"Wild Thing"! My Entry For This Week's Spoonflower "Italian Villa Wallpaper" Design Challenge!3/22/2023 When I first saw that this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is "Italian Villa Wallpaper", the first thing I thought of was animal prints (think: Gucci). And then I couldn't help thinking about the types of colour palettes favoured by one of my favourite print designers of all time, Pucci. So, here is my "Wild Thing" abstract leopard print, inspired by Italian design, in a Retro MidMod colour palette! I can picture this on the walls of a Lake Como villa! Public voting for this Challenge opens tomorrow Thursday March 23 and you can link to the Voting Page HERE! And click the images below to SHOP this design in my Spoonflower Shop! . BTW: There is a Pucci book that I COVET, but it's just a bit pricey at the moment...But WAITAMINUTE! Mother's Day is coming up...That's not a hint, OH NOOO...   
0 Comments
My new "Garden Burst" pattern might look "simple", but trust me when I say it took a very long time to arrive at this final design. I had started out with a whole bunch of sketched flower motifs and was trying to jam all of them into a single design, moving them around, bigger, smaller, overlapping...I had in my mind something quite spare (wanting to just use the dark blue and the two grays), but still playful and fun. It took me, OH, maybe two days of fiddling to realize that I should take out ALL the other motifs, and just make the design with these fun bulb-y flowers! Then I added some curly vines, and some bright playful colours here and there...and voila!...the simple design that took DAYS. And wonder what I'm going to do with all those other floral motifs I didn't use? More pattern designs, of course! Stay tuned! . I've entered my "Garden Burst" design in this week's Spoonflower "Garden Bedding" Design Challenge. Public voting opens Thursday March 16 and you can link to the Voting Page HERE!   This week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is "Passementerie" and this is my entry which I'm calling... "Passementerie" (I like the word!) For those who don't know, passementerie are gorgeous trims and embroidery used for clothing and furnishings. I created this design in some other colours, but I entered the first one in Delicate Colours because they felt like Spring to me (if you're feeling more like Summer, you'll like the tropical-colour version, scroll down below)! Voting for this Challenge opens tomorrow Thursday March 9 and you can link to the Voting Page HERE! And click each of the images below to go directly to the Medium-Scale of these designs in my Spoonflower Shop! These are also available in a Small-Scale and Large-Scale version too!   And see below for some other colourways of my "Passementerie" floral pattern design: Tropical Retro 70s Colours and Viva Magenta with Pink! Any favourites?    This week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is "Hidden Whimsy Wallpaper" and one of the examples they gave to explain the theme was "a traditional damask pattern created entirely of macaroni". So because I've really been thinking of geometric shapes lately, I decided to make a botanical pattern created entirely of geometric shapes! Here is my "Sunny Day" wallpaper. I'm not sure you can even imagine how fun this one was to create, and now I MUST do it in some other colours too! Public voting for this Challenge is open now until Tuesday March 7 and you can link to the Voting Page HERE! 
If a chameleon went on vacation, where would they go? To a nice warm and quiet place where they could just hang out amongst colourful, overgrown and shady flowers (at least that's what I imagine)! Maybe I'd go somewhere similar! "Chameleons Just Wanna Have Fun" is my entry for this week's Spoonflower "Pets On Vacation" Design Challenge (I entered the Jungle Green version, but it comes in Retro Gray too). Public voting opens Thursday Feb 23 and closes next Tuesday Feb 28. You can link to the Voting Page HERE and I'd love your vote for this one, with much thanks! . And you can see this little guy in my Spoonflower Shop HERE! Or click the images below to see the Large-Scale versions in different colourways in my Shop! Note that they do come in a Small-Scale and Medium-Scale version too!  Chameleons Just Wanna Have Fun in Jungle Green!  Chameleons Just Wanna Have Fun in Retro Gray! Here goes a long story...So this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is "Mosses". I think I spent about 2 days trying to come up with ideas for this one (close-up botanicals? moss-covered rocks in Zen gardens? mossy hillsides? abstracted leaves? ETC). I sketched pages of leafy motifs, squinting at closeup pics of all kinds of different mosses. Pretty hard to do on a computer or leafing through my garden books. So I went out into my garden to have a look. But I just wasn't feeling it...I finally decided I liked the close-up spiky leaves of Haircap Moss and sketched those a bunch. Then I thought about how they look from above (check out #haircapmoss and you'll see what I mean), and then kept repeating those, simplifying, repeating, simplifying...Until I came up with this geometric which has very stylized spiky Haircap Moss leaves as seen from above! Just wanted to explain so you can see that something that looks rather "simple", can sometimes take FOREVER...At least the COLOUR choice was really QUICK! If you would like to vote, you can link to the Voting Page HERE. Public voting opens today and closes Tuesday Feb 21! AND if you'd like to see this design in my Spoonflower Shop, click the images below!  
