What's new for 2021
In the past few months I've spent a lot of time expanding my shop and figuring out what's next. The black and white city maps and dark blue lake maps are the most popular posters - I'll add more cities and lakes to those collections and to the tote bags over the next few months.
I know that people like to see images of what the products will look like in their homes, so I've got an ongoing project to create mockups for everything in my store - that will take a while!
I'm slowly adding to my collection of downloadable park maps to be used in the Avenza Maps app - so far there are three. Well, there will be three soon. I thought I'd published the McLennan Park map weeks ago but turns out it I forgot to submit it for review. Oops. There aren't enough hours in the day for everything I have on the go, and client projects take precedence.
Art of Where, a Montréal-based print-on-demand supplier, has been introducing new products, so I'll be adding some of those to my shop. Recently I ordered samples of a beanie, headband/neck-gaiter, double-knit polyester face covering, and zipper carry-all. I used a section of my black and white Kitchener map for most of them, and I think they turned out quite nice! Keep an eye out for those soon.
I've never worn a beanie before so I don't know what it's supposed to look like, but it'll work well for those days when my hair doesn't do what I want it to do. And I like wearing masks in the winter - keeps my face warm. :-)
I tried a Canada flag design for the beanie/neck-gaiter but it has to be folded and worn a very specific way, so I'll use simple street and contour designs for those. I'm also wearing a long-sleeve tshirt with a Waterloo Park map design. I ordered it as a sample before launching these on my site, but unfortunately I ordered the wrong design for mine. This version has black printing on the black material - at first I thought it was a printing error but it was my mistake when I ordered directly from Art of Where. It's not possible to accidentally order this combination on my site - I made sure of that. And it's very comfortable!
If there are products you'd like to see on my shop, please reach out and let me know. The reason I have these specific lake maps in my shop is because people contacted me asking if I had those lakes. I didn't at the time, but because they asked for them I moved them up my production list. So if you don't see what you're looking for, just ask.
Also tentatively planned for 2021 are silk scarves, tea towels, and pillow cases, and I'm pondering what map designs will work best for those. I may need your help with that - as I create new designs I'll post them on social media and the design with the most votes gets added to the shop!
Recently I signed up to Pinterest - there are a lot of wonderful designs and shops there. I plan to spend more time exploring there next year. I started to set up my profile but haven't finished - too much else to do.
I also added chat to my website a few weeks ago and it's been very popular. Have a question? Click the chat icon in the bottom right of the screen and ask! Or you can message me on social media. Even when I take a much-needed staycation after Christmas, I'll still be available to answer your questions, and my online shop is always open. And, as always, I'm here for you when you want a custom map.
Follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook, and soon Pinterest.
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