Greeting Cards Featuring Original Watercolour Sketches

My artwork has been a little scarce recently, as I try to get back to terms with watercolours. It has been so long since I used them in anger. However, one or two sketches have grown on me and I have put them onto Greetings cards.

All my cards and most products can be completely customised to include your own personal greetings message.

Keep Calm & Enjoy Your Birthday, birthday card by ArtyfaxCards
Create custom greeting cards at Zazzle.

Keep Calm & Enjoy Your Birthday, birthday card by ArtyfaxCards
Find more note cards online at zazzle.com

Keep Calm & Enjoy Your Birthday, birthday card by ArtyfaxCards
Shop for more greeting cards online at Zazzle.

A New Watercolour Painting Now Available On My Zazzle Store

I have recently placed a new watercolour painting on canvas and paper media at my Zazzle store. I will be placing it on a number of other products in the near future. As with any of my designs, if you like the look of an image whether photographic or painted, I will be only too pleased to place them on any product which it is not already available on.

This may obviously be dependent upon size and other factors, but I will look carefully at any requests

Please either leave a message in the Zazzle store in which you have seen the image or in the comment area on this blog. I will answer as soon as possible, hopefully with a positive response.

But back to this new watercolour, first of all a poster version:-

This Road Leads Me There, poster by PastelsByArtyfax
Browse Painting Posters

As standard, this is a matte finish, but is available in semi-gloss or full-gloss finish to your requirements. Simply choose CUSTOMISE and edit. It is also available in different sizes.
It is also available as a stretched canvas print.

Lastly for now, one of the other possibilities is one of the range of mugs which are available on Zazzle, from basic mugs to steins and more:-

This Road Takes Me There, Mug by PastelsByArtyfax
Design custom steins at Zazzle

For many other, different art and photographic designs visit my Zazzle profile which lists five separate stores .

The icons are a little fuzzy at the moment, Zazzle rehashed its page designs and my lovely small icons for the stores and departments are now being shown at twice the intended size. Oh well, I just need to find more time to sort out those little niggly problems. BUT be assured the images on the designs are not similarly afflicted. They are sharp and focused on the products, honestly.

A Mug For A Musician

I have just posted a story about how I have found a second wind as a musician, because I was bought a ukulele as a Christmas present. Read it under the tab, "Musical Me", which will take you to my blog, "Guitar Bashin".

This is just a quick post about a mug I have just posted onto Zazzle.

Have UKE will travel mug by ArtyfaxProducts
Browse more Ukulele Mugs

You can buy one if you want and even change the image to one of your own, showing the recipient of the mug if it is a gift. Or even go the whole hog and replace the text to reflect another instrument. Have fun ...

Abstract Photographs Using Oil And Water

Colourful abstract images easily created by using oil and water.

I have used a very interesting technique, which my son found on the internet to create abstract photographic images for the products on these pages. Essentially Take a shallow dish, cover the bottom with water and sprinkle on some vegetable oil from the kitchen. Complete the rig with a glass sheet (from a photoframe) some coloured paper and a househhold lamp.

Read more on Oil and Water, Bubblews

I had great fun taking the photos and decided that  I could use them on Zazzle. The first products were to be stretched canvas prints, more will be added in the near future. Here is the first:-

oil and water, blue and yellow canvas prints by artyfax
Look at more canvas art prints at zazzle

And using the image and a handy photo-editor I then changed the colours to provide an extra image for another product. See the follow-up article.

And the canvas print created using this new image is:-

oil and water, purple and blue canvas print by artyfax
More Digital Canvas Prints

If you like the prints but would like to see them on another different product do leave me a comment, and that of course applies to any of the images on my Zazzle store.

Humerous Tee Shirts, On Zazzle

Humour seems to be a major selling point on Zazzle for a number of products, if I can judge by the number of products on sale. So here are a few more tee-shirts with text-based humour. I do keep trying to increase my portfolio of products even though sales are not as successful as I know that some people claim they can be. I guess it is all down to promotion, my designs can't be that bad.

Too many cooks, ladies' t-shirt by artyfax
Check out other Humour T-Shirts at zazzle.com

LUV TO SHOP, ladies' t-shirt by artyfax
See more Humour T-Shirts at zazzle.com

Don't Ask, men's tee shirt by artyfax
Design your own custom t shirts at zazzle.com

Floral Decorated Mugs on Zazzle

To team up with the greeting cards offered in last weeks post, a selection of ceramic mugs with similar decorations.

A red rose (check out the language and meaning of roses):

Roses are red mug by ArtyfaxHome
Design your own customized coffee cups at Zazzle

A blue iris(read about the iris family on Wikipedia):

Blue iris mug by ArtyfaxHome
Browse more Blue Mugs at Zazzle

And last but not the bunch of flowers for a wonderful lady (the meaning of various flowers ).

Mulit-coloured flowers mug. by ArtyfaxHome
Look for more mugs at Zazzle

Back next week with more goodies from Zazzle ....

