New Nash Metropolitan Site

I've just launched a new website to showcase Nash Metropolitan items that I sell at my eBay store, All-4-Corners. Feel free to stop by Little Metro and check out the Nash Metropolitan watches, cigarette lighters, decorative metal cases, belt buckles and more.

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• MACHU PICCHU Inca Peru Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Box tinyurl.com/5z655l #
• GRETSCH GUITAR Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Stash Box tinyurl.com/565qtl #

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Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• SILVER KING TRACTOR WALL CLOCK Model 42 Four Wheel tinyurl.com/6pl2as #
• TROMBONES KICK BRASS Cool Belt Buckle Buckel Unique tinyurl.com/626qrp #
• AL CAPONE WALL CLOCK Chicago Crime Gangster Great Gift tinyurl.com/5peeyy #
• ELECTRIC GUITAR Cigarette/Card Case/Metal Box/Wallet tinyurl.com/5q6ggn #

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Nash Metropolitan Cigarette Cases

Summertime and car show season, so I'm taking a few days to beef up my automobile items. Worked hard today on Nash Metropolitan items. Cuz we love the Met!
Here's the new Metropolitan Cigarette Case. I worked this up with six different car colors. This is the Coral model...also available in red, turquoise, blue, yellow and black. I've purposely left some space at the bottom for easy personalization. Probably get these listed sometime over the weekend as well as some new Metropolitan lighters.

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• GRETSCH GUITAR Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Stash Box tinyurl.com/63a9ma #

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Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• JULES VERNE WATCH Science Fiction Author Wristwatch tinyurl.com/6nuzxf #
• USS INDIANA LIGHTER Windproof US Navy Battleship BB-1 tinyurl.com/5gn98v #
• HENRY J KAISER CLOCK Carmaker Shipbuilder Businessman tinyurl.com/6dwkto #
• HOT ROD GIRL Drag Racing Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet tinyurl.com/5fnfyy #
• GENERAL GEORGE PATTON CLOCK Tank Commander WW2 WWII tinyurl.com/6gu9eh #
• DRAGSTRIP GIRL Car Crazy Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet tinyurl.com/5k5z93 #
• Cool Blue NASH METROPOLITAN WATCH Hudson AMC Wristwatch tinyurl.com/6lccmj #
• TRIUMPH SPITFIRE BELT BUCKLE Buckel Royal Blue Mk2 tinyurl.com/673yya #
• RICKENBACKER GUITAR Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Stash tinyurl.com/6omw44 #
• Best SOFTBALL COACH WATCH Appreciation Gift Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5tobov #

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Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• VICTORIAN GOLFER Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Money Box tinyurl.com/5e3nzt #
• BUCKING BRONC BELT BUCKLE Buckel Cowboy Western Horse tinyurl.com/69knek #
• JEEPSTER WALL CLOCK Yellow Willys Overland Classic Auto tinyurl.com/5dqb9s #
• FARMALL H WATCH McCormick IH Farming Tractor Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5w4wkv #
• GIBSON LES PAUL GUITAR Cigarette/Card Case/Stash Box tinyurl.com/5ehr6n #

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Tractors For Fun and Profit

I was intimately acquainted with tractors as a youth. We had two John Deere's on the farm...had a John Deere "A" and we had a John Deere "B." We were John Deere people. We didn't go for those exotic tractors. Around our Idaho neighborhood you had John Deere's, Massey-Ferguson, Ford's and Case. That was about it.
Lately I've been making some antique tractor clocks and watches to sell on eBay. I'm staying away from John Deere, just because I don't want to run into trademark problems. Plus, there are many many defunct tractor-makers out there, and I'm finding the market for designs featuring those tractors to be quite brisk.
Here's my latest...this is a mid-40s Minneapolis-Moline. Pretty stout looking tractor! I've got this as a watch and a clock at All-4-Corners, my eBay store.

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• SILVER KING 42 WATCH Cool Farming Tractor Wristwatch tinyurl.com/643r2z #
• MANDOLIN IDOL BELT BUCKLE Buckel Mandalin Bluegrass tinyurl.com/5nh6qf #
• MUCHA Clair de Lune Art Nouveau Cigarette/Card Case/Box tinyurl.com/6os76l #
• ROBERT E LEE WATCH Civil War Confederate Rebel General tinyurl.com/6qrsmf #
• MUCHA Dusk Art Nouveau Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Box tinyurl.com/65llbs #

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Love Me, Love My Guns

Just uploaded a new design to RowdyTease, one of my Cafepress stores. This is the Revolver Lover T-Shirt...get yours today.

