Zazzle Design Efforts Have Been in High Gear And I Want to Tell You About Them

So then I took The Whole Summer Off, Plus A Few Other Months For Good Measure. Today I'm resuming where I left off attempting to chronicle some of the journey with you here. I've been known to have some challenges with balance but I'm not going to belabor the point of how I should have been marketing all along, even while creating more designs. Instead, I'll tell you that I've learned so much this year, and am as excited as I ever was to have discovered Print on Demand (POD) as a creative outlet that also offers the potential for generating income. Before I move on, I'll show you some of the products I've designed that people have recently purchased. In no particular order:

I'll share even more at the bottom of the page. Since it's daunting to try and fill you in on All That Happened While I Wasn't Maintaining This Site, why don't I dip my toe back in the blogging waters with a few highlights instead?

  1. I streamlined my efforts and, through mountains of trial-and-error, plus countless hours of research, started learning how to create strategies for what I want to spend my time designing. I'm not locked into the strategies, but they're certainly helping.
  2. My last blog post tells you about one weekend in May when I designed nothing but postage stamps with the word "Love" on them. Somebody bought a bunch of one of those designs just yesterday, in fact! I'm still designing postage. It could be a little outrageous, the disproportionate amount of time I've poured into these designs. For some reason, that product has really captured my attention and I continue to be thrilled that I'm able to design my own postage stamps and also postage for other people's special occasions.
  3. Speaking of US Postage Stamps, this is the single product I've chosen to design that requires approval before the products are visible in my store. Months ago I also designed a few Zippo lighters which required approval as well. But I've since opted not to continue down that road. Postage, though? Oh yes. The ideas seem endless and I have much more to tell you, on that front, in upcoming posts here.
  4. Paper products, in general, have gotten much more of my recent design attention than the gift products I spent the first few months of the year designing. I love that I have the option to do either one, on any given day. This mood-driven creative loves Zazzle.
  5. It's been tricky to sort out my preferences where setting royalties is concerned. I'm feeling much more confident choosing the percentage for various products and these days I find myself going back to adjust royalties on pieces I designed in the first few months. Sometimes I go down; usually I go up.

If things go according to plan, I'll be blogging here even more in the coming days, so I'll wrap this up for now. I look forward to sharing some new designs with you as well as elaborating on some of the lessons I've learned while designing through Zazzle. They seem never to stop coming, and many of them, I suspect, are worth putting out there for interested others to find one day, too. For now, I hope you're enjoying some sort of creative endeavor for yourself!

Cheers!

Melody

Roundup of Favorites 003: Really Digging these Products Today - My Designs

In keeping with the growing tradition of showing what I'm in love with on a random day in this blog, I really dig these designs today. Maybe you'll like them too! You can click the images of the photos to be taken to the shop where they're available for purchase. Lower in the page I've written little blurbs about each; you'll find links there too.

A Few Notes About the Merchandise in this Group

  1. This postcard features a digital art design I created on the fly a few nights ago. The worst part is that I made a really novice mistake and wrote over the file with another design. So I don't have the original artwork on my computer. I can design hundreds - maybe thousands - of different products with this design using Zazzle, but right now, not through anyone else. Why does that bother me so much? a) Mild OCD tendencies, b) I really want this design on a kimono wrap from Art of Where. One day I'm sure I'll cave and see what Zazzle can do to help me get my hands on the high resolution version of the art. For now, I'll just buy some postcards like these to keep it fresh in my mind.
  2. A mug with the same artwork as the postcard. I have several of my designs printed on mugs but don't think I won't eventually cave and get this one, too. Because pretty!
  3. Maybe you have some friends turning 50 soon? This coozie is a fun gift or party favor for the Fifty & Fabulous party!
  4. Last year my honey bought me a sweet little Wacom tablet to try out and see what I could do. This postage stamp is printed with the results of one of the earlier things I did with it. All the circles make me happy. I always think what if river rocks and constellations had a baby.
  5. Another of the tiny, square notes I design on business cards, this one says Thank You on the front. It features a rich pink watercolor background with a subtle, organic mandala over it. I wrote more about a set of these over here.
  6. Somehow this specific design of leggings - out of something like 69 pairs in my Zazzle store alone - became one of two that ended up on the right radar. I've sold 3 pairs of this one. In fact it's one of two different pairs that keeps showing up in my list of royalties. Fun and whimsical and simple. Thank you to those buyers!
  7. Another of the friendly cards for leaving notes. This one has a purple and blue abstract watercolor background.
  8. I kept running into merchandise that said "I am silently correcting your grammar" and one day after a friend who is also a client and I had talked and I'd explained something to her having to do with an improved way to word something on her forthcoming blog post, I realized the original phrase really bugged me. I added the thought of morning snark without coffee and came up with this: "I am not silently correcting your grammar. I just need more coffee and then I'll explain how you need to fix it." The phrase and the design printed on this mug, specifically, made me much happier than the original and my clientfriend who happens to have dyslexia agreed with me. The first sentiment isn't at all friendly, but this one works brilliantly! Yay English majors!

