Rain, Rain Go Away

I Love To Walk In The Rain by My Zoetrope

It's pouring today in New York City, but rather than curl up and hide from the weather, I thought I'd let it inspire me. Here are some rain themed items that may cheer you up a bit. How about a cute onesie by Big Bridge Studios in a rainy winter day blue and gray?

Gotham Bird Baby Onesie

I wouldn't mind a shower of these beauties designed by Fernando Jewelry:

Spring Rain Citrine Earrings

Stay dry with this cloche by Ellis Designs:

Women's Water Resistant Striped Cloche

Spend the day catching up on some correspondence with Tamara Garvey's Rainy Day Elephants:

Rainy Day Elephant Note Cards

And here is Gene Kelly, wishing you a happy rainy Friday:

Simone
groundsel.etsy.com

Beat Those Winter Doldrums!

Oh, winter. Business is SLOW and I, for one, am having a hard time fighting the tendency for that to turn me into a big lazy slug. There are so many things to enhance my business that I never have time to do during the rest of the year that I could be using this time to do but I just don't feel like it. This may be because it won't be clear whether doing them is having the desired effect without the regular contact with customers that heavier selling activity brings. Maybe. But that's no excuse. No! Spring will be here before we know it (it really will; I should know this by now)

Send a Valentine: Share Your Love 2012

Today, Etsy announced the return of their Special Delivery campaign - Share Your Love 2012. Etsy will once again partner with Citymeals-on-Wheels to bring nutritious meals & companionship to elderly New Yorkers with a little surprise...a Valentines' Day card from you.

Check out details on how to get involved, where to send your cards & any dos or don't here. Since K. Batty Design & Stationery is my name & cards are my game, I'm super excited to participate in this & pledge to send 20 cards. Maybe more! I love the opportunity to bring up the spirits of a fellow New Yorker.

I hope you'll join me in bringing some cheer with Etsy & Citymeals-on-Wheels!

PS If you're still gazing at your holiday cards & wondering what to do with them, check out Sara's post from the other day on how they can be upcycled for charity.

Kerry

Happy Friday the 13th!

Clouds from the No. 7 Train Platform by Astrodub

Friday the 13th. Does this date make you shudder with dread, or anticipation, or does it merely elicit a shoulder shrug from you? Since 2012 provides us with an unusually large number of Friday the 13th dates, I was interested to find out what other craft/artisan related superstitions we at the {NewNew} may harbor.

Numbers

Table Numbers Pretty Stationery Shop

Numbers seem to be in-/auspicious for many of us including myself: When I knit or crochet I never end on a 13th row. I just don't. Beth always tries to cast on a number of stitches that is a multiple of 6 or if that fails, a number of stitches that add up to a year that is personally meaningful to her. May has a thing for the number 8 and will set her kiln temperature to one that includes that digit.

Crochet Popcorn Pillow by bshorr

Habits

Angel always does the following after she finishes setting up at a market:

I go and get a coffee from a vendor within the market (or a cookie, or something to drink, etc). The way I see it, by feeding the monster so to speak, it gives me something back. Works every time ;-D

Lauren tries her best not to have any superstitions/ahem habits in anything relating to her business in order not to to feel like her success might be based on doing some habit or act. (Now, is not having a habit a habit?)

Leather Smart Phone Sleeve by LolaFalk Designs

Offerings

This to me was the most interesting "habit" and one I can totally relate to. Our technological tools often seem to have "minds" of their own that must be appeased. For example, whenever Lisa's printer wakes from sleep mode she has to "feed" it an offering. The first print after it wakes up is always gibberish. Also, the number of copies she prints at a time is important. She never prints more than 25 copies in one batch. Printing any more than that in one sitting courts disaster resulting in odd symbols being printed rather than the congratulatory message originally intended.

So, on this lucky or cursed day would you share your "habits" with us?

Happy Friday the 13th
Simone
groundsel.etsy.com

Giving Your Holiday Cards A New Life

Happy New Year, Readers! I hope your Holidays were spectacular and that you've entered 2012 with feelings of excitement, determination, and peace.

The first week of January, I attempt to do some spring cleaning. I clean out my closets, shred old papers I no longer need, go through old magazines from 2011, and do an inventory of my business stock. I also file all of my receipts and get my books in order as I prepare for orders in the new year and tax season. In other words, I purge, breathe, and usher in something like order before the chaos begins.

I set goals...now what?

{Rosie! The Biz Ladies cheerleader on Design Sponge}

The beginning of a new year means one thing. No, not hangovers! Ok, maybe those, but also everyone is talking about goal setting & I swear no one does it more than those of us in the handmade/small business category. All year long we are evaluating, changing, adjusting. This time of the year is prime for doing those things big picture style.

Got Goals?

Yes! But, now what? That's what I have struggled with in the past. How will I work toward these ideas every day? Last year my goals were to:

1. Produce more work

2. Focus. 

Kind of a do-more-by-doing-less approach there on number 2. Did I accomplish them? Yes...loosely. Mostly by sitting down & sketching out ideas. Many of them made it to the computer. Not many of them made it onto my shop, but design development takes time & I can't say it was easy to focus on one design at a time. So, can I do it differently? Well, yes...I'm glad you asked. Here's how...

NewNew New Year's Resolutions

Happy 2012!

So, it's a new year. Time to turn the page and look ahead. What do you want to start, finish, do, get, or be more of or less of in the coming 12 months?

A few brave NewNewers shared their resolutions with the rest of us. Here's what they said.

Is it really the end of December already?

8x10 print by MyZoetrope

Wow - what a year it has been! I can honestly say that 2011 has been one of the most exhausting, and rewarding years of my life. Even though it was 11 months ago, it seems like just yesterday that I joined
this lovely group of crafters, artists and designers I now call my NewNew family! In this short time I have met some of the most talented people in all of New York! Each one of you has taught me something great, and for that I am so very thankful!

