Creating new designs and themes has been taking so much of my days that there really hasn’t been time for much else lately, but it’s all beginning to come together quite nicely now. A little idea for a resources list on my site, and maybe some freebie graphics to use commercially is waiting in the wings too.

My most recent designs at Specialeetees have had a decidedly oriental flavour, thanks to entering that competition last month, but here’s the follow-on designs I’ve created since then (so thank you to Jojy for the inspration ((HUGS)) and the sales that have resulted from the first design being posted!!!):

Leaping Tiger 2010

Tiger and Chinese Symbol

Vintage Dragon

I’ve also started to get ready for Halloween…So check out my new little store at HalloweenTees on Zazzle. It has the full range of tees, gifts, cards, prints and other goodies to make halloween spooky fun. The items available can also make great gift ideas all year round for those with a dark side! Here’s a couple of examples from the range available:

Too Tired to Party Mug

Stop Staring at my Pumpkins!

Hopefully my next blog entry won’t be so far away, and I can update it with some free stuff and help for all the aspiring shopkeepers out there. Until then, happy shopping!

Fathers Day Special offer for today only, enter coupon code FATHERDAYTIE during checkout to receive a discount of $7 against any tie purchase.

 **$7.00 discount applies to each qualifying Zazzle tie product. The coupon code FATHERDAYTIE must be entered during checkout to receive the offer. Offer is valid from June 5, 2009 through June 5, 2009 at 11:59pm PT. Your order must be placed during that time to qualify for this special promotional pricing offer. This promotional offer may not be combined with any other Zazzle promotional or discount offers.

There’s a vast number of  ties to choose from, at least from Zazzle you’ll know it won’t be the same old tie that everyone else has from the department store!

Click here to browse Zazzle for great Fathers Day gifts 

This artwork is a digital painting incorporating digital 3D modelling, fractals and watercolour techniques, collaged together to create the final piece. Altogether she has taken me somewhere in the region of 24 working hours to build from scratch and complete. I’ve tried to create a feeling of movement surrounding her. I’ve printed my own giclee proof copy, and I have to say she prints beautifully!

In the AngelMist Gallery she is available from portfolio (11″x15″) right through to the huge size 35″x47″, plus on other selected products such as cards, mousemats, keychains and a specially adapted “wearable art” version for tshirts too!

 FAMILY HUMOR SHIRTS

This is a store that is exactly what it says it is! With it’s designs for each and every member of the family, from baby to Grandma, from Sister to Brother, there’s something here for everyone. Each design is featured on a good range of products so there’s something to suit all budgets for all occassions, and each design comes packed with a great big splash of humor.

The layout of the store is very organised which makes it easy to browse and find exactly what you’re looking for. Just browse the “Product Lines” menu on the right, or the section header graphics at the top of the page if you have someone specific in mind. The featured items on the home page give you an instant idea of the fun that’s inside. The designs themselves are created to an excellent standard.

The main reason I chose to review this store this week is because the designs actually made me laugh! I see so many tshirts that do make me laugh, but are perhaps a bit OTT in the offensive department to give to Grandpa, a bit too close to the mark to give to Dad without getting a “clip round the ear” (even if you are 37 years old!); no these designs remain totally family friendly but are bang on target with the humor. For anyone that has small children in the family, the “Sassy Sayings” section is the place to visit. Below a a few examples of some of my favourites in the section: 

My Name is No No by FamilyHumorShirts

Funny Walk by FamilyHumorShirts

Homemade Gifts by FamilyHumorShirts

The Lawn Ranger by FamilyHumorShirts

 Family Humor Shirts Browse UK store

 Family Humor Shirts Browse US store

 PICTURE PIE

There’s more to this gallery than first meets the eye! It contains a wonderful collection of high quality photographic images taken in and around the north east of England. The homepage of the gallery features 12 stunning images ranging from landscapes right down to detailed macro photography, but please use the “product line” menu on the right to browse themes, if you don’t you will miss out on some real gems!

For me the real magic of this store is the atmosphere created by the collection as a whole. Browsing through it I could smell the countryside, feel the rain and even remember scenes from childhood provoked by the image of a tradtional british red phone box!

