This Week's Spoonflower "World Waterways" Design Challenge in Partnership with Red Paddle Co.!6/3/2021 For this week's "World Waterways" Design Challenge, Spoonflower has partnered with Red Paddle Co., the world's leading stand-up paddle board brand. They are asking designers to create a non-directional repeat pattern using up to 4 colours (I used 3) to celebrate World Ocean Day and the world's waterways that paddle boarders have grown to love. Not only will the chosen design, hand-picked by Red Paddle Co, be licensed and featured on a Limited-Edition SUP, BUT the winner will also get a SUP with their design. In one word...Eeeee! So here is my "For the Love of Water" design featuring abstracted water currents. I wanted it to be a bit ambiguous (is it water flowing around rocks in rivers, or maybe a bird's-eye view of water around islands?) to celebrate the wide variety of waterways that paddle boarders travel. Check out all the entries at the Voting Page! . AND SALE ALERT! This design is also available in my Spoonflower Shop in 3 sizes on fabric, wallpaper and home decor, and Spoonflower is offering 30% OFF on 1+ yards/meters of Petal Signature Cotton until tomorrow Friday June 4! Check out my Spoonflower Shop!
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This week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is "Home On The Range" so I decided to enter my "Joshua Tree" desert pattern design in brand new colours! This particular design makes me think back to a fantastic and crazy trip we had in Joshua Tree National Park many years ago... This one coordinates with other designs in my "Retro Rattlers" Collection so there are lots of ways to mix & match! Go check out all the entries at the Voting Page and check out my Spoonflower Shop too! 
Celebrate Your Grads! New Art Deco-Inspired Backgrounds Pack Now Available in the PicCollage App!4/19/2021 Is someone you know about to graduate, looking forward to the next exciting phase of their lives?! Maybe it's your child, your friend, your sibling, or maybe your parent!? Be sure to send them off with a BIG CONGRATULATIONS for all their hard work and success and resilience in the face of the hardships created this past year by the pandemic. One suggestion: create a grad photo collage for them using my new "CLASSIC CELEBRATIONS" Background Pack now available in the PicCollage app! This brand new collection features 12 Art Deco-inspired patterns in cool and classic colours! See below for a preview of all the patterns in this new Background Pack! 
I first discovered the ANKH, the Egyptian hieroglyph meaning "life" on a months-long trip to Egypt many years ago while visiting tombs, the Great Pyramids and the Temples of Luxor, Karnak and Abu Simbel amongst many others. Because ancient Egyptians believed that one's life on Earth is just a part of eternal life, the ANKH hieroglyph has come to also symbolize "Everlasting Life". It was because of this meaning and my love of Egypt, that I decided to get this symbol as my only tattoo (so far). So when I saw that this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is "Talismans", I immediately knew that the Ankh would be the one I would use for my design. Here is my entry, coloured to emulate ancient scrolls! It's now available on fabric, wallpaper and home decor in my Spoonflower Shop! And check out the entries at the Voting Page!  
Some of the ideas I've been playing with for a new collection I've been working on recently: unique colour combos, mix & match patchwork and pure abstraction and geometry! Although I'm working on another project (more about that soon!) that includes this new "Capri" pattern design, I thought it would also be perfect to enter in this week's Spoonflower "Create Room" Design Challenge which says: "The pattern you create should not only provide visual joy, but should inspire both you and others to create more", to use as a wallpaper backdrop in a DreamBox, an all-in-one craft room that folds away into a beautiful armoire, designed by Create Room. What do you think, does this design fit the challenge? In any event, I think it makes for a pretty cool bathroom! Check out the Voting Page!   I wasn't going to enter a design in this week's Spoonflower "ABCs of...Tea Towel" Design Challenge, but then I changed my mind when I came up with the idea for this "Geometric ABCs" design. It was a bit of a rush but I managed to finish it on time! I think it will make a great art print too...If you would like to see all the entries for this week's challenge, and maybe stock up on Christmas presents (!) you can link to the Voting Page and to my Spoonflower Shop too! Voting ends Oct 6 at 3:00 EDT! ADDENDUM: My Geometric ABCs came in 27th out of 437 entries! Thanks to all who voted!  I’ve just entered my new “Retro Rattlers” design in this week’s Spoonflower “Brightly-Colored Reptiles” Design Challenge! This is something a little different for me...OR is it? What do you think, does this design still look like my work? I’m very curious to hear what you think. I am very much liking this graphic “look” and I find my work is always a bit of a tug-of-war between clean, graphic shapes and a more hand-drawn style. Not sure if others see that too?? See it below with a coordinating design I think emulates a closeup view of snakeskin! Check out the Voting Page to see all the colourful entries! And I've just added this design to Throw Pillows in my New Shop...Check them out! 
