New Galileo Mouse Pad

Just finished up a new design for a Galileo mouse pad and uploaded some to the eBay store. Mouse pad features a portrait of Galileo with the solar system in the background. Also the quote "E pur si muove" ("And yet it does move" -- said by Galileo after being forced to deny that the earth moves around the sun). This will make a great gift for the astronomer on everyone's list.

Time For The Christmas Songs

Yep, it's about time to break out the Christmas songs, get all holly jolly and ho, ho, ho.
Over in the right column I've swapped out the Blues Song of the Day gadget for the Christmas Song of the Day gadget. Hope you enjoy!

Matrix Wake Up Neo T-Shirt

Watching The Matrix for the first time in a long time. What a great flick, Keanu and crew rescuing the enslaved human race from the all-controlling Matrix.
Just launched a new Matrix t-shirt on CafePress...the Wake up, Neo T-Shirt. Sure to impress while hanging with your own personal Morpheus.
Remember,while the Agents must adhere to the rules of the Matrix, your human mind allows you to bend or break these very same rules. And to wear any shirt you want.

Cthulhu Moves To Management

You of course are familiar with Cthulhu, octopus-headed evil monster-god creation of H. P Lovecraft. Seems Cthulhu has a new gig behind the desk. I think he's the new Midwest Manager of Mergers and Acquisitions.
In honor of Cthulhu's new position we've created the Cthulhu Mouse Pad and it's available at our All-4-Corners eBay store. Might also load it up to CafePress but haven't done so yet.

Peace Through Pie - Give Pizza Chance

Love this t-shirt over at RowdyTease, one of our Cafepress shops. This is the Give Pizza Chance t-shirt and it starts at under 15 dollars!
Get your Give Pizza Chance T-Shirt today! Get everybody together for a big slice of Pizza Pie. See how happy everyone is? Give Pizza Chance...that's all we are saying. Get this on a t-shirt, sweatshirt, button and more.

New Mouse Pad - 1932 La Salle Automobile

A new offering at our All-4-Corners store on eBay, this mouse pad features artwork of a classic 1932 La Salle automobile.
The 1932 La Salle Mouse Pad. This 9.25" x 7.75" rectangular mousepad is made of a durable heat-resistant polyester fabric top, will keep your mouse rolling in style. Backed with a neoprene rubber non-slip backing, keeps the mousepad from sliding. The mousepad is 1/8" thick. It will not discolor or fade, machine washable..

Barack Obama Says Eat Your Veggies

actually, I think it started as a little cauliflower ear back in his Golden Gloves days.

Gretz Beer T-Shirts Video

Just uploaded to youtube a new video in support of our Gretz Beer T-Shirt at RetroRanger. This is a fun retro 1950s design featuring vintage advertising art from the William Gretz Brewing Company, Philadelphia brewer that closed in 1960.

Pictures of Eczema Video

New on Youtube is this Pictures of Eczema video. Eczema is an umbrella term for a number of related conditions in which a person's skin becomes inflamed and itchy. Causes can be as simple as an exposure to poison oak to something harder to pinpoint.

New Diaper Bag Website

Just started up a new blog...MyBaby Diaper Bags.
Yep, just exactly what it sounds like. Comparisons and reviews and information on the newest and hippest baby diaper bags.
Sweet huh? Well, not really sweet, they are diaper bags after all.

Sascha Brastoff Ebay Auctions Gadget

Handy gadget/widget displays hottest current eBay auctions for Sascha Brastoff collectibles. For iGoogle home page or easy to embed in any webpage.

Mayan Calendar End of the World

According to the ancient Maya of Central America and the Mayan Calendar, End of the World is set for December 21st, 2012. Or maybe the 23rd. Most End of the World experts lean toward the 21st with the 23rd being a fall-back position.
So that the Mayan Calendar End of the World doesn't sneak up on you, there's now the embeddable Mayan Countdown Clock widget for your personalized iGoogle page or any web page.

Just grab the simple bit of code and paste it into your web page or blog, then you'll always know how many days until the Mayan Calendar End of the World descends upon us all.

Adding Best Offer to eBay Store Items

I sell a lot of stuff on eBay, mostly with the auction format, but also many fixed-price store items.
I've decided that I'm going to begin offering a "Best Offer" option on my store listings to see if that can't generate some extra sales.
For example, a watch like the Oliver 44 Tractor Watch pictured here will have a store price of $19.00 and also a Best Offer option which will automatically accept offers above a number set by me. (just between you and me that number is $12. shhh.)
Personally I think the watch is worth the full $19, but if I can pick up an extra sale or two and still make money, well, in these tight times I've got to give that a go.

Trailer Trash and Proud of It

My friends Eileen and Gerald just hit the road for a couple of weeks in Oregon and Washington. They're trailer campers. They have a great old Shasta trailer that has probably a million miles on it and will certainly tick off a few more before it's all said and done.
In honor of my friends I made a new t-shirt design and uploaded it to CafePress. Check out the Trailer Trash T-Shirt, here as the plain white but available in lots of colors.

