What's Your Passion?

We recently entered the FedEx Small Business Grant contest and while we didn’t win a grant we were thrilled to learn that out of thousands of applications we made the top 15! Woo hoo!

Part of the application process was creating a video about our passion and we’re happy to share it with you!

WHAT'S YOUR PASSION?

Sockprints - SockprintsOnEtsy - ShopSockprints

You know that commercial jingle, "Sometimes you feel like a nut? Sometimes you don't?" We do too and we can relate! Sometimes you want to let your creative juices flow and create multiple pairs of custom printed and personalized socks and sometimes you would prefer to simply click and buy a pair of socks with unique designs already printed on them. That's why we have a few different ways to purchase our custom printed socks!

Sockprints.com - Let your creative imagination run wild by selecting a sock style and adding artwork and text from our design gallery to be printed on your very own personalized pair. You can even upload photos directly from your Facebook and Instagram accounts for sock printing.

Buy me! SockprintsOnEtsy.com

SockprintsOnEtsy.com - 

On Etsy we offer designs ready to be personalized by sockprints. Choose a product listing and let us know how you would like it customized in the notes section at checkout. You can also send us an Etsy conversation if you would like a custom design created especially for you. 

Find me at ShopSockprints.com

ShopSockprints.com - See a pair of socks you would like at ShopSockprints? Our latest and greatest site allows you to click and buy. You'll find several of our ShopSockprints products on Pinterest. Look for the blue Buy It Now button on Pinterest when browsing on your mobile devices.

Personalized Wedding Socks

This spring we received an order from a bride-to-be for some personalized wedding socks.  They turned out exceptionally fun, so we sent the customer an email asking if we could post photos of her socks on The Happy Sole and our other social media sites.  She replied that she created the socks to wear on the day of her wedding.  She would be wearing cowboy boots with her wedding dress and during the reception they would be playing the “Shoe Game.”  Since she would be taking off her shoes she wanted to wear some cute, personalized socks! 

Unfamiliar with the shoe game, I did a little research to find out how it works.  After dinner and some dancing at the reception, two chairs are placed in the middle of the dance floor back to back for the bride and groom.  The couple takes off their shoes, gives one of them to their partner and keeps one.  A designated person then asks the couple a series of questions about them (i.e. – Who is the better kisser?  Who is smarter?  Who will be doing the cooking?).  After each question, the bride and groom holds up the shoe of the person that they think best answers the question.  What a fun way for wedding guests to learn more about the newlyweds!

  

Thank you to Mrs. Dudley for sharing your wedding photos with us, and congratulations!  Your story is sure to inspire other brides!

To create your own personalized socks, visit sockprints.com and check out our custom wedding socks pre-designed for the bride and groom at SockprintsOnEtsy!



Related posts:
Weddings - Love, Laughter and Happily Ever After
Black and White
Here Comes the Bride

New - Facebook and Instagram Photo Tool at Sockprints!

We are excited to announce that we just added a really cool feature to sockprints.com!  Our customers can now use photos from their Facebook and Instagram accounts to design and personalize their own custom socks!

The process is as simple as adding an image from our design gallery, but instead of selecting artwork from our store, you click on the Facebook or Instagram link and icon.  You will need to login to your account and then your photos will appear!  Click on a photo for starters and then use one of the other design tools to create your socks.  You can add a filter, a boarder, and some text too.  The possibilities are endless!

This new feature is a great addition for customers to use when creating personalized socks.  Many customers use their personal photos and having quick access to them via Facebook and Instagram will enhance their sock designing experience.

We were so excited with the new improvement to our online design tool that we had to create some socks using our own Facebook and Instagram photos.   

My son and I are LA Kings fans and we posted
 this picture for our friends on Facebook

I'm guilty of taking pictures of my
spoiled cat and posting them on Instagram!

We hope you will take advantage of this new addition to sockprints and have fun making your own personalized sockprints!

 More posts about photo socks: 5 Tips for Creating Photo Socks, and Pet Inspired Socks - Photos

Shamrock your socks off!

