Small Business Saturday! Support Your Local Small Business, Including Artists!

Today is the 2nd annual Small Business Saturday! 

It is a wonderful opportunity to support your local small business owners, including artists and craftspeople, during this busy holiday shopping season. There are many talented artisans offering unique, high-quality handmade goods as well as artists offering original art of all genres on practical and fun products from print-on-demand companies like Zazzle.

Here are some great resources to get you started - check them out! I think you will find some terrific gift items for both the hard-to-buy folks in your life as well as some great gifts and stocking stuffers.

• indiExhibit Holiday Gift Guide on Pinterest - Offers a wide variety of styles and products, from both handmade and print-on-demand artists and craftspeople for everyone from kids and teens to men and women. All items are produced by the very talented members of The indiExhibit, a global group of independent artists and creatives. 
• CCreech Studio on Zazzle - my original botanical, nature, travel, and wildife artwork featured on a wide variety of print-on-demand products including cards, t-shirts, mugs, coasters, tote bags, iPad cases, and more. I have been creating a number of new products on newly offered items by Zazzle including gel mousepads (great stocking stuffer!), puzzles, notebooks, ceramic tiles and gift boxes, and plates. Definitely worth a look around! Lots of great discounts being offered as well - check out Zazzle coupons as well as weekend deals. 

 Other artists worth checking out:

• Country Mouse Studio - Zazzle store of artist Carole Barkett offers original watercolor and digital paintings of favorite subjects including birds, wildlife and all of nature.
• Lynne Reichhart Fine Art - Zazzle store of artist Lynne Reichhart offers original artwork including archival prints.
• Bugs, Beasts, & Botanicals - Etsy shop featuring the art of Mindy Lighthipe.
• Bibliographica - Etsy shop of Louise Thompson, a New Zealand artist offering unique hand made journals, botanical photographic studies, & miniature wearable treasures.
• Mary's Jewelry Designs - Texas-based jewelry artist Mary Bishop creates beautiful and affordable pieces, many of which use some of my favorite semiprecious stones like jasper and agate.

Whether you shop from any of the above stores or your favorite local artist or small business, be sure to show your support this holiday season and all year 'round! 

Happy shopping!

Tiles, Trivets and Boxes - Oh My!

Zazzle has recently made some wonderful new products available in the marketplace. We can now create tiles, trivets, and beautiful gift boxes!

I am so excited at the possibilities since I have always thought tiles (and products featuring those, like trivets and boxes...) would really suit my artwork quite well. 

 

I have been plugging away at creating the tiles first since you can choose to frame the tile as as trivet or put it into a gift box once you click 'customize'. Take a peek at some of my new products below and stay closely tuned as I continue to add more!

Daffodil Tile with Green Stripe

Garlic Scapes Tile

Add a trivet frame for a useful and decorative kitchen gift!

Japanese Crane Gift Box

Find all of the tiles I have created so far here: Tiles

Find all of the gift boxes I have created so far here: Gift Boxes
Note: you will see tiles here, too, since you can create a gift box from any tile. Simply click the 'customize' button when viewing a tile.

Any of these new products would make fantastic gifts for family and friends!

75% off of 75+ Holiday Greeting Cards at Zazzle!

Zazzle is having a fantastic sale on holiday greeting cards:

75% off of orders of 75+ cards! 

Use Code: JOY2THEWORLD at checkout.

 

That may sound like a lot, but I know we send out over 80 cards to family and friends each year, so it's really a pretty great deal!

Remember, you can choose different designs - they don't all have to be the same. You might like some of my offerings below and then find more of another designer on Zazzle. All of them can add up to you 75+ for the 75% off!

Maybe you'd like one design for your co-workers or employees, and a different one for friends and family? My current cards are below. All of these can be customized with your greetings, name, and more:

 

  

The offer is valid through October, 31 2011 11:59pm PT. Happy shopping!

50% Off Cards at Zazzle! Check it out!

Zazzle is offerring 50% off card styles - see my full selection of postcards, greeting and note cards. Invitations are also included. Save big on your holiday mailings, thank you notes or invitations!

Use Code: ALLCARDSSALE

  

"Savor the Season" Holiday Card

 

Invitations are completely customizable with your event information. You can also choose paper style and color.

 Take a look today!

Mousepads from Zazzle - they look great!

I recently ordered three of my designs on mousepads from my Zazzle store. They arrived yesterday and look fantastic!

The images printed up very well - crisp and clear with bright, true colors. Gorgeous! I am very pleased.

Japanese Crane - original done in ink and colored pencil.

American Red Raspberry - original done in ink and colored pencil.

Rose with buds - original done in colored pencil.

The holiday season is approaching faster than you think! You can find all my mousepad designs in my store here: mousepads

Keep these in mind for a useful and decorative gift for friends, family, employees and co-workers!

