Introducing "Aloha Honu" Baby Shower and Birthday Invitation Collection

With Hawaiian hibiscus and bright tropical colors, Happy Honu is debuting as "Aloha Honu" on my baby shower and birthday invitation collection. Amazingly, the invitation has already won Today's Best Award for Jan. 11, 2010 from Zazzle.com and I am delighted at the positive response this new design is getting. More items will soon be added to my Zazzle Store that will give customers options to purchase accessories and gifts to coordinate the perfect baby shower with the "Aloha Honu" theme. I currently offer a baby shower invitation, birthday invitation, postage stamp, thank you card, and stickers. Look for gifts such as onesies, t-shirts, key chains and more!


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15% off Invitations Coupon at Zazzle.com

15% of the invitation net sale price will be deducted when one or more invitations are purchased and the coupon code 15OFFINVITES is applied at checkout. The net sale price is the price of the product (excluding shipping and taxes). Offer is valid from December 23, 2009 through April 1, 2010 at 11:59pm PT. This offer does not apply to past purchases and may not be combined with any other Zazzle promotional or volume discount offers. If a volume discount applies to your order, you will receive either the discount set forth in this offer or the standard volume discount, whichever is greater. Offer valid on Zazzle.com only.

Expires 4/1/2010.

Use Promotional Code: 15OFFINVITES

Visit Hapa Girl Designs for super cool modern invitations and more!

Giving to the Pandas in 2010

A couple of years ago I designed a Panda Bear graphic after being infatuated with the birth of Taishan, the Panda Cub born in the US. I have always been a Panda lover ever since I saw a Panda in person in a zoo in Japan when I was 7 years old. I watched Taishan on TV and even got in touch with some folks in DC who worked towards the well-being of Taishan by throwing him a birthday bash each year. They loved my design so much they asked me to donate an item (baby blanket) for their auction.

So, even after a few years I have found this design is still very popular. Giant Pandas are so loved throughout the world and I love them so much. Because they are so highly endangered there have been many organizations formed to work towards their conservation. I myself belong to a few such such as World Wildlife Fund and Pandas International. In my personal efforts in helping the pandas a portion (1% of my profits from any Panda design) that I make off any Panda item on Jennifer G Designs or Hapa Girl Designs on Zazzle will be donated in equal amounts to both these organizations. The donation will be done annually and announced right here on my blog, my Zazzle stores, Twitter and Facebook.

I hope giving to the Pandas will further conserve their species. I recently learned that Taishan will be returning to China after being born and living in the US for 4 years. This saddens me as I have never been able to visit him. But, it does give me comfort knowing that China will give him a good home.


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Planning a Surf Theme Baby Shower ?

Nowadays people are really going "all out" with baby showers. They are doing all sorts of unique themes starting with cool invitations, party favors, gifts and thank you cards. Since I am in the business of designing I have designed quite a few baby shower invitations and one of them is my Happy Honu Loves Surf baby shower theme. With my Happy Honu being one of my best selling designs, I modified the design to have the turtle surfing on some cool modern surfboards. I honestly didn't realize how much of a positive response I would have to the design. I am seriously thinking of expanding the line of Happy Honu Loves Surf but I currently offer the design on baby shower invitations, stickers, thank you cards and birth announcements on My Zazzle Store. For future products I will most likely offer the design on skateboards, Keds Shoes, framed prints and get back into my handmade items and create one-of-a-kind blankets, bibs and t-shirts. But, in the meantime, Zazzle offers really cool gift items that feature my Happy Honu Loves Surf design which would make coordinating gift items for that surf theme baby shower.


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Behind the Design: Modern Owls by Hapa Girl Designs

One night we were coming back from a neighbors house and my 3 year old boy (3 at the time) was walking a few steps ahead of me with his little toddler friend and all of a sudden he yelled out "Look Mommy there's an owl!". He was pointing up into the old oak tree and there was this cute little brown owl staring down at us. It was right at dusk and we could barely see him, but as our eyes adjusted he came into focus and all of us were intrigued. My son kept talking about the owl all the rest of the night and being a nature/animal buff I immediately got on the internet and started reading up on owls to educate myself more about them. Prior to doing the research on owls the owl that I was most familiar with is Hedwig from the Harry Potter movies. I personally love the snowy owl like Hedwig, but still fascinated with the variety of owls out there and it was almost immediately decided that my next animal design would be an owl.

