Chat with Leanin' Tree - Susan January

Hi Everyone!

Quick post letting you know Susan January, VP of Product Management with Leanin' Tree will be at the next "2nd Thursday" text chat. This is open to anyone interested in Art Licensing: Manufacturers, Art Directors, Retailers, Agents, and Artists :-D . 6:30 pm CST USA/Chicago time.

http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/

This is for any paid member on ArtLicensingShow.com.

QUESTIONS that you all sent in for this Thursday's Chat:

1. What is the best way to submit to you? And how often do you want to see new art? Do you want the art mocked up as a card?
   
2. Does the artist  need to come up with the copy/text for a greeting card along with the art?

3. What makes up a best selling greeting card.

4. What is Leanin’ Tree’s best selling cards (sympathy, Christmas…)?

5. When looking for new greeting cards to manufacturer - what stands out to you?

6. How can an artist best support Leanin’ Tree?

7. The greeting card industry has changed a lot. If you can, talk about that a bit. Are most of your sales online?

8. What sort of gifts do you manufacture? Do you license art for your gift line?

9. Where does Leanin’ Tree see themselves in 5 years?

From Susan's bio on ArtlicensingShow.com and Leanin' Tree's website:

Susan - I am the current Vice President of Product Management at Leanin' Tree, a greeting card and gift product manufacturer based in Boulder, Colorado. I have more than 25 years of experience in art licensing and greeting card development. I am a former President of the Greeting Card Association, and am still a current member of the Association's Executive Committee. Leanin' Tree currently works with more than 700 artists across our 6,000 product skus, and we add an average of 1500 to 2000 new products annually.

Leanin Tree - Beautifully crafted greeting cards that feature original artwork by outstanding independent artists from across the country and around the world. All our cards are created, produced and shipped from our facility in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. We strongly believe in supporting our community, our neighbors, and our customers. As for the people behind the products, Leanin’ Tree’s heritage and workforce is truly special. Please take a moment to watch our video, "Behind the Scenes at Leanin' Tree". To see how this family-owned, "made-in-America" business has thrived for over half a century, please visit our History and Goals section.

Thank you all for your interest and support - BIG thanks to Susan for stopping me at Surtex and offering to chat with us! 

ALSC Artists: Get in on ArtLicensingShow.com Coloring Book!

Get your coloring pages submitted! Free marketing opportunity :-D

"TIMELINE

Thurs. October 1st to Friday October 23rd.  The earlier the better as we are already designing the final book. Preference will be given to submissions that are sent in earlier than later, so don’t delay!"

Reminder you need to be an artist on ArtLicensingShow.com (ALSC) or your agent to submit up to 3 pages.
 

Submission form and guidelines here: http://redcarpet.artlicensingshow.com/alsc-coloring-books/

Just a heads up since the deadline is soon <3

Happy Creating,

 

Photo Review: A look at Surtex Booths & ArtLicensingShow.com

Hey Everyone! :-) This post is from my seat on the Art Licensing "bus".

Click on images to view larger.

Yup that is me above standing next to my very cute Mummy/Monsters/Halloween art. Don't you just LOVE Artistic Designs Group new logo! artsdg.com. Sorry Joanne Fink, zenspirations.com! I am standing right in front of your art... ADG had a larger booth, this picture doesn't begin to show it all. They represent such amazing artists! You know how it is, I had to show my folks my banner in their booth :-) —Hi Mom and Dad!

Backing up a bit, above is the layout of surtex - This is for those who haven't been and/or who are thinking of exhibiting next year. It gives you the layout and how many booths. LOTS more info and a PDF of the floor plan can be found on www.surtex.com.

Above right is the layout of Javits. There are couple of shows going on at the same time. I did walk quite a bit of NSS (www.nationalstationeryshow.com) but I didn't ask anyone if I could take pictures of their booths.


Some booths are double, triple the size of one booth, some are corner booths. These photos don't do justice to seeing it in person! These are the booths/people I got permission from to take photos.

