Whimsical trees

It's a beautiful day today! Supposed to reach about 28 degrees today, that's awesome for the end of September! I went for a powerwalk this morning, felt great to be in the sunshine, yup soakin' up that vitamain D.
Well I've been creating Christmas designs. Whimsical trees and winter scenes! Someone visiting my site said how festive it was and that they really liked the way it looked! It's great getting feed back from others on my creations and designs! I used my Christmas trees on a postage stamp that says December Wedding! Also on t-shirts and mugs! It's fun brainstorming and seeing what I can come up with! Well better run for now, lots to do!

Pumpkin Pie

Okay, so who loves pumpkin pie? This is one of the best things about fall! Pumpkin pie season, yummmm, my husband and I just love it! This is the second weekend now, we buy the pumpkin pie from Costco, if you haven't tried there pumpkin pie, oh boy, you're really missing out! There pie is to die for and don't let your mom say hers is better! No way, Costco makes the best pumpkin pie, so creamy and smooth! Mmmm can't wait for the next piece!
We'll I have been doing a lot of floral designs lately. I just made some beautiful t-shirts and mugs with flowers that really pop out! In bright colors and also in soft colors! I love creating flower designs they are so versatile and as I get better with my paint program, I get new ideas! I'm only using the basic paint program that comes with windows, so I may have to ask my husband for a new program for Christmas! That would really open up a new world of designing! Anyhow I shall go do some creating now! Stop by my store and see what I've been up too! Drop me a comment I'd love to chat!

Go Green

I've been very busy working on designs for my store! For the last few days I've been designing environmental t-shirts for a great team that is working hard to make a change in the environment. Being examples for young and old. One person at a time! Everyone can make a difference in what the future of the environment will look like! It might be recycling that juicebox, or cardboard, taking in the paper products and milk jugs. You might think these are small things but with everyone doing their part it can make a huge difference to our world and the world we leave to our children and grandchildren ect. I've designed shirts with a 'Go Green' theme to promote a healthier world! I've also used similar designs for mugs, magnets, stickers and other green products. Pop into my store and have a look around! You may be inspired! Have a great day!

New Features

Hello there! Let me see, what shall I chat about today! Hmmmm.... Well yesterday my husband gave me a hand with adding some new features to my store and to my blog site as well! As you will see on the right handside below my profile is a 'blog panel' this shows you samples of products from my store. If you click on one of the products you see there, it will take you to a closer view and right to my store! Has anyone else added a blog panel to a site? Did you find this was a useful tool? I thought it was a pretty cool feature and might encourage folks to check it out! Thanks to Zazzle for adding this for us! The samples change after a page refresh.
Today I am working on some floral magnet designs and continuing with some really great Christmas designs! So much to do....never enough time! :-) Have a great day!

Steppin' into Fall

Well it looks like fall has arrived! I woke up to a very wet, rainy day! I really love the fall season actually, the freshness and crispness of the air is so refreshing and I love to see all the colours of the leaves changing on the trees! Just beautiful!
I've been busy designing and coming up with new ideas for my store! I've been doing a variety of different things lately! Whenever an idea hits I just run with it and see what I can create! When I checked into my store this morning I had some new sales, so that was encouraging! I am told that sales should pick up as it gets closer to Christmas and folks are thinking about gifts for friends and family! I can't believe how the time is going so quickly.
Zazzle recently added some new features to the site, things to add to your store and some great ideas to promote traffic to our sites. Can't wait to try some out! So I better get busy on some designs, I like to try to add new items to my store several times a week. Talk to you soon!

Learning Curve

Hi all, hope everyone is having a great day! The sun is shining and it's beautiful where I am!

Well I've been busy designing and creating for Christmas items the last few days! I designed an adorable stocking that I put on a festive Christmas tie. I also used it for kids t-shirts. With this design I was able to change the color and background and it made a wonderful Baby's first Christmas postage stamp too! So versatile!
My husband calls me his "Fearless Learner" as I have been learning so much in the world of computers lately! I've learned so much just from trial and error! It wasn't long ago that I was totally scared to try new things on the computer in fear of wrecking or doing something I didn't know anything about! A couple of days ago I was able to give advice to some other new on-line store owners! They were so happy and grateful when what I explained for them to do worked! That was a really nice feeling to be able to help someone! So my husband says I have now crossed over to not only being able to figure things out myself and just try things but now I can also offer help to other new store owners! That's cool!

Time for a starbucks and I better get some creating done! ;-)

A Summer Day

Another beautiful day, it's supposed to get into the 30's today! Wow, I love a warm September but I think today it's going to be down right hot! The lawn is as green as can be and there are still lots of flowers blooming!

I've been working on some whimsical christmas designs! I designed a little tree on a base with colored ornaments! It looks great on a mug, magnet and a postage stamp that I created! I may try it on some other products as well! I can change the background colors and play with different fonts to change it up!

