“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!

Skillshare (as you probably know) is an online learning community with thousands of classes for creative and curious people (like you and me!) I have a Skillshare Premium Membership and have learned so many useful skills from top teachers. I also save lots of amazing-looking classes “to do later”, “when I have more time”…
Well, yesterday I just decided I to start working through my loooong Saved Classes list and chose Cat Coquillette’s “Design Top-Selling Product Mockups with Your Art” Class.
Here is my wallpaper class project with my brand new “Mod Floral” pattern design on wallpaper! EVEN BETTER, this class comes with 10 FREE MOCKUPS (including this one, all worth $155!) created by Creatsy! REALLY!
If you want to access some new learning during this time of self-isolation, I highly recommend Skillshare! If you sign up using MY LINK you can get 2 FREE MONTHS of Skillshare Premium (free mockups anyone?!)…If you do sign up for a Skillshare Premium Membership I will also get a free month too, yay! Happy getting lost in learning, new ideas and inspiration!!

If you have a minute today, check out today's Spoonflower Blog (April 12 2020) where I've been featured along with 7 other artists in their "Spoonflower Spotlight: 8 Artists to Keep an Eye on This Month" Post! Check out the Blog Post to read some fun facts about all of us! Thanks so much to Spoonflower for including me in this Spotlight!

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!

The Nugget Play Couch created by nuggetcomfort.com is a kid’s play couch that is “Part-furniture, part-toy, and all-around the best thing to happen to playtime since, well, ever!" Sounds like my kinda furniture! This week Nugget partnered with Spoonflower for this week’s “Nugget Couch" Design Challenge: to create a pattern to be used on a limited-edition Nugget to come out later this year. Some of the design elements they requested: colour-blocking, non-directional, bright colours (max 8), geometric, fitting into multiple room styles, design for stylish parents who might lean to minimalist style. And also remembering when my kids were younger we read endless books about shapes, sizes and colours, and played with building toys endlessly (I think we had every building toy out there), plus keeping older kids and "stylish” parents in mind, here is my entry which I call, not surprisingly, "Shapes Sizes Colours” (which I also quite like on bedding, pillows, table linens and wallpaper too!) This challenge is a FUN one, so I would be grateful for your VOTE on this one! Have a look at all the entries at the Voting Page!

Hey, I just noticed that I have been featured on the wonderful and world-renowned Print & Pattern Blog (March 2 2020)! The post features my newest "Snake in the Grass" and "Flat Lay Florals" Collections and talks a bit about me and these new designs. I invite you to check out the POST! With thanks to Marie Perkins!

...And now for something completely different...The idea for this week’s Spoonflower “Pine and Mint Throw Pillows” Design Challenge is to use just the two colours of Pine and Mint (plus black and white) to create a design suitable for throw pillows! Here is my entry called “Sweet Pea”! I originally designed this pattern design in other colours but thought pine and mint would work really well! If you would like to see all the entries, follow this Link to the Voting Page!
ADDENDUM! This design won 66th out of 858 entries and as a result, it is immediately available for sale in my Spoonflower Shop on fabric, home decor, wallpaper and more!

So thankful to everyone who voted for my “Spring Ditsy” pattern design in the Spoonflower “Micro Modern Quilt” Design Challenge! The support is always so appreciated, inspiring and motivating! Because it won, it is now immediately available in my SPOONFLOWER SHOP! If you've had your eye on it for your projects now is a good time to buy because there is FREE SHIPPING until tomorrow Friday March 6 2020! Check out the Spoonflower Blog Post about the winning designs!
All the best, and once again, thank you for your support!

It’s National Quilting Day on March 21 so in honour of that here is my entry for this week’s Spoonflower “Micro Modern Quilt” Design Challenge! The idea this week was to design a small-scale, non-directional ditsy print perfect for piecing together into a quilt top...A little insight into my design process: I started out with a more complicated design, but it just didn’t satisfy me, it was too busy, so I just kept paring it back, streamlining elements until it looked “just right” (at least to me!) I call this one “Spring Ditsy” (shown here with a coordinate called "Spring Dotsy"!)
I wonder...Do you work more intuitively or do you pretty much know where a design is going when you start?
If you would like to see this week’s challenge entries, check out the Voting Page! 

NOW OPEN! Registration for Bonnie Christine’s Surface Design IMMERSION Course is now open for 1 WEEK ONLY from Feb 18-25 2020! Once closed, you will have to wait another whole year. So if you have been dreaming about furthering your career in surface pattern design, you just need to START…and this is a fantastic place to do it!

The Surface Design IMMERSION Course is an intensive 8 week online course starting March 2. Step-by-step, Bonnie’s focused lessons will teach you Adobe Illustrator from the ground up, how to create repeating patterns, build pattern collections, put together a portfolio, how to license your work, and how to become a creative entrepreneur. Bonnie will guide you along the way and you will become part of a wonderful online community of like-minded creatives. As an IMMERSION student, you can work at your own pace (so it’s not scary!) and you will always have lifetime access to this year’s course content!

To find out more about Bonnie’s Surface Design IMMERSION Course, follow this LINK!
I am honoured to partner this year with Bonnie which means if you sign up through my LINK I will get a little kickback to support my creative business. Please know that I truly believe Bonnie is a great teacher and I have learned so much from her courses, she is open and honest and passionate, and her wonderful creative community which I have been part of for several years, continues to be one of my go-to places for ongoing support, inspiration and learning.

I wish you all the best in your creative journey!

I spent part of my winter holidays on the wild West Coast of Vancouver Island in the wonderful surf town of Tofino (think: crashing waves, storm-watching, wind-swept beaches, coastal rainforest hikes, hot tubs and local seafood...plus a storm-caused power outage)...and it was fantastic! But I'm now looking forward to a different sort of beach experience, so here is my new "Beach Stroll" Collection of coastal art prints that have a much more Summer-y feel! Warm sunshine, here I come! These prints are currently still available to license.

I'm a bit late posting about my entry for this week's Spoonflower "Illustrated Spring Flora and Fauna" Design Challenge because I've been working on new work (stay tuned!), but here it is...My "Three Little Birds" pattern design which was inspired by the song (you know which one I mean!) I think this fits the challenge perfectly and makes me feel happy...kinda like a Spring day! I do like it on a cushion or for the tabletop...Link to the Voting Page here!

I couldn't resist! As you may have noticed, I can't get enough of the 2020 Pantone Color of the Year "Classic Blue"! I was also inspired by this week's Spoonflower "Classic Blue Limited Colour Palette" Design Challenge (see previous Blog post!), so I decided to re-colour (and revise) my "Palace Walls" Collection. Wondering what you think of Classic Blue? Have you been inspired to use it in your designs?! Or maybe you don't really like it...? All designs here are available to license!