IMBSeasonal

Seasonal designs space to keep them separate from the Halloween theme.

Preview window for the seasonal store is just below the IMBH zazzle store on the right.

Lots of pastels and subtle gradients this Easter.

Of course, now that the designs are available the delivery date has been shifted to after the weekend. Ah well, I'm glad I made these designs. :)

Broken Record?

It won't be long now (he says again), the LCCN should arrive by the end of the week, then @48 hours to approve the final proof.

Zazzle continues to amaze me, I have seen a lot of positive reviews about their merchandise and it gives me great confidence to see so many people using it. They have a sweet blog flash thingy, which you see now on the right side of the blog. Refresh this page to see more designs or click on a design to go straight to the store.

Galloree still has a few unique items and print services that I have plans for, such as all-over sublimation printing and some very cool clothing choices... and socks! I'm sure I'll do some more with them soon(ish) since these can not be produced via Zazzle -yet.

I got Mom involved in making some designs over the past few days, she has made nightlights, a dog collar, a baby blanket, pillows, and jigsaw puzzles to name a few. She has been a great inspiration for me during the 'time-between' -waiting to publish. She finally got to take her first photoshop lesson, and she did very well! We wrote down maybe a dozen commands and I walked her through them, then let her loose on it. When I came back ten minutes later she had painted a bunny rabbit's ear! (So, yeah, we're working on two designs for Easter, adorable fuzzy little bunnies!)

Today was a good, long one. To all, a good night!

Zazzle Store

Galloree's clunky interface has me looking for another outlet. Zazzle appears to be a good option, so I've been seeing what they have for offer today.

Starting out with just the Jack baby bib, and a few Witch designs, I'll be working on more soon but I really wanted to share this news.

The Zazzle store is already up and running, though it may take up to 24 hours for the new products to be visible IN the store.... Even if you don't see the Halloween images I think you'll be very happy with all of the options they give you for customization. Check it out!

zazzle.com/IMbHalloween*

Galloree Shoppe open again

The 2nd edition images are now available. I'm working on more new designs to get the store ready for a grand re-opening that coincides with the release of the printed book.

Update:
All first edition images have been removed from the shop, except for the 1st edition Full Moon, this one image may be a keeper because it gives a darker option for a background if you want to stack other images on top of it.

All of the first edition designs have been updated with 2nd edition images and are now available!
(Visit the shop)

LCCN

Got some advice that it would probably be good to get an LCCN (Library of Congress Control / Card / Catalog Number- I've heard it called all three). Application for the LCCN must be completed before the book is published. The process takes a few days but this should be the last stop on the road to release. Having an LCCN makes the book more accessible to school and public libraries. Submitting the application for an LCCN also means that a copy of the book will be sent to THE Library of Congress for archiving. There is no guarantee the book will be accepted into the library's collection, still, I will receive the number (which is worth while). I'm expecting my LCCN will arrive in the next five days, then I will have to submit and approve the final version, a process that takes @48 hours.

This extra time that I didn't expect to have has allowed me to make a few final color tweaks and to add some additional content. The printed book will now include a section with images for arts and crafts. Each page has been labeled 'okay to duplicate' so educators should also be able to make use of these without issue. Each 'crafts' page suggests copying and cutting out the picture and includes a warning that cutting should never be done without an adult present. I hope everyone likes these a lot and finds interesting things to do with them all!

Fingers Crossed

The third proof order is supposed to arrive later today. With all the effort that went in to the print revisions I'm really, REALLY hoping it will be 'production-ready'. So today I will be impatient, try to work on other projects, basically anything to occupy the time between now and when UPS arrives...

First Edition Discounted

I'm dropping the prices on all of my Galloree designs for a while. This is partly in anticipation of the second edition images which are coming soon, and partly because the first samples we received were very dark. Most of the images printed just fine but the witch appears almost in grayscale and much of her detail is lost. So, to keep it simple, everything's been reduced. Some of the 1st Edition images will be removed from the store when the second editions are added so if you want a black, black cat, or a dark, dark witch, now is the time to get them.

I've also dropped the prices at the CAT Press store for the time being.

First Galloree order arrived today...

We ordered test prints on Tote Bags and Sweatshirts of the witch and Jack.
The order was placed Feb. 24 making the turnaround @11 days, pretty quick!

The XL sweatshirt is a good size for me, it's a little too big on Mom. The quality of the shirt is very good. The hood (when it's down) just barely touches the top of the printed design on the back, as planned.

The tote bags are nice and big and they seem good and sturdy.

These were created with artwork from the 1st Edition so they are a little darker than I would like, but some people may prefer the dark design so these will be updated / renamed as "First Edition (Dark)" and I may limit the colors of products the images can be applied to.

So over the next few days I'll be making new designs using 2nd Edition images and applying them to the Galloree shop. Each will include "Second Edition (Lighter)" in it's name or description.

We also ordered a coffee mug with Widget, the snow dog to commemorate the record snowfall of 2015 and it looks really great, vibrant print on a diner style (straight side) 15 oz mug. Super happy with it!

delivery date...

Should arrive mid-week.
This is going to be proof for a "Second edition First time in print".

Final(?) Proof... Ready!

Oh my, it is so different!
Pretty much every page has undergone a major overhaul... in a roundabout way.
There has also been a lot of formatting done to accommodate the printing requirements of a broader variety of distribution channels.
End result?
-It looks very, very nice. I think I may actually be able to go to sleep when my head hits the pillow tonight.
How will it look in print?
-I am hoping my printer has given me a pretty accurate representation of what I can expect from the printing team. I've printed, revised, and printed again just about every page. Each time cleaning up images and tuning in the various adjustments to make it print in brighter colors and with better definition.
What now?
-It will take about (another) week to get this proof back. In the meantime I'll try to get some of the revised images into the Galloree shop as designs so they can be applied to anything.

Rounding Home...

Been hammering out the print issues with Halloween and thinking maybe another day or two to finish dialing it in. Most of the pages have been lightened a lot, and they've also been sharpened up to hold that detail. I've got maybe another half day's of planned fixes planned at this time, and all day tomorrow to think of more. If I don't find any new issues I'll be sending off -with fingers crossed- the 'final' proof order.

-wish me luck and inspiration