This blog post will answer frequently asked questions about how I make products and sell them on TpT. Click here to listen to the corresponding podcast. Enjoy!
Product Design Basics
I create everything in PowerPoint. I always format my slides to 8.5 X 11 using the design, slide size and page setup feature. That will allow you to create products that will appropriately fit a standard piece of paper.
Where do I get fonts and Images
I get all of my images on TpT. There are a ton of clipart artists on TpT. Some of my favorites are Whimsy Clips, Educlips, Zip A Dee Doh Dah Designs, and Westmoreland Learning. The easiest thing is to go onto TpT, search the clipart you want, I.e. “Beach” and filter to clipart to find a set you like. All TpT sellers have free items. That is an easy way to make sure you like the style of a clipart artist and practice using clipart
If you are making items for personal use only (you will not be selling or distributing) just save images from google to use. This is the best way to get unique clipart for a token board based on high interests. I did this to make a PJ mask themed token board for a client.
You can also find commercial use fonts on TpT. Search fonts the same way you search for images. I love fonts from Babbling Abby and A Perfect Blend Teaching.
How to make a token board
This section will teach you how to make a token board in PowerPoint. Click here to download the picture tutorial.
Step 1: Use the shape tool to draw a box the size you want the token board to be. I use the tools at the top to make a black outline and I fill the box to make it white.
Step 2: I will use the insert, table tool to make a row that is 5X1. This will make a row of 5 boxes. I again add a border, fill in white, and size to fit along the bottom of the box that I already drew. This is where the student will add his tokens.
Step 3: Use the text box feature to add text to say whatever you want “I.e. Nicole’s Token board”
Step 4: If you want, you can use the shape tool again to make a small box on the righthand size of the top of your box if you want to put an “I am working for” image. Add another piece of text with that language above that box.
If you follow all of these steps, you might have something that looks like a rectangle that takes up half of your page. It says “Nicole’s token board” on the top left size of your rectangle. You have a small white square with the text “I am working for” on the top right side. On the bottom half, you would have the row of small boxes for the tokens.
Step 5: Take that took row, copy it, and put it below the rectangle. We can add small images to these boxes to make the tokens. We can also copy and paste that square in the bottom section to add I am working for” images.
When you print, you will cut out that top rectangle, laminate, and add soft velcro to the box on the left and to the 5 small boxes below. You will cut out all of the boxes on the bottom of the page, laminate them, cut them out again and add hard velcro to the back. Now you have tokens and “I am working for” images to add to the token board
Putting Things on TpT
This portion of the blog will help you if you are interested in getting started on TpT. I had someone ask if TpT unlocks font and other features for you. NO. Everything you see on TpT is the hard work of the seller who has designed everything himself or herself. Most of us have invested a lot of money into purchasing the fonts and clipart we use and designing all of our products from scratch.
An important thing to understand is copyright. Every clipart artist’s terms of use. You need to read the Terms of Use page to ensure COMMERCIAL use is allowed. If commercial use is not allowed, then you cannot use those images and sell products that contain those images. When you download free clipart packs, you can check out the terms of use within those downloads to get an idea o which clipart artists would be a good fit for you as you move forward.
A lot of clipart artists require their products to be flattened. Use Adobe Acrobat Pro to do this. It is $15 a month but will become an invaluable tool as you move forward in your TpT career. You can password protect your PDF, or you can save your powerpoint as individual JPEGs and combine those to make a PDF. Both will allow your document to be secure and flattened.
I recommend having a term of use page for your products as well. Most Tpt Sellers include them. Feel free to look at ht one I include in many of my products to get an idea of the types of things you can include on yours.
My best recommendation is make a product you NEED. My best inspiration has always come from the students and clients I work with. I started out designing basic worksheets to get a feel for product design before I moved onto more complicated things like adapted books and file folders. A lot of product design is just practice. Download some clipart, open powerpoint and play around. The more you do it the better you will become.
If you plan on just sharing resources you make occasionally and don’t have a plan to grow your store, a basic account is fine. If you want to dive into the word of being a teacher author, I highly recommend becoming a premium seller. I also recommend learning how to make covers and descriptions for your products. When you are in your seller account, go to your dashboard, click marketing and click TpT University. That is the number 1 best way to learn the basics of TpT.
Best of Luck!