CZT ATC, OMG!

Last year, at TangleU 2013, I had a Great Idea. Like most Great Ideas, it was born from sheer frustration. There were 60 attendees at the conference and many were folks I had met at other Certified Zentangle Teacher events, MeetUps, retreats, training seminars... I remembered some faces, but couldn't remember their names. And then there were all the NEW people I was meeting. Granted, I am an introvert at heart, but I was beyond overwhelmed. I need to see a person's face, with their name, AND know something about them that helps me put all the info together.

My Great Idea was to have trading cards for the CZTs! Not business cards - those are not very helpful for socializing. Good for networking and markeing a business. But I wanted a card to help me get to know the actual people. I love the concept of baseball cards - so I designed a CZT ATC that features the person's photo on the front and their "stats" on the back.

CZT ATC - Trading Card Business Card by BumbleBat

If you are a CZT and would like to make your own CZT Collectible Card to trade, you can visit this link:

http://www.zazzle.com/czt_atc_trading_card_business_card-240803668843276324?rf=238787327721754290

Designing something for the first time can be a little scary, so I have step-outs below to guide you through the process in detail. Just remember that these are meant to feature YOU, not a product or business and also that they are "trading" cards.
That means you need to give one to get one. :-)

EASY STEPS:

1. When you click the link above, it takes you to the product page on Zazzle.com.
It looks like this:

You see that blue button that says "Customize It!"? DO NOT PRESS THAT!

That allows you to mess with the text, fonts, positioning - which you can do later if you are graphically sophisticated. But to start with, the easy-peasy way is to just fill in the fields or text boxes over on the right side.

All my info and pics are acting as placeholders, so you can get an idea of what to put there and then replace my info with yours.

2. First, replace the photo.
You will want to have a great photograph of yourself (this is not Facebook, so please no photos of your kids or cat!) and that photo should be cropped into a square shape and saved as a jpeg.
Right under my tiny portrait, on the right, you see "Change" written in blue. Click that, then find the photo on your hard drive and upload it. It should replace my picture on the front of the card.

3. You can do the same with the "Logo/Avatar" image right now, or wait until later. This image will be tiny, but can be an additional photo or logo or cartoon or tangle or QR code... it will appear on the back in the "About Me..." section.

4. Then, just work your way through the text boxes beneath these pics. There is a scroll bar on the right, slide it down to see the rest of the fields to fill in. I'll go through each one to explain.

These first two go on the front of the card...
Country:  Use the abbreviation for whatever country you associate yourself with.
First Name: Nicknames are fine. If you use a middle name, that can go here too.
Last Name: This looks nice written in capital letters.

5. Underneath the image of the trading card you see two tiny pics representing the front and the back of the card. Go ahead and click on the reverse side picture.

6. Now go back to filling in the text boxes on the right hand side of the screen...

CZT #: This is the certification training seminar you attended in Whitinsville, MA or Providence, RI. The first thing that people seem to ask is "What session were you in?" This will go in the upper left corner.

Full Name: If you used your nickname on the front, you can put your formal name here, or vice versa.

Skills: What is your focus with Zentangle®? Some ideas are Artist, Author, Teacher, Therapist, Speaker, Blogger... pick your main ones.

email: this could also be a phone number or Facebook link... any way that you prefer to be contacted.

Web/Blog: If you have a website or blog, you can put the address for one here (others can go in the "About Me" section). You could also use this spot for a mailing address, or other link, instead.

Year: when did you first start tangling?

Tangle Name: What is your "comfort tangle"? When in doubt, what tangle do you turn to to get started? We all kind of lean on one or two tangles.

Tangle Name 2: If you were a tangle, what would you be? What is your tangle alter-ego?  Mine is definitely Btl Joos - all stripey and tangled and wiggling all over the place. ;-)

superpower: What do you do really well? A talent you are proud of, or secretly proud of? It doesn't have to be "useful". Math? Knitting? X-ray vision?

job: What do you do during the day? Work?

grow up: Finish the sentence "When I grow up I'll..." What is your goal or your plan for the future?

passion: What do you love? What makes your eyes light up and your heart beat faster? What could you talk about all day?

About Me: Describe yourself. Anything else you'd like people to know about you. Other links or contact info can go here too. To see more of your text, grab the little triangle in the lower right corner and drag it to see more of the text window.

The last two boxes on the back of the card are left empty so you can fill them in by hand once you get the cards.

Autograph... you can sign your name here because that's what makes it an "authentic" Collectible Card! Use a permanent pen so it doesn't smear.

Event/Date... This is where you can write in the event where you are exchanging cards. ie: "TU/2014" or "TangleU 2014" or "MeetUp 3/15/14" or "CZT#25" or wherever.

Double check all your info, make sure it all fits and looks nice, then click the "Add to Cart" blue button near the top right. Also notice that there is usually some kind of a special code near the very top of the screen... in this case, it's 17% off for St. Patrick's Day. You'll want to enter that code in the discount box in your shopping cart to get your sale price. Zazzle also offers some really great email only discounts. My favorite, usually once a month or so, is a 50% off Business Cards deal. These ATC sized cards count as biz cards, so that is a fabulous deal!

Here's my finished card! If you are going to TangleU 2014, I hope you will trade cards with me. :-) There will be over 100 people at this year's event, so I REALLY need these cards.