Crochet Finger Protector

For some time now, the biggest obstacle to increasing the amount and speed with which I crochet has been limited by one factor: I happen to like having skin on my left-hand pointer finger, where the yarn loops over.  I imagine most anyone who crochets or knits can sympathize; the shiny groove of skin that itches or stings or some maddening combination of the two.

Last night, I came up with the idea of using a piece of plastic (a former bottle safety seal) to guard the skin there.  But after a little while, I realized that a single-finger 'glove' would do the job perfectly.  Hence, the Crochet Finger Protector was born!

I am now offering the pattern in my Ravelry store here!

Coffee Mugs for Fun and Laughs

That's right! My latest series of designs on Zazzle has been Coffee Mugs! Most of them are of a humorous nature . . . jokes, puns, funny quotes and more. I have quite a few posted already, and I have dozens of ideas still to come. One of them is even swiftly on its way to becoming my best selling item!

Most of the designs are offered not only on all the mugs Zazzle has to offer, but t-shirts and a few other gift items as well, perfect for any caffeine addict! So be sure to come and check out the entire line!


See these and many more Coffee Mugs at Tannaidhe's Designs on Zazzle!

Diversifying is Fun! (Not!)

Yep, I'm still here.

The last week has been really rough for me, culminating in a very disturbing announcement by Zazzle on Thursday, and while it's not exactly a shocking surprise, it will be cutting most of their good designers by a third or more of their income, including me. I am lucky at least in that, while it is certainly a major bummer, I was not yet to the point of paying any bills with my Zazzle income . . . this will just delay the day I can do that by a bit. Many were much harder hit, and left wondering how they will pay mortgages next month.

One thing it has done to me, however, is finally made me listen to the advice of so many other designers who were devastated after being CafePressed back in '08-'09 . . . diversify! Don't keep all your eggs in one basket, or in this case, all your designs in one POD (Print On Demand stores). I liked being able to feel like I could trust Zazzle to take care of its designers, to help me flourish with them . . . but, perhaps, this little wake up call will end up being a benefit to my financial bottom line after all. Zazzle has the best quality and range of products and best customer service of any of the PODs, but there is plenty of market for lower-end products, or niche product lines, too!

As such, I'm working to get my CafePress store in working order again (had some trouble back in December with it getting hacked, and it's been a nightmare trying to get it sorted out), and I've already signed up for two new smaller PODs, and considering several others.


My work can now be found in brand new galleries on Society6 and Skreened! Both of these stores have limited product lines (Society6 is focused on art prints, while Skreened is focused on shirts), but I have heard good things about the quality from each.



Tannaidhe's Designs on Society6


Tannaidhe's Designs on Skreened

Yellow Roses Split Monogram Design

This is, without contest, my favorite design in some time that I've made on Zazzle. While I love most of my work, obviously – if I didn't, I wouldn't post it – somehow this style just came together perfectly; every detail works in flawless synergy with every other. From the simple yet elegantly dignified customizable monogram center seal with its floral scrollwork accents, to the textured ribbon divider, and of course the vintage style earthtone yellow roses with their soft moss green leaves all on a warm brown background.

I am of course continuing on to my next design, and hundreds more to follow no doubt... but it will be a while before I top this one, I'm sure.


(These small images to not do the design justice; click through to see the full-size designs!)

Gold Yellow Roses on Brown with Monogram

Blue and Cream Roses Split Monogram Design

The second in my split floral patterns with customizable monogram - Blue and Cream Roses!  Featuring elegant vintage style blue rose blossoms alongside smaller flowers, over a solid baby blue field, divided by a blue ribbon and a retro style monogram seal.

See more Blue and Cream Roses with Monogram Products
At Tannaidhe's Designs on Zazzle.com!

Cherry Blossom on Mauve with Customizable Lace Monogram

This is the first design in a new subsection of my Split Monogram Designs.  These will be featuring a lower split, to better showcase the more decorative floral designs in the upper section.  With a reworked, more detailed ribbon divider, individually selected decorative monogram seals and fonts to complement each design, these designs are definitely the next step up from my basic monogram patterns to date.  All in all, these new offerings will be elegant and sophisticated.

Cherry Blossom on Mauve with Customizable Lace Monogram

See more designs by Tannaidhe on Zazzle.com

Been Too Long

Okay, it's been much too long since I updated this blog.  I haven't been doing much "real world" crafting; I've been Zazzle designing, gardening, and raising a gorgeous new red Doberman puppy.  However, given how much effort I've been putting into it, I think I will be updating this blog with all my new designs on Zazzle!  And, I will try to get into other crafting again soon, as well.

