Monday, July 1, 2019

Zazzlations

Hi Guys,

Thanks one and all for your kind comments and I really do apologize for being so neglectful of this blog.

So.... since you asked, here's a link to my store on Zazzle. Honestly, I'm not even remotely happy with how my storefront looks, but I think it's going to take some time to figure out how to organize it and how to make it look good. Anyhow, don't judge me too harshly.


Anyhow, I've been very busy designing stuff... mostly what seems to sell is wedding stuff - an area where I'm a total fish out of water.


My main sellers are wedding seating charts and miniature wine/liquor bottle labels, and to be honest, I can't really believe people do that sort of thing. I mean seriously... people spend hours soaking the labels off of mini liquor bottles so they can put their own wedding label on them and give them away as wedding favors... are you kidding me?

Gold on Black Wedding Mini Liquor Bottle Thank You Liquor Bottle Label

OK... that's mean spirited of me. I really shouldn't be disparaging of my own customers, but I just honestly can't believe people would go to all that trouble.

Of course it does seem like these weddings are generally an excuse for a big party and lots of drinking. One of my other top sellers is this baby:

Groomsman Wedding Shot Glass with Black Tie

And don't EVEN get me started on the whole seating chart business. I think perhaps the reason I'm having success with this particular type of product is because most designers aren't stubborn enough to spend hours pulling their hair out lining up all of the text objects to make these hummers look good.

20 Table Autumn Floral Wedding Seating Chart

Apparently assigned seats are the norm at these sorts of events, but I just can't wrap my head around the concept of telling people where to sit. In that spirit, I've also designed a few of these...

Pastel Floral Sit Where You Choose Wedding Sign Plaque


Alas... no takers yet. But I continue to keep the faith... I mean there are type B people out there and some of them must get married, don't you think?

Well anyhow, Zazzle is currently having a Holiday contest, so I've been working my tail off designing Christmas stuff. It's a bit of a challenge because since there will obviously be no sales before the holiday season, I sorta feel like I'm designing in the dark... you know, no feedback to guide me as to what people want. But here are a few samples of what I've come up with so far...

Happy Holidays Fun Christmas Wreath Photo Frame Medium Gift Bag


Blue Snowflakes Holiday Joy Square Photo Card

Elegant Gold Brushstroke Trees and Stars on Black Small Christmas Stocking


Merry Christmas Bauble Ornament Photo Frame Holiday Card


Gold Foil Brushstroke Merry Little Christmas Gift Favor Tags


Of course, the stuff that I really enjoy designing is the snarky funny stuff... but alas, there seems to be less of a market for that sort of thing.

Love and Slobber Funny Dog Lover Wecome Mat


Cat Hair is the New Black Funny Throw Pillow

Republican Democratic Donner Party Funny Political T-Shirt

Warning: I have NO CLUE what I'm doing. Funny Adult Apron


OK, I'm going to stop now because this post is starting to look like one giant self-promoting piece of propaganda... which is really not my intent. I just wanted to show you what I've been up to.

So there you go! I'd love to hear what you think and/or any suggestions you might have (she says hoping nobody will say they hate everything.)


OK... I promise to write a real post soon. Hope you're all having a fabulous summer!

xoxoxo
-Cat


17 comments :

  1. This stuff is great. I will be sharing your site. Do you design everything including making up the sayings?

    Also, so glad to hear from you and learn that you've been busy being an entrepreneur. So much better than many other things that could have been taking up your time.

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    1. Awwww, you're so sweet. Yes, I come up with the sayings myself, though to be honest it's hard to be completely unique in that sense. After I made the Donner Party t-shirt I discovered that there were a bunch of similar ones on Zazzle already.

      Anyhow, there are some other things going on too... some of which are not so nice. Nothing horrible, but I just haven't felt like whining about it publicly. I'm sure that will change! :-)

      Hope you & yours are happy and well!

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  2. Cool.

    I have kind of fantasized about wedding seating charts where I put strangers together who I think will like each other. (And each table has an empty place so the bride and groom can have some time at each table instead of sitting at some creepy royalty table.) It's too bad your customers aren't the most psyched about the things you are most psyched about, but glad to hear you can do both!

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    1. See, now this just proves that you're a much nicer person than I am. My fantasy is to put people who hate each other at the same table and then sit back and watch the sparks fly! I'm just joking of course, but it would be funny in a sadistic sort of way! :-)

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    2. Well it did occur to me to put two talkers together and see if one of them won or if they just both talked over each other.

