Happy Pink Saturday

Today is Pink Saturday and Bev over at How Sweet the Sound has oodles of pink posts to share on her Pink Saturday post. I recently received some material from Spoonflower Fabric Designs and I wanted to share the information with my friends from Pink Saturday. I have created some things, but the best part is that you can use this company to create too!

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved to match things. I love tons and tons and tons of designs and textures and putting them all together with the same color pallet. Oh, and I just love to paint roses, roses, roses. And paint them on all kinds of surfaces. I remember when I was young and discovered Laura Ashley fabrics, and all those dreamy little roses in the same color pallet as bigger roses, stripes and poka dots.

Then when I was in Asia I discovered Biggy Best, and decorated my daughter's rooms in coordinates of all kinds. Martha Stewart takes the guesswork out of matching your color pallet, I just love that! Now I have meandered over to young styles created by Anna Maria Horner.



I painted this ceramic plate a few years ago.



Did you hear me today, did you hear me squeal with delight all the way from Massachusetts? Well, you should have. I couldn’t contain my joy when I opened up the mailbox and my Spoonflower swatches were inside.



Just imagine the possibilities of designing when you can self-publish a book holding your favorite words and photographs. Then you can paint originals and print gorgeous giclee’ prints and drop by your local ceramics shop and paint dishes or vases or, well the possibilities are endless.

And now thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Spoonflower you can, yes, you can, print your own textile designs. You simply go to their web site and sign up. They are currently in Beta test mode, and will issue you an invitation. Once you have your invitation, you upload an image and ta dah, they mail you your fabric. They recommend that you order a swatch to see how your design has turned out. Once you receive your samples, you have your very own fabric designs in the dreamy 100% cotton, ready to order.



I designed one print and one large design companion piece.



I am sorry for my excitement, but this is really a dream come true. I love to create beautiful things, but creating tons of them is very difficult. Once I design something I always dreamed of being able to produce the exact design over and over again.


This sheet of Roses, Roses, Roses is printed on German Etching paper for you to use as tags, or for your crafts. It is available on Etsy

My Xerox is showing again, but it is true, I love that idea (I worked for Xerox for many years, and I just loved it there). Now, thanks to people like Spoonflower, you can design and do it in an affordable way and provide others with your designs.

A Material Girl, originally uploaded by bluebirdsandteapots.

Ta dah...
I have more coming too, Christmas ones. I will be learning how to create my designs digitally also on photoshop. Oh, my heart’s desire is so close. Now instead of browsing material shops, I can have the joy of creating my own. The possibilities are endless.

Designing to my hearts content, originally uploaded by bluebirdsandteapots.

Spoonflower will be offering the ability to sell your designs on-line. They have a flickr group that will allow you to see all the wonderful designs. On their web site, you can learn all about it, and read the blog. I learned about Spoonflower by listening to one of my favorite podcasts called Craftypod with Sister Diane. Here is a link to her interview with Stephen Fraser, co-founder of Spoonflower.


I just added this 8 x 10" mixed-media print of A Pot of Roses to my Etsy Shop. I chose the beautiful Hahnemuhle German Etching paper to print on 310 gsm. This Fine Art Ink jet paper really shows off the texture of this mixed-media pot of roses. Measuring 8 x 10 image with a small white border, presented in an 11 x 14 white mat with 8 x 10 opening. The original watercolor painting was uploaded to my computer and digitally colored to add just the right texture.



Well, I am so happy, I have already been flying around the ceiling designing things for Christmas. My plan is to incorporate material with my mixed-media on canvases. Like little Santa coats on my Santa paintings. So, please visit Bev and enjoy all the Pink Saturday posts this weekend.



The song for this post is Give Me The Simple Life.