The last few weeks, I've been working on (a few dozen!) customizable monogram template designs.


I have nifty modern-retro stripes designs from a couple of weeks ago:

Also, I made quite a number of damask-and-stripes designs with a ribbon and monogram seal overlay last week:

And similarly, I am currently working on designs with the same stripes and monogram ribbon and seal, but a floral swirl pattern on top:

And this is just a small selection of the color variants, each of which is available on 70+ items!

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View more gifts by Jennie at Zazzle.

Yet another Today's Best Award!

This is now four of my first nine wedding invitation designs to win a Today's Best Award!  And these are all from the first day, I think.  Wow!  Well, I knew they were lovely and I was just delighted with them!

Once again, they chose the item with the broadest appeal/use, the address label.

Coffee and Cream Roses Custom Return Address Label by tweddingboutique

Not One, Not Two, but THREE Today's Best Awards!

A few days ago, I opened a new shop on Zazzle, Tannaidhe's Wedding Boutique, to focus on invitation/stationery sets and wedding-related gifts.  In my initial rush of excitement, I managed to get nine designs up in just two days (I have a good template, and an invitation set only has about a dozen items.)

Well...  this morning I woke up to a bunch of emails...  as the title says, I got not one, not two, but three Today's Best Awards on Zazzle.  Granted, they seldom translate to much more than an ego boost, but still!  Three in one day, fully a third of the designs in that shop so far!  I assume they chose the address labels out of the set, because they have the widest appeal; all except the dancing couple, you'd never really know they were wedding-related without seeing the rest of the set.

So, with no further ado, my three Zazzle TBA's:

Gold and Champagne Swirls Custom Return Address Labels by tweddingboutique

Fuschia Daffodils and Wheat Return Address Labels by tweddingboutique

Blue Retro Wedding Dancers Custom Return Address Label by tweddingboutique

Adorable Fingerless Gloves

I joined a gift exchange through Craftaholics Anonymous this year.  After a number of questions with my exchange partner, I decided a pair of blue cotton fingerless gloves were the perfect gift (being a crafter's group, they have to be handmade).

So of course, I hit Ravelry, and found this adorable pattern for mildly lacy crochet wristwarmers.  Despite a few false starts to find the right size (I had to go up to a J/6mm hook to make them large enough), and even only working a few minutes at a time, I had the pair of adorable wristers finished in a little over a day! 

I loved the pattern so much, I decided to make a pair for my sister for Christmas.  My mom got this lovely yarn for me; cotton, natural colored with speckles of peach, moss and brown.  It took less than one 95 yard skein!

I may have to make a few more pairs for people!  An excellent addition to the Goody Bags that will be my Christmas gift for most folks this year.  And the pattern has a non-lacy masculine counterpart, too!

Today's Best Award

Although I am not as enamored of the Today's Best Award on Zazzle as I once was – for one thing, no one but other shopkeepers seem to know they are there, and for another, the designs picked are sometimes questionable at best – I really love this design and think it quite deserving of the award.

As with most of my Zazzle designs, it is, of course, available on dozens and dozens of other items as well!

Leaves, Grapes and Ribbons - Customizable Custom Return Address Labels by Tannaidhe

Zazzle Extended Eight Hour Friday Sale

This week, Zazzle's usual Friday Four Hour Sale has been extended to eight hours!  Until 8 pm pacific time tonight (November 9th). And it's a great sale selection, too – 50% Off Mugs, Canvases & Mousepads! Use code MYPHOTOGIFTS at checkout.


See more of my designs available on Zazzle.

Zazzle Four Hour Sale

The Friday Four Hour Sale on Zazzle this week is really fabulous! 50% off phone cases and all bags!  Enter code CASESANDBAGS at checkout, good until 4 pm PST today (Oct. 26).  I just knocked out a good portion of my Christmas list thanks to this fabulous sale.  Keep in mind that there are half a dozen styles of bags you can get the images on, if you like a design but not a particular bag style.

Amazed with my own work!

The impetus to finally start this blog – been meaning to for a while but never got around to it – was when I found the most amazing tutorial on making portraits in the "grunge" style.  I got Adobe Photoshop finally, too, just to try it out...  and I am in love.  With photoshop, with my new artwork.  I used to see people talk about taking 20 or more hours to create an image on the computer, and I just couldn't figure it out...  how could you find 20 hours worth of work to do on a computer?  how could you stay interested and not just lose track?  But...  well...  the first one took about 15 hours, and the second, the knight, took about 20-22.

Take a look!  And if either strikes your fancy, they are available on dozens of items over at my Zazzle store.

Grunge Hood Portrait

Knight of the Rose Print