8 Custom Wrist Watch Designs for the Fashionable Abstract Art Lover

Updated, 1/23/2014:

I'm pretty psyched about today's post, because I'm going to showcase 8 of my custom wrist watches from iCandy58Designs that make great gifts for anyone who loves abstract art designs.

I've had a thing for watches ever since I was 8 yrs. old and I have a lot of fun creating these custom fashion wrist watches that you can personalize. I don't have a lot of them posted for sale in my store; I just posted my 23rd 24th design today, but I really love the designs I have posted there. Most of my designs feature cool, fun, funky digital abstract art themes that are perfect for the types of watches Zazzle offers for sale. So without further delay, here are my 8 custom wrist watch designs:

Funky Hot Yellow Metal Ball Fashion Wrist Watch ($50.95)

I think the yellow May 28th watch bands and red keeper are a perfect match for my funky hot yellow metal ball design, but you might like the red bands and yellow keeper better!

Diamond Lights White Custom Rhinestone Wrist Watch ($55.95)

This white rhinestone wrist watch was made for this Diamond Lights design of mine! Diamond Lights is also available in a white May 28th wrist watch, priced at $50.95 ~ click here to see it now.

Blue Blurred Motion Custom Wrist Watch ($50.95)

I'm very careful about which products I add this Blue Blurred Motion design to and I'm glad I chose this clear May 28th style to work with, but I also think the white bands with a grey keep would also be a great choice for it. What do you think?

Blue Eye of Storm White Custom Wrist Watch ($50.95)

I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to use this Blue Eye of Storm to create this custom white wrist watch design. Would you buy it as it is or would you customize and/or personalize it with different color bands, keepers, etc.?

Cute Custom Flower Burst Wrist Watch ($50.95)

This custom wrist watch design is actually a photo of a singe red rose. It was through the magic of photo editing that I produced the abstract flower burst that you see here.

Nothing But Time Custom Stainless Steel Wrist Watch ($95.95)

I think Nothing But Time is perfect for this stainless steel wrist watch, but it's also available as a grey custom May28th wrist watch.

Quad Vortex Abstract White Custom Wrist Watch ($50.95)

Quad vortex abstract has black, grey and silver blue in it, so I thought the white May28th bands with a black matte keeper would look best. But now I'm wondering if I should change it to clear.

Blue Blurred Motion Custom Rhinestone Wrist Watch ($55.95)

Do you think Blue Blurred Motion in white rhinestone would look as good as it does in black rhinestone?

You can keep up with all of the custom wrist watches that I design for my Zazzle store anytime you want by clicking on this link.

Most of my wrist watches are May 28th watch designs. It didn't start out that way, it just sort of developed over time mainly, because of all the very colorful bands and keepers I get to work with. What you can do with them reminds me of Swatch watches that were very popular way back when :). You can further customize and/or personalize each watch in my store by changing the type of band, the color of the band/or the keeper. Or you can personalize them with your own artwork, photos or custom text. All you have to do is click on the blue 'Customize it!' button to get started.

So what do you think of my custom wrist watch designs? Would you buy them as is or would you switch the bands + the keeper and/or add your own artwork or photograph?

How to Create Your Own Custom Keepsake Jewelry on Zazzle

Updated, 1/14/2014

I've made a small, but very important update to this post that will help you create better looking custom keepsake locket or necklace jewelry pieces. 

Near the end of my last post I stated that I expect most of the folks buying keepsakes would use their own photos. So, in today's post I'm going to blog about how to use your own images to create one of a kind, custom keepsake jewelry.

Looking to buy keepsake jewelry for yourself or someone special? Zazzle gives its customers the option to (1) buy an existing design they like, or (2) customize/personalize that design, or (3) upload their own photo, artwork or custom text to create their own totally unique design. This post is for people who want to go the option 3 route to create their own custom keepsake locket or necklace jewelry on Zazzle.