Ah, feel that warm lavender-infused breeze! Even if you’re not biking through the south of France right now breathing in that summer air between wine tastings (but I digress)...Here is my “Sunset in the Lavender Fields” pattern design that I entered in this week’s Spoonflower “Aromatherapy” Design Challenge! Head over to the Voting Page to check out all the entries!  What do you think, would this design on your walls inspire relaxation? I hope you think so because I’ve entered it in this week’s Spoonflower “Quiet Spaces” Wallpaper Design Challenge! It’s also available on fabric and home decor as well! You can check out all the entries at the Voting Page! 
Last week I posted about how I was having a hard time getting any work done in the midst of all the bad news (see my June 2 post), so I decided to just work directly and freely on my computer, playing around with colour and shapes and with no real end goal. Well, one week later, those little quick thoughts have turned into a full collection of art prints and repeat pattern designs. I call it "Simple Things" because it is just an ensemble of little snapshots that came out when I decided to not over-think. I must remember to work this way more often...Each design (both art prints and repeat patterns) comes in Dark and Light complementary colour ways so you can mix & match several for an eye-popping feature wall (and maybe some pillows as well!). Purchase these art prints in my NEW SHOP! 
For this week's Spoonflower "East Fork" Design Challenge, Spoonflower paired with gorgeous ceramic maker East Fork Pottery. The challenge was to create a pattern design using at least one of East Fork's new collection colours Malibu and Tequila Sunrise (I used both)! Here is my "Tami" pattern design, one of a series of new mid-century-modern-influenced (!) designs named for popular girls names of the 50s and 60s. This one is now available in my Spoonflower Shop. And you can vote in the Design Challenge at the Voting Page!  I entered my "Cut Paper Snowflakes" design in this week's Spoonflower "Papercut Napkins" Design Challenge (you can see how I created it in the photos below)! I thought maybe snowflakes weren't the best theme for this time of year, but then I noticed a couple of stories in our local paper... The Rapid Relief Fund which was created to help local people in need in this time of crisis, has gotten a boost from the Times Colonist (our local newspaper) Christmas Fund which is donating $100000 to match and encourage other donations. For the first time in history, the Christmas Fund is being put to work in the Spring. And a local woman has suggested we all turn on our Christmas lights to show thanks to our front-line health-care and other public workers. So, I guess...Christmas snowflakes in Spring? Why not?! You can check out the Voting Page to see all the entries!
The Nugget Play Couch created by nuggetcomfort.com is a kid’s play couch that is “Part-furniture, part-toy, and all-around the best thing to happen to playtime since, well, ever!" Sounds like my kinda furniture! This week Nugget partnered with Spoonflower for this week’s “Nugget Couch" Design Challenge: to create a pattern to be used on a limited-edition Nugget to come out later this year. Some of the design elements they requested: colour-blocking, non-directional, bright colours (max 8), geometric, fitting into multiple room styles, design for stylish parents who might lean to minimalist style. And also remembering when my kids were younger we read endless books about shapes, sizes and colours, and played with building toys endlessly (I think we had every building toy out there), plus keeping older kids and "stylish” parents in mind, here is my entry which I call, not surprisingly, "Shapes Sizes Colours” (which I also quite like on bedding, pillows, table linens and wallpaper too!) This challenge is a FUN one, so I would be grateful for your VOTE on this one! Have a look at all the entries at the Voting Page!
My Entry For This Week's Spoonflower "Faux-Textured Wallpaper" Design Challenge is...Snakeskin!3/12/2020 This week’s Spoonflower Design Challenge is “Faux-Textured Wallpaper”! Influenced by my recent desert-themed designs, my texture of choice is...SNAKESKIN! And I do love how this design looks with that white mid-century modern couch! To check out all the entries, go to the Voting Page!  
 Here's a question: can a design be both Art Nouveau and minimalist at the same time?! I actually call this design from my archive "Art Nouveau" so I thought I would enter it in this week's Spoonflower "Art Nouveau Wallpaper" Design Challenge! When I designed it I thought it felt like Art Nouveau albeit a bit pared-down and minimalist! What do you think? Does it "feel" like an Art Nouveau design to you?! Check out the Voting Page to see this week's gorgeous designs! ADDENDUM (on Jan 23 2020): This design won 30th place in the Art Nouveau Wallpaper Design Challenge (out of 581 entries!) As a result, it is immediately available for sale on Spoonflower, and it's already been sold a few times! Link to it HERE! Thanks so much to all who voted, I very much appreciate your ongoing support. All the best! J  |
AuthorJackie Tahara of UnBlink Studio Archives
June 2021
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All images on this website are Copyright © Jackie Tahara. All rights reserved.
If sharing, pinning or blogging my images, please always credit me and link back to my website. Supporting artists is a good thing to do! Thank you!
If sharing, pinning or blogging my images, please always credit me and link back to my website. Supporting artists is a good thing to do! Thank you!