Stars, Flamingos, and Bunnies!

The goal of this week is to have a more successful one than last! I feel like I'm off to a pleasant start. I've completed my pinstripe dress, it's quirky and cute. It's sure to be come my staple work dress. I plan on wearing it to the office Friday to finish the week off strong, I'll have my coworkers do a photo shoot with me!

I was having a hard time finding inspiration for the Constellations contest for Spoonflower. It's been a few months now that I've entered every single contest, and I was getting bummed at the thought of breaking that streak. FINALLY, an idea hit me and I was able to knock it out last night. Submitted it at the final second last night! Pshew!!! I think I get a little high when I finish a design and I'm proud of it. It's that extra boost of energy I need through the week.

On the cutting table... I got the most adorable fabric on sale the other week from Fabric.com. See! Adorable! 

My more adventurous little bunny, Rambo, tore up a few pillows on our couch months back. In reality, he just gave me a reason to replace those BLAH throw pillows. Thank you Rambo Bunny! It's also going to help make our apartment feel more like home, and add some color without having to paint. Hoping to have pictures to post tomorrow. But for now, I'll leave you with Rambo giving me the stink eye!

Dino-mite!

The upcoming Dinosaur themed contest has turned into quite a nostalgic project for me! The dinos... the characters... the colors... makes me want to pop on Nickelodeon or something. If these rockin' little T-Rex's ever got their own show, I'd watch it... just sayin!

I'd say I'm about a quarter of the way through, still so much work to do! I sketched out all the characters on paper and am using my tablet to turn them into vectors in Illustrator. That's right! Figured out the basics of how to use my Splash!!! It's saving me piles of time, but I'm sure I have MUCH more to learn. Here's where I am currently...

(Apologies for the poor quality shot... snapped a pic with my phone on the way out the door this morning.)

Half the band is complete! Still a few more guys to go. I have a few different ideas for the background ranging from super simple to preeeeetttyyy complicated. Leaning towards the more complicated plan but not sure if there'll be time this week. I may have to give up sleep!

Designing on an empty stomach!

Putting together my Dim Sum design made my stomach growl!!! I really should have eaten before sitting down at my computer. I have a tendency to either completely lose track of time, or I'm too stubborn to step away from my work until it's done. Today was a subtle mix of both. ORDER UP ON THE DIM SUM!!! It's ready to go! 

Like with the hangers, I was trying to add in some retro elements, like the large repeating dots, shapes being slightly askew to add depth, and simple geometric shapes. I'm pretty sure it's successful in portraying Dim Sum... still haven't gone out to try it. Maybe next date night. 

Guess what came in this week!!! That's right! My Pixel Pinstripe and all my samples! SOOO VERY EXCITED! Looks great! Can't wait to wear it as a dress! 

I feel like it was a pretty smart move to pick up a color guide swatch. It's already proving itself useful for the upcoming Dino design. That's next on my to-do list! My handsome boyfriend bought me a Wacom Tablet way back at Christmas. I've fiddled around with it some, but really don't know the first thing about how to use it. Promised him that this time around, I'm gonna design with it. Fingers crossed! I'm nervous I'm gonna get frustrated again and go back to drawing with the mouse. Talk about tedious!!! If anyone out there has any advice, I'd love some right about now.

Nom Nom Pencil Case

Here's to hoping I did my math right and used my words right! Uploaded my design tonight. So tired... and want cookies so bad! NOM NOM NOM!!!

I will say though, it was a headache trying to get it to upload properly. It wasn't recognizing the background. I'm sure it's a simple solution that I just can't find due to fried brain issues. 

WELL! Still more work to be done tonight... and it's not fun stuff. BOOOOO!!! HISSSSSSS!!!

SO GOOD!

The winning streak continues! I don't know if I've ever been more proud of my team! They played like champs this weekend. Everything finally clicked on the track... everyone carried their weight... everyone stayed positive.... what an incredible win! The whole game was neck and neck. I think we had a tied score 3 or 4 times through the course of the game. That's pretty rare. Heading into the fourth and final quarter, it was already established that, win or lose, we were all proud of each other and what we had accomplished. I have never seen my team play so cohesively EVER before. Incredible. There are pictures over here if anyone's interested.

Pregame, I always stay in the night before a game and relax. So Friday night was spent huddled up in my apartment, watching New Girl, making a game day mix, and working on my new fabric design! The "Fashion" contest was so vague I felt like anything could really go... so I did hangers in a 50's boomerang style. The bright orange was completely by accident! I typed the wrong # in and completely fell in love with it. I consider it another win!