OF COURSE, I couldn't resist. I also added my "Haircap Moss" design to my Society6 Shop too so it is available on even more products, including Wall Art! Go directly to the Wall Art in my Society6 Shop by clicking the image below!  For This Week's Spoonflower "Room-Specific Wallpaper" Design Challenge I Chose the Boudoir!2/8/2023 This week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is "Room-Specific Wallpaper" and the idea was "to choose a room and create the perfect wallpaper" for it! How could I even resist...I chose a BOUDOIR (or Dressing Room, but I like the sound of "Boudoir" better), and created this Fuchsia Pink and Lavender Purple design. I think it's kinda "perfect" for a Boudoir (and so I even named this design "Boudoir")! Public voting for this Challenge opens tomorrow Thursday Feb 9 and closes Tuesday Feb 14 (Valentine's Day, which suits this design I think!) You can link to the Voting Page HERE if you'd like to see all the entries! . This new floral pattern is available in my Spoonflower Shop on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor in 3 sizes. Imagine it in VELVET!   I've entered my new "Hilo" pattern design in this week's Spoonflower "Time Machine" Design Challenge. The idea behind this challenge is to create a design inspired by a particular time period. I chose the 1950s, and even more specifically, I was inspired by all those vintage 1950s Hawaiian prints that I love so much (and my hubby has a BIG collection of them!) I called this one "Hilo" for one of my favourite towns on Big Island, Hawaii, with its colourful downtown, where my kids used to play soccer games with Kona Crush, and where LOTS of rain keep it filled with gorgeous tropical greenery. Sigh. Public voting for this Challenge opens today Thursday Feb 2 and closes next Tuesday Feb 7. You can link to the Voting Page HERE (and it's a pretty fun Challenge with so many different kinds of entries)! AND if you'd like to see "Hilo" in several colours in my Spoonflower Shop where they're available in 3 sizes on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor, click on the images below!   OF COURSE, I had to try this "Hilo" design out in some other colourways too, see below for this design in Charcoal and Coral Red. Click the images if you'd like to see them in my Spoonflower Shop!
 With thanks to The Indoorsy Project for this skirt mockup.
Apparently all parts of the charming Lily of the Valley plant are potentially toxic, and contain compounds which can inhibit the heart's ability to pump if ingested. It's rated a 1 on the Toxicity Scale (because ingesting it can cause serious illness or death) and a 4 (because its juice can cause a skin rash). I didn't know this until I started researching "Poisonous Plants" for this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge (voting opens Jan 12 and closes Tuesday Jan 17)! Here's my entry: "Lily of the Valley" in Spring Green! You can link to the Voting Page HERE! If you'd like to see this design in my Spoonflower Shop, click HERE. It comes in 4 scales on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor (this links to the Small-Scale version)!   If you haven’t heard already, the 2023 Pantone Color of the Year is “Viva Magenta”, described as “a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family and expressive of a new signal of strength. Viva Magenta is brave and fearless, and a pulsating color whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative”. When Pantone announced their colour choice, I immediately started experimenting with this colour and the Pantone “Inspire” colour palette. See some of the results below, and check out more in my “Viva Magenta Collection”! All of these pattern designs are now available in my Spoonflower Shop on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor! AND I entered my "Hana-Dark" Japanese-inspired design (first pic) in the Spoonflower "Viva Magenta" Design Challenge! I was a bit distracted over the holidays so I forgot to post about this Challenge earlier, but you can still vote until tomorrow January 3 2023!
One of my fave things to do is wander the nearby coastline and every once in awhile we spot orcas swimming offshore! Such a rare sight! So I thought I would celebrate that in this week's Spoonflower "Favourite Things" Design Challenge with my "Wild West Coast" pattern design featuring orca whales. And then, of course, I felt the need to play with Vintage 1950s Colours...Who said orcas always have to be Black & White?! I did decide to add a more "classic" Black & White version though, as well as a Blue version too (scroll down to see!) And they're all available in my Spoonflower Shop on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor in 3 sizes! Voting for this Challenge opens Thursday Dec 8 (and closes Tuesday Dec 13). You can check out all the entries at the Voting Page HERE! 
