I really love the colour palette of this recoloured version of my Cowrie Star pattern.  I've called the palette "Cotton Candy" because its bright and sweet with that distinctive shade of pink at the heart of the palette.  Hex codes as follows (from top to bottom): 
​
#FFE0FF
#E6DBCA
#7AE1E0
#FEAEEB
#FE9591
#F35D66

Find this pattern in my Spoonflower and Redbubble shops.

There are several designs that I have numerous colour options for.  There's something magical about recolouring a design and seeing new elements that were not prominent come to the fore.  In some cases the design can transform into something completely different.  

One such set of patterns is "Cowrie Star".  This was one of the first patterns that I created when I first started getting interested in pattern design.  The original colouring was an incongruous combination of sky blue, hot pink, lilac and yellow, with dark grey accents.  I decided that I didn't like it so I attempted to recolour it (at that point it was still quite early in my design journey).  I ended up with a really bold orange, blue red and pink combination.  I actually quite like it, but it is quite difficult to look at! 😂  I wouldn't want an entire outfit made out of it, but it would work wonderfully as a bold accent or trim, or in patchwork and quilting.

In the second example the stars are much more prominent and the detail in the surrounding elements is much more noticeable.  For a while it was just these two variations, but I can never resist tinkering so now there are an additional five variants.

In the first two versions the stars and the surrounding, intersecting rings are quite prominent.  The desaturated orange/blue version shows more of the background detail.    In the pink/sky blue version the star motifs and the surrounding segments look more like isolated motifs compared with the previous three versions.  Finally in the last version the pattern looks very different - the larger outer star is more prominent and the surrounding segments look more connected and are more of a feature than in any of the previous examples.

I had a lot of fun trying out all these colour combinations and I really like the results - especially the mint/blue and the retro green with the 70s vibe.  I could probably keep going, but at some point you just have to stop! So that will be all... (for now).

All of the variants except the original are available to buy in my Spoonflower and Redbubble shops.
Spoonflower Shop
​Redbubble Shop

There's a sale on over at Spoonflower - free shipping on all order + 20% off wallpaper until end of play Friday 17th September.  

There are currently over one hundred wallpaper designs in my Spoonflower shop, from neutral to clashtastic colour palettes and simple motifs to intricate patterns.  Head over to Spoonflower to take a look.

A few weeks ago we went to the beach.  It's a beautiful stretch of coastline in South Wales with stunning cliffs and a pebble beach that gives way to sand when the tide is out.  We did some obligatory rock climbing and rock pool investigations before finding our way to a small cove-like stretch of beach. 

It was the perfect breeding ground for flat, skimming stones and unlike the rest of the beach there were pebbles in a number of different shades.  I immediately thought what a great colour palette they made and so I captured it for posterity! 

Hex codes:
#E6E9DE
#ADBAB1
#BBA097
#D0826E
#D6C07D

We're a month into Spring.  How is it the end of April already?!!  Anyway I've just released a new pattern in my Spoonflower shop - "Spring Woodland Wildlife".  It's a fun pattern featuring blossoming trees and woodland wildlife in a fresh, soft colour palette - perfect for kid's clothes, soft furnishings and bags.

Towards the end of last year I designed a series of Cut and Sew fat quarters on Spoonflower for creating fabric bows.  The fat quarters consist of five pairs of patterns that can be cut out and sewn together to create cute bows that can then be attached to hair clips or brooch backs, or used as accessories on clothing and bags.  Instructions for putting the bows together are included on the fat quarter panel.   

The beauty of the panels is that you only need one fat quarter to create 5 different bows as opposed to having to use 5 different fat quarters in each of the designs.

This would be an ideal project for a young sewist or a beginner, but would be a quick and easy make for the more experienced sewist.  And if you don't sew, the bows can still be made using fabric glue instead.

Attach the finished bows to hair bands or hair clips or create a fabric band and wear them as a bow tie.

Watch this short video to see how easy it is to put the bows together then head over to my Spoonflower shop to get the fat quarter panels.

So here we are, back in lockdown.  I honestly didn't think that we'd be here at this point.   As I work from home and don't really go out much, for the most part living in lockdown hasn't really affected my day-to-day life and I actually really enjoyed it last year.

One thing that does seem to be a symptom of having everyone around all the time though is that my creative mojo seems to have up and left me!  I just don't have the drive to design or make or create anything.  The same happened last year.  I'm pretty sure that part of it is a time issue; homeschooling the kids does take a chunk out of my day, but thankfully they're smart kids and don't need too much intervention so it's not completely immersive.  Maybe part of it is my introverted nature - I do like to spend time on my own and with everyone around I don't get the chance to just sit with myself and recharge as much as I normally would.  

So I'm getting through the days, but I don't feel like I'm making much progress.  In the past when I've felt lost and directionless making a good plan and daily schedule has really helped to get me back on track.  You can't exactly schedule creativity, but it seems like a good place to start.  

Tea towel calendars are now available to buy in my Spoonflower shop.  Choose from 4 designs - including a couple of variations on the theme of Birth Month Flowers featuring some gorgeous watercolour illustrations of the various flowers.  

For the Birth Month calendar designs I created a more traditional, ordered layout, and a more organic, contemporary layout. 

The designs were made to fit a fat quarter of Linen Cotton Canvas, but also fit onto a fat quarter of Lightweight Cotton Twill in case you prefer a lighter-weight material for your tea towels.  And if you don't want to sew them up yourself, you can also buy the ready-made tea towels.  

Redbubble now do jigsaw puzzles!  They've been live for a couple of months and I'm slowly but surely enabling jigsaws for as many of my designs as possible.  As many of them are repeating surface patterns, they make really difficult puzzles!  You can see a few below with many more available in my shop.  So if you enjoy a challenge head over to the shop and take a look.  The jigsaws are available with 30, 110, 252, 500 and 1000 pieces (252 piece puzzles shown). 

As I mentioned in an earlier post I opened a shop with Woven Monkey and so I am slowly uploading my existing designs to the platform.  It's an interesting process because it has made me revisit some designs that I'd sort of forgotten about.  Geo Wheels is one of the first surface pattern designs that I created, originally with white, aqua/mint and red backgrounds.  I couldn't resist playing around with more colours and loved the results with lilac, mustard and teal backgrounds so these are now available at Woven Monkey and also in my Redbubble shop.