As summer turns to autumn, backyards, gardens and patios are in high demand for gatherings, cookouts or just quiet moments to oneself. We’ve gathered a selection of outdoor accessories that will help your customers beautify and personalize their at-home escapes.

One of the greenest—and smartest— ways to amp up your marketing strategy this year is to create an online presence, or improve your existing one. Electronic marketing will cut down on your paper trail and increase your return on investment for each dollar you spend. We asked Thomas Harpointner, CEO of e-business solutions provider AIS Media in Atlanta, Ga., what small retailers need to know before developing an online strategy this summer.

“Picnic jugs were never meant to be attached to vacuum cleaners in a sturdy, yet visually appealing way,” Toby Atticus Fraley admits. But his robots (simply named and numbered in order of appearance) certainly have a life of their own, and are found in complicated—and often entertaining— poses. One swims with fish while capturing it on 8mm film, another stands firm with a space gun, and a third hikes with a pool cue and backpack.

“From the moment I touched Play-Doh as a kid, art has always been my favorite subject,” says mixed-media artist Laura Reese. Although her calling was clear from the start, her upbringing in a family of doctors initially pushed her to explore a more “marketable” career.

Reese entered the University of North Carolina Wilmington as an art history major, transferring after two years to Tulane University in New Orleans to pursue architecture. There, she took her first courses in ceramics, but pressed on to graduate in 1998 with a master’s degree in architecture.