Second Sale for 4th of July

Yesterday, I got an error of “Bad Request Error 400” from Google, so couldn't post my blog, but I got three sales in total yesterday and today which is the “4th of July” mug and “OBAMA got OSAMA” T-Shirt and a button of another "OBAMA got OSAMA" at Zazzle.

I also got a sale of  “Happy 4th of July 2011” at CafePress. I already sold several of this design in June.

4th of July by tmktshirts
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Starting Cat Projects

I started shooting my cat yesterday. He was curious of my camera, and I had to wait for him to stand still. He seemed to be tired of modeling with too many flashes, so I will shoot him without a flash during the daytime next weekend. I want to create various cat silhouettes in different colors with some interesting messages, so I looked up cat proverbs on the Internet, and wrote down some of them such as “The smallest feline is a masterpiece,” “There are no ordinary cats,” "Happy is the home with at least one cat," and so on.

I found a good free photo site. They allow us to use photos for commercial purposes as long as they are not used in a stand alone manner. I downloaded some macaws and hibiscus photos and sketched some hibiscus, musical notes, and a singing macaw with a message of “Those who wish to sing always find a song” on the paper. I will work on the composition and color tomorrow.

Plan for Summer Designs

I uploaded the same designs that I created for the past one and half months at both Zazzle and CafePress, but it takes time to set up both stores, so I uploaded the last few designs at only the Zazzle store. I will focus more on Zazzle. They have good tools for creating products, web marketing, and offer opportunities for 15% referral earnings. I will focus on web marketing this week, sign up for Facebook, learn about “Zazzle Store Builder” and prepare for it.

Also, I made a plan for summer designs. I will make some summer designs such as hibiscus, and palm trees. 

When I was watching a Facebook tutorial video, I saw a macaw's picture that made me want to draw a macaw and combine my old singing bird with “Those who wish to sing always find a song.” In addition, I started cats projects, and shot some pictures of my cat. Also, I have to finish ongoing Ninja and Sakura (cherry blossom) T-Shirt projects. I will do it some time this week.

Goal to become ProSeller at Zazzle

Zazzle ProSellers are the most successful sellers at Zazzle. They are categorized into six levels based on their earnings. For example, “Basic” ProSellers need to earn $100, and “Bronze” ProSellers need $1,000 on a monthly basis. The next level “Silver” is $25,000.

I was thinking about Zazzler's Checklists e-mail I received two weeks ago. They encourage us to add 5 – 10 products every day. I know I need a lot of designs and marketing efforts to make my store succeed. Most successful zazzlers say that create and promote is the key to success. I have 140 products in my store so far. Some of them seem to create 1000 – 3000 products in a month. I don't have to hurry to make a lot of failed designs, I'd rather take time creating good designs. In general, I start to create a lot of symbols for themes, and work on multiple projects, and add and modify them little by little or sometimes I complete the design all at one time.

I learned from my experience at CafePress that quality over quantity. The reality of selling designs is never easy. The best thing is to create a lot of quality designs, which is my goal. It's impossible to do it in a short period of time unless you have plenty of time and advanced graphic design skills. It takes time and patience. I set my goal to become a ProSeller at Zazzle in 6 months, which is by the end of this year. For a small business, it takes three years to build a foundation, and five years to start making a profit for an ordinary person like me. I will keep moving forward, and not stand still.

Tutorials & Guides at Zazzle

I watched a video at Zazzle's Tutorial site. It's about “Quick Product Create” to use one design to add up to a hundred products all at once. Multiple products are set up by just following “3- step wizard.” I should have used it earlier, but it's OK. I can work more effectively saving a lot of time now. It's a part of the learning process finding a better way after spending extra time.

I found a good resource about Free Commercial Use at Zazzle Forum. It covers huge collections of graphics, photography, backgrounds, fonts, and brushes for free commercial use. This author did a fantastic job.

I usually create graphics from scratch, but it's often easier to borrow templates of fonts, brushes, texture background, and grunge. I downloaded free brushes, and did some experiments.

“4th of July” Stamp at Zazzle

I made a star field by adding Noise and Gaussina Blur with Photoshop, and placed it as the background in the design that I created two days ago, adjusted the size, and turned it into a stamp. This is the first time I've created a stamp at Zazzle. Below is the final product.

