For the past 9 years I, Nikita, have been blogging away, about all things Feline, and since New Year's Day 2010 I've been doing so here on my own blog! :-D
And Elvira Mistress of Felinity joined me in the last half of 2010.
Based, as we are, in what the Humans call "Santana", in "The OC", in "SoCal".
Our posts range from the casual, to the emotional, the funny, to the serious, the interesting, informative and, the opinionated to the poetic, and lyrical, and, occasionally, controversial.
When it comes to opinion, investigation, and controversy, we pretty much are equal opportunity stirrer uppers. :-D
You never know, from day to day, just what you will find us writing, or writing about, or where we'll get our inspiration. :-D
That was originally written on New Year's Day to celebrate our 2nd Blogoversary.
A lot has happened since then.
When such varied worthies as Kenan Peters of Pussy and Pooch, La Shawn Barber of La Shawn Barber's Corner, Sparkle the Designer Cat, author Kristen Levine, and the OC Weekly, can all agree on something, in 2011, & the latest just last month (Joining a list of Worthies from 2010)...then you know you must be doing something right, and possibly on to something special. :-D
In the early fall Daddy Kiril had been thinking of maybe getting another shirt done to help promote the blog, but wasn't really thrilled with just using words like the first one 2 years ago.
The idea was that, using their online Design Lab, and our ideas, Daddy could have 2 T-Shirts made, for free, that would promote Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat...and all we had to do was share our thoughts about the experience, and the resultant shirts, on our blog.
At the start of December I received an e-mail from a representative of an online company based in Northern California.
As the person who contacted us wrote:
A few people in our office suggested I check out your blog, and I thought it was really well done and perfect for this opportunity. We rely on word of mouth and social media to market ourselves, so in exchange for the shirts, we'd love if we could have our shirts reviewed on your blog.
Sounds simple, right? Well, yes, and no.
We had orignally thought of using the badge in our sidebar, but that didn't pan out, so we got in contact with Ann, of Zoolatry, and discussed the notion of using elements from the badge that she designed last year, with a Writer/Journalist Theme, and asked her if she could give it some thought, and help us out.
What she came up with was brilliant, but it took 2 months of back & forth with the company, partly due to Holiday Interruptus, and partly to our not being familiar with the pixel requirements needed for best results, before everything was just right.
Along the way Ann came up with a couple of other design ideas, including for an Award Badge for us to present (Yes, you read right, bit more on that in a future post!).
The company, an up, and coming start-up, founded by a High Schooler, and further developed by him, and his team, as he went on to college, is called ooShirts.
Imaginative young people on a mission, with incentive to create something useful, providing a valuable service to their community, and beyond.
Their Principles promised several things to anyone who trusted them enough to order from them:
Taking your deadlines very seriously, attention to detail, quality printing, low prices, a simple, powerful, design experience, and transparency throughout the creative process.
We did some Googling, and found several positive newspaper, and magazine, articles about the company, including one in Inc. Magazine.
There is a section of their website that has almost 1000 positive reviews from satisfied customers.
However, we also found the usual number of folks, on various rate them, and complaint, sites, that had problems, and we only think it fair to mention this.
After some thought Daddy said, "what do we have to lose?" If the shirts come out poorly he didn't pay a dime for them, not even shipping.
We decided to give it a shot. :-D
When you click on "Start Your Design" you are taken to the Design Lab, where you can add Text, Art, to the product of your choice, in our case, a shirt, both front, and back.
You will see how it looks, and be able to easily make changes, with regards to text type, and size, and text, and image, positioning, along the way, as well as submit your design to their Graphic Artists Dept. for suggestions before finalization.
They will also be able to tell you the exact pixel size required for images to appear to best advantage on your item.
You see your image must be "created" in that pixel size, and not changed, like you might do for posting an image on a blog, or on facebook.
Each time you make changes, right up to finalization, and save the design, the web page URL for your particular Design Lab, in use, will change, and you will be notified by e-mail, just as you will be contacted for other reasons, every step of the way, including if you have questions, or include explanatory notes.
You can even call a phone number if you have questions.
You can get Price Quotes before you decide on purchasing.
In our case, if we were paying....
Your design has full-color front and 1-color back imprint. These quotes are all-inclusive - free shipping, free setup.
5 shirts - $17.13 each
15 shirts - $12.58 each
30 shirts - $11.28 each
100 shirts - $10.81 each
Quotes on other quantities (we have no minimums or maximums) are available.
Daddy was in constant contact, throughout the 2 month process, even making a phone call, or 3, in the final stages, and the people he dealt with were friendly, and helpful (Thank You Alysia!).
Once he placed the order he received, by e-mail, a receipt, notification that the order was approved, the Artwork Proof, notification that the order was shipped (from NY, by Priority Mail, in our case), all with in 3 days.
We had been given to expect delivery within 2 weeks, but received the shirts much quicker than that, thanks to their using Priority Mail, and the shirts arrived yesterday morning! :-D
Daddy is delighted with the way the shirts turned out, and Elvira Mistress of Felinity, and I, couldn't be happier than if they had been delivered in a bag full of catnip! :-D
Simply beautiful! The fine detail is amazing, as is the quality of the shirt, and images, front, and back.
