2014 Tea Towel Calendar

A new contest at Spoonflower called the 2014 Tea Towel Calendars Contest has begun.  This year for my entry I created a Dala horse design. After I entered the contest it was brought to my attention by a very talented designer at Spoonflower named Rhonda Designs that 2014 is the year of the Wood Horse in Chinese Astrology.  I thought that was so cool and such a great coincidence.  

I have always loved Scandinavian artwork and my design was also inspired by a post from a blog that I love to follow called Silver Shoes & Rabbit Holes. In this post Danzel writes about her trip to Lindsborg, Kansas also known as Little Sweden U.S.A. If you would like to read her post and see her fabulous and enchanting pictures of the festival she attended that inspired my design please click on Midsummer's Festival! Let's Pretend to Be Swedish!  She also has two other fun posts to check out titled St. Lucia Day in Kansas and Happy Midsummer!  If you have never heard of Silver Shoes & Rabbit Holes before you must check it out! Your inner child will be glad that you did! :)

Here is my tea towel design titled 2014 Horses & Birds.

2014 Horses & Birds

Dala Horses at Society6

If you would like to vote in the 2014 Tea Towel Calendars Contest at Spoonflower please click here.  You do not have to be a member to vote and you can vote for as many as you like.  I would love to have your vote if you like my design!

Stargazing Night Owls

A new contest at Spoonflower has begun!  It is the Constellations Contest.  For all you stargazing lovers out there this will be right up your alley!  My piece is titled Stargazing Night Owls.

Stargazing Night Owls

Stargazing Night Owls Throw Pillow

Lots of lovely starry night designs in this contest! I would love your vote if you like my design. :)

The Constellations Contest has ended.  Thank you to everyone who voted for Stargazing Night Owls.  

Easter Birdies

Happy Easter!  Happy Spring! 

Easter Birdie Egg Hunt at Spoonflower

Easter Birdies Cheater Quilt at Spoonflower

Ornaments

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree how lovely are your branches!  Here is our Christmas tree this year decorated by the girls, myself and my son who had more fun taking the ornaments down and gifting them to his Grandmother.  It was funny really.  The girls would be busy decorating and my 13 month old son would sneak over and take them down and feel great joy giving them to his Grandma.  

I remember one year when the girls were smaller I let them decorate the tree all by themselves without any help from me and all of the ornaments were on one spot on the very bottom of the tree.  They were so proud of their decorating.  I just couldn't bring myself to change a thing about it.  It made me smile it made me think as they get older we'll see the ornaments get placed higher and higher upon the tree but for that Christmas it was just a nice reminder of how little they are.  How I wish I could bottle it all up.  Christmas memories are pure treasures.  This year the girls decorated about 3/4 of the tree and at times getting up on their very tippy toes.  I helped with the very top and we did our best to keep the boy from gifting them to others. :-) 

I adore ornaments.  I adore them because they all have a story.  Some are so old and hold such great memories and some have dates to remind us of a special time or of a special someone.  I have ornaments for the year of all my children's births, one that I got as a present the year my husband and I got married, ornaments with family pictures, and homemade ornaments which are my most absolute favorite.  I love how collections of ornaments are different in every single home making the tree even that much more special.

 

 

I went on a search online for ornaments that I would love to have or ones that just caught my eye because they felt special to me.  Here are some that I found on my little ornament search.

 

  Willow Tree Angels Embrace Ornament

 

 

 

Old World Christmas Man in the Moon Ornament

 

 

 

Old World Christmas Ornament Sewing Machine

 

 

 

Marquis by Waterford Traditional Snowman Ornament

 

 

 

Multi-Color Retro Christmas Bubble Lights

 

Oh my word!  Do you remember these?  These bubble lights were my most favorite on my parents' and my grandparents' Christmas trees.  Oh I have always loved these lights!

 

I also wanted to share that for the first time this year I have designed a few Christmas ornaments that are for sale at my shop at Zazzle.