Also, I reviewed all 4^th of July designs at my store, and made minor changes on a couple of designs.

4th of July by tmktshirts
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First Sale for 4th of July

I got my first sale for the 4^th of July at last. I wondered if people shop for the 4^th of July since I didn't get any sales this month until today. This is the first 4^th of July at Zazzle for me, and I know it will be slow in sales since I'm new, but I will increase sales by working on quality designs and web marketing. Here is the sold “USA” T-Shirt.

I noticed that my mug is placed on “Featured Designs” at the “July 4th Gifts” section at Zazzle. I appreciate that.

USA by tmktshirts
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More “4th of July” designs

I modified one “4^th of July” design which is a heart and star in stars and stripes with the Statue of Liberty and fireworks. I replaced the old fireworks that I drew with Illustrator with new ones that I made with Photoshop brushes. Also, I made a heart and star smaller and tried some positions, but decided to delete the heart and star, and keep it simple with the Statue and three fireworks in red, white, and blue on the top. Once I turned it into a T-Shirt, it looked like something was missing, so I added additional fireworks on both sides of the top, but the white fireworks disappeared on the white T-Shirts. However, it looks better on the buttons and stickers. I made stamps by arranging this design as well.

Also, I modified “USA” wearing an American hat with fireworks. I changed the font style from “Algerian” to “Arial” and the patterns of fireworks. Simple font style goes well when it's placed with graphic elements.

Organizing My Zazzle Store

I was busy creating designs and didn't organize the store yet. Today I created the category icons for each menu, and made the banner smaller. I'm half way now. Here is my store.
It's been two months since I started uploading my designs at Zazzle. I have 132 products, 243 visits, and three sales so far.
Some successful sellers have at least between 1,000 and 5,000 products, and some have 10,000 and even 50,000. They said that it took a couple of years to create tons of products.
It seems that I need at least 1,000 products to see significant results. 1,000 is the starting point. I've only reached one tenth of that, but I don't hurry and make lower quality designs. I will move forward little by little while developing graphic skills and web marketing strategies.

“God Bless America” with fireworks

I did experiments on combinations of the shapes, colors, and sizes of fireworks, the position of letters and items, and finished one of the ongoing “God Bless America” designs, and uploaded it. I tried different patterns of fireworks. Every time I make a new firework, I save it as Brush.

The design I uploaded a couple of days ago, which is “God Bless America” in gold and the Statue of Liberty and fireworks in red, white, and blue, looks nice for buttons and postcards, but not for keychains. The same design gives quite a different impression depending on the product, even if it's the same shape. I added more fireworks around the letters of “God Bless America” to make it look nicer on some products.

I placed a big firework around “God Bless America,” and drew gradient in red, white, and blue with Gradient Tool on the layer above the firework, and set the blending mode to Color. I got a nice realistic firework. I changed the letters from “God Bless America” to “Happy 4^th of July.” I applied the same change to some other designs. Here is one of the final products. 

Happy 4th of July by tmktshirts
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Seller Newsletter from Zazzle about “4th of July” designs

4^th of July is two weeks away.

I received a Seller Newsletter from Zazzle. They say that one of the popular products is 4^th of July T-Shirts, and people will also look for invitations and postage for their holiday cookouts, and buttons and hats that go along with T-Shirts for 4^th of July parades. I took their advice, and will create postage and hats by adjusting my several “Happy 4^th of July,”“God Bless America,” and “USA” designs. I already uploaded some T-Shirts and buttons, and might add new designs. I created a hat for the first time at Zazzle by adjusting my existing designs. I will keep creating the 4^th of July related designs until the end of June.

4th of July by tmktshirts
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Happy Father's Day!

“God Bless America” with fireworks

I have a draft whose letters are “Edwardian Script ITC” with three colored fireworks at the left top and the bottom right. I painted on the first letter of each word in red, white, and blue. I made two versions of this design, with and without fireworks. I placed three fireworks in red, white,and blue on the top and created a star shaped sticker. Also, I added the Statue of Liberty on the bottom, and created a heart shaped sticker. Here is the final product.

God Bless America by tmktshirts
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God Bless America by tmktshirts
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I purchased a digital camera last Sunday. My husband took it with him for his conference over the week end. I have a plan to start photographing landscapes, wild nature, desert plants, and more here in Arizona, and turn them into the products.

