Product of the Month - October 2021 - Companies

It’s mid-October and I’m running out of products to feature for this series! This may be the last month unless I can think of something to feature next month.

This month I’m sharing some of the companies I patronize to help run my small business.

Blick Art Materials - Blick has been my resource for art supplies since I was in college. Too many times, I would be on a deadline and need a specific color of oil paint, a canvas in a specific size, or some special type of paper. I would head to my local Michael’s and they wouldn’t have the ONE item I needed in stock. It’s something I still see, even after almost 20 years. I know that Blick will have what I need in stock. I’m lucky that I have a brick and mortar store within a 30 minute drive, but they are wonderful with online shipping too. I do have a Hobby Lobby close by, but I’d rather drive out of my way to shop at Blick than to give Hobby Lobby my money.

Office Depot - I have been using Office Depot for birthday invitations, announcements, signs, flyers, and holiday cards for years. I’ve tried Staples, FedEx Office and the UPS Store and I always end up back at Office Depot. The quality and turnaround time have always been wonderful. Their website makes it easy to upload artwork, select print options, and place my order at home. Very often, my order is ready for pickup within an hour. Depending on how quickly I need something printed, they have sometimes been able to print while I wait when I walk in with a flash drive. There have even been a few times where a flyer I needed printed turned out wrong or with some printing errors. They have always been quick to fix it and reprint with no issues.

Sticker Ninja & Sticker Mule - I have been using both Sticker Ninja and Sticker Mule to have my watercolor paintings turned into stickers. The print quality is fantastic and I love that I can choose my size and go with a matte finish. Looking and feeling them side-by-side, you can’t tell the difference!

Overnight Prints - I have had holiday cards printed with Overnight Prints multiple times and I have always been happy with the print quality and price. They are often a few bucks less than VistaPrint and I love that I can opt for rounded corners each once in a while. I have been considering having some calendars printed with them, so stay tuned for that.

Mpix - Mpix has been my go-to for high-quality photo printing for years and last year I started having some of my watercolor paintings professionally printed by them. The print quality is amazing and I love that they offer a paper that has a slight texture for their giclée prints.

SmugMug - I have been using SmugMug for years for photo storage and backup. I pay an annual fee and have unlimited storage for photos and videos. I had a hard drive completely die on me last year, but I knew I had a ton of photos backed up on SmugMug. I can easily set up different galleries and share them with friends and family so they can download them at full size or custom sizes; which I can’t do via email all the time. I can set the security so that it’s completely hidden from random internet searches and I can set up a password-protected gallery if needed. It’s been a wonderful tool to have.

Creative Market - Fonts, graphics packs, brushes, Lightroom and Photoshop presets and actions, fonts, templates, mockups, fonts, website themes, and stock images. Did I mention fonts? Creative Market is a wonderful resource for any designer. Their freebies on Mondays are really nice too.

What are some websites you use for your small business?

Product of the Month - September 2021 - Squarespace

It’s time for another Product of the Month, and I’m almost running out of items to feature. At this point, I’m not sure if I can get through the whole year. My goal is to get through 2021, and then I’ll do occasional “Featured Products” or “Featured Tools” on future posts rather than one every month.

This month I’m featuring the company I use for my website: Squarespace!

While I did go to college to learn digital and traditional art, visual development, and graphic design, one thing I did not learn is how to build a website from scratch. I don’t know HTML or CSS or any other acronyms that involve website coding. I have a basic understanding of WordPress, but that’s kind of it!

Nothing was more frustrating when looking for a job about 15 years ago than seeing a job listing for a “graphic designer” and seeing HTML, CSS, and Dreamweaver listed under required skills. A web designer and a graphic designer are very different jobs!

Of course, these days, plenty of companies want their graphic designers to do it ALL… graphic design, print layout, email marketing, web design, UI design, social media marketing, and video content creation and editing. Oy!

I used to have a simple website that a friend set up for me years ago that I managed through WordPress. But after a few years it was hacked. and I lost a LOT of blog posts and content. I didn’t want to deal with another WordPress site and have to keep plugins updated and secure. I wanted someone else to handle that.

Enter: Squarespace.

Building my website was so simple and they made it so intuitive to make a really beautiful website. Does it cost more each month than I could be paying through WordPress? Yes. But having everything in one spot (theme, security, hosting, design) and knowing they are keeping my site secure is worth it.

Product of the Month - August 2021 - Canvas Lamp

A while back I raved about the little iPhone clip and ring light that I got from Amazon during the pandemic. Well, I’ve upgraded to something that is working better for me. Introducing my Canvas Lamp!

I first saw this awesome lamp through an artist I follow on TikTok. She did a video showcasing the top five products that help her run her small business. This lamp was one of them and she even included a code for 10% off. I was sold!

BTW, I’m on TikTok now, look me up! Alex Tebow

This is such a neat tool! The lamp can hold my iPhone 11 easily and it can be adjusted for a variety of smart phones, cameras, and even a GoPro. The base is heavy and sturdy and has no issues holding the weight of the lamp and my phone. I can pivot and adjust the position of the light for direct, overhead painting or I can turn it on an angle like I have been doing with my phone on a little tripod. I can even turn it around and use it in selfie mode if needed.

The Canvas Lamp also came with a clamp to let me attach it to the edge of a table if there isn’t room for the base or if I don’t want to use the base.

The ring light itself is awesome and the brightness is adjustable along with the color and tone of the light. It can be warm light, cool light, or somewhere in between.

Even if I’m not shooting a video of my painting, the light itself is fantastic just to work with and easily adjusted to where I need it.

I cannot wait to share some of the videos I’ve been making with this wonderful tool. Highly recommended!!

