snippet

 

Just a little snippet of what I've been working on this week. There hasn't been nearly enough free time this week to work on the ideas swirling in my head, and the assignments piling up on my desk.

Oh well...

funky florals

 

happy elephants

At this time last year I was watching elephants in the Serengeti.

This year I am trying to keep my wanderlust at bay while I focus on The Art &; Business of Surface Pattern Design.

It's my grandma's birthday this week, and she collects elephants, so I created a little happy birthday elephant graphic for a card and some giftwrap.

 

 

 

bold flower patterns

 

A new big flower doodle, and my messy geometric pattern from the other day recolored. Happy Weekend!

more messy stitching

This pattern was inspired by a creative exercise in my Art & Business of Surface Pattern Design. Part of this exervise was to get off the computer and create with your hands, which was fun. The challenging part (for me) was to use geometrics and not floral motifs.

 

 

 

a messy little dog

 

I needed to take a break and just do something creative, spontaneous, that wasn't on my to-do list, and just make something that wasn't 'perfect'.

Inspired by my little dog, I sketched out this quick, messy little doodle. I quite loved it, in all its messy, imperfect-ness.

 

I've been needing to watercolor something, so I sketched him out again on watercolor paper, and started painting. I outlined in black marker, and then added my super messy free motion stitching. I included a shooting star, because I will give this painting to my mom and the shooting star will make her smile.

 

 

The peak on the head came out a bit much in the painting version, but she does have quite a moehawk sometimes, so I'm alright with that.

playing make believe

I always struggle with the balance of my "real" job versus my creative "job" (or what I hope to eventually turn into some semblance of job). Right now, my real job wins most of the time because it pays the bills, and my creative ventures are jammed into my evenings and weekends, and always leaves me feeling like there is never enough time.
Sidenote: most days, I do really like my "real job". I get to sit around looking at exotic vacation destinations most of the time, and I doubt I will ever give it up completely.

So today I took the day off from my real job, and spent the day pretending that I was a creative professional. And it felt right.

I took a break this morning and went out for a ski with my parents, something that I've been wanting to do all winter. It was an absolutely stunning morning on the trails.

 

I did actually get some work done after that, and finished up my website

www.creativeoctopusdesigns.com

It's been a wonderful day of make believe! Hopefully there will be many more days like this! 

 



Ceiling Fan Seed Pods

 

Whoever built my house must have got an amazing deal on ceiling fan light fixtures, because almost every room in my house has one (and we live in the far north, where even in the summer its not really hot). I had seen some beautiful zentangle-doodled ceiling fan blades, and I've been meaning to do something fun with my fan blades for some time now.

Then all of a sudden, the perfect plan. Spoonflower's Wall Decals.

I modified my existing seed pod pattern, since my ceiling fans are white, I didn't want to use cream in my design. And I love it with the new color scheme. More

 

than the original maybe. So I ordered it. And because I'm cheap, I always go for the cheapest shipping option. Which in my experience with Spoonflower, means my order will arrive approximately a month after I order it. So I waited, and wondered how I was going to last a month until I could see this decal on my ceiling fans.

To my complete amazement, my decals showed up the same week I ordered them! They rolled into my office on Friday afternoon (in this gorgeous spoonflower tube), ready for a little Friday evening craft.

The material is amazing, and it always brings me great joy to see my patterns in real life, on real things. An hour or so later, I have cute ceiling fan blades. They bring me much joy, as does the remaining amount of decal I have to make something else beautiful.

 

 

 

 

the makerie goodie bag design

I've spent much of this week bedridden with a flu, so it was easily the highlight of my week to hear from the Makerie that they had choosen my design to be featured on their goodie bag's at the upcoming retreat in April.

You can see their post here.

I am absolutely thrilled! What an exciting start to 2013!

2013

Happy New Year!

I am looking forward to many adventures and I have an ever-growing list of things to do. I still have many things on my 24 list to get done in the first part of the year. I hope its going to be a busy, productive, creative year.

I am trying to run once a week, working towards my goal of 5km in 30 minutes.

Right now I am at 2.52 miles, or about 4km.

I am going to sew a quilt. I have big plans for the ceiling fan in my studio. I need to purge and re-organize my studio in a BIG way. I am going to bake more. I am going to do yoga once a week. I am going to paint just for fun. I am going to use the big calendar above my computer and keep track of stuff.

Its going to be a good year!