I NEED MORE VOTES! I thought I would post this gentle reminder that my "Butterfly Garden" and "Rainbow Floral" wall mural designs have been shortlisted in the Wallsauce Design Competition, and the winner will now be determined by Public Vote. Voting CLOSES May 31 at Midnight (UK time), so it's down to the last few days! The prize is a licensing agreement with Wallsauce! If you could take a quick moment to vote for my designs, that would be lovely! All you need to do is go to this Blog Post and enter my name "Jackie Tahara" in the comments and remember to Send Comment! That's it! THANKS to all who have voted for me already, very much appreciated!

This week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is "Abstract Minimalism". So taking Morse Code as my starting point, I designed this new pattern design which I call "Secret Message". I really put a lot of thought to the colour palette and like how it really references  mid-century modern design...If you want to see the entries and vote, here is a link to this week's Spoonflower Voting Page!

I have a SMALL and QUICK request! I have happily been shortlisted (with 11 other artists) for the WALLSAUCE Wall Mural Design Contest and now I need your VOTE! The brief was to design 2 related “Nature” murals, so I submitted my “Butterfly Garden” and “Rainbow Floral” designs, with the idea of turning a child’s room into a magical fantasy landscape. The prize is a licensed wallpaper collection with Wallsauce (eeee!) The final stage of the contest is by Public Vote—all you need to vote is go to the Wallsauce Blog and comment with my name Jackie Tahara at the bottom of the blog post, and remember to “Send Comment”. Very quick and easy! It would mean a lot to me to win! With gratitude…

This week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is "Australian Flora". Being Canadian, I wasn't that familiar with Aussie flowers (although I did visit there and stayed for quite awhile many years ago), but when I did some research of Aussie plants, I just loved the flowers of the eucalyptus. So I designed my stylized "Eucalyptus" pattern and tried it out in several different colour ways. I love all the colours, but finally decided to enter the orange/pink/green one into the challenge. Did I choose the right one? What do you think? Check out the Voting Page to see all the other designs and vote your faves! Voting ends April 23 at 3:00 EDT.

Wallsauce is an online wall mural and photo wallpaper company and they have a new comp in association with Rise Design & Shine! The brief is to design 2 wall murals based on the theme of Nature. The designs must relate to each other and may form part of a new collection! I chose to design for kids rooms. Wallsauce will shortlist designs, and then it will be put to a public vote! Wish me luck! Here are sneak peeks of the folk-inspired designs I submitted!

I have just entered my "Seashells By the Seashore" pattern design in this week's Spoonflower "Nautical" Challenge! Would love your vote on this one (you can vote for as many designs as you like!) Here is a link to the Voting Page (voting ends April 2 3pm EDT). And here's a votingh hint: If you scroll on the voting page until all the images are loaded, you can do a page search for "unblink" to save time!

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...

Thought I would share one of my latest pattern designs today! This month's theme in The Colour Gang, as I've mentioned in previous posts, is travel inspiration and I chose Japan as my inspiration (since I was fortunate to have visited there last summer!) So here is my "Edo" design named for the name of the ancient Japanese capital where Tokyo now stands. The temples, castles and torii gates are amazing and are part of everyday life all over Japan. I MUST go back! Although I posted them in previous posts, here also are the other two designs in this collection, "Kimono Ladies" and "Cherry Blossoms".

Happily, one of this month's creative challenges in The Colour Gang was to design an all-blue pattern design! Blue in all it's variations are favourites of mine: turquoise, azure, sky blue, cobalt, indigo, cerulean, cornflower, ultramarine, royal blue, lapis...I love them all. Blue is also calming and ethereal, so I thought what better subject but the lotus flower, often associated with spiritual enlightenment! Here is my "Lotus Pond" and "Enlightened" pattern designs. I also thought that the Lotus Pond pattern would be wonderful as wallpaper! Enjoy!