I went back to basics with oil paints and a big old fat palette knife for this week’s Spoonflower challenge – Tonal Texture Wallpaper. I knew what I wanted and there was no way to digitally create the effect I was going for so time to break out the paints!
It makes stunning wallpaper, especially in small areas!
Is it wrong to salivate as you design? Hahahah! That was the case as I created my entry for this week’s Spoonflower challenge “Treat Yourself”
I went for some decadent waffles with all the topping… strawberries, blueberries, cream and of course maple syrup. Top it off with a cup of coffee and an extra plate of waffles and I am in heaven! And if I can’t play off my last name here something is wrong.
Hurray for a fun prompt for this week’s Spoonflower challenge . Out with blah neutrals and in with a prompt which welcomes color, A trip to the beach.
With the extra time we get for challenges now I am tending to play around with all sorts of designs and end up building a whole collection around the theme. If I am perfectly honest I prefer the tighter timeframe and lets face it, it results in less entries. I think one recent challenge had 24 pages of stuff to wade through. That is a big ask for anyone… I can hardly be bothered to even vote for myself let alone subject anyone else to the task.
Anyway, here is my entry
And here is the rest of the collection
Beach Trip Nantucket Bliss
Gosh I found warm minimal such a dull design prompt. why not just call it beige and be done with. Never the less I cracked on and produced so many designs I went design blind. I consulted my better half on which one to enter and let’s just put that baby to bed and move on. It will probably bomb but I am at the point of who cares.
Fleur Minimal
And these were the other contenders, they now make up a new collection Warm Abstracts in my Spoonflower shop
Gosh I have created quite a few frog themed designs over the years but it is the topic of this week’s Spoonflower challenge so I have dug deep and come up with a new froggy design. Actually I came up with three, the switch to a challenge every two weeks has given me a lot more time to play around. I prefer the time constraint of a challenge every week. It focuses the mind more and there are less entries per challenge. Having to wade through a staggering 20 pages this last challenge to find my design is no fun for me and anyone else voting. Ai generated designs are still prevalent too.
But let’s stop the moaning and get one with the design I have gone with!
these were the other contenders
I grew up in the UK and woodland were my playground. I really loved the spring when that fresh green appeared and the forest floors were carpeted in gorgeous bluebells! That was my inspiration for the forest biome spoonflower challenge.
I also did a light version too!
So with Spoonflower switching to challenges every two weeks now I find more time to build collections around the design I am create. This week the prompt is Court Sports and I came up with this
Tennis- Game Set Match
And he is the collection built around it
2024 and the first Spoonflower challenge of the year is Welcome Walls. I am kicking off the year the way mean to carry on and setting myself another goal of entering every single SF challenge which I have done and successfully completed for the last 4 years! There will be half as many challenges this year as SF are moving from a new challenge every week to a new one every two weeks.
So for my welcome walls challenge I was inspired to create something for foster kids coming into a new home. I wanted the design to convey love and caring while be welcoming at the same time.
This is what I came up with
of course I also created a little collection around my design
Welcome Happy Loving Home Collections
2023 and in the Spoonflower challenge world it has been a whirl. These challenges have grown and grown and it is now pretty typical to have 1500+ entries. Throw in the rising of AI generated designs and a new voting system, there have been a few issues to say the least. However I have kept to my personal goal and entered EVERY SINGLE CHALLENGE again. This marks my 4th year of doing so!
But that is not enough for me ( hahahaha), I now have to beat my previous results! Let’s start with a little recap of the last three years.
1 Win!
6 top ten placements
23 free proof placement
2 Wins!
11 top ten placements
23 free proof placement
3 Wins!
12 top ten placements
25 free proof placement
…drum roll please …
3 Wins, including 2 Pantone Challenges
8 additional top ten placements with 2nd place in the remaining Pantone Challenges
and a whopping 28 designs placed for free proofing
So a pretty decent year but I didn’t quite beat my 2022 results which I knew would be almost impossible!
Going forward Spoonflower will only be having challenges every two weeks so thing will definitely be different but I am again planning to enter EVERY single challenge!
Spoonflower and Pantone have once again collaborated to celebrate the Pantone color of the year for 2024. This year the color is Peach Fuzz.
Spoonflower/Pantone kicked off the beginning of 2023 with a challenge for Viva Magenta, the Pantone color for 2023. I won that challenge. They went on to have a further three challenges where I places, 1st, 2nd and 2nd. As a result I have been named the “Pantone Queen” and even had a little song compiled – to the tune of Dancing Queen– “Zoe’s the Pantone Queen….Pantone Queen on the palette scene….”
Now the pressure is on to maintain my reign hahaha!