“God Bless America” designs

I have several “God Bless America” drafts that I created last month.

I'm exploring more effective fireworks, and breath taking night sky with shining stars.

I opened one of the drafts that is “God Bless America” in silver with a star filed background, and placed some big splatter strokes on a different layer as fireworks with the Brush on the canvas and adjusted the size and direction. I placed some stars in different sizes and the Statue of Liberty in front. I saved this as a draft.

Next, I opened all “God Bless America” drafts, and looked around to see if I can make any good combinations of graphics. I moved the Statue of Liberty in gold from one file and placed it on “l” in “Bless” in another file, and reduced the number of the fireworks to three, and adjusted the file size for round buttons, stickers, and magnets. I decided to create a postcard as well for the first time at Zazzle. Here is the final product.

God Bless America by tmktshirts
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“Irish American” designs

About two weeks ago, “Irish American” unexpectedly sold at CafePress. It was designed for St. Patrick's Day this year, and sold well in March.
Ethnicity and identity is one of the popular T-Shirt themes.
I uploaded the same design at my Zazzle store.
My “Irish American” design is a shamrock in stars and stripes, Irish flag for the circle background, Celtic knots around the circle, and the letters of “Irish American.” I wanted to combine an American and Irish flag to show pride of two cultures. It's perfect for Irish Americans and Irish fans.

Irish American by tmktshirts
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By the way, I purchased a digital camera on Sunday, and played around with my cat.
I have a lot of ideas for cat projects. Cats and birds are two favorite animals I like drawing.

Additional "Japan Relief T-Shirts"

I know it's too late to upload “Japan Relief” designs.

I have some “Japan Relief T-Shirts” at CafePress that sold well in March and April as the portion of sales will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross. One of the designs is the heart shaped Japanese flag and a band aid with a red cross healing the spot that was hit with a magnitude 8.9 earthquake on March 11, 2011. “Hope” in Japanese on the top and “Hope for Japan.” I didn't uploaded the same designs at Zazzle, because their donation campaign was almost ended when I started working on Zazzle.

I don't think they will sell since it's too late, but I uploaded some designs today, and hope people who see my designs will pray for Japan. It's never too late to hope and pray.

Here is the design in support of earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan. "Hope" in Japanese, and "Hope for Japan.

Hope for Japan by tmktshirts
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My First TBA, Today's Best Award at Zazzle

Every day, Zazzle picks a few designs for “TBA, Today's Best Awards” as what they consider to be the best designs of the day.
I got my first TBA today. I'm so excited! Here is the design I got TBA for.

USA by tmktshirts
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Unique “Election 2012” T-Shirts

Whether you are for or against Obama in his 2012 re-election campaign, T-Shirts for the presidential election are a popular theme. I uploaded “Election2012” T-Shirts in early May, which is a donkey and elephant fighting in a boxing match surrounded by a circle of American style stars in red and blue, and balloons with the Obama and anti-Obama logos. I uploaded one more “Election 2012,” which is a fighting donkey and elephant in front of the American map in stars and stripes, and an Obama logo on the blue balloon and Nobama logo on the red one, and “Vote” on the white one.

I wanted to try a unique approach to “Election 2012” that doesn't favor any candidates. “Election 2012” will not be as exciting as 2008.

Election 2012 by tmktshirts
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Election 2012 by tmktshirts
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Zazzler's Ckecklist

I received an e-mail from Zazzle, Zazzler's Checklist: 5 Goals for Aspiring ProSellers.

Below is a summary for the checklist to become a ProSeller.

1. Make new products every day.  The more quality products in your store, the more likely they are seen and sold. Add 5-10 new products to your stores every day.

2. Have the best titles and tags. Use descriptive tags and an appropriate title for the product, your design will be visible to shoppers.

3. Be timely. Pay attention to hot topics and top searches in the navigation menu on the Zazzle homepage.

4. Use social media every day. After adding new designs, make an announcement to all of your friends and followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Blog. Social media should be constantly updated.

5. Organize your stores. Start organizing your designs into categories. Using store categories not only makes it easier for shoppers to navigate your product selection, but also makes it easier for you to manage your designs.