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    3. Hahaha! Fun with seating charts... :-)

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  3. Half my family doesn't get the concept of seating charts either so you're not alone there. It does make sense when you served plated dinners and people have chosen their dishes, though, otherwise the beef people could end up with salmon and the veggie people might get the beef and so on. We didn't really need a seating chart with our buffet but it helped us with figuring SOMETHING out. I can't remember what though. :D

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    1. Well, I suppose that makes sense. I also think if you had elderly relatives from out of town or something, you might want to reserve seats for them. I guess I just imagine the whole thing as trying to control who interacts with who, and somehow I don't think that works. But that's just me...

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  4. Your stuff looks great. And believe it. Even normal people turn crazy when it's wedding time. I'm not surprised those are your best sellers. My wife and I didn't have a seating chart, but we did have soda bottles with our picture on them!

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    1. Hmmmm... pictures on soda bottles, now that's an idea I hadn't thought of. The gears in my head are clicking... And I do think it would be easy to go overboard with this sort of thing. I'm not generally a fan of the whole institution of marriage, but if I ever had to do it, I don't think I'd even tell anyone - just go to a justice of the peace and get it over with! Not that I'm cynical or anything...

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  5. I like the snarky/funny stuff, and I find it fascinating that you can make a living off this! I've been thinking about your carpet beetle posts recently -- seems I have an infestation in my car :(

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    1. Hahahaha! Well, you have to keep in mind who you're talking to here when you think about "making a living." So far I've earned a grand total of $232.94 - so I'm not exactly getting rich here. But like any passive income stream, you have to invest time up front and hope that it pays off later.

      And oh no! Carpet beetles in your car, that doesn't sound good. My advice is to roll up the windows and park it in the hot sun for as long as you can. If you can get the temperature up to 130 degrees for 4 hours, that should kill most of them off.

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  6. Hi friend! Glad to hear from you and best of luck on the store. I think we would have liked some mini bottles for our wedding, and a seating chart might have made for better table mates. :)

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    1. Look at you being so upbeat and positive. Maybe if you could buy the mini bottles naked so you wouldn't have to soak the labels off of them... My true laziness is showing!

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  7. I'm not the best one to ask for advice about wedding items, as my husband and I bucked the norm and kept things simple. We had a late morning wedding, brunch reception in our church's fellowship hall (read: free site, no alcohol allowed, bonus!), and there was plenty of seating so except for the bridal table (which is sorta creepy, like Debbie M. said, except that we all liked each other so it wasn't awkward), it was a self-seating situation. I have a hard time with the concept of spending tens of thousands on one day of my life; I feel like so many couples spend a lot of time, attention, and money on the wedding whereas if they would put the same focus on the actual marriage, their lives would be happier in the long run, but that's me on my soapbox. :)

    Personally, I love the snarky stuff, especially the Donner Party apron. For what it's worth, products with cat- and dog-related humor seem to be biggies so I'm wondering if you can expand your market in that area. Good to hear from you again!

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    1. "...if they would put the same focus on the actual marriage..." EXACTLY! You know, since I've been working on this stuff, the web bots tend to follow me around offering up ads and stories about weddings, and I've read some truly horrifying stuff about people going into massive debt to finance their weddings, and/or people going into debt just to finance the privilege of being a member of the wedding party! So yeah, I do sorta feel like I'm contributing to the downfall of who knows how many marriages. On the other hand, if they don't buy my stuff they're gonna buy someone else's stuff, so I may as well make a few pennies off of it.

      Anyhow, three cheers for snark. I'm sorta hoping that when the holiday season rolls around people will go looking for gifts and maybe I'll get more takers then. I did sell the "I have NO CLUE what I'm doing" design on a foam beer can holder today! Oh my... the tangled webs we weave!

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    2. You are offering a product that people want for their weddings. How they choose to spend their money is not your responsibility. It's their overall mindset that gets them into financial trouble, not purchasing a seating chart! While my husband and I chose a more simple reception, we did spend money on caterers rather than doing the food ourselves or having friends/family do it, as I wanted all attending, myself included, to have an opportunity to relax and enjoy our meal instead of working. We did splurge a bit in that area, but we balanced it out in other ways to make it affordable for us.

      Yay for a sale! Keep plugging away--I'm sure business will pick up.

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I welcome your thoughts so please leave me a comment and I promise I will respond.

On older posts I've had to enable comment moderation to prevent spammers, so don't worry if your comment doesn't show up right away - unless you're just commenting for the sake of embedding a link, in which case I really wish you wouldn't waste your time or mine because I'll just delete it.

Thanks, and have a fabulous day!