Spring Giveaway winner! And some big Zazzle Memorial Day sales.

Congratulations to Brittany R. who is the winner of my Spring Giveaway!

Thank you all so much for participating! And thanks for all of the additional Facebook fans and blog followers! I will be adding more drawings and creative posts throughout the summer.

But wait! There's more :) 

Zazzle is offering some great Memorial Day sales. Come on by and check it out! Great gifts for graduates, Father's Day, summer fun and more!

• 40% off of prints and posters
• 25% off of all stickers (like my botanical seals, book plates, and regular stickers!)
• 15% off of iPad and iPhone cases
• 10% off of everything else!

Use this code at checkout: MEMORIALSALE

Have a great weekend!

Stickers and Preschool Presentation - How to tell 3-year-olds about drawing?

So today I did a presentation to my daughter's 3-year-old preschool class about drawing. 

How do you keep preschoolers interested in a short talk? Interactive and hands-on!

Ask Them Questions

I only had about 10 minutes, and so I did some back and forth questions and answers with the kids, asking about drawing, what they liked to draw with, etc. I told them what I like to draw, including houses, animals and flowers, and explained some of the materials I use. 

Give Them Something to Touch

While I was talking, I passed around different paper (rough drawing paper, smooth hot press watercolor paper) so that they could feel the difference, and I showed how a crayon mark looks different on each. I also passed around some printouts of drawings I have done.
 

I think the biggest hit, however, were the daffodils that I brought. I told them how I especially like to draw flowers and gave them each one to look at up close. We talked about what shapes they saw in the center or in the petals and how that is a good way to draw something - by looking at the shapes you see. They liked pulling them apart, of course. :)

Something to Take Home

I gave them each a small piece of the rough and smooth papers to take home along with some stickers (of my tulip, daffodil and camel drawings--yeah for Zazzle stickers!) and a coloring page of the one daffodil drawing so that they could color at home if they want. I figure that if they took nothing else out of the little talk, maybe they would have fun coloring later!

Overall, not a bad first attempt at presenting to young kids! I owe a big thank you to fellow Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI) members who gave me some great suggestions for making the presentation a success.
 

Have you ever presented your art or craft to young kids? How did it go?

CCreech Studio featured on ArtPlantae Today!

I am happy to share that I have been featured in an interview on the blog ArtPlantae Today, a wonderful online resource created by Tania Marien whose aim is to increase botanical literacy by encouraging an interest in plants and nature through illustration. It is and educational website to connect artists, educators and naturalists.

Tania graciously offered to interview me about my experience with Zazzle, and how I use it to introduce my art to a broader audience. Read the full interview here!

While you are there, feel free to browse around - there are many fantastic posts interviewing very talented contemporary botanical artists, classes near you, and a store offering books and more.

Hope you enjoy and thanks to Tania for the opportunity!

New Stickers! Book plates for your personal library and more.

Do you ever lend your favorite books to family and friends and worry about getting them back? Consider adding personalized book plate labels!

I have created a whole line of library book plate stickers in several different shapes and designs. Zazzle recently added new sticker shapes including square, rectangle, oval, heart, star and triangle, and they are now 25% off through April 11, 2011.  Use code: STICKERSHAPE upon checkout. 

These would be great for special sets of books in your home or business such as cookbooks, art books, gardening books and more. Take a look!

Recipe Cards! Do you prefer lines or no lines?

Thanks to a suggestion from my cousin Jess, who is a fantastic designer and cook (check out her blog - The Saucy Kitchen), I have been creating new recipe cards in Zazzle. 

I have been having fun with variations on a couple of designs. For example, the garlic scapes card above has lines for writing on both front and back. Some cards have solid lines on the front and some have split lines on the front for ingredient lists. Also, there are cards with images on the front (like the one above) and some just have images on the back.

The beauty of Zazzle is that it allows you to customize so that if you prefer a blank writing area (i.e., no lines), you can simply delete them from the card. In the front-image cards, you can also change the background color, or choose to return it to a white background, giving you flexibility to match your color preferences.

I would love to hear if you prefer lines or no lines, or if you would like to see other illustrations on the cards that are not currently there? 

Feel free to browse around the new selections and let me know what you think!

And now for something a little different - garden shoes anyone?

I have been having fun exploring Zazzle's products offerings. With spring on the brain lately (could it have anything to do with the foot of snow we are expecting tomorrow??), I have created some wonderful, new -- wait for the drum roll -- SHOES!

I am thinking these would make fantastic and fun gardening shoes - what do you think?

Check out my shoes page to see more designs.

Sending warm thoughts your way!

Cyclamen - finished! Ink and colored pencil.

