Everybody knows I start my Holiday gift shopping early! My goal is to be mostly done by the end of October so that I can enjoy the Holiday season. I have to coordinate gifts for everybody, including the gifts from our children to each other. This year, I had the idea that our 8-1/2 year old son might want to gift a custom t-shirt to his little brother. They are always talking in code, saying random words that I don't understand, and have favorite catch phrases that they share. When I presented this idea to my son, he thought it was a great idea!
After thinking for a few minutes, our son knew exactly what he wanted the shirt to say . . . "MEEP!!", which is a sound I have heard him make repeatedly for at least a year. I believe it is something one of the characters say on an animated show all three children like to watch.
(Click any photo to enlarge)
From there, I only had to open up my Gimp graphics software, which is free to download. Our son wanted something in black all-caps text with two exclamation points. It took me two minutes to make a 300dpi graphic that was about 2400 pixels wide. I asked our son if he liked the font. He did, so I added a drop shadow and saved the image as a .png with a clear background.
Next, I logged into Zazzle.com and asked our son which style shirt he would like for his brother. He chose the ringer tee in grey with black trim. I uploaded my image to the product page and then sized and positioned it to my liking.
Then I had the idea that it might look cool to have the image in reverse on the back of the t-shirt. Our son also loved this idea, so back I went to my saved image on Gimp. To make the reversed image, I simply removed the drop shadow, flipped the image from left to right, and then added the drop shadow back in. Just as before, I uploaded the image onto the product page on Zazzle. After previewing the shirt front and back, I added it to my cart and checked out.
I have to say that both my son and I were pleased with how the shirt came out. The drop shadow looks great! The only part we are disappointed about is that the image on the front is cut off on the right. About 1/4 of the exclamation point and the drop shadow is missing. Luckily, his 5-1/2 year old brother will not likely notice and will still love the shirt.
You can customize everything from t-shirts to phone cases to dart boards with Zazzle. The customization is not limited to text. You can upload your own artwork or photos just as easily as I uploaded my text design. Through 9/26/12, you can receive 15% off all Zazzle orders when you checkout with Code: 10FALLINSALE or, through 9/30/12, you can receive Free Shipping on orders over $50 when you use Code: FREESHIPFORU.
What would your inside joke t-shirt say?
Thank you to Zazzle for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.
Envirosax 
