Thanks, and enjoy the last weekend of summer!

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That said, in case you hadn’t noticed, I DO update my store when I have something new. I added some products recently (and scored a few more Today’s Best Awards!) and sometime in the next week I’ll be adding a print version of my art deco “LIBERTY CONE” mailer* that you got last month. (Not the cone above, although that one is over at Zazzle now.) “LIBERTY CONE” won’t be available as cards … the detail is too small, and Zazzle doesn’t offer that large size that I custom ordered from a printer. I hope to have the print up this week, but I’m on a tight deadline for another project right now, so we’ll see.

Lastly, I’ve started getting questions about Christmas cards … and yes, I will be doing mid-century-styled cards again this year. However, I am not producing/shipping them myself this time … I just don’t have that kind of time to commit right now. I’ll be releasing them through my Zazzle store, so although I’ll be repeating some of the past hit designs, they will unfortunately be a little different. For starters, Zazzle doesn’t have wraparound printing on cards, so some of the designs with a front/back style will be eliminated or altered. The good news, is Zazzle is customizable, so I will be setting all of the cards up so that you can order them with your family names, etc. on the insides. Also, they’ve just added custom envelopes, so I will be adding matching full-color envelopes (and postage stamps!) for each card design. I’m also still supporting Winter Wishes this year, of course, but now that Christmas cards are part of my income rather than just a side hobby that I funded through my corporate-gig disposable income, I’ll have to be realistic about what percentage will go to that program. Once I figure it out, I’ll post on a special page I’m putting up to feature the cards.

Oh, and I’m doing Halloween again this year, too, after a few-years’ break. I’ll start putting that collection in the Zazzle store as soon as I finish the project I’m working on right now … hopefully sometime next week.

BTW, in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve recently closed my CafePress store … thank you to everyone who shopped there the last five years, but with everything going on, it was too much to keep up both stores. Because of the time it took to upload/price/write-up each thing on there, I often didn’t update EITHER store. Zazzle is much easier, it allows for customization, and realistically … it was doing at least 75% more business than the CafePress store. So … end of an era …

Thanks, all! And enjoy what’s left of the summer!
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*If you would like to receive future mailers (usually before holidays), please go to the contact page and send me your snail-mail address. This message comes to me via email and won’t be shared with a third party. Thanks!

There won’t be any Threadless Thursday for a few weeks since I have too much work on my plate right now. (No pun intended, I swear.) So until the end of June …

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Part of my new summer collection, “Dad’s Grill” is available from my Zazzle store only, and features a customizable area for that extra-special dad. Fill in dad’s name and the year he became a father and voila! Dad’s very own design!

Available as a shirt (click around the product page to see all the different tee styles), a mug, a BBQ apron and an extra-large print. And from now until Wednesday the 9th at 3pm PST, get free ground shipping on orders of $35 or more. Just enter code DADDYFREEGRD at checkout.

Happy Father’s Day!
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From the moment their eyes met across the deli tray, they knew it was on. As the DJ dropped some cold cuts, Bologna and Bread made their way across the table hoping to make their open(faced) sandwich a threesome. They needed a top, and the fresh little slice in the push-up wrapper looked just right. This little sourdough wonder was open to anything, and she particularly liked the look of the deviled ham combo that was now placing its tasty order. But what happened next? Were more toppings invited? After all, there was one hot Tomato making the rounds, and if her partner Lettuce was offended, he could just leave. Cheese was of an appropriate age, and no one was pickled enough to make a decision they’d regret after the date expired.

If you find this week’s sub — THREESOME — risqué after last week’s super-Disneyfied post, please don’t. You shouldn’t see lunchmaking as a dirty act, but rather a beautiful expression shared mutually between sandwich fixings in their (USDA) prime. Here’s the link if you’d like to score (you know … the design).

I really had fun with this one. I had a few chuckles here and there while I was drawing it out. I drew most of it out on paper in parts and then pieced it back together on my Mac to do the final drawing digitally, because I kept changing my mind about various parts. (My scans folder is filled up with files with ridiculous names such as “orgy arms” and “party cuts”.) I drew the faces in Illustrator without planning them out first, and I’m really happy with how they came out, even if Bologna does look a little rapey. Also, I originally wanted to have the bread on the right to be eating an olive off of a toothpick, but couldn’t figure out how to make that scale work … the olive would be too big! My original concept was just the front party image, but once I started it, the idea for the back came to me and I’m glad it did, because that seems to be everyone’s favorite part … more on that below.

