etsy

Meet the Designer: Kristi Heck

April 25, 2016

Today we'd like you to meet designer Kristi Heck as part of our new Meet the Designer series. Hailing from Panama then California, and most recently the great, green rainforest of the Pacific Northwest, Kristi is inspired by her natural environment and uses acrylic paints to create scenes involving friendly creatures, soil, vegetables, and lots of vivid color. She's down to earth in more ways than one–keep reading and get to know what gets Kristi's creative juices flowing.

Where do you currently live? I live in Hood River, Oregon.

My day starts with the little dog whining to be invited on the bed. Once she’s up (sitting on my chest, attempting to lick), the big dog arrives. His warm fuzzy head smells like corn chips. After a quiet moment, I’m up: feed dogs, make coffee, drink coffee with husband, pack lunches, wake kids, get dressed, breakfast kids, walk dogs and kids to school, return with just dogs. Then it’s down to my studio to work…

I fell in love with fabric design when… I turned around. This love (sort of, not really) snuck up on me. Our house is chockfull of textiles: Pendleton wool, reverse appliqué molas by the Guna Yala of Panama, Indian kantha quilts, chunky knits, plush flokati, African Dutch wax block prints, and a crazy variety of patterned throw pillows. I’ve always loved designing with fabrics; I’m brand new to designing actual fabrics. Our family moved to Hood River mid-December 2013, our first winter in about ten years. Time lived in Southern California combined with six years in the Republic of Panama had left us cold. Literally. So I over-dressed and began painting creatures hibernating. Soon, the animals migrated into human beds. Painting their bedding was my favorite part. I thought I’d try designing fabric versus just painting it, but the ability to create a repeat pattern eluded me… I have dozens of horrible designs stashed in file folders titled “Trials” and “Tribulations.” Then I found the class “How to design fabric” at creativebug.com featuring Spoonflower. Click! Apparently, my visual brain required a visual demo, as I later uncovered near-verbatim written instruction in multiple fabric design books I already own!

Make Your Own Draft Snake with Etsy!

January 26, 2016

The temperatures are officially dropping here at Spoonflower HQ in Durham! Which naturally means our heating bills are headed straight through the roof. In our constant effort to be a more eco-conscious and sustainable business, we’ve had our eyes out for simple DIY projects to help us reduce our energy dependence and stay warm all at the same time. When our friends at Etsy told us about the adorable draft snakes their employees are making for a sustainable sew-in, we knew it was right up our alley! We are so excited to welcome Lizzie from the Etsy team to the blog today to walk us through how to sew up a quick and easy draft snake. Order your own cut-and-sew template featuring Etsy’s unique designs and join us for the most adorable eco-friendly DIY ever!

How to Create a Seamless Repeat Using Photoshop Elements

May 19, 2015

Today, Spoonflower crew member Allie visits the blog to share how to create a seamless repeat with Photoshop Elements. She created a custom geometric design and printed it on Gift Wrap to make fun party DIYs, perfect for your upcoming Etsy Craft Party!

Creating a seamless repeat is the first step to becoming an expert fabric designer! Once you've mastered this surface design technique, you will be ready to create all the beautiful textile patterns you can imagine. In this tutorial, I'll walk you through the step by step process of creating a seamless repeat using Photoshop Elements–a budget and beginner-friendly version of Photoshop.

Turn Your Instagram Photos Into an iPad Case

March 4, 2014

We're thrilled to have a guest project on the Etsy blog today! Visit today's How Tuesday to learn how to design and sew an iPad or e-gadget case with fabric featuring your favorite Instagram photos.

+ Darci

12 Calendars for 2014: Indie Designers + DIYs

January 13, 2014

A fresh calendar for the new year is a perfect opportunity to add a piece of functional artwork to your space. If you need a little inspiration to kick off a creative 2014, try one of these beautiful calendars to DIY or buy from indie designers:

INDIE DESIGNERS

Tea towel calendar | Fly Trap

2014 tea towel calendar set | Aldea Wood

Instrument calendar tea towel | Andrea Lauren

Stitch the Stars calendar tea towel | Heather Lins

Language of Flowers calendar | The House That Lars Built

Little Bears calendar | Gingiber

Minerals calendar | Lindsay Jones

DIY

Free printable calendar | Amanda Shoemaker

DIY Instagram calendar | High Walls

Free printable calendar | MiniReyve

Simple DIY calendar | The Merry Thought

Watercolor calendar DIY | Simply Semplicitá

++ Darci ++

Etsy Craft Party Donations

June 24, 2013

We shared an amazing evening crafting with fellow makers here in Durham, North Carolina last Thursday at our first ever Etsy Craft Party here at Spoonflower HQ! Celebrating the 2013 world-wide party theme, Craft for Community, we asked folks at our party to donate finished projects to sell in the Spoonflower Etsy shop. We’ll donate all proceeds from sales to Heifer International, an organization that has worked since 1944 to end hunger and poverty in communities around the world. Heifer International empowers families to sustain themselves and their communities by providing livestock and training. Not only do these donations of livestock ensure a reliable source of food for families, they also provide the potential for income through the sale of extra agricultural products such as milk, eggs, and honey.

Head over to the Spoonflower Etsy Shop to check out the donated projects!

