Next Steps

Last week I took this mini course offered through Indy Bloom on IG and it was the motivation that I needed.

After the happenings in my life over the past 2 years I have had a few false starts at getting back into surface pattern design. My heart is there. But my creativity isn’t. I’ve tried creating again and it just falls flat. So I have been giving myself some grace to get myself going creatively again.

Mindy, from Indy Bloom is a superstar at selling her patterns on Spoonflower. She has figured it out! And she is making a nice profit from her designs. She offered this mini course as a hook for her more in-depth course on designing and selling on Spoonflower and it began to stir something in me again. As I thought about it I realized that even though I may not be ready to jump right in with creating a new pattern collection, I can upload my previous designs to Spoonflower and offer them for sale!

I started repaperedshop already on Spoonflower, before my life spiraled, by uploading two different pattern collections and making them available for sale. But I didn’t really know what I was doing. Now, having taken this little inspirational course, I have new thoughts and a renewed fervour for moving forward.

So, with a little motivation in my pocket, I will take the next step…

New Collection: Strong & Sweet

I have been busy. Making patterns. And collections.

And it makes my heart sing…

This is the second collection that I have designed. It was created around an outdoor/hunting theme and inspired by my youngest daughter. She is my tomboy, my outdoors girlie and so very independent. There is a strong, tough side to her, but at the same time she is so soft and sweet. All of the designs for this collection were made with her in mind.

Strong & Sweet Collection by rePapered

After designing this collection I realized that it would make a sweet theme for baby products. Can you imagine a onesie covered in flower camo? Or a swaddling blanket in the mountain landscape? Perhaps a diaper bag lining with the X and Os? And the mix of deer, arrows and flowers on a nursery wall would sure cozy up the room, don’t you think?

I would love your feedback on this collection.

Which prints are your fave?

First Pattern Collection

So…I made my first pattern collection!

While taking the Immersion course with Bonnie Christine, I was creating the motifs for a collection. By the end of the course I was able to put all of my newly acquired skills together to complete an entire pattern collection. This is a big deal for me!

During the past year I have been creating my own patterns using my original watercolour motifs and then trying to put them together using my skills in Photoshop. But Photoshop does not hold a candle to Illustrator when it comes to creating a pattern. So it was high time to learn Adobe Illustrator and that is what I did.

I named my collection Leaping Forward as we were on the verge of spring as I took the Immersion course and it was a nod to my decision to leap into a new adventure.

A collection consists of two hero prints…

Bird in Paradise

Royal Lotus

Then there are a variety of blender prints and coordinates…

Dripping Down & Backyard Bunnies

Field Flowers & Scratchy Grass

Little Minis & Picnic in the Park

Sketchy Blooms & Budding Blooms

Looking back I have so much to learn, but looking forward…I am ready to leap!

Keeping A Sketchbook

Wow.

The start of 2020 has not been what I expected.

The world is in turmoil over the COVID-19 pandemic and life is not as we formerly knew it.

But life does go on - right?

We just have to establish a new normal. And we can do that by continuing with the things we love and letting go of the things we cannot control.

So that is what I have been doing during this time of social distancing and isolation. I have been doing what I love and that is learning and creating.

In early spring I signed up for a course from Bonnie Christine, who is a well-known surface pattern designer. Her course taught me, not only the tools of Adobe Illustrator, but the business of pattern design. And I am all in! I will have more to share over the coming weeks on this, but for now, I want to simply share what is making me happy…

Inspired in the Immersion course, I am now keeping a daily sketchbook.

Sticker courtesy of the Immersion course by Bonnie Christine

It is not perfected drawings and I scribble things out a lot. But it is becoming a collection whatever comes to mind. Sometimes I see something inspiring on TV, or Pinterest, or IG, or in a magazine (like my new fave Uppercase) and it just needs to be captured.

Keeping a running sketchbook has not been a part of my creative practice in the past. But with the intent to make patterns, everything is now an idea to be captured as I do not know where it could possibly lead. This sketchbook is becoming my favourite thing to do while being holed up at home. And I am loving it.

Sometimes I simply write words or ideas that inspire me…

Words from Elisabeth Olwen

Sometimes I have ideas for a collection and sometimes it is just motifs that I want to explore and play with more. At any rate, the pages of this sketchbook are quickly filling and I cannot believe that I have never taken on this practice before!

How about you?

What are you inspired by in these crazy times?

What are you dedicating your time to that makes you happy?