Keep Busy Bee Happy

I've been in a bit of a funk recently. A cloud of depression has been hovering and motivation has been low, be it for making new designs or washing the dishes. To top it off I caught a Christmas bug, preventing me from running which is my favourite distraction.

I have a quirky CD about Buddhist meditation. It's mostly been used as a sleep aid, a good one as I've never got past Disc 1 (of 4); but something from Disc 1 that has sunk in, is the suggestion that happiness is a practice rather than a product of the insatiable pursuit of material things, and an idea that ties in with mindfulness or staying 'in the moment'.

I was pondering how I might boil this idea down into a pithy motivational phrase, and started with a mantra of "stay busy, stay happy". A call to make something of my day and feel better in the process.

'Busy' must have led me subconciously to 'bees' and a t-shirt design I once started (I must finish that) with wasps drawn in the 'rubber hose' limb style of early animations like Steamboat Willie, revived for modern audiences in the game Cuphead.

My end product was this drawing...

...and the caption 'Keep busy bee happy' when on Zazzle products. As a byproduct of the character rushing about with pails of liquid (the nectar could be any beverage) I've also used the caption "Caffeine incoming!" or similar, on drink related items. Use "Personalize this template" on the Zazzle product page to replace my captions with your own. Some examples:

Keep Busy Be Happy Busy Bee Motivational Cartoon Magnet
by NoodleWings

Caffeine Incoming! Two Tone Mug
by NoodleWings

Keep Busy Be Happy Busy Bee Motivational Cartoon Tea Towel
by NoodleWings

Available on 40 items with more coming online. Hope you like him.

Cruel Zazzle Is A Fickle Mistress

Back in 2022 I created a third Zazzle Store, PixelPatterns, an offshoot of my older PatternPie store and a new home for my blocky 'pixel art' style patterns. They stood apart from the other designs in their style, and they performed better, so it seemed logical to give those designs their own focus.

PixelPatterns

I added more products to the range for Christmas, Halloween and Valentine's Day. It was like starting from scratch but with some of the discipline I'd lacked in the scramble to get started.

It all made sense at the time. Two years on, I have an underperforming store which recently slumped back down to zRank 4, and needs some love.

There are a host of possible reasons, here are a few in no particular order, just a brain dump:

Not Enough Products

My earlier stores had more products, and if you throw enough stuff at the wall (trying hard not to compare my designs to mud here), some of it will stick. I'm certainly not recommending some of the shameless spamming I've seen on Zazzle (page after page of the same greeting card but with 'To My Uncle', 'To My Sister', 'To My Second Cousin Twice Removed'). Nor am I saying that you *must* have thousands of products, I just think it helps.

Small Repeat Patterns

The stock product images don't make the best adverts for small repeat patterns like these. As an example,check out the pens on this page; you can't see the motif. This can be addressed with a front cover showing a close up.

All Change at Zazzle

Zazzle introduces new features to try and stay ahead of the search engine trends, and boosts the products which follow their advice up the rankings. Video promotion was a recent addition. I'm still lagging behind making the odd static front cover.

All Change Beyond Zazzle

Sales are suffering beyond this one store (see the regular 'no sales' complaints on the Zazzle forum). Luxury spending might be getting squuezed out by economic worries. There's also an inevitable flood of AI designs hitting the marketplace. Leeches making quick designs (and money) from other people's art using AI.

 

Rockin' Robin Poker Club Playing Cards
by PixelPatterns

Peeled Banana Add Your Text Pixel Art Can Cooler
by PixelPatterns

Funny Sheep Pixel Art Pattern Mouse Pad
by PixelPatterns

Love You x Pretty Single Red Rose Pattern Mug
by PixelPatterns

Pixel Art Gothic Skull Add Your Title Notebook
by PixelPatterns

Battenberg Have A Sweet Birthday! Cake Pattern
by PixelPatterns

You're So Sweet! Cute Honey Bear Bottles Flask
by PixelPatterns

Classic Biscuits Pattern Add Your Title Notebook
by PixelPatterns

Tools Hammer Vice And Pliers Add Your Text Pens
by PixelPatterns

Once through to the Zazzle website, use "Personalize this template" to change the text if desired. Text changes are reflected on both sides where applicable.