Frederic Remington's Troops On The March

Here's one of the unique cigarette cases offered at All-4-Corners.
A very cool chrome metal case featuring the Frederic Remington painting, Troops on the March...a dusty march through the desert southwest. Designed for use as a cigarette case...also great for holding money, business cards, or any other small item.
The Troops on the March Cigarette Case and other unique gift items available at my eBay store All-4-Corners.

The Willys M38 Jeep on Clocks, Watches, Stuff

I for some time have had some Willys MB Jeep items for sale on eBay, the MB being the army jeep of World War Two.
I've sold a good number of clocks, some mouse pads and a few watches. Enough sales to prompt me to expand the army jeep line.

I've just finished designing new Willys M38 Jeep items to add to the eBay store. The M38 was the jeep in action during the Korean War and elsewhere in the early 1950s. If you're not familiar with army jeeps you may not see the differences between the MB and the M38, but the true jeep fans can identify the two models with just a quick glance.

New at my eBay store, All-4-Corners, are the Willys M38 Jeep Wall clock, the Willys M38 Jeep Wristwatch, and the Willys M38 Jeep Mouse Pad.

Renewed Popularity For The Gadsden Flag

Sure am seeing the Gadsden Flag a lot lately. Must be the crowd I run with...freedom loving libertarian American hooligans.
The Gadsden Flag design of a rattlesnake and the words "Don't Tread On Me" dates back to the earliest days of the American Republic. Back then people were pretty fed up with the political situation and a pissed-off rattlesnake made a fine rallying symbol. You have to figure that the resurgence of the Gadsden Flag imagery coincides with a population again fed up with the political powers.
I've adapted the Gadsden Flag design and "Don't Tread on Me" tagline on some products that I've recently listed on eBay. Check out the wristwatch, wall clock, and (maybe most appropriately) cigarette case.

New Gretz Beer T-Shirt at RetroRanger

We're continuing to roll out new retro beer designs at our RetroRanger t-shirt shop. Just unveiled is our new Gretz Beer T-Shirt, based on a vintage graphic from a 1950s Gretz Beer advertising tray.
William Gretz brewing Company was a Philadelphia brewery, in business under that name from 1933 to 1960. The brewery still stands at Oxford Street at Germantown Avenue, although in a state of disrepair.
Check out the Gretz Beer t-shirt, sweatshirts and gift items at RetroRanger.

Delicious Sugary Goodness Chum Gum T-Shirt

I was doing some late-spring cleaning in the garage and came across an old View-Master from back in the day. They were very cool, View-Masters were. The 3D effect is awesome. I think if the tech people of the world can ever develop 3-D tv's and movies to the the crystal clear look of a View-Master...well that would be a good thing.
Anyway, in the bottom of the View-Master bucket was an old Chum Gum bubble gum wrapper. Chum Gum was definitely my bubble gum of choice in the 60s. Double Bubble was cool and later Bubble Yum came along, but I was a Chum Gum boy.
I got to looking at the Chum Gum wrapper and decided that the bold graphic would be perfect for a t-shirt. So I did a quick scan, imported it into Paint Shop Pro, did some clean-up to the graphic, and uploaded to Cafepress.
There you have it...the Chum Gum T-Shirt, available now at my RetroRanger store in all it bubble gum goodness.

Talbothay's Dairy Shirt For Tess of the d'Urberville Fans

Talbothay's Dairy, That's the English countryside dairy where Tess Durbeyfield sought refuge after escaping from the evil Alec d'Urberville. And it was at Talbothay's where Tess first meant Angel. English Lit majors will rejoice in the Talbothay's Dairy t-shirt available at RetroRanger.

Orville and Wilbur Wright - First Flight at Kitty Hawk

Just finished up a new Wright Brothers wall clock design. These clocks will be for sale at my eBay store for just $19.99. For this design I took an antique photograph of the brother's Kitty Hawk flight and carefully colorized it with retro pastels. then I added Orville and Wilbur in the foreground. The Wright Brothers Wall Clock will make a great gift for collectors and fans of early flight.

Hey Chicken, Get In My Belly!

I loves me some chicken. When I'm driving through free-range country I will often heist a few for later snacking. That explains this new Hey Chicken Get In My Belly! t-shirt design at my Zazzle store, Cool Tee Shirts. I think the design works great on the plain white t-shirts, but is especially cool on the darker colors, shown here on the dark brown.
Looking for a new cool shirt, then pluck yourself up one of these t's.

And now Rich's Spicy Chicken. I loves me some chicken.

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon hot Hungarian paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine the salt, pepper, hot paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and brown sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle the spices on the chicken using all of the spice mixture.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken in the hot oil for 4 minutes. Turn the chicken, and lower heat to medium-low. Pour in the orange juice; simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 7 minutes. Serve the chicken with a bit of the pan sauce spooned over the each piece.