Technorati Tags: handgun, revolver, gun rights, t-shirt,

Pop Gonna Build Me a Shop

A friend of mine asked if I had seen Popshops? I hadn't, so I investigated at popshops.com. Its a pretty cool way to build little "stores" stocked with affiliate items and I think I'm going to have to spend a little more time tinkering with it. In the meantime, here is my first Popshop store...anybody wanna buy a telescope?

PopShops™ affiliate stores


hmmm, my store doesn't seem to work so you can put your wallet away. No telescope for you. Probably I've misenterfied my affiliate code. But it is pretty. Will work on this later.

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• CUSTER'S LAST STAND Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Box tinyurl.com/67nj4h #
• SEWING GIRL Hinged Metal Box Case Great for Sewing Kit tinyurl.com/63qt39 #
• HARP Art Nouveau Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Money Box tinyurl.com/6c72f2 #
• EDSEL TELETOUCH WATCH Cool Classic Car Auto Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5fca8q #
• ACCORDION BELT BUCKLE Buckel Accordian Silver Cool Gift tinyurl.com/5g5u9b #

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Cafepress Dropping New York State Affiliates

An excerpt from an email I received from Cafepress today:

As you may know, the State of New York recently enacted new legislation that addresses tax registration, collection and remittance, which challenges the CafePress affiliate business model.
Due to mounting uncertainly over these new laws we will no longer be able to support affiliates residing in the State of New York, effective July 1, 2008.

If you're not aware of what is going on in New York, the state enacted new tax law June 1st that requires companies to collect tax on affiliate business in the state.

I'm not a tax policy expert, but I know enough to see stupidity in action. If companies are forced to pay additional taxes to do business in New York, then they will discontinue doing business in New York. Doh!

Here's an excellent podcast by Affiliate Marketing Insider on the New York Affiliate Tax Law and how it aaffects affiliate marketers...Linda Woods moderates this discussion with Brian Littleton of ShareASale, Linda Buquet of 5 Star Affiliate Forum, and Cicely Lancit of Affiliopolis.

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• EDSEL TELETOUCH WATCH Cool Classic Car Auto Wristwatch tinyurl.com/6gu6d5 #
• SEPTEMBER MORN WALL CLOCK Pretty Nude Bather Great Gift tinyurl.com/6av7vn #
• JAGUARS BELT BUCKLE Buckel Jungle Cats Lions Puma Tiger tinyurl.com/5hsgxa #
• CAVALRY MARCH BELT BUCKLE Buckel Frederic Remington tinyurl.com/5ge2at #

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Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• SILVER KING 42 WATCH Cool Farming Tractor Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5lwpru #
• AL CAPONE WALL CLOCK Chicago Crime Gangster Great Gift tinyurl.com/6k5wuf #
• DRUM SET BELT BUCKLE Buckel Kit Mod Retro Drummer tinyurl.com/63nuc2 #
• TUBA IDOL BELT BUCKLE Buckel Band Music Funny Gift tinyurl.com/5auyq4 #
• ZEPPELIN AEROPLANE Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Box tinyurl.com/6n9hxl #
• MINNEAPOLIS MOLINE WATCH Farming Tractor Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5gzvlh #
• DULCIAN PLAYER Cigarette/Card Case/Money Reeds Box tinyurl.com/5nj2ha #

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Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• WOODSTOCK PEACE & MUSIC Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet tinyurl.com/6au5eb #
• JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH WATCH Classical Music Wristwatch tinyurl.com/6bfmwm #
• Ludwig von BEETHOVEN WATCH Classical Music Wristwatch cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160250810096 #
• DANIEL BOONE WALL CLOCK Kentucky Frontier Pioneer tinyurl.com/5k9d6n #

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Silver King Tractor of Plymouth, Ohio

Newly listed on eBay is my Silver King Model 42 Wall Clock. The Silver King was a tractor made in Plymouth, Ohio in the 1930s, 40s and early 50s. I used a late-40s Model 42 for this design. Also available is the same design on a wristwatch, the Silver King Model 42 Watch.

