creativityUNLEASHED by traci bautista

#artjournalPLAYLIVE: creative conversation with Kathy Cano-Murillo

Hey creative lovelies! Have you heard of blab.im? It's an awesome new app and website where you can connect with with 2-4 people through live stream conversations...think Periscope combined with Google+ hangouts.

I'm super excited about this new platform, it's going to be another way to great way to share art and creative business inspiration with you.

Join me for my first #artjournalPLAY LIVE event on #blab with my good friend, artist, blogger and creativeprenuer Kathy Cano-Murillo.

#artjournalPLAY LIVE: creative conversation with @CraftChica

5 ideas to energize your creative business

Friday, September 4, 2015  ~ 11:00am-11:45am pacific {USA time}

The live stream events lasted about an hour and was jam-packed with ideas on a variety of topics, inspiration, peeks at artwork and creative conversations with one or two of my artist friends. You can watch the replay online using the link below or in the Blab app for iPhone. 

come BLAB with us...

Head on over to subscribe to the blab live stream

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always be inspired...PLAY. dream. be FREE! xo~Traci

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art.journal.PLAY

mixed media lab + creative business incubator

creative IDEAS and online courses that encourage you to infuse your own style, create unique artwork and build a successful business on your terms.

 

art.journal.PLAY is OPEN..join me!

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CYBER MONDAY deals start today!

Happy early CYBER MONDAY deals!! Additional discounts. FREE webinar. gifts cards.

SAVE $15 on ALL orders equal or over $100 through Cyber Monday.

PLUS

spend $2oo and receive a $25 treiCdesigns DIGITALS gift card

spend $150 or more you'll receive FREE access to my upcoming

AUTUMN + holiday art journaling webinar

coupon code: CYBER15

HUGE savings on all creative business e-courses!!

All of my creative business workshops have been discounted because I will be launching an all NEW DREAM BIG program in 2015. There are over 350 pages of content in the creaive business workbooks, creative business journal + planner pages, 112 creative business topics/discussions and 30+ HD videos and live stream Q & A replays in all of my business e-courses.

SAVE an additional 25%

on creative business and mixed media e-course bundles through Cyber Monday.

PLUS

if you purchase a creative business bundle you'll receive FREE access to

AUTUMN creative business camp which includes 2014 annual review workbook + 2015 creative business planning pages.

check out all CYBER MONDAY product bundles
coupon code:BUNDLE25

www.treicdesignsdigitals.com

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To take advantage of extra specials, head on over to my digital shoppe and place the e-courses in your cart. You will be prompted to checkout using your credit card or Paypal, enter your info {you won't be charged yet}, then you will be taken back to the shopping cart where you can enter the coupon code and then complete the checkout process. Discounts will be taken off entire order. This is on top of the already discounted BUNDLE prices too. only one coupon per order. $25 treiCdesigns gift cards will be sent electronically December 15, 2014. cyber monday discount codes expire December 1 at 11:59pm. Please allow 48 hours from next business day to receive the e-course classroom invite.

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CHA winter 2014 roundup

black friday deals: creative business e-courses

Today's early BLACK FRIDAY special is on all of my creative business e-courses! 

All treiCdesigns digitals CREATIVE BUSINESS e-courses are 40% off in the shoppe.

DREAM BIG and expand your business! My e-courses cover a variety of business and marketing topics. Learn about planning, setting goals, creating online workshops, publicity, marketing, navigating the CHA tradeshow, designing media kits, creating a portfolio, selling online and more. All the classes delve into all aspects of marketing and promotion PLUS lots of tips and ideas for social media. There is over 300 pages of content in the PDF workbooks, numerous planning worksheets and 30+ video lecture demos and 200+ creative business discussions in the classrooms combined.

Whether you are just launching your business, at a crossroads in your career or expanding your creative business...there is something to cover all aspects of growing your business.

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AUTUMN creative business camp

Discovering YOU part one

Discovering YOU part two

Discovering YOU BUNDLE

Dream BIG journal

DREAM BIG creative business

DREAM BIG Discovering YOU BUNDLE

Check out all the creative business e-courses here.

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Head on over to my shoppe and visit the creative business e-courses to find out details

SAVE 40% on all creative business e-courses this week!

