I see your furrowed brow. But soon enough, Valentines day will be here. Spoonflower is thinking ahead. Our challenge assignment this week is Funny Valentine. They are looking for a laugh, giggle or a smile.
Each of these cute Pandas has a message of their own. “You’re Beary cute”, “Time for a Bear Hug”, “You’re the Beary Best”, “You’re Beary Special”, “I love you Beary much”, “You make me Beary Happy”.
There is one main design, 4 variations, two colorways, and two coordinates with two variations. What time will the bus arrive if it leaves now? Kidding. (Sounds like a word problem.) Each coordinate comes plain, or with a linen effect.
This week there are 859 entries, voting is open now until December 6th.
I started with the original painting as inspiration. Problems with Photoshop used up several days of my design time. A revamp was quicker than creating from scratch. What you see here, is all that is left from the original. I noticed several mistakes in the yellow blooms, so I eliminated them. I added digital outlines using the pen tool, for nice crisp edges.
I cleaned up the white blooms. The blue background was visible and made them look a bit dirty. The grey is the template that Spoonflower provides. The darkest, inner rectangle is all that will be visible when the design is printed.
I added color blocks and considered using them for the final piece. But they were too flat, and I thought a pattern in the background would be too much. I placed the plaid to find the right scale.
I decided to paint paper with three colors. Yellow, blue, and green. I scanned them in to get the texture and uneven color tones. The variations are less obvious, than in the original painting. But I think it “warms” the design, by having a hand made, imperfect quality.
The design brief really called for wacky, or strange. They showed a tennis ball cut in half to reveal a lemon interior. This may not be wacky, but it will be unexpected to some.
I am really starting to feel comfortable using the pen tool in Photoshop. I never thought I would say that. There were only three connections I had to smooth out. Just slightly. I am so stoked about that. And so grateful. Whew! 🤓
Voting is now open, until October 18th. Voting is easier on a computer or larger screen like a tablet. If you are using your phone, you need to scroll slowly, it can only load so many images at a time and you may miss seeing images without knowing it. There are only 484 entries, roughly a third of the usual.
Your votes help give me the chance to win cash prizes. Money I can use towards printing samples of my designs, which is a requirement to making them available for sale in my shop.
1st place winner will receive a $200 Spoonflower credit.
2nd place winner will receive a $100 Spoonflower credit.
3rd place winner will receive a $50 Spoonflower credit.
Remaining top 10 designs will receive a $20 Spoonflower credit.
The top 50 popularly-voted designs from each theme will be automatically made available for sale in the Spoonflower Marketplace, no $5 swatch required.
I’ve have to stop doing food designs. First I craved a latte. Now I am craving all things peanut butter. It was hard to choose a favorite recipe for this weeks Spoonflower design challenge. Design wise, I thought it best to select something simple, with short instructions. This is one of my favorite treats to make for Christmas gift giving.
Melt white chocolate, mix in peanut butter, top with a drizzle of chocolate. Ba da Bing. And try hard not to eat it all, while you wrap it up.
There were fewer entries in last weeks challenge. 687 total. Serene Green placed at 24.85% with 92 votes. WOW! That is more than I have ever received. Thank you! I’m so grateful. Woo Whoo! 🙏🥳🙏I did the happy dance! Haha!
Wishing you an awesome day and a terrific weekend!
Is there a recipe you make, that is always requested? What favorite would you like to see in a design? Hmm, would it be dessert, or a savory main dish? I wonder. 🤔 I’d love to hear from you. 🙂