 

Holidays Collage Ornament

 

 

 

Angel Ornament

 

 

Christmas Birdies Ornament

 

 

 

Christmas Birdie Ornament

 

 

 

Holly Jolly Birdie Ornament

 

When we decorate our tree we have all of the favorite Christmas music playing in the background.  Christmas just isn't Christmas without Nat King Cole, and my newest Christmas music must have is Michael Bublé.

 

Happy decorating everyone!  Have fun creating new memories as you hang your precious ornaments upon the tree!

Christmas Quirky Birdies

Yay!  The holidays are here!  This holiday season I would like to introduce to you all a very quirky group of little birdies.  These festive Christmas birdies are here to bring a little extra holiday cheer and can be found on fabric at my Spoonflower shop and on many different items for sale at my shops at Zazzle and Society6.

Home for the Holidays Birdies Pillow

Super cute and perfect to bring holiday cheer to any living space!

Christmas Birdie Fa La La La La Mug

This is sure to make you feel cheerier in the morning

with your first cup of joe. :-)

Holly Jolly Christmas Birdie Mug

How often do you get to see a bird wearing antlers on their head. 

I mean really? :-) 

Happy Holidays Birdie

I see this style of hat everywhere.  In fact I also own a similar winter hat and pretty sure I look just as goofy! :-)

Christmas Birdies Cheater Quilt at Spoonflower

Quilts make such special gifts and this cheater quilt

would brighten any home for the holidays!  Christmas is almost here and cheater quilts are so easy and super fast to make

...so I've been told! :-)

Christmas Birdies

fabric design at Spoonflower.

Holly Jolly Christmas Birdie Tshirt

Be the life of the party!  Why not? :-)

Christmas Birdie Infant Clothing

So sweet for the little ones!

Home for the Holidays Greeting Card

Haven't gotten your Christmas cards yet this year?!  Look no further!  These quirky birdies would love to be mail delivered to your loved ones!

Christmas Birdies Throw Pillow

Also check out my Society6 shop!  I have this cute throw pillow with the Christmas Birdies design size 16" x 16" that includes pillow and insert for only $27.00!!  While you are there check out all the Christmas Birdie designs that I have currently for sale as art prints and throw pillows. 

To see more fabulous items featuring these festive quirky Christmas birdies please visit my shop at Zazzle and

to see more of the Christmas birdies fabric collection please visit my shop at Spoonflower.

I am so happy it's the holidays and so very happy to finally get these wacky cast of characters out of my head and into the world.    

Hope they brought a little smile to your face this holiday season!  I'm just sure there is a children's book here somewhere.  Stay tuned I might just be crazy enough to put something together before Christmas is here. 

Matisse Contest at Spoonflower

I love Henri Matisse's artwork.  When I was in college for my senior jury I did a one woman monologue called Darleen Dances by Betsy Robinson, and for that piece found inspiration in the artwork of Matisse's painting called The Dance.  It has always been a favorite of mine.  There is so much movement in his style and vivid colors that to me it's mesmerizing. 

For this week's contest Spoonflower is partnering with the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.  They have asked us to design textiles that would look at home in a Matisse painting.   The top ten designs will be featured at a First Thursday and Art for All events at the Nasher Museum on Thursday, December 6, 2012.  We were also given a specified color palette.  Here is my design for the contest.

She Loves Me She Loves Me Not

In my own interpretation of Matisse's style I chose to create movement through dancing stars, flying birds and falling petals.  Thus came the title for this design She Loves Me She Loves Me Not.

Camping Contest

This is my design for the Camping Contest at Spoonflower.  I decided to go with a quilt style this time around and ended up creating six pieces for the collection.  I'm not a big camper but I do enjoy the outdoors.  For this one I had to go back in memory lane when I was a girl scout and when I was a young girl going to the lake house every summer for years up in Minnesota.  How I love Minnesota!  I can still remember riding a bicycle through the woods and feeling wrapped up in all that nature looking up in the trees while pedaling forward.  It was a beautiful place to be.  I don't normally use clip art for my work but for some reason it just seemed fun to do with this design and to transform it a bit into my own by using colors and textures.  If you would like to check out my collection please click on Gone Camping.

Gone Camping 

The Camping Contest begins on Thursday, August 16th and best to get your vote in by Monday, August 20th.  You do not have to be a member to vote.