That time I spent most of my weekend designing postage stamps with the word "love" on them

When I discovered that you could design your own US postage stamps (see here and here for my own, in two different stores) and people would actually buy them, I was gobsmacked. And that's not even a word I use! But I was... to consider that a self-taught designer could create an image and submit it for approval to someone who has the authority to accept or decline my submission so that, in time, people might use my work on their mailings? Just a very cool thing in my book.

So one day recently, I was deciding which font I wanted to use in a new wedding invitation-themed set I was about to start work on. My eye hit on the simple word "Love" in the string of test words and phrases I'd typed for consideration. I realized that while certain typefaces in the collection might not work all that well for the purpose I'd had in mind, they sure did look nice with the word "love" on them!

When I remembered a recent discovery from one of my Zazzle sales reports, that postage stamps were a proportionally-somewhat-high hitter for me - I opened my first Zazzle store 5 months ago this weekend, and as of this writing, the company has sold 24 sheets of stamps with my designs on them - I started considering the possibilities. Not only could people planning weddings use stamps with the word "love" on them, but other people could too! I mean, not to mention Valentine's Day and other holidays and special events geared toward sharing love, we have our own personal special occasions, too! Sure, you wouldn't want to pay the premium prices charged for custom stamps, for paying your bills. But the price is apparently worth it to a lot of people, for those celebratory times we like to celebrate!

And so I started designing stamps that featured the word "love" and I got a little crazy. Which is to say I could not stop myself. Some of them just had the word. Others of them had a template place holder for a special date, still others had a spot for a bride and groom's names. Some had both. Still others had a gold glitter badge and yet others had a gold glitter (faux, glitter effect - these are all paper, folks,) heart in the middle! But what about white on a solid color? Or on a watercolor wash background that has been so popular for these wedding-themed items from folks who like this particular look?!

You can order stamps from Zazzle in small, medium, and large. They come in vertical or horizontal. And they come in different price points, so you can plan for using them for standard envelopes, or postcards, or even oversized card mailings.

Regardless of the use, the options are ideal, and I went at this project as if it were a serious charge. OHHH the options.

Eventually I had to stop. (For the time being, that is!) I mean... how many typography postage stamps with a single (albeit important) word does one woman need in her collection? Ahem. I have more than 100. All were approved within a few days (this product option is not instant, as most products are in the Zazzle marketplace,) and I continue to be happy I took that time to design these.

Coming up, I'll modify some of the designs you see here for use with some of my newer wedding invitation design suites. Because matching stamps, too, turn out to be quite a biggie. (Example: though they don't say "love", this set has sold 6 times and 3 sheets of these have sold so far.)

There are days on this still-new path that the whole thing grows daunting and my head spins at the numbers of other designers whose work my ideas are up against. I took a peek just now and saw that as of today there are over 700,000 unique postage stamp designs in the Zazzle marketplace. Is it any wonder, then, that it takes so much effort to get some quality traction with a brand new print on demand store?!

And so today I'm celebrating my tenacious personality and my love of fonts. And the way the word "love" looks in just a very few of those fonts. Stay tuned... you never know when I might be ready to give it another go and try my hand at even more of these! Meanwhile if you need some pretty stamps that commemorate a big special date of your own, check out my Love stamps. You'll find quite a few to choose from!

How Many Quirky, Typography Mugs Does One Woman Need?

As a huge word lover, one of the first things I wanted to do when I started dabbling in print-on-demand designing was to create mugs that say things I find entertaining. That is not to say that others will find them funny. I realize that our senses of humor are unique and what strikes me as humorous might be just plain boring or overdone, to you. Sometimes it's not a funny phrase I want but an encouraging one. But this set is meant to elicit a giggle or two, for the most part.

The thing about mugs on Zazzle is that they can be customized in so many ways. Even if the mugs themselves aren't fully, 100% editable, you can still choose your size and style and often you can even get a different color on the inside. There IS a way to create mugs that you can personalize, and I do that sometimes. This is just not that set. This set is all about the phrases!

I did add an editable field to one of my favorites. It says "I still listen to Mr. Mister / Don't Judge" and it made me deliriously happy the day I designed it. First, I'm a biggole dork and I still love love listening to 80s music. (In fact, that's exactly who I realized I was listening to when the inspiration struck me and it was a good day. Hmmm.) Second, I was really excited to create this design with personalization in mind. The part that says the band's name can be replaced with YOUR guilty pleasure band or musician of choice! How cool is that? (I designed it on a little cotton tote bag, too, just so I could have one of my own, it made me that happy.)

The of the mugs in this set are just graphics created from phrases that I created in Photoshop. Using some of the mild-addiction-driven cool fonts in my collection. But in time I'll be sharing way more with you that do have more editing capabilities. For now, maybe you'll enjoy one of these! Check them out and see...

So You Love Sales???

Oh. I should tell you that although this kind of on-demand merchandise is obviously more expensive than what you'll get in your local discount or even department store, Zazzle is awesome about running sales. So keep an eye out if economy is on your mind. You can sign up for specials and I'm not kidding: they do deliver. On any given day, it's not at all surprising to see that mugs are as much as 40 or 50% off! It's worth mentioning. I sure need the deals, now that I've found this little addiction of mine. Creating my own mug designs means sometimes I simply must have one for my very own! Maybe you'll want one too!