I always watch these whilst packing up orders. Whilst my business is really small, I love watching these videos as inspiration. Especially as another person from the North East! :)
Can't wait to be able to buy a t shirt as they look really cute . So excited for you for your new printer addition & to see what you can do with it . Watching you pack is very therapeutic & I love receiving my order from you & carefully unwrapping it after all the effort has been put in.
Trying to arrange spaces and make them still feel like you're not off in a corner somewhere is always tricky, especially in a setting that you're in for a majority of your day! I definitely like that you didn't put your desk facing the wall; it makes you feel very closed off from what's happening in the studio. At work I am facing two walls, but at least it feels very open around me in my room so it's not too bad, but definitely would prefer to not be facing walls regardless hah! All of that said, it's almost time to see what's going to come of the printer! Your journey from the start of seeing the Roland printers and an ambassador and now getting one of your own has been a whirlwind of awesome and I absolutely love it! It's inspiring and has really made me research into getting the small desktop version for myself in the future! Something that prints, plots, and can withstand sunlight for outdoor application is important for what I want to make, so I love being able to see what it is like in real time for possible investments later! :D I have always been between some of the shirt brands, but always come back to brands that have "Heather " because the shirts are always so soft and inviting to wear and when printed on for DTF/DTG it is a really nice application. And also, not to plug or the like, but there's a company that I used to work for here in the states that I'd also recommend. Some of their processes might have changed (it's been years) but it could be something to test out if you're interested! If you are, just let me know and I'd be happy to share. :) And thank you for the Patreon update too! Once again I was all SQUEEEEE!
It's strange because at Home my desk is at a wall and I like it! heheh 🤣 But when Im in the studio for some reason I hate being against the wall hehe 🤣 Ooohhhh thank you so much for the reccomendations and tips on the shirt hehe 😍 super helpful! 🌷
How often are you using the Cricut machines? Are they something that can be put away in storage and taken out if needed? Especially since the new printer does a big scale version of what the Cricuts used to do for you. Packing those away and reallocating the things on that shelving unit would allow you to move that shelf out of the desk area and move Dean's desk either back or facing the wall. That could provide a little bit more space in your desk area.
I think we may just keep one in storage, Im not sure because we have a large plotter and cutter now, if we will use them anymore! So your right, I didn't even think of that! They take up alot of space! I can totally free that whole shelf up now! 😍
Your videos are the highlight of my Monday…love them. I have the smaller Roland BN-20A and absolutely love it. I was a bit intimidated by it and didn’t use it for months but finally took on the challenge and I’m so happy I did. I design on my Mac, save to my Google drive and then download from my Google drive to my PC. It works great this way and there’s no need for an additional piece of equipment. Good luck on your Roland journey. I’m so glad you’re taking us along for the ride 🤩
ohhhh the BN-20A looks like SUCH a good peice of kit Im so happy you like it! Thats a great Idea, i didn't think of using the google drive thank you so so much 😍 What sort of goodies do you make on yours?!
I use mine to create printed htv for tee shirts and tote bags. I also use it to create vinyl stickers/decals. The biggest challenge for me was coming from the Cricut world. I purchased a Silhouette Cameo because I can print on the BN-20 and cut on the Silhouette (the BN-20 cuts kinda slow 🤪). Things started coming together for me once I became comfortable with the Silhouette design software. If I knew then why I know now I would have started with a Silhouette over the Cricut. The learning curve for moving up to larger machines is easier coming from the Silhouette world versus the Cricut world.
Yeah maybe put the mug and cup press on the other side of your desk between you and Dean. Then put the big printer where they were. You should also have personal stickers that says who packs the order ‘Package by Mike’ sticker
heheh yes definately! We do that already but it's going to be so good to just print them ourselves heheh, thank you so much for the advice! We need to figure out the office configuration! 🤣
The bella+canvas, avoid any of their garments in black because it severely bleeds even during cold washes. Example was a hoodie, the white strings turned a weird blue purple. Another was their short sleeve, I noticed the color bleeding dyed the garment care label the weird tint also.