Curious Robot

This week is NoodleWings Sci-fi Week. At the end of August we had the discovery of an Earth-like planet, Proxima b, orbiting in the right place to prompt discussions about it's habitability for humans or to host alien life. Then came the detection of a possible signal from another civilisation more advanced than our own. All of which gives me the ideal excuse to design the robot we will use to investigate these new wonders; I'm thinking something non-threatening to make a good first impression.

Curious Robot Sees His First Butterfly Cartoon Large Clock
by NoodleWings

Curious Robot Sees His First Butterfly Cartoon Medium Gift Bag
by NoodleWings

Stay Curious! Robot And Butterfly Mug
by NoodleWings

Capybara Rhythmic Gymnast

The Rio Olympics are in full swing, so last week was NoodleWings Olympics week. There were stories about burrowing owls and capybaras invading the new golf course, which reminded me how great capybaras are, so it had to be a capybara cartoon for drawing number one. Obviously capybaras would choose rhythmic gymnastics over golf; it's a bit more psychedelic what with all the costumes and ribbons, and they are the spaced out hippies of the rodent world.

Growing Old Gracefully Capybara Gymnast Cartoon Birthday Card
by NoodleWings

Cute Capybara Rhythmic Gymnastics Hoop Cartoon Mouse Pad
by NoodleWings

Funny Rhythmic Gymnast Capybara Hoop Cartoon Two-Tone Coffee Mug
by NoodleWings

Inevitable Mug Sale 50% Off

I bought one of my mugs for a friend's birthday last week... so this week zazzle.co.uk decided to have a 50% off mugs sale. Most upsetting... but maybe someone else can take advantage! The sale code also includes 45% off cushions, and lasts until midnight tonight (28/01/2016). For American visitors, the .com site is currently running a 15% discount code on all lines.

Transform any of these designs on Zazzle by changing or adding new text, or by picking a different background colour.

Pixel Art Battenberg Cake Pattern with Label Coffee Mug
by PatternPie

Funny Rhythmic Gymnast Capybara Hoop Cartoon Two-Tone Coffee Mug
by NoodleWings

Personalized Pixel Sheep Mug
by PatternPie

Greedy Raccoon Cake Thief Cartoon Two-Tone Coffee Mug
by NoodleWings

Office Troll Do Not Feed! Internet Troll Cartoon Two-Tone Coffee Mug
by NoodleWings

Cute Cartoon Mole Writer Or Student With Books Coffee Mug
by NoodleWings

Blissful Panda Smelling Blossom Flowers With Text Two-Tone Mug
by NoodleWings

Pixel Art Tasty Biscuit Cookie Selection Pattern Coffee Mug
by PatternPie

Hair Metal Glam Unicorn With Star Guitar Cartoon Coffee Mug
by NoodleWings

Bezazzled

A few varied products from my two fledgling stores on Zazzle: PatternPie and NoodleWings. Zazzle usually has a promotional offer running, the current code is WINTERSALE16 which gives you 20% off everything.

Heartbreak Hootel Rock Star Owl Tee
by NoodleWings

Cool Surfing Polar Bear with Cocktail Cartoon Invitation
by NoodleWings

Cute Capybara Rhythmic Gymnastics Hoop Cartoon Kitchen Towel
by NoodleWings

Personalised Pixel Sheep Mug
by PatternPie

Winter Snowballing Penguins Christmas Cartoon Lumbar Pillow
by NoodleWings

Hypnotic Mystic Armadillo Shaman Shot Glass
by NoodleWings

Red Octopus Cartoon Pirate Party Octopus Gift
by NoodleWings

Weathered Brown Celtic Knot Tribal Border Design Magnet
by PatternPie

Daredevil Flying Tortoise with a Jet Pack Cartoon Button
by NoodleWings

A buyer can transfer the t-shirt designs onto other clothing on the site: hoodies, other t-shirt styles, mens, womens, kids and baby clothes.

Products with 'Personalised' in the title can have their text changed via a simple form on the product page (I wanted to say 'personalisable', but that's not a word); everything shown here is customisable (that is a word) to a degree - background colours, image size and so on - that's if you're willing to click 'Customise it' and get familiar with Zazzle's simple editing tools. Go on, be brave.

This is my first post on this blog, and first post anywhere this year, so happy new year and all the best for 2016 :)