Durham Phonebox by PicturePie

This gallery is not just a diary of places visited by the photographer, it’s a diary of the life of an English person, or the memory of any visitor to the UK. The images capture slices of England from urban to countryside to the sky, through to the minute intimate detail of a bee on a flower. Add them all together and you’re in the UK. Wonderful! In the United Kingdom we are so lucky to be surrounded by so many beautiful places, but as with people everywhere we are often so busy we don’t notice them any more in our everyday lives. Purchasing an item we can have in our everyday lives, a print, a mousemat, or even a little keychain sometimes serves as a reminder to look and see outside our own little bubble.

My favorite image in the gallery (although it was extremely hard to choose just one!) had to be Hill End. It just reminded me so much of places I’ve visited, childhood family picnics and camping holidays. Great memories and miles away from being all grown up, paying bills and sitting in a traffic jam!

Hill End by PicturePie

 Picture Pie’s photography is available on posters/prints (custom framing available), postcards, greetings cards, postage, mousepads, magnets and keychains.

 PICTURE PIE  Browse UK store

 PICTURE PIE Browse US store

On top of the Cafepress fiasco that has created so much work, I went down with a bit of a virus which caused an awful sore throat and the mother of all ear aches, and yes I was feeling soooo sorry for myself. So I started to create this thinking of all the reasons why I shouldn’t feel bad and when I’d finished it this morning I was really happy with it.

It made me feel brighter altogether, sunny and cheery. I uploaded it to my gallery, and withing 5 minutes of creating my products I received notification from Zazzle that it had received a “Todays Best” award. WOW…Now I was really really happy!!!

May has been a slow month for me, not too much in the way of sales…but this afternoon a very nice customer put the icing on the cake with an order for 18 Vintage Guitar keychains from Specialeetees at Zazzle, thank you!

That’s it now, “A Brighter Day” seems to have brought me some luck. I’ve printed a copy on fine art paper to frame and she’ll stay in my gallery as a lucky omen for a long time to come. If anyone buys her on my Zazzle products I hope she brings them some sunshine too!

Quality Design Directory

Here’s a quick intro to the Quality Design Directory at Specialeetees.com What and why???…

I’ve decided to create a little directory on my website to highlight some of the great art and design stores on Zazzle. Yes it’s true you can browse the Zazzle marketplace for a huge amount of designs, but like any other online marketplace that does have it’s drawbacks.

Firstly the sheer number of designs, okay that’s more choice, but that’s also a lot of trawling through pages of sometimes not so good, not so relevent designs until you hopefully find something that catches your eye, or you find something “that’ll do” for what you had in mind.

Secondly you may find “just the thing”, a few weeks later you want another one, or a friend asks where you got it,  or you’d like to find something else by that same designer….Hmmm, now what was the name of that designer???!…that’s assuming of course that you’d even realised somebody actually created that design and it was possible to see other designs by them also; many that shop in the print on demand marketplaces such as Zazzle and CafePress have no idea. So you hop back to the marketplace and type in “blue crocodile with roses t-shirt” only to find there are 4,245 search results returned for you to sift through!

There are link lists all over the net for Zazzle stores, yep there are, but the usual scenario is that someone creates the list, then anyone that opens a Zazzle store heads off to add their link (including “Spot the Teen” that’s just filled his store with pixelated low quality graphics in 30 minutes cos it’ll make him rich really quick). So often the good guys on there can be drowned by Spot and all of his mates.

My directory will only ever contain stores built around good quality, well presented graphic art and designs. I don’t mean that in a snobby way either!…I’m in no way judgemental as to the subject of designs, providing a stores’ designs are produced and displayed to a good standard they will have a place in the directory. But that’s the point, I look at all entries, it’s not a free-for all, the only person that can add to that list is me.

And why?…Well I want to build a directory where people can browse the “boutiques” rather than the marketplace. A list for people to bookmark and refer to when they need an extra special card for Grandma, the hilarious gift for dad, something different for a brother, or just an awesomely different tshirt to say something about themselves. Already it has a wonderfully ecclectic range of stores from “all the family” themes, photography, right through to a store for goat fans and another for western rodeo designs! Each week I will “feature” and review one store, hopefully to highlight some great designs and cool products available.

The directory is in it’s infancy as are some of the stores, but I do hope you will visit, bookmark and come back over the coming months to watch it grow. There really are some fantastic artists’ stores included already, take a peek, you may find just what you’re looking for.