No pattern, No party!

At this moment in time, due to a couple of unfortunate coincidences, my life has become a whirlwind, or as my mom says, like living in a washing machine and someone turned the cycle on to spin! Some things that are happening are enjoyable and others are a bit stressful, but all are things that I cannot control so I just have to sit them out. 

I would love to turn this trend around, however, the spin cycle may not ease off until Christmas and as usual the one thing that gets thrown by the wayside first is my pattern making! So no serious designing is going on at the moment, just a lot of doodling and jotting down of ideas, keeping things on the boil until I have more time to dedicate to patterns again. 

At first I thought 'No pattern, No party'... but I am now back to a bit of enjoyable cutting, sticking and doodling in front of the telly in the evenings, and it is not such a bad idea. This week I have been producing handcrafted envelopes known as 'Efuto' which I shall be posting off to some of my surface pattern friends. 

It is always enjoyable to create 'little' patterns and projects just to keep my creative juices flowing until better times. Here are a few close-ups of my designs without showing the whole of the envelope. I like them to be a surprise when they arrive in the post!

If you leave a comment after this post I will be drawing out one name to find a winner for an Efuto that needs a new owner! I hope to hear from you :)

Doodleboard 'Swirls'

I absolutely love my doodleboard which has found its way into my garage! It may not seem the perfect place but I am getting used to it and I am sure that it will become a permanent feature from now on.

Already on my 4th sheet of A1 paper I am noticing a difference between the things I draw in my sketchbook and the things I draw whilst standing in front of my doodleboard! For one thing the drawings are bigger and bolder and I just draw anything that comes into my head, mainly patterns, shapes and motifs. I use black pens and I sometimes stick bits of paper onto the sheet beforehand (with a computer it can be so tempting and simple to add lots of different colours to the designs immediately), with just a pen and paper I concentrate mainly on the marks I make.

I have already identified lots of elements which could easily be elaborated further to create individual patterns. Although I have a busy schedule I am eager to develop and finish a pattern which has originated from my doodleboard. Until then I'll leave you with a couple of swirly bits and some flowers from my 4th doodle sheet!

Doodling in blue and black!

Good morning. I want to share a few of my doodles with you. 
Yesterday I spent some time with my doodle board a black pen and a piece of sticky blue paper... heaven. I really enjoyed myself and I created lots of motifs which I will be taking up again to work into pattern designs. 

My doodle board is quite addictive and I find it is leading me away from what I thought was my style! ... the only thing I can do is keep doodling and hope that it takes me somewhere nice. I do hope you enjoy them?