Clunky Branding and Indecision

Last night I posted this to Instagram because I’m making some changes in my format there.

It explains some of my thought process right now, though, so it seems like a good idea to share it here as well.


Over the last few weeks, I’ve doodled several variations of this index card — my little monster robot that reads INDECISION, KILLER OF WORLDS — trying to decide what to do with my Instagram.

Well, my Instagram and several other areas of my life, particularly professionally.

I’m the kind of woman who tends throw herself head first into a creative project, then eventually I move on to focus on something else for awhile.

I never abandon anything completely… I tend to cycle from one creative project to the next and back again, often by season. But I lose interest in doing a lot of one thing for awhile and move on until I get excited about it again.

Something interesting has happened since I switched my Instagram “brand” to be entirely linocut, though…

I’ve stopped doing anything else.

And because it feels like too much of a departure, when I’m not really feeling the block printing process — and it is a process, a messy one! — I end up not doing ANYTHING because I start feeling bad about not doing the thing I’m “supposed” to be doing.

Oh, did I mention I’m a marketing consultant and I help businesses brand themselves and build sales funnels for a living?

So even though I spend my days building authentic brands for my clients, I find myself NOT being authentic here because I’m never quite sure what to do with this account… an account that started entirely personal and has now become a sea of block printed baby clothes.

So here we are.

I made a decision last week that I am going to start showing my work — both creatively and professionally — as a way to build a more conscious, flexible, authentic online presence.

That means some changes are going to be happening on my grid. I’m going to allow myself to post things that aren’t linocut… though I promise, this isn’t the end of the adorable baby clothes.

But I’m going to try to share more organically about my creative process, my work, what I’m reading, listening to and doing on this feed.

It’s cool if you aren’t here for this… feel free to unfollow my lame, oversharing butt. But I look forward to connecting with all of you in a new, awesome way. ?

Sweater Weather and Showing Your Work

We didn’t have much of a summer in the PNW this year. I’ve been missing Austin a bit, then I remember:

In Austin, Texas there is no such thing as a summer where you only have maybe 10 days where it gets over 90 degrees.

I owe that town (and the people in it) a visit… when it’s cooler.

Speaking of people in Austin, over the last few weeks I have been reading Austin Kleon’s books on art, writing and creativity. They’re pretty awesome, if I do say so myself (and I do).

I started with “Show Your Work”, which I plucked from a library shelf because I liked the title and the small square size.

Then I immediately checked out “Steal Like an Artist” and “Keep Going” because I have no chill… and bought the “Steal Like an Artist Journal”.

This year has been one of change, and one of the things I’ve realized is just how bad I have been at showing my work. Especially professionally.

Over the last 10+ years I’ve built dozens of websites, funnels, sales pages. Split test thousands of headlines. Sent millions of emails and newsletters. Written more copy than I can possibly remember. Created heaps of social media posts. Designed stacks of graphics, logos, banners, brand identities…

And yet all my public portfolio has in it is a handful of posts from nearly three years ago.

Today is the day I start to change that.

It’s time to show my work.

[IMAGE: Woodblock print in black on thrifted baby sweater vest. Carved and hand printed by me a couple weekends ago.]

Crazy Facebook Ads for a Nutrition Supplement

facebook ads ppc

Sometimes you get to do something really fun for a client… and this Facebook Ad campaign was definitely fun.

The market for nutrition supplements is huge, so if you have a smaller budget and want your Facebook Ads to stand out from the crowd of people being re-targeted by major fitness companies, you have to do something a little fun and different.

These brightly colored, fun ads had a great click-through rate in all their variations… people wanted to see more!

social media images

social media images

Social media images

facebook ads

Social media images

social media images

facebook ads, social media images, social media