You Can Create Your Own Custom Keepsake with this Necklace Template 

Don't get me wrong ... as a designer I would love to sell you one of my Diamond Lights custom sterling square necklace or Sterling black & white vintage skating at the Rink locket designs. BUT the whole point of creating custom keepsake jewelry is to make something special that will be kept and remembered, because it reminds you (or the person you're giving it to) of someone, some place, some thing or event that's special to you (or them). So using your own image would make the keepsake that much more meaningful to you and the person you're giving it to.

Zazzle makes the process of creating your own custom products fairly easy. Just follow these 5 steps:

1. Go to Zazzle.com and choose a template necklace to create your keepsake;
2. Using the basic design tool, add your artwork, photo and/or custom text - please carefully follow the Zazzle image guidelines, which can be found here: http://www.zazzle.com/mk/custom/imageguidelines;
3. Position your image and/or text within the visible design area;
4. Select the Style (round/square necklace or round locket), Color (silver plated, gold finish or sterling silver) & Size (small, medium or large) that best suits your image & your budget; and
5. When you've completed your design, select the quantity you want to order, click on 'Add to Cart' and checkout.

The most important aspect of designing a custom keepsake locket or necklace is having a great looking, high resolution image to create your jewelry with! 

I can't state this enough - if you want to create the best looking keepsake possible, please follow Zazzle's image guidelines (see item 2. above) and recommended image sizes& resolutions. For round lockets, Z recommends an image size of 288 by 288 pixels with an image resolution of at least 200 ppi. For square necklaces, it's 276 x 276 pixels with the same image resolution of 200 ppi. I recommend using a higher image resolution of at least 300 ppi; for my designs, I use 600 ppi. Also, using a larger sized image that fills out the visible design space beyond the bleed area will result in a much better looking design when printed onto your locket or necklace.

You can get good results with free online based editors like Pixlr.com or even PicMonkey. You don't need Photoshop to make your images look great! GIMP is an excellent free desktop program, but there will be a bit of a learning curve in figuring out how to work with it. Paint.NET is another free image editor that is very good. I have used it to produce some fantastic results and in my opinion, there's not as much of a learning curve with it as with the GIMP. It just takes a little consistent practice.

So are you ready to create your own custom keepsake jewelry piece? I believe that by following what you've read in this post, you will definitely be able to design great looking, memorable custom personalized jewelry on Zazzle. Post any questions or comments you have on how to do this in the comments section below.

New Year, New Custom Zazzle Gift Designs and More

Updated, 1/8/2014

Happy New Year, I hope 2014 is off to great start for you! My mind is still in holiday mode just a little bit, BUT I wanted to write a short post today about what's new on my iCandy58Designs store on Zazzle.

Since blogging about my 200th custom gift design last month, I've created/posted 56 new designs on my Zazzle store. For some Zazzlers that's one days work, but not for me ... I take a slower approach, because I want to make sure the design and the product are a good match for each other. I have floral art/ nature designs that are perfect matches for some products and I have abstract art designs that are made for other products.

Anywho ... :) in today's post I'm presenting a few of the new product designs I've added to my store. I've added some new custom iPad cases like the one below ...

Vintage Fall Leaves iPad Air Case

more custom iPhone 5 cases, a few custom wrist watches ...

Alarmed Clock Custom Wrist Watch

and some new decorative dinner plates, but what I'm really excited about are my new custom throw pillow designs ...

Vintage Floral Art Custom Throw Pillow

and custom round locket design like this one ...

Sterling B & W Vintage Skating @ the Rink Locket

Both are the very first product designs in my new Custom Throw Pillows and Custom Keepsake Jewelry categories on my Zazzle store. I have 11 floral art & nature photography themed throw pillows in-progress that I plan on posting over the next few days. I have 1 square sterling necklace in-progress that will be posted today, but additional keepsake jewelry will be added more slowly. Even though I expect most of the people buying keepsakes will use their own photos, I still have to "marry" the best images I can photograph and/or create to the lockets/necklaces Zazzle makes available for my use.

