So, DesireLines… may I call you DL?

Hahaha…well, if you insist- though you can just call me Ryan if you want. I was going to say that’s what everyone calls me, but…erm…that would be a lie… And, no, I don’t think it would make family friendly reading if I told you!

Let’s start off with a very simple question: how did you acquire your shop name?

I thought long and hard about it for ages- I wanted something that would suit me forever, so I could build a brand with it. Then I came across this name- it’s an ordnance survey term for the wavy, meandering lines that people create in public spaces when they don’t follow the paths set out by the planner. These wandering paths are known as Desire Lines and I liked that it suggested going your own way, making your own decisions and not necessarily going the expected way. Also, at the time I was working on some work about sexual psychology and paraphilias and I liked that it sounded faintly seedy and a bit like a sex chat line Read More

Let’s jump right in by discussing why business planning is a necessary effort in planning for success (you do plan to be successful, don’t you?). The primary intent of business planning is to provide you with the focus you need to prioritize your work, develop your communications, and invest your dollars. There is much more beyond this, but this is where you will want to start. Once you have a business plan, you should be aligning all of your work activities to the plan to avoid wasting extraneous effort on items that don’t support your business goals.

Let’s start by asking the seemingly most basic and straightforward question: What do you want your business to be? In other words, what are you going to be selling? Is it a tangible product such as jewelry or will it be a service such as graphic design? Mind you, services often come with tangible end-products (i.e. Graphic Design may end up with a logo, a banner, etc). Sometimes you can confuse the two, as happens occasionally in sewing. For instance, if you pre-sew plush dolls and sell them, you are offering a product. If you are taking an order for custom apparel, you are actually offering a service, even if the end result is a tangible product. Read More

Looking at all of the wonderful sellers on Etsy, I often remember fondly some of the other crafts I’ve worked on in the past. While I’m not about to bore everyone by discussing them all here, one in particular stands out to me, simply because it shows how long I’ve been obsessed with cherry blossoms!

Keith’s Craftworks Products Circa 2006

As you can see, I used to be in the soap and lotion business under my second shop name, Keith’s Craftworks (Mindless Pursuits was just a personal blog back then). I was obsessed with differing scents and loved making everything from lotions to shampoos to body washes. Experimenting with scents was a lot of fun, but what I enjoyed most was playing around with packaging design. Considering I have a background in graphic design/publishing and am an artist, this should be of no surprise to anyone!

My favorite scent, however as well as my favorite package, was the ‘Cherry Blossom Festival’ line.It smelled wonderful and I loved the stock photography that I found to use as the background. I still use that background on my PC today as an occasional wallpaper! I’m currently working on making a cherry blossom logo to be my brand, but we’ll talk about that in a future post. For now, I just thought some might find a quick glimpse of my crafting past to be of interest!

The ‘Daily Artisan Spotlight’ is a regular feature on Mindless Pursuits intended to provide insight and exposure to the tons of talented artisans working today. Please comment and give them some encouragement and check out their work! If you would like to be considered for the Spotlight, click on the ‘Free Press’ link above!

What is your shop?
Megan Eilise Paper Goods & Gifts (http://www.meganeilise.etsy.com)

What is your art/craft?
I’m a graphic designer creating bright, fun note cards and greetings some with a sweet vibe and some with a snarky attitude!

Describe your style in 2 words:
Bright & playful.

What is your favorite piece and why?
My favorite card design at the moment is currently my Snarky Sending card that simply says, “You Smell.” I love sending it to my older brother, it’s just the right thing for giving him a laugh.

What is the most memorable piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Love what you make. I’ve been in graphic design for 12 years now (holy cow its been so long!) and I’ve had to do many, many commissions that just didn’t tickle my fancy. I can’t tell you how many medical drawings of brains I’ve done- boring! Creating these bright cards has really made me relove what I do.

What is the one piece of advice you’d give?
Experiment all the time, never be afraid to try something new and keep trying if it doesn’t work out the first time. No one ever gets it perfect on the first go, so you gotta hang in there and work out all the little kinks. If you enjoy it, do it, no matter how big the learning curve may be.