Tips for Preparing Your Business Financially for the New Year

Happy post-holidays! We at Outright hope that you had the best winter holiday possible and, of course, that you got everything that you wanted.

But everything good must come to an end, and that includes hanging back and relaxing. Now it’s time for all of us to get ready for the New Year. More specifically, it’s time to get ready for all the tax time madness that’s soon to come.

To help you out, we’ve prepared a few tips to help you and your business ease into 2012.

Inventory

When do you usually take inventory? If you do it when it’s tax time, you’re more than likely misrepresenting yourself. For tax purposes, you want to record what you had at the end of the year, not what you have in April. This is because the taxes are for 2011, and you may have amassed some material in the beginning months of 2012.

Instead of writing items down to take inventory, consider taking pictures of everything. This way you can also visualize your stock instead of merely trying to organize a spreadsheet months from now.

Pictures

Speaking of pictures, snap a few photos of your home office or workspace at the end of the year. There are several deductions you can take if the space you work in qualifies as a home office for tax purposes, and these can add up to some big savings in April. Some of these deductions include phone bills, office furniture, and even a portion of rent/mortgage.

The pictures will help not only prove you own what you say, it can also help your tax preparer find even more deductions for you to use.

Get Rid of Some Money

I don’t mean just throw it out the door (unless I’m in the neighborhood, then go ahead). But there are special deductions for 2011 that can help you out if you can risk the extra expenditure.

For instance, there’s the Section 179 deduction. It allows small businesses to expense up to $500,000 in equipment purchases made in 2011. Did you have any big equipment purchases you were considering? See if you can buy them up in the last minutes of this year to get the deduction.

And of course there’s always charity, arguably a better use of your money. You don’t always have to give money, though. If you’re looking to buy new inventory, your old and unused inventory would make a good charitable donation. It can lead to some nice deductions on your taxes. Keep in mind, though, once you donate over $500 worth of goods, the rules and requirements get tougher.

Outright

In order to get a good read on your taxes before you actually file your taxes, take a gander at your Outright account. There, you can get a good idea what you may owe in taxes and if you should take action to get additional deductions. With a little foresight and planning you’ll be in good shape come April!

About the Author:
Laura Messerschmitt is the Vice President of Marketing at Outright, a free online accounting software for small businesses. She loves helping the self-employed and small businesses to be more successful and grow their businesses.

Good Tidings To You

Bee's Stocking with Pins Made by Her Mother Annie

The holidays are literally on top of us, so to share what we at the {NewNew} are doing at this time, here is a roundup of the different holiday traditions of our team members:

Much Merriment

For Chanukah, Alexa of Roseground used to visit her grandmother to light candles and celebrate. "After candles and before presents, my grandma would put out a big pot full of coins (mostly pennies, but some larger coins), and we would all take a handful of coins and put it in a pot for charity, and another handful of coins and put it in a baggie for ourselves (though I usually lost mine playing dreidl
afterwards)."

Kelly of Aperture Agog and her family love to play games so much that her aunt has put together a family jeopardy game for Christmas that includes categories like "family history" and "Christmas Carols."

In true Etsy fashion, Jacqueline, who runs ChelseaRainbow, is busy making all her gifts for her family party that will take place at her cousin's house.

Christmas Mistletoe To-Go by Hook and Matter

Figgy Pudding

As with all celebrations, food is also at the center of our family gatherings: Lauren, a.k.a. LolaFalk begins Christmas Eve by sharing/breaking the Oplatek - a thin, crisp wafer that typically has a nativity scene imprinted on it.  The ritual is that the eldest member of the family starts with the wafer, breaks off a piece and offers it to another family member with a blessing of good wishes for the upcoming year.  It then moves through family member to member with the breaking and the blessing passing through.

Sara of S2 Stationery is becoming the keeper of her family's secret Honduran tamale recipe. She has been making these tamales with the women in her family since she was a small child and the recipe which has never been written down, has now passed from her grandmother to her mother and to her. It includes 2 special corn based mixtures and a filling of capers, raisins, and potatoes.

For Natasha, the proprietress of Wink and Flip, the Carlyle Hotel has always been a special place for important family events and Christmas morning you will find her there with her clan pondering whether to take on the enormous breakfast buffet or order a la carte.

Dreidel Kitty by MyZoetrope

Light the Lights

As the days are getting shorter, we all enjoy the cheerful decorations of the season. Melissa of be in the moment and her family always take in the Christmas decorations on the drive home from Midnight Mass.

Bee was born in 2008 and every Christmas since then her mother Annie of Brooklyn Owl has added a new pin to her stocking. The stocking pins, baking molasses cookies, watching "Home Alone" Christmas morning, and building crazy blanket forts are becoming part of this little girl's holiday memories.

With the arrival of Baby Xander, Jenn of Firelight Jewelry and her family are also making new traditions. They will begin with a reading of the Grinch, and conclude with a gathering via Skype to hang out with her family in Ireland and open presents together.

Amy of Sweet Olive Jewelry grew up with this tradition:
"Growing up, we always had the tradition of waiting until Christmas Eve to put up the Christmas tree. Usually that meant waiting until Christmas Eve to BUY the tree too! Throughout the years we ended up with trees my brother called "Charlie Brown trees" because they were sad, misshapen and usually
heavily discounted. A few times, we were so late that the lots were already closed and we just had to leave the money for our tree."

Hoping that all little trees will get this much love and that Ruby won't have to work too much this weekend, we at the {NewNew} wish you a very Happy Holiday and thank you for hanging out with us this year!

Simone
groundsel.etsy.com