Kate Harper's Blog, page 10

How Does Your Pet Disrupt Your Business?

It's time to do taxes, and I decided to take over the kitchen table and sort all my receipts and documents, thinking this would be a responsible way to keep it all in order.



Well, I woke up to find my cat "Spot" bathing in my taxes, with papers and folders spilled onto the floor. "Oh what joy" he says.



 

 

  





A few other ways a pet can participate in your business:








Do you have a "Pet Disrupts Business" story?  




Leave it below in the comments!
Kate Harper Designs www.kateharperdesigns.com

Letter Writer's Alliance

I really like the blog Letter Writer's Alliance. Every time I read it, I want to make mail art. 







Here are some images from their blog:














Kate Harper Designs www.kateharperdesigns.com

Free "Greeting Card Writing" Booklet

Here is an ebook I've written about writing greeting card text.



You can download for free until Sunday. 



If you don't have an ereader, you can still download it and read it on your phone or computer by downloading one of these apps.



 

Kate Harper Designs www.kateharperdesigns.com

The Demise of Teaching Handwriting?

Here's an interesting radio segment (http://ttbook.org/wprplayer/popup) on how schools have stopped teaching handwriting.  *Please note it starts about at the 20-minute point.
















Show Description: Precious Ink



Everybody
used to learn handwriting in school.  And whether or not our
handwriting was beautiful, we knew cursive and studied penmanship. 
Today, clasroom instruction hours are shrinking and who needs penmanship
when we have keyboards and autocorrect?  This hour, are we witnessing
the twilight of handwriting?







Kate Harper Designs www.kateharperdesigns.com

Graduation Card for Techies

Here is a sample from Leanin' Tree of my new graduation card.














Kate Harper Designs www.kateharperdesigns.com

The Dragon Project

A friend of mine, Marie Jensen submitted her art to "The Dragon Project" and I thought other artists might want to know about this. It is a project to  help children in Japan who were affected by the earthquake, the tsunami and the radioactive pollution in Fukushima, Toko Shiiki and Nino Trentinella.. The Dragon Project is an international, collaborative endeavor to showcase all the artwork created by the participants in fundraiser exhibitions around the world.

The project joins all the artwork submissions together to make a long dragon which are exhibited at a Fundraiser art exhibition in Paris and other cities around the world. Also, they make and sell books with all the submitted artwork.

ALL money raised through the fundraisers and the sale of books will be sent to the Fukushima Children’s Fund and Living Dreams and used to help buy food radiation detectors, provide material support such as clothing and footware, create monitoring stations and construct a rest home for the child victims. 




 


 The Show

 




  The Book




  







Marie's Art Submission (Also in the Book)







Kate Harper Designs www.kateharperdesigns.com

Have you filed your copyright for 2012?

Have you filed your copyrights for all the art you've created this year? For only $35 you can file your images digitally online at http://www.copyright.gov/eco/







Kate's tips:


Have the Tutorial open on your screen while you go through the application process, otherwise it's easy to get sidetracked and go down the wrong road, especially when a lot of their examples are oriented towards musicians & video producers.


There is a hour time limit for downloading, so it's best to have your art ready before you get on the site. Make copies of your art files, reduce their file sizes and put them all in one folder on the desktop. That way, they are ready to download and easy to find. I reduced each image down to 100-500K range.



Have any tips of your own? Leave them in the comments below or write to me directly and I'll add them on this post.






Before using the service, read

eCO Acceptable File Types,

eCO Tips,

eCO FAQs, or eCO Tutorial (PowerPoint) eCO Tutorial (PDF).

