So, I made a new design for a t-shirt because lately I have been purchasing items from my designs to check the quality, and I wanted a nice t-shirt. Here it is:
The two items I bought thus far are a mug for one of my daughters and a pedestal sign for another daughter.The designs looked so good, I surprised myself, and Zazzle quality did not disappoint.
First, the mug:
It was good quality ceramic, with a slightly glossy sheen. The design was one of the more subtle in color, so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but it was soooo pretty ( if I do say so, myself). The printing was outstanding.
I had tweaked the design from the original, to make the resolution tighter (reduced size of image), but that was not necessary. I think the slightly larger size or the original is the better choice, although the one I ordered had such a refined look to it, that it was totally pleasing, too.
I think any customer would be super happy with it too.
Next, the sign
The subtle mauve and pink colors were just gorgeous. The printing was perfect. This sign is one that you usually have for event like showers or weddings. That is because I made a mistake ordering that type for my daughter to have on her shelf.
She liked it anyway, but now I wish I gotten the wall plaque or something- not because anything is wrong with the product, but because a wall plaque or something like that is easier to fit into home decor. The pedestal sign would be super cute for a kids room, though. ( which is what I originally designed it for.
If you are having winter nuptials, these are some of the best picks for a winter wedding invitation, along with seasonal tips and trends. Although highlighting many of my own designs, I like to curate some of the best from other designers. Winter weddings benefit from some of the beautiful holiday decor and traditional family visiting times.
As a designer on Zazzle, I do a lot of research into the trends in wedding styles, and have always been interested in event themes.Themes are so much fun to explore because of the creativity that so many women express through their event planning choices!
So, along with a small showcase of actual invitations, tips and info on favorite themes and trends are on the menu of this post, as well.
In This Article:
winter wedding colors; popular, new trends, classic
boho wedding theme
A Few Examples of My Own Design
Two of the new, trending Boho style designs and a popular Holiday influenced Wedding Invitation.
A Rustic invitation style that combines warm elements of wood and a floral decorated lantern
Modern Botanical Watercolor Flowers While winter colors are often more subdued, around Christmas or Valentines Day it is just the opposite! Expect lots of red, but many strong bright palettes, as well as a deep, moody trend come to the forefront during the winter season.
Greens of Winter
winter wedding color theme
For 2023 and beyond, Green becomes a top favorite. The theme is usually a natural one that invites nature’s display of plant foliage, evergreens, and the many shades of green to infuse the entire event. For invitations, that means lots of watercolor foliage designs.
I think this Greenery theme is so popular because it is simple and elegant. It is also easy to source the floral materials year round for one of the more costly portions of the wedding budget.
A subset of the greenery theme is the Christmas season theme of evergreens and the traditional “Deck the Halls” foliage, with the additions of Berry Red. Green, red, and white is classic.
Chic, gold snow, pine green winter wedding invitation
Next for a color combination that marries two of the classic color themes for Brides everywhere: Blush and Sage. Instead of a monotone, these toned down contrasting colors create their own subtle excitement. This could also be considered a subset of the Greenery theme when sage is the pre-dominant tint for the decor. Bring in a “Tapestry Tan” to further blend these two chosen colors.
Because they are pale and reflect the seasonal red and green, this works surprisingly well for a winter wedding. Many floral choices in Blush and herbal Sage is readily available at this time of year. If the fragrance of sage isn’t to your liking, Eucalyptus comes in this soft shade of green as well.
Lavenders
Segue way from the foliage to a field of lavender, and Lavenders and Purples take the winter wedding into a more moody color set. Light purples are usual for spring, but for the mood of the colder months, a rich Plum purple and a gray lavender with a desaturated green create a dramatic backdrop.
Sunflower Yellow and Dusk Blue
Turn your head to something completely different: bring in the sunshine, with a nod to the Nordic countries. Blue and yellow have always been a Swedish favorite (the colors of their flag). This combo is perfect for a bright note in an otherwise overcast time of year.
Sunflowers are a favorite in all seasons, and a fun decor and invitation theme.
Go Burgundy
Transitioning the time of fall to winter is the time to go all out for color, especially the Burgundy/Marsala and Burnt Orange shades. Try the two together for a late fall theme, or lean into a strong red color like Marsala for further into the winter calendar.
A Rustic invitation style that combines warm elements of wood and a floral decorated lantern
Notice the trend towards the Classic in these choices of colors. The winter months lend themselves to feeling of elegance and timelessness, even a minimalism that just doesn’t seem right in the warmer seasons of Spring or Summer. That doesn’t mean you can’t choose something different, it just is what fits with what Modern Brides sensibilities respond to most during these times, and this season.
Add Sparkle
Sparkle brings alive so many of these themes. Trendy additions like metallics in copper, silver, or rose gold. Facets of crystal, snowflakes, icy surfaces like glass and mirror. For invitations, don’t forget foil effects.
A Boho Wedding Theme
This has proven extremely popular for both Weddings and Bridal Showers, with neutral colors and soft natural textures of burlap, pampas grass, dried Palm leaves and pretty orchids. Usually ivory, champagne, and dusty rose, but clay colors such as terra-cotta and rusty reds for contrast are part of the mix.