My opinions and my goals:

It's a good checklist, but you don't have to stick to everything. It's difficult to add 5-10 new products every day actually unless you have a plenty of time and advanced graphic skills, but once I create one design, I can add it to a lot of products. It's still hard for me to add 5 products every day. I would rather take time to create a good design. My experience at CafePress tells me quality over quantity. The best thing is quantity with quality.

About updating social media every day, I try to post on my blog every day even if it's short, and make an announcement for new designs at Twitter, but not quite as often. I don't have a Facebook page yet.

It's good timing for me to know the link to “Store CategorySorting and Browsing.”

I was busy creating and getting used to their tools. It's time to organize my store.

Modified “Happy 4th of July ” design

I rearranged the design from yesterday, and made a new design for babies.

I also modified the “S” of “USA” for white T-Shirts that I uploaded a couple of days ago.

When “S” is white, it looks nice on black T-Shirts, but not white ones. I tried to make it look nice by adding “Stroke” in red and blue gradient, but it still didn't look like what I wanted to see, so I changed it to solid black. It looks better on white T-Shirts but I might add more texture on the black letter later.

It's been almost a month since I started working on the 4^th of July designs. I reviewed my store, and modified some designs. I repositioned the fireworks on “Happy 4^th of July 2011” that I uploaded in May, and replaced the old one with the modified one. This is the final product.

Happy 4th of July 2011 by tmktshirts
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“Happy 4th of July 2011” with American Map

I worked on the draft that I created in mid May, which is the American map with “Happy 4^th of July 2011” in stars and stripes with an American hat on the left top, fireworks on the right top, three balloons flying over the map, and two firecrackers on “11” of “2011.” I repositioned each object, and placed the grunge texture, but I removed it because the design doesn't match with the grunge style. This is the final product. Also, I uploaded the same design without “2011.”

Happy 4th of July 2011 by tmktshirts
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When I was looking at the map for a while, I suddenly came up with an idea of a collage of Independence Day elements such as the scene of the signing of the declaration of independence.

I roughly created a draft for this idea by using an old style American flag, and the Statue of Liberty, and an American eagle.

I read the tutorial about referral earnings at Zazzle, and started adding links with my associate ID, so when people purchase a product from a link, I can earn commissions. I should have started this earlier though. Also, I added a Zazzle banner on a Gadget section of my blog.

More “Happy 4th of July” designs

I uploaded two “Happy 4th of July 2011” designs at both Zazzle and CafePress last Saturday. I looked at them again, and modified part of the design. I repositioned the fireworks, made a letter of “of” smaller by changing the font style, and made the heart a little bit smaller.

It's been a month and a half since I started uploading designs at Zazzle, and I thought that the first month would be a learning period for adjusting graphics to fit the product. The same design gives a different impression depending on the product size, shape, and materials.

I edited one of my old designs which is a face of the Statue of Liberty with fireworks and the American map in stars and strips. I replaced old fireworks with new ones, made the graphics brighter by adding “Curves,” and added grunge texture on the graphics and letters. This is the final product.

Happy 4th of July 2011 by tmktshirts
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More “USA” designs

I did experiments on original stars and stripes about a week ago, and made some patterns of stars and stripes for future use. For “USA” and an American eagle design, I typed a big “USA” as a separate letter in the center of the canvas, put a couple of stars on the blue background on “U,” vertical red stripes on “S, ” small stars on “A,” and placed a flying eagle in regular stars and stripes over “USA.” The overall color of the design is a little too flashy. The concept is good, but it didn't turn out to be what I wanted to see. So I changed the background color of “U” and “A” to red, and “S” to blue, and the font style from “Rockwell Extra Bold” to “Franklin Gothic Heavy.” The design still looked a little flashy since I'm using a lot of styles of stars and stripes, but I wanted to organize the multiple elements in the design. Next, I changed the font again to “Franklin Gothic Medium,” changed each letter of “USA” to solid color, and put the grunge texture on an eagle and “USA.” Simple is better. This is the final product. 

