Family Portrait

I'm really pleased I've finished a family portrait of me, my husband and daughter. I love doing portraits for people but found it much more difficult doing one of myself and my little family. I'm really pleased with it though and have it up on my wall already. I'm sure it will only take seconds for JT to spot it when she gets home from school! I'll let you know her verdict, but do let me know what you think...

If you are interested in having your own  Family Portrait done please visit my Etsy shop or contact me for details. Email: sam@sammiller.org.uk

© Copyright  Sam Miller 2013

All the artwork and text on this blog are original and belong to SamMillerUK. They must not be copied, used or reproduced without the permission of the artist. Thank you.

Facebook Excitement...hiking and liking!!

After wondering what to do to boost my Facebook likes I accidentally stumbled into a Hike last night! I was a bit lost at first, wondering what to do, but what fun?! Had a great time jumping around looking at other people's pages and leaving comments and likes all over. It did feel a bit like I was in a three-legged race trying to go as fast as possible but stumbling a bit and I really did feel like I had been running around as it got into one big frenzy. I will definitely do it again and it did increase my likes a lot!

Basically, you are given a starting time and then you can tag your business page on the hike status post, you then look at other people's tags on there and go to whichever one's you fancy. If you like them click on their like button and leave a message.

Tips from an amateur hiker (Thanks to Bizzy at Hike your Likes)!
Go to the Hike page and just jump to any of the links you fancy.
If you like the page, click on the 'like' button at the top and then post a message and your own link.
Do the liking from your personal profile  or it doesn't count, but then tag your own page by putting @ before your name so it is then highlighted.

I did pop off for a sedate stroll at one point, that was more leisurely, almost like a small treasure hunt. You just follow a list of links and visit each page, see what you think and leave a message. Then pop back and leave your tag when you've completed them all.

Both are simple and fun and did let me see lots of lovely things and meet a few people, led me on to new unexpected and exciting pages before my mind exploded with creativity!!

I think I'm an addict now, I plan to do lots more hiking as I do like this virtual way of doing it so I don't get cold, wet and muddy! So if you fancy a stroll or a hike I hope to bump into you there!

© Copyright  Sam Miller 2013

All the artwork and text on this blog are original and belong to SamMillerUK. They must not be copied, used or reproduced without the permission of the artist. Thank you.

SamMillerUK Facebook Frustration!

Hi, I'm just having a think about how to boost my facebook likers and noticed lots of people doing competitions and give-aways so I'm thinking of going down that route as I am finding it hard to get over 100 which does seem a bit lame!

It is also frustrating as I have created pages for  Edinburgh Pop-Up Markets and Colinton Market-Place which I maintain and we get a fantastic number of folks looking. I also made a page for LB With Love just a few days ago too and that already has almost as many likes as me which is fantastic but I really need to change my marketing strategy for my own page...focus!

If anyone has any hints or tips on how to cheaply and effectively up your likes do let me know and I will announce my give-away very soon.
Thanks, SX

www.edinburghpopupevents.com

© Copyright  Sam Miller 2013

All the artwork and text on this blog are original and belong to SamMillerUK. They must not be copied, used or reproduced without the permission of the artist. Thank you.

Plans for now!

Hi, just thought I could check in before I put the little monkey to bed! We have just got to read a poem she has to recite for Scottish week, 'Twa Leggit Mice' ! It's not easy for a Sheffield lass to help with the Scottish grammar particularly as my seven year old keeps telling me just to speak English as my attempt at sounding Scottish is so embarrassing!!

Just thought I'd tell you the plans for the week. We have to sort out some licencing problems with the Council for our events,there just seems to be a lot of money and red tape involved but hopefully no big issues...fingers crossed.

AND I have finally decided what I want my own family portrait to look like and now have a chance to get on with it. I love doing them for other people but have had a bit of a block about my own, but after doing one of 2 people dancing with their Granddaughter, I realised this was the perfect format for my own as JT spends her whole life getting Mummy and Daddy to dance with her, so watch this space!

 

© Copyright  Sam Miller 2013

All the artwork and text on this blog are original and belong to SamMillerUK. They must not be copied, used or reproduced without the permission of the artist. Thank you.

Illustrations in MADE Magazine

I did some illustrations for the very lovely MADE magazine which will be used over the year for two different articles by a Mummy and a Daddy. Do take a look at them here, and if you are in Edinburgh do pick the mag up as it's a really stylish read, I'm very proud to be in it.

© Copyright  Sam Miller and MADE 2013

All the artwork and text on this blog are original and belong to SamMillerUK. They must not be copied, used or reproduced without the permission of the artist. Thank you.

New Year, New start!

Happy New Year 2013!

I've been spending the New Year sorting out my home after weeks of piling up boxes of stock everywhere. It's great getting everything sorted and I have almost completed my very least favourite task of sorting through all my papers. Unfortunately my filing system for the last few months has meant simply throwing any receipt, letter, or sketch into a huge stack and then hoping they would sort themselves out or just disappear, so it's good to feel they are now in some order!

I have also now got a cleverly concealed designated storage area, rather than boxes all over the house! See if you can spot the storage! feel very neat and tidy now and couldn't be happier with my lovely lovely new light!

Ready now for a fresh start and to start making lots of new work. Last year things flew along in a blur as our new Pop-Up business took over but this year SamMillerUK is going to be my priority.

It is weird loking back though and thinking how I ws tentatively starting out last year, wondering what would happen, and now I feel like I've got 2 established businesses. It's a bit overwhelming at times but I am loving it. You can follow both these adventures on Facebook too /sammilleruk and /edinburghpopupmarkets

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I'm sorry I've been totally out of my blog for a while. Life has been a bit hectic and crazy. SamMillerUK has been busy busy busy and on top of that Edinburgh Pop-Up Markets totally took at a speed which took both myself and my business partner Lindsay totally by surprise, which meant for the last few months I have been running two businesses, making art, popping up all over Edinburgh, and fitting in being a Mum which really did take up every second of every day!

Christmas was so lovely and relaxing after all the rushing around and stress so I now feel totally refreshed but a little too relaxed as I am finding working again a little bit hard to get back into. However I have created a whole new lovely storage area for the mass of boxes of stock I have and am getting my house and workspace ready for a fantastic year of creating, so Happy 2013 to all of you. I hope it will be a great one for everyone and plan to let you know how my year is going here...

Please also visit my Facebook page for updates and special offers. Sx