Earthy feeling, watercolor invitations and luxurious papers are part of the invitation choices that highlight this casual style choice.
Flesh Pink, beige, and soft white, paired with darker rust and olive green accents are peaceful hues for beach or garden environments- or decor that evokes those beautiful venues.
Boho doesn’t have to have those color themes, it really harks to a collection of playful and unexpected elements which give a casual, laid back atmosphere, often with a 60’s Hippy vibe.
Boho Tropical White Orchid Invitation
Whimsical Boho Meadow Floral Invitation
A reason that Boho style invitations work well for winter is in the use of dried floral elements or florals that are available during this time of year; such as orchids.
This look combines the deep sapphire blue of a jewel tone with the yellow and blue combo. Its variations involve deepening the blue and having a very pale yellow for the stars and moon decor. It is a very dramatic look, yet the moon and night sky lends feelings of romance.
It is a look that has been trending for wedding stationary for the past few years.
If you found this article and winter wedding invitation design tips helpful, please share it via Pinterest, Facebook or by visiting the Zazzle site to give the designs a heart (like).
If you wish to create a registry on Amazon, my link helps to support this site with a small commission: Make a Wedding Registry on Amazon For more articles on Weddings, look at the category, here and Wedding Style, or visit a page all about finding the best wedding flowers for your budget
I just finished giving my artist daughter some advice about Zazzle. As it kept building into almost a “mini-course”, I thought maybe it would be a good idea to write some of that advice down in one place.
Start Here to Learn Success Tips For Zazzle
So much has changed at Zazzle that it is time to make some additions to this page. Thankfully just about everything written previously is still helpful. June 16,2024
Presently, one of the most important things to change is how important self marketing has become. Not just utilizing social media, but making graphics for your products (called “cover photos”) and collections. Collections themselves have risen in importance when it comes to gaining visibility for your designed products.
Canva app is really helpful in doing this, but it is no longer free to use. Youtube tutorials will really help you learn many Zazzle success tips.
For personalizations such as customer’s photos, learn to use the masking feature. More about that feature on the Community forum, here. You may have to be signed in to view the forum posts.
Zazzle has much improved their setup. The design tools are quite robust and I rarely have any troubles with “hang-ups” or freezing, now. The auto-save features on the site are reliable.
The questions started with… What can I do about my created product “hanging up” when I try to post it for sale?
To this, and other difficulties like it, the answer is save your design and write down the title, description, and tags in a text file to copy-paste. Once saved, the design will show up in your “saved file” and you can usually proceed without a problem. The short answer is that sometimes the javascripts get jammed. It might be your browser, Zazzle’s site, or a slow internet connection. Who knows? Just save wherever the hangup is, and then go from there.
This happens to me most often when I am trying to post for sale. That is why I use a text file to keep from losing the description and tags. It is useful as a temporary file for making more products with that same design. Copy and paste the description and tags saves time and typing, while tweaking them for individuality makes them a bit unique.
Designer Editor Improvements
There are a huge number of improvements to the Design Editor.
Select images and text in a design you’ve made, look for the “edit” dropdown, and chose “copy”; then paste the creation onto another surface, even a whole new product design.
“Filters” can change colors of an image into several types of styles; “Patterns” create a number of repeat styles.
Many fonts are available, once text is typed the spacing can be tweaked via the “AV” dropdown. A few text warps are available: arc, inverted arc, vertical.
Infinite color choices for background and for text.
It is now possible to mask photos/images
The crop and selection functions are quite robust.
I used a filter setting to make the background look more like I wanted. On the reverse side of the design I used the arc and the character spacing tweaks for some of the text.
Making Multiple Products with a Design
You can still “Quick Create” (not sure in 2024), but it is no longer recommended, and takes a long time to “post”. With the copy and paste powers of whole designs including their text and settings, it is easy to make multiple products with your favorite creation.
An update is the ability to transfer a design to new products. Just be sure that you modify it if needed to properly fit the product and its dimensions.
Keep Track of Colors via HexFiles
The next tip is to keep a file of hex files for colors you want to use. Either because they are trending or you want to repeat use of those hues.
Keeping track of hex file codesWhat is a hex code?Number and letter codes used for specific colors for certain designs along with description and tag words so that when making more products from that design these are accessible. Name you text file “Zazzlecode” or something similar.
My Best Choices for Hex Color Codes
The Zazzle color chooser itself gives you the hex codes for the color you have chosen- write it down to use again ( that source file, you are keeping).
Or go directly to the Pantone site, but to the insider area where you type in a color name and the info (including hex number) comes up on its own page.
The next bit of advice is how important it is to use some basic SEO, since an artist has to do her own marketing. Use descriptive relevant terms when titling both the design and product, when writing the descriptions, and especially when choosing tag words and phrases.
If you don’t know very much about SEO, there are scads of articles and sites online which explain this to bloggers. Artists can use that same information when working to get Google to find their products, too. Here are the Zazzle success tips to help with that.
Zazzle prefers that you use around 10 important keywords, although you can use more.
