Flamin Cat Designs

Your shop name *	Flamin Cat Designs
Zazzle to me is a... *	Hobby that I wish would become a full time job
What is the best advice you have received from a fellow shopkeeper about your shops or designs you would like to pass on to another shopkeeper? *
I have gotten advice from many shop keepers. I can't think of any one thing to cover it all so here are a few things: -Be sure your image fits your product properly. -Design something you love, but not too personal. It has to appeal to a wider amount of people. -Make most items customizable by the customer. Making personalized items is a very popular feature for customers at PODs. -Make your shop easy to navigate. -Promote your shops and products on social media sites and blogs. -If you are frustrated or having a bad day with designing or working with your shop, take a break. Come back the next day or a few hours later. Frustration halts creativity.
What PODs do u currently use or have shops on? *	Zazzle Cafepress
What did you do with your free time before zazzle or other POD's....and what do you do with it now? *	I was working full time and took early retirement in May of 2011. I spent a lot of time online sharing my photos and making photo edited avatars for the different sites I had been using. I got a lot of complements on my avatars and other edited images that I shared. Once I retired, I decided to see if I could do something from home that would supplement my income. I had purchased items from Zazzle for Christmas gifts in the past, I never thought that I would someday be designing products for a shop on Zazzle.
What programs do you use to make your designs *	Illustrator Other raster software
Tell us more about what you like and do not like about each software you use, what makes it special. *
I have a very old version of Illustrator that I hope to someday be able to replace. I can do some things on it but nothing like the new version. When I was working I learned how to use Photoshop but our company wouldn't pay for upgrades. I had an even older version on my computer at home. Being short on extra money I bought a program by Corel, Photo Impact Pro. This program has turned out to be quite powerful. Besides being able to do basic photo editing, there are plenty of advanced settings. You can even draw and create raster images with this program. There are lots of filters and effects that I can use on a photo or a raster image that I have created. I hope to upgrade to a new software in 2013. I just don't know which one I will pick yet.
Will you make custom orders? *	Yes - but only for people I know personally
Elaborate on your answer above regarding custom orders... *	I have only created one custom item for a friend. It was a really cute clock with her cat's face on it. I did not request any prepay for this item. At this point I don't think I would require a customer to prepay, but maybe if I got a very complicated order I would. I have a shop that I am making items for a message board. I expect some custom orders to start coming from that shop soon.
List your shop URL's *	http://www.zazzle.com/flamincatdesigns http://www.zazzle.com/flamingraphicdesign http://www.zazzle.com/friendsoffursbook