prisma colored pencils~ As I teach coloring classes throughout the country I've frequently been asked, "why can't you make the stamp images BIG so they're easier to color?"  Well, I was listening and was encouraged by the coloring book success of my friend Joanne Fink, so decided to approach Sellers Publishing with the idea for Flora Bella.  I wanted to both elaborate and re-size some of Pink Ink's stamp images into coloring book pages and conversely, reinterpret some of the Flora Bella pages into rubber stamps.  Here are samples of each conversion ~ So, it's nice to have a breather this October,~ my wedding anniversary (today!) and birthday month.  Thanks to my family for putting up with this extra layer of busyness and to my blog followers for hanging in there with me.  I like to think it was worth the wait.  Be prepared though, a sequel is in the works!