Floral Greeting Cards On Zazzle

I seem to see a lot of greeting cards with floral images, and my own store is no exception. Many of these are my own photographs but I will use Public domain and CC licensed images when available.

The first cards here use images available from Dover Publications samples which are available for use in your own work, personal or commercial as long as you obey their rules which are really quite lax.

blue iris blank greeting card by ArtyfaxCards
Check out more Flower Cards at Zazzle

blue iris blank birthday card by ArtyfaxCards
Make custom notecards at zazzle.com

You will see that that there is a  difference in the text between these two cards; if you know Zazzle then you will know that it is nearly always possible to edit (or customise as Zazzle calls it) any item in their product range. Store owners/designers often allow customers to chcosse their own wording or edit what is shown to allow for the customers own personal message.
Also, many cards are left blank for those personal messages which seems to be a modern trend with art or craft based greeting cards.

Cards are available in three different sizes from 8.5 x 11inches (large card) to 4 x 5.6 inches (notecard). Prices reflect the size of the card.

Another similar design using a Dover sample, an image of a rose:-

red rose blank greeting card by ArtyfaxCards
Add your photos and text to blank greeting cards at Zazzle

The next card is an example of my own photography, this shot was of a wonderfully colourful bunch of flowers, too good to miss making further use of. One of a number of Mother's Day cards on my 
Zazzle store:-

To a wonderful Mother Cards by ArtyfaxCards
Create card designs on Zazzle

UK RESIDENT?

For UK residents, please note that my you can access Amazon UK here

all the products that you see on this blog are available at the UK store.

My landscape paintings on Zazzle

My main pre-occupation is painting and lately I have been using pastels as my main medium. The colours are so vibrant and the technique I have developed is great for textured work. Plus the work can often be worked over if not satisfactory. Take a look at my painting blog to read about my methods. And you can read about this medium on Wikpedia or here.

The point with this story is that I use most of my paintings to produce designs on Zazzle. This is my latest, printed on a stretched canvas:

A Ray Of Sunlight stretched canvas print by PastelsByArtyfax
Find more small canvas prints at zazzle.com

Many different sizes, are available (smaller than the given example and less expensive) and also three different thicknesses. But do beware if the thicknesss is customised, as the image goes right around the sides. let me show you a few more:-

Road Through The Valley - wrapped canvas Canvas Prints by PastelsByArtyfax
Look for another large canvas print at zazzle

Storm Gallery Wrapped Canvas by PastelsByArtyfax
View more Blue Canvas Prints

Woodland River Bank Canvas Prints by PastelsByArtyfax
Browse more Yellow Canvas Prints at Zazzle

Of course all of these designs are available (or could be) on posters, cards, postcards and many more products. I will  add some more products in another post. BTW, Zazzle has added many new products

toits product range lately - you could be surprised at just waht you can customise. Take a look and find out.

New Greeting Cards On Zazzle

The Gondolas on the canals of Venice (Italy) are associated with many things but especially for tourists - with romance.

I have found a source of photographs on Flickr where the photographer has graciously given all rights to use his images freely. If only more would do that, but I guess we all have to try and protect our art. But I have used a few of these images to create new greeting cards. I will still use my own - but nice to be able to do something different.

Here are a couple from Venice:

Venitian canals blank inside greeting card by ArtyfaxCards
Find more Venice Cards at Zazzle

Venitian Gondolas blank inside greeting card by ArtyfaxCards
View more Venice Cards at zazzle.com

I also liked a series of images from this source, of decorated masks. I decided to use a couple of these as well, hope you like them:-

Masquerade blank inside greeting card by ArtyfaxCards
Create a card designs on Zazzle

And there was a simple image of a red candle burning in a wreath - very christmassy, so I used this as well - never too early for christmas :)

Christmas candle blank inside greeting card by ArtyfaxCards
Shop for a different greeting card template online at zazzle

Well there we are, nice to use your own images - and I do, paintings, collages and photos - but nice to be able to use a few from a different perspective. My thanks to gnuckx from Flickr

Writers do it with a pen

OK so it is only one day since my last post but I am on a run (LOL).

I actually wanted to create a tee for myself with a specific design. I created a few designs on the basis of this approach some time ago - never really been successful except for the ones I bought, but I have just started wwriting my first novel and I wanted a Tee to celebrate. This line drawing was found on Wiki Commons and was in the public domain so I thought, "this ones for me".

Writers do it with a pen (quill) tee shirt by artyfax
Browse Writer T-Shirts

This one of course, was added just in case any lady writers were interested. 

writers do it with a pen tee shirt by artyfax
Create your own tshirt online at Zazzle.

And if you think that I am telling porkies, here I am in a few of my previous purchases. They really are great products from Zazzle, a little expensive perhaps but you get what you pay for. And don't say that you didn't know that.