I've been using the Bella shirts for years. Also they have side seems which means they won't shrink up, unlike the Gildan brand. I love Bella & Canvas.
We are a mixed office with mac and pc users. I work on a pc and the colleague I work with directly uses mac. He has a programm that lets him use Windows in mac. Its like a window with Windows in... He can just drag and drop from his mac desktop into the windows frame etc. and he can run all programms only available for pc at work. He does not seem to have any complaints.
:O sooo cool thank you so so much for sharing! Someone else. mentioned this as well! Using a programme to have the Windows look like a Mac user! So helpful heheh 🌷
You should turn two of the desks 90 degrees. Put mikes desk against the shelves and yours facing the opposite wall. Move deans desk closer and put the printer behind closer to the current printer area
you could get a program called parallels, it basically makes a screen on your mac into a PC. Thats what i do for some software that i use that is PC only cause i'm a mac user too.
oOooOooo WHAT THE HECK Thank you so much for this this is super handy! Does it basically make it feel like working on a mac? lol Im so used to a mac on everything i don't know where anything is 🤣
why not put your main desk where the windows are in the corner, then put the one desk next to you against the wall. then that other desk next to the shelves. It would open up that space . so like almost a U or open O space
I think the decor it’s adding up to the mess and visual clutter. Your products are already cute and colorful you don’t need the extra decor in the studio specially if you’re already running out of space.
Quite disappointed in your sponsorship with Kittl. As a small business graphic designer who has watched your RU-vid for around 6/7 years it’s a kick in the gut seeing a small local stationery company push a design churning tool like Kittl. There’s a time, a place and budget constraints for tools like Kittl. As there is tools like Canva etc. But I’d have thought there’d be more consideration for small creators.
I think tools like this though are soooo helpful for small businesses owners and artists who don't have the money or budget for a Graphic designer to start with until they build their brand! I am a graphic designer by trade and used to design branding and logos myself charging a hourly rate for my services (that is what my degree is in) and that is only really a affordable option when you have the budget for it (and I'd always recommend hiring a proper graphic designer if you have the funds rather than using pre-designed templates which can look generic) But alot of very small business owners and artists or even hobbyists who are just starting don't have the funds to be able to pay for that initially, so something like this can be a great starting point to get the ball rolling! Then when hopefully their business progresses and they begin making revenue they can then Hire a content manager and graphic designer to level up their business branding to have it more custom and unique to them. I hope this helps makes sense a little 🥹🌷
Just like all other commenters I'm super disappointed about you supporting AI art and accepting these kind of sponsorships. You can tell straight away that this app is using ai generated art :( There's nothing professional about slapping a bunch of ai generated assets on some generic templates. Saying that other companies do the same is not an excuse, when you can just decline a sponsorship and choose another one.
This wasn’t the first time either. A few videos back there was one from Adobe ai thing too… like cool you’re a bigger artist and don’t have to worry. It’s not fair to the rest of us especially when we could work within a small businesses budget. Plus, there are things like canva and such. It’s not right at all to be taking money from these companies who just steal so much from us. I’m glad to see comments calling this out. I get she needs to make money, but there’s better ways to do it.
Oh no. Kittl generates AI illustrations. I understand the hustle and the struggle, as a creative small business owner, but it's a little heartbreaking that you took a sponsorship from them.
Oh noooo Im so so sorry you feel that way 😭 I think graphic design tools like this are really helpful for small businesses just starting out who can't afford a designer, do you happen to know any tools that don't use AI? I feel like all of them now are utilizing it!
Katnip, have you considered that, maybe, a small business should not be built upon some generic pre-made graphics generated by AI solely for the purpose of making money? If you don't have funds to hire a designer, then maybe raise some money first before launching a business or, you know, learn some basic graphic design skills? It's really not that hard, there are a bunch of free design softwares online and a ton of free resources on RU-vid to learn them. Seeing you take sponsorship money from an app that contributes a LOT to all the endless churning of generic AI crap that is inundating Etsy and promoting it as this "amazing tool" when it's really just a copout for people who want to make money for the lowest amount of effort possible, that is just about the most insulting product you could be pushing on your viewers, most of which are ARTISTS. I thought you learned your lesson from the pushback you received after promoting Adobe's generative AI tool, but clearly you did not. Honestly, this is the straw that breaks the camel's back for me, I cannot support you anymore after you doing this repeatedly. Hope the bag was worth it.
