Decorative Coffee Art, Fruit, Kitchen Art from Color Bakery
Hi! I have been so inspired lately to create new art pieces, especially with the kitchen in mind. The fruit series is called the “Margaux” series, featuring luscious fresh fruits like raspberries, pears and grapes. The newest image, hot off the presses, is called “Cafe Noir” (Black Coffee). They all definitely have a rich, textured and almost Baroque feel. I see these images as complementary groupings or as beautiful kitchen backsplashes–either stone or glass would work equally well.
As always, all artwork is available on all our products. 
To visit our online store, please click here. To ascertain the name of the image you like, so you can type it in your shopping cart, mouse over the image.
More damask and velvet: “Velvet Touches”
I love our new damask and velvet patchwork series, so I wanted to adapt it for something a little more decorative. This new piece has a beautiful black and white, ornate art nouveau border that complements the vivid colors and textures beautifully. Oh man, I can just see this on glass tiles—heaven. Because the image is made up of squares, we can easily adapt it to any size tile mural or backsplash you desire–ie, work within your space. To order “Velvet Touches” on any of our products, just enter the image name and/or number in the space provided when loading your shopping cart. Click here to go to our online store.
How to spot a scammer.
When you make a career of selling online, whether you sell art (like we do) or food or even ball bearings, eventually you will attract the attention of scammers on a fairly frequent basis. I don’t know if certain industries attract more scammers than others, but I can say that Color Bakery does attract them pretty frequently. The more visibility you have online, the more scammers you’ll bring a-callin’. Scammers play on the fact that you want to make a sale–in most cases, a fairly sizable one. Here are some quick things to remember to spot them and protect yourself, and, ultimately, your hard-earned money.
1. Scammers will rarely call….they will email you. That’s not to say that some scammers won’t eventually use the phone, but I doubt it. Email is quicker, easier, hides language problems better, and makes it possible for the scammer to email thousands of unsuspecting companies per second. If they do offer a phone number, don’t be fooled if it’s a USA number. That doesn’t mean the number is legit, and with all the internet services today, that number can still ring outside of the US and hidden by a US area code. If you call, they won’t answer, usually, but will continue to contact you through email.
2. A scammer will send you a list of products he/she wants to buy, usually what is tantamount to a large order, but they won’t be *very* specific. For example, if you sell blouses that come in blue, green, red and purple, they will omit the color and size. In our case, Color Bakery’s, nine times out of ten they will fail to pick the artwork they want custom-printed on their items. No legit customer ever forgets to tell us which artwork they are choosing; a legitimate customer is painstaking in their art choices, whether it’s our art or theirs. If they don’t choose art, red flag.
3. A scammer will usually show signs that English is a second language. Weird translations of English phrases and idioms are common. This is not to say that every email with halting English is a scammer, but if you add it to the other red flags, it’s usually a sign.
4. A scammer will rush you–they have to have a quote NOW, they have to have delivery ASAP, they will rush you and dangle big money in front of you before you have time to think. Don’t be fooled. Take your time and don’t let any customer rush you through a deal you’re not comfortable with.
5. This one is probably the most crucial: a scammer will usually want to make their own shipping arrangements: whether it’s having the merchandise picked up with “their own courier” or giving you a list of specific instructions for shipping. If you see this, bail quickly. Delete the email and block the email address—this person is trying to scam you.
6. A certified check, a bank check or credit card is no protection against a scammer. There is a difference between funds being CLEARED and funds being HONORED, by your bank. “Cleared” funds can become “UNCLEARED” within a week or two and you’re stuck with the shortfall. Honored funds, on the other hand, are good as gold. Honored means the cash is there. If you are unsure, talk to your bank and ask them when and how they honor international funds and if they can personally work with you on a deal that you are even a little suspicious of. Your bank will be happy to oblige you and help protect you. Never, ever ship merchandise anywhere until those funds are HONORED.
7. Not all high ticket, suspicious orders are scams. We had a huge order from Nigeria last year—yes, Nigeria!–that turned out to be perfectly legitimate and very, very lucrative. But, due to our suspicions, we came to within a hairbreadth of losing the deal because we refused to believe they were legitimate until the very last minute. Give people the benefit of the doubt, within reason, and a chance to prove their veracity. Even Nigeria has legitimate businesses who want to buy from American companies.
8. Don’t fight with the scammer, don’t accuse them of anything, don’t get into a pissing match with him/her. Once you have established in your mind that they are trying to scam you, delete their emails and block them. No need to get some nut after you because you couldn’t hold your temper. Just delete them and move on to your next legitimate sale.
Introducing “Organica”, home decor art in complementary groupings.
Color Bakery’s newest art gallery, “Organica”, is more than a celebration of nature in art (botanicals, fruits, textures). These classic and elegant pieces were designed with home decor in mind.
Because many of these art pieces are in sets of two or four, they are not only suitable for stunning kitchen backsplashes, (your backsplash can have complementary images instead of one image divided), but they look simply fabulous in framed groupings, such as a display of two and four on your wall. They also can be wonderful designer accents for your main tile mural–one image can be the mural, and you can have their complementary mate images act as accents such as clocks, trays, placemats, coasters, cutting boards and more.
Since some images have two to four complementary patterns, they can be mixed and melded for a stunning designer look for your home. For example, one pattern can be mixed with another for your tile mural; a complementary piece can be for wall art; yet another complementary piece can be made as table linens. Below, you will find some new pieces from Organica.
If you love beautiful complementary organic art, rich with texture, color and flow, you will find a fabulous collection of pieces that will transform any room of your home-guaranteed. From fabric abstracts to patchwork pastiches of damask and velvet, to botanicals to fruits, vegetables and wine, these original art pieces were specifically designed to display in complementary groups. You can put these beautiful organic art pieces on glass tile, tumbled stone tile or ceramic tile, or any of our huge line of products. The possibilities? Limitless.
To order any of these images on any of our products, just enter the image name and/or number in the space provided when loading your shopping cart. Click here to go to our online store.
Moon Over Paris, New York, London and Pisa.
Here is a new vintage series that features travel and four of the world’s most beautiful, iconic manmade structures: The Tower of Pisa, Big Ben, the Chrysler Building and, of course, The Eiffel Tower. The images have a damask, ornamental/baroque theme, and look fabulous together in a complementary grouping as well as separately. Whether as tile accents or a full tile mural, or accent gift items like keepsake boxes or clocks, this elegant series works well for any room in your home.
This art works equally well in any room in the house. These new pieces of original art are available for purchase and custom printing on all Color Bakery products. To see the newest Color Bakery artwork including these pieces and others, please visit our Vintage Art Gallery.
If you would like to buy posters or framed prints of these images, click here and visit our Zazzle Store, “Yesterday’s Girl.”
