now available in metric: measuring tape growth chart!

Hey friends! I designed a version of this growth chart a while back, and put it up for sale in my Spoonflower shop and on Etsy.

Well, good news for those of you who operate on the metric system; I've designed a version just for you!

 

Just as on the original, the background is an enlarged antique linen print.

You can check it out over on Spoonflower and Etsy, available for purchase now as either unfinished fabric or a finished growth chart. You can even see my previous blog entry with instructions on how to assemble it.

 

 Thanks for reading!

giveaway winners + discount code

Happy Mother's Day to all of you awesome mamas out there! I had 42 entries in my contest by midnight Friday, which made your odds of winning one of the two pieces of measuring tape fabric pretty darned good . . . and yet, only two people won this time around, and I'm always left wishing everyone could win.

Here are the two folks I'll be sending fabric to this week:

Jenny (comment: "I have to say: DOLL FACED PILLOW. I wish I could say WTH??? But really and truly, I have an aunt who used to make that stuff for me when I was a little girl. 
I like your blog and this tape measure fabric is wonderful!! Thank you so much for the chance.")

KRubin (comment: "This is perfect timing! My best friend just found out that she is expecting a little girl and will begin working on the nursery soon! I think it would make a great addition. This may be cheating, but I'm really proud of myself! Last week, I completed my first year of graduate school!"

I've already sent out e-mails to these two ladies, but if I don't hear from one or the other (or both) of them by May 17th, I'll be picking someone new. UPDATE 5/13/2013: both people have been in contact, so I'll be shipping fabric to them today! The rest of you can take advantage of the following:

Being that it's Mother's Day and I really like hearing from readers new and old, I'm giving the rest of you an exclusive coupon code for 50% off the measuring tape fabric in my Etsy supplies shop. This will expire on May 18th, so order up!

Head on over, put the fabric in your cart, and when you're prompted for the coupon code at checkout, enter SEWMAMA. That's it!

Thanks again, everyone, for another successful Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! I was a little late (3 days) getting my giveaway post up this time around, so the amount of responses was impressive. Welcome to all of you new blog followers; I hope you'll like the post I've got planned for next week . . . CLIFFHANGER ENDING!

spoonflower + wallpaper and giftwrap!

Such exciting news from Spoonflower recently! First, they introduced wallpaper. I'm in the process of getting my entire library of designs open for wallpaper orders, so if you like any of the images you see below, pop over and make them yours!

Second, they're rolling out (har-har) wrapping paper in time for the holidays. I'm super excited about this, not least of all because it's automatic. You can head over to my Spoonflower shop RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE and buy yourself a roll of giftwrap in any of my designs.

Third, November 15 is free shipping day . . . worldwide. That's an amazing deal, and it only happens once or twice a year. Caveat: if you live outside the US, November 15 is calculated using Eastern Standard time (US) so you might want to see how that works out where you live; it could be the 14th or the 16th or something where you are . . . not sure how that pans out, exactly. But check for your area.

Now, on with the eye candy. When you click the "wallpaper" tab for each individual design, Spoonflower offers you a view of the paper on a wall behind some furniture, which is pretty handy for getting a sense of scale in your room (if not your own style of furniture).

spoonflower typewriter-inspired fabric contest

Hey friends! This week's Spoonflower Fabric of the Week Contest is all about designing fabric with a typewriter theme.

I took it to the abstract side a bit (I like to think outside the box a little on these more-rigid contest themes) and created a pattern of typewriter ribbon reels. You can see it here, on my Spoonflower design page.

And if you like it, you can vote for it here, following the link at the bottom right. In the Spoonflower blog image, my design is the third from the left in the top row! First time that's happened in one of these contests since the very first one I entered, back in 2009. You know, back when Spoonflower was new, and there were only six entries per week, and no themes.

It seems like a really long time ago.

Anyway, give it a vote if you like! Then pop over to take a peek at my recently-added Lodge collection, inspired by our recent trip to Montana . . . you know, where I saw some beautiful mountain lodges and these guys:

(scrap metal statuary near the entrance to the Blackfeet Nation, East Glacier.)


I keep meaning to do a big ol' photo post about our trip; too beautiful.

Thanks for reading!

p.s. you can make these images larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that!

a celebration, a lesson, a giveaway!