Favorite Spoonflower Etsy Sellers + Etsy Craft Party 2013

May 7, 2013

Grey Forest chair by RubbishRehab, Love bunting by StudioCherie, Wall Art by WildNotions, Baseball pillow by LittleRhodyDesignCo, Tea Towel by HangTightStudio88, Llama Pilliow by Scarletfig

We can't wait for this year's Etsy Craft Party, an annual celebration of meeting and making hosted in craft parties all over the globe! This year's party happens on June 20th, and you can either organize a party of your own, or join a party planned near you! Here at the Spoonflower Greenhouse, our community crafting and learning space, we'll be hosting a party in partnership with our local Etsy Street Team (details coming soon) for a night full of fun sewing and crafting activities.

The Craft for Community theme for this year's Etsy Craft Party has us thinking about our own fantastic community of Spoonflower designers and makers, so today we'd like to share some of our favorite Etsy sellers who create their handmade goods using Spoonflower custom-printed fabric.

Baby bib by Miryn, Cloth diaper by Rebourne, Cut and sew doll kits by TastieTreats, Little girl dress by KKchildrendesigns, Little boy shirt by PellerinaDesign

Build-a-Dress by Vivatveritas7, Camera Bag by HappySewLucky, Cowl by VeryCherry, Zipper Pouch by Bang Bang You're Thread, Mason Jar Bag by Lalunedesigns

To see even more handmade goodness, check out our Pinterest board of talented Etsy makers!

10 Easy Cut & Sew Projects From Our Craft Party Contest

August 16, 2012

If you followed the contest this past week, you know that we challenged designers to come up with cut & sew patterns for quarter-yard pieces of fabric. The goal was to create a set of fun projects for the folks planning to attend a local event as part of Etsy's 2012 Craft Party. The winner this week is a first-timer who created a charming set of stuffed fabric finches: Shel of PotBellyBears. Way to go, Shel!

The final voting results:

1. 524 votes for Fun Finches by potbellybears
2. 490 votes for Amelia and her kittens by stacyiesthsu
3. 438 votes for Fat Quarter Globe by evenspor
4. 424 votes for "Wish You Were Here" hand-made Michigan mitt/potholder by saltlabs
5. 409 votes for envelope purse by melimiliá
6. 376 votes for iPad/journal bag for mushroom lovers by bippidiiboppidii
7. 331 votes for Skelley Baby Doll by shelleyfaye
8. 304 votes for Pillows of Lavender by bzbdesigner
9. 268 votes for The birdie bag by addilou
10. 251 votes for Roxie_Puppet by roxiespeople

Cut & Sew Projects for Etsy’s World Craft Party – Vote for your favorites!

August 10, 2012

On August 24th, our friends over at Etsy will host their 2012 Craft Party, a global celebration of meeting and making. Crafty souls from all over the world will be coming together in small groups to make cool stuff, so we decided to ask our community of designers to create fat-quarter-sized cut & sew projects that craft partiers could work on together. It’s up to you to vote for your favorites, but the winner will be featured in the How-Tuesday series on the Etsy blog!

The participants this week are:

1. Muñeca Flamenca by mariao
2. “Arwen” travel doll pattern by minimiel
3. “Florabutton_Posy” Headband or Sash Kit by fireflower
4. “Wish You Were Here” hand-made Michigan mitt/potholder by saltlabs
5. “Wishing You Were Here” Owls – Fat Quarter Collection of 5 owls by amy_lou_who
6. 1 Fairy Doll, a Cat & Fairy Softies by de-ann_black
7. 1/2 A Dozen Roses – Spots & Stripes Cut ‘n’ Sew by nezumiworld
8. 4 Baby Sandals by dinorahdesign
9. A Rock Star “wish you were here!” by paragonstudios
10. Amelia and her kittens by stacyiesthsu

Spoonflower’s 12 Days of Giveaways, Day 10: Handmade goods by Spoonflower Fabric Designers

December 10, 2011

Welcome to Day 10 of our twelve days of holiday giveaways! Today we offer seven winners handmade goods featuring some amazing Spoonflower designers' fabrics. Enter the drawing to win lovingly made goods like My Zoetropes' brilliantly-colored plush toys, Lauren Hunt's excellent totes (Aunt June on Etsy), A nda Corrie's sweet fabric-covered wooden coasters from her Etsy shop, Boosterseat, and beautiful pillow covers by Valentina Ramos' in her signature black ink fabric designs.

If you still need handmade presents for friends and family (or just want one of these great gifts to keep!) comment on this post or on the corresponding link on our Facebook page to participate in the drawing.

We'll accept entries that come in up until 7 am EST on Dec. 11th, but please be sure to leave us enough information to be able to track you down by listing your Spoonflower username in your comment.

We'll choose seven winners and announce the results tomorrow, December 11th, around 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time.

Congratulations to Petra Ludwig (Pepie on Spoonflower) of Dusseldorf,Germany, the winner of yesterday's Day 9 prize: The Collette Sewing Handbook plus 3 yards of custom printed cotton silk designed by the author. Enjoy, Petra!

Just two more of our twelve days of holiday giveaways to go– join us for the final drawings tomorrow and Monday!