I've been paying more attention lately to what wants to come out of my pen and onto the paper. The past few days it was organic shapes and intricate pattern.
Drawing these shapes is major therapy for me. As my pen glides across the paper I can literally feel my anxiety flow out with the ink.
Landon came over to me while I was filling this one in and said, "That's a lot of tiny circles!" Yep, sure is buddy!
This owl is another piece I created last week...
And here is a peek of my process cleaning up some of these intricate images in Photoshop...
As I'm starting to see a collection of these designs come together, of course I'm thinking of another coloring book. I'm excited to see what continues to happen in my sketchbook and tie it all together!
I'm also busy working on organizing and decorating my new art studio space in our house. It is so exciting to have an inspiring space to create in. Yesterday I hung two art pieces by Jessica Swift, a pretty string of lights, and tucked in a framed sketch by my Grandaddy.
I love having his art near me when I'm creating.
My goal for this space is to surround myself only with things that bring me joy and inspiration, which means A LOT of purging is going on. But that feels so good!
Before I go, a couple shop updates:
If you're looking for a fun Valentine's Day activity, you can grab a copy of my printable Valentine's Day coloring book for only $5!
And I've added a bunch of new prints of my licensed pieces back to my shop.
This guy is one of my favorites.
Here's to a caffeine-filled and fabulous Monday!
XO,
I thought it would be fun today to take you through my process of sketch to pattern! I've started making patterns again this week after a few months off, and I had forgotten how fun and addicting it is!
{I learned how to create digital patterns by taking Jessica Swift's Pattern Camp course, which I can't say enough good things about!}
I drew those friendly lightbulbs up there a few weeks ago and knew right away they would make a great pattern. First I scanned them at a high resolution (300dpi or higher) and opened the image up in Photoshop. I removed the background and corrected the color balance so the black is super dark, and then saved each "motif" as a separate file.
Then I opened up a new Illustrator file, placed my motifs, and recolored them. The recoloring is probably my favorite part of the entire process, other than seeing the pattern magically work at the end.
Then I arranged them into a pattern...
And the finished product!
Man those little lightbulbs make me giddy. I want them on a tote bag or a pillow. Or a journal!
I also created this camping pattern which I can picture on children's bedding or a sleeping bag.
If you are interested in learning more about making digital patterns, seriously check out Jessica's course. I learned SO much and use everything I learned not only for this purpose but in lots of other design work.
Hope you have a fantastic weekend!
XO,
Happy Sunday!
It has been one of those perfectly relaxing, family time, Target trip, coffee and donuts kind of weekends at our house.
I wanted to share what I added to my sketchbook yesterday. I was inspired by a piece of vintage pottery my mother-in-law gave me last year for my birthday...
This one will probably become a coloring page. Having too much fun with these!
And speaking of coloring...you can grab my coloring books on Amazon, and printable versions in my Etsy shop here and here!
XO,
I had the privilege of hearing Krista Tippett from On Being speak yesterday, and this gem of a quote stuck out to me.
I hope it does something for you too.
Happy Thursday!
XO,
Happy Tuesday! How is your week going?
I have some fun This Girl's Doodles news to share today...
I've added a five-page printable Valentine coloring book to my Etsy shop! I'm really proud of these pages. They are all so fun and happy, and I hope you love them too!
You can grab a copy here!
And be sure to tag your pages with #coloringwithTGD so I can see your beautiful creations!
XO,
Hello friends!
Are you staying warm? Winter has officially finally arrived in Indiana and I'm basically wearing a scarf and drinking coffee 24/7 but that's OK because scarves + coffee...I mean.
I've been doodling lots of hearts the past few weeks, getting a mini Valentine's Day coloring book ready for my Etsy shop. Here are some shots from my sketchbook...
I'm super excited to get this one together and up in the shop. Valentine's Day is my favorite!
XO,
Holy cow you guys...did you notice that Valentine's Day is only a month away? Not that January is my favorite month...but it could slow down a bit and I'd be just fine.
I figured I could help you out by adding two printable Valentine's Day cards to the shop!
The first one is for you to give out to your friends, perhaps bundled up with some chocolate and a good book...
And the second is for the kiddos!
This one comes in two color versions, because 7 year olds are all about choices (or at least mine are).
Both are super affordable and the best part is you can print as many as you need!
Hope you have a fantastic weekend!
XO,
Happy Monday friends!
Whew...did you make it into work OK this morning? We're finally experiencing winter weather hear in Indiana...about 10-ish degrees this morning and my boys had a 2-hour delay so I'm just now getting settled in at work.
I wanted to share a few new coloring pages I'm working on for a Valentine's Day mini coloring book. I think it will be similar to my Christmas coloring book...5 or so pages and it will be a printable for sale in my Etsy shop.
Here are the first two pages I've completed...
All of those hearts were fun but left my hand a bit crampy!
This one was fun to sketch...
And here it is inked in...the heart keys are my favorite...
Excited to see what else makes it's way onto the page. Any suggestions or requests?
XO,
If you haven't noticed, I'm in a bit of a roll with blog posting lately. Woohoo! It feels good to be sharing in this space again.
Here are a few recent additions to my sketchbook.
This one was inspired by my new thrifted lamp. You can watch part of the process here.
A new quote I'm playing with...
Participating in a Creativebug sketch challenge where the prompt was teacups...
And this tree which has sparked ideas for a new product. More to come as things start to take shape...
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
XO,
If you know me at all, you are aware of the fact that I'm a bit obsessed with Target and midcentury design.
So when I saw this lamp on our last Target trip I fell in love.
But not with the $65.99 price tag. I refuse to pay that for a Target lamp, or a Target anything for that matter. Target is for clearance deals, the dollar spot, and cheap popcorn.
So the lamp stayed on the shelf.
Fast forward a week, perusing the aisles at my local Goodwill, I spotted this!
Sure it was more than a bit dingy and the shade wasn't the right scale, but otherwise it was perfection.
And $6.99.
So I brought it home, spiffed it up with a fresh coat of white paint, added a shade I already had hanging out in our laundry room, and voila!
I wish the details are more visible in this photo, but you can see them in the before. I'm in love with the texture and pattern on the base, and that wood makes me drool. So good.
Is there anything better than a fantastic thrifted find? I think not.
Have you scored any awesome thrifted deals lately? Show me! Oh, and if you want more tips on Goodwill shopping, check out my 5 Rules for Scoring Big at Goodwill!
XO,