Technorati Tags: silver king, tractor, farming, plymouth, ohio

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• WOODSY OWL BELT BUCKLE Buckel Retro Mod Vintage Funny tinyurl.com/6rckjo #
• TEARDROP TRAILER TRASH WATCH Tear Drop New Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5w8cwj #
• CRUMHORN PLAYER Cigarette/Card Case/Money Reeds Box tinyurl.com/5k36cu #
• FREDERIC CHOPIN WATCH Polish Pianist Music Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5tngnc #
• BEAR FIGHTING BELT BUCKLE Buckel Hunter Knife Outdoors tinyurl.com/5b8yro #
• DESERT ROSE WALL CLOCK Classic Dinnerware Pattern GIFT tinyurl.com/5f7bqc #
• BARACK OBAMA LIGHTER Cool Flip Top Sin City GIFT ITEM tinyurl.com/6dyv7z #
• ROWING ROWER Sculling Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Box tinyurl.com/5q6jyj #

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Bronco Buster Clock at RetroRanger

This is our exclusive Bronco Buster Wall Clock I recently added to the cool inventory at my Cafepress store, RetroRanger. Great clock for the little buckaroo or for any western themed room.


Technorati Tags: cowboy, rodeo, buckaroo, bucking bronc, clock, western

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• HIPPIE PEACE BELT BUCKLE Buckel Mod Retro Psychedelic tinyurl.com/5bkx26 #
• JOHN MOSBY CLOCK Confederate Virginia Ranger Guerilla tinyurl.com/6dorhl #
• OLIVER 88 WATCH Cool Farming Tractor Wristwatch tinyurl.com/58a8rz #

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Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• HIPPIE LOVE BELT BUCKLE Buckel Mod Retro Psychedelic tinyurl.com/5wf95z #
• TRIUMPH TR3 WATCH Cool Red Convertable Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5axt35 #
• JOHN MOSBY WATCH Confederate Ranger Guerilla Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5axvuw #
• WILLYS OVERLAND WALL CLOCK Red Pickup Truck Great Gift tinyurl.com/62a998 #

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Hanging With The 'Boners at Trombone Lounge

Just uploaded a new t-shirt to RetroRanger, my main Cafepress store. This is the "Trombone Lounge" retro nightclub design and is for trombone players only. Nobody else.

OK, I'll tell you what, an oboist can order one, if she's dating a trombonist. Otherwise, nobody else.

Get yours today, just in time for band camp...the Trombone Lounge Boners-Only T-Shirt.

Favorite Bible Verses Tail is Long, Big and Fat

I came across this Bible Shirts Cafepress store the other day and immediately thought is was a great idea...every verse in the Bible on a t-shirt or mug or fridge magnet or whatever. So anybody can take one of their favorite Bible verses and can share it with the world.

I don't have a favorite verse. There are some sections of the Bible that I hold very dear but I don't have an actual "favorite verse." How many people do have a favorite bible verse? I was thinking 10 or 15 percent of the population seemed about right, but I needed to do further research. I posted a simple poll question to ask500people.com..."Do you have a favorite Bible verse?" Over 400 people responded and it came out that 28 percent had a favorite Bible verse. That's a huge number! That's close to 100-million Americans. I'm thinking the possible market for favorite Bible verses on swag is pretty lucrative.

In the old days, back in the last millennium, a marketer would only concern himself with the heavy hitters, the big-time verses...like "For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," or "And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men". Do up a half dozen different designs of the mass-appeal favs and call it good. You wouldn't spend resources printing up a run of t-shirts emblazoned with "And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon." Stick with the chestnuts and don't mess with the rest. That's the old way.

The thing about Cafepress, is that it doesn't cost a store operator any additional money to do an additional design for a product which may or may not sell. You don't have to commit to any initial press runs or even to any set-up fees. All your out is the labor of designing the product, which frankly isn't that tough, especially if you're just working with text. So now you could stock an "Aram begat Aminadab" t-shirt. You know who would think that is very cool? Aminadab! He would love it. Nobody makes stuff for Aminadab.

