These gift tags are not Christmas themed, so you can use them on any occasion. Plus, they’re easily downloadable and free.

Here are some pictures of them all printed and cut. I used a 240 g/m² matte paper. You can use a paper puncher to make a hole in one of the corners, that way you could put a string through it and tape it to your gift. You could also print these on a self-adhesive inkjet paper, and when you cut them out you’ll have gift tag stickers.

Gift Tags

Gift Tag - detail

Gift Tags

Just click on the links bellow to open the PDF and download the gift tags. The PDF is Letter sized.

English

Gift Tags – English

Português / Español

Gift Tags – Português/Español

Would you like these to be available in other languages? If so, please let me know.

Have a nice week!

My printer run out of ink so I can’t print the calendar to show you pictures, I will post them as soon as I can. None the less, the colors on these previews should be accurate, so go ahead and print your own October calendar.

As last time, there are two versions, a small one, that fits in a CD case, and a bigger one, letter sized.

October 2011 Calendar - Letter

October 2011 Calendar - CD Case

October 2011 Calendar – Letter (8.5 x 11 in or 21.6 × 27.9 cm)

October 2011 Calendar – CD Case (4.7 x 5.5 in or 12 x 14 cm)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Spring Leaves

Spring Leaves Pattern

Cute Cupcakes

Cute Cupcakes Pattern

Spirals

Spirals Pattern

=)

I drew every butterfly by hand, then scanned them, and traced them on the computer. I then positioned them in the repeat I wanted, and with the help of my tablet, started erasing bits and pieces of each butterfly, so that they would create the illusion of being intertwined. It took quite a long time, specially the main pattern, but I think it was worth it! I’m happy with the end result of the tangled effect.

I wanted to make sure every pattern worked alone and with each other (that is, after all, what a collection is all about), and hope to have done a good job, considering it’s the first collection I make. As soon as I update the other color schemes to Spoonflower I’ll order swatches and put them up for sale.

Tangled Butterflies Collection

I hope you all have a great weekend. Mine promises to be great, with family coming to visit, irish dance rehearsals and a vegan pizza that’s waiting for me right now! =D

Chives, parsley, fennel, tomatoes and avocados.

I usually keep it simple and use only potatoes, fennel, tomatoes and chives, but I wanted to use what I had in the fridge, so I added some parsley and avocados. I’m not a parsley fan but it worked out fine in the recipe, and the avocados were also a good addition. I think the fun thing about potato salads is that mostly anything works, