My Entry for the Spoonflower "Treat Yourself" Design Challenge: "Tempura Udon" (Of Course!)4/3/2024 The current Spoonflower Design Challenge is “Treat Yourself” and here’s my idea of a special treat! Imagine staring into a big steaming bowl of “Tempura Udon”, especially if you’re sitting in a little noodle ya in Kyoto after a full day of sightseeing and wandering about, on holiday...but I digress... Public voting for the “Treat Yourself” Challenge opened Thursday March 28 and closes next Tuesday April 9. You can link to the Voting Page HERE! . Eye Roll Note: When I asked my husband what he thought of my new “Tempura Udon” pattern design (I really like it, so I thought he’d say “Cool!” or “Groovy!”), you know what he said? “It looks like it’s in a square bowl”. Yeeees, but it’s a repeat pattern, soooo....🙄 . SHOP This Design! This yummy design is now available in my Spoonflower Shop on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor in several scales. You can SHOP the Medium-Scale HERE, but there is also a Large-Scale and Small-Scale version in my Shop too! If you prefer, my "Tempura Udon" print is also available in my Happywall Shop on FUN Wallpaper too! Ships from Sweden! 
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I DID IT! I managed to finish a new design to enter in the current Spoonflower “A Trip To The Beach” Design Challenge! I spent WAY too long revising my popular “Coastal Stories” Collection with brand new Seaside Colours because I was inspired by this theme, thus I nearly ran out of time to create a NEW design to enter. But I think these little “Shrimps” make a very nice addition to my (now re-coloured and expanded) “Coastal Stories” Collection! Public voting for this Challenge opens today Thursday March 14 and closes on Tuesday March 26. You can link to the Voting Page HERE. I would love your vote for this one just because I love these cute guys, and I bet they’d be tasty too! . See below for more print designs from my "Coastal Stories" Collection and you can check them all out in my Spoonflower Shop HERE. All are available on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor in several scales!  See below for more pattern designs from my "Coastal Stories" Collection! 
The current Spoonflower Design Challenge is “Warm Minimalism”, but does anyone really know what “Warm Minimalism” is? I certainly didn’t, and whenever I searched the term I would get lots of prints with archways and abstract arch shapes. So I thought, hmm, I like archways! Which got me thinking about arched “vomitoria” (plural for “vomitorium”)... FUN FACT: Vomitoria were passages used in ancient Roman buildings, such as in the famed Coliseum, designed to provide rapid exit for lots of people in a very short amount of time, ie. so they could spew forth, thus comes our word for “vomit”. ...So here is my design for the current Spoonflower “Warm Minimalism” Design Challenge which features a series of arches looking out at a sunny sky with clouds. I was considering calling it “Vomitorium”, but thought maybe that created a bit of a distasteful image (at least for those of you who already knew the etymology), so I decided to call it “Ruins” instead! And it comes in two colourways (see below)! Click the images to see the Large-Scale versions in my Spoonflower Shop (they're also available in a Small- and Medium-Scale version too)! . Public voting for the “Warm Minimalism” Spoonflower Design Challenge closes Tuesday March 12. You can link to the Voting Page HERE.    BOING! BOING! BOING! HELLOOO! BOING! BOING! BOING! HELLOOO! BOING! BOING! BOING! HELLOOOO! BOING! BOING! BOING! SPLASHHH!... . Thanks to everyone who helped me decide which version of my “Froggy Says Hello” repeat print design to enter in the current Spoonflower “Leap Year Frogs” Design Challenge (the repeat version with the cream background in the first pic below)! Voting is now open until Tuesday February 27. I’d love your vote for this one! You can link to the Voting Page HERE! If you'd like to SHOP these cute little guys on Fabric, Wallpaper and Home Decor, click the images below to link to the Medium-Scale versions in my Spoonflower Shop! But NOTE: they are each also available in a Small- and Large-Scale version too!
