Happy Mega Monday!

It's the last Monday in November, the day that some bright spark with a marketing degree has dubbed "Mega Monday" (also known as "Cyber Monday"). The trend over the last few years is for this day to be the busiest of the year for internet retailers, marking the start of a 2 week online shopping spree. Being the first Monday after the November payday, everyone knows exactly how much they've got to spend on the festivities. In America, it's the first Monday after Thanksgiving, which is when the nation's psyche switches towards thinking about Christmas. Ordering now also gives plenty of time for goods to be delivered in time to be wrapped without a last minute panic.

Visa are predicting 4.8 million British people will buy online today, spending around £303 million on their credit and debit cards. It's also expected to be the first year when Christmas shopping on smartphones becomes mainstream, with an estimated 12.2% of purchases made on mobile devices.

So if you're one of those browsing the web for gifts, this is a good time to remind you to shop around and don't just go to the obvious sites. The world is full of small independent traders who depend on your purchases much more than the major companies do. You'll end up with very unique arts, crafts, clothing, food, furniture, etc which your loved ones will treasure a lot more than all the mass-produced stuff you'll find in the big retailers.

So, in the hope you'll want to spread a bit of Christmas cheer my way, here's my handy guide to everything you can currently buy from me. Just click the pictures to take you to the appropriate stores:

Café Press:
13 individual stores, each one containing around 200 clothes, gifts, homeware and more. All the products shown here are available in each of the stores.

There are 4 special shops for Christmas. Here you can stock up on unique Christmas cards and decorations...

...winter warmers...

...essentials to get you through the festivities...

...and mementoes of baby's first Christmas.

•Note: Prices shown in GB£ are converted from US$ are may therefore vary due to international exchange rates.

Zazzle:
My Zazzle store currently stocks 3 product ranges.

Font Islands: Stunningly detailed and realistic 3D graphics available on mugs (which can be customised with the recipient's name), mouse mats and shopping bags.

Flags: Grungy flags on a variety of background colours can be bought on badges, magnets, keyrings and an assortment of T-shirts. Currently available for the UK; USA; France; Germany; Ireland; Italy; South Africa; Japan; Canada; Australia and New Zealand.

Animal T-shirts: Illustrations based on a salmon, peacock and stag.

DeviantArt:

A lot of the work in my DeviantArt portfolio is also available for purchase. This can be bought on wall art; greetings cards; coasters; magnets; mouse mats; mugs; postcards and puzzles. Look for the little bag symbol to see what's for sale, here are a few samples to whet your appetite.

Happy shopping!

• "Mega Monday To Kick Off Christmas Sale Season" - The Guardian

Commonwealth Games

Back over to Zazzle this week, where I've had the cyber-hoover out to clean the place up ready for some new arrivals.

Neat!

Time to unveil (or should that be unfurl) some new flags. I was keen to get a bit more ambitious with them, as I can now do the basic tricolour in my sleep.  The next country I really wanted to get my teeth into was Australia...

Australia just needs a few tweaks to turn into New Zealand...

...and if I'm doing Australia and New Zealand, why not chuck in Canada and make this a Commonwealth set?

Australia and New Zealand had to be distorted a bit to fit a rectangle into a circle. The key was that the Union Jack on the real flags fits exactly into the top left hand quarter, so once I'd done that the stars just had to fit round it proportionately. The stars themselves were a new challenge, especially the New Zealand ones as I would have to knock out the red and white sections separately depending on the background. I created the stars using an outline filled with a set of lines stretching point-to-point, giving a splattered, ink stamp effect.

Although the Canadian layout is quite simple, the maple leaf has several fiddly details which took several attempts to get right using my continuous line technique. The key turned out to be never overlapping the red and white lines, bending them round each other where necessary whereas I normally like to keep them straight. The brush effect means a couple of the corners fade out but, as it's symmetrical, your brain fills in the gaps (why should I do all the work for you?)

So there they are, my 3 new countries.  As usual they don't just come on black backgrounds, there comes the fun part of deconstructing them onto different coloured backgrounds.  Behold the full set:

As with the other flags, these are available to purchase on keychains and various sizes of badge and fridge magnet. They're as small and affordable as it gets so if you're struggling to choose then why not collect the whole set? They've also been scaled up onto tee shirts if you'd rather wear it loud 'n' proud.

As always, you don't have to settle for the shirt style I've laid out here. You can check out how the design looks on all types of long and short sleeved tops for men, women and children. Get creative and make something totally unique to yourself.

Now that I've tidied up the shop, you'll find my new additions on its home page and also in the New Products category. All the other countries are now listed in "Flags" under "Browse This Store". You can choose from:

• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• South Africa
• UK
• USA

So here's that link: http://www.zazzle.co.uk/valwoodhouse or click the Zazzle panel on the left of this page.