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coupon code: BF13CBecourse

{this code is for creative business eocurses only}

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www.treicdesignsdigitals.com

To take advantage of the sale price, head on over to treiCdesigns digitals shoppe and place the creative business e-courses in your cart. You will be prompted to checkout via Paypal, enter your info {you won't be charged yet}, then you will be taken back to the shopping cart where you can enter the coupon code: BF13CBecourse and then complete the checkout process. A 40% discount will be take off creative business e-courses only. You will recieve a confirmation email when you register, then a separate classroom invite will be sent within 72 hours. SALE ends 12/2/13.

happy holidays...xo~Traci

mixed media fabric display ideas

Last week I shared a two video tutorials {here and here} with numerous ideas of how I create mixed media + dyed fabrics for my art journals and other projects. Once you have all of those beautiful fabrics in your stash, how do you creatively store or display them?

Here are some colorful and inspirational ideas for display and storage....

CURTAIN cable: Use a cable system, usually used for curtains {see photo above} add rings with clips and hooks and a closet hanger to hang items from the cable. Both of these can be found out Ikea. This is a great system for hanging larger pieces of painted canvases.

BINDERS + plastic sleeves: Group fabrics by color or for certain projects and place them into top loading plastic sheet protectors then into a large binder{2.5" or 3"} since the fabrics. This organization method allows me to easier flip through various fabrics in an organized fashion. To prevent fabric from sliding out of the plastic sleeve pin the top closed with a quilting pin.

BINDER clips: For projects I might be working on soon, I group fabrics and special pieces and clip them together using a binder clip and hang them on my studio inspiration wall.

CROCHET hangers: Use the top loading binder sheet protectors or clear plastic bags filled with *flair trays including painted fabric swatches to decorate your studio or walls. This is a great way to create color studies or put together embellishment kits for your projects. I love and collect vintage crochet hangers, I attach clips and clothes pins to hang the

CLIPBOARDS: I have a few legal size clipboards on my wall that hold my fabric project collections. It's a fun way to rotate your fabric collections on your inspiration wall.

DESIGN wall foam core: another great way to experiment and see fabric for a project is to create a design board with a large piece of foam core.  Use quilting pins to tack the fabric to the board. This works great and allows you to move pieces around.

I hope these ideas inspire you to find creative ways to display all of your lovely creations. I'd love to see how you store or display your fabrics. If you a link to a photo online, please share it in the comments. happy organizing! xoxo~Traci

{holiday planning} social media

In my AUTUMN creative business camp forum I've shared a few more posts & discussions on planning for the holidays including new PDF workbooks, journal cards and tabs {photo above} for your creative business notebook. Today's ACBC holiday planning post delves into 25 ideas to jumpstart your holiday social media promotion. As you know social media can be used in many ways to promote and market your business. Here are five of the 25 ideas...

<<<<< FIVE holiday social media promotion ideas >>>>>

IDEA #1: create a Pinterest board of interesting DIY holiday ideas including holiday decor, holiday recipes or patterns. Add in a few of pins from your own site to promote your handmade holiday items. create a collaborative board and invite others to add pins.

<<<<< photos of DIY project in process>>>>>

IDEA #2: share a photo of a DIY holiday project in process on Facebook or IG. Last holiday season, I shared this photo via Instagram of my handmade pompoms and fiber crocheted garland Christmas tree decorations.

<<<<< sales promotion codes>>>>>

IDEA #3: offer special holiday sales promotion codes on all your social media outlets. TIP: provide different promo codes for each promotion so it's easier to track which promotions your audience respond to. For this promo code I used "holiday20tweet" for Twitter and "holiday20fb" for Facebook. Make sure to share the rules of your promo code in your post.

<<<<< HOLIDAY giveaways>>>>>

IDEA #4: put together a special HOLIDAY giveaway and promote in via all your social media outlets. Last year, I put together a box full of goodies of my favorite art supplies and gave it away on my blog for Thanksgiving as a thank you for all my lovely blog readers. What kind of fun giveaway can you offer your audience? think about creating different giveaways for each social media audience. Maybe a digital download for the 20th person who retweets a tweet. Experiment with different engaging ideas to interact with your audience.

<<<<< HOLIDAY blog button>>>>>

IDEA #5: design a holiday branded blog button for your holiday blog series and encourage your readers to join in the blog series by adding the blog button to their sites. Also, the branded blog button is a great image for people to use when pinning your DIY tutorials or blog series. The image below is one of the blog buttons I created for my {24} HOLIDAY inspirations blog series.

join the AUTUMN creative business CAMP forum to access the rest of the holiday social media promotions ideas, ideas for DIY tutorials, holiday planning & analysis worksheets, AUTUMN creative business camp discussions and pdf workbooks/digital downloads {see photo at top & below}. I will be hosting a LIVE stream chat in the forum too!