Unique, Artsy Graduation Set: a Design You've Seen Before

There's a lot of comfort in following the trends to a T and it's fascinating to watch how technology has changed "the lowly graduation announcement" since I ordered my own. That was a few years back and we had one option. Now there is no limit to the options from which we can choose. You can look at that as daunting or exciting. I see both sides and would likely react with equal scoops of both.

I decided to create a set of graduation-themed cards and items using one of the earliest pieces of digital art I designed when I first started dabbling in print on demand last year. The piece is called "Poet's Fancy" and I wrote quite a lot about it over here on my main website.

As of this writing, the collection has only 6 things:

  1. An announcement card
  2. Two 5x7 party invitations, one with a photo and one without,
  3. A party invitation post card,
  4. And two thank you cards.

Each of these features my red/teal/gold grungy art piece as a background, a primarily-white overlay with black borders, and a modern script font I love using for a primary phrase. All other text fields are editable by the graduate and can say anything you wish. You can even move all the parts around and make these invitations your own.

By the time this launches I'll probably have more items in the set. If so, they'll likely include one or more of the following:

  • envelopes lined with the colorful artwork (which, incidentally, you can change to your own artwork, should you be so inclined,
  • a coaster or 3 to use for your party or other event warranting a memento,
  • a button or some buttons,
  • maybe a magnet - Save the Date or otherwise,
  • Aah! I need a Save the Date card and postcard too, don't I?
  • Some US Postage Stamps (a couple of those have been designed and submitted for approval already,)
  • and maybe a coozie, luggage tag, mousepad, phone case(s) and tote bag. And return address labels. Probably a mug.

As always, if you should find your way to this page and want to make a special request (whether you need this design actually available on a ping pong paddle for the graduate, a travel mug, or a spiral notebook journal,) please don't hesitate to reach out and let me know!

Colorful, Abstract, Unique: Artsy Phone Cases

I've been designing unique phone cases (not the cases but the surface patterns; I like to think that goes without saying but maybe not,) nearly as long as I have been dabbling in print on demand designing. Nonetheless, I'm just getting around to gathering some of these newer designs into a single collection to share here. Some of them already have the spaces set up for you to personalize them and some of them are just covered in the colorful digital artwork that was a big part of getting me started off down this path in the first place.

I only started designing them through Zazzle at the beginning of this year, and it seems I go in waves, with my attention span and interest level on any given day driving my creativity.

The thing about buying a custom artsy phone case is that you want more and more. Every time I design a new one, it's my favorite and I force myself not to buy more. It's good I don't have a tattoo. And this is why: I love trying new things and changing it up. I'm still carrying one around that I'm pretty tired of by now. Which makes me think that for us short-attention-span types it's probably a good idea to get a few then switch them out regularly. I just forget.

Take a look! Maybe you'll enjoy some of the abstract digital art I've make the time to put on phone cases. Zazzle offers several different brands of phone cases so that layer gets tricky too. Here's a list of the ones I can remember right now:

  • Case Mate Barely There
  • Case Mate Tough
  • Case Mate Tough Extreme
  • Otterbox Symmetry
  • Otterbox Defender
  • Otterbox Commuter Series
  • Lifeproof FRĒ®
  • LifeproofNÜÜD®

And a whole lot more, too, it turns out. There are several kinds of wallets, some wooden ones, metallic ones, clear ones. It's a little mind-boggling really. So I've just shown you some of the ones that have my own designs on them. So enjoy those or just go peruse the market. Warning: it's a little overwhelming without wine. So so many options could make a head explode!