Christmas is well on it's way, so in my store now I will likely be adding Christmas items on a regular bases along with everyday designs as well! If you want to find that original product for a gift come and check out my zazzle store! Several great designs and items to choose from and new ones every day!

Have a great day!

Fresh and Crisp

What a beautiful morning! I was up early and went for a 40 minute power walk! The air was so fresh and crisp, I just love fall weather when it's like that! I could smell berries in the air and the birds were saying good morning too! Aahhh, I could have just stayed outside all day but of course I wouldn't get to blogging and creating if that was the case!
Lets see last night I was designing some backgrounds for future products. I like to have different colored backgrounds with different shapes. I made designs with polka dots in every color and then some solid color backgrounds as well! These are great to incorporate into cards, stickers, magnets, keychains and other items that I choose to make! I added some more Christmas designs that I'd been working on. I love my bear trimmin' the tree design! It turned out to be a very versatile design that I can use on several different products as you will see in my store! Customers will soon be thinking about Christmas gifts, it has a way of sneaking up on us!
Anyhow, I better get busy... have a great day!

Sunshine

I was driving my son to school this morning and was just in awe of the beautiful sunshine! It was so warming through the windshield! There's something about the sun that just makes every day go a little smoother! I'm still wearing my toeless shoes... hanging onto summer! I usually try to make it through at least til' October without socks! Anyone else like that out there? :-)
So even though it's sunny, I've had Christmas on my brain! So I've been designing Christmas cards and magnets and totebags with lovely Christmas designs! Let's see, I've used presents in all kinds of shapes and (fun designing the wrapping on them too!) Christmas trees, ...oh and I love, love, drawing snowmen, they can be whimsical, cute, serious or just traditional. I just let the pen flow and see what ideas come to mind! Check it out at my site, well have a great day all! I shall get back to creating!

Weddings

Hmm..... We'll last night I was thinking about wedding items! Got out my tablet and just started creating! I came up with some great floral and heart ideas! I made them using soft colors that say Save the Date, with Bride and Grooms name! Lets see I made magnets that can be personalized with the couples names and wedding dates! They would be great for little gift favours for wedding guests to take home with them! Would make nice shower favours too! Very cute! I also designed a heart wedding cake, looks pretty cool! I haven't put it on a product yet, I hope to get to that today! Just coming up with designs is a lot of fun, sometimes I don't even have an idea and I just start movin' the pen and something great begins! Anyhow, back to work I go! Chat soon!

The New Way

Well I thought I would explain a little more about what Zazzle is, for those of you who have never heard of it!
Zazzle is a Print on Demand company. What this means is that it allows artists to upload their designs or artwork and create fantastic products like t-shirts, postage stamps, shoes, mugs, magnets, mousepads, and other great items. You can also upload your own photography or use a scanner to scan your own designs and original artwork! Once you upload your images you can then select one of the products that you would like to place it on. You can then customize your design with text (words) if you like and then it is ready to go in the Zazzle marketplace.
This is were your customers will find your great products and can purchase them!

With Zazzle you don't have to have an inventory of products, they simply make them on demand! Zazzle takes care of all of the customer service aspects! You don't have to deal with any of the billing or shipping yourself! What a bonus! It is really an amazing way to do business.
So if you have art skills or photography skills and are looking to start a small business I definitely recommend you give Zazzle a try! Why not, it's free, it doesn't get better than that!

The Old Way

Good morning!
As I was trying to fall asleep last night, I was thinking how happy I am that I no longer have to go to craft fairs to sell my products! Did you know that I used to have to rent a booth, set up a table and stay at these craft fairs all day or all weekend! I sold my products this way for about 8 years!
All of my items were hand made by me, one at a time! Wow! That was so much work! I used to do tole painting (decorative painting on wood). I would buy the wood, use my scrollsaw to cut out my shapes or designs, then I would sand each piece and prime the wood before I could start the decorative painting! Of course, I could only do one piece at a time, this took forever! With Zazzle it is so great, I apply my designs on whatever items I choose and anyone can come and order as many as they like. No limit! What a time saver! I know we all are very busy people and time is very valuable to us all! Speaking of that, I better get to work! Talk to you soon!

My First Post

Well I can't believe I'm starting a blog! Actually I can honestly say, my husband insisted I do this! I knew I should've been leary about marrying a guy that was so into technology! Shesh! No, seriously though, if my husband hadn't told me about this article in one of his "techie" magazines I wouldn't have started my online store and I wouldn't be writing this article either!

I found out about this great site called 'Zazzle'. It is where I was able to set up an online store, called a gallery. Through this I am able to use my creative ideas, drawings, photography and apply them to useful items like Keds shoes, t-shirts, postage, greeting cards of all kinds and other cool items! I do the marketing (lots of learning here) and they make the products and ship them to my customers! I have been creating designs for just a few months now and I just love it! Yes, I have had some sales and expect to have a whole lot more! So what are you waiting for come visit my store, you never know what you'll find! www.zazzle.com/seashell2