The shirts are 100%, Pre-Shrunk, Heavy Cotton, manufactured by Gildan (the leading activewear brand in the screenprint market in the U.S. and Canada.), in the Dominican Republic.
Not into Mens (Unisex), or Ladies, T-Shirts?
ooShirts offers Custom Sweats, Sweatshirts, Zip Hoodies, Athletic Team Clothing, Youth size Clothing, and pants, all ready to be customized to your needs.
The main website is here.
The Company Blog is here,, and is all of 6 months old, and is an interesting, and entertaining, place to visit.
It is there that you can learn a little about the gentleman named Sam Hunt, who apprached us with the offer of the shirts. It seems he grew up in the Inland Empire, just like Daddy did. :-D
The T-Shirt Design Blog, is not as active as the Company Blog, but still interesting in its own way, as you can see from this informative post: "Animal T-Shirts, but especially Cats."
****Daddy wears the shirt in Public for the first time!****
Seen and Heard 20: Dog Beach Revisited
Seen and Heard 21: Strange Doings at Seagull Convention, Huntington Beach
This morning, on the bus, a young man asked Daddy if he could take a picture, with his cell phone, to share with his Girlfriend who loves Cats!
Daddy said yes, and gave him one of our cards, too! :-D
We think this may start happening a lot. :-D
In closing Daddy Kiril, Elvira Mistress of Felinity, and I, wish to pay very special thanks to Ann, of Zoolatry for, yet again, coming thru with something so special, in design, that it perfectly captures, our sense of humor, and Sassyness, and what our blog is all about.
For years, this wonderfully talented woman has found time to help untold numbers of Cat, and Dog, Bloggers find ways to make their Blog Header stand out, promote their blogs via badges, and award badges, promote events, from contests to auctions, and share good news, and sad.
We are honored to call her, and her Cats, our friends.
Zoolatry For You: Photoshop Art for Blogs
For many years Ann did complimentary photo-art for other Cat, & Dog, Bloggers. Last year she set up a PayPal account, for contributions from those willing, and able to pay; it was voluntary.
As of this year she charges a small fee (Like her Felines, she's flexable), and those who are familiar with her work know it is worth every penny ( Special images for Purrs 'n' Prayers and for those who have sadly crossed the Rainbow Bridge will continue to be done on a no fee, complimentary basis. ).
As she reminds her many friends, and fans...
"I suffer from OCCDPSD, Obsessive Compulsive Cat Dog Photo Shop Disorder)" :-D
UPDATE - 730pm: Special Purrs & Purrayers, to our friends Ann, & the Zoolatry Girls, because their Poppy Vic is badly in need of them...
As Ann writes: "As many of you know, Poppy Vic (the main man in the Zoolatry Human's life) and Dad to Maggy and Zoey has been fighting cancer for a long time now. Little has worked to stop the spread of this malicious disease ...
Next week he will go into hospital for a procedure called TACE where drugs are injected directly into all the tumors in the hopes of "killing" them off to prevent further growth and spread.
We are hopeful ... but will be very grateful for your purrs, your woos, your prayers."
Please keep them all in your purrayers.
The shirts are beautiful.
I must get some done as well, that looks like a good place to go. That and Zoolatry!
Love & Purrs,
KC & Mom ML
Posted by: KC | February 04, 2012 at 11:38 PM
Thanks so much for the shout-out and paws up ... you're the best!
We put a link on our Sunday Zoolatry post today ...
The Zoolatry Girls
Posted by: Zoolatry | February 05, 2012 at 02:59 AM
The shirts are really lovely, and the design so special, but I know so well how special Ann's designs are.
Brilliant post!
I will be popping to see that website.. HUgs GJ xx
Posted by: Ginger Jasper | February 05, 2012 at 07:33 AM
Oh Me LOVES your new tshirt!
That is PAWSOME.
And me loves Ann. her work is very excellent!
Kisses
to yous
Nellie
Posted by: Penelope | February 05, 2012 at 08:16 PM
I absolutely loved this story! Thank you so much for sharing such fine, exquisite details! I love how such a small start-up company was able to hook you up as a customer. I loved Ann from Zoolatry's integration into this project! My only question is: what is going on today? Are there new t-shirts coming in 2013?
Posted by: SocciWriter | February 04, 2013 at 04:25 AM
Amanda, though the company blogs have not had new entries since the fall, I believe they are still in business.
As for us the idea oof having new shirts made, this year, had not even occurred to me, especially for Meowsings, as this design works so well.
Never occurred to me to do one for Musings of a "professional, I am a writer" bent, or my persona as "The Mad Macedonian" or now, "The Mad Houstonian" of a more humorous slant.
Posted by: Kiril Kundurazieff | February 04, 2013 at 08:02 AM
I think 2013 is a time for change, Kiril, and no one represents change better than you. I can honestly see the transformation in your attitude towards having a more professional approach. I could not be prouder! To commemorate your success, perhaps it WOULD be a good idea to get new t-shirts done up. Why not?
Posted by: SocciWriter | February 04, 2013 at 09:25 AM
Thank you, Amanda. It IS something to consider.
Posted by: Kiril Kundurazieff | February 04, 2013 at 10:19 AM