Blog feature on Print & Pattern

Hooray, I just heared my work is featured on the Print & Pattern blog today!

It 's a very inspiring and cheerful blog, with all kind of patterns and lots of other whimsical stuff. Every day some new inspiration. And today it's my turn. That makes me happy and
I feel honoured  :-)  You can find the blogpost here

I must say the 'make art that sells' e-course I did with Lilla Rogers gave me a lot of inspiration to make these works. Some of them I even made during this inspiring course, so thank you, Lilla! :-)

Three Little Kittens

I join this weeks Spoonflower competition. Theme: kittenns in mittens.
I made this pattern after the nursery rhyme of Mother the Goose: three little kittens.
If you like it, you can support me and vote for it here
Thanks in advance!

I didn't know this rhyme, but I love it!

Three little kittens

The three little kittens, they lost their mittens,
And they began to cry,
"Oh, mother dear, we sadly fear,
That we have lost our mittens."
"What!   Lost your mittens, you naughty kittens!
Then you shall have no pie."
"Meow, meow, meow."
"Then you shall have no pie."

The three little kittens, they found their mittens,
And they began to cry,
"Oh, mother dear, see here, see here,
For we have found our mittens."
"Put on your mittens, you silly kittens,
And you shall have some pie."
"Purr, purr, purr,
Oh, let us have some pie."

The three little kittens put on their mittens,
And soon ate up the pie,
"Oh, mother dear, we greatly fear,
That we have soiled our mittens."
"What, soiled your mittens, you naughty kittens!"
Then they began to sigh,
"Meow, meow, meow,"
Then they began to sigh.

The three little kittens, they washed their mittens,
And hung them out to dry,
"Oh, mother dear, do you not hear,
That we have washed our mittens?"
"What, washed your mittens, then you're good kittens,
But I smell a rat close by."
"Meow, meow, meow,
We smell a rat close by."

Cowbear Party - week 2 - Make Art That Sells

This was the second week in part B of the Make Art That Sells course. It was all about the baby apparel market.Theme: Cowboys and Cowgirls, yeeha!

We were asked to develop a pattern with this theme appropriate for the baby apparel market. It's a totally new market for me, but I love to make patterns and I love to draw for kids. So it was a fun week for me!

I first did some research on the theme and gathered a lot of cowboy and their attributes and environments pictures. I had fun drawing them. It's such a good way to come into the mood of the assignment:

Ofcourse I also drew some cowboy faces with cowboy hats:

And lots of horses, here are a few:

I decided not to take cowgirls or cowboys for the assignment, but cowbears instead.
The whole week I had the Susanna song in my head, only the first sentence:

when I came from Alabama,
with a banjo on my knee...

That's what inspired me to make this Banjo Bear:

We were also asked to make lots of icons and variations in your presentation. I think this was the most challenging part for me. Also to make some patterns, called coordinates that fit with the main pattern. So it can be used in combination with each other to make clothes for kids.

Beneath you see the final result. If you wanna see it in a bigger size, click here

Next week we gonna look at the scrapbooking market. Also new to me.
I wonder what that will bring :-) Will be continued...

My 'umbrella mix' in the Spoonflower top 10!

Remember my umbrella mix? I asked for your votes and it did help!
My design is number 4 in this weeks Spoonflower contest.
See the whole top 10 here

I'm extra happy, because there were a lot of entrees this time.
My umbrella mix  got 431 votes! Thank you all very much!!
I really appreciate your support :-))

umbrella mix

It's voting time again! I can use your help and would be very happy with it! (again ;-))
Here's my entree for these weeks spoonflower contest. Theme: umbrella.
You can vote for it by clicking this link and scroll to find my umbrella mix.

I've tried to make a cheerfull design in contrast with those grey rainy days...
Ofcourse I also made an illustration to show the pattern on a dress:

Here you can see the umbrella mix on a cushion:

Because I liked the umbrella theme very much I made some more patterns on this theme.
'Cats and umbrellas' is one of them:

Here you can see the cats and their yellow umbrellas and boots on a cushion:

And another one: it's raining umbrellas. This was the last one I made.
Also a cheerful design:

The 'it's raining umbrellas' pattern on a cushion:

Because you can only add one design per week to the spoonflower competition, I had to choose. I didn't find that easy, but I chose for the umbrella mix (see the first image of this post). I'm curious: which one do you like the most?