Life After CafePress

I, like a lot of CafePress shopkeepers, am making plans to leave the whoring bastard spawn of Satan known as CafePress when their new shopkeeper payment plan goes into effect on June 1.
I've had small shops at Zazzle and Printfection for many months and those shops will be expanded in days to come. I'm also now developing a new shop at e-store.com...this shop is full of cool marching band t-shirts and is already starting to generate sales. Just uploaded today...the Free Tuba Rides T-Shirt.

Alphonse Mucha Designs on Cafepress

I was poking around Cafepress and was surprised to find that there isn't an overwhelming supply of Alphonse Mucha inspired designs. Seems to me there is room for more, so I opened up a new store, Alphonse Mucha Art Nouveau (also surprised to find the alphonsemucha username available!).

First up in the new store is this Alphonse Mucha JOB Shirt which is based on Mucha's JOB cigarette papers poster design. Did a lot of cutting away of the Mucha original to leave just the pretty gal and her cig. Then added a simple line border to keep the entire design uncluttered.

New Wordpress Install on Savant7

Savant7 is an account I’ve had for some time. It’s been a good storage unit. Hosted some pics. Some experimental pages have been hiding here. Basically just a big bucket of stuff. But with some new projects comes the need for a new blog, so welcome to the world Savant7.

Bigger Than Scooby Doo

I had a Chia pet when I was a kid. Who didn't? Mine was a Scooby Doo Chia and I watered it faithfully for about, um, three days. LOL. I'm not sure Scooby even sprouted, but I do know we had a dried up shell of a Scooby Doo chia for years afterwards. Just another dead chia in the junk closet.
This I think will be bigger than Scooby...the Barack Obama Chia coming soon to a store near you. Oh yea, there's gonna be a bunch of these sold. But I suspect they will be an easy garage sale find within the next year. When that time comes, when they are 25 cents apiece on a yard sale card table, at that time I think I'll get 12 or 15 or them and make a wall display. An entire wall of Obama Chias. That'll be cool.

A Cool Twitter Trick

OK, I saw this cool little "Send to Twitter" button over on Alltop.com and thought to myself, "hey, I must steal that idea." Here's what it looks like.

Post to Twitter

With a little CSS you can clean up the formating (I had to use a table in this example cuz I can't do the CSS on this blogspot blog). I'm not sure where I'll use this, but it's a cool thing to know.

Win a Free Mouse Pad

I've got a new store over on Bonanzle called Mouse Pad Factory where I sell all kinds of cool and interesting mousepads. A new promotion I've just started is Free Mouse Pad Tuesday. This contest is run on Twitter and entering is as simple as tweeting a predetermined tweet, or message.
This week our Free Mouse Pad is a very cool pad with Maxfield Parrish's famous artwork 'Ecstasy" on it. If you're on Twitter stop by and join the fun. If you're not on Twitter, maybe now is the time to jump in!

New Store on Bonanzle - Mouse Pad Factory

I've opened a new store on Bonanzle that will feature only my mouse pads. I'm calling it Mouse Pad Factory. Along with the Bonanzle store there's a corresponding MousePadFactory on Twitter as well as Mouse Pad Factory photostream on Flickr.
Only a few pads listed at the store as of yet, including some of the Mucha and Parrish art, such as Parrish's Daybreak.

Pierre Auguste Cot - The Storm & Springtime

I came across a couple of wonderful works by Pierre Auguste Cot and adapted them for the metal cigarette cases I sell on eBay. These two pieces are "Springtime" or "Le Printemps" and "The Storm" or "Bequest of Catherine."
These two paintings were done in 1870s which was Cot's most productive period. Both these paintings are on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; The Storm belongs to the museum while Springtime is owned privately.
You can find these Pierre Cot Cigarette Cases at my eBay store, All-4-Corners.

Driving Traffic to eBay Auctions

One of the big challenges of driving traffic to eBay auctions is that they end in 7 or 10 days and all your efforts now link to an expired auction. You can sign on to your favorite forum and talk up your product, but in 7 days it's wasted breathe.
One thing I've done is build out a little site where I display RSS feeds of many of the items I have for sale. It's not a storefront, just a self-updating showcase for my current auctions. My thought is that with a little promotion I can have these pages consistently ranked by Google and perhaps shoppers will find it to be a convenient back-door into my auctions.

Art Nouveau Mucha Gift Ideas
Classic Car Gifts
Cool Mouse Pads
Cool Trombone Shirts
Gift Ideas For Girlfriend
Historical and Personality Watches
Historical Tractor Watches
Metal Business Card Cases
Metal Cigarette Cases
Thank You Gift Ideas

Battle of Chickamauga on a Mouse Pad

Special for history buffs is my new Battle of Chickamauga Mouse Pad on eBay. This is my standard 9.25" x 7.75" rectangular mousepad, neoprene rubber non-slip backing with the polyester fabric top. The art comes from a 19th century lithograph of the battle, and I've added the banner as well as inset photos of the two generals, Rosecrans and Bragg.
As an experiment I've added h1 tags around the first "Battle of Chickamauga" in the listing as well as bolding and italicizing the phrase further down the listing. See if this doesn't give the listing a little better searchability for the phrase.