The Bible Shirts store has a lot of work to do...so far it looks like they've only swagatized the first four books of each testament. Its gonna be a big job. How many Bible verses are there? Unverified figures I lazily found on the web are that there are 31,103 numbered verses in the Old and New Testaments. So that's 31 thousand different verse layouts to be done, actually you can multiply that by 7 or 8 as different products need different layouts. I'm sure there is an appropriate verse to the situation...something about the virtue of slow and steady progress in attaining a goal. I didn't pay attention that day in Sunday School.

By the way, if the folks at Bible Verses don't get on the stick and get additional favorite Bible verses online, then I would suggest a church teen group take this on as a project. Start your own Cafepress store and get to work. Seriously, it would be a fantastic learning project for the kids and would at least fund the pizza.

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• BLACK BART The Po8 Cigarette/Card Case/Money Stash Box tinyurl.com/5l9pyn #
• AMELIA EARHART WALL CLOCK Aviation Pilot Great Gift tinyurl.com/5zfufy #
• DAVY CROCKETT WATCH Alamo Texas Custom Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5ws289 #

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Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• AL CAPONE LIGHTER Flip Top Chicago Scarface Gangster tinyurl.com/55wg6k #
• ROBERT E LEE WATCH Civil War Confederate Rebel General tinyurl.com/5m9sf5 #
• MUCHA Clair de Lune Art Nouveau Cigarette/Card Case/Box tinyurl.com/5m6g8r #
• FLY FISHING FLIES Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Money Box tinyurl.com/5kle7h #

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Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• ACCORDION BELT BUCKLE Buckel Accordian Silver Cool Gift tinyurl.com/6fqngu #
• CUMBERLAND GAP BELT BUCKLE Buckel Daniel Boone tinyurl.com/5mdxft #
• CUSTER'S LAST STAND Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Box tinyurl.com/6apwlm #
• JIM BOWIE WATCH Alamo Knife Texas Custom Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5f96c5 #

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Morris Garages, est. 1924, Oxford, England

Am starting to get some good sales on my Morris Garages items at my Cafepress store, RetroRanger.
A couple of interesting lessons here. First off, a design doesn't have to be complicated or overly artsy to be commercial. That's good because my artistic abilities are limited, at best. Secondly, the tighter the niche, the more likely the sales. There are millions of designs on Cafepress, but if you do a Cafepress search for "Morris Garages" my items are the only things to come up. The fans of early early MG cars may be few, but there are certainly enough to justify spending an hour designing a shirt.

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• CANOE BELT BUCKLE Buckel Canoeing Canoeist Portage tinyurl.com/6f4tka #
• SEPTEMBER MORN WALL CLOCK Pretty Nude Bather Great Gift tinyurl.com/5qq5j3 #
• EDSEL TELETOUCH WATCH Cool Classic Car Auto Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5bye9c #
• ROWING ROWER Sculling Cigarette/Card Case/Wallet Box tinyurl.com/5dy2p6 #

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Alamo Heroes Clocks for RetroRanger

I spent the morning working up some new Alamo Heroes clock designs to upload to my Cafepress store, RetroRanger.
I always think of Cafepress as a t-shirt place and I think most Cafepress shoppers are there for t-shirts, but I do sell a clock every now and then...even though I only have 6 or 7 up for sale. So I'm thinking I should beef up my selection of wall clocks at RetroRanger.
Today I uploaded Jim Bowie, William Travis, and Davy Crockett clocks. These came out super...each hero over some classic art of the Alamo as well a seal of the Republic of Texas in the background.

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• BAD GIRL WATCH Cool Pulp Comic Art Wristwatch Unique tinyurl.com/5quvxo #
• SHERLOCK HOLMES WATCH Literature Detective Gold Tone tinyurl.com/6y4xds #
• BUSTER KEATON CLOCK Silent Film Movie Actor Comedian tinyurl.com/56g6e5 #
• HIPPIE PEACE BELT BUCKLE Buckel Mod Retro Psychedelic tinyurl.com/634y9t #
• ACCORDION BELT BUCKLE Buckel Accordian Retro Cool Gift tinyurl.com/6buocy #

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Hey William Barret Travis, What's The Problem

