Hello! I just submitted this super colourful pattern design which I call "Summer of Love" (stay tuned for more in this collection!) to this week's Spoonflower "Maximalist" Design Challenge! No one was really sure what "maximalist" really meant, but this is my interpretation: lots and lots of crazy-bright coloured florals! If you have a minute, I would love your vote (and again, thanks to all of you who have voted for my designs in the past). Click here to link directly to the voting page!

Here on Vancouver Island which is usually milder than the rest of Canada, we've had an "unusually" long winter. February 2019 was the coldest on record apparently and we actually had lots of snow (I know, I know, it's nothing compared to our Eastern provinces but everything is relative, right?)! But today it is finally feeling like the cold snap is ending. So to celebrate, I am posting one of my newest surface pattern designs. I call it "Luscious" and it features some ripe fruits you probably won't see anywhere because they are a bit fantastical, but it does make me think of Spring!

I just love seeing my designs on beautiful products! Here are some snaps of my newest stationery collection just released from Palphot Marketing! This set features my "Tropicana" Collection. I think that pink, bright green and blue is gorgeous!

The wonderful website theydrawandcook.com has created 6 new design challenges for their "HandPicked" Featured Collections, curated by Guest Curators from various creative businesses. The first challenge is called "Eat the Rainbow", featuring fruit and veggies. Four illustrations will be showcased from March 11-25! Here is my submission...

I decided to turn my "Geraniums" journal cover design (see my Feb 15 post) into this botanical repeat pattern. To me it looks a bit Art Nouveau which pleases me since I'm a big fan of William Morris. Funny enough, when I did the repeat with the blooms in the original Hot Pink, something was urging me to try it in Deep Red. So I did. And you know what? Although I love the Hot Pink on the journal cover design, I think I prefer the Deep Red in the repeat pattern. It really makes me think of statement wallpaper or big velvet couches...So I decided to enter the Deep Red one in next week's "Moody Florals" Design Challenge on Spoonflower. Voting is now open until March 5 2019 3:00 EST.
​VOTING TIP: There are over 800 designs to choose from, so to make it easy to find mine you can do a Page Search on the voting page. Just make sure ALL the images have loaded (by scrolling all the way to the bottom), then do a Page Search (Ctl+F on PC, Cmd+F on Mac) and search my studio name, unblink.

I just entered my "Dream" pattern design in this week's Spoonflower "Bohemian Paradise" design challenge! If you have a minute, I would very much appreciate your vote (voting ends Feb 26). Maybe it might take more than a minute because you'll probably get wrapped up in all the amazing designs in the challenge. You can vote for as many as you like and don't need to have an account. Click here to go directly to the Spoonflower Challenge Voting Page!
BTW: I have been uploading a bunch of new pattern designs to My Spoonflower Shop and they should be "Available for Sale" in the next week or two on fabric, giftwrap and wallpaper, and on home decor products at Roostery.com too! Stay tuned!
ADDENDUM: Just wanted to let you know that this design came in #26 out of over 700 entries in this Spoonflower challenge! Thanks to everyone of you who took the time to vote! A happy result for my first Spoonflower design challenge! More to come...

MATS Bootcamp is a really fun portfolio-building course from Make Art That Sells. I decided to join up back on Cyber Monday and had to wait until February for the class to start. So, the first February assignment was to design a floral-themed journal cover featuring a specified flower, for me it was geraniums. Tell me what you think...Would you be happy writing your thoughts in this journal, I am curious?

I've been playing with my newest pattern designs the last few days, and visualizing them on pillows and fabrics! I think my Far East Collection would look gorgeous on a set of pillows; my Fanciful Collection would be great for quilters or girl's dresses; my newest tropical patterns, including my Botanical Gardens Collection, Celestun and Hibiscus, would cheer up any wardrobe or interior space, and I think my Koyasan Collection would be so calming in any room! What do you think?! Can you envision these designs on other products? Let me know!

Just out from Palphot Marketing is a brand new range of stationery sets featuring my "Coastal Stories" pattern design collection. Each set comes with 10 notelets and envelopes in a nice little package with shiny metallic details! I just received my samples and I love them! There are 4 different sets to choose from!