At any rate, these are some of the phone cases I've designed this year and there are always more on the way at some point.

Personalized Items with Photos of Purple and Orange Pansies

Every now and then I take the time to look through my photo archives. For an amateur photographer, the stash I've collected for myself is a little mind-boggling. It's one of the many reasons I decided to start putting my work on merchandise I can buy for myself or others, and you, too, can give as gifts when you like.

The first fun thing I did with a few of the shots featured here is put them on leggings. I realized one day that even though I've designed hundreds of pairs of leggings (print on demand makes it possible to design tons of things that only have to be made when someone is ready to buy them... whew!) almost none of them had photos on them. (And those that did were super-abstract and maybe a little weird for your average Jane. For example.) Back to my story. I'd been designing fairly abstract leggings for a little stretch there, so when I looked through the photos, I thought it would be good to find some that would create an abstract vibe when they were printed on leggings. I felt pretty good about what I came up with. There are 6 so far.

A few days ago I thought of those purple and orange pansies and all the shots I captured the day I took these pictures. I was leaving artist friend Phyllis Sharpe's house and she'd just bought these. Maybe she had planted some that day, if I remember correctly but I think several were still in flats. So I pulled out my camera and tried to capture them in different light. So in some ways they're just sort of ho-hum pictures of flowers. I mean. How many ways are there to shoot photos of flowers and make them really interesting? Well, some people can make those shots really sing but these are kinda nice too. I thought they would look good on cards, a water bottle, mousepad and phone case. I put the shot on a bunch of other things, too, but I've put just the things with template fields for personalization into a collection so far so that's what you'll see here.

As I mentioned, there are quite a few items printed with the photo featured in this second collection. If you're in my store and search "pansies" or even "purple and orange" or "purple and orange pansies" you'll see the other items too. What I'm learning while I work in Zazzle is that whenever possible, it seems to be recommended that you (you the Zazzle designer or, in this case, I) take things further and go ahead and add a template field with names or phrases all ready to go. I'm fascinated by this and have so very much to learn about what sells and what doesn't. There's been no rhyme or reason whatsoever to the things I've sold in the short time I've been at this, so I don't have enough personal data to go on yet. But I love the learning, and there's definitely plenty of that happening in this endeavor.

Why don't I post some of those individual item photos over here at the end, just for fun, then sign off and let you look. Enjoy!

Un-Stodgy Business Cards with Deep Pink Watercolor and a Textured Mandala

While I was busy working on a new thing I'm exploring - designing one of the sets of wedding invitation suites that people can customize for themselves on Zazzle - I fell in love with some of the elements of this particular design. In a big way. And so I started using them on other merchandise. Like this collection of business card designs.

Here's what they include:

  • a bold pink watercolor background
  • a mandala (sometimes rendered in white, sometimes in a faux gold foil effect,) over that,
  • (sometimes) a solid strip in white or black
  • so your name, message, or other details can really pop

And unlike the image you see, up in the banner area of this blog post, which is a single image with everything all merged together, these cards were set up in the Zazzle template system. So IF you happen to be wired like me, we of the DIY inclined, and wanted to rotate the watercolor, duplicate the mandala then change the sizes of one or two of them, then move those around, move your name up or down, change your font AND the font color... well. You can do that! Of course nobody says you have to. These are all ready to be purchased as is, merely by typing the name and contact details you want to have appear.

What this Zazzle setup can do - in spite of my having been pretty spoiled by the limitlessness of my own graphic design tools - is brilliant and amazing and I suspect it's far more than customizable enough for your average user to do just what they want. For the other levels of editing, you can always just reach out to me and share your vision. I'm always happy to help make something even more in line with your personal vision.

For now, I offer you business cards with a tribal, boho, hippy-dippy little flair. Because not only are business cards not always meant to be formal and stodgy (though to be sure, sometimes I suppose they are, depending on your line of work,) this collection is absolutely meant to let your big, bold, colorful personality shine through. Plus? Business cards aren't just for business anymore. I've been working on a growing series of card designs that are meant for you to simply write little notes on the blank backs of and leave for your kid, your love, or even for a perfect stranger in a shop.

However you use them, if the colors and texture of this set appeal to you, check them out!