Here is the finished cyclamen. I think it turned out pretty well, I always end up feeling like I used a heavier hand than intended when I see the final product, but if I let it rest for a few days and come back to it, I tend to like it more. I think this just is my style of colored pencil work at the moment and that's OK! :)

Hope you enjoy!

Find new products at Zazzle featuring this illustration!

New Facebook Page for CCreech Studio - please stop by!

Hi everyone,

I have created a new Facebook page to showcase my work, especially my Zazzle store products. Please stop by CCreech Studio and take a look! And don't forget to click the "Like" button if you would like to have automatic updates.

Thanks for your support and have a creative week!

New Valentine's Day Cards

I've been working on some new designs for my Zazzle store. Please stop by and take a look at the two new Valentine's Day cards that are now available:

Save the Date Postcards! Simple, elegant and unique featuring hand-drawn botanical artwork.

NEW: Save the Date postcards! These elegant, simple and unique postcards can be personalized with your own event details.

See my postcards at Zazzle for more designs!

Tulip Save the Date Postcard 

Rose Save the Date Postcard

African Daisy Save the Date Postcard

 

Sea Shell Thank You Card and African Daisy Invitation Template

Happy Friday!
 
I am expanding my horizons and have been starting create some card designs with text and templates that can be personalized. The first two I have created are below. What do you think?

Since most of you have been around my blog for awhile, I would love to hear what other illustrations of mine do you think would work well on invitations, thank you cards, or other specific cards? I'm open to suggestions, so feel free to comment and let me know!

Sea Shell Thank You Card


African Daisy Invitation

Big Sale at Zazzle until Dec. 20th - iPhone cases, necklaces and premium ornaments

If you still have some shopping to do, check out Zazzle's deal through December 20th:

• $10 off of premium ornaments
• $20 off necklaces
• $30 off iPhone cases

To get the discounts, use the code NEWPRODSZAZZ at checkout. Plus there is Free Shipping on orders over $50 (use the code FREESHIPFORU).

Kinderdijk Windmill iPhone 3G Case

Rose Necklace

Lone Cypress Premium Holiday Ornament

Happy shopping!

Gifts for the gardener?

Need some gift ideas for the gardener? Or just need a touch of spring as we head into winter?

Come by and see some of the new items I recently added in my store featuring my red and yellow tulip illustration:

NEW: Sterling silver pendant necklaces


Tulip Apron:


Or, maybe some unique sandstone coasters?


Thanks for stopping by and stay warm!

Need shopping ideas? Unique stocking stuffers? Stop by my updated Zazzle store today!

Happy almost Thanksgiving! I hope you are having a wonderful start to the holiday season.

I have been hard at work updating my Zazzle Store in anticipation of the upcoming holidays and have added a number of new products in the last week. You may have noticed the Zazzle panel to the right here on my blog that shows some of the products available.  Much more is listed on the site itself, so please stop by to take a look!

All products feature my original artwork and include:

• Note cards and greeting cards
• Stamps
• Labels (return address--great for holiday cards!) 
• Ornaments
• iPhone Cases 
• Mousepads
• Mugs 
• Stickers
• Tote Bags 

Many of these items make great gifts for corporate groups, school groups, garden clubs, etc.

Keep in mind that all of the products are customizable. For example, you can add your own  text to create a custom return address labels for your holiday cards, or add your name to a custom iPhone case, etc.

If you are interested in getting email updates in the future as I continue to refine the store, add new products, etc., you can click the Fan Club link, and choose Join a Fan Club to be added. Or, feel free to just leave a comment (with email info or where I can find your contact details) for me on this post and I will add you to my mailing list.

Good luck with all of your shopping adventures, wherever they may be!

Botanical Note Card Giveaway!

I am excited to announce my first blog giveaway!

I will be giving away a set of 10 botanical note cards, featuring my original artwork, in honor of my 2nd blog anniversary today. The set contains 4 American Holly cards, 2 Iris cards, 2 American Red Raspberry cards, and 2 Rose with Buds cards:

• 4" x 5.6"
  
• Printed on ultra-heavyweight (120 lb.) card stock with a gloss finish.
• Each card comes with a white envelope and is blank inside.

To enter, leave a comment with your name and contact information (email address or website/blog address is fine), by Monday, November 15 at 12 noon, and I will use a random number generator to choose the winner. 

For extra chances to win, leave an additional comment here to tell me if:

• You already follow my blog OR you have become a follower
• You have posted about this giveaway on your blog

These cards and more can be found at my Zazzle store. Please stop by for a visit!

I have recently added some return address labels and postage stamps that would be perfect for the upcoming holiday season. Keep in mind that there is no minimum order and you do not have to buy multiples of the same card to receive a quantity discount. You will receive a quantity discount on any order of 10 or more cards.

Be sure to tell your friends about the giveaway!
And thanks for visiting!