Spring? Summer? Autumn? Winter!

I cannot believe that I am still picking miniature rosebuds from my tiny rose bush outside, placing them in my teeny tiny, vintage vase and enjoying them for a little bit longer. And December is only a few short days away. Wow!

I think these beautiful minis started budding back in May or June; kept their petals growing all through summer and fall; now as it is nearly winter I guess they will finally be ready to go to bed for a few months, resting up for warmer seasons once again.

Though it may not be easy to see, this vase measures all of two and a half inches tall, so you can only imagine how small the rose buds are. As you know, I just love all things tiny, and nature is no exception to my miniature collection.

December is on the way, the winter season is coming, but the studio will keep blooming pink and aqua throughout the chilly, winter days.

Join the Joy of Christmas

A new Cricut cartridge is out just in time for Christmas and it is a pattern collection all about the joys of Christmastime. This is a pattern set I designed for ProvoCraft’s Cricut Imagine based on my collection The 12 Joys of Christmas, and it is available on their website and wherever retailers carry the brand.

The cartridge comes with 20 of my original designs and a few projects ideas. This time The 12 Joys of Christmas are in the candy collection colorway, which means pink, aqua and chartreuse are bringing sweetness and joy into your Christmas crafting! The collection has been named Christmas Wish by ProvoCraft, so you will need to look for that title on the cartridge. The cartridge will work with the Cricut Imagine, but I do not think it will work with the other Cricut cutting machines, as it is developed to be a printed pattern collection.

Since the images of the patterns are so tiny on Provo’s website I am showing them here as the complete set of twenty patterns so you will know what you are getting on the cartridge. Click on the image above to see the patterns at a larger size.

Get ready to take part in the joys of Christmas in a candy coated overdose!

Just add frosting!

I’ve been working on a new holiday collection that is all about the mood of the season. It is Frosting and it is just that. Designed to be the added touch, the frosting on top, if you will. It is Christmas without Santa, winter without the chill, and holiday without holly. This year my holiday colors are shifting a bit to the old turned new. Bringing back the sweetness and charm of 50’s carnation pink, the warmth and cool of robin egg and moss, the old renewed of 80’s taupe and gray, and a finishing touch of crisp, clean, snow white.

I couldn’t stop at designing just patterns for this collection, so I imagined these twinkling snowflakes encircling ornaments and voila, here are the results.

Okay, so for now the results are only on my site, not actual three dimensional ornaments to hang on this year’s tree, but maybe they will show up somewhere in the home just in time for holiday cheer. Maybe in paper crafting? Maybe in holiday decor? Maybe garlanding and glistening about? Wherever Frosting can be the added touch this season, sprinkle it about and let it shimmer, glisten and twinkle as you enjoy your holidays with family and friends.

I will let you know the minute you can find a little Frosting and where you can get it to top off your own creations in time for the holidays.

Striking it Lucky!

As many of you know, Woodland Tails is in my top five favorite collections of all time. This collection has been making its rounds in scrapbooking and papercrafting, cards, stuffed animals, baby dishes, baby clothes, blankets and bibs and now it gets a spot on the roster in quilting fabrics.

I was lucky enough to see the strike offs last week of these prints and get my own sneak peek at Woodland Tails with Riley Blake Designs. This collection will come with some prints in cottons, flannels, and laminates. The collection is due in quilt shops in February and it is a good mix of boy and girl prints and I believe (and designed) many of them to be unisex.

While I love, love, love pink, I’m not a big believer that all girls rooms need to be pink, nor all boys rooms blue, and many of these prints can be used for both. On the other hand, blushed walls would have a charming grace with the sweet lambs and deer for any girl’s room, and robin egg walls would be adorable with the raccoon and bear print for a boy’s room.

Above is the set of flannel prints for this collection, and they are as soft and cozy as one would imagine.

As soon as I have my hands on the entire collection I will let you know when and where to find it, and if Woodland Tails strikes your fancy as it does mine, with a little luck you will be able to get ahold of these woodland creatures in just a few short months.

The touch, the feel of cotton

Today I get to touch, I get to feel the first fabric collection I have done with Riley Blake Designs, 100% cotton, 100% perfect. The fabric with RBD is amazing, in quality and in color, and this collection looks just like I had expected.

This first collection is ModTod and it’s very mod but not only for the toddler. This collection has something for everyone, not just for your little rascal or tiny tot. There is something for the gal, who seems to love cute animals, but not the “cutesy” look. There is something for the not so young as well, because dots, stars and stripes are forever ageless and forever useful.

There are two main prints in the collection, one is mod pull toys that are perfect for your little ones. They are dogs and ducks and turtles and cows and more.

The other is gears, gears, gears. This is a print with gears and discs in a swirl of modern madness. In addition there is a print with mod dots, another with mod stars, a mod check, and a striped print lining these graphics up in a very mod way.

I can image not only a cool boys room decked out with this collection, but diaper bags, kids clothes, soft toys and animals, and quilts, quilts, quilts. I might even try my hand at toy design and make the weenie dog out of a few of these prints complete with wooden wheels and a pull string.

You can find this collection in three colorways, blue, cream and green. This is the blue colorway above.

This is the cream colorway above, which I like because it plays up the corals and cantaloupes.

This is the green colorway above.

Look for the ModTod collection in your favorite quilt and fabric shops as well as online stores. Just head to the mod corner of the store and I bet you’ll spot the dots and all of the other modern prints in this collection. Gear up to enjoy the fun when you start creating many projects with ModTod by yours truly and Riley Blake Designs.

I dare you not to touch this cotton fabric.

Strawberry Fields Forever!

The strawberry season is over, but the berry will always be in season. I have a new check design that just came out with Bradford Exchange and it is all about the berry, the strawberry, that is.

This is one of the patterns from the Berrylicious collection. Now it can be used by many and seen by others when your personal checks are sent to them. Sure, the first thing they’ll get excited about is the amount of cashola they notice on the check, but then they won’t be able to get their eyes off that field of strawberries in blue, yellow, pink and green.

The checks are now available at Bradford Exchange and you can find Strawberry Fields in checks, a checkbook cover and mailing labels.

In case you haven’t been checking in lately, I have a stripe collection that came out last year. This is when a simple design makes that ever famous statement that “less is more” and these checks are nothing less!

The stripe collection also has a checkbook cover and mailing labels in four colorways. If you would like to view the Stripes collection available at Bradford Exchange you can click here to learn more.

This checkbook cover shares a chocolate background with a blended stripe of colors. I love this checkbook cover; it makes a statement without even trying.

Both of these check collections (Strawberry Fields and Stripes) can be found at Bradford Exchange and are also in the product category on my website. Thanks for checking them out!