 

My First Foray Into Wedding Invitation Design: Teal & Blue Ombre Watercolor Suite

When I had been at this print on demand thing for a few months, had even taken an online course to make sure I was working as efficiently with the Zazzle system as I could (for a beginning "Zazzler" as my young nephew now calls me, that is) I realized I really wanted to tiptoe into the wedding invitation design waters. Knowing that we're no longer limited to the uber-formal, engraved, traditional, must-be-done-the-way-the-garden-club-members-say-it-must-be-done invitations that were once the norm, I warmed to the idea. What sent me further down the road with confidence was the realization that my designs are not going to mess up anybody's wedding. (Way less pressure than wedding photography, this!) I mean, if a bride likes my design, she is welcome to buy something I've offered. But no pressure. I can just put it into the pot of all the other thousands of other designs (no competition pressure there, lemme tell ya!) and people are free to choose or walk away.

And so I decided to go with something fairly simple and subtle and take it from there.

I took the leap and I jumped with a soft teal and blue ombre design that features one of the sweet, modern script fonts from my obsessively growing collection for key phrases, and a watercolor background. The biggest sale Zazzle has made thus-far with one of my designs (read: most numerous parts in one order) were a set of 85 thank you cards from this set. Elated, that was me. I keep thinking of ways to arrange and lay out details that can be presented to people interested in this design suite.

For now, though, it's got quite a lot in it and there are definitely things I've learned that I won't do in future sets. Still, it was a fun first step and I'm happy to show it to you now. And document the progress from this early example.

Enjoy!

Roundup of Favorites 002: Feeling Pretty Pleased with These Designs

One of the reasons I'm glad I started this roundup segment is that it's easy for products in my stores to fall through the cracks. My pace isn't always rapid, but there are times when I get into a groove and post quite a lot of designs. And by "quite a lot" I mean an obsessive amount that blows my own mind at times.

Having a "column" like this will help me highlight items I've designed that might not be seen so quickly or readily. It's not just about my design pace. Since I have a few thousand items available already, before I even launch this website, this new feature also gives me the chance to dig into areas that may be buried in my store in lieu of other designs people have somehow found without my actually marketing them. 

I created a collection to gather all these in one place, if you wanted to see them in one place in my store. You could see that by clicking any of the images on the right. Otherwise you can just click the direct links provided in the little gallery below to be directed to the item's unique page on my Zazzle store.

Just like the other "Roundup of Favorites" items I'm starting to add to this blog's offerings, I haven't yet thought it necessary to make sure these items go together in any real way. They're intentionally mismatched, so as to appeal to a broader taste in style and design. Not to mention, you may never think of buying a personalized mug but have always wanted a more unique design for your home collection of coozies than those that promote beach surf shops and your local phone company. Voila! I included one of those just for you! And more...

Like Words Better Than Pictures? Read a Smidge About The Items in This Collection:

  • Personalized mugs can be fun to use AND gift. Adding mismatched, retro patterns to the mix like you see on this one makes this mug design even more unique. Simple but distinctive.
  • There's a series of items in my Zazzle store that features a set of complementary designs that all started with a fun color palette of red, hot pink, green, yellow and orange. This phone case still makes me happy though I designed it fairly early on when I was learning about Zazzle. You could add your name or initial to really make this case your own!
  • The black-on-white friendly pattern of graphic sunburst-thingie designs is a wine tote. Great for protecting your wine when you take a bottle to a gathering or event. Also an excellent gift!
  • The colorful doodled-can cooler/coozie is just fun. I have this design printed on a tote bag and always get fun remarks when I carry it. You would definitely never lose your drink if you used this drink holder at a party.
  • I had a lot of fun positioning the funky little black and white pattern design on the template for this wall clock. If you're looking for a unique wall clock, check this one out!
  • Geometric, abstract leggings with teal, blue, green and aqua with floral patterns. Designing leggings is mildly addictive and this pair makes me happy. (There are lots of other items in my store that feature this design, too, so check those out if you're inclined.)
  • It boggles the mind to consider just how many possible ways there are to design your business card. If you like clean and simple and you also like black and white patterns, this may be the business card design for you. OR you can replace the pattern with an image you prefer.
  • Your keys will stand out on a hook when you have this abstract, grungy art design on your keyring. Red, teal, gold, black, brown with many textures. This is one of the first designs I ever created when I fell down the Print on Demand Rabbit Hole. You could even get this design printed on leggings through my Art of Where shop if you wanted. Just click here to take a look!