Anyway, this one was originally to come later in my list of ideas to submit to the site, but my last one only received a so-so rating so I wanted to gauge what they were reacting to … the G-rated content or the G-rated illustration style. We’ll see. That said, I studied past winning entries, and plenty received lower ratings than mine (no one seems to get above high-3’s [3.6, etc.], for example, even though 5 is the tops). Plus, I’ve since found out that the scores don’t really matter … Threadless just uses them to see what people are saying … they still choose the designs they like regardless. After 90 days I can take anything down and use it elsewhere anyway, which is what I’ll likely do, such as putting it in my zazzle and cafepress stores. Last week’s entry — GROUNDED — has already received interest elsewhere … more on that when there’s more news.

BTW, if you didn’t notice, I already missed a week here … although technically I did 95% of this design last week, I didn’t have time to post until this week, so I guess I’m already going to an every-other-week plan. Every week is just too much. Although I’m already working on the next one for part of their current design challenge. This one is more like what you’ve come to know and love from me (okay, I was assuming the love part), and is a twist on a vintage sign style.

So that’s it … I’ve already gotten some feedback on this design that helps me understand what it is the Threadless customer likes. Basically some of them want me to throw out the front image altogether. I still like the front, but I think it’s better used on a more mainstream site. The Threadless customer doesn’t seem to like to be hit over the head with a joke, and I appreciate that. (Or as one of my good friends said, “The back tells the joke must faster and funnier.”) I’m still glad I drew the front, though, as it’s more practice/opportunity to work out my illustration style. (I’ve been designing for other licensed characters for 10 years and sorta can’t remember what my own look like!) I’ll probably end up grabbing the scene from the front, filling out more detail, and using it as a promo postcard sometime later. No art goes to waste.

Until next time …

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Therefore, over the next week I’m posting last-minute gift suggestions for Father’s Day, and when applicable, I’ll post products from my own collection. But for now … today’s dad is … THE CLASSIC BASEBALL FAN!

Now as a Queens inhabitant, I of course am a Mets gal (although I was raised an Indians fan), but I’ve gathered some of my favorite old-school items from all of the Cooperstown “Throwback” collection as well as some other fantastic retro baseball collectibles. (I even snuck the Portland Beavers in there just because the mascot is so adorable and old school!) I’ve taken the guesswork out of picking out the perfect vintage collectible for that retro dad of yours, so if you see something below that suits your guy, simply click the links to buy on Amazon. (You can also click the pictures above to buy those two items.)

And what’s a classic baseball collection without a few bobbleheads???

You can even get dad’s name and old school number on these classic jerseys!:

And check out these awesome baseball books and movies!

If your team wasn’t featured, or you’d just like to check out the rest of the collection, click here for more.

Happy (Retro) Father’s Day!!!
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The first of my new collection will post in the next couple of weeks (including lots of new retro summertime graphics!), so until then, I decided to feature one of my favorite designs (and incidentally, my most popular one): Hot Diggity Dog! Inspired by old summertime snack shop signs, Hot Diggity makes a great gift for upcoming Father’s Day! Because I use both Cafepress and Zazzle, the design is available on both sites – on Cafepress you can get it as a shirt, magnet, clock, mug, apron, tote and even a baby bib! On Zazzle, it’s available as a shirt, apron, tote, mug and a print as large as 6-1/2 feet wide! If you’re shopping for a shirt, I personally prefer Zazzle (shown above … although once in the listing, you can choose many different types of shirts – including kids), but it is available in both stores since everyone has their own preference as to which site they like to shop from.

Incidentally, just to remind everyone, my designs are also available as wall-sized wallpaper murals … please contact me via the form on the contact page to inquire about price, etc. Please include the dimensions of the space.

If you’d like to keep up with each new release, you can enter your email address in the form over in the sidebar to get an automatic email everytime I post something new. (The form is automated, and your email address will not be shared with a third party.)

Until the next featured post, have a great holiday everyone!

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P.S. By the way, because I’m so overloaded with my shops and freelance work right now, Threadless Thursday will only be every other week. Next Threadless Thursday post will be on May 27th.

New York Cares Volunteers: if you’re registered for Hands On New York Day, raise the most money today and you could win a big prize pack including your choice of a 120-minute HD Flipcam from my shop … retail value of the camera: $230!! (Two more designs will be viewable this afternoon.) What else will be in the pack?? Can’t say. But I can caution you that it may contain Peanuts. You know … of the non-allergenic Charlie Brown variety.

Read more about Superfundraising Day here.

Good luck and thank you for all your hard work!!

It’s been a pretty good week … bookended by two Today’s Best Awards on Zazzle! On Tuesday, I won a TBA for my Movie Night Keds (shown), then all the way down on Saturday, I got one for an update of my favorite “Player” tee, which I posted on zazz for the first time. (Click the link at left to check them both out.)

There’s also a cool fundraising thing happening this week … I’ll tell you more once it’s announced. Until then … time to meet up with Charlie Brown!

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