Playing Catchup #1: My Entry for the Spoonflower "Conversational Wallpaper" Design Challenge!9/15/2024 Whoops! It's been busy here at the studio over the last part of Summer, especially since I was away for most of July, but here's my "first" catchup of my entries for the last two Spoonflower Design Challenges: "Conversational Wallpaper" and "Non-Directional Ditsy Holiday" (see my next Blog Post!)! Apologies that voting for these Challenges are now closed, but I just wanted to share the story behind these new designs. And you can SHOP them in my Spoonflower Shop by clicking the IMAGES below! My "Conversational Wallpaper" Design Challenge Entry: "Pasta Potluck" My “Pasta Potluck” design has a bit of a long history here at UnBlink Studio...I originally created this design quite awhile ago with a set of my Mom’s vintage glass Pyrex casserole dishes in mind (remember those?!) For whatever reason, I moved on and forgot about this design, and so it was relegated to sitting on my hard-drive... But the Spoonflower "Conversational Wallpaper" Design Challenge got me thinking about this design again, and I thought that it just might suit the Challenge theme quite nicely! I did have to really re-work it and OF COURSE, I felt the need to completely revise the COLOURS, but I now love its vintage-y, kitsch-y look all over again! If you’d like to see those original Pyrex dishes that inspired this design, have a look below, my Mom gave them to me! Public Voting for this Challenge closed Tuesday August 13 2024.   
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My "Puppy Love" pattern design is my entry for NEXT week's Spoonflower "Funny Valentine" Design Challenge! Maybe it's more "cute" than "funny", but I kinda think the guy with the glasses and tall head is pretty funny! You can link to the Voting Page HERE, and Public Voting for this Challenge opens next Thursday DEC 1 (I had thought voting started this week, but there's a break for Thanksgiving!) Don't worry, I'll remind you next week! Happy Thanksgiving!  This Week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is "Space Exploration"! Here is my Entry: "Blast Off!"8/4/2022 “BLAST OFF!” This week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is: "Space Exploration"! Here is my entry and believe me, I had real difficulty with this theme, from coming up with ideas to creating a design that I liked! Anyway, you get to see the final result here, and not all the hair-pulling that went into this one! Voting for this Challenge opens today Thursday August 4 and I would love your vote for this one! Public voting closes Tuesday August 9. You can check out all the entries at the Voting Page! If you would like to SHOP this design in my Spoonflower Shop, you can do so HERE. And take note that it does come in Small-, Medium- and Large-Scale sizes too! And Read All About the Design Process Behind "Blast Off!" If you would like to read about my design process and how MY "Blast Off!" design came to be, I invite you to read my most recent NEWSLETTER (August 2022) where I describe how hard this one was! If you are interested, you can Subscribe to my Newsletter too!    My new pattern design "Cabinet of Curiosities" is my take on this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge theme: "Dark Academia". I really had a hard time trying to decide what to do for this one (I think I spent a day staring at a sketchbook, sketching, then flipping the page, repeat...) But one of the suggestions for topics was "specimens", which made me think of Cabinets of Curiosities, giving me an excuse to draw all kinds of fun little oddities and use dark moody colours! AND I thought it would also be a fun option for Halloween projects too (after all, it has animal skulls, jars of eyeballs, bones, spiders, claw hands...)! Voting for this Challenge opens today Thursday July 28 2022. Check out all the entries and maybe vote for my entry (!) at the Voting Page HERE! Voting closes Tuesday Aug 2 at 3:00 EDT! And you can go to my Spoonflower Shop and check out this design which is now available on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor in 3 sizes!  And of course I couldn't help adding a fun simple coordinate to pair with this design! My "Cabinet of Curiosities Eyeballs Coordinate" is also now available in my Spoonflower Shop (see below)!  Is this Bold? Is this Minimalist? I hope so because I've entered my "Ocean Sunrise" design in this week's Spoonflower "Bold Minimalism" Design Challenge! You could also ask: Is it a Dot? Is it a Stripe? Yes! I also designed this to co-ordinate with my "Daydreams" and "Night Dreams" designs too (see below)! I could really see all 3 of these as a collection of fun pillows! These are all now available in my Spoonflower Shop on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor in 3 sizes! You can also link to the Voting Page and check out all the entries! Click the images below to see these designs in my Spoonflower Shop! 
These would be a FUN collection of pillows! From left: Daydream, Ocean Sunrise, Night Dreams. All available in my Spoonflower Shop!
For this week's Spoonflower "Weather Patterns" Design Challenge I decided to adapt my "Elemental Air" art print into a repeat because I think the subject matter was perfect for this challenge (and also because I think it makes a very nice patchwork-inspired repeat pattern too!) Check out the Voting Page to see all the entries! And take a look at my Spoonflower Shop to see all the designs I offer there! . SALE TODAY! Spoonflower is offering 25% OFF all 1+ yards/meters of FABRIC and rolls of WALLPAPER but only until end of day TODAY! 
Make...Create...Smile...Do...Care...Dream...All things I plan to do more of in 2021! This is my entry for this week's Spoonflower "Packaging Design" Challenge (and it's the last one of 2020)! Spoonflower has asked its designers to come up with a design that reflects the values that mean the most to the Spoonflower community: family, uniqueness, self-expression and creativity. The winning design will be featured on its packaging in 2021. Very fun! You can vote at the Voting Page until Jan 5 2021 at 3:00 EST here: Happy New Year everyone...What words will you try to live by in 2021?!  Here is my "Little Charms" design that I've entered in this week's Spoonflower "Microscopic Worlds" Design Challenge! It was inspired by the little gnome houses that I run by in my neighbourhood (scroll down to see a pic!) I'm sure kids must love playing here and I tried to keep that playful feeling in this design. Check out the Voting Page to see all the entries, and have a look at my Spoonflower Shop! Something to inspire your imagination. AND Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends, all the best. 
Here is my entry for this week's Spoonflower "Snail Mail" Design Challenge! I just love the doodle-y feel to this and it makes me want to keep on doodling...I had a hard time deciding which one to enter, but after taking a poll, I decided to enter the first version on the dark background. It is also available on a light background and in a pink/purple pastel colour way (all are available in my Spoonflower Shop!) Do you think I entered the right one?! And I might get that blanket for myself, hey, my birthday is coming soon! Check out all the entries at the VOTING PAGE and you can shop all 3 versions in my SPOONFLOWER SHOP! DON'T FORGET: Spoonflower's 50% OFF all FAT QUARTERS SALE is still on until tomorrow Friday Nov 6 2020! 
   I entered my “Book Stacks” design in this week’s Spoonflower “Cozy Reading” Design Challenge. When I started this design the shelves made me think of Dutch abstract artist Mondrian so I decided to channel his famous colours (plus a few others just because!) What do you think, does this remind you of Mondrian’s art?! Check out all the designs at the Voting Page! ...And don’t forget...Spoonflower is still offering FREE STANDARD SHIPPING on everything worldwide until Friday Oct 30 2020!! I have over 300 designs in my Spoonflower Shop, so I invite you to check them out! 
I've just added my "Sewing Obsession" Collection of pattern designs, and entered the hero pattern in this week's Spoonflower "Small-Scale Tools of the Trade" Design Challenge! This one is for all you makers out there! You can now find all these pattern designs in my "Sewing Obsession" Collection in my Spoonflower Shop on all kinds of fabrics and home decor. You can check out all the entries at the Voting Page!  For this week’s Spoonflower “Off the Wall Toile” Design Challenge I thought my “Edo” design would be perfect! And it made me nostalgic for the family trip we took to Japan in 2018...what a different world we live in now. If you want to see all the entries, check out the Voting Page!  The idea behind this week’s Spoonflower “Pastel Cafe” Design Challenge is to “evoke the aesthetics and atmosphere of a typical Italian or French cafe one might find in the 1950s and ‘60s”! So here is my “Party Time!” entry! What do you think? Does it make you imagine Audrey Hepburn having a romantic birthday luncheon (with martinis, of course)?! Check out the Voting Page to see all the entries! It is also available for sale now in my Spoonflower Shop!  “GO BANANAS!” This is what I named my entry for this week’s Spoonflower “Line Art Safari Wallpaper” Design Challenge! And I hope you’re not literally going bananas after a month of staying home... If you would like to see all the entries, check out the Voting Page! And this fun design is now available to purchase in my Spoonflower Shop on all kinds of fabrics, wallpaper and home decor! 
One of our favourite family recipes of all time is “Pasta Con Mollica di Pane” (or Pasta with Bread Crumbs). It’s a quick, easy, uncomplicated pasta sauce recipe with tomatoes, anchovies, garlic and parsley, sprinkled with toasted breadcrumbs and it is YUMMY! We make it all the time! I originally created an illustrated recipe for this dish and posted it to the They Draw and Cook website where it was noticed and found its way into a 2020 They Draw and Cook Wall Calendar published by Amber Lotus Publishing! I also turned the illustration into this repeat pattern and entered it in this week’s Spoonflower “Noodle Bowl” Design Challenge (I think it makes fun sheets!) Check out the Voting Page here (voting ends April 14) to see all the entries! HINT: If you want to make this dish yourself (I suggest you do!), check out the illustrated recipe in my Portfolio or at my Illustrator Page on the They Draw and Cook website! 
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AuthorJackie Tahara of UnBlink Studio Archives
April 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!