Gosh, sometimes the Spoonflower challenge prompts leave me completely void of ideas and when I first read the creative brief for the Vintage Sportwear challenge my mind was totally blank.

I fired up Adobe illustrator and something magical happened, from a simple idea designs just tumbled out. I love it when that happens!

The trouble is I am at odds now on what to enter.

Here are the contenders

Speedy Skiers

Black Double Diamond Ski Run

And here are the other designs that now form a new collection

Let’s Ski the Black run

Phew, it is the last of the Spoonflower bedding challenges this week. The prompt is Monochromatic Duvet covers.

I went totally Bauhaus retro with my design.

Bauhaus Squirrels

Of course a whole collection “Bauhaus Fall” rolled out from this one design as seems to happen a lot with me these days!

The Spoonflower challenges are moving onto Duvets this week and the prompt is Tween Spirit.

Tweens are a difficult age but then so are full blown teens! My inspiration for the design I created this week was the postcard montages I used to make on my bedroom wall. I’d collect all sorts of postcards and craft a beautiful artwork. I actually still have some of those postcards!

I picked a color scheme of “oh so trendy” pink and green and created a pig patchwork of designs

I also rustled up a whole collection based around these postcards

Preppy Tween Girl

Here comes another Pantone palette Spoonflower challenge, and I have to say the pressure is on. I have won ALL of them so far this year first with my Viva Magenta Vineyard and then my Ocean Action. I am thinking my Pantone run is over and I will probably BOMB in this challenge.

As usual the color palette was a bit of a challenge with none of the colors or combinations really jiving with me. I took inspiration from the color palette name “Mega Matter” and thought about the structure of living things and got led down a brainstorming path of x-raying flowers and the amazing translucent effects it produces. But enough blabbing onto the design itself.

Floral Life

Of course I went a little bat crazy with my ideas and all of these patterns are now for sale in My Mega Matter collection

Over the next few weeks all the Spoonflower prompts are for bedding, which is fine in my book, but the mockups used for voting make it very difficult to see the actual designs. For a contest this is very challenging!

The first one kicks off with the Sky. Now I am sure there will be loads of spaceships, blue skies and stars but I went with some simple clouds in vibrant warm colors.

Sunset Clouds

It is another East Fork challenge over at Spoonflower this week. As usual we have to use are given a pre determined color palette and once again are asked to design table linens… this time with an Autumnal feel.

My design features a pair of squirels sharing an acorn.

Share the Acorn Harvest

It might be the height of summer but this week I have been designing Halloween prints. The Spoonflower challenge is Monster Mash and I have gone over to the dark side and unleashed a Grrr Monster complete with scary teeth and hands you won’t want to hold!

Mr Grrr the monster also appears in a number of other designs. I had a lot of fun with him!

Visit my entire Halloween Collection

This week’s Spoonflower challenge is to create a design at home on table linens in the French countyside.

I don’t know why but I was stuck on a loop of olive oil and here is my entry for this week.

Oil Olive of Provence

The bottle designs also inspired a mini collection as quite often happens in my design process!