I have a few different Alamo items, watches and clocks, that feature heroes of the Alamo. Jim Bowie sells well. Davy Crockett sells well. But William Travis, he don't sell.
That's just unacceptable. William Barret Travis was the commander of the forces at the Alamo. Travis was The Man. Jim Bowie had a big knife, but William Travis had a sword for making lines in the sand. Davy Crockett had a coonskin cap, but William Travis had, um, nice hair.
So, in order to spur sales of William Travis clocks and watches I've gone back to the Paint Shop Pro and revised the design. I've taken the Travis portrait and placed it over some real pretty antique art of the Alamo and I've gone with gold-leaf numbers. This is a definite departure from the portrait over red that I have been selling, and is probably the most colorful of historical designs I've done.
So you Sons of Texas do your duty, cross the line in the sand and buy a William Barret Travis watch. Or clock.

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• NOSFERATU CLOCK Movie Vampire Count Orlok tinyurl.com/5azvh3 #
• OLIVER 88 WATCH Cool Farming Tractor Wristwatch tinyurl.com/5vzuu2 #
• OLIVER 88 WALL CLOCK Tough Farm Tractor tinyurl.com/5aukul #
• OBOE RECITAL Cigarette/Card Case/Reed Box/Wallet tinyurl.com/5jnkvz #
• DESERT CAVALRY Cigarette/Card Case Frederic Remington tinyurl.com/5wwa5x #

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RockYou.com Slide Show Maker

Yea, that's kinda cool, the slideshow maker at rockyou.com. Wish I could supply my own music instead of having to choose from their supplied selections. But, a cool app nonetheless.

Print-On-Demand Purses, Handbags and Totes

I'm always on the lookout for new Print-On-Demand, or POD, companies. Cafepress is POD...you provide the artwork, they print your product. My watches and clocks and cigarette cases are made by ArtsNow, a print-on-demand company based in China. So POD plays a vital role in my income these days.
Today I discovered Snaptotes, a North Carolina company which takes your photo and puts it on a number of different style handbags, purses, totes, clutches, etc. Really nice looking product and at least from the web the finished products have a quality look. The user interface and art uploads are all very easy. Its a little pricey, purses are about $100. But right now there is nobody offering as large a product line or the quality.
I would really like to see Snaptotes adopt a user store model similar to Cafepress. Snaptotes would find a much broader market if they moved beyond the do-it-yourselfers and allowed the creative input of the web community. I know I could design some sweet bags...like the Mucha Clutch below that took me all of 3 minutes to put together on the Snaptotes site. Right now the only way to make a dime with Snaptotes is to join the affiliate program which has very little appeal to me.
If I were a pretty girl, I would so carry this clutch.

Chess Men Talking Smack on a T-Shirt

Strangely enough, a lot of the designs that I find extremely funny don't seem to sell in great numbers. It is because most people in this world have a poorly developed sense of humor.
The concept for this shirt came to me earlier today and I find it extremely funny. See, the chess men are talking smack, and the Queen says "I'm Gonna Kicks Yur Ass." The King just stands their taking it. Kings are wusses. The Knight says, "Who you callin an Ass?" which is funny, cuz, you know, cuz knights are horses, not asses.
Damn, that's funny! So funny that I predict I will sell all of none of these shirts ever. But it makes me horse-laugh. Or maybe ass-laugh.
The Talking Chess Smack T-Shirt is available at my RowdyTease Cafepress store.

Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• JOHN PHILIP SOUSA WATCH Cool Marching Band Wristwatch tinyurl.com/6942dz #
• A C GILBERT WATCH Cool Erector Set Toymaker Wristwatch tinyurl.com/6k25yz #
• YOSEMITE VALLEY Cigarette/Card Case/Metal Box/Wallet tinyurl.com/6muwdd #
• JOHN MOSBY CLOCK Confederate Virginia Ranger Guerilla tinyurl.com/6goz4g #

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Latest eBay Sales Report

Daily sales report from my eBay store All-4-Corners.