**Scroll down to the bottom of this post for Red Fox pillow giveaway!

Welcome! Last week, this blog officially hit 10,000 page views, which is a pretty big milestone for me. For the first couple of years of this blog, I didn't blog with any sort of intention of having a whole lot of folks see it, and I didn't blog about every project I did. And I didn't blog very regularly. There was an especially noticeable lack of posts in 2010, after my son was born (who knew newborns could take so much energy? aside from every mother in the world, I mean).

Since finally giving up my regular gig designing book covers at the start of this year, though, I've made a commitment to be more intentional and frequent in my postings, and to try to start increasing readership. Turns out that I really thrive on sharing my creative work with others. So going from a couple thousand page views to ten thousand in the space of a few months has been very encouraging. Thank you! And this week, I'm actually on the precipice of 11,000 views. Incredible. (update: hit 12,000 tonight, 5/24.)

I know this will seem like small potatoes to some bloggers who regularly get thousands of hits per blog entry, but it's a place to start!

I'm also celebrating the release of my Quick Red Fox collection of fabrics over at Spoonflower.

This is a design set that's very close to my heart, as it is the first collection I've done since last year's Baby's Day at the Beach, and also the first since then to have been hand drawn and watercolored.

Doing artwork with my hands (and then manipulating it on the computer) is much more rewarding for me than doing all of my work on the computer. Although I'm designing both, I feel more ownership over the designs including handwork. I've always felt that way when designing book covers, too; the ones with handmade elements always felt more mine.

Of course, as with any design on Spoonflower, designs must be proofed before being sold to the public. Designers can order a single 8x8 sample of a single design ($5), or they can add all their designs to a collection, and order a collection sampler ($20 for up to 15 designs, $30 for 16-30). I always try to wait until I have enough to get a full fifteen designs before ordering, so I feel like I'm being as cost-effective as possible.

Here's a photo of my most recent collection, The Quick Red Fox, on a sampler sheet with four colors of my new Snow White print, my White Swans in a Blue Pool, and a couple of recent contest entries I hadn't had proofed yet (the vintage sewing pattern and the library check-out cards).

And here's the lesson: it might seem like a drag, and it might seem like too long to wait, but it's so important to proof your Spoonflower designs.

For example, there are three patterns in my Quick Red Fox collection that need to be reworked because, well, the color variations didn't have enough differentiation to show up well when printed. These are the three designs that included a neutral tone-on-tone chevron pattern in the background. The colors looked great on screen, but turned out too close to each other to perform well on printed fabric. You'll notice a couple of squares in the photo above that look blank. These are the ones with a nearly-invisible chevron pattern. So I'll make adjustments to beef up the pattern and upload revisions that fix the issues, and in the end, everyone will be happier for it.

That's the reason Spoonflower requires proofing before letting you sell to the public. Otherwise, there'd be a bunch of disappointed customers asking for refunds for bad fabric, and their reputation would suck.

Currently, five of the Quick Red Fox patterns are up for sale here, on my Spoonflower page. But, in celebration of the line going on sale, and in celebration of 11,000 page views (which I'm sure to hit by the end of the day), I'm hosting my first giveaway!

One lucky winner will win a fox pillow of his/her choice (Sneaky Red Fox or Sleepy Red Fox), sewn from my Red Fox Pillow Set fabric.

A second winner will win both mini pillows from the set (Cold Shoulder Fox and Fox Face).

How to enter the giveaway: Comment on this blog post (or any other blog post on the Night Garden Design Blog) about a project or post you especially like by May 25th.

If you post anonymously, add your name to your comment so I can add you to the drawing.

You can enter more than once by leaving comments on more than one blog post. I'll see them all, as my comment settings are set up to run everything by me first.

I'll also count new blog follows as entries, so copy my url into your reader!

On May 27th, I'll put all the names in a hat and let Baby P pick the winning entries at random.

Winners will be announced here on the blog, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, and on the Spoonflower page for the Fox Pillow Set on May 27th, and the packages will be shipped out by June 1st (assuming I've heard from the winners by then). If you provide a way to contact you, I'll do that, too!

And yes, I'll even ship internationally.

Thanks for reading, everybody, and good luck to you!