Join in the AUTUMN creative business camp more details & register here

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30+ holiday blog ideas

AUTUMN creative business CAMP...holiday planning blog series continues. In the first post I shared how to create a DIY post-it blog calendar.  Now it's time to plan! Here are over 30 ideas/questions to get you inspired to plan your holiday blog content...

1. brainstorm a list of blog post topics and ideas. list whatever comes to mind, you can always edit later. keep a running list of ideas, the additional topics can be used for next month.
2. brainstorm a list of holiday related ideas, themes, colors. these words might spark ideas for blog content.
3. if you have a regular blog series, think of ways you can incorporate the holidays. {ie. if you do a fashion blog post series...how about holiday colored clothing or an ugly holiday sweater theme}
4. create a blog series.  In 2009, I created my blog series, 24{holiday} inspirations, my goal was to post 24 days of creative inspiration posts during the month of December, that revolved around topics to celebrate the holidays. This series includes DIY tutorials, color palettes, art journaling prompts, artist profiles and daily life posts all related to the holidays. I have continued the blog series for the past three years and the content has been some of my most popular posts.
5. think about creative ways to show your audience the behind the scene snapshots of your studio...how you create your products or artwork.
6. give a sneak peek of upcoming product releases
7. what types of tutorials can you share with your audience? don't copy what's been done already, share new ideas. If you have an idea, do a quick google search to see if it's been done before. if it has, how can you make yours unique and different?
8. what are your favorite things to do during the holidays? how can you translate them into stories for your blog?
9. look at your photographs, what stories do they tell? photographs can always inspire great ideas for blog posts
10. do you have favorite holiday memories or yummy recipes? tell the stories, share photos of the holiday table or dishes.
11. ask your audience...take a poll to find out what your audience wants to read more about on your blog.
12. collaborate with other artists..find ways to work with your favorite bloggers/artist friends. maybe a fun technique blog post, a themed post with photos.
13. share your favorite holiday decorations.
14. how can you translate holiday trends/themes into a blog post? Etsy has great merchandising resources that you can use to inspire your blog content.
15. look at patterns, prints and color palettes. create a holiday post about colors.
16. create a Pinterest board or flickr photo gallery of holiday inspirations
17. share the LOVE..help promote your friends or other artist you admire
18. create an holiday ETSY treasury
19. holidays around town--->take your blog readers on a holiday tour around your hometown
20. holiday window displays. I love peek inside my favorite retail establishments especially Anthropologie.
21. visiting or vending at a holiday craft fair...share you experience in words + photos
22. what holiday traditions do you celebrate? signing holiday carols, lighting the christmas tree, family vacation, etc.
23. where do you find your inspirations? books? shopping? on a nature walk?
24. share the season in photos
25. vintage christmas or vintage halloween decor..places to shop..what to look for...colors and themes.
26. interesting holiday paper projects or wrapping paper and gift wrapping ideas
27. what are you thankful for? write a post about it, create an art journal page and share it in photos.
28. create lists...top 10 holiday deserts, 20 places to find interesting gifts, my santa list
29. share your kids or grand kids art making holiday projects
30. write about your favorite holiday book or movie
31. share ideas for setting the holiday table and fun party planning ideas
32. how do you celebrate Halloween? parties...costumes...pet costumes
33. kids holiday project ideas and tutorials
34. setting the holiday table and fun party planning ideas
35. what music do you listen to during the holidays? create a playlist, share your favorite band's music or holiday album
36. read your blog comments, they might spark more content ideas

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do you have favorite topics to write about during the holidays? share you thoughts in the comments. happy holiday planning...xo~Traci

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join AUTUMN creative business CAMP for additonal access to creative business planning worksheets, pdf workbooks/digital downloads {see photo above} and discussions related to all the blog series posts. There is a LIVE stream webinar Q & A replay included in the content more details & register here

 

DIY post-it blog calendar

Today kicks off my AUTUMN creative business CAMP {ACBC} blog series, for the next couple of months I'll be sharing ideas for planning a successful holiday season and kickstarting your 2013 marketing plans. Let's talk about blog content planning and brainstorming! My blog is a tool to help promote my creative business, share my artwork, personal stories and tutorials. Here's a peek into how I go about planning my blog posts...{above: planning worksheets from my DREAM BIG creative business program}

The one thing I am never short of is ideas. I've tried a number of different ways to plan out my blog posts from making lists, writing out a complete calendar schedule to a two-column approach with ideas on one side and actual blog posts in the second column. Since I'm not an everyday blogger, I found that trying to stick to a schedule was difficult.  There are many days when I wake up and decide I want to write about something completely different or have an idea that I can't wait to share. So I needed to devise a plan that would work with my blogging style. I like to have a lot of flexibility with my posts and I've found that creatively planing my content using post-it notes works perfect.