I got to spend time with both of these ladies! It was so much fun to get to know them better. The booth is Painted Planet Licensing Group paintedplanetlicensing.com. On the left is Jackie Decker - TEASER! I will be featuring Jackie soon on this blog - she has a VERY interesting art story. On the Right is Jan Draheim, President and all around cool lady. Quick Shout out to Leah Cochran, Asst. Acct. Manager - I had a great time getting to know you as well :-)

Many of you know these two ladies! On the left is Christine Reed Cavanaugh (sister :-) And Tara Reed is on the right. This is Tara's booth tarareeddesigns.com. I have links to several of Tara's cool products to help artist on my Useful Stuff page (I have purchased some myself).  NOTE: there is a wonderful FREE call coming up that Paul Brent does with Tara wrapping up Surtex. This links tells Tara you found it through me (but I don't make any money from it, it is a free call :-) click here for Surtex Review with Paul Brent.

This is Dinah's Booth dinahdesignstudio.com. We kept running into each other - even Monday night on the streets of New York :-) She is an artist to keep you eye on.

I Chatted a bit with jwdlicensing.com. I didn't want to take up too much of anyone's time - they are at Surtex to do business! Not talk with me :-) The Owl on the top left is what stopped me in my tracks. I also notice they represent an artist that is one of my favorites - Nancy Medina. We haven't met yet, I am sure some day we will :-) nancymedina.com.

This is a partial photo of Cultivate Art Collective cultivateartcollective.com. I met Betsey Hodson (left) this year and Susanne Kasielke (right) last year when she and I walked Surtex together. Here is a blurb from their website: "At Cultivate Art Collective, we actively support artists, illustrators and designers by providing them with the opportunity to show and exhibit their work to a global audience.  We do this through the benefits of our membership website, professional peer support and community, our new quarterly e-publication CROP, marketing and promotional opportunities, and by attending and exhibiting at various international trade shows such as SURTEX, the Licensing Show and Printsource."

This is Cultivate Art Agency - Yes there is a connection to Cultivate Art Collective. You can read up about it on cultivateartagency.com. or on Cultivate Art Collective's website link above. Pictured is Rachelle Panagarry - she is such a delight!

I snuck in a photo of the Trend Theater. There are quite a few free presentations you can get in on while visiting Surtex. There are also seminars you can pay to attend.

Now for ArtLicensingShow.com! This site is growing like a weed! The photo shows some of the people that I got to chat with and the giveaway items from the Monday morning meet up. I am guessing about 40 people showed, maybe more. This is a NEW site that is still in Beta testing. I personally got a nibble through this site already and I am very excited to hear how the meeting went with my agent at Surtex! You can join this site for FREE if you are an artist and want to just look around http://redcarpet.artlicensingshow.com/event-registration-step-1/ scroll down for options and pricing.

Licensees, Art Directors and Manufactures join for FREE and can really simplify their lives with this online art licensing show.

This is the very same site that I have my group "2nd Thursdays" (235 members and growing) that you may have seen me talking about. http://artlicensingshow.com/groups/2nd-thursdays/.

Well this is a fun post and gives you an idea of what Surtex is like. For me, it gets me energized and fired up to create a bunch of new collections.

Thank you to Rose Mary Berlin rosemaryberlin.com for bringing a "Biscutt" book and signing it for my daughter. So glad I ran into Lisa Conlin lisaconlindesigns.com in one of the Surtex isles. It was great to pal around with you.

Thank you to all the cool people I got to meet and hang out with and to all of you for following and supporting this blog! Let me know what you think of this post. Please share your thoughts and experiences on the shows.

2nd Thursdays meets THIS Thursday - May 15, 2015

 

Hey Everyone!

Quick reminder that "2nd Thursdays" meets THIS Thursday, May 15th, 6:30 U.S. Central Time (Chicago). http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/ I will post a new chat room URL the day of in the group on ArtLicensingShow.com (ALSC) http://artlicensingshow.com/groups/2nd-thursdays/.

TOPICS: Cherish will be on hand to answer questions about ALSC, Getting social with ALSC and what is on your mind – Surtex is just a few days away, are you going? Are you ready?

Did you see this!? ALSC has a Trade Show Round up for members - Coolio! Post your booth number(s) -- OR scroll down and post a link to your profile page <3 Here is the link: http://redcarpet.artlicensingshow.com/alsc-members-trade-show-round-up/

Are you going to Surtex? I will be there Sunday afternoon and all day Monday. Send me an email and let's see if we can meet :-) anntroe@cox.net. OR just say hi to me at the Art Licensing Meet Up on Monday, 8:15 a.m.,  Level 1 food court, Javits Center. (I will have a pink cinch sack back pack with my "Annie" logo on it).

Great to connect with all of you,