While you're busy browsing, I'm off to dust down my old scanner and see if I can make it work on my laptop. A few surprises from the archives are waiting for you...

September Round-Up

The nights are closing in, the weather's getting colder and we're now into the last quarter of 2010 already. This may be news you love or dread but it's time to start thinking about Christmas shopping!

I've been busy in my Zazzle shop making sure it's ready with lots of exciting goodies for you to treat your loved ones to. I've added 2 new flags to my collection: Ireland comes in a choice of 4 background colours and Japan comes in a choice of 3.

As always, the flags are available to purchase on keychains and a selection of different sized badges and fridge magnets. They look stylish on their own or even better displayed as a full set.

For my second Zazzle range, we move from flags to whole islands - in fact the most fantastical islands you've no doubt ever seen. Prepare to be blown away by the incredible world of the Font Islands!

Using a combination of Photoshop and the 3D landscape generating software Bryce, the Font Islands were created by me in 2002 as an experiment to find a highly original style I could use on monogrammed gifts. The range features 26 of the best known fonts, each one individually selected to show off the elegance of the chosen letter. Textures were generated for the islands and water to conjure up a mixture of lifelike and surreal land masses.

Thanks to the flexibility of Zazzle, I can now offer you these stunningly detailed graphics on your choice of mugs, mouse mats and tote bags. The mugs and bags come in a choice of sizes, styles and detailing. All of the gifts offer the chance to personalise them further and this works especially well with the mugs.  The graphic comes presented in the middle but you can move it to one side or the other (for left or right handed use) and add the recipient's name in the blank space. There are so many fonts, colours and other options to choose from, every one of these products can be one of a kind. Your special someone can receive something that's truly unique to them. You'll never find anything so individual in any shop or catalogue!

I really can't recommend these gifts highly enough. Whether you know someone who loves 3D graphics, typography, fantasy art or just appreciates something unusual, you definitely can't go wrong by visiting my Zazzle store this Christmas shopping season. Just click the Zazzle panel on this left of this page to get started.

If you want to see the Font Islands in all their glory, you can see larger versions of them in the Giftware & Greetings folder of my Coroflot portfolio.

Zazzle Flags, Part 2

Today I'm pleased to launch two more flag sets onto my Zazzle shop - the Rainbow Nation flag of South Africa and the much-loved home of culture and history, Italy.

As before, these designs are available on keychains and a range of badges and magnets in a choice of sizes.

Click here to visit my shop or use the Zazzle panel on the left of this page to look at today's recommendations.

More flags will be coming soon, subscribe to this blog or join me on Twitter or Facebook to keep bang up to date.

The Grand Opening

As I mentioned last time, I've been beavering away on some new product designs and now is the proud moment I can launch them for you to buy.

This time around, I'm going to be selling them through Zazzle, who offer a fantastic, flexible approach to handling lots of different images on the same product.

So what images are they? Well this is an idea I've had in mind for ages, please welcome my first set of Scribble Flags!

Each design is given a lively, grungy texture by making it look like a quick doodle with an old pen or piece of chalk. They all come in a choice of backgrounds, either a neutral colour or one of the flag colours which gives the unique effect of knocking out part of the design. They all work brilliantly on their own or as a set of 4.

I've designed these flags to work on small round objects so I'm offering them for sale on a range of lapel badges, keyrings and fridge magnets. The badges come in a choice of 5 sizes, the magnets in a choice of 3.

I'm sure you'll love these flags just as they are but you've also got the freedom to customise them in lots of different ways, including adding text.

They're available for the UK, USA, France and Germany. Not your favourite places? Don't worry, these are just the first releases in the range. There'll be plenty more of the world's greatest countries added in the future. In fact why not let me know in the comment box which ones you'd like to see?

Through the Zazzle shop I'll be able to hand pick exactly which products best suit each design and display them all on one shopfront. So you'll always be spoilt for choice with a wide range of designs professionally printed onto just those goodies that show them off at their best.

With prices starting at just £1.45, this is a fun and affordable way to collect unique graphics that are not available in the shops or on any other website.

On the left of this page from now on you'll also see a random selection from the store, just click on it to see where it takes you.

Don't forget that the Café Press shops are also still open for business. Click the button of your favourite design on the left of this page and you'll see all the high quality clothes, gifts and homeware you can have it printed on.

So, in the absence of a minor celebrity, I'm taking the gold spray painted scissors, cutting the virtual ribbon and declaring my new Zazzle shop open!

Click on this picture to get you started.

God (or any other higher power you may or may not believe in) bless her and all who spend their lovely money in her.