{above} BEFORE: I used to write a list of ideas out with coordinating calendar dates, but I found it hard to stick with this rigid schedule

DIY post-it blog calendar - post-it creative planning system inside a craft manila folder. {above} my latest and most efficient system for planning my blog content. materials used to create blog calendar

• manila folder
• various pens & markers
• post-it notes
• optional - decorative washi tape & stickers, images, collage ephemera

create calendar - draw lines to create a calendar inside a manila folder. using a folder is a great because you can tuck other planning notes and pages into the folder. write the dates and weekdays into the calendar. add in holidays or special dates. you can decorate the folder with additional doodles or collage.  record blog statistics, traffic numbers and notes onto the calendar.

write blog post ideas on post-it notes. use different colors for tutorials or blog series. pin calendar open on the wall for easy access or fold it and carry it if you're on the go.

organize blog planning calendar...place the post-its onto the dates. keep your extra post it notes brainstorm list on the wall. If you decide to write a different post you can easily move around your blog calendar ideas. sometimes I use washi tapes to secure the post-its. when you are finished with the month you can file it away. This is what works for me, it may not be for everyone but I hope it sparks ideas for you!

The AUTUMN creative business CAMP blog series will be delivered a couple times a week through November....stay tuned for more fun holiday planning ideas!

>>>>>>>>>>>>do you have additional ideas or comments about planning your holiday blog calendar? share them in the comments.

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join AUTUMN creative business CAMP for additonal creative business planning worksheets, pdf workbooks/digital downloads and discussions related to all the blog series posts. The ACBC includes a live stream webinar Q & A replay. find out more about my creative business e-courses Discovering YOU creative business e-course bundle

AUTUMN creative business camp

<<<<< NEW 2012 AUTUMN creative business camp >>>>>

Let's get ready for the upcoming holiday season and kick start 2013 marketing plan! I've been teaching my Discovering YOU creative business e-courses since 2010 which have helped launch many artist's careers and businesses. I'll be sharing a couple of creative business blog series during the AUTUMN.

October 2012----> holiday planning

The October blog series will focus on planning for your holiday season and include blog planning, DIY project ideas, holiday promotions and setting up a holiday calendar.

November 2012----> kick start 2013 plan

The November blog series will focus on ideas for 2012 year-in-review and kick starting your 2013 marketing & creative business plan.

join me on my blog in October and November for these engaging and informative posts!

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AUTUMN creative business camp forum

TO get the most of my blog series, I encourage you to register for the AUTUMN creative business camp forum which will give you PRIVATE access to BONUS content including creative business discussions, holiday planning PDF workbooks, 2013 planning worksheets, artist papers + collage sheets, one live chat and I will be available for Q&A in the forum.

For a limited time, if you register for my Discovering YOU e-courses bundle, I am offering $100 discount and FREE access to the AUTUMN creative business camp forum.

To register for the AUTUMN creative business forum or Discovering YOU ecourse bundle more details here

here's to successful creative business planning! xoxo~Traci

snippets from the studio

{april in the studio}

multitasking is happening once again. a lot is going on in the studio right now...

• new free motion stitched art journals for my nieces {2 & 3 yrs. old} who LOVE to paint. I'll be making more for my boutique.
• signing books at Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley
• explored the Alameda Antique market for pieces for my new studio/boutique
• designed new limited edition collection of Doodles Unleashed collage kits for my Etsy shoppe
• painted canvases for fabric jewelry designs {a mix of vintage + fibers}
• sketching ideas for my new jewelry and accessories line which will be available in May
• creating videos and content for my new REDEFINE the Doodle online workshop series. Inspirations+mark-makings starts April 30! more info
• on the hunt for unique studio decor...LOVE my new vintage crochet hangers
• set up my art library in the studio. this will be available to use for design research if you come to an open studio session. 
• working on April DREAM BIG creative business e-book.
• boxes..boxes..cabinets..everywhere. getting the studio and boutique set up. My goal is to be set up by May 1. I'm planning a grand opening and open studio events..i'll share more details soon.

{click on each photos for more details}

p.s. I'm teaching at the Great American Scrapbook convention in Texas & Virginia in June. come take a workshop in person!

xoxo...treiC