As a kid I always made sure that I wore green when I went to bed the night before St. Patrick’s Day so I wouldn’t get pinched first thing in the morning.  I took it pretty seriously and remember my mom helping me pick out my St. Patrick’s Day outfit way in advance of the holiday.  We’re not Irish, but my mom used to have fun that day too by baking green bread and making shamrock cookies.  

Curious about the origins of pinching those not wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day, I did a little digging online and found out that it’s an American tradition that has nothing to do with St. Patrick or even Ireland.  It probably dates back to the 1700’s in the Boston, Massachusetts colony when people thought if they wore green it would make them invisible to Leprechauns who would pinch anyone they could see.  Not wanting to get pinched people started wearing green on St. Patrick's Day.

If you’re like me and don’t want to get pinched, sockprints has come up with some fun, green ideas to keep those Leprechauns away and shamrock your socks off!

Sockprints hasn't forgotten about personalized socks for men!  They too, can be pinched if they're not wearing green.  Try these ideas when creating your own custom socks online at sockprints.  

   

Have a fun and green St. Patrick's Day and may the luck of the Irish be with you!

Sockprints Go HARD in Mississippi

As each pair of sockprints makes its way around the world we love hearing stories from our customers about the purpose of their orders and where the socks eventually land.  After printing two large orders for Jason Thompson from Fahrenheit Creative Group, we wanted to learn more about the socks we printed for the Go HARD campaign in Mississippi.  Jason shared with us that the Go HARD campaign supports students in middle school and high school stay in school and graduate.  HARD stands for:  Heart, Attitude, Resilience and Dedication.  The custom printed socks with the Go HARD logo are given to students at the campaign’s campus events to educate and drive home facts like, every 26 seconds a student drops out of school.  Go HARD is making a difference in Mississippi education and sockprints is thrilled to be a part of it! 

Thank you Jason for sharing your sockprints story with us and best wishes with the Go HARD campaign!  

 

  

Go HARD on campus events encourage students to graduate from high school.

 

Sweet Feet for your Sweetheart!

 

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and we thought we would show off some of our latest "love inspired" custom printed socks.  You can create the same socks too or bring your ideas and creativity to sockprints and have some fun designing your very own!  

 

 

 

 

 

Our no-show socks are sold in sets of three and you can customize each pair.  Have some fun and create your very own mix and match socks!

 

                      
 

The sockprints artwork gallery features two perfect categories for this theme.  Click on Valentine's Day or Just Hearts to see what we mean.  We're always adding fun and fresh designs to our art gallery so come back often to see what's new.

 

                                     

 

  

 

 And last, but not least, these have to be some of our latest favorites.  We now offer men's tube socks with printing available on the bottom.  Just tell us in the notes section of your order that you want the design printed on the bottom of your socks.  Talk about Happy Soles!!!

  

 

 

5 Tips for Creating Phenomenal Photo Socks!

1.  Use clear and crisp photos. A blurry photo on paper or on your computer screen will also print that way on socks.  Remember that we’re printing on a soft surface so some variation will apply.

2.  Avoid dark photos and photos with dark shadows.  Some of the best photos we’ve printed on socks are those with contrasting colors.  Here’s a pet photo we printed on some crew socks.  Notice how the dog stands out from the blue ocean background.   

 

3.  Crop your photos to accentuate the image.  Cropping your photos allows you to eliminate things in the background that can distract your eye from the main feature of the image.  Also remember that the print area on our no-show and crew socks is 3.25” x 4”, and 3.25” x 5.5” on our sporty knee highs. 

 

4.  Use Photoshop or other programs to enhance your image.  If you don’t have a program on your computer, try a website like www.picmonkey.com.  You can crop, brighten, and make other edits too.


5.  Be creative!  Once you’ve uploaded your photo using the sockprints design too, you can add a caption, title, border or filter to your photos.  Try different fonts and experiment with assorted features that allow you to make your custom socks one-of-a kind! 