UPDATED TO ADD WINNERS: Fox pillow of your choice (Sleepy Fox or Sneaky Fox): "I really like the sneaky fox! Your style is so unique, and creative!" --Jessica

Two mini pillows (Cold Shoulder Fox and Fox Face): "My son would LOVE these foxes! I envy your drawing skills and will add you to my Google Reader blogroll." --Holly U

Here's a new twist: Holly U can choose to instead to have the second large fox pillow (whichever one isn't chosen by Jessica), in which case, I'd pick a third winner for the two mini pillows.

Contact me by 5/31 at info at thenightgarden.com with your address and preferences! If I don't hear from you by the 1st of June, I'll pick a new winner.



Linking up to:

two new spoonflower fabric designs

Spoonflower's hosted a couple of fabric design contests lately that were right up my alley. First up, designs inspired by a love of books.

Assuming there'd be a ton of bookshelf designs, book stacks, etc., I looked back over my history with books, a history that begins with a story my mom tells about tiny little me, in my crib, quietly looking at picture books. Now, I worked through most of my twenties (and the beginning of my thirties) in bookstores (and the past several years designing book covers), but as a kid, I was a pretty constant library patron.

When I got old enough to walk the eight or so blocks after school, we used to spend a couple of hours a day at the public library until our dad could pick us up. Hours we spent spinning the globe, looking up swear words in the dictionary, and, of course, reading. And during that time, I encountered thousands of these library checkout slips. And probably thousands more at the school library, too.

Click here for the full design, featuring four different YA library slips created in Illustrator and Photoshop, without the aid of scans. In fact, created without the aid of my drawing tablet, too, since I couldn't find the pen. Each of the kids' signatures were done using different Photoshop brushes and my mouse. And I think I used either three or four open typewriter-style fonts.

I placed 22nd out of 143, which is cool with me.

Next up was the "Sewing Celebration" contest. Again, I mined my happiest childhood memories. My kindergarten teacher had a shelf full of fun kits that kids could take home to make a little project or do a little activity. Among the dozens I must have taken home, I remember best a little felt bean bag I stitched together with red yarn.

The kit included chartreuse green felt, red yarn, pins, needles, and beans. And my stitches were so huge that the beans would sometimes slip out from between them. I've become a better sewist over the years (luckily, 'cause I was losing a whole lot of beans), and my five-year-old self could never have imagined something as fabulous as Spoonflower, but she would have loved it. And so would my kindergarten teacher.

Click here for the full design. I think you can even still vote, if you're interested, for a couple more hours. Contest results tba!


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

we rock!

Grandpa brought an unfinished wood rocker for the bebe's first birthday present a year ago; it's just taken awhile to get these photos up . . . 'cause I'm easily distracted. :)

I stained it with green water-based stain with the letter "P" taped off. The little starbursts were later carved in with a Dremel tool.

The little quilt was made for Christmas, 2010, though I started it the night I went into labor with the bebe in February of that year. It's cut from strips of my Spoonflower fabric designs, as well as several commercial prints.


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

antique-style tape measure growth chart

Antique-style tape measure fabric for sale here and here!




Basic instructions: leaving selvedges intact and a 1/2-inch seam allowance along each side, cut out the two panels that will make up your tape measure.

Press selvedge edge under on one end (near the 3.5 foot mark) with a hot iron. All white fabric should be hidden.
Overlap the two ends to make a nice join at the 3.5 foot mark. Carefully unfold and pin the pressed edge and stitch.




Press down seam, and trim to 1/2 inch.

Press down long edges (hiding all white fabric) and stitch along the length with tan or white thread.








Press short edge under at the zero foot mark and stitch.






Cut vinyl for tape measure ends. Top piece (near the 7 foot mark) should be the same width as the prepared tape measure's width, and long enough to cover all selvedge on the front, and a little more than that on the back. Bottom piece of vinyl (near the 0 foot mark) should cover no more than an inch on the front and back. Round corners slightly.




Cut Heat n' Bond to fit the backside of vinyl exactly and follow package instructions to adhere to vinyl.




Peel off backing paper when cool.




Using your fingers only (no iron!) crease the vinyl at the point where it will cover the end of your tape measure.




Put it on the end of your fabric and get ready to iron it into place.




Follow package instructions to adhere vinyl to your fabric, using the old backing paper or a cloth to cover the vinyl.




When cool, use a grommet setter to apply a large grommet to the top (near the 7 foot mark).




And there you have it!




(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)


Linking up to: