It's been a while since I've been around! July 31st I had my son, Daniel. Since then things have been chaotic. From having an epidural headache from hell, to having my first blood patch, then my second blood patch months later to resolve the headache issues. To having all of us being sick, my body trying to figure out what "normal" is, and now me having a cold again you can imagine blogging is the last thing on my mind!
I'm still designing as much as possible in my free time. I am kind of having Zazzle burn out. I'm not making a lot, but it's good Christmas money and that's not a shabby deal. I decided to write a post on my new blog (which is a blog about my family life) about my business plan. I'll still be doing Zazzle, but going to change things up a bit in 6 months and head over to etsy and design things as well. I'm hoping things work out in the end. I guess we'll see in 6+ months how things go!
A preview of what I've been working on lately:
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Christmas designs I've added
With a week until I'm due I have been slowing down on getting things done with Zazzle, so new designs will most likely have to wait. I've gotten a few designs up in the last few days, but it's taken a lot of effort. With it being 5 months until Christmas I figure it is as good of a time as any to show off some Christmas designs I've done. I hope you enjoy!
Photo greeting cards:
Greeting Cards:
Photo "Invitations/Announcements":
Photo greeting cards:
Greeting Cards:
Photo "Invitations/Announcements":
Thursday, July 21, 2011
A long absence
About 2 months or so ago another Zazzle shopkeeper and I had a "clashing" to put it nicely. I understood where she was coming from and I decided it was in my best interest to close the new store I had created and take down the photo design she felt both closely reflected her work. I 100% had no problem with doing so, but it did take a while for me to not feel drained from it. I did start back up on designs and have kept on doing it. Truthfully there's not a day where I don't have a ton of designs that are waiting to be published. Designing is easy, but publishing is always my headache. Is it sad it took me a year to figure out how to do it effectively? Even though I know how to do it now, I still would rather come up with more designs instead!
I wish I could say we're all original out there... but truth be told we're fighting how many other shopkeepers as well? I tried finding this information out, but truthfully I don't know how many shopkeepers are on Zazzle. I'm sure we've all thought, "this would be a great design to create!" and not realized someone has posted something similar. It comes with the territory. So I tread lightly and try being careful in my work, but there's only so much you can do. I know there will always be hate and competition, but I don't want to step on people's toes. I don't want others to feel like I'm following their work and trying to get the sales instead of them when it's not that way. I do respect the shopkeepers on the forums I go to and the people I follow on twitter.
I'm here for designing.. what money is made is great. Like others I'd love to be making more through Zazzle. My husband gets out of the Navy in 1 1/2 years and I'd love to be able to help support us while he is searching for a job. Unfortunately the type of job he'd love to have (woodworking) is no where near what he is trained and qualified to do. Some day I wish I could say I make enough through Zazzle to support us that he could pursue his hobby into a profession, but I'm logical. It doesn't mean I won't stop trying to do more though. I'd love to see him follow his passion. When he does get the chance to work on projects he does awesome, you should see our wall DVD holders!
I promise tomorrow or the next day I'll show off some of the products I've designed the last 2 months. I think I have about 30 designs up - around 4 colors each design. Hopefully in the next 2 weeks before I'm due I'll get the rest up.
I wish I could say we're all original out there... but truth be told we're fighting how many other shopkeepers as well? I tried finding this information out, but truthfully I don't know how many shopkeepers are on Zazzle. I'm sure we've all thought, "this would be a great design to create!" and not realized someone has posted something similar. It comes with the territory. So I tread lightly and try being careful in my work, but there's only so much you can do. I know there will always be hate and competition, but I don't want to step on people's toes. I don't want others to feel like I'm following their work and trying to get the sales instead of them when it's not that way. I do respect the shopkeepers on the forums I go to and the people I follow on twitter.
I'm here for designing.. what money is made is great. Like others I'd love to be making more through Zazzle. My husband gets out of the Navy in 1 1/2 years and I'd love to be able to help support us while he is searching for a job. Unfortunately the type of job he'd love to have (woodworking) is no where near what he is trained and qualified to do. Some day I wish I could say I make enough through Zazzle to support us that he could pursue his hobby into a profession, but I'm logical. It doesn't mean I won't stop trying to do more though. I'd love to see him follow his passion. When he does get the chance to work on projects he does awesome, you should see our wall DVD holders!
I promise tomorrow or the next day I'll show off some of the products I've designed the last 2 months. I think I have about 30 designs up - around 4 colors each design. Hopefully in the next 2 weeks before I'm due I'll get the rest up.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Keeping busy
I know it's hard for me to keep up to date with blog posts. I'm one of those people who would rather keep on designing instead of spending time showing what I have been doing. Not very smart if I actually plan to sale anything, right? Some promotion is helpful, if not wise. I've been mostly in the progress of making a lot of baby announcement designs, still haven't gotten the full amount of them on Zazzle yet because I keep making more of them. In a week or so I'll probably show my top baby announcement designs, but for now I'll give every one a preview of this last 2 months.