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!

My Photos of Banana Leaves on US Postage Stamps!

It's pretty exciting to tell you that I now design custom postage stamps. Hm. Well, yeah. Exciting is the right word. All told, I've designed more than 50 unique styles of stamps so far. But this post is about the ones mentioned in the title and seen in the photos. As of this writing, I've put 13 different photos of banana leaves that I've taken on US postage stamps. Yay me!

Incidentally, you can do it, too. (So yay you!) I mean, here's nothing about me that's so special that I have this secret, hidden trick. In fact, tons of people do it! Design their own postage stamps. Like so many of the other things I'm writing about these days (as in a hefty percentage of what you find on this website, in fact,) I discovered this nifty trick through Zazzle.

A couple of things to know if you decide you want some of these OR if you want to design your very own:

  • They're not cheap. I mean, when you buy custom stamps that I design or that someone else designs, or you design your own and buy them for yourself, the markup is pretty hefty. But of course it is! There's always a premium cost for a premium offering. Still, it's good to get that out of the way.
  • They have to be approved. Whereas most of the other designs I create on the Zazzle system allow me to use my own judgement and interpretation of their terms, postage stamps must be manually approved by an actual person who either works for or is a trained representative of the US postal service. I mention this because not only will you need to factor in a custom design timeline when you order some, but if you design your own, it's good to add a day or a few days to the estimated timeline if you're wanting some special stamps for a special occasion.

I have a collection of hundreds of photos I've shot that feature my honey's banana leaves and banana plants in general. And I've prepared quite a lot of them for this purpose - print on demand in general, and postage stamps specifically - but for now I've created this starter collection. Funny thing is, that stamp in the image at the very top is one I've sold twice now. Long before I ever even shared the link to my Zazzle store, I sold these stamps. In fact, this sheet of stamps were sold twice within the first week of my very first sales. Which I just find so interesting and fascinating. There's just no predicting what will and will not sell. But these did. So that's pretty cool. And they were purchased by someone I don't know... on the west coast, in fact.

I'm sure there's more to tell you but those are the basics. Sometimes I take a lot of photos. Quite often those photos have featured these gorgeous green leaves. And occasionally, I put them on items that are meant to be printed on merchandise. Including stamps. Feel free to get some anytime you like!

Red, Abstract Digital, Grungy Art for Unique, Personalized Gifts

poets-fancy-digital-abstract-art-with-yoga-leggings-by-melody-watson-website-preview.jpg

"Poet's Fancy" on Leggings!

Click to read the original post about this design and available merch. Early days. Now more options with Zazzle!

This piece of digital art, which I called "Poet's Fancy" was one of the very first pieces I designed when I first got serious about designing for print-on-demand. I wanted to see what it would look like on leggings, and it did not disappoint. That was when I spent all my waking hours designing leggings and kimono wraps through Art of Where, and there's a blog post about the artwork over on my main website.

Since discovering Zazzle, and falling in love with not only the robust quantity of offerings available but also with their customization-enabling-capabilities, my efforts on this front has grown more exciting. But I have so far to go.

The banner above features my artwork with a nice little badge over it with a label inside. This is just the kind of badge I've begun designing for use on my monogrammed and personalized gift items. But when I was just getting the hang of things, I didn't necessarily design in this manner. And so many of the items you see available ONLY have artwork. Obviously, as She Who Created The Original Art Piece, I would love nothing more than for you to have something with my work on it. But if you could have that something AND get it printed with your name (or other slogan or phrase) perhaps you'd like this even better! That's where I dropped the ball and am frantically working to expand.

Here's a collection of newer items available with this artwork. (The blog post above already shared "right many" you could peruse.) But as you'll see, there are only a few options with personalization set up. Of course, folks comfortable with the Zazzle system, as it were, could definitely go in and customize the items on their own, with no help from me. I'm wondering if I shouldn't do a little "How To Video" one day to teach folks how easy it can be to add a badge and words to an existing design they've fallen in love with. For now, there hasn't been time, but it's on my mind. If you think you'd like to see such a thing, just let me know and maybe it'll move higher on the list!