After many versions and revisions, my Modern Owl design was born and my design represents a few different owls that I came across in my research. As my design style is modern and abstract, I wanted something recognizable, but of course not too realistic to stay within the look and feel of my other designs. The owl comes in different color themes, but I always use the same owl and it sits on a tree branch most of the time. Later, as winter approached I modified the owl to become a snowy owl. Now my fans can purchase owl gifts, invitations, announcements and more on my Zazzle stores.

I just love designing new images especially when there is a story behind how I came about doing it. Once again my son was the inspiration as he spotted that little brown owl one evening up in our oak tree.


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Create personalized gifts at Zazzle.

Unique, Modern, Affordable & Customizable Baby Shower Invitations by Hapa Girl Designs

It's that time again to promote my very large collection of baby shower invitations! My collection only starts to grow on Hapa Girl Designs Store on Zazzle.com! Their affordable, modern, unique and customers can personalize and customize the invitations.


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Not only can customers customize their invitation, they can purchase matching US Postage Stamps, Thank You cards, Stickers and more! I am really excited about coming up with new FRESH designs in the new year! I have tons of designs in my head and can't wait to bring them into fruition!

Tropic Topics

Tropic Topics
Welcome to the Tropic Topics lens by Drive Industries Design Group. Hawaiiana is a category of design and art which has been made popular by collectors, eBayers, swap meets and thrift shoppers in the past ten years. We started collecting Aloha shirts and tropical memorabilia back in the early seventies. Our background in the apparel industry was greatly influenced by these collections, which eventually lead us into surfwear and the action sports industry. We hope to showcase some of the items we've collected, as well as present new products that were influenced by them from our Zazzle store and that of others.

Business Changes are "OFFICIAL"

I'm not sure if "officially" is the word, but for some reason I feel like using it because a big weight has been lifted off of me. I have OFFICIALLY closed my handmade business FOR A WHILE. For a little over a year I have made quite a few blankets, nursery sets, onesies, and other miscellaneous items and although I have gained a lot of experience designing and working with various customers, it has been a very time consuming "project". Here's the thing... I LOVE designing, but I HATE sewing. I can't afford to hire people to produce my designs so I am the one making the items which takes me away from what I am really good at - designing. It was just too much to juggle.

For the past few months I have been designing for my "print-on-demand" invitation, announcement, greeting card and gift business on Zazzle.com. This allows me to focus on designing exclusively without being hassled with producing my items. Zazzle produces all the items that I sell, handles the business end of things such as payments from customers, having a functional store and much more! I love Zazzle. For me they are a godsend. It is exactly what I needed to run a successful business right out of my home so I can stay home with my boys while making money.

I have BIG plans in the next year while utilizing Zazzle. I have two successful stores up right now and I am working three more as we speak. Stay tuned for more on that.

Back to handmade items. I know there will be a small following of people that will miss my creations however I am not eliminating that business 100%. I am going to still make handmade items, but my items will be ONE-OF-A-KIND designs. I will create items pretty much when I feel inspired and have the time. Unfortunately, I will not be accepting anymore custom orders or duplicate requests. Some folks may get lucky as I may create an item again but may have a slight modification. I am hoping this will ease my stress of deadlines and mistakes (which often happen when I'm rushing). I do my best work when I am relaxed and actually enjoying creating something rather than HAVING TO DO IT.

I am quite excited as the new year approaches and once the holidays are over - it's full speed ahead with designing. Hmmm... Valentines is next. Look for some new designs on www.zazzle.com/keanusmom AND www.zazzle.com/hapagirldesigns.