• Sold: BOWLER BELT BUCKLE tinyurl.com/6nhxxm #
• Sold: JOHN MOSBY WATCH tinyurl.com/6hnjv4 #
• Sold: WILLYS OVERLAND WALL CLOCK tinyurl.com/5qt5ap #
• Sold: RECORDER PLAYER Cigarette/Card Case tinyurl.com/5rrrvf #
• Sold: BARACK OBAMA LIGHTER tinyurl.com/5bgymd #
• Sold: ROBERT E LEE CLOCK tinyurl.com/6my2gl #

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Tinyurl.com Helping eBay Sellers

I've been playing around with an idea...posting a daily recap of my eBay items sold to this blog. Just items that have sold. Just putting them out there. No, you can't buy them...they've already sold. Don't you wish you could have one? You can't. It's sold.
In the course of setting up this exercise in scarcity marketing, I've discovered that tinyurl links to expired eBay items do not go directly to the expired eBay auction page. Instead they take a transitional stop at a tinyurl-hosted affiliate page. Check it out:

http://tinyurl.com/5qt5ap

I think this is a really good thing! Tinyurl.com is creating another sales page for my eBay items...and they're doing it at my request! I tell them to create a page for me when I create the link. Sure, it only shows 5 items, but that's five more than anybody else is doing. I have to think that the more chances to put my product if front of potential customers, the better. And if you're worried about tinurl's affiliate money, that comes out of eBay's pocket, not the seller's.
I gotta play with this and see if I can get the tinyurl affiliate page indexed. That would be cool! If anyone else sees a good way to play this, please leave a comment.

Black Bart the Po8 - California Badman on Cigarette Case

Charles Boles was a stagecoach robber around these parts in the 1870s and 80s. He robbed a lot of stages and would leave a poem in the empty strong box as a calling card...signing himself Black Bart The Po8. But he only had two poems, the one I put on the case and...

Here I lay me down to sleep
to wait the coming morrow.
perhaps success perhaps defeat
and everlasting sorrow.

Let come what will I'll try it on
My condition can't be worse
and if there's money in that Box
Tis Munny in my purse.

clipped from cgi.ebay.com Black Bart Hinged Metal Case Get this today, the Black Bart Cigarette Case...picturing Charles Boles over a deep purple background and one of his famous poems... I've labored long and hard for bread, For honor and for riches. But on my corns too long you've tred, You fine haired Sons of Bitches.

Feeling My Way Around Flickr

I'm a late arrival on the old flickr bus (what?) and I just finally uploaded some pictures of some of my cigarette cases as a learning experience. I really like the non-commercial look of flickr and have uploaded my pics in that no-commerce spirit. No links to the store and no sales pitch. The hope is that possible customers may see the items and then take it upon themselves to ferret them out.
Especially handy is the slideshow embed help that I found at flickrslidr.com that makes it possible to resize and embed the flickr slideshow. See, it looks like this...


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Clair de Lune by Alphonse Mucha

Often I feel like I'm creating product in a vacuum, just toss it out there and see if anybody likes it. That's why I love it when a customer requests that I work up a product with a certain graphic or piece of art. Then I know at least two people will be happy when I'm done with the work.
Had a request to put a work of Alphonse Mucha on a cigarette case. Clair de Lune was a print Mucha did in 1902 and she is absolutely wonderful.
The dimensions aren't quite right to drop it right onto a case and I didn't want to crop any of her. Plus the customer wanted the border dropped.
So I lifted Clair out of the view and then expanded the background, keeping Mucha's style. After getting the background to the right size I was able to drop Clair back into the scene, adding a little extra black outlining to make her stand out.
I think the finished cigarette case came out pretty nice. Of course, it helps when you start with beautiful art. Mucha's work is incredible and very popular these days. And most, if not all, of his work has gone into the public domain, at least in the US.

Twitter's Down? You Don't Say

I don't know what you do when Twitter goes down, but I use the time not spent tweeting in Paint Shop Pro doing funny things to the twitter graphics. Like this.

Rembrandt's 1659 Self-Portrait on a Clock/Watch

According to Rembrandt Myself,

When scholars began to study Rembrandt in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries they were surprised by the large number of self portraits. It was discovered that he had painted himself on at least forty occasions, had etched himself thirty-one
times, and made a handful of drawings.

That's a lot of introspection. I'm partial to his 1659 self-portrait now at the National Gallery of Art. Love those craggy features.

I used this painting of Rembrandt as the underlying art for a new clock face design. Added a signature and roman numerals which duck behind his beret.

My Rembrandt Clock is available at my eBay store, All-4-Corners. Also available is the Rembrandt Wristwatch with same face design.