Lou's Designs

The holiday season is a time for spreading joy and creating a festive atmosphere in our homes. One delightful way to achieve this is by incorporating Christmas throw pillows into your home decor. These beautifully designed pillows not only add a touch of seasonal cheer but also offer comfort and style. In this blog post, we will explore the reasons why Christmas throw pillows are an excellent choice for making your home decor more festive during the holiday season.

Christmas throw pillows come in a variety of designs and colours, allowing you to infuse your living space with the spirit of the season. The featured throw pillows from Zazzle offer a perfect combination of traditional and whimsical designs. By strategically placing them on your couch, chairs, or beds, you can transform any room into a festive retreat.

Showcasing Some Zazzle Throw Pillows

The following Christmas cushions showcase a few of my own designs that I hope you and your guests will love.

Which is your favourite design?

The first Christmas throw pillow that we are showcasing features Santa and Rudolph. This design radiates happiness and you can almost feel their special relationship. It also features the words Happy Holidays and is set on a beautiful green background.

The next Christmas throw pillow or cushion that we are going to look at is of a vintage design. This pillow takes you back in time with a vintage-style image of children building a snowman. I love the swirl effect that is a feature of this design as well.

The third throw pillow that we’re showcasing creates an elegant holiday vibe with it’s “A Very Merry Christmas” words forming the outline of a Christmas tree. It’s a simple design that has proven to be quite a popular design in past Christmases.

Finally, the fourth throw pillow depicts some adorable snowmen and I must admit I love these, especially the little snow dog.

Whichever of these designs you choose they will lend a distinctive charm to your decor, making your home truly stand out.

Crafted from high-quality Simplex knit fabric, these throw pillows offer both comfort and durability. The 100% polyester material ensures a soft and wrinkle-free surface, while the hidden zipper enclosure adds a seamless touch. The synthetic-filled insert provides a plush and supportive feel, ensuring long-lasting comfort. What’s more, these pillows are machine, washable, making them practical for everyday use during the holiday season. Rest assured that your Christmas throw pillows will maintain their vibrant colours and charm for years to come.

The 16″ x 16″ size of these throw pillows makes them versatile and easy to integrate into your existing home decor. Whether you want to add a festive touch to your living room, bedroom, or even a cozy reading nook, these pillows are perfect for any space. The heavyweight stretch material enhances colour definition, allowing the pillows to seamlessly complement your furniture. Moreover, the USA-made quality ensures that these pillows meet the highest standards, offering you peace of mind and a truly exceptional product.

Why Use Christmas Throw Pillows?

Christmas throw pillows provide an excellent way to make your home decor more festive during the holiday season. With their vibrant colours, unique designs and high-quality craftsmanship, these pillows effortlessly elevate the ambiance of any room. From the delightful Santa and Rudolph duo to the vintage snowman-building children, each design tells a story and sparks joy. So, this Christmas, embrace the spirit of the season and transform your home into a winter wonderland with these beautiful throw pillows.

As I have said in a previous post I love using images from the public domain and adapting them to create products that that is how I ended up creating this face mask.

This design was a lot of fun to come up with. As you can imagine right now a lot of people are wearing face masks and when I realized that you could design them on Redbubble I started thinking of what kind of design would be fun.

I do love some of the Gothic lady images that I come across and so I had a look on Pixabay to see if they had any that I could play around with until I was happy with the look. I really wasn’t expecting to come up with the design above as I had something completely different in mind, however when I saw this image …

Although I loved the image above I did want a little colour for a face mask. Usually when I think Gothic and colour I try and add purple, but looking at her red eyes I thought that would be a great colour to bring out.

I added some different effects to the background which when first added really didn’t give me the look I wanted, but after a few tweeks I was happier.

I hadn’t planned on changing the colour of her eye liner on one eye and her hair, to be honest my finger slipped! When that happens, however, it can just produce a look you didn’t even know you were after.

It still has a Gothic feel to the design, but it as more life in my opinion. Now we just have to see if it ends up being liked by anyone else! So far I’ve had a lot of positive comments from artistic friends of mine.

I love to use images available through Creative Commons to create some of my own designs.  You do need to check the license and make sure that they are able to be modified and used without attribution for use on a POD product.

One site that is great for this is Pixabay and I do use them quite a lot.  I have a couple  of Zazzle stores that are entirely created using this sort of designs.  An example is this Christmas card –

 

I took an image of a bull terrier and added an image of a Santa hat to the dog, popped them both on a bright background and added text. I loved the result, it was also fun trying the different Santa hat images that were available to get just the right one.

Another example of this can be found on an older post of mine where I tell you how I created my Catherine Parr Greeting Card.

The fun thing about Zazzle is that you can have a number of different stores and do different things in them ie have one based on your own photography, one based on your own artwork, one based on remixed creative commons work, one based on geometric or text based designs, the ideas are endless.

Here’s a look at a couple of my stores and how they differ –

Beachcombing – based on my own photography

Christmas Holidays – based on using creative commons images

Zazzle does well with all kinds of designs, but to be honest a lot of the remixed creative commons designs do outsell a lot of my own art/photography (except for 3 of my bestsellers that is).

I think the key to success if finding your own angle and making sure that you do make changes to the design, otherwise you’re competing with thousands of other identical designs because you didn’t create this idea!

 

NOTE: If you purchase anything from one of these links I may receive a commission and perform a happy dance in my computer chair! Full details here.

Zazzle introduced candy tins a few years back with the idea of using them as wedding favors, but I think they’re perfect for the holidays.  There’s just something special about Christmas Candy Tins.

The tins come in a few different shapes these days, but the inside is still your choice of mint or jelly beans and the idea is great.

