Road trip to the Eric Carle Museum

Over the weekend we took the kids on a little road trip to the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA. Being both artists, we have been very eager to visit this museum since it opened but felt we wanted to make sure the kids were at an age where they would appreciate it and would enjoy the experience... plus handle the long 2 hour drive.

Even better, we found out this month that our little guy was learning all about Eric Carle in school. He was even creating his own "Eric Carle" artwork in school and thought this was perfect real life education for him. So we packed up the car and made the trip.

Any one who has kids, we're sure you are very familiar with his work, especially his 1969 classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This is a staple in our kids bedtime reading routine.

This very modern and simplistic museum was a pleasant treat.




We hit the museum on a very quiet Saturday morning which was perfect for letting the kids explore and roam without the crowds of people. The very spacious 40,000 square foot building houses three Galleries that are dedicated to exhibitions of picture book art.

One gallery is dedicated to Eric Carle's work and the two other galleries are changing exhibitions of artwork. No photography is allowed in the galleries but you can snap away everywhere else.

A favorite spot that the kids enjoyed immediately is the big Caterpillar sculpture that doubled as a bookcase. The kids had fun running around it and through it and finally sitting inside just long enough for us to snap a few pictures.


Besides the galleries, there is a library, a cafe, a store and an art studio for the kids to create and explore.


We all enjoyed the art studio where you can create fun projects with all sorts of materials. This neat magnetic board has magnets made from branch pieces and painted in fun colors.


Color coded jars lined up on a shelf like a rainbow.

There were many tables for the kids to create and make their own masterpieces.

This was a neat experience to share with the whole family and spark your inner creativity.
We left there inspired and ready to go back to the studio and play.


We are off on another adventure to explore and learn something new.

Have you been to the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA? Share your thoughts on your visit!

Have a good week.

Promotion, promotion oh and more promotion

Who says running your own business was easy? You’re always working, even when you don't have actual work to do. You must always be thinking ahead and planning you next move.

For us being a seasonal company, we are always struggling to stay ahead of the coming season. Which can be a little tricky being that it’s only the two of us sketching, scuplting, painting, embellishing, website updating, blogging, mailings, shipping ......we could go on on on but you get the point.

We just wrapped up our Spring collection and now we are planning on launching a summer collection, (hopefully soon), as well as start designing a new Halloween and Christmas collection.

But these last few weeks we have had PROMOTION on the brain. That's a whole business in itself. It's so important for a small studio like us to really keep promoting to get our name out there.

Here are a few things we have been doing:
Getting more into social media with Twitter and our Facebook page (come like us).
This seems to be a great way to connect with others at no cost, other than our valuable time. We have made some wonderful contacts such as Polyform Products. This is the company that makes all the clay we use for our ornaments. After connecting with us on Facebook, we are now going to be collaborating with them on a project coming this fall. More to come later.

Getting the magazines to notice little old us.
Last year we were very fortunate and blessed with the media exposure we got. Swirly was in 3 magazines and 1 online magazine (click the magazine images on the right side of the blog).

To continue to reach out to get more PR we created this 3 page brochure PDF teaser to email to editors of some of our favorite magazines in hopes to peak their interest in our company. We will let you know if anything comes out of this promotion. We will also create a series of postcards to snail mail out for each holiday season.

Here is the cover image simple yet eye catching.


Inside: We share a brief run down of who we are and
what Swirly Designs does. Quick and simple.


And we end with this page. Our feeling is pictures speak a 1000 words, so showing more images tells the story versus us explaining everything. What are your thoughts on these pages?


And finally we are sharing some of our Swirly ornaments for someone's very special birthday event happening this June. The Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion workshop a weekend of crafting that happens to fall on the craft queen’s birthday! The event is sold out but anyone who is going is sure to get a swirly treat in their goody bags.

Hopefully by doing these few extra things now, it will help with the holiday season later on this year.

What do you do to promote your business?

Have a good rest of the week!
Lianne & Paul

Happy Mommies Day!

To all the mommies out there.
Smile and enjoy your day!
xo
The Swirly gang!