Yeah I agree. It makes me so mad and it doesn’t surprise me. Of course, bigger artists like this don’t have to care because ai won’t affect them they’ve already made it and honestly as a graphic designer, we can work within a smaller businesses budget. Or they can flipping use canva. There’s free to use software out there that doesn’t rip the work of others to do so.
I’m sorry you feel this way, I understand 🩵 Kittl is also a free software which has premium options the same as tools like canva and I still stick by both this and my adobe sponsorship (have used adobe express multiple times especially for making my media kits ect for quickness and ease in design) I think your point of them learning the skills to build a graphic design knowledge (which took me years I’ve been doing this since my early teens) isn’t helpful for say single mums or families, or even full time workers who don’t have the time or resources to learn this but need maybe a extra stream of income or maybe to just kick start their business and simple want to make maybe a thumbnail or a social media post highlighting their work, not everyone has the resources to save to hire a designer, I definitely didn’t when I first started despite having two jobs because all my money went on food and bills and to say that they shouldn’t bother starting their dreams of owning a small business until they can afford a designer is rather sad, and I would never want someone to hold back starting their small business because they can’t afford to hire a professional designer, not everyone is privileged to have the skills in graphic design and these areas or the time to build those skills either, but maybe extremely skilled in say crochet or clay ect, should they hold their small business back because they haven’t saved enough money to hire a graphic designer? When there are simple tools like this one to help them kick start to then hopefully grow, save and invest to then eventually hire a designer? I still dislike AI art and I always will like I’ve mentioned in a previous comment I don’t enjoy seeing it on my feed and I would never promote AI art as a business model, I love supporting the artist who has learned to cultivate and grow using their own skills ect I hope this helps understand a little more where I’m coming from, and anyone reading this please don’t be discouraged if you can’t afford to hire a designer right now! Anyway I totally understand if you don’t want to support me anymore! I appreciate every little bit of support you’ve gave me up until this point 🥹🌷 good luck on your creative adventures and thank you for reaching out Xxxx
btw instead of a hard drive, you can pay for google drive and share files that way. You can sync your drive to multiple computers so its similar to air dropping in a way. plus less chance of losing files because you remove a hard drive failure. And google drive saves up to 100 versions of 1 file in a back up so if you accidentally save over that file, you can get a previous version easy and not lose any work. still disappointed about the AI-art sponsor tho.
Thank you so much for the advice about the drive, i didn't even think about that! Im so sorry your dissapointed in the Ad, I just thought tools like this are great for small businesses owners or artists who may not be great at Graphic design, and can't afford a graphic designer! Do you happen to know any tools that don't utilise AI art? I feel like most design apps now incorporate AI into their systems I can't find any without 😢 xxxx
As a graphic designer, the sponsorship is not only discouraging and depressing, but a blatant middle finger to my face. I’ve worked with small businesses in the past and have been more than happy to accommodate their lower budgets. This is just a paycheck hidden behind the facade of ✨helping small businesses ✨ when small businesses aren’t using these products, scammers are. Additionally, small businesses could use something free like canva or photopea if they’re really unable to afford an artist. I mean, I forgave you for the last ai generator sponsorship as I thought maybe you didn’t realize what you were doing, but this is just wrong. I totally get you have bills to pay, but girl wtf, after being called out last time you’re now knowingly taking money from a company that wants nothing to do but replace people like yourself and every creative thing with a soulless bot. Maybe because you’re bigger and more established you don’t see the big deal, but why should we bother to buy anything from your shop or watch your videos when we could easily use these tools to generate a similar product or art style? I could easily just go into something like midjourney and tell it to make your characters for me. You’re big enough, so I’m sure it’s already learned your style and probably even makes something like bumblebutt when you type in bee character. And then boom, I can just take that design and get it printed on a mouse mat myself. What gets me too is you’ve had your work stolen in the past, so why on earth are you working with companies who are data scraping our hard work without consent to teach their damn machines and replace us? Do you want a future where you have to shut your studio doors? Unless you’re willing to start making everything on a real canvas with real paint, that’s going to be the case for many of us digital artists. And before you say, but AI is used in everything, the key issue here is the generation aspect of it. This isn’t using ai to help you edit a photo you took in photoshop, this is typing some bullshit into a prompt and having it do the entire creative process for you or have it mimic a brand or person to scam others. It’s also a strange business decision to make considering a lot of ai generation businesses are facing serious legal and copyright claims right now. If this ends up similar to crypto you could be in serious trouble for promoting this crap. A ton of influencers and RU-vidrs got in deep shit after pushing crypto companies, so I wouldn’t be surprised if and when this collapses (hopefully) that people who promote these things will face repercussions next. I wish you the best for the future, but this will be my last video.
