From The Beginning
So I'm starting a blog. There I've said it. It's out in the open now...I can't take it back haha. Here I'll be sharing bits about my biz, behind the scenes, tips - a whole bunch of fun stuff. I've even got a cool idea that involves other creatives (watch that space).
I thought, seeing as this is the first blog post - that it reallllllly should be about me. Meh, I'm not that fond of talking about myself but there are a bunch of people out there that want to know how I started, why I do this and what K-Rae Designs is all about. Think of this as the "About Me" section - just an extended version ;)
So - let's cast our minds back to 2013. 22 year old Kimberly was experimenting with turning her strange doodles, she used to draw in important meetings while she worked at Flight Centre, into greeting cards. My progress at the time was sketching with a pencil, painting with acrylic and then going over the lines with a black Niko pen. Then I'd give my images to my hubby to scan through at his work and then I'd play around with text. No Illustrator, Procreate, Photoshop here...just my realllly dodgy drawings and fonts via the website Vistaprint. I got all my cards printed through Vistaprint...gotta make a bargain on their amazing sales they always seem to have. After waiting a few weeks to receive them (hello international shipping), I was a bit bummed because they put their own branding on the back of their cards #faceplam ah well.
I created a Facebook page called Kraezy Kardz (play on my name...you can see a lil bit of K-Rae Designs being born here haha), told all my friends and family and within a few days I had a couple of orders. Mind you, these cards were drawings of little creatures...looking back I'm kinda like "Why? Why would anyone want a pack of these" 🤣
That lil biz venture lasted all of 2.5 seconds and my little dream got put on the back burner.
Fast forward to November 8th, 2016...I created an Instagram account (after a grueling process of what to name it). This account was purely to just share my lettering journey that I had recently started. I was a brand new stay at home mum with a 16 month old - I needed a creative outlet from the everyday mundane tasks. My phone at the time had a stylus, so I used that with a lame program I had on my phone and created my first lot of digital lettering.
Oh wow - such beautiful lettering 😬😳
I experimented with ink after spoiling myself with some water brush pens from my lettering crush at the time - Your My Type Ella Rathbone. I also dabbled with a bit of paint, but I just felt like I was too much of a perfectionist to do lettering this way. I'd be too strict and end up going over and over the words too many times (probably why I love the bold lines now 🤣). After trawling through Instagram at the time - I noticed people were loving on the Pentel Brush Pen, which I then found at Officeworks. I used this for a while, writing out my favourite quotes and then styling them as flatlays. Here are some pics from then - *excuse me as I cringe at these*
Thus brings us to January 2017 - where I invested in an iPad Pro 12.9inch along with the Apple Pen. If I wanted to take this seriously, I needed to up my game. I watched many Youtube videos and Instagram posts, that used this amazing lil app called Procreate which is only compatible with Apple. $10 for the app at the time - and you have that baby forever - KA CHING. And so starts my journey with digital lettering.
February 2017 - I wanted to have my Etsy store up and running before Valentines day, you know...lure the lovey doveys in and make my first lot of sales. Bam it worked. Of course at the start it was just family and friends, but it made my little heart sing. I did it! I started my own little business selling greeting cards. "I've made it MA"
I often think back to when I was away up the coast one weekend and I got an order from a law firm in Brisbane city for x10 Thank You and x8 Happy Birthday cards. I was beside myself. Legit...did a little happy dance while I read the email whilst ordering my coffee. It was my first "big" order from someone other than my Mum, Aunty or Sister 😍
So yeah, that's pretty much how K-Rae Designs started out in a nutshell. A lot of experimenting with different methods and materials until I found something I liked and suited me.
If you're looking at wanting to sell your art/products - I really encourage you to JUST DO IT. You really don't have to start out big or have all your ducks in a row to be able to start. Just begin. If you don't want to pay the big bucks to create a website, Etsy is a great platform to start off with. I love the exposure you get from customers all over the world. Hmmmm tips on how to get started? That's another blog post 😏
If you have any questions - just lemme know below and I'd be happy to answer them or compile them for another blog post in the future.
This was a great read. So wonderful to hear about your journey as it gives so many of us creatives some perspective! Keep crushing it girl.
So wonderful to read your origin story! You go girl, congrats on your first (of many, I hope!) blog posts!!
SO PROUD babe! LYICID
You are totally amazing and love how you have stepped out to ‘do you’ ❤️😍❤️ Love you lots, and proud to say I knew you before you were famous xxxx
Loved reading where all things K-Rae started! So proud of you x