Lake Erie Artists Gallery’s Squidlog

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Small Business Owner Endings and Beginnings

Almond Branches in Bloom, San Remy, c.1890

Almond Branches in Bloom, San Remy, c.1890 Art Print
van Gogh, Vincent
27.25 in. x 27.25 in.
Buy at AllPosters.com
Framed Mounted

Tomorrow I am spending my entire day doing paperwork, to finish off fiscal 2008 and start fiscal 2009 for Lake Erie Artists Gallery. This year will be a year of great change for us. We are slowly but surely going to finish converting the gallery from a co-op to a retail business.

Here is what to expect from Lake Erie Artists Gallery this year.

Affiliations with related businesses to help secure our bottom line and help us support local artists with a better financial base. The picture placed in this blog entry is an example of this. You can order this or other prints from Allposters.com through our link, and Lake Erie Artists Gallery will get a royalty from the sale. We will have similar alliances with Amazon.com and other companies, so if you are buying a book online come through one of our links to help support us. The links will be available on our new website after January 15, 2009 and on this blog. You can also find them on my Squidoo.com lenses.

More web presence. Lake Erie Artists Gallery now has an ebay store which will be rapidly expanding this year. We will also be putting up our new website on January 15, as well as continued association with Squidoo.com and other online sites.

We are going to reevaluate our inventory and partnerships with artists. We are going to look for some fresh new artists for the gallery and also will expand our relationships with artists that we have known about but have not had the chance to partner with before.

Start doing more wholesale selling of Paula Atwell Jewelry. You will hear more about that later in the year.

And lastly, we are expanding our wedding business.

This is a very aggressive agenda, but it will make much needed changes in the way we do business, and provide for our customer base.

To 2009!

Doing Taxes?

Are you doing your taxes yet? Well, at least you should be preparing to. By the end of January, you should have recieved just about everything you need to get your taxes in to the government.

This year, don’t wait! Get your taxes finished, and get your refund.

As a self employed business person, I can tell you that this is a very frustrating time of year for me. I just abhor doing paperwork and accounting. Thank God that my husband is very meticulous. He does our family tax return every year and that includes my business.

You can do your taxes at home yourself and save yourself a lot of money. Also you can send it in by email and get your refund back much more quickly.

Here is a link to tax software for 2008 taxes.
2008 Tax Software

January 2009

Dear friends,
It is so hard to believe that it is indeed 2009. The year 2008 seemed to run by so swiftly. And with it’s ups and downs, it was a good year for Lake Erie Artists Gallery.

We have grown and developed both in our brick and mortar store and online. And 2009 will be another year of growth for us.

As I sit here, on the first Saturday in January, it amazes me what things we already have planned for this upcoming year.

This month, through January 31, everything in our store will be 15% off except for our Trollbeads line. However, for Trollbeads customers, we have a great new gift until they run out. All customers who make a Trollbeads purchase will receive a beautiful brown or teal jewelry carrying case.

Another thing to look forward to is our new website which will be unveiled hopefully on January 15. Keep checking to see when that happens.

It is tax season, so when your tax refund comes back, make sure to put some of it aside as a gift for your loved ones. Valentine’s Day is around the corner and we have some lovely gifts.

So keep on checking in. See you soon. And Happy New Year.

Announce Your January Pregnancy in Style

Are you pregnant? Do you have strangers asking you all the time when you are due? Do they touch your belly? They would never do that if you weren’t pregnant, would they. It’s like your body becomes public property. Yeesh!

Well the solution is to put a big “hands off” sign on your belly!

Rainbow Baby Brewing Maternity T-Shirt
Hands off My Belly

Or you could just tell them in simple words “Due in January”. They can’t miss that you are pregnant then, and they won’t have to ask you when you are due. Plus, these shirts are very comfortable and made of top-notch quality. They can be customized for your order.

January Due Date Maternity Dark T-Shirt

Due in January Stork by SagArt

These designs and more can be purchased at Shop or Create What's on Your Mind at CafePress

For more “Due in” month designs follow the appropriate link:

Do you want to announce that the baby is due in

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December -

View the ‘due in’ collection of your due date month.

Or Announce Your Pregnancy in Style !

I am Now Publishing on AddsYou.com

Social Publishing Network | AddsYou
http://www.addsyou.com
username=MjAwOC0xMi0xNCAyMjoyMTozMQ==

Free Gift Wrap at Tower City


That time is here and stores are getting busy here in Tower City. Don’t wait until the very last minute when the lines are long and the stores run out of things to buy. Come downtown, enjoy our city, and get your Christmas shopping done. Starting Saturday December 13, there will be free gift wrap on the main level in Tower City right around the corner from our store.

Save yourself the extra wrapping time and use it to relax with your families. Lake Erie Artists Gallery has a lot of wonderful gifts for under $30. Hope to see you soon.

Buy Local

In this economy we all want to support our neighbors, and local businesses. And that is what Lake Erie Artists Gallery is all about.

But did you know about a new site called ibuyneo.com? This site is sponsored by COSE and supports both local businesses and local charities in the Northeast Ohio area.

The site is still a bit new, but lots of local small businesses are listed there, so take a look when you need to buy something and help your neighbor.

Cleveland Memorabilia


If you like the old style sepia colored photographs, you will like the work of Jim Ptacek. Jim has been photographing locales around Cleveland and other places in the region for many years and his photography is unmistakeable. All of his work is available either framed or unframed.

Do You Know the Meaning of Chanukah?


For some of us this is not the Christmas season but the season of the Jewish Festival of Lights–Chanukah. Although there are a few minor similarities between Chanukah and Christmas, Chanukah has a completely different meaning and history than Christmas and is considered a minor holiday on the Jewish calendar. For more information, follow this link.

Holiday Cheer

What is your favorite biscotti flavor? Here is a list to choose from:

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Pick your favorite and let me know. My favorite is a vanilla biscotti with crushed hazelnuts, dark chocolate and Frangelico added. I will be baking up some for the holidays this year.

I spent my morning at WKYC Channel 3’s Studio on Lakeside Blvd in Cleveland, Ohio watching and being on “Good Company” which is a local TV show. It was a little weird but everyone was very welcoming and nice so it wasn’t too weird. It went very fast and I felt very strange doing it. I was featured on a segment advertising an event that I will be at tomorrow night at COSE’s offices in the Higbee building.

For those of you not from Cleveland, the Higbee building is an old department store building and it is attached to Terminal Tower where my store is. Actually Higbee’s is featured in the movie A Christmas Story which takes place here in Cleveland.

The event tomorrow night recreates the old shopping at Higbee’s experience. COSE’s staff does a great job decorating the offices to look like the North Pole, bringing back Mr. Jingeling, another Cleveland phenomenon, and inviting members to set up shops. We will have a shop there tomorrow. We had it last year, and it was so much fun. The event runs from 3 to 8 pm and anyone can come. Check COSE’s website for more information. http://www.cose.org/events

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