Happy New Year!

Happy 2013!!!

Here's a greeting made in part by my crafty little 4 year old out of her super-fun sock puppets we made together (thanks Shelly!). Wishing you a wonderful New Year!

Holiday Cards on sale now; preorder discount available

Holiday Cards are now on sale, with FREE SHIPPING! And, if you order by October 18th, then you will receive 10% off of your entire order (Just use coupon code: HOLIDAY10OFF in the checkout).

There are two style available: Squaw Sunset and Donner Lake. Last year, these were a sell-out, so get online and order your Holiday Cards now. Discounts available for multi-pack orders and pre-orders.

Inside reads: “Sending holiday wishes to you and your loved ones.”

Details:

• Folded cards size is 4.25” x 5.5”
• Eco Friendly (Case is entirely compostable)
• Made in USA (made in USA)
• Free shipping to US addresses
• Unique, Truckee Art by Truckee artist
• Did I mention these are made in the USA?

Pricing:

• $18 for 10 cards with 10 white envelopes ($1.80 per card)
• $70 for 50 cards with 10 white envelopes (save $20; comes to $1.40 per card)
• $130 for 100 cards with 10 white envelopes (save $50; comes to $1.30 per card)

Shipping:

Shipping will start after November 2nd. They take 1 to 2 weeks to ship (sorry, no international orders).

Order now by clicking here

Improve Your Facebook Feed Exposure and Interaction

Many businesses and organizations create Facebook Fan Pages not knowing that it can become an amazing marketing tool. They simply sign up, assuming that it is just the thing to do today, next to filing a fictitious business name and ordering business cards. After floundering around in the Facebook waters wondering what to post, when to post, and how to gain followers, a page may start to gain popularity simply by the amount of customers it has. However, simply having a sea of followers does not mean you are using Facebook to its fullest potential for your marketing growth.

According to 5 Ways to Improve Your Facebook News Feed Exposure by Brian Carter, "photos often get from 5 to 20 times as much interaction as any other type of Facebook post [statuses, links or videos]." As the VP of Marketing for Infinigraph writes in his article, there are ways to maximize your posts through unique imagery and inspired requests for engagement, as well as other suggestions.

If you are an administrator of a Facebook Fan Page and are looking for ways to increase your feed exposure, check out 5 Ways to Improve Your Facebook News Feed Exposure for some healthy insights.

New Testimonial

Carmen Carr, a first-class realtor here in Truckee, just provided me a very sweet testimonial (thanks Carmen!):

Sara Zimmerman blends art and computers seamlessly, effortlessly and beautifully! Her unique and artistic approach to web design is refreshing and stunning. I couldn't be happier with my website - it is professional with an artistic flair - the perfect combination for me! ~ Carmen Carr, carmencarr.com

Art Quotes

Inspirational Art Quotes:

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures."

~ Henry Ward Beecher

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong."

~ Joseph Chilton Pearce

"I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me."

 - Henri Matisse

Artist who does Web Design

People often visit my website to view my fine art and then say, "Wow! I had no idea you created websites too!" They later ask how I can be both an artist AND do something so left-brained like web design and marketing? For me it is easy because they are two passions of mine: I absolutely love to push myself creatively AND I am passionate about finding ways to help people pursue their own business visions.

So what is it that I do for businesses?

When I am working on a business project, I wear many, many hats, including:

• project manager
• SEO and marketing consultant
• graphic artist
• illustrator
• html/css programmer
• UI/UX designer
• content editor
• business coach
• and confidant

Brand development and marketing require someone who can keep the vision in mind while overseeing and executing the daily tasks of the project. From owning a few different businesses and coaching several more, I have had regular practice on how to address the unique nuances of each industry. I work with business visions in mind as I get the realistic details in order and figure out what needs to happen on a daily basis to make a deadline. However, I understand the creative side too, so I get results that are eye-catching and memorable to your target market.