  I’ve entered my "Forest Biome Mushrooms" in the current Spoonflower “Forest Biome Wallpaper” Design Challenge! I had thought I’d do it in more typical “mushroom-y” colours, but I guess you can see how that went! Public voting for this Challenge opened Thursday Feb 1 and closes Tuesday February 13. You can link to the Voting Page HERE! . AND if you'd like to see this fun print design on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor in my Spoonflower Shop, CLICK HERE (this is the Large-Scale version which I think is best for Wallpaper). It also comes in a Small-Scale and Medium-Scale version too! . AND of course I couldn't resist adding this design to Graphic Tees in my TeePublic Shop! Scroll down to see!   AND as I said, I couldn't resist...I had to adapt this design for Graphic Tees (and more) too! Now available in my TeePublic Shop!  Oh My Goodness! LOOK at the Amazing Project from Grace & Folk Using My "Sunrise" Wallpaper!1/24/2024 OH MY GOODNESS…LOOK! 😍😍 Here is a fantastic use of my "Sunrise" Wallpaper purchased from my Spoonflower Shop. So much thanks to the folks at Grace & Folk for choosing my design for this amazing drinks cabinet re-do project. Cocktails, anyone? . For all the details, please read on for all the info as posted by Grace & Folk in their Instagram Post about their project... . "A BEAUTIFUL BUREAU FOR A BEACHSIDE PROPERTY! 💗🌊🏝️🍦🍬💛 Oh my goodness gracious, we are OBSESSED with this babe!!!!! Its giving us 1920s Ice cream parlour vibes and we are HERE for it!!! 💗🌊🏝️🍦🍬💛 Our customer brought us her tired old bureau in need of a facelift and requested Colour, Art Deco and Seaside-y to become her holiday home drinks cabinet and we think we delivered!!!! 🤤👌🏼💗 Initially a challenge, since we’ve always associated Art Deco with Black and Gold…We then found this FABULOUS paper by @unblinkstudio and paired it with customs mix colours using @frenchicpaint‘s “Apple of My Eye” & “Raspberry” as bases! 🍏💗 Et Voila! It’s fresh! Its vibrant! And just what we need in this grim grey weather!!! 💗🌊🏝️🍦🍬💛"
All photos are courtesy of Grace & Folk.
Because Summer is almost here, right?...NOT! I’ve entered my brand new “Tennis Rackets” design in this week’s Spoonflower “Court Sports” Design Challenge in Summery Purple and Pink (first pic below). Public voting closes on Tuesday January 30 and you can link to the Voting Page HERE! And of course, I couldn't resist trying it out in a gorgeous Coral Orange colourway too, see below! Click the images below to link directly to these designs in my Spoonflower Shop! . BTW: starting 2024, Spoonflower Challenges will run every TWO weeks, rather than weekly.   Let's Think About Summer Gardens for This Week's Spoonflower "Welcoming Walls" Design Challenge!1/4/2024 I've just entered my new "Sunshine-y" floral pattern design in this week's Spoonflower "Welcoming Walls" Design Challenge because what could be more welcoming than a garden full of brightly-coloured flowers basking in warm sunshine...especially in Winter?! Public voting for this Challenge closes next Tuesday January 9 2024 (YES, 2024!) You can link to the Voting Page HERE (and I'd love your vote for this one!) AND you can check out all the colourways now available in my Spoonflower Shop HERE!
  My entry for the Spoonflower “Pantone Color Of The Year 2024: Peach Fuzz” Design Challenge is my new “Ravenna” geometric tiled pattern. I entered the first one below, but both versions are now available in my Spoonflower Shop on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor in 3 sizes. This design was inspired by Italian mosaics, thus the name! Public voting closed Tuesday Jan 2 2024 (yes, 2024!!) Sorry for the late notice...I was preoccupied with the holidays! . If you’ve been following lately, you probably know I now have a Collection of print designs featuring Peach Fuzz in my Spoonflower Shop (now 69 in total!) If you’d like to see them all in one place, you can link directly to my Peach Fuzz Collection HERE.   If you can’t go to the Tropics, let the Tropics come to you! I’ve entered my “Tiki Room” design in this week’s Spoonflower “Block Print-Inspired” Design Challenge! Link to the Voting Page HERE! Public voting closes next Tuesday Dec 19. . A bit about this design: my "Tiki Room" design isn't really new as I designed it several years ago but never knew what to do with it...until now! It was inspired by time spent living on the Big Island, Hawaii and by a made-in-Japan "funny face" tea set sourced at a thrift shop and given to me by my husband! I like giving my older designs that are just living on my hard-drive a new life with some "adjustments" and brand new colours! 
