PAPYRUS IS INTERESTED IN MY CARDS!

Yes!!!!!!!! I received an email from them the other day that said they thought my family photos were wonderful and that they think there's an opportunity to work with me!

AMERICAN GREETINGS IS REVIEWING MY CARDS...

the week of October 19th in their Idea Submission Team meeting!!!! I'm desperately attempting to create a PowerPoint presentation (definitely NOT my forte) to send to them along with my other materials. Just wanted to pass this on and now I have to get back to work!

I ADMIT IT--I'M TECHNICALLY CHALLENGED, O.K.?

I apologize in advance to all the companies I am submitting my "artwork" to this week and I sincerely hope I don't become the laughingstock of the greeting card publishing world. Unfortunately, a lot of the greeting card companies actually want you to submit your artwork in the form of an actual greeting card (the sheer nerve of them) and I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THIS! So here's what I do...I print out the front of the card and I print out the inside text and then I fold them in half to look like a greeting card. Then I put a paper clip around them to make sure they stay together so that the inside text of one card doesn't accidentally get attached to the picture on another card. After that I write my name, address and phone number on the back of the "card" and now that I'm actually thinking about this, I probably should have used a fake name :) All I can say is that I hope that after whoever opens my package stops laughing, they will see the "vision" that I have and realize that all they have to do is have someone "fix it," so to speak. Yep, I hope they realize that it's not a huge deal...they just need to get the card to actually look like a card :)

A VERY PERSONALIZED REJECTION FROM...

Blue Mountain Arts came today in the mail! It was actually very nice to receive this letter because I could tell that they had read and understood the "vision" behind my cards...even though it didn't fit their needs :) I think I should categorize the rejections I have received in order of niceness...here goes, from lowest to highest:

1) The company that told me my cards were a "dime a dozen."
2) Form emails.
3) Form letters.
4) Super nice personal emails.
5) Super nice personal letters.

And just about now I am ready to hear about an acceptance...hello, anyone??????

PERSISTENCE IS MY MIDDLE NAME...

Almost every day this week I have spent 10-12 hours behind this computer designing, marketing, social networking, etc. The most frustrating part of this entire process is that I don't get responses as fast as I think I should. For example, if I send an email with images I expect that within 24 hours someone could take a quick look (say five minutes) and give me a yay or nay. Maybe I'm expecting too much as I'm sure the art directors receive hundreds of emails every day...but then maybe they should hire more art directors? I think eventually all the hard work will pay off but right now I need to get away from this computer and have some fun!

THIS IS WHAT I ENDED UP WITH - DEFINITELY WORTH THE $12!

MY DAD WAS A GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER!

I'm having a slide show today with all of my dad's slides (all 1,500 or so of them) and having a difficult time selecting the ones that I want to have scanned. I think I'm just beginning to realize what a great photographer he really was. I wonder if he ever studied photography or if he just had a natural talent. I, however, was never a talented photographer...just a persistent one. Right before my dad died I remember that suddenly it became very important for me to take a great picture of my daughter. Well, 200 photos, four days later, and $12 poorer (she wanted $12 for her modeling fees)...