I've posted all 11 of my in-progress custom throw pillow designs (as well as another May 28th custom wrist watch and a new square sterling necklace) to my store. A few of them are doing the Zazzle bounce, but you can see the entire category on this page => Custom Throw Pillow Gifts.

I won't go on and on about it, but I have some exciting plans for iCandy58Designs, as a store and as a brand in 2014. Stay tuned!

Thanks for visiting my blog and checking out this post! Please let me know what you think of the new custom design gifts showcased in this post by commenting below. If you're on Google + or on Facebook, please follow me so you can keep up with what's going on with my blog.

3 Custom Personalized Product Designs From Zazzle that Make Awesome Christmas Gifts

Now that I've fully recovered from the bad cold I picked up on Thanksgiving, I want to give you a few Christmas gift ideas to help you wrap up (sorry I couldn't resist!) your holiday shopping.

With only 10 (yes, TEN) shopping days left until the Big day, I was thinking some cool Christmas gift ideas that don't cost a lot of money would probably help you out quite a bit. So in today's post, I'm going to give you 3 custom product designs created by other Zazzlers that make awesome Christmas gifts for anyone, even you, on your holiday shopping list. What makes each one so cool is that you can add your own photos, artwork and/or text to the product to make the design truly personal not to mention one-of-a-kind.

But before we look at these cool custom Zazzle gift ideas, do me a favor .. when you click through to the product page of these designs to make a purchase, please click the 'Like' link to the right of the product image and leave a positive comment about your purchase. Your purchase validates a designer's work, but your kind comments and Likes encourages them to continue creating designs that people want to buy.

Now here are your 3 custom photo gift designs:


1. Coral Instagram Photo Collage with 9 Photos Case for iPad Air ($42.95)

This case for the new Apple iPad Air can be customized/personalized with 9 Instagram photos and custom text to create a unique, memorable gift. All you have to do is click on the blue Customize it! button under the product image and follow the instructions. Your creation will be printed on a durable, hard cover Powis iCase for iPad Air case made from premium book cloth and 100% recycled hardboard that's been laminated front & back. This case does not come with a kickstand. Priced at a very reasonable $42.95, this design is also available for the iPad Mini and the iPad 2, 3 or 4. If the red Guaranteed by Christmas! icon is highlighted on the product page, you can still receive your case by Christmas when you choose premium shipping.

Click here to order your iPad Air case today.


2. Create Your Own Instagram Pillows ($30.95)



This square custom Instagram photo pillow design is an awesome gift idea for Christmas or any other time of the year. The 16" x 16" throw pillow is large enough to feature 32 of your favorite Instagram photos. It's designed for images that are 612 pixels x 612 pixels, but the designer says you can use any square photographs. Priced at $30.95, the pillows are made from 100% polyester, but for $39.95 you can purchase a larger 20" x 20" square pillow made from 100% grade A cotton. 13" x 21' lumbar pillows are also available.  If the red Guaranteed by Christmas! icon is highlighted on the product page, you can still receive your Instagram pillow by Christmas when you choose premium shipping.

Click here to design your own custom pillow now!


3. Our First Holiday Photo Keepsake Ornament ($22.95)

This custom premium photo ornament design makes for a gift that will be remembered long after the holidays are over. It's a perfect keepsake gift to give to newlyweds, new parents, grandparents, your child that just graduated from college, your best friend ... the possibilities are endless. You can personalize it with 4 photos and your own custom message. The ornament pictured here is 2" by 2", weighs 1.05 oz. and comes with a red ribbon, is priced at just $22.95. It's available in 6 other shapes at different price points. If the red Guaranteed by Christmas! icon is highlighted on the product page, you can still receive your photo keepsake ornament by Christmas when you choose premium shipping.

Click here to order your custom photo ornament .. while there's still time.

I think these 3 product designs are so cool and Zazzle makes it so easy to create truly unique, personal gifts for your family and friends that don't cost an arm & a leg. But I would love to know what you think about these gift ideas. Why not take a very hot minute to share your thoughts in the comments section below? Even if it's just to say "Hi Ray! What's up?!" I would love to hear from you :)