Need inspiration for your custom photo socks?  Check us out and follow us on Pinterest and take a peek at some of our related blog posts. 

 www.pinterest.com/sockprints

 

Pet Inspired Socks - Photos

Get Crafty 
 

Pet Inspired Socks - Photos and Giveaway

With less than a week to go for our custom sock giveaway (see entry form below) and the end of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals month, we thought we’d share some fun socks inspired by our friends’ pets!  Take a peek…

     

    

                                

  

 

You can have some fun creating your own pet socks at sockprints.  Select a sock style, upload a photo or choose an image of your favorite animal from our design gallery, add some text if you want, and place your order in the shopping cart.  Give us your payment and shipping info and we’ll do the rest!

Thank you friends for sharing your pet photos with us!

GIVEAWAY - ENTER NOW!

Less is More

While having a nice conversation with a couple of friends last fall, one of them brought up the topic of “less is more.”  The thought lingered with me as 2011 was winding down and I found myself revisiting it while shopping for gifts, packing for our holiday away with family, and it was a good reminder at Christmas parties as the dessert plates came my way!

With a week of 2012 under my belt now I’m still hearing that “less is more” voice inside my head, and instead of writing a long list of goals for this year I think I’ll just stick with this approach for the time being.   

That being said, how on earth could this apply to socks?  Well, for starters how about cleaning out that sock drawer and keeping only your few favorites and leaving some room for some fun, new custom socks that you and only you create?  No more big packages of mass-produced, bulky socks filling your drawer to the rim!  Instead, go online to sockprints and indulge in the creation of a few pairs of your very own personalized socks.    

Whether you’re a retail or wholesale customer, sockprints minimum orders are low.   And with prices unheard of for one-of-a-kind, personalized socks, you can’t beat what we do.  Using our design gallery, you can select artwork from a variety of themes or if you’re fluent in programs like Photoshop or Illustrator, you can upload your own images to be printed on our socks.  So, out with the old and in with the new!

If you haven’t tried creating your own custom socks before, give it a shot!  Here’s a special coupon code for 30% off good through the month of January 2012.  Enter JAN2012 at checkout to receive your discount.

Happy New Year Happy Soles!

 

P.S.  If you’re into jotting down your goals for the year, check out our New Year’s post from 2011.  You’ll find a creative way to do it on socks!

The Intentional Mis-Match

I’m the first to admit that before sockprints, there were times when my sock drawer was bare and I had to make a run to the dryer to grab two socks hoping to make a matching pair before I ran out the door.  You’ve been in the same situation before too, right?

I figured as long as they were the same color and a similar style I should be ok and I just hoped that no one would notice.  Now, thanks to sockprints and a fun new twist in creating custom socks, I’m intentionally mis-matching socks and hoping that people will take notice! 

Yep, there are mis-matched socks out there you’ve never even thought of creating before.  I mean, why would people want socks that don’t match?  Because it’s fun, it’s cool, and now it’s possible!  Here are some images to inspire your custom mis-matched socks:

This southern California middle school has added custom mis-matched socks to their line of spirit wear.

One of my favorite college football teams stomped all over our rival team last weekend and I created this pair to remind me of the sweet smell of victory!

 Here’s a fun way to tell a joke…

Creating your own, personalized mis-matched socks is easy to do with the sockprints online design tool.  Using our knee highs as an example, simply create one pair of socks with one design and then the other pair of socks with another design.  Our knee highs are sold in sets of two so it’s easy to get two customs pairs of mis-matched socks at one time.

Having a party and need multiple pairs of mis-matched socks for a hip party favor?  Not a problem.  Our no-shows and crew socks are sold in sets of 3 so it’s easy to create 3 pairs with one image and then 3 pairs with a different image.  Voila – you’ll have 6 pairs of custom mis-matched socks!

If you need help with your creation, we’re easy to reach at contactus@sockprints.com.  Our design team and graphics department can help with super-custom, mis-match socks for large orders.

We’re so excited about the endless possibilities of mis-match socks that we can’t wait to see what you create at sockprints!  Please share your ideas with us by commenting below and feel free to tell us about your sock creations in the “notes” section when checking out of your shopping cart.    

And to inspire you even more, use coupon code MISMATCH at checkout to receive 25% off your order through October 31, 2011. 