USA by tmktshirts
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“USA” designs

I have ongoing “USA” drafts that I have been working on since last month. They are “USA” with an American eagle, “USA” wearing an American hat, and some more. I tried different font styles on “USA.” There are many fonts in Photoshop, so I wrote down the font name when it looked good with the design. I use more sans serif over serif fonts. I found that “Rockwell Extra Bold” looked good with an American eagle, and “Ravie” with an American hat. Font changes the overall impression of the design especially when there are some additional graphics in there. Also, I added “Mosaic Tiles” from “Filter” on an eagle and the letters, but the design became darker, so I removed it. I felt that something was missing or was extra, and not exactly right. What I thought was simple and easy sometimes turned out to be more difficult, and the original draft before I add something fancy is better. I kept doing experiments, and one of the final products is here. The font ended up “Algerian” that is one of my favorite fonts, and I put an American hat on “S,” and the fireworks above “S” and “A.”

USA by tmktshirts
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First Post at Zazzle Forum

I started looking at Zazzle University and Zazzle forum recently.

They have a lot of video tutorials at Zazzle University.

I should participate in the forum to drive traffic to my store, and interact with people.

I posted at “CP (CafePress) Refugees Check in Here!” at the Zazzle Forum for the first time.

“Happy 4th of July 2011” designs

I have “Happy 4^th of July” with a heart in stars and stripes that sold well in 2009 at CafePress. I modified that for 2011, and uploaded it at Zazzle. I wanted to see if my old design will sell if I add some adjustments. I looked at the design that had uploaded at Zazzle again, and thought that it would not sell by instinct. So I decided to modify the whole thing, but not from scratch. I can still use the heart shaped American flag, and the Statue of Liberty. First, I changed the font style from “Stencil” to “Rockwell Extra Bold.” I added “Posterize” on the Statue of Liberty, but the picture got bright spots, so I increased the value of “Posterize.” Also, I added “Grain” from “Filter” to make the Statue a little bit textured. I turned each letter of “Happy 4^th of July” into original stars and stripes by using different patterns that I have been working on. White stars on the red background on “Happy,” blue background on “4^th, solid blue on “of,” red stripes on “July.” I uploaded it to CafePress. I thought that the heart is a little too big, but I will sleep on it. Also, I created another version, and changed the color of “Happy” from red to light blue.

Happy 4th of July by tmktshirts
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My CafePress Store

I have two stores at Zazzle and CafePress.

I modified the file sizes and uploaded some 4^th of July designs at CafePress.

I make adjustments in designs for each product for each store. Yet, they are often the same or similar.

I know that a lot of CafePress shop keepers left CafePress and opened at Zazzle since 2008 when CafePress lowered commissions to only 10 %. Someone said that CafePress was better than Zazzle in 2004, but now it seems that Zazzle has been thriving more. I'll keep two stores for a while.

I made my first sale of “4^th of July 2011” at CafePress today. I hope my products at Zazzle will start selling soon.

Sold T-Shirt at CafePress

More original stars and stripes

I made some original stars and stripes on “USA” yesterday, and I have a draft for a new 4^th of July design that I created a couple of days ago, which is big letters of “4^th of July” in original stars and stripes style with an American hat, fireworks, and firecrackers. I added “Happy” above “4^th of July,” and tried both red and blue background with white stars.

I considered how to combine these elements together to make good designs. I have been working on multiple designs now.

I have a simple “USA” in regular stars and stripes that I created a couple of weeks ago but haven't uploaded yet because I feel something missing and it's not going to sell. I added an American hat on “USA” I tried some different patterns of “USA” and the American hat. I'm doing similar experiments on an American eagle.

Original Stars and Stripes

I looked around my past work in old folders. I saw one of my old designs from two years ago that is the Statue of Liberty with fireworks and the American map in stars and strips. This design sold well in 2009 at CafePress, but I don't think the same design will sell at Zazzle again since it kind of looks out of date. However, I want to try to modify the design by adding current trends, and see if it will sell, so I will add grunge, make the graphics look brighter, and turn the messages into unique stars and stripes.

Next, I saw another design of an eagle flying over “USA.” This didn't sell at CafePress, but I can modify something to make it look better. I changed both the eagle and “USA” into my original stars and stripes in a different pattern, and saved this as a draft for further work.

I have been doing experiments on original stars and stripes. For example, I typed “USA” as a separate letter, put small stars on the blue background on “U,” vertical red stripes on “S, ” and solid blue with a red star on “A.”

drafts of "USA"

It's interesting to look back around at past work. It reminds me of what I was thinking and what I was trying to achieve. The graphics I made before are reusable even if they didn't sell before. I can use them and make them look better for sale.