Spoonflower feathers and bells

There's so much going on getting ready for craft shows but I am loving the fabric design so much lately. And two Spoonflower contests sparked my interest. The first (starting today) is "feathers". This was my design, Snowy Feathers (this is what a fat quarter looks like):

Then the week after that is "bells" so I thought I would work on that one at the same time. My design is called Bluebell Field. The picture at the top is the 8 x 8" swatch size, and here's what a fat quarter looks like:

This contest called for a small scale print. I think small scale prints are my favourite, they're nice for quilts and I also like to make little things like pouches so they work for that too. For things like curtains I would go bigger - Snowy Feathers drapes anyone?

It takes a while for my sample to be printed and then mailed to Canada, but you can't make your designs available for sale until you receive a proof of your design. So I thought I would get a jump on it this time so if someone likes a print they don't have to wait for weeks until it's available. I've already sold some of my Green Garden and Storybook Cottage tea towel calendar fabric and I can tell you it was very exciting.

Don't forget, the 2-for-1 fat quarter sale is going on all week! You can combine any designs in fat quarter sizes and you will see the discount right away in your shopping cart. This is going on until Friday December 2nd.

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Spoonflower "Green Garden" fabric

My Spoonflower Green Garden fabric washed and trimmed

I did finally manage to find my Spoonflower Green Garden fabric! I ordered a fat quarter and I thought I would show you what I've done with it. I've been wanting to make some pencil cases for ages so that's what I made.

I ordered the quilt weight cotton, so I added a thin layer of muslin to back it, and then used a thicker solid green cotton for the back of the pencil case. Gingham seemed like the obvious choice for the interior.

I'll be bringing pencil cases to my next craft show, A Handmade Holiday this Saturday in Kensington market. This show also happens to be the launch of the Kid Icarus screen printed 2012 calendar. I illustrated April and I can't wait to see the finished calendar. The calendar is a limited edition of 125 priced at $80.

Here are all the details:
A Handmade Holiday
Time: Saturday December 3rd 2011 (one day only)
Time: 11:00am – 6:00pm
Location: St. Stephen-in-the-Fields, 103 Bellevue Ave (College and Bellevue)


My Green Garden fabric is also available at Spoonflower.com, and this week fat quarters are 2-for-1! A really good deal I've taken advantage of myself to order extras of my kite fabrics. My shop now also has my Storybook Cottage calendar which is formatted for cotton-linen fabric - perfect for tea towels.

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Pompom party

Getting ready for the pompom party tonight at the Workroom. More details here. Everyone is welcome!

The Workroom
1340 Queen Street West
7-10pm

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Crafternoon Tea - Tiny handmade books

Sometimes I find myself sort of compulsively making things that nobody really needs. A case of "the heart wants what it wants" I guess. In this category you will find my miniature origami books. While I originally intended them for dollhouses (and dolls) I discovered this morning that I also like them as little tree ornaments.

These are the first items I've made for sale under my "tiny handmade" label and I thought I would make a little squirrel logo to grace the packaging.

I've made lots of tiny handmade book sets in red/pinks and green/blues and yellow/golds. They would make a sweet present for the dreamer in your life. And they will be available at Crafternoon Tea this Saturday. My recommendation: come for the crafts, give-aways and raffles then stay for tea.

Crafternoon Tea 2011 (7th Holiday Edition) ~ Leslieville

Saturday, November 26 at 11am - 5pm

at Queen St East Presbyterian Church

947 Queen St East at Carlaw, Toronto, ON M4M 1J9

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Crafty news

Lots of things to share with you today. First of all, I just got a spot in City of Craft 2011! Yay! I'm so happy to be in this show again this year.

My 2011 holiday cards are printed and I'm cutting and folding today. These ones are in a square format. I found the perfect square envelopes on Etsy at this lovely shop: Papier Lapin.  Helen is so friendly and even arranged for local pick-up so I didn't have to wait. Not to mention saving on shipping. It's hard to find square envelopes, and the ones in her shop are even eco-friendly. I'll have this card design available in sets or single cards at all my craft shows coming up.

And last, but not least, I had so much fun creating my Spoonflower contest entry this week for the topic "Kites". Some animal friends flying kites in a field on a windy day. I always like a limited palette.

The amazing thing about Spoonflower is that you can make your designs available for sale and you receive royalties. To sell a fabric you need to proof a sample yourself so not all my designs are available yet, but here's a link to my Spoonflower shop. I've ordered a proof of my Storybook Cottage tea towel calendar fabric so that should be in the shop soon.

p.s. I did receive my Green Garden sample fabric, and I would like to show you (thank you for asking Kristen!) but now I can't find it. Hopefully that will turn up soon...

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Illustration Friday - Quiet

I haven't done Illustration Friday in ages, but I still get the email notices and I liked the topic "Quiet" so much I had to do a quick little picture today. An alternate title would be "Hide-and-Seek". You can click on the picture to see it a bit larger. Thanks for visiting!

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Kid Icarus screen printed 2012 calendar

UPDATE: the Calendar will launch at A Handmade Holiday, a craft show in Kensington Market on Dec. 3rd! I will also be there as a vendor.
Time: Saturday December 3rd 2011 (one day only)
Time: 11:00am – 6:00pm
Location: St. Stephen-in-the-Fields, 103 Bellevue Ave (College and Bellevue)

I was recently invited to illustrate a month for the Kid Icarus screen printed 2012 calendar. I love projects like this where I'm given complete creative freedom. I saw it as a chance to continue developing my digital style and I've created my favourite piece to date.

I asked for spring, and was given April which is perfect because it's my birthday month. I was inspired by the lovely cool freshness of early spring. My original concept was to have a tree with little animals hanging out their clothes on laundry day, and each piece of laundry would have a day in the month. It wasn't quite working, so I reworked the composition dramatically but in the end it still had the original atmosphere I wanted.

The main challenge for me was working in two colours and trying to make sure the art would work for screen printing which is new to me. Something I suspect I will be trying before very long!

I can't show you the whole piece yet in order to maintain the suspense until the calendar is released but I will update you when it is out. It will be a limited edition of 125 calendars and will be for sale at Kid Icarus (a beautiful little shop in Kensington Market that I recommend you visit anyway) and Magic Pony.

An update on craft shows for me this year: I'll be participating in Nathalie-Roze's Crafternoon Tea on November 26th and at the Kid Icarus Handmade Holiday show December 3rd. I've added banners to my sidebar with links.

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Spoonflower calendar contest

It's been busy this week but I wanted to find time to fit in a design for the Spoonflower calendar contest The deadline is November 8th (today!). It's a storybook cottage in the woods with a 2012 calendar on the roof. If you like my design you can vote for me on Spoonflower starting tomorrow (click on the picture above if you'd like to see it larger).

The contest preview was on a 18 x 21" fat quarter, so this is how I designed it, but the cotton/linen tea towel fabric is a different size so I may reformat the design to fit. Alternatively I think it could make a nice poster.

UPDATE: I've formatted this design for cotton/linen which is perfect for a teatowel. The storybook cottage teatowel calendar is available on Spoonflower here. Each fat quarter is a tea towel, you just need to trim the edges and hem. The updated image is on Flickr here.

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