@CrimsonRainFlowerexactly! I’m not trying to drag her, but it just feels insulting at this point. Many of us are also creatives trying to get to her level and ai makes it almost impossible now. To support that is just a way to spit at us for no reason. The constant travel thing has been strange to me too. If you need to take shady sponsors to pay bills, then stop traveling so much? Like at most people take a vacation once a year, nevermind multiple international trips. And those are easily thousands of dollars! Again, I’m not trying to drag or say how she should spend money because she works very hard for it, but constantly doing these big excursions indicates to a lot of us that you’re living quite comfortably and in a luxurious lifestyle unless it’s incurring debts. It’s sad as I’ve been a huge katnipp supporter and follower for years now, but this put the nail in the coffin for me. I’ve had other concerns recently, like as you said art taking the back burner, but there’s plenty of other people I can support instead.
Oh noo these comments completely break my heart 😭 Im so so sorry you took it this way. Kittl is just a good design software like canva and adobe express, its another good design tool, with them all implementing AI tools, in this case like the text warp feature ect. I would never encourage someone to generate AI art to sell, but AI tools like text wrap (also the new cool tools like generative fill is so cool and the remove background feature which all implement AI and actually make my life so much easier now thank goodness) rather help them post or design something quick and easy like: Birthday invites, a quick social media post/thumbnails ect, the same as Canva/adobe ect, this makes it quick and easy to do so definitely tools like these can genuinely help and I still genuinely stick by that message. I would of used these graphic design tools (even as a graphic designer myself) as i started out in Katnipp if they were available to me, Im not sure if that makes me a bad person or not? But it would be a effective way for me to be prolific and grow for things like youtube thumbnails ect, however I am still against using AI art to create a whole art business, and I personally don't like seeing AI art on my feed either and I never will, I like to see art from artists who have cultivated those skills over time, and told a story with their own hands, crafting there own style and creating their own vision. Im so sorry I have disappointed you with the travelling too, me and Dean have been trying for children for a while and want to squeeze every bit of travel out as we can, I've scraped by my whole life and come from a very working class background and could never travel the way I could up right until now, and actually we can only afford to travel because I save up the money and earnings I make from my personal Channel, everything I earn at katnipp goes back into Katnipp, on new exciting products, studio, rent ect, This is just the chapter I am in in my life right now, It also gets me incredibly inspired for katnipp, and makes me want to do even more and I discover small shops, animals ect along the way, but if that dissapoints you or makes you not want to watch i am very very sorry about that, but that is just the chapter in my life currently! Either way, I wish you all the very best of luck with your creative dreams 🌷 Despite you not wanting to support me in the future, I am incredibly honoured to have had you support me on my journey so far, and I appreciate every little bit, but perhaps now I may not be for you, and that is okay too 🌷 Lots of love, Catherine xxxxx
Thank you for the suggestions! I just want all my goodies to look like special gifts wrapped from the heart heheh but I realise this probably isnt the most cost effective way 😅 Either way we love wrapping like this 🌷
