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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! 
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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. It's called "Glamour"! 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! . EDITOR NOTE: I originally named this design "Boudoir", but that seems to have some "naughty" connotations, so I changed it to "Glamour" after the Challenge closed because it kept getting flagged in various uploads and searches. Go figure!   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.
What?! Brown?! Yes! My Entry for Spoonflower's "Earth Tone Throw Pillows" Design Challenge!1/27/2023 Whaaa-aat?! Brown and beige?!? Why not?! Here's my new "Local Colour" floral pattern (1st 2 pics below) that I entered in this week's Spoonflower "Earth Tone Throw Pillows" Design Challenge. I called it this because of some of the research I did using the photos I took at, and the "Flower and Plant Guide" I picked up from, the world-famous Butchart Gardens (a most amazing local garden) on my last visit, and some of the pics I've taken of Summer gardens and hanging baskets in and around Downtown Victoria. I must admit I wasn't at first really enthusiastic about this palette, but I find I really love how rich and warm all the entries look! I surprise myself! So I did try out a few other new designs in this colour palette just for the heckuvit (see below)! . AND if you'd like to vote you can link to the VOTING PAGE HERE. But just a heads up...There are 1771 entries! WOW!! Is that the most ever?! Public voting for this challenge ends Tuesday January 31 at 3:00 EST! You can also see these designs in my Spoonflower Shop by clicking on the images below.  
Pictured: Dappled Ti Plants (above) and In The Groove in Dark and Light Earth Tones (below).
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)!   Very pleased to see my “Danube” wallpaper design in a Full-Page (!) feature about the Pantone 2023 Color of the Year "Viva Magenta" in the Jan/Feb 2023 COLOUR ISSUE of YAM Magazine! If you can't get your hands on the print magazine (out now on newsstands), you can check out the feature HERE! Enter the Magentaverse!
 My son said this pattern design looks like a bunch of origami paper! But actually, the intent was to create a faux crazy quilt, so that's what this one is called..."Crazy Quilt"! If you look closely, you'll see woven and printed textile "swatches", some with "embroidery", including some "cross stitches"! So I've entered this one in this week's Spoonflower "Cross Stitch" Design Challenge! Public voting for this Challenge opens tomorrow Thursday January 5! You can vote at the Voting Page HERE (and I would love your vote for this one)!  BTW: I did the original motifs for this design as part of the Doodle-A-Day challenge offered by Rhianna Wurman of Ello Lovey in partnership with Spoonflower! This January-long challenge is on now. Find out more about the Doodle-A-Day challenge and how to join in at the Spoonflower Blog HERE! See below for my original doodle! And if you're on TikTok, be sure to check out Spoonflower's TikTok in January daily for some quick inspiring Doodle-A-Day videos based on each of the challenge prompts. I'll be sharing on Day 3: Fabric and Day 16: Gardening!  AND of course, I had to try it out in another completely different colourway! See below for the Orange Yellow Green colourway! Which colour palette do you like best?!   One of the things I like to do is to set aside time to just freely sketch and doodle because it helps me work out motifs and come up with brand new ideas. If you want to up your doodling game, follow along with the 4th Annual Doodle-A-Day Challenge, a month-long challenge first created by Rhianna Wurman of Ello Lovey and now in partnership with Spoonflower, to draw one doodle every day in January based on given prompts. This year’s theme is “Making”. Check out all the Info/Rules and Prompts at this Blog Post, follow along and doodle, and share what you create on Instagram! There are fun prizes for participating too!
To make it even more fun, be sure to check out Spoonflower’s TikTok where they will be posting artist videos daily for each design prompt. JOIN ME on Day 3: Fabric and Day 16: Gardening for my quick doodling videos! Spoonflower Blog Post: "Top Design Challenge Tips from Spoonflower Artists" (Including Me)!1/2/2023  Are you a new pattern designer who would like to try entering the weekly Spoonflower Design Challenges, but feel a bit unsure about it, or a seasoned pro that just wants some more inspo? If so, check out this Spoonflower Blog Post: “Top Design Challenge Tips from Spoonflower Artists”, in which I and fellow Spoonflower designers Kasia Turbak and Anna Aho share some of our tips for entering the Spoonflower Design Challenges and how they have helped us grow as designers. Pictured below are just some of my designs that have placed highly (or won!) some past Spoonflower Design Challenges!
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! 
NOTE: If you missed it, the REPLAY of this Live Event is Now Available! Watch it on the MIID Blog HERE! ............................................................. For those who don’t know, Make It In Design is home to the longest running online design school in the world! Several years ago, I stumbled on their surface pattern design courses by chance (I didn’t even know that surface pattern design was a thing back then!), and signed up for all the modules that were then offered. Since then, it’s been an adventure working towards achieving my design goals. I've achieved some, but have alot more to go! So I was honoured when MIID invited me to participate in the upcoming “Superstars of Make It In Design" Artist Panel Discussion, hosted by MIID Live on Facebook, coming this Friday Dec 2 at 9:30 PT/12:30 ET! For this FREE LIVE WEBINAR I will be joined by fellow Make it in Design alumni Luci Hebden, Leah Quinn and Annabel Tempest. We’ll share about our top tips on surviving, thriving and doing it your way! Join me and RSVP 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!  |
AuthorJackie Tahara of UnBlink Studio Categories
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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!