But until now, I haven’t had a really great way of showing them off.

Over the weekend, I started a small gallery on Zazzle. Zazzle is another print-to-order company that hosts merchant shops and galleries. It’s smaller than CafePress, but has some very interesting products.

What totally made me smile, though, was the product carousel feature that they provide to their shopkeepers. I created maybe 10-12 products… and they magically put my virtual products on a carousel so I can show them off! Check it out:

The designs are the same ones I have in my big shop on CafePress, but you can get them on slightly different items at Zazzle. I think their two-toned mugs are pretty darned cool! You can click here to see the beginnings of the Lizart Design shop on Zazzle.

Another really cool thing about Zazzle is that as a shopper, you can find a design you like, put it on an item you like, and even write your own text to be part of the design! Or you can upload your own artwork. Among the more crazy (and cool!) items you can create are custom sneakers, skateboards, silk ties, and postage; they also have the usual assortment of shirts, mugs, bags, buttons, stickers, notecards and posters.

And what if you find a design you love, but you don’t like the product that it’s shown on? Well, you can select the product, then “customize” it!! So, for example, if you love the Hippie Heart design, but hate baby doll t-shirts, you can click on the Hippie Heart baby doll tee, then choose a completely different shirt style or color! The system seems to be pretty cutting edge and flexible to give you exactly what you want.

They also have a feature that allows you to become a fan of the LizArt Design shop on Zazzle. If you visit the shop and click to join the fan club, you’ll be automatically alerted when new products are posted!

I’m still learning how things work, but so far, I’m pretty darned impressed!

Earlier this week I began the process of creating Valentines Day designs for my CafePress shop.

One concept that I considered was that when you’re in love, everything looks like it’s made of hearts. Naturally, flowers and butterflies came to mind. I played with it for awhile, and created the below graphic. The caption that seemed to suit the final image best was “Love fills the world with color.”

You can see this image on tshirts, sweatshirts, childrens clothing, boxers, briefs, mugs, bags, pillows, journals, pet products, ornaments, framed prints, notecards and much more here in the LizArt Design store. Additional designs will be added to the Valentines Day section in the coming weeks.

Since this particular design seemed appropriate for unfrown.com, I thought I would share it with you now.

I hope your world is filled with the many colors of love.

I am the proud owner of a colorful assortment of Chico Bags — in my opinion, the coolest and most useful of the eco-friendly bags available.

The bag is made of woven polyester and folds up into a small drawstring pouch that slips easily into a purse or glove compartment. When needed, it quickly unfolds to a full size grocery bag that can hold up to 25 pounds! Oh, and the pouch even has a small carabiner that can attach to a keychain, backpack, or belt loop!

While other reusable shopping bags are bulky and are not well suited for much other than grocery shopping, I carry my ChicoBags wherever I go. I have used them at the convenience store, the toy store, the craft store — virtually anywhere I purchase anything . And as I noted earlier, it never fails that someone will ask where I got my bags!

The bags that are pictured here are the original style ChicoBags. The company recently debuted the Vita style shoulder bag version, a larger bag that holds up to 40 lbs.

Not only are the bags colorful, practical, and environmentally responsible — but when they have passed their prime and are ready to be discarded, ChicoBag requests that they be returned — to be recycled unto beautiful woven rugs! Through a company called The Grateful Thread, the creation and sales of these rugs help provide job training opportunities to victims of domestic violence and others re-entering the work force.

ChicoBag is another company with a great product line, great service, and a strong commitment to making a difference.

Check them out. You’ll be the talk of your local supermarket!

It has become an addiction of sorts. But, oh what a happy addiction!

On days when the morning sun shines brightly through my living room window, I place the camera on its tripod, position both kaleidoscope and camera within the beam of light, and start shooting. I’ve snapped the shutter well over a thousand times in the past few weeks, resulting in about 25-30 frames that were visually compelling enough to make the cut.

The cut for what? Well, after noodling a bit on how best to display the photos, I decided to create an oversized kaleidoscope wall calendar with some of the best shots. The images have been coupled with inspiring quotes to add another dimension to the project.

Having become quite attached to some of the individual photos, I also placed them on framed tiles and keepsake boxes, as well as throw pillows and a wide variety of holiday ornaments.

There are 18 ornaments available to date, and these are a few of my favorites:

As I mentioned previously, I’ve become quite enthralled by the colorful moving shapes in my kaleidoscope, and I’m even happier that I can now combine my love of color and light with my love of photography in a way that captures an ephemeral instance for all to share.

So what is your passion? What do you absolutely love to do?

Finding something that you are passionate about is a fabulous way to increase happiness. If you make the time to do something you enjoy, you nurture your soul and enrich your life. And when you’re happy, everyone around you is a little happier too.

As the holidays approach, make sure to carve out a little time just for yourself, to do something you truly enjoy.

He’s available in full color on a wide variety of clothing items here in my Cafepress store.

There’s even a color-your-own version in black and white (click here to see it) that you can embellish with any fabric markers or paints of your choosing.

Enjoy!

At the Spring Natural Products Expo this year, I was introduced to a company called sweetriot. At their booth they had samples of unique teeny “peaces” of chocolate — pieces of actual cacao beans (not coffee beans) covered in dark chocolate. Flavors range from the lighter 50, to the perfect dark 65, to the espresso-tinged ultra dark 70.

The peaces come in small tins, and are only a couple calories each – with a whole tin weighing in at a measly 140 calories!

What makes this company truly shine, in addition to their unique products, is their commitment to improving the world at large.

They use high-quality natural ingredients, promote fair trade practices, celebrate cultural diversity and showcase the works of various emerging artists on their tins. They also offer a recycling program for empties.

I usually manage to walk by the display at my local Whole Foods without succumbing to temptation, but occasionally I’ll give in. When I break open the package on the drive home, the experience borders on ecstasy; and before long, the entire tin is empty! Those few minutes of heaven are so worth the hives I know I’ll suffer afterwards.

Because I’m such a fan, the cool folks at sweetriot have offered the readers of unfown.com a 20% holiday discount on all sweetriot merchandise purchased online, excluding the riot club (already discounted), riot carbonfree, and gift certificates. Just visit www.sweetriot.com, place your order, and punch in the code unfrownriot when you check out. Pretty sweet, eh?

Once you try the peaces, let us know which flavor is your favorite by posting a comment! I’ll do an informal tally of results and will post the stats on a mid-December blog page.

Peace out for now.