Describe your design in terms you think people will search for.
Don’t inflate with irrelevant terms, there is a No-Spam policy in place.
Use places for text that can help your SEO, like descriptions and titles for images, as well as design descriptions and tags. Collections also have tags and descriptions.
Right up there with SEO is making your own product images. Information on important topics for creating and selling in their official handbook. The link above is useful to look at, but outdated, as Zazzle is constantly changing. Check out the PDF, here, as well as guides on the site (Wedding guides, trend guides, etc.
Collections
These are ways to curate your designs, introducing less popular ones, and help to organize your site. They are useful for social media sharing, so learn how to make them (quite easy), then display in your store. It’s been recommended to have your collections near the top.
The entire concept and creation of Collections has re-vamped! To gain greater insights and guidance into this vital part of a designers toolbox, view this video:
This is a fantastic way to share more of your designs to potential customers. Potential customers get to see more of your work ; much easier than trying to spend time navigating your stores (which is awkward and time consuming for most people).
The New Title
Duplicates are a problem in SEO results, so while it used to be okay to have multiple products that use a design titled and described all the same, this is now a problem. Customize the written labels and descriptions for each product.
Zazzle Success Tips forViews
Products views are important. Even your own view of one of your designed products counts, but if you have created something that no one views over a certain length of time, it gets hidden from the general marketplace.
So include your creations in the collections, share them, and go to their pages if necessary, to increase the possibility of sales.
That sums up the latest of gleaned tips for gaining a foothold in Zazzle success. If you have tips add them, please.
Zazzle is set up to share profits, through royalties and referrals with their members.
Whether you can earn income is a mixed bag of answers. Many people do earn well, and it must be stated that they probably work very hard at it.
I have read many statements in the forums and elsewhere that provide insights into their process. Most devote several hours each day to making their stores successful.
It is not easy money, but it can be part of a business.
I have done better when I invested more time into improving my store with keywords, designing products, and paying attention to examples from the top trending products.
I make less now than a couple years ago, which may be due to a number of changes that the site has made. My own intention is to work on my brand, improve my techniques and designs, and make more products.
That is also the advice I give you.
It remains to be seen whether the referrals will produce any income, as of now, it doesn’t. (For me, I can’t speak for everyone). It could be that there is too much competition for the casual presentation of products.
Collections
A recent way of showcasing products is the set of collections. Curated by you, these are a way to promote either your own or fellow Zazzler’s work. To complete your profile you make a certain number of collections which are then shown on the stores you own. You can choose which stores a collection appears within.
They work very much like a Pinterest board, just on a smaller scale.
Here are the tips I have gathered and learned through my own experience.
It is a numbers game- make lots and lots of designs and products for Zazzle income results.
Pay close attention to keywords and learning about SEO for Zazzle as well as for your blog.
Use your social media to gain interest in your stores and designs.
Investigate the idea of designing around a niche. The fact that you can have multiple (free) stores encourages and facilitates this.
The forums are very informative, visit there for the new products, helpful tips, and troubleshooting.
Set up a blog for showcasing your work. Write posts about the designs or the products. Or related topics such as baby shower parties, wedding invitation tips, birthday party themes, etc.
I am beginning to try to use more posts to showcase great products and designs… a type of “curation post”. I will report on whether this has any effect on referral income for me, and let you know what the practices are that result in income from Zazzle.
I tried to sign up as an affiliate for them, but that didn’t work out. The affiliate process from the site itself is what I must use.
I wasn’t originally planning on making this design. It was just a day of finally getting around to using some elements that I had bought as a bundle, complete with full licensing to use on my own products.
I painted and arranged, and then the fact that being a “Mom Who Prays” inspired me to make this t-shirt. I’m going to order one for myself because I really find it inspiring and encouraging.
One thing I am… a prayer warrior. I didn’t plan on that, either. But God has plans for us that work out over time, and the best thing about becoming an intercessor is that you start to get to know your God. You become friends with your Savior and Lord.
The back design was one of the rhema moments: a banner… “His banner over me is love”! So of course I had to add the word love to the banner and it hovers over “prayer warrior”- me!
I love when that happens.
The scripture is a well known one to all who believe in the power of prayer:
Anyway, I am super happy about how the design came out, it was fun to do, and I believe it will be an encouraging, enjoyed shirt for other praying women as well.
What is most satisfying about this design, aside from the message, is the subtle watercolor look and washed colors. Sage green (another meaningful play on words), aqua blue (water is full of symbolism in this context), and coral pink create the kind of feeling that I often experience in prayer times.
It is calm.
Peaceful.
Hopeful.
Restful.
The hand painted look is not just something I am drawn to (can’t get away from puns and word play!), it is something that joins with the intent of being a person engaged in the act of creating from my heart.
Letting the Lord inspire our desires and prayers, and returning them to Him to more fully experience His love over us.
It is just a simple tshirt, but somehow it turned into kind of a devotional inspiration for me.
Funny how that happens sometimes. But wonderful and refreshing!
My family also uses Amazon Prime often, which saves us money on shipping and more.
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