Personalized Valentine's Day Baby Clothes

I just finished creating two sets of designs for Valentine's Day for my shop, Little Characters.

Click on either picture to buy onesies, T-shirts, jerseys, sweatshirts, or bibs. You can also choose from the messages, "Mommy and Daddy Will Always Love Me", "My First Valentine's Day", and "Happy Valentine's Day". As usual, every design is available in diverse skin tones. The designs I'm featuring below both have the message "Baby's 1st Valentine's Day".

The first design is more specifically for a baby and has one little curl of hair:


The second design has a child that looks similar to many prior designs and has more hair:


I want to create some personalized "_______'s 1st Valentine's Day" products with 10 popular names, and I'm not sure which design to use. Of course, I'll still personalize on order for free, and customers could tell me which design they like when they give me the baby's name. But I want to have a starter set available and I don't think I should do it for both versions.

I'm usually way behind to get these holidays drawn and up in the shop, but hopefully this is soon enough! As I was getting ready to help my son nap the other day, I said to my husband that I was going to work on my Valentine's Day drawings while he slept. My husband replied, "It's Christmas! You can take a day off!" I smiled, shrugged and said, "This is fun for me, honey. It's what I want to do." I might be a bit obsessed! :D

Fantastic Blogs in the Middle of Nowhere

Okay, I must be one of the most dim people trying to run an online business. After I had been writing this blog for a while, I decided to make a few other blogs to help people find cute baby T-shirts, onesies, and bibs on the internet and to journal about my experience designing some.

After about two months of waiting for one of these blogs to come up on Google searches, I realized that I did not have a single link to it (or any of the new blogs) anywhere and that meant that it was impossible for anyone but me to find them.

Since last night, I've been desperately trying to remedy that situation, so here are some links to my newer blogs:

Obama Baby Clothes Blog features a great collection of my original designs for Little Democrat onesies, T-shirts and bibs. I also include a short journal entry for each design about my experiences creating it and how it connects to my life as an Obama Mama and artist.

Baby Nicknames Blog features a large collection of onesies, T-shirts, and bibs with my unique drawings of babies to match all the nicknames like Peanut, Sweetpea, Pumpkin, Little Man, and Little Monster. I also include a short journal entry for each of these designs.

Jewish Baby Clothes Blog is a guide to all the best onesies, T-shirts, and bibs for Jewish babies and their families. You can just click any picture to buy cute baby clothes for under $20. In addition to my own designs, I include several designs by other online artists - along with links to their stores.

Christian Baby Clothes Blog is a directory with all the best baby T-shirts, onesies, and bibs for Christian families. They're organized into themes like "Bible Babies" and "Angels", and most of these baby clothes are created by other online designers (who are devout Christians).

Celebrating Diversity with My Baby Clothes Store

I'm really proud of the way that my online store, Little Characters, honors diversity.

If you're looking for cute baby clothes that feature babies with a range of skin tones, then please follow the link to my shop. I've drawn over fifty designs to print on infant and toddler T-shirts, onesies, and bibs for under $20. You can click on any of the pictures below to buy those products.













Some of my designs were specifically created to celebrate African-American culture and achievements. For example, I have a series of Kwanzaa designs and it was important to me to offer a range of skin tones in these, too. Obviously, not every "black" baby will have the same shade of skin. Another example is my series of Political designs celebrating Obama's victory. Having an african-american President is something we should all be proud of, and I want the images on my products to inspire a sense of shared pride - not division.









I do my best to avoid stereotyping and token tributes. EVERY design I draw is available with a variety of skin tones. I am careful to select the drawings of dark-skinned babies to display for many designs, because I don't believe caucasian or white should be treated as the default. I am very happy to do a custom drawing for anyone, so that the baby in the design looks as much like your baby as possible.

The first principle of my faith is to "affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person", and I strive to apply that value with my little business.

Christmas T-Shirts and More for Baby and Family

Little Characters, my online store, has a lot of adorable designs for the holidays. They can all be personalized for free within one day, and the drawings can be printed on a baby/toddler T-shirt, onesie, or bib for under $20. Many designs are also available on kids' and adult-sized clothes.

Click on any picture and you'll go straight to my website. Every drawing comes in several skin tones and can be matched with different messages.

These two designs are a great way to wish everyone a Green Christmas! Laughing They're perfect for an environmentally conscious family:





And here are a couple that spread some holiday cheer in a way that includes everyone:





The rest of are especially sweet as Christmas gifts for a baby or toddler:











Thanks for checking out the designs. As always, I'd love to hear your opinions and advice.

Personalized Hanukkah Clothes for Babies and Toddlers

Little Characters, my online shop, has a lot of adorable Hanukkah designs that can be personalized and printed on an infant/toddler T-shirt, onesie, or bib for under $20.

