Did you miss the 2009 Christmas countdown? You can buy all 40 image sheets right now, in a convenient .pdf file, for $7.99, and have them in your hands in about five minutes. Click here for details.
Frequently Asked Questions
Just click the question to view the answer. Click the question again to hide the answer.
- How do I post a link?
If you’re posting to a group via email, or have a blog that parses links for you automatically, just add this to your post:
http://countdown.tentwostudios.com
If you’re posting to a message board, look for a link button in the write post screen, and add the address above.
- How will you know that I’ve posted a link? Can’t I just download without linking?
Like all webmasters, I have statistics software in place that tells me where incoming traffic comes from. So, if you post a link in your blog, and click on it to test it, or if one of your visitors clicks it, your blog address will show up on my traffic report. Some of you who have linked to previous countdowns know that I do sometimes visit blogs that have linked here and leave little thank-you messages.
And sure, you probably could just download without linking, but seriously, what kind of person would you be if you didn’t help spread the word? Post the link. Spread the love. Earn yourself some good karma.
- Do you have a blinkie I can post instead of a text link?
There is no blinkie or image available for linking, and I have no plans to create one. This site is dead six months out of the year. If you add a text link to a post in your blog, folks will see it when there’s a countdown coming or currently running. As you add posts, that link will drift down, and folks will probably ignore it, which is a good thing—because when there’s nothing here, we don’t want them to visit and be disappointed. If you post a blinkie in your sidebar, folks will click on it even when the site is dead. That’s no fun.
So, no blinkies—we love text links in blog posts and art group messages. They’ll spread the word, and not turn into disappointment for readers later.
- Can I use these graphics in work for sale or for publication?
These images are for personal use only. That means you may use them in artwork you’re going to keep for yourself, give as a gift, or swap with other artists. You may not use any free printable images from this site or Go Make Something for items that will be sold.
- I want to copy these images for my altered book club. Is that OK?
These images are for personal use only. They are not to be copied and redistributed. That means you can print them for your own use, but you may not print copies to give away to someone else. If you’d like to share these images with other artists, send them a link to this page, so they can come here themselves and do their own downloading.
- I’m a teacher. Can I copy these images and distribute them to my classes?
No. These images are for personal use only. Personal use means you can download them and use them for your own artwork. You may not make copies for other people, including your students, for any reason.
- I want to post these images to my Yahoo Group. Is that OK?
No. The images are not to be reposted or redistributed in any way. If you’d like to share with your group members, please send them a link to this page, so they can visit and download the images themselves.
- Somebody posted pictures of artwork they made using your images to a Yahoo Group. How can I report them for violating your usage policy?
Listen very carefully—there’s a difference between artwork and images. Posting photos of artwork made with these images is fine with me. (I’ve even seen some photos of art come across my Flickr feed that credited the images used to my sites, which I really, REALLY appreciate.) What isn’t fine is posting the images themselves—that’s reposting and redistributing my hard work, which is never, ever OK with me. So, posting your artwork is good, but reposting my images is bad. Got it?
- Will I be able to come back here after the countdown is over and download everything?
For a very brief time after the last day, the images will remain posted. Shortly after the countdown is finished, I remove all the graphics from my server, and this page is replaced with something else until it’s time for another countdown.
- I missed the last few images in the countdown because I was sick (or busy, or out of town, or my dog ate my monitor, etc.). Will you email me the images I missed?
Absolutely not. I’m happy to make the images available during the countdown period, and to make the digital download available for purchase, but I have to draw the line at being anyone’s personal assistant. I will not email any free images to you—and I pay the nice folks at
E-junkie to email you the images that you’ve purchased.
- How can I get the images from previous countdowns?
I’ve posted some of the images from previous countdowns over at Go Make Something, but not all of them. I also sometimes leave images from previous countdowns available on the purchase page. However, I can’t guarantee that images from this or any previous countdown will ever be made available once the countdown has ended. Grab ‘em while you can.
- Can you please do these for every holiday?
Realistically, no. I’m a busy girl, running my own business and four web sites. When I have time to put a countdown together, I do. I doubt I’ll ever be able to cover all the holidays.
- What happened to this year’s Easter (or Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day) countdown? Why was it cancelled?
Even though I give away images here, I earn money from this site in a variety of ways. When revenue from sales of the higher-res images, ad clicks, and increased activity on my other sites drops, I have to re-evaluate whether it’s worth the time and energy it takes to create the next countdown.
The one countdown I will commit to do in 2009 is the Christmas one—because that one is simply my way of celebrating the season, regardless of whether I make any money from it.
- When are you going to do another countdown? I need more images!
Countdowns are created when time and money allows. For me to create one of these, I have to take time away from the business that puts food on my table, a roof over my head, and pixels on your screen. If you want more countdowns, support the site by purchasing merchandise from
Ten Two Studios, or make a donation using the button at the top of this page.
- The quality of these images isn’t very good. How can I get better quality images?
Print quality images are generally not made available for free. They eat up a great deal of server space and bandwidth, both of which cost money. I sell high quality images on collage sheets and CDs at Ten Two Studios, and there are also many other folks out there selling vintage imagery. In addition, I usually sell a higher-res version of the current countdown images.
- Why should I ever buy collage images in the future, when I can get them for free here and at Go Make Something?
The images here and at GMS are low-resolution images, created at 72dpi. They’re great for people who are just starting their mixed-media journey, or who aren’t concerned about having perfect prints. On standard inkjet printers, they’ll probably come out just a little grainy. (Please note that the images in the download being offered for sale during the countdown are created at 150dpi.)
The images I sell at Ten Two Studios are scanned at a minimum of 300ppi, color corrected, and then saved to CD or printed with the mother of all color laser printers on high-quality paper. They are incredibly crisp and vivid. There’s just no comparison between images that are downloaded from the Internet and printed at home, and those that are professionally printed from a high-resolution master. If you want lovely, high-quality images for your artwork, it’s best to purchase them. If you want free images, you’ll have to live with the lesser quality.
- How can I email you?
If you’re one of my regular readers, you can contact me by replying to the weekly newsletter. If you’re just passing through, you’ll find it’s virtually impossible to find a way to contact me through this site. Sorry, but my mailbox runneth over.
- I emailed you a question yesterday. Why haven’t you answered?
I receive a large number of emails about each countdown. If you wrote to say thanks, I appreciate it. If you wrote with a problem, and it’s already addressed in this FAQ, I assumed you won’t take the time to read what I write, so a reply would be an exercise in futility If you wrote with a problem, and it’s not addressed in this FAQ, I don’t know the answer to it.
