Does anyone else out there love the smell of crayons?

I have been so busy creating accessories lately.  I am making bags, and hats, and belts and various other creative items for my new shop.  Starting a small business is alot more work than I ever thought it would be, but I am loving it.  So, that is the biggest reason that I haven't written a blog post recently.  I keep vowing to myself that that will change.  Here is my entry into this weeks Spoonflower contest.

This week, I have been working with crayons.  The weekly Spoonflower contest was to create an 18 inch napkin design using only crayons on paper.  My kids have lots of crayons, but not many that are much longer than a 1/2 inch.  Needless to say,  I headed out to the store and bought a new pack of Crayola.  I got the 64 pack with the handy crayon sharpener on the back.  I love that little sharpener!  I have to confess,  I broke a couple of crayons on purpose just so that I could use it.  Anyhow, as I was coloring my ideas for a napkin design, a flood of memories came back to me.  I thought of some great times that I layed on the floor of my bedroom transforming my Dad's plain typing paper into colorful posters and patterns.  My earliest childhood memories involve crayons, plain typing paper, and a pair of those little rounded edge safety scissors.  We didn't need video games or 24 hour cartoons to keep us busy back then!  Ok, ok I am dating myself.  Well, back to the crayons this week.  My son Cullen, who is 3, was my right hand man.  I thought I would pull out the crayons, do a quickie design for the contest, and give the box to him.  As it turns out, Cullen was not the only one who wanted to color.  When the new box was opened the fresh, somewhat sweet, and totally unique smell of new crayons hit me.  I don't know why, but it inspired me to get down on the floor and color.  Cullen and I spent several hours over several days making a beautiful, colorful collage of flowers, and apples, and bugs, and letters.  I have to say,  I really love the smell of crayons.   Perhaps life would be happier if we all let the laundry wait for a day or two, and colored with our children.  I know the past few days have been some of the happiest I have had in a long time.

Semifinalist!

Today I found out that my pattern "On The Go" was selected as one of the 75 semifinalists in the Spoonflower/Michael Miller Project Selvage competition.  What a rush!  I have this overwhelming feeling of accomplishment that I have not felt in sooo long!  I know that this is only the first stage of the competition, but still....It has been a long time since I got this kind of recognition.  There are so many excellent patterns in the contest.  There are even some that I expected to see in the top 75 that are just not there.  The task for this initial stage was to create a pattern for baby boys.  (For any of you out there who would like to help me get into the next phase of the contest,  you can go to Spoonflower.com and vote in the weekly contest for my entry.  My call name is Fabgirl 42 and my pattern is the one posted with this note.) I guess the ideas came easily to me since I am surrounded by boys.  My three wonderfully creative sons all contributed to my design.  They stood over my shoulder and suggested vehicles that I include in my pattern.  It was fun, and they really felt like part of the process.  My older boys came home from school today and immediately asked if I had made it into the top 75.  They look at my patterns both woven and printed and already think I am famous.  It feels good to have their support and encouragement.  So please excuse me while I don my rockstar sunglasses and make some  dinner for my biggest fans!

Spoonflower really is fun!

A few months ago, I found Spoonflower.com.  It has been a great outlet for my pent-up creative energy.  I have been making at least one new pattern a week which I have been entering into their weekly themed contest.  The picture attached to this post is my submission for this week's theme Maps.  My Spoonflower ID is Fabgirl42 for anyone who is interested. What fun Spoonflower is! I have not won a contest yet, but a few times I was in the top 10 designs.  At the same time, I am generating a library of work which is inspiring me to make things to sell in an Etsy shop that I opened.  Alot has happenned since my last post in December.  Things are looking up!  I am going to try to start posting a weekly blurb about what is going on in my design world.