According to the art of Floriography, every flower has its own meaning. Most of us know red roses mean romantic love, but what about others? This week's Spoonflower "Floriography" Design Challenge had me researching this, and the result is my new "Floriography" floral print! According to my sources (ahem, Google) here are the meanings of the flowers I've included here: -Daisies mean "Attachment" -Bluebottles (or Bachelors Buttons or Cornflowers) mean "Riches" -Pansies mean “Messenger of Love" -Michalemas Daisies (or Asters) mean "Farewell". . I apologize for the late post, but Public Voting for this Challenge closed Dec 12. BUT you can SHOP this new design on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor in my Spoonflower Shop! I entered the first version on Dark Green in the Challenge, but I do love all the bright colours in the Yellow version too! Maybe one for Autumn and one for Summer? Click the IMAGES below to link directly to the Medium-Scale versions in my Spoonflower Shop!
When you think of a "serene" wallpaper design, what comes to mind? For me, it made me think of curving shapes, organic forms from nature, soft colours and neutrals, simplicity, rhythmic layouts. So with all these in mind, I designed my new "Stones" pattern design to enter in this week's Spoonflower "Serene Wallscapes" Design Challenge! Do you think this design would make your space more serene?! You can vote at the Voting Page HERE and voting closes next Tuesday December 5. . This new abstract design is now available in my Spoonflower Shop on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor and it comes in several sizes too! Click the images below to see the Walllpaper (Medium-Scale) in my Spoonflower Shop! OR if you'd prefer (especially if you're located in Europe), you can also shop this design on Wallpaper in my new HappyWall Shop too (which is based in Sweden)! 
 I recently had the good fortune of spending two fantastic weeks in Taiwan. Although my time there was too short for such a fascinating and varied place, I did manage to spend time in the capital city of Taipei, Hualien on the picturesque East Coast, including the nearby Taroko Gorge (a natural wonder), historical Tainan and arts-filled Kaohsiung. Rather than simply outlining my travel itinerary, I wanted to show you some of the things this surface pattern designer found particularly inspiring, and that I’m sure will inspire some new pattern designs! I hope they inspire you too! Here they are in no particular order… The 15000 Temples of Taiwan Yup, apparently there are 15000 temples in Taiwan devoted to Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism! We visited famous Longshan and Bao’an Temples in Taipei, of course, and numerous others, including small neighbourhood temples that are absolutely everywhere. It’s hard to walk any distance without passing a temple, and you will always spot several in every town you pass by on the high-speed rail. The bright colours and shimmering gold, large-scale paintings, tilework, glowing lights, carvings and sculptures of gods, heroes and animals, and hand-embroidered robes and banners (more on this below) are jaw-dropping. See more Temple pics at my Instagram post HERE. Artisan Hand-Embroidery I searched out one of the small shops that still hand-embroider the magnificent robes and banners that embellish Taiwanese temples. Here are pics I took at the Tainan Kuang Tsai Embroidery Shop, and an example of a finished robe spotted in a temple. Common motifs include temple buildings, dragons, Chinese calligraphy, clouds, animals and flowers, and are often “3-D” and wrapped in glittering silver and gold threads. Wow! See more pics from this Tainan embroidery shop at my Instagram post HERE. Taiwan Glows at Night Taiwan's fantastic cities REALLY come to life and sparkle at night...From modern architecture lit up in bright colours, including Taipei 101 (once the world's tallest building) and dusk views from its 91st-floor Observatiory watching the city lights blink on; to public sculptures that light up arts districts (sometimes with music!); to glowing temples and historical shops open late; to bustling night markets and neon-lit places to eat, drink and socialize...Fantastic! You can see more Taiwan At Night pics at my Instagram post HERE. Characters Everywhere Taiwan is so FULL of colour and charm, evident in all the characters I spotted around Taipei, Hualien, Tainan