My Spoonflower Minky Arrived!

Because of Presidents' Day, my Spoonflower Minky did not arrive until today.  I ripped open the now familiar Spoonflower package and pulled out this fabulously soft fabric . . . even the reverse side of this fabric is soft.  This design is "A Tumble of Sheep". The colors printed brilliantly.  I attempted to get a good photo of the yardage -- I wanted to try to convey the softness of the fabric in a photo.  However, that is not possible.  The fabric is soft like a baby bunny's fur and there is a beautiful drape to it.  This photo was taken in natural indoor light.

A pile of pillows

Someday, some time soon, I will make more than throw pillows but right now, I'm in need of instant gratification and two fat quarters of Spoonflower fabric, stitched together and stuffed, gives me stylish and artsy throw pillows in no time at all.

The pile of pillows pictured below went to my daughter-in-law for her birthday.

Left to right:  "My First Mardi Gras . . . I Had No Idea!"; "The Fierce Line of Symmetry"by Logan, (without my grandson's school photo; Spoonflower designer Mezzime's "Audrey Hepburn black and white;" "Monsterscape" by Alex; and last but not least, "I'm Not Nice, I'm Pretty!" by Kaitlyn.

Laci's and Cooper's throw pillows

When our granddaughter, Laci, was last here she went through several pieces of paper, drawing and drawing.  I really liked one of her drawings which shows a chicken (at least I think it's a chicken!).  I scanned the drawing into my computer and created a design using her drawing.   (Laci told me if anyone  purchased Spoonflower fabric with her drawing on it, I'm to give her the commission, and I said, "of course.")  The drawing was printed on Spoonflower basic cotton Ultra.  I made a simple throw pillow from a fat quarter of this design.  On the reverse side of this pillow is her latest school picture printed over and over again!  That is what is nice about Spoonflower -- flexibility.   Here is a picture of the chicken side of the throw pillow:

Laci's  younger brother, Cooper, did a hand design at school and gave it to us so I scanned in that design and through Spoonflower had this design printed on Spoonflower basic cotton Ultra.  The reverse side of the pillow has Cooper's school picture centered on the hands.  (His pillow is on the right side of this picture.)

I think everyone who is interested in drawing, painting, doodling . . . check out Spoonflower.  You will love it.  It's a wonderful outlet for creative expression, plus you get to make things out of your drawings -- it's not just a drawing -- it can become throw pillows, dresses, tops, skirts, quilts -- you are limited only by your imagination!  :-)

Venting

Life happens when we are making other plans.  In late August of last year I had a vertebra injury and now I've managed to come back somewhat and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things.  I continued to create designs for my shop on Spoonflower during my continuing recovery because creating something always takes me out of myself and I don't think about pain for awhile.  This rant, though, is not about spinal pain.  This is a short rant about our Internet social media. (I heard on the NPR radio show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" that complaining actually lengthens our lives and helps us deal with stress so I hope I add a day, at least, to my life with this rant.)

Early on in my Spoonflower days, I learned how to link my project pictures from Flickr back to the design page on Spoonflower.  Everything went along okay for a little while until Flickr would no longer let us sign in using our Google accounts.  I adjusted with the move.  Then Flickr started messing with the URLs we used to link our photos from Flickr to Spoonflower -- very smart people in the Spoonflower Flickr discussion groups posted hints on what parts of the html to delete to continue linking our pics.  I adjusted again.  Then in mid August 2014, I received a message from  two of my Spoonflower Flickr friends asking me what had happened to my photostream -- everything was blacked out -- over 1,000 photos blacked out.  I received a message from Flickr telling me that my photostream had been deemed "unsafe"  -- not because of content, but because it looked too much like a shop!  I asked which photos were the offending ones and I never received a concrete answer so I began deleting links from my photos to Spoonflower.   I also deleted my little 60 second videos featuring designs and projects.  I worked on it for over 3 days straight deleting links even though at the beginning of my Spoonflower adventure,  I distinctly remember being encouraged to do exactly what I had done -- link photos from Flickr to Spoonflower.  Finally, my photostream was deemed safe, but, alas, it has not been the same.  My views have dropped precipitously and I'm always amused when someone wants to follow my photostream.  Why???

(I wish we could just upload photos from our computer to Spoonflower so there would not be an intermediary but then there would be no social media "connection.")

Then I thought I would try Instagram.  The problem with Instagram is that one takes pictures with one's smartphone -- small screen, small keyboard -- small, small, small.  (No, I do not have an Apple Iphone.)  I got an LG smartphone in December and tried taking a picture with the smartphone -- the quality is not the same as taking a picture with my Fuji digital camera.  Plus I cannot figure out to do the ever important tags on Instagram. It's such a commitment just to touch the screen of the smartphone -- I'm not sure where I will go next!!

Then, this afternoon, (as I said, recovery has been a slow slog), I remembered my blog -- poor blog -- I forgot it in 2013, the year both of my parents passed away, then rediscovered it sometime in 2014 only to forget it again in August 2014.  Yet it has always been here, waiting.  And I discovered that I can link my project photos from this blog to the design pages in my Spoonflower shop.  I am so happy.  A small victory maybe, but still!!  Many of you are now saying, "Well, duh!"  But it is a victory for this 62 year old woman who is trying to keep up -- well,  not keep up, but keep my head above water in this ever changing technological world we call the Internet.

Oh, and I just have to add, the other day I was listening to a program on NPR and a person mentioned that the Internet is like another planet and I have to say I agree.  A lot of us get to visit Planet Internet everyday!

Oh, and in case you are interested, here is my Flickr photostream.

The American Flag on Spoonflower Kona cotton.

American Flag

My grandson Luke drew this picture of an American flag one day while he was at our house.  I had the design printed on the Spoonflower Kona cotton.  Luke used crayon and pencil to do his drawing. I thought he did a pretty good job.  One of the things I like about Spoonflower is that children's artwork can be reproduced in this way. 

This design can be found at anniedeb's shop on Spoonflower

#SpoonChallenge: Urban Landscape

In my part of the world, all roads lead  to Oklahoma City whose urban landscape is constantly changing. 

"Ode to the Spatula"

That ever present kitchen utensil . . . one that we cannot live without  . . . certainly deserves its own surface designs, don't you think?  This video clip features Spoonflower faux suede swatches printed with spatulas and coordinating designs.  "Ode to the Spatula"  Check it out on Spoonflower.