Mad Tea Party Pattern

This week I join the Spoonflower competition again. Subject is tables and chairs.
I wouldn't think of such a theme, but it inspired me to make this 'mad tea party' pattern.
I like it to give them characters, as if they have their own party :-))

If you like it, you can vote for it here,  Last time I joined I reached the top 10 with your help. It would be great to reach that goal again! Thank you very much in advance.

Since last week you can order some fabrics and wrapping papers designed by me in
my Spoonflower shop. You are welcome!

My Parade in the Spoonflower Top 10!

Jippieeeeeee!
My Red Cheeks Factory parade made it to the top 10 of the Spoonflower contest :-)

Thank you all very much for your votes and support. You can find the whole top 10 here

Spoonflower contest - marching band

This week's theme of the Spoonflower contest was marching band.
It's a subject which I love :-)

 

When I was a theatre performer, we had an act called: 'de bakfietsfanfare'. My partner and I were riding together on a carrier cycle. He played the drums and I played the accordeon. So we had our own little marching (riding) band.

And in Holland we also have special 'marching band days'. I've been there a few times to take photographs. I love the synchronicity, the costumes, and the music. I always become happy, when I see one, that started already when I was a little girl (a looong time ago ;-))

Now I want to ask you a favour again: If you like my design, I can use your vote.

Click this link and scroll to find my Parade Thanks in advance!!!

Summerschool - Make It In Design - part 3

My designs for part three of the summerschool

Beginners brief theme jewels.

Jewels was not an easy theme for me, because I'm not a jewels type at all. I googled the theme and saw lots of earring ornaments. It inspred me to the pattern beneath.

I like it as a pattern, but for me it didn't fit the theme enough, so I did continue and made this pattern below, inspired by necklaces and a kind of flower jewels. (More flowers than jewels...) 

Still not yet satisfied So I did continue my jewels pattern journey. The next day I suddenly got this idea to draw ladies with necklaces and earrings. So I combined my favorite subject: faces with the jewels theme. Briljant idea, because now I became happy while making this jewels pattern :-) I also made up a title during the process, which I like very much: 'girls with pearls'

The theme for the intermediate brief was feathers. In part two I made already a feather pattern, so I added some birds to the theme. They also have feathers...

And I came up with my 'birds and feathers' pattern and made this illustration:

The advanced theme was also far from easy. Intricate chaos! Never made something like that. I played with shapes and made first this pattern with squares and circles.

It also had to be nice as a wallpaper. Well, would you put this on your wall? Me not!

So I continued, but the deadline was coming closer and I didn't had much time for such a complcated pattern. So I thought to skip it. But I also had the wish to complete the whole series of  nine assignments of this summerschool. So I did another attempt:

And I like this one more. Not that I want to put it on my wall, but I like the shapes and structures. With such a pattern I find it diificult to know when to stop. There are soooo many possibilities, I could have go on for a while. but there was the deadline, so I've submitted my last pattern too. I'm happy :-)

And now we came to the end of this inspiring summerschool I wasn't expecting anything. It was a free course, but it was great! It challenged me to dive into for me brand new themes  it broadened my horizon and I've made a lot of patterns. Good practice! Thanks to the Summerschool I even made a whole new category on my website: surface pattern design I'm really grateful for this opprtunity. Thank youuuuuuuu!

If you wanna see the whole gallery of patterns made by the others, click here.

Summerschool - Make It In Design - part 2

My designs for part two of the summerschool
Beginners brief theme tribal shapes

I googled and found lots of interesting shapes. A lot of them were in black and white. The ones I liked the most to play with, were feathers. First I made some various black feathers. (You can nearly see it on this small size, but I also added some triangles to them for more 'tribal' effect).

Then I began to play with them. I build a pattern in photoshop and make several try-out patterns in between to see if and how they work. Till I find the right balance. Then I added some color to the feathers to make it more lifely.

I also tried another pattern based on triangles,To try some more in this tribal theme, which is new to me. I like it, but when I saw the two patterns together, I decided (after a lot of positive feedback form my classmates) to go for the 'dancing feathers'

Theme of the intermediate brief: animal ptint. It is not my favorite theme. Yes I do like animals, but I'm not a big fan of panter, zebra and tiger prints. But after googling a bit I saw  ladybugs.  I thought this could make a nice pattern.  Fisrt I drew some ladybug shapes with a marker, scanned them and adjusted them in photoshop into a pattern.