Single Honu Hawaiian Hibiscus Skateboard from Zazzle.com

I am so pleased that one of my first Skateboard designs on Zazzle.com got a Today's Best Award! I am not sure why I didn't put my designs on skateboards sooner! So fun!

Single Honu Hawaiian Hibiscus Skateboard from Zazzle.com

Modern Owl Designs on Zazzle by Jennifer G Designs

My modern owl designs have become quite popular and I really enjoy creating different products with the designs. My newest design is "Snowy Owl". There is just something about owls that really intrigue me and I just love designing them!


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I'm Now Selling on 1000 Markets by Amazon.com

1000 Markets

Jennifer G Designs

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Holiday Penguins - Baby's First Christmas Onesie / T-shirts

Holiday Penguins - Baby's First Christmas by keanusmom
More Emperor T-Shirts

Just in time for Christmas! Check out more of my modern designs of animals and nature on my Zazzle site!

Laura Engstrom Photography

My dear friend and next door neighbor has started a photography business in which she specializes in outdoor photography with natural light, which, honestly, makes for the best and most beautiful photography. I find Laura Engstrom to be extremely talented and gifted and has an eye for good photos of children and family portraits.

Check out her website and contact her if you are interested in having her work for you.


Blog: www.lauraengstrom.blogspot.com

Website:
www.lauraengstrom.com

Vote for my Baby Boy in the Gap Casting Call!

If you are a Jennifer G Designs or Hapa Girl Designs fan, please vote for my baby boys in the Gap Casting Call

Entries by Makanaui1972 for the Gap Casting Call | Disney Family

Keanu G. submitted by Makanaui1972 for the Gap Casting Call

Keanu G. submitted by Makanaui1972 for the Gap Casting Call

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Would be cool if my baby boy gets to the finals. Perhaps I am a biased mom, but I really feel he has a unique look. Well, it's all about what the judges are looking for. In any case, I love this photo of him.

Keanu G. submitted by Makanaui1972 for the Gap Casting Call

Keanu G. submitted by Makanaui1972 for the Gap Casting Call

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Kanoa G. submitted by Gobowz1974 for the Gap Casting Call

Kanoa G. submitted by Gobowz1974 for the Gap Casting Call

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Visit Hapa Girl Designs on Zazzle.com for Personalized Invitations and Announcements

I've taken my designs to the next level and have created a shop on Zazzle.com so anyone everywhere can personalize my cool modern invitations and announcements easily and at their leisure. Personalizing is so simple. I have set it up so you just fill in the fields with your own information and Wa La! It's done! You just set the quantity and purchase directly from the site. I am constantly adding new designs and you can even buy coordinating items such as stamps with my designs on them, stickers and thank you cards! Visit Hapa Girl Designs Shop to view all my designs!

Owlet Organic Infant Tshirt from Zazzle.com

Owlet Organic Infant Tshirt from Zazzle.com

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The Start of a Perfect Baby Shower - Honu, Elephant, Panda Baby Shower Invitations and More!

My two sister businesses are super close. Sometimes I wonder why I even separate them, but lately the two have been inseparable. It's largely due to the fact that I sell invitations and announcements on one site and handmade baby items on the other.

Here's a typical scenario of what happens:

Customer finds my baby shower invitations on www.hapagirldesigns.etsy.com such as Happy Honu, Zou-e the Baby Elephant or Baby Panda Hugs - my most popular designs. The customer then orders a personalized invitation and sometimes purchases coordinating return address labels and thank you cards. Then, they learn about www.jgdesigns.etsy.com which I sell the same designs on infant onesies, t-shirts, blankets and bibs. And, because the customer that is typically purchasing the invitations is the main host usually a sister, sister-in-law or best friend, they want to buy something super special and unique for the mother-to-be. It's a perfect coordinating baby shower!

What most of my customers don't know is that I make many more items upon request. It's just hard to make every little item and list them on Etsy with two small kids at home with me. But, most of time I can commit to a custom request and the customer is very pleased!

I am hoping in the future that these two sister companies merge into one Baby Shower Package which will not only create a unique party for the host and honoree, but make things a lot easier on planning!