"ROCK ON"

Guitarists do it with their fingers

(my wife thinks this has a double meaning)

not terribly clear, but this is one of my abstracts

(on the shirt that is)

Treat yourself, lots more designs in my store just click on oone of the top two tee-shirts and browse.

Floral mugs, large chrysanthemum images

This week I offer a group of mugs which have three large chrysanthemum blooms set in an overlapping pattern around the sides of the mug.

Red chrysanthemum mug by ArtyfaxProducts
View other Blooms Mugs at Zazzle.com

Yellow chrysanthemum mug by ArtyfaxProducts
Find additional mug online at Zazzle.

Blue chrysanthemum mug by ArtyfaxProducts
Check out Flowers Mugs online at zazzle

The original photograph was a bunch of flowers,

I extracted the centre bloom. Because of the purple flower at bottom centre I had to take a copy of part of the yellow flower, rotate it to match and then paste to a layer underneath the original extracted image. Sound complicated - no of course not, I have described extracting images in an article on squidoo.

I then saved as a dot PNG image to retain the transparent background and recoloured the yellow image to a dark red and then a soft blue. Nothing like offering a choice?

Selling On Zazzle (3)

Firstly, I am simply going to quote from an article which you may well find useful if you have - or are thinking of opening - a Zazzle Store. This is the authors own synopsis.

What Every Artist Ought to Know About Zazzle (Part Two)

Zazzle has many benefits for the aspiring artist and a great reputation especially for a print on demand company, but any business model has drawbacks.  This article will highlight the ones I have found to be the most bothersome.  You can make a full time income with Zazzle and work from home, but you need to be prepared and discover all you can from others like me who have earned royalties.

I have also written an article on Squidoo which attempts to record some of my early experiences on Zazzle, it also has a number of references which you maay find useful.

And don't forget that Zazzle also has a forum which is very well worth reading and of course you can post your own queries in the relevant threads.

I intend to live forever Tee shirt by artyfax
Use Zazzle for photo t shirt printing.

Make Art Not War Ladies t-shirt by artyfax
Get a custom made tshirt.

Devil In Disguise ladies' t-shirt by artyfax
Make your own t shirt design at Zazzle

More on selling at Zazzle soon, I hope to start getting a little more down and dirty soon but my own experience is nothing to shout about and there is so much froth around. Still perseverence is the name of the game and with billions of potential items competing for attention it is very much a numbers game. TTFN

What Sells Best On Zazzle - 2 ?

Following on from my last post, I have found a page on Zazzle itself which offers 8 tips to help answer this question. A few of these are:-

1. Best Sellers: a selection of products which are selling well
2. Most wished for: products which zazzlers/customers have favorited most
3. Todays best: similar to #1 but more current
4. Trending: what looks as if it might be about to surface
5. Top searches: what are people looking for

#4 and #5 look very similar but are on different pages. The other two are about how to select a niche and find inspiration for new products.

Because of the success (two sales) of a particular tee-shirt, I have decided to design more with simply text and no images. I have tried to be innovative not always successful and here are some examples.

STILL 21 Ladies t-shirt by artyfax
View Humour T-Shirts online at zazzle

I make mistakes men's t-shirt by artyfax
Browse other Humour T-Shirts

Still got lots more research to do, will get back to you with any positive results - promise 

How Can I Find What Sells On Zazzle?

This is a question which I have asked myself ever since opening my first store. The idea at that time was that I would be able to offer images of my paintings and make a little cash on top of any that I made by selling the painting itself. This has not proved the case and in fact have made few sales of products carrying images of my art, paintings or otherwise. The majority of sales have been with very different images.

A few photographs mine and those from public domain sources, and vintage images on cards have been my biggest selling items. I have sold a few larger (and more expensive) item such as apparel but they seem to be those with humerous text messages. I need to do a rethink and create a new strategy and simply ask myself if it is worth my while to carry on with a time consuming task, i.e. designing products for sale, when there is little reward.

I have been checking on google to see if anyone has found the secret, but if so they certainly haven't passed it on. Oh there are some simple tips but no more than confirms my own findings. For example, a blog post titled, What Every Artist Ought to Know About Zazzle (Part Two) includes tips for selling on the site. It starts:-

Zazzle has many benefits for the aspiring artist and a great reputation especially for a print on demand company, but any business model has drawbacks.  This article will highlight the ones I have found to be the most bothersome.  You can make a full time income with Zazzle and work from home, but you need to be prepared and discover all you can from others like me who have earned royalties.

 A couple of my latest sellers have a touch of deja vuabout them (see the last post for the explanation).

Another card with a hubble photograph:-

helix nebula birthday card by ArtyfaxCards
Create unique personalized photo note cards from zazzle.com.

and another sale of this twice lucky tee;

Genius In disguise Tee-Shirt by artyfax
See more Humour T-Shirts

I will be repoting more on this research in the next post, but I am thinking that I should carry on with my art for my own benefit as I do get lots of praise for the designs - just no sales! I should be adding more text-based humour on apparel and use photos and suchlike for cards and other products. More next time ....