For recently added features, see eCO Updates







Articles on Copyrights




Fear of Getting Your Art Stolen? Look at the Numbers

How to Register You Copyrights Digitally

Artist Protects Copyright Through Twitter

The 10 Key Points That Must Be In Every Licensing Agreement

Protecting Your Designs with Watermark Tools

Photoshop Tip: How to create a customized signature brush

Protecting Your Art: Interview with Alyson B. Stanfield

How to protect your assets in a licensing agreement







Free Booklets from the Copyright Office


PDF PDF Make Sure Your Application Will Be Acceptable

PDF Cartoons and Comic Strips

PDF Have a Question About Copyright Registration?

PDF Make Sure Your Application Will Be Acceptable

PDF Publications on Copyright

PDF Copyright Notice








Legal Books for Artists:




Legal Guide for the Visual Artist, Fifth Edition







Copyright Law for Artists, Photographers and Designers (Essential Guides)





The Copyright Handbook: What Every Writer Needs to Know





--




Kate Harper Designs www.kateharperdesigns.com

How Customize Keyboard Shortcuts in Photoshop

Check out this great article that explains how to make personalized keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop.  It's a great step-by-step explanation with graphics.
Go to:  http://designmodo.com/customize-keyboard-shortcuts-photoshop/ on the designmodo website.
(sample visual)Kate Harper Designs www.kateharperdesigns.com

What 5 things do you want to accomplish this year?

I can't make or keep New Year's resolutions very often, but what I can do the "Rule of 5" I learned once in a vegetarian cooking class.



The teacher told us: "Most people eat the same 5 meals over and over again-- so if you want to cook and eat healthy foods -- just find 5 meals you really like, and don't worry about trying to create new recipes or changing your eating habits dramatically."



I found that very easy to do, perhaps because I don't enjoy cooking that much.  Keeping things simple works.  I think it's better to have 5 small goal that one big elusive one.



I've always remembered that "rule of 5" for setting realistic goals in my work life and personal life.  But I've also found it helpful to look at the past accomplishments and acknowledge them.



It's so easy for years to fly by and you might wonder if you are heading in the right direction.  One way to answer that question is to look at what has already happened last year.  Are there 5 things you are glad you did or learned? Did you move closer to or away from your life purpose?  Or perhaps you haven't even sat down to ask the question.



So here's a big opportunity to do that.  In the comments section below, you can make a public statement about 5 things you want to accomplish this year.  Then in 3 months, I can repost this and see how far everyone has come.  I'll start by setting my own example and then you can see how your goals can be anything you want them to be:












5 Things I want to Accomplish:


1. Put out 12 collections of new designs.

2. Clean up the front yard (that could take a whole year)!

3. Finish writing two ebooks and publish them.

4. Work with a friend to make audio recording of some ancient texts.

5. Ride my bike 5 times a week.










What are 5 Things YOU want to Accomplish this year?



Ok, now what are Yours? (Write below in Comments)  Writing them down makes them real, and it forces you to really think about possibilities -- large or small.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.








~
Kate Harper Designs www.kateharperdesigns.com

My Favorite Card of the Year: From the Sewer Repairman!

We had our sewer line repaired by a local business called "Pipe Spy." They sent us this great New Year's card.  Their design is exciting, playful
and humorous.








Front of Card




I love this contradiction of a man in a tuxedo -- because you don't expect him to be carrying a wrench!  It makes you want to open up the card to understand what this image means.  The colors are so simple yet effective.















Inside Card




Note the bolt in the martini.  

The Inside has reflective silver ink.  

The font has a grunge effect as if it was hand-stamped -- by a spy of course.



 










Back of Card




Their logo and theme is a wonderful concept.  

They make sewer repair feel mysterious, with a dash of "underground" intrigue!










 




This card was made with a high quality, classic crest, heavy weight recycled paper. 




Their marketing materials are a great way to approach dealing with what could be an unpleasantly sounding business.This is one the best examples I've ever seen of a business that uses greeting cards to market their service. 




Also, having the blue Pipe Spy truck parked in front of the house is more fun and eye-catching that "Joe the plumber" or "Roto-rooter!" 

















~






Kate Harper Designs www.kateharperdesigns.com