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!  Even though I've just added my new "Bug's Life" repeat pattern design to my Spoonflower Shop, it actually has a very LOOONG history! The individual bugs are amongst my earliest designs created when I was very new to surface design. I originally sold them individually as Greeting Cards and Art Prints at various craft fairs and in my (now closed) Etsy shop. Then I revised and re-coloured them, and now sell them as Graphic Tees in my TeePublic Shop (check out my "Creature Features" Album there to see them, called "Retro Bugs")! AND THEN...I put them all together into one design to make this repeat pattern! They're now available in all 4 colours in Small-, Medium- and Large-Scale versions on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor! I guess I've never really been able to completely archive these colourful bugs over the years and always seem to return to them. And funny enough, for this repeat design, I went all the way back to those very first, original colours! I thought this design would be perfect to enter in this week's Spoonflower "Flash Tattoo Sheets" Design Challenge (I entered the first version on Hot Pink) because the strong outlines and colours would make some pretty darn cool tattoos IMHO! Public Voting for this Challenge opens today Thursday Nov 3, and closes next Tuesday Nov 8 at 3:00 ET! Check out the Voting Page to see this week's entries! Click the images to see the Medium-Scale versions in my Spoonflower Shop!
 NOTE: If you missed it, REPLAYS of all the Craft Friday Workshops are Now Available! Watch them all on the Spoonflower Blog HERE! .......................................................... Spoonflower's Craft Friday is a FREE online event happening on Black Friday (Nov 25) with the goal of offering a fun, crafty, creative alternative to the madness of one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Through a series of short-and-sweet video tutorials offered throughout the day and featuring varied creative projects taught by talented artists/makers, Spoonflower hopes to encourage families and friends to craft and make together, learn new skills, and possibly even create something to gift to loved ones during the holiday season. JOIN ME: “Make a Doodled Coloring Pages Gift Pack” At 2:00 ET I’m very excited to announce that my “Make a Doodled Coloring Pages Gift Pack” Video Tutorial will be included as part of Spoonflower's Craft Friday event this year, scheduled to go live Nov 25 at 2:00 ET! JOIN ME to learn how to make this low-cost, homemade, artistic gift idea, starting with my downloadable Doodle Prompt Pages which will set you off on your doodling journey. No artistic skill required! Once you have created your own collection of coloring pages, I’ll show you some quick ideas for packaging them up nicely, ready for gift giving. And don’t forget, now that you have a Doodled Coloring Pages Gift Pack (or someone gives you one!), you can then have tons of fun coloring them in too! You can make this Gift Pack on your own, with kids at home or in the classroom, and it makes a great party activity too. Fun to make and receive!
Get all the info you'll need to join in at this Spoonflower CRAFT FRIDAY Blog Post where you can download my Doodle Prompt Pages and see what simple supplies you’ll need to participate. And be sure to check out all the other FREE creative sessions that will be offered! Don't forget to PRE-REGISTER! Just in case you want more doodle inspiration, check out the surface designs I’ve created with some of my own doodles in my “Coloring Book Designs” Collection in my Spoonflower Shop!
Hope to see you at Spoonflower's CRAFT FRIDAY on November 25 at 2:00 ET!
This week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is "Barkitecture", described as decorating spaces specifically for our animal companions. I wanted to do something "stylish", so I thought about creating a straight-up 1980s Postmodern-style design. But given the theme I decided I needed to incorporate some paw prints! So here is my alliteratively-named "Postmodern Pet Paw Prints" design in the original Retro colour palette that I entered in the Challenge (first pic below)! Voting for this Challenge opens today Thursday Oct 27 and closes next Tuesday Nov 1. Check out the Voting Page HERE (I would love your vote)! . And this "Postmodern Pet Paw Prints" design now comes in several colourways and 3 sizes in my Spoonflower Shop on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor! You can find them all in my "Pet Themes" Collection in my Spoonflower Shop. Scroll down to see the other colourways below!  In Retro Gray Turquoise Blush Blue Brown
 With thanks to @theindoorsyproject for this mockup.
|
AuthorJackie Tahara of UnBlink Studio Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
|
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!