and Kaohsiung...Some of these are honest-to-goodness "public art", while some are "just" storefront or restaurant mascots. But whether they're art pieces commissioned to be installed in Taiwan's numerous "creative and cultural parks" or temples, or cute kitsch designed to attract customers to a shop or restaurant or to endorse tourism, I LOVE THEM ALL! There's more Character pics at my Instagram post HERE. Colourful Paper Lanterns Just SOME (and I stress, SOME) of the paper lanterns I spotted while wandering the streets, small traditional shops and magnificent temples of Taiwan. See more of these colourful Paper Lanterns at my Instagram post HERE. Jimmy Liao: Taiwanese Children’s Book Illustrator The huge Jing Si Hall in Hualien has a wonderful bookstore, and it was here that I discovered the Taiwanese children’s book author and illustrator Jimmy Liao. On further research, I’ve learned he is an internationally-acclaimed illustrator. Even though the 3 books I bought are all in Chinese, I couldn’t resist his beautiful sweet images. I’ll just have to fire up Google Translate! Check out his beautiful illustrations on Instagram at @jimmy_liao_official. The Colours Of Taiwan When I return to the studio after a trip (especially one as colourful as this one!), I often use my travel photos to develop new colour palettes. With this process, I always try to first pull out the brights (just because I love bright colour!), then I add in some of the more neutral, earthier and muddier colours to round out the palettes. I find that this is a fantastic and useful exercise: it’s a great way to understand your own colour “style” and to develop colour palettes that are uniquely your own. See below for examples.
I’ll Have To Go Back! This is just a small compilation of some of the design and arts inspirations I saw during my trip to Taiwan. But Taiwan is full of natural wonders, wildlife and flora; layers of interesting history including colonization by the Dutch, Spanish and Japanese whose legacies still colour present-day Taiwan; and delicious and unusual foods (stinky tofu anyone?!), drink (it is the birthplace of bubble tea!) and desserts (my favourite is matcha shaved ice!) offered in numerous small neighbourhood eateries, high-end restaurants, and bustling neon-lit night markets. I’ll just have to go back! Whew! All Caught Up! My Entry For This Week's Spoonflower "The Other Holidays" Design Challenge!11/27/2023 Whew! Taking a holiday means you really need to take the time on returning to catch up with everything, including the Spoonflower Design Challenges! However, I did manage to enter a design for this week's Spoonflower "The Other Holidays" Design Challenge (that is, any other holiday but Christmas) before I left! Luckily, this Challenge has been open for 2 weeks instead of the customary 1 week due to the American Thanksgiving holidays which gave me a bit more time to design something for the NEXT Challenge. For "The Other Holidays" I decided on Valentine's Day, but then wanted to take the "other" a bit further so I tried my new "Love Hearts Checkerboard" design out in a very non-traditional retro colour palette! For those who want something "other" than pink or red for Valentine's! I did try it out in a bunch of other colourways though (see below), all now available in several scales. Find them all easily in my "Love Valentine's Day" Collection in my Spoonflower Shop! Public voting for this Challenge closes tomorrow Tuesday November 28. 
I'm playing catchup here since I've been away in Taiwan (it was an amazing trip, btw, and I'll try to write a post about it very soon!) BUT, getting back to catching up...While I was away, one of the Spoonflower Design Challenges was "Surrealist Wallpaper", and I did manage to enter my new "Disembodied" design (in the Retro Colours, below left) before I left for Taiwan. When I looked at surrealist art, I just seemed to notice the weird eyes, mouths and hands the most! Voting for this Challenge closed November 14, but this new design is now available in my Spoonflower, Redbubble, Society6 and TeePublic Shops in both Retro Colours and Rainbow Brights! Click the product images below to see these products in my Shops!
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AuthorJackie Tahara of UnBlink Studio Archives
January 2025
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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!