I’m thinking six icons: a house for HOME, a star for a favorite PLACE, two hearts to mark where you met your LOVE, a book for SCHOOL, two little people hugging to show where a BEST FRIEND might live and something to show WORK (maybe a unicorn and rainbow to show where the magic happens??)

I have some questions for our fans and followers who are DIY inclined:

* What icons do you think are important? Am I missing a few? I have many requests to add grandma’s house. How would you depict a little old lady? What about “I was born here”…a little stork? I would love your help with this!

* Would you like to assemble the icons yourself or just apply them to the map. In other words, would you like to have felt pieces and patterns or the appliques made for you. How DIY do you really want to get?

* How would you envision their application, sewn on and permanent? Or stuck on in such a way that you could move them if you wanted (i.e. velcro)?

20 hours per week, 12 weeks. Mid-May to Mid-August. Unpaid, but with many benefits! Seniors or new graduates only.

MAIN INTERN DUTIES (this is not a run around doing errands job, it’s the real thing so only apply if you KNOW you have the work ethic to create results)
== Work with owner to develop one year plan for Marketing/PR
== Write weekly pitches for editors/bloggers
== Create marketing materials to support strategy
== Research partnership opportunities, large order opportunities
== Manage product shots, clean up images for posts
== Manage social media: write twitter posts, Facebook contests and posts, learn how Pinterest works for business and implement ideas
== Research story ideas for pitches, our blog, monitor editors’ posts for relevant inquiries
== Create a press page on our site (programming is not necessary)

YOU MUST KNOW OR CAN EASILY PICK UP (I can’t spend the whole internship teaching you photoshop, please be fairly expert at this already)
Photoshop or Illustrator; Mac, Social Media, clever writing, fashion or design passion will help, especially in your writing

IN RETURN SOFT CITIES WILL:
== Provide you with direct, PR and Marketing related work experience that any large company or boutique firm would kill for in a new employee!
== If you love this job and if your work at the end of the internship creates enough new business to support it, we would happily keep you on full-time at $20/hour.
== Provide school credit if you have all the necessary paperwork I need in order to help you with this
== Pay for you to attend seminars in brand strategy, social media strategy, PR/Marketing
== Make introductions to people we know in similar businesses, data visualization design firms, design, interior design, real estate…whatever might be your passion I probably know someone worth talking to in that area of expertise
== If you kicked ass and achieve the goals we set for you, Soft Cities will pay for a 7 days stay in our Inverness cabin on Tomalas Bay after your internship is over (September or after…August is not available)

PLEASE INCLUDE IN EMAIL
1. Cover Letter (If you don’t reference Soft Cities products or write as if you didn’t take two minutes to look at my site, then I will throw your application directly to the trash!)
2. Resume (please include GPA, no transcripts required).
3. Contact info for three references (two of the three must be a former employer, teacher, instructor, advisor and/or coach)
NO PHONE CALLS

ALSO NOTE:
== This will be your only internship. A part-time job such as babysitting or bartending is okay but I need your strategy and writing brain to be centered on Soft Cities while you are interning.

== The hours are flexible as long as the work gets done.

== A two week vacation is fine, but please let me know ahead of time, preferably at the beginning of the internship so we can plan around your schedule. More than two weeks is not the ideal situation.

Looking forward to working with you!

We do have a pretty fast deadline for these so quick like a bunny head over to Soft Cities. In order to create, print, sew, and ship on time we need your order by April 11th. (yikes! I told you it was coming up!)

Set of 4, $79. Made with soft, beautiful Kona Cotton.

I am thrilled beyond belief, please give a shout out to her at melissa@softcities.net.

Their Monday Madness contest is featuring one of our blankets so head over to enter to win! Contest ends Sunday, July 30, 2012 at 11:59PM PST.

Trekaroo readers get a special discount that I’m passing on to OUR readers! Get 10% off your next purchase through August 7, 2012 with this promo code TRKROOWP on softcities.net

Very Possibly Limited Map Plate by Soft Cities

As promised 4 lucky voters won never-seen-before-and-may-never-become-a-product-but-cool-anyway Map Plates!

Bobbi Clements, Anita Wilhem, Katy Newton and Chris Heathcote COME ON DOWN!*

*The Price is Right reference for those of you too young to know

Won’t you take a moment to vote for us? 

The deadline is July 30th, just three days away and we need, well, a lot of votes!

With this money, I would hire 2-3 people to help with orders and finance stuff giving me more time to create new map styles, produce new products, move my workspace from my living room to a studio and best of all…buy a fabric printer!

Imagine the possibilities!!

Click https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com and sign in through Facebook. Enter Soft Cities into the search box, vote for us and you are done!  Then if you don’t mind, post/share your vote so that maybe some of your friends will vote too!

But, this spring has been fairly busy with orders from all over the world: Germany, Australia, and the US. The process is a little slower than I would like. With a 4-month old I’m learning that time is a slippery concept. I will say that at least I’ve come out of the BabyFog so I’m able to work more efficiently. Thanks everyone for your patience as I crawl out of this new baby stage.

I’m so excited about what’s in store for Soft Cities. This summer we will be showing off some new maps and a new product. I can’t talk about it now in detail because I’m still sourcing the materials, but I’ll give you a hint with two words: watercolors and silk. Subscribers to our mailing list will be the first to know, so sign up ya’ll!

I hope to be sharing more of the maps I make for customers on Pinterest and this blog. I think they are so beautiful it’s a shame not to share (with permission of course.) You can find me here: http://pinterest.com/nikkirodenbeck/ I’m also collecting inspiration for new map colors there if you like that sort of thing. It’s fun.

More from me soon I promise!