07.31.09

My Zazzle MySpace Merch Booth

Posted in Zazzle at 10:49 pm by Administrator

Zazzle has a promotional widget called the MySpace Merch Booth. It is found in My Zazzle on the Store tab under Promote Your Store To Boost Sales. It gives the customer the ability to design their own products using their own images and text.

When designing my Merch Store, I decided to create template images with the recommended resolution printed on the image. One for T-Shirts, one for key chains and another for posters to make it easier for the customer to create their own products.
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07.28.09

My Garden Designs

Posted in Zazzle, designs, paintings at 6:15 pm by Administrator

Many of my designs for my Zazzle and Cafepress products come from photographs or drawings of flowers in my garden. If you would like to read about my garden, visit my Squidoo Lense. These are a few of my garden inspired designs.
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07.19.09

Preparing images for publishing

Posted in Zazzle, designs at 7:59 pm by Administrator

Many times, when trying to come up with a new design idea, I will review my drawing notebooks for ideas. Today, I found a drawing of my dog Lucy in colored pencil that would make a nice poster or other product.

Original scan of my Lucy drawing

After scanning the original drawing at 300dpi and saving the image, I start by making a duplicate layer, leaving the original image intact and hidden. If you make a mistake or change your mind you don’t have to start all over again. The duplicate layer can easily deleted. That way you can experiment with different styles and filters but still have the option of going back to the original design.

Usually, scanned pencil drawings will need to be darkened and enhanced to look good for printing, in my opinion. I often use the automatic color correction and color variations in Adobe Photoshop Elements to darken and enhance the image. To create the oval border, I use the select tool to create an oval around the design then invert the selection and fill it with color. To make the image suitable for a large poster, I increased the image size to 11″ x 16.5″. Save a copy of the image as a png file for uploading. If you are going to be using the image for email or the web, also make a jpg copy.

This is my published image on Zazzle.com

German Shorthaired Pointer Poster by rosiesworkshop
Browse the Prints posters at zazzle

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07.14.09

Customizable Cards at Zazzle.com

Posted in T-Shirts, Zazzle, designs at 9:02 pm by Administrator

Today, I created a new product line at my Zazzle Store for Customizable Cards. The Lily Scroll Business Card can be customized with your name, title, company name, address, two telephone numbers, email address and slogan. Your website address is printed on the back of the card.

I love my Art instruction books, one of my favorites is Watercolor by Duane R. Light from Walter Foster Publishing, Inc., www.walterfoster.com. I like to work with pen and ink with a Watercolor wash. This design was first drawn on paper and then traced onto transparent vellum. I then inked in the design and applied the watercolor washes over the pen and ink drawing.