Art Festival Success!

September is the perfect time of year for an Arts Festival! The sun was shining, a cool wind was blowing and people were ready for fun!

Early as 7am TheMerryBird Tent was set up and ready for business! By 10am, the hustle and bustle of people walking through the tent lined yard of the town green and the scent of sweet popcorn were floating in the air. Giggling children and creative adults that were looking for that "special" gift or momento had all vendors on their toes!

Next door to me, a fine watercolor artist had his easels up with lovely landscape art, across the way another fine artist had paintings and collage type works ready to hang. As we round the bend of the town green craft artists and music lured people to explore the magic of ART!

I'm happy to report that TheMerryBird had an exceptional day for Pet Portrait requests and notecards! 10% of Festival earnings and earnings up until Oct. 31, 2009 will be donated the JDRF - now customers know they are contributing to not only a happy feeling for themselves but to the research of Juvenile Diabetes.

With the future in mind - and business concepts in development, new images will appear on cards, holiday wrapping and tags will be on the forefront! See you next festival!

Keep in touch and fly in soon to support the JDRF!

Walk in Newburgh NY on Sept. 27, 2009 with "Christians Crusade"!

Kristine Sheehan

TheMerryBird.com

"Your Stationery in Flight"

2009 summer season flew by!

Today, business is in full swing again starting with AD design for WBO Magazine and its upcoming Convention in October 2009. Below are some recent Ad designs created by TheMerryBird. No Doubt climbing the ladder of success through WBO networking group!

Look for other Merry Bird AD design in the WBO Magazine and WBO Convention Booklet this October 2009!

Grass Root Marketing Gone Wild! (a.k.a. Social Media)

By now the words "Social Media" are in your vocabulary and you are aware of the hype and worth of it to you and your business. It truly is a wonderful thing that has happened to small businesses across the globe. Here are a few reasons why it's so powerful and why you should take part:

1: Social Media Creates a larger COMMUNITY from the roots up! It allows portals of contact all over the globe to open. These portals allow businesses (big and small) to learn from one another at a faster rate, while virtually marketing for FREE.

2: Businesses become more ACCOUNTABLE for the products and services they offer. One mistake could be deadly to a campaign or products future. Social Media forces businesses to face the music or makes them worthy of more customers - vital to the company's existence.

3: The availability of custom items are more readily available and easily attained via social media - Grass Roots Gone Wild! Artists, custom manufacturers have a greater, wider audience then ever

4: Where grass root marketing once would move a campaign slowly from location to location - businesses can market by word of mouth in virtually one day!

Check out Twitter.com, Facebook.com, Wiki, tons of smaller niche groups can be found easily via google search! Open those portals and let Grass Root Marketing Go Wild for your business today!

Kristine Sheehan

TheMerryBird.com

"Your Stationery in Flight"

5 Reasons to Logo Your Business

1 - A logo creates VISUAL RECOGNITION of a BRAND

2 - A logo creates CONSISTENCY FOR MARKETING PURPOSES

3 - A logo PORTRAYS PROFESSIONALISM

4 - A logo MAKES A BUSINESS UNIQUE

5 - A logo REPRESENTS WHAT YOU VALUE ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS


http://www.themerrybird.com/logodesign.html

"Your Online Business Manager"

These days if your are looking for an office assistant you no longer have to look beyond your desktop pc or PDA. Virtual Assistance is a rapid entity on the internet. Need an assistant to take care of your accounting? Letters and legal documents? General Management of your office? Look no further than your PC internet connection. Your assistant can be found in a virtual world that has been growing and booming for many years online.

VBS Virtual Assist, LLC is one of the best companies you can find on the net to support your business. Dubbed as “Your Online Business Manager”, Brenda Violette takes the role of office manager, assistant and contact all from your desktop email and web.

With her recent brand change she has a new VBS business logo (created by TheMerryBird) and new website which is under construction to fit the role she plays for her virtual clients. If you are in the market for a new office assistant why not try a virtual one?

Contact:

Brenda Violette, President

VBS Virtual Assist, LLC

Info@VBSvirtualassist.com

http://www.vbsvirtualassist.com/

Author: Kristine Sheehan, TheMerryBird.com

3 Common Characteristics of Type

Recently I was reading about the evolution of typefaces. I thought this was an interesting piece of information to share from Designing with Type, by Craig. It is how we identify Old Style, Transitional and Modern Typography.


Variation in Stress

From the early pen and ink fonts drawn by scribes, a distribution of weight in the letters which creates “ STRESS” can be seen. The example of the letter “O” is shown here to illuminate the differences of Old Style fonts to the most Modern fonts. See the diagonal stress line as it changes over the centuries?

















Variation in Strokes

“The degree of contrast between the thick and thin strokes of letters is VARIATION.”
The example below shows Garamond which has little contrast between the weight of the thick and thin strokes vs. Helvetica which has no variation at all.




























Variation in Serifs

Serifs are the ornament that decorates the stroke of a letter. Serifs vary in the way the serif meets the vertical stroke of the letter. You can see the weight difference in the example here:













Next time you choose a new font – ask yourself -- about the subtle differences that make the Characteristics of the new font stand out. Is it easy to read and comfortable to follow across the page? Is it Old Style, Transitional or Modern?


Kristine Sheehan
TheMerryBird.com
“Your Stationery in Flight”
203-551-1155

A Logo: Empower U Academy

Marketing mentor Denise Michaels has started a new division of her business, Empower U Academy. Dealing with mostly women and home based business owners, Denise guides those that she mentors to be more successful and to feel empowered about themselves.

Her new logo, designed by TheMerryBird (me:) represents a place of learning and a place where the goal is for the mentored to change the way they see themselves while embracing empowerment. "This belief in self causes them to be more effective at achieving their goals."

Providing a credible source of honest learning that is genuinely about helping people in a way that is fun, fast and based on reality, Denise mentors those to channel empowerment into business and into life!

The laurel wreath gives this logo an Academic flare while it's leaves guide the eye toward the word "Academy". The letter U represents the learner being born at the top of the academy class! Her choice of colors are gold, bluish purple and a touch of vine green, all of which represent goals, strength and life. Feel the empowerment!

Her new website is presently under construction but will be up and running full force soon!

http://www.empoweruacademy.com/

Kristine Sheehan, TheMerryBird.com

Read Denise's and other Merry Bird design Testimonials here:

http://www.themerrybird.com/customernotes.html