I am VERY HAPPY to personalize any T-shirt, onesie, or bib with the name of your choice at no extra charge within one day. Just describe the picture, message, and coloring you'd like and email it to drawnbyk@gmail.com. I will upload a custom-made design right away, and you can complete the sale before you know it.

For all you first-time bubbies out there, this is a really sweet gift for your little grandson or granddaughter.

Here's a peek at some of the Hanukkah designs that can be personalized for Baby's 1st Hanukkah. Click on any picture, and you'll be taken right to my store where you can buy it right away. I've chosen from the names that are already created, but remember that I will create one with the name of your choice within one day.






I'm especially excited about the last design, and it's hard to really see the detail in the thumbnail. I can create any one's name in bubble letters filled with little blue Stars of David. I'm currently working on a section with family titles (Mommy, Ima, Mamele, Grandma, Safta, Bubbie . . .)

I hope to add a couple more Hanukkah drawings to the section soon. I'm almost finished drawing a rattle with a Star of David. Just keep checking the Judaism section in my store, and you'll see all the designs as they're added!

Babies for Barack and Obama Mamas

Little Characters, my online store, has a great collection of political T-shirts for babies, kids, and parents. Click on any of the pictures below and you'll go straight to the website where you can buy T-shirts, onesies, or bibs for less than $20. They're all printed to order, so every design will be in stock in the size you want.

The design I'm most proud of is based on Obama's logo. It features a baby/toddler crawling on the red and white striped path toward the rising sun.
As always, I've made all the designs available in different skin tones. This picture is available with several messages (or just on its own). My favorite message is "My Future Is Looking Brighter".

This design was one of the things I can really say was a collaboration with my husband, Patrick. My final sketch had a rough drawing of the logo itself, but Patrick did a lot of cool technical work. He created different layers - one for my little kid, one for the wavy stripey path and one for the circles. Then he made sure the circles were really circles (I suck at drawing straight lines or perfect circles). The last thing he did was a really cool effect where the light blue background fades gradually into transparent. It makes it look like the white sun is really sending out rays of light.

I think another set of political designs that are really cute are my little blue donkeys.
A good friend of mine periodically checks out my shop and she spontaneously reacted to the United Baby by saying that the little blue donkey on his lap was really cute. The other shopkeepers on the forum have been saying for a while that I should try to offer designs that don't have people in them, so I decided to do some designs with just that donkey. I had to monkey with the coloring, because the bright blue didn't seem to print well - especially on dark colored shirts. The pastel is sweet though. My favorite product with the little donkey is the Future Democrat design on the maternity shirt.

I wish that I had been able to create more of these before Obama won, but I've been plugging away. As I'm typing this and thinking it through, I can't really ask for a better reason for designing. It's been hard work, but I do want to celebrate Obama's victory. Honestly, I'm just frustrated that I can't figure out how to get my designs to come up higher on the search results in Cafe Press's marketplace. Right now, if someone goes into their Kids section for clothes and does the featured search for Barack Babies, my designs don't start until the 7th page! I guess it's egotistical but I really believe my designs are better than a lot of the ones that come up first, and I'm worried that no one will see them.

If anyone is reading this who likes my designs, please go into the marketplace, search under "Barack Babies" and just click on my designs. Supposedly, Cafe Press's search results are based on how many people click the designs - not only people who buy them. So you could help my stuff get seen without spending a dime.

Obama Victory Baby Clothes

Little Characters is selling adorable T-shirts, onesies, and bibs for baby patriots and little Americans. They cost less than $20.

Just click on the pictures to go directly to the website, and you can have my drawing printed on your baby clothes right away. I've drawn a baby waving a flag, playing with a toy donkey and elephant. Below the baby, I've printed Obama's words: "There is no liberal America. There is no conservative America. There is only the United States of America."





I created this design a little while before the election ended. I listened to Obama's Ohio speech as I was driving to church, and when he said those words, I started crying. Yes, I am extremely sappy, but I really think he is an inspiring person. I definitely count last night's win as a victory, and I want to celebrate. It feels so good to have a democrat with so much integrity in the white house - well, almost in the white house. He's moving the kids and their new puppy in soon.

I know that not everyone counts this as a victory, but I'm hoping that the unifying spirit of Obama's words will inspire us to reach across party lines and work together - especially since a cute little kid will be the one delivering the message!

Check back in my Political section soon. I'm drawing another version of this design with a little boy and girl, so older kids can wear it, too. I'm also working on a drawing of a baby crawling on the red and white path in Obama's logo (with the message, "My Future is Looking Brighter") I'll get it up on the site as fast as I can!