For this brief we were asked to make a mock up on a bag.
I made this ladybug... eh...bag ;-)

Theme of the advanced track: tribal collage. Tribal shapes mixed with animal prints brought together as a patchwork pattern. I never done that before and it was quite a challenge to get a nice balance in it. To know when to stop, because I don't want it to be too full. It should be a pattern for kids.  I chose for little elephants and bright colors.

We also were asked to mock it up. On boxes this time. Because I couln't find the proper mock up photograph in time, I made my own chair with two cushions this time. and a bucket, all with the same pattern, but in various sizes.

It is very nice this summerschool challenges me to try out different things and make lots of patterns for my portfolio. I really like to make them and i'm always surprised by the outcome.

These and all the other patterns will be shown in the galleries. Published on the 22th of August. Still one part to go, will be continued...

Summerschool - Make It In Design - part 1

Here are my first three designs for the 'make it in design' summerschool:

Beginners assignment was to make a tropical summer pattern, I came up with this:

I like to see my patterns mocked up on clothes, so I made an illustration of a tropical girl.

I had to think of the Summer carnaval we celebrate here every year in Rotterdam, all kind of extravagant hats and wigs :) View all tropical patterns of the beginner brief 1 in the summerschool gallery 

The Intermediate assignment was to make a retro geometric pattern for a bathing suit.

I made several designs, it was hard to choose, but I submitted this ´summer diamonds´ design. Because I thought this was the most appropriate for a bathing suit. View all retro geometric patterns of the intermediate brief 1 in the summerschool gallery 

The  advanced assignment (yes, I signed up for that one too ;-)) was to create a water pattern:

I chose for a combination of dancing Octopuses and waves It doesn't show on the picture but I even succeeded to make it a seamless repeated pattern, which was quite a challenge with this design. View  all water patterns of the advanced brief 1 in the summerschool gallery 

The briefs and the work of the other participants are very inspiring. Next Monday we will get three new assignments. I Hope to find time to accomplish these too. Will be continued...

pattern of the day

I love to make patterns, this is my pattern of the day:

More patterns can be found here

hello sunshine

The summeschool of make it in design has started. It's an online course about making patterns and it's free. A lot of people are joining. It's fun!

Every two weeks we get new assignments. You could sign up for different levels. Although I'm quite new to this subject, I signed up for all levels\ And I am not the only one ;-) It stimulates me to dive into the pattern world, a fascinating and inspiring world.

This pattern I made a while ago: hello sunshine and you can find it in my Spoonflower shop. Will be continued! I wish you all a nice and sunny weekend!

Thank you!

Thank you all very much for your votes on my dancing rhinos design!

Unfortunately I didn't win, but I hope you will support me the next time again :-)
 If you are curious who did win: here are the winning designs. Happy weekend!

One of my facebook friends was so kind to tell me they published the voting results on the Spoonflower blog. My dancing rhinos are on the 22th place 0f 251 designs.
Not bad for a first time :)

Red Cheeks Factory patterns

This week I'm busy with patterns. Since the Make Art That Sells course, I'm interested in making them.and this week I opened an account on Spoonflower, a huge community where you can sell and buy all kind of fabrics, giftwraps, wallpapers etc.

Aboves design: 'jelly party' I've made some time ago,. It was the March-assignment for Bootcamp. Since I started in May, I wanted to do the assignment, because it was such a fun theme.

Below a dancing rhinos pattern. On Spoonflower they have a weekly contest and the theme was rhinoseroses. I never drew one, but I liked that too. You can vote on your favorite designs, maybe my dancing rhinos? If you want to vote, you are invited, click and scroll . Thanks in advance ;-)

And below a 'nerdie' design. I made this some time ago. I like to present the designs on a person and this fabric would be great for a pyama, don't you think?

Thiese days I worked very hard, because I heard there was free shipping on Spoonflower. Before you can sell your designs there, you need to order some samples, to see if the quality and the colors are right. So I've put a collection of 12 designs in my shop. Within two weeks I will receive the samples and then it's ready to purchase. I will let you know.

If you are interested you can find these patterns in my Spoonflower shop.
I'm very curious what you think of it.