DEC 9th Planning a New Adventure

Good Evening Journal & Friends,

Okay... nuff controversary. Time for some fun! Well, it's fun for me, anywhoo. ;-)

I mentioned recently that next year one of my goals was to pluck up my courage and open my very own Zazzle  store. I no longer feel as though I have to get "skinny" before I step outside my comfort zone. :-)

Zazzle is an online shop that takes our own designs and puts them on stuff. Everything from prints, cards, posters, key chains and stickers, to personalized postage, t-shirts, buttons and coffee mugs. And tons more, too boring to list here. 

Anyway, before I get involved, I'd like to make sure I really want my NAME associated with them. In other words, I want to check out the quality of their printing and merchandise. So, I bought some stuff.

And most of them turned out terrific! 

I'll be honest in my review... I bought 5 things and: 

3 were fabulous 

1 was just okay 

1 was a little disappointing  

The actual merchandise seems very nice. For instance, the apron is not flimsy at all, but nice, bright white heavy poly/cotton fabric, neatly sewn. Same with the coffee mug: nice size and fabrication. My minor beef is just with how the images turned out on 2 items. And one of those might be because I didn't read close enough to know how big the final image was going to be... not sure about that one. Here's the deets:

We got two mousepads... here

is the one Jim chose, from one

of his waterfall photos. He likes the

quality and richness of the image.

Here is mine. I used one of my 

designs, and stuck on text that

was meaningful to me. I think it

came out crisp and colorful; overall

I am very satisfied. The background

is a soft gray, and my mouse glides very

 easily over the silky smooth surface. 

Eek, I sound like an infomercial!

I love the sturdy white fabric of my apron,

but have to say that in person the image

is not as bright as I had expected. 

Perfectionist?? Me?? Why, never. ;-) 

My mug turned out bold and fabulous!!

I am drinking tea out of it this very minute.

The colors are strong and vibrant, and

I added my new Mantra: 

I Can Do Hard Things

And last but not least... we got Joey

her very own t-shirt! We love how 

she looks in it, and it's adorable. But,

this is the one I was most disappointed 

in. The photo was sooo much smaller 

than I expected. Good thing we have

her in person to look at, LOL!

We're starting to get frost and snow here

in Southern Oregon, so she can keep cozy

when she goes outside to Do Her Business.

Oh, and dig to China after the gopher that 

decided to move into our backyard!

So far, I am leaning towards a thumbs UP on opening my own Zazzle store. It would be called Art by Retta, with a bunch of my designs available to put on shoes, hats, t-shirts, ipod cases, mugs, posters, office accessories, blah blah blah... all the stuff I've mentioned and more. I'll just do it in my spare time. (choke choke... if you only knew what a joke THAT was, LOL!) 

But Jules at Big Girl Bombshell recently had a wonderful post on choices, time and our goals. So my Zazzle store will happen when I make it a priority. Period. Thanks for that nudge, Jules.

Anyone use Zazzle before? Would you recommend it? If I'm headin for a cliff, I'd rather know BEFORE I feel air blowing in my hair! Just doing my research before I decide. :-D

From Dr Phil's book: "Having specific carefully mapped out, vividly envisioned goals is an absolute requirement for success."

My verse for today: "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless."

My quote for today: "Age is something that just doesn't matter, unless you're a cheese." --Billie Burke

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta

=^..^=

DAY 844