New Idea: Customise My Spring Floral Design...

Customisable spring floral wrapping paper.
Click or tap here to see it at Zazzle.

Hello there, and hope all is well with you.

This week, I'm both keeping a promise I made last week, and showing you something new.

To keep the promise first, the floral wrapping paper/giftwrap you see above with its uses from presents to crafts and more in the photo collage above, is the first design to have come from all that watercolour work-in-progress last week.

If you love the new design just the way it is, you can find it here, as normal.

This time though, *you* can change it...

The stand out thing  and new thing about the way I've designed this is that, if you want to, you can change it, right in the Zazzle editor.

So, if you'd rather have, for example,  a more dramatic background...

Here's how the design might look with a
 blue-mauve background added...

Or just a subtle pale grey one instead of white...

A potential pale grey background
has been added in this mock-up...

You can.

You can even alter the colour and effect of the pattern itself, turning it, for instance, into a greyscale, more  monochrome design, if you want...

Colour is completely taken away here
to show how the design might look in greyscale.

How is all this possible?

All the magic can happen so easily because of the Zazzle site's amazingly flexible new design editor. I'm happy to record a full tutorial on this if you'd like. For now though, please know that the basic steps are:

1. Visit the product page.

The editing button on the product page...

2. Click on the edit button (circled in green in the picture above).

3. For changing the background, you're working with the background layer...

A view of the editing screen showing
how to find the background layer.

4. And for changing the effects, you'll click the main image artboard, to bring up the effects menu (again, circled in green below). The effects tool then gives you all the ways in which you can change colour tones and effects.

Image showing the main artboard in the design 
screen, and the location of the effects button.

5. Save your changes and checkout as normal.

It's long been a dream of mine to give you more ways in which you can customise my designs and make them your own.  So this is, at last, at least a small way that I've been able to start achieving that. I hope you enjoy this, and that it's helpful.

Finally

Finally, a huge thank you for reading down this far, and to those who have re-subscribed after all the newsletter problems, a huge shoutout and thanks too. It means a lot.

As you can probably tell (eg a version of the original, more fun and upbeat logo and "look and feel" has been reinstated :-) ), changes are still afoot, and maybe for some time. 

But on the tech side (ie me and the Computer Man) are getting there. Thank you so much for bearing with it all.

Have a  wonderful week, whatever you're up to.

Thanks and love-more soon.

Clare

__________________________

Cards for Men: A New Cartoon and Some Ideas

Hello there

It's time for a complete change of pace today. And especially time to focus on cards for men. For upcoming Father's day cards, yes, but also occasions beyond that. Hence this barbeque cooking cartoon:

Click or tap here to see the full
cartoon, available to personalise and
buy as a download or physical card on Zazzle.

And yes, if you've been following this blog a while, you might remember that my own dad died in 2023.

But in thinking about this, I decided to honour and celebrate him via a cartoon. Because many people in my life seem to love cartoons. But few have ever loved or appreciated a funny cartoon as much as my Dad did.

And in seeing the many Father's Day and "male birthday" cards around, I noticed that they all seem to assume that Dads are barbeque masters. And I'm sure many are. But my Dad simply wasn't. 

Socialising-for sure, he'd be first to chat. Opening wine or beer bottles and being a convivial host? Absolutely.

But spending happy and productive time making edible or unsinged food behind a barbeque grill? Nope. You would never have found him there willingly, for the sake of everyone's health and safety.

And so, in the great British tradition of celebrating ineptitude, I created this card to help everyone celebrate the lovable men in their life who might *not* (yet) be a barbeque king.

But if that's not your thing...

But if that's not your thing, my Zazzle store can still help out on the "cards for men," quest.

This bowls favourite is available for bowls enthusiasts,

Funny Cartoon Bowls Birthday Card
by CartoonsbyClare

or the cards I've posted more recently for bird watchers or golfers.

And if *your* dad, father-figure or man-who-needs -a-card likes (or has other strong feelings about) tech, there's also this one, 

Fart Cartoon Birthday Card For Men
by CartoonsbyClare

Without forgetting of course, the old standby of beer:

Funny Birthday Cartoon Card: Beer Logic
by CartoonsbyClare

(And yes, I know that plenty of women drink beer, love tech, play golf, or whatever else. "Cards for men," just happens to be the focus of attention in this post).

A practical point...

And, as a point of absolute practicality rather than false scarcity, if Father's Day 2025 (Sunday 15th June) is on your mind, it would make sense to buy physical cards sooner than later.

But...

But if you're reading this later, or simply would prefer to share a virtual image. these cards are all downloadable too. (And-at the time of writing, anyway- this use via the Zazzle licence extends to personal social media use, should you choose).

So, one way or another I hope there's something that works for a male card recipient in your life here.

Finally...

I don't plan always to post my new cartoons here. If you'd like to see them as they appear (not to a schedule !) please follow me on my CartoonsbyClare store directly.

And so this means...Yes, I will still be posting things other than cartoons too (watch this space for other artwork soon).

And more than anything, I hope all's well with you.

Thanks so much for being here, and for reading down this far.

More soon.
___________________________

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Instant Downloads Are Here

Hello there

Hope all's well with you, and that it's OK to be *really* excited in this post.

Because finally, finally (and can I say it again...*finally* :-) it's time to announce something have been wanting to share for weeks...

You can now instantly purchase download and print ready-designed funny greeting cards from my CartoonsbyClare  store on Zazzle, like this one:

Beer Logic, now available as a download too

Zazzle beta-tested this for ages before making it all fully live (or advising any sellers to shout about it). Which was wise, but has also meant that have been keeping this secret since well before Christmas...And it's now March...

Why is this such a big deal?

 "Why is this such a big deal?" you may be asking. Fair point. Well... 

Before now, the (excellent quality) Zazzle cards had to be printed and arrive in the post? Well, they still can if you would like that. But instead or as well as that option, instant downloads mean that you don't have to wait for any cards to arrive in the post.

You can just download and print them straight after purchase. Which means that if need the card quickly, or live outside the USA, you can still have exactly the card you want, but now, you can have it instantly.

This is also great news for the planet, in terms of all the packaging and transport miles saved.

Can I still personalise the card before I buy it?

Yes, you can still personalise/personalize the cards before purchase. Here's an example of a card that people enjoy personalising. Eg. by changing the name of the recipient:

Click or tap here to order the download or print
version of this card.

See this and lots more downloadable cards in my Cartoons by Clare Store on Zazzle.

What if I like sending or making physical cards?

Zazzle can still print your cards physically if you'd prefer that. And outside the Zazzle universe, for people who enjoy making cards from the (also instant-download) sheets and kits in my Craftsuprint store, there will still be new sheets and kits to enjoy.

The instant downloads option is designed for people who want the convenience and/or eco benefits of downloading, but don't want to make or design the cards themselves.

Finally

As a final note, I'd add that this isn't just for funny cards. You can download all sort of other cards, like the one below, and prints and posters too, from BoundingSquirrel, and the wider Zazzle site.

Hope this news feels as great to you as it does here...have been waiting a *long* time to make this post (and used to wish it were possible, well before Zazzle even suggested it to sellers).

If you're even just a bit curious about it, do have a look at some of the cards, and see if my downloads are something you might like.

And in any event, thanks so much for being here, and for reading down this far.

Have a lovely weekend, and more soon.

___________________________

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