Product of the Month - June 2021 - Deuter Backpacks

I really love good backpacks and I don’t think it’s possible to own too many (for now). With as much hiking as we do, having a good backpack is essential. I love when they have pockets in all the right places and comfortable straps that breathe when you are working hard. Most of our backpacks are from Deuter. I love that Deuter makes backpacks in a ton of sizes; from toddler sizes all the way up to multi-day backpacking packs for adults.

This post contains a few affiliate links. Shopping through these links earns me a few cents and I say a loud “thank you” to you from my office chair and make my kids wonder if I’m shouting at them.

I discovered Deuter a few years ago when they were a sponsor for Hike it Baby. Thanks to a discount I was able to get hiking backpacks for myself and both of my kids and we are still using them four years later. My 11yo uses his Deuter Junior backpack as a dedicated pack for his fishing gear now. My 7yo used to use a Kikki Backpack for hiking, but as he’s grown he’s upgraded to a Junior backpack for hiking and outdoor playtime. It’s great for holding his snacks, water bottle, a change of clothes, and all of his outdoor essentials: binoculars, crayons, sketchbook, rocks, and a few Hot Wheels cars. We are gifting our Kikki Backpack to a younger friend this year so he can start getting used to carrying some of his own stuff when he goes hiking.

My ONE complaint about the Junior Backpack is the lack of a pocket inside to hold a water bladder. The Kikki has one, please add one to the Junior, Deuter!!

Rocking my Lillebaby CarryOn Toddler Carrier and my son’s Deuter Junior Backpack

I also really liked the Junior backpacks for when my youngest was still iffy on hiking and sometimes needed to ride on my back because it was big enough that I could wear it on my front if he needed a ride… like above.

For day hikes, I have a Deuter SpeedLite 24 SL. It’s super lightweight and really comfortable for when I need to carry a little extra and might still need the support of a pack that has a waistband. My only complaint is that it doesn’t have a lot of little storage pockets; it’s mostly one big pocket and space for a bladder. It really works best for when I need to bring my hammock, Thermarest travel pillow, blanket, water, and art tool kit on a day hike; items that are larger and need a big pocket to accommodate.

My sister and I wearing both of my Deuter day packs. Image by Zion Adventure Photog

I also have a Deuter ACT Trail 28 SL (a discontinued model) that has loads more of the little pockets for storing little items. But the ACT Trail backpack is heavier overall, so I don’t use it as often as the SpeedLite 24. I have used it a few times for air travel or road trips when I don’t need to bring my laptop with me. The bright turquoise color makes it easy to spot me at the airport too.

For air travel and occasional overnight trips, I use my Deuter Giga laptop backpack. I had been using a wonderful, custom pack from Timbuk2 that doubled as a diaper bag when my kids were younger, but some jackass broke into my rental car and stole it a few years ago. I replaced it with the Giga and it’s been fantastic. It came with a separate zipper pouch that holds my charging cables and a briefcase-sized zipper pouch that hold my laptop. If I don’t want to use the laptop pouch, the backpack itself holds my laptop securely. There are pockets everywhere and it has the same comfort as the hiking backpacks. It constantly amazes me just how much I can cram in this pack and it keeps my laptop and DSLR camera snug and secure.

I even use a Deuter pack for backpacking now. Last year I introduced my oldest son to backpacking and I bought a Kelty Redwing 50L (on clearance) to get started. I didn’t want to drop $200+ on a pack if we ended up quitting backpacking after just one or two trips. The Kelty pack was very comfortable, but it ended up not being large enough to hold everything that I wanted to bring backpacking. So this year I bought a Deuter Aircontact 60 +10 SL Pack and it’s been fantastic! Their SL packs are designed with the anatomy of a female in mind and even though I’m bigger than the average female, it’s very comfortable. I did a 3-night/4-day trip in May in southern Utah and it worked beautifully for all of my needs. It was very comfortable too, no issues with my shoulders, back, or hips. I love how the waistband pivots a little bit to match the movement of my hips. It also has loops and straps in all the right places to allow me to attach stuff to the outside.

Should have asked my friends to get a better photo of my pack! Obviously, it has lots of places to clip stuff to the outside.

I’m not someone who typically gets crazy loyal with a brand when it comes to products. I use a L.L.Bean Stowaway Day Pack on short hikes (even brought it backpacking), and my oldest son will often use my Camelbak M.U.L.E. backpack because it can more easily hold a water bladder. I’m sure Deuter makes comparable day packs, but those two we got for free. Lol. For everything else, I find myself grabbing our Deuter packs most often.

Product of the Month - March 2021 - Ring Light & Phone Clip

I use so many different products with my work, I decided to start featuring a product each month and see how long I can keep it up. This post contains affiliate links. Shopping through them earns me a few cents and it is very much appreciated.

Last March, when my kids convinced me to start making time lapse videos of my watercolor paintings, I ordered this ring light and phone clip thingie from Amazon. I’m fairly certain my iPhone was listening in on my conversation with my kids because one popped up as a sponsored ad on Instagram later that day…. because that’s not at all creepy.

This thing has turned out to be really, really useful. The clip is decently strong to grip the edge of a table or a shelf and hold my iPhone 11 with very little sagging.

The ring light can be adjusted to be super bright or a couple of steps dimmer and I can even adjust the color of the light if I need a warmer or cooler light. I often use just the light when joining conference calls or job interviews via Zoom. The ring itself isn’t large enough to get that neat reflection in people’s eyes, but it does a great job lighting my desk for when I’m painting.

This device came with a little remote control that can link to an iPhone or Android phone. I’m sure it would come in handy if I ever plan to use my clip to make videos where I’m physically in the shots.

For a tool that was only $20, this has been perfect for my current needs. But I know that someday, if I want to continue making videos of my paintings, I will want something sturdier that can get a true, overhead view. For now though, this clip works great for what I need.