Christmas Mint Tins

I think I love the idea because my great uncle used to always carry a little tin of mints around with him and sometimes I’d get to have one!  Even these days I usually have some mints in my bag so a little tin is a great idea.

A Christmas themed candy tin for my mints would be a great gift idea for myself and I’ve even designed a few that I would enjoy using –

 Fun Snowman Candy Tin Vintage Winter Scene Candy Tin Cute Snowman Candy Tin Christmas Tree Candy Tin Santa Candy Tin Cute Snowman Candy Tin

Personalized Candy Mint Tins

These candy tins are made by Zazzle which means that they can be personalized – you can get monogrammed tins, tins with people’s own names on them, photos, the ideas are endless.

These tins are some of the cool ones that are set up to be personalized (they’re not my designs, but belong to other talented designers on Zazzle)

 Partridge In A Pear Tree Christmas Holiday Jelly Belly Candy Tin Christmas Tree Thunder_Cove Jelly Belly Candy Tins Custom Cute Folk Art Merry Christmas Wreath Jelly Belly Tins Joy to The World Christmas Typography Music Notes Candy Tin Season’s Greetings Christmas Trees & Bird Holiday Jelly Belly Candy Tins Nutcrackers group on red jelly belly candy tins

Christmas Candy Tins

These little tins are great to add to a gift basket or to pop into a Christmas hamper.  They also make fun stocking fillers.

If you have a business they are also a great idea to give to your clients.  You can add your business name, or just choose a Christmas design and pop your business card in with the gift.

The tins can be refillable which is what makes them a really useful gift – I know I’m not the only one who keeps some mints in my purse all the time, or am !?

Description of Candy Tins from Zazzle

This rectangle-shaped tin (0.70 oz) features rounded edges and a brushed metal or white finish for an elegant look and feel. Filled with fresh mints or your favorite Jelly Belly™ flavor, it’s the perfect gift or party favor that everyone will love to take home.

• Customize the lid with your photos, designs, or text
• Mints and Jelly Belly™ options available
• Candy is kosher certified, gluten free, and soy free
• Candy made in a facility that process peanuts, some flavors may contain coconut
• Order in bulk and save!

Also available in a range of other shapes

Please Note:   They are small tins – check the measurements with a ruler so you know what to expect, having said that they are the perfect size to throw in a purse or pocket.

Bonus Idea for Christmas Candy Mint Tins

I have seen images where a fellow designer brought a selection popped them inside small organza bags and hung on the Christmas tree as decorations – I think this is a really cool idea.

This idea is especially great for a business as you could hang them on the firm’s Christmas tree as decorations and then hand them out to clients as they come into the office – it’s always great to get a gift when visiting your accountant, solicitor, broker etc.

 

 

NOTE: If you purchase anything from one of these links I may receive a commission and perform a happy dance in my computer chair! Full details here.

This grey-blue and sand colored Morrocan inspired design is perfect for a student and will suit male or females.   With the student in mind I’ve selected a few products from the range which would be perfect.

A Morrocan Inspired Designed Travel Coffee Mug

Getting up late and rushing to lectures is a lot easier with a big hit of caffeine to help you funchtion and that is where this travel coffee mug has you covered!

 Grey Blue & Sand Morrocan Inspired Design Travel Mug

If you’re not into travel mugs then this design is also available on both standard and tall mugs, but seriously you need your coffee to go!

Dishwasher safe, this travel mug is made with insulated stainless steel and comes with a removable lid (that’s from the product description – I’ve never actually seen a travel mug without a removable lid, but there you go!)

Cool Morrocan Designed Bags

Now when it comes to student life you do need to cart a few things around with you.  My teen daughter favors a tote bag to lug her laptop and girly essentials around.

I have, however, seen some of the other students with drawstring bags over their shoulders so I’ve included both styles of bags here for you to peruse.

 Grey Blue & Sand Morrocan Inspired Design Tote Bag Grey Blue & Sand Morrocan Inspired Design Drawstring Bag

Morrocan Inspired Designer Notebooks

When it comes to taking notes in class these days then your phone or laptop is generally the way to go.   Some people still like to go old school with books though.

I would use the spiral notebook below to keep track of assignments and homework due as writing it down makes me more likely to remember something.

A journal is a great thing to keep while you’re a student because they are quite fun to read again as you get older and can be a treasure trove of memories.

 Grey Blue & Sand Morrocan Inspired Design Spiral Notebook Grey Blue & Sand Morrocan Inspired Design Hardcover Journal

Whether you’re a student or not I hope you’ve enjoyed these Morrocan Inspired Designer products.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article – more information can be found on our disclosure page.

February 14th will be here in less than a month and the sales of red roses will shoot up dramatically and with it the smell of love and romance will fill the air. I must admit I don’t have many Valentine’s Day cards designed as the date just seems to sneak up on me every year! I do have a Gothic Valentine’s Day card which is popular however.

There are lots of unique Valentine’s Day cards available to purchase from Zombie Valentine’s to Geeky Valentines and the ever increasing anti-Valentines. I designed this particular Vintage Gothic Valentine’s Day card back in 2011 as I’d had success with a Gothic Christmas card I designed the year before.

 

I would love to tell you how I designed this particular card, but in this case I actually can’t remember. I do know that I had only recently gotten Photoshop at that time and was doing a lot of ‘experimenting’ as I was learning the program.

I think the vintage look of the image is quite endearing and the ‘greying out’ of the gentleman (in my mind at least) gives the idea that he is the ghost of her true love and their love is still strong. The whole idea of an eternal love is deeply rooted in the Gothic sub-culture so it works well.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article – more information can be found on our disclosure page.