2014 Tea Towel Calendar

I've always loved those vintage tea towel calendars. I generally love kitchen towels, which is probably an odd thing to love, and I've been wanting to design my own calendar tea towel. Then I found out Spoonflower has an annual tea towel design contest so that gave me the motivation I needed to finish one before 2014 is actually here. I wish I'd had a little bit more time to work on it (speaking of procrastination) because Halloween and costume making got in the way of this project. In the end I'm still happy with how it turned out. I've entered it in Spoonflower's contest and you'll be able to vote starting on Thursday I think. There are some really beautiful designs out there. I'll also be ordering a sample swatch and then putting it in my Spoonflower shop so you can purchase your own. It's designed to print on a fat-quarter (18x27 inches) of their linen-cotton canvas fabric and you can view it here! I'm in the process of trying to get my act together to open an etsy shop as well and when that happens (fingers crossed) you'll be able to purchase a towel there as well. I just have to get through Halloween first . . . 

Another slice of fabric design

You remember how I designed my first fabric through Spoonflower and had it test printed? Well, Spoonflower has weekly contests based around different themes and I decided to take my new fabric designing "skills" (I don't think we can call them that yet, but for the purpose of this sentence just go with it) to enter a design in an upcoming contest called: Pies. Because really, pie? Pie and I go way back. We have a close and personal relationship that always ends with me practically licking the crumbs out of the pie plate. For my birthday, forget cake, bring me a pie and I'll be yours forever. Needless to say, it was a fun theme for me. But still a challenge. It was hard to not get too "all-American, red, white, and blue up in there. The pattern I came up with is below and you can find it on Spoonflower here. I think you can even vote for it next week if you have a Spoonflower account (I think you need one of those), and that way maybe more than just me and my mom will vote for it. That would make me feel all warm as an apple pie inside.

On a side note, the previous pattern I designed is available for purchase here if you feel so inclined. 

October desktop wallpaper

Holy cow, it's October. Time's a flyin'. October means Halloween is coming up and around here we're in our first round of costume proposals. This is when Ben, the four-year-old, says he wants to be a gila monster (a kind of lizard if you don't watch Wild Kratts religiously like Ben does) and I say no. I like Halloween, I like it better now that I have kids. We even have a big Halloween open house/party for trick-or-treaters, friends, and family. But I don't want my house to look like a Halloween party for 30 more days than it has to. By extension, this wallpaper is for the more fall focused desktop because what I love, is fall. Fall weather, fall colors, it's my favorite season, and October is the best fall has to offer. I hope you enjoy this view almost as much as you enjoy the view out your window.

You can download the full size (2560x1440px) here

Coming soon to Spoonflower

I'm sure most of you have heard of Spoonflower, the online design your own fabric (and more) place. I've been lurking there for a number of years, I've ordered fabric from other designers, and the whole time I've really been wanting to design something myself. I'm finally getting there, thanks to a Skillshare class done in collaboration with Spoonflower. I actually worked on a different fabric design but decided it wasn't something I actually wanted to print. So I came up with the design below for my trial run. It might look totally hideous, it might not work, the colors might be wonky, or the blips in my design will be totally obvious, but whatever (!) the test swatch is on its way to my house. I can't wait to see it. Once I do I might put it out there for other people to purchase if they so desire. Then I hope to make myself some kitchen towels out of this stuff. 

Have you ever really needed to just get something done? That's how I felt about this. Waiting, waiting, maybe someday, once I know more, once I have the right tools, the right skills, etc. Sometimes I need to get past the second-guessing myself stage & just complete something to feel free to move forward, make some mistakes, and hopefully get better. I hope to see some more stuff like this around here in the future!

Find my fabric on Spoonflower here.

Friday Grab Bag

A random collection of bits from my week.

While my kids went back to school so did I, in a manner of speaking. I started perusing the online classes available at Skillshare and within a couple of days had signed up for two! So far I'm really liking both. One is for making patterns in Illustrator & one is about digital illustration.

For when those aforementioned kids came home from school I tried a new recipe found in Woman's Day magazine: Chocolate Cream-Filled Sandwich Cookies and, I have to say, they were as good as they looked. In a word: YUM.

This is not a new movie, but I had a recommendation to watch the documentary Helvetica. Actually very interesting, for a movie that's about what I would consider a rather boring typeface. I have a newfound respect for it.

I picked up these vintage patterns, which I loved for the design on the cover but I also think I might try to sew them. The dress especially looks really cute - it's called the "Jiffy Dress", how hard can it be?

I also added this Foldover Tote (from The Sewing Rabbit) to my never ending list of things I want to sew. Found the link, along with other bags I'd like to try, via How About Orange.

Finally, I did this little sketch above in honor of the Back to School theme of this week. Whew, we made it.

September desktop wallpaper

I honestly don't think it's almost September. Can't possibly be since we've been marinating in humidity and baking in the hot sun for over a week. But someone told me it's Labor Day weekend, so whatever, I guess it's true. 

I'm working on creating more patterns around here because it's something I'd really like to get better at. A good friend gave me a Spoonflower gift certificate and I can't WAIT to try making my own fabric. Ooh-la-la! So this month's desktop wallpaper/calendar utilizes a pattern I was fiddling with. I used the glasses from my back to school illustrations and added some apples. It might be a tad busy for a monitor but I still like it, so feel free to use it yourself if you like things a tad busy.

Download the original size image (2560x1440) here

Back to School printable sticker labels!

Summer . . . summer is . . . busy. And I've been busy too. With summer. BUT. Summer is soon ending! Around these parts school doesn't start until after Labor Day, so we still have one more week to squeeze in everything we meant to do over the last three months. In reality, my kids are actually pretty excited to go back to school. And I'll let you in on a secret, as much as I love hanging out with them, I'm pretty excited for them to go back to school too.

This week we'll be bringing all those new school supplies in to their classrooms (another secret: I love school supplies), so we're busy sorting and labeling. I also kind of love labeling. Is that weird? It seems weird. Anyway, I'm mildly obsessed with free printables and this year I tried my hand at making my own "back to school" printable sticker labels for my kids and the whole wide world (if you want them). You can use them for all those shiny new notebooks and folders. I hope you enjoy them and your kids enjoy them too. Happy Back to School!

 

Download the stickers here.

* Simply print on sticker paper (like this) and cut out! You might want to adjust your printer to print at a higher setting and/or on premium paper to get the best results.