Red, White and Black Widow?

Wow- I’m still buzzing about the US Women’s World Cup quarter-final win over Brazil! I think my daughter’s club coach summed it up nicely when he said, “Determination, guts and perseverance!!!”

I’m also still buzzing about the team’s uniforms (or kit as they’re called in the futbol world). First the team wore their white visitor uniforms in pool play and the chat was all about how they looked like nurse’s uniforms. Then for the quarter-final match vs. Brazil they broke out their all black, Black Widow inspired uniforms with red piping.

I’m an avid sports fan and while I get a kick out of it when pro teams wear throw-back uniforms, and I appreciate it when they support a cause by wearing pink or arm bands or special helmet stickers, I have to admit I’m a purist when it comes to the Red, White and Blue uniforms for USA teams. During the Brazil match I kept looking at my TV wondering if I needed to adjust the color a bit because I thought the black uniforms must be a really, really dark navy blue. It wasn’t until the announcer made a comment about how hot they players must be wearing black in the sun that I realized that my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

As a sock printer, I see all sorts of color variations of logos, artwork and even fun filters applied to photos. When I see deviation from typical colors I generally get excited to see how creative people can be and I’m thrilled to apply their creation to a pair of socks. In fact, changing logo colors for special events or to reach a different audience is a trend we’re seeing more and more with our customers. I suppose I’m just a traditionalist when it comes to US athletes sporting red, white and blue! (By the way, I wasn’t a big fan of the US gymnast who wore pink for her individual competition at the Olympics either.)

Of course the “kit” wouldn’t be complete without socks and here I go with my opinion again, but… I would prefer to see USA on the front and the Nike swoosh on the back! Maybe next time the US soccer team orders uniforms they will give sockprints a call and we can create some custom socks just for them in red, white and blue!

What do you think about the US women’s soccer uniforms? Share your comments with us!

Other posts by The Happy Sole -

Red, White and Blue
You've Come A Long Way Baby!

Online article about the US women's uniforms-

U.S. Women Likely to Wear 'Black Widow'

Holiday Traditions

Throughout the holiday season I've been thinking a lot about our family traditions. Some are a bit quirky, like the holiday season opener: The Annual Thanksgiving Pea Fight (of which my immediate family is always crowned the champions -we have the custom t-shirts to prove it!) or the disco ball on top of our Christmas tree. When I asked my kids to name a couple of our holiday traditions, those were the two they mentioned. I can't blame them, they are on the top of my list too!

It's Christmas morning as I write and we're staying with my husband's aunt, uncle, and family in northern California. We had a wonderful dinner and gift exchange at a nearby cousin's home yesterday evening. The tradition of family coming together from near and far was complete with children of all ages celebrating the holiday. One of my husband's family traditions is to sing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" as people leave the party. They also read, "Twas the Night Before Christmas," before we call it a night.

I always let my kids open one present on Christmas Eve. They know what they're getting, but it's a tradition to give them a new set of pajamas to wear that night. As hard as I try to trick them and tell them they're getting something else, they know it's PJ's.

When I was a little girl, my grandparents slept at our house on Christmas Eve so they could be part of the Christmas morning festivities watching my sister and me go through the gigantic (it seemed huge at the time) pile of toys Santa brought. I remember waking up my grandma before dawn each year to ask her if she thought Santa had come yet. My grandma was the best! She would tell us that Santa had definitely arrived and she'd go through the house and wake everyone up for us. I think she was just as excited as we were to see what Santa brought.

When Santa comes to our relative’s house, the kids aren't allowed to go see what he brought until everyone is awake. The kids line up in the hallway and as soon as everyone arrives at the starting line they take off running into the living room to check out their gifts.

This year I added a new tradition... Custom printed socks for the ladies in the family!

Whatever your holiday traditions may be, here's wishing you and yours many more to come!

In keeping with tradition, here's a little send off "our family style"...

Merry Christmas!

P.S. Thank you Aunt Peggy, Aunt Janie, and cousins Amy, Haley, Kristin & Carrie for the video footage and another wonderful time spent with you!