To understand the completeness of a project, the project manager needs to understand how each part works, what is most important for that component to work, and then blend the parts into a perfect marriage. That means someone who understands the visual, marketing, programming or printing, and clients needs.

Each project may sounds simple: "I need a website." "I need a poster." "I need a sign illustrated." But behind each project is a multitude of tasks that need to be done correctly to make your project worthwhile. Before choosing your web designer or graphic designer, look at their portfolio and see if they have the experience to help you with your project. Make sure their past works are something you may like for your business. And read their testimonials. And next time you'll get a better feel why so many people choose someone like me, an artist who does design.

Strength - my most recent artwork

I have been busy painting and working on my "Healing" art series between my graphic and web design projects. My most recent artwork is called "Strength", 16in x 20in, acrylic on canvas.

"Strength" symbolizes my healing process of visualizing my skeleton, my thoughts, my emotions, and my attitude growing stronger each and every day. It started with a series of painted sinews in red and purple, and then slowly morphed into becoming a strong oak tree with new leaves standing tall in the bright, new moonlight. On the sides is a light, textured area that looks like it has been peeled away to reveal the tree beneath. On these spots are gritty texture in bone-white, symbolizing the endurance of a basic skeleton structure with the outline of tree leaves. The leaves represent newness, education, and growth.

Laughing Sun Clothing has closed its virtual doors

Laughing Sun Clothing has closed its virtual doors. Thank you to all of our past supporters and team. If you would like to see artworks, designs, and websites from Laughing Sun artist, Sara Zimmerman, please explore Sara's site. Thanks!

Best Wordpress Web Host

Choosing a host for your new website can be a daunting task since there are hundreds, if not thousands. I have worked with many and though I love to support local, small businesses, this is one area where the national brand is the better way to go. When you have a national company competing with others, you end up getting easy customer service 24/6, a great control panel, easy to understand tutorials, and usually money back guarantees. One of my favorite companies to work with is GoDaddy.com. They are great for general html sites and WordPress sites, as well as other options.

In building new sites and redesigning sites with hosts that clients currently work with, I have come across numerous different host and domain providers. The reason I prefer GoDaddy.com over many of the other large (and small hosts) is the following:

• Their control panels are very easy to navigate and work with, for both developer and client.
• They have a wide variety of tutorials for all of their products that are easy to access and understand
• I have had the least amount of problems with their hosting and transfers with them than any other host I have worked with.
• They have expedited transfers for me, allowing client websites to have minimal down times.
• Though I have seen some slower service for their Economy WordPress hosting, their Deluxe and Ultimate packages have produced faster load times for client websites.
• Customer service. I have had some problems with them with a couple clients (but less than with other hosts) and when that happened, they refunded the full amount.

All hosts boast that they do not have problems, even though all hosts have a problem here and there. That said, GoDaddy has provided more consistent service than any other host that I have used.

How to Purchase the Top wordpress website hosting

1. Go to GoDaddy.com and go to the menu HOSTING If you are getting a WordPress site, go to WORDPRESS hosting
2. If you will only have a few images and don't care about loading speeds, choose the Economy Plan. If you are going to have more than a handful of images and want faster loading times, choose Deluxe Plan (12 months is recommended for both). If you are going to have an eCommerce site with onsite payment processing, then choose the Ultimate Plan and you will get a SSL certificate for free for one year.
3. Don't add anything else on the next page and proceed to checkout.*
4. *If you do not have a domain name, go to DOMAINS and select a domain name. The .com and .net are preferred.

GoDaddy is my favorite website host because they take great care of you, have exceptional services and integrative options, as well as numerous tutorials that stay up to date. If you are planning on getting a website, I recommend GoDaddy for your hosting. However, be sure to talk to your web designer first to make sure that you are purchasing the correct plan for your site.

Art Workshop Survey

Interested in an Art Workshop? Throughout the last year, numerous people have approached me asking me if I would do an art workshop. If you are interested in an art workshop, can you please take 2 minutes and complete this 7 question survey to help me? Thanks in advance for your help!