My TPT journey ...and tips!

I started on this journey not so long ago. I think my first item was listed at the end of May and I look back and think eeek! It is definitely on my holiday to do list - going back to fix them up to match the rest of my store.

But anyway, the reason I started or even found TPT was a friend of mine. She had a Facebook message about something called Pinterest (lol). **Side note if you do not know about Pinterest, I highly recommend staying safely in the dark. However, if you don't mind developing addictions, here is a good place to start.You could always follow me when you get there http://pinterest.com/brookeychook/

I digress

I joined up to Pinterest and saw that someone had posted a thing called TPT. Intrigued, I clicked on the link and WOW! I was sold!

I just kind of lurked for a little while and downloaded some freebies. Like a lot of teachers, I have dabbled in making my own classroom resources for years (see this post on my old school maths games). I thought to myself, I could make some games to go on this site! 

As I investigated the site, and saw what was on offer, my mind was slowly blown! There are so many creative and awesome teachers out there that are willing to share their ideas, both for free and a small amount of money.

I started creating my first real item, just in time for the teacher appreciation jackpot - it was this one :)

After this I started developing a style and it has evolved over the past 6 months to where I feel comfortable with it now.

I wanted to share a few tips with you incase this is something that you are dabbling in or have thought about or maybe just would appreciate a few tips!

1. Use Powerpoint! It is mega easy to format and use and you can convert the file to a PDF, just by going to File>Save As>PDF.

2. Start off small. Take something you have already used in your classroom and "cute" it up! Buy some fun and engaging clip art and look for some free fonts to make it more eye catching - a great font site for freebies is http://www.kevinandamanda.com/fonts/freescrapbookfonts/

3. Make things that you would use! One of my most popular items stemmed from a need that I had for some hands on games for a particular topic. 

4. Make sure you give credit where credit is due. It is easier to make sure that you list all your sources as you go, rather than get stuck down the line and have to remember whose clip art or fonts you used in your product about ducks - you know?

5. Make sure you have a copyright statement on your product.

6. Make sure you are enjoying creating - I think that if it is becoming too much of a chore, it will probably be reflected in your work.

I'll share some more tips in the new year :)