Shirts:
Cards:
Stationary:
Random:
Okay, so for now all the baby designs are being kept secret! I just want to have more up before I show them off. Next month will mark my one year on Zazzle. While I had goals to be making at least $100/month I'm no where near that goal. Currently I'd settle for $50/month! All in good time hopefully, but for now I try not to be discouraged and truck along. See you in a week or less!
Shirts:
Cards:
Stationary:
Random:
Okay, so for now all the baby designs are being kept secret! I just want to have more up before I show them off. Next month will mark my one year on Zazzle. While I had goals to be making at least $100/month I'm no where near that goal. Currently I'd settle for $50/month! All in good time hopefully, but for now I try not to be discouraged and truck along. See you in a week or less!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Say it with flowers Part 2
There's many holidays coming up that are perfect to give the gift of flowers - Easter, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Father's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. The problem with flowers is they wilt, but not when you give them a gift that features the flower(s) they love. So here's an opportunity for you to get some suggestions in of what to get your friend, family, significant other, or someone else important in your life.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Promise to update more
Sorry I haven't been around this past month, a lot has went on and I've been kind of burnt out. Unfortunately one of our cats passed away about a month ago and it was very upsetting for all of us. My animals are a big part of my family and it hurt to lose him so suddenly.
I've been trying to do more with Zazzle, so I tend to suffer on keeping up with my blog when that happens. It doesn't help it hurts to sit for long periods of time (24 weeks pregnant with a bad hip/back currently) so it makes it harder to get much done in a certain time frame. When it comes to keeping up with my blog or getting some products up, as every one can imagine it's best to focus on getting new designs added.
As much as I love doing things on Zazzle, I've been feeling burnt out. I kind of feel like taking a temporary break and going back to working on crafts for a while. I have all these different crafts I can do, which would give me a change of pace. So in the near future I might have to balance Zazzle and crafts when I have extra free time so I don't feel too overwhelmed by it all.
As for sales? Since Christmas sales haven't been the best, but this month they've been picking up. I've had a lot of health related shirts sale and someone bought some Christmas post cards yesterday. I'm quite amazed people are already buying for Christmas. I actually had someone buy a card with a photo I took:
So excited to see a piece of my photography sale, and am hoping for more in the future! Of all things I do on Zazzle my photography is my favorite thing and I'd love to see more people appreciate it.
I've been trying to do more with Zazzle, so I tend to suffer on keeping up with my blog when that happens. It doesn't help it hurts to sit for long periods of time (24 weeks pregnant with a bad hip/back currently) so it makes it harder to get much done in a certain time frame. When it comes to keeping up with my blog or getting some products up, as every one can imagine it's best to focus on getting new designs added.
As much as I love doing things on Zazzle, I've been feeling burnt out. I kind of feel like taking a temporary break and going back to working on crafts for a while. I have all these different crafts I can do, which would give me a change of pace. So in the near future I might have to balance Zazzle and crafts when I have extra free time so I don't feel too overwhelmed by it all.
As for sales? Since Christmas sales haven't been the best, but this month they've been picking up. I've had a lot of health related shirts sale and someone bought some Christmas post cards yesterday. I'm quite amazed people are already buying for Christmas. I actually had someone buy a card with a photo I took:
So excited to see a piece of my photography sale, and am hoping for more in the future! Of all things I do on Zazzle my photography is my favorite thing and I'd love to see more people appreciate it.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Photography on Zazzle
A "Say it with flowers Part 2" post will be coming soon, but I wanted to take part of the time this week to show off some of the photography I've added on Zazzle. I personally love photography. My mother was the one who got me hooked on photography, unintentionally. When I was younger we used to go to balloon races and she'd bring along rolls of film and take pictures of everything that went on in the balloon races. She had some beautiful silhouettes of the hot air balloons as they went right in front of the sun. I always remembered how much she enjoyed taking all the different views and shots and it became my desire to feel the same way.
Since I got my new camera (a Canon T1i) last January I've tried to get out and take photos. From pictures of animals to farmer's markets to different areas that are in Kitsap Peninsula in Washington. I admit I take probably 500 photos just to get one great shot. I'm definitely amateur, but I don't mind it at all!! So here are some of the collection of photos I have to show off:
Since I got my new camera (a Canon T1i) last January I've tried to get out and take photos. From pictures of animals to farmer's markets to different areas that are in Kitsap Peninsula in Washington. I admit I take probably 500 photos just to get one great shot. I'm definitely amateur, but I don't mind it at all!! So here are some of the collection of photos I have to show off:
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