Post game, a little recoup time... even though I should have been lounging back, I was still in production mode from the past week... I broke out the next batch of fabric and made a new dress!!! I just have to finish cleaning up the rogue threads and sew on a hook and eye. Planning on wearing it to work tomorrow. I'll make my co-workers take pictures.

And last but definitely not least... I finally sat down to watch Sharknado! It's just as TERRIBLE and HILARIOUS as I thought it would be. We ended up adding some categories to the drinking game cuz it was just too ridiculous. So many things to laugh at!

What a great weekend :)!

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!

This girl right here is having the most exciting morning of all time!!! While sitting in morning rush hour traffic, I received an email on my way to work informing me of the good news... an email titled...

You won our 8-Bit Fit Contest!

I should have pulled over to the side of the road, it would have been much safer than what followed! I only read the title and then proceeded to call all my favorite people. I hadn't read any of the details so all I could say was, I think I made top ten, I may have won, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON BUT I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IT!

 It wasn't until I powered up my computer at work that I actually read the email, quickly followed by Spoonflower's newsletter. I'm completely beside myself! My design is a real thing!!! I'm so making a dress in this!!!

 So what happens next?! I'm not 100% sure but it's gonna be good for sure. We popped a bottle of champagne at work had a few donuts and it's back to the grindstone. I'm hoping to parlay my good fortune into this Saturday's game. My team has our first bout of the season!!! Come on Brawlers! Let's start a winning streak!!!!

 PS. 

Sorry for all the !!!!. Really can't help myself right now!!!

Little Victory

I'm getting myself back in the habit of celebrating the little victories, and out of the habit of stressing over the little hiccups in life. Little victory... my Road Trippin' design placed 29th out of 150. Not bad! Onward and upward!

TWO MORE! I'm on a roll!!!

It's stupid... Life has gotten busier and I've managed to stay just as productive, if not more so! Why can't I get this much done when I have oodles of free time?

Anywho! I took the step to actually link my SpoonFlower profile to this page (which by the way is here ), just another little thing to remind me to keep making things. I've gotten two more little designs done for the next two contests. Hopefully being a little ahead will give me sometime to brainstorm for the next themes.

First is the 8-Bit design. It's pretty simple but I'm really pleased with it. Someday I'll make myself a geek chic dress out of it!!!

Second is the Fireflies design. It looks like it's actually glowing! YAY! I'm so happy it worked! Plus, it was about time purple made an appearance into one of these. Took long enough.

Still haven't finished the dress for the wedding... I HAVE to do that tomorrow. It's just all the little finishings... in other words... the time consuming shit. Damn.

Road Trippin'

I had a decently productive weekend... Finished another contest design, this coming week's theme is Highways and By-ways. It still feels like a work in progress. Something just isn't there yet. I'm going to try it in a few different colors and maybe add a texture to it. Soooo very close!

Other teeny tiny accomplishment... Craft Day set! And I have a few weeks to clean the apartment for it! Yay no pressure! (I know I'm gonna procrastinate til the day before... who am I kidding?)

Less Talk... More Action!

So I haven't been posting... but I have been doing. I have a few irons in the fire and doing my best to stay motivated.

I've been sewing a cute polka dot dress for a wedding coming up in two weeks. As soon as it's done I will post pictures. There have been plenty of speed bumps... mostly my own fault. The bust is far to big... so either I must stuff or alter. I prefer to keep the boobage natural so I'll alter. Here's the fabric! Isn't it cute?! 

Also in the works... a Super Secret Craft Society has been formed! I invited a few friends to join me for themed craft nights. First night will be Bitches Get Stitches and setting a date is in it's final stages. It'll be nice to geek out with my crafty friends. My boyfriend, as loving as he is, can only carry on conversations about patterns and fabrics and whatnot for so long. I must find my own kind!

Lastly, I have made it a goal for myself to submit a design to Spoonflower's weekly contests.This week is Ditsy Crickets. I'm pretty pleased with how my design came out. I was surprised how fast it all came together. I was definitely in the zone for this!!! Got my fingers crossed to make top ten, but I won't be disappointed if I don't. There are so many experienced and talented people in that pool!

 

Next contest is Highway's and Byways. I keep going back and forth on what I want to do. I think I've finally narrowed it down!!! Have a sketch done up and my evening cleared to start working on it. I'm not sure if these other designers work way in advance. Maybe if I push myself I can get a bit ahead and a little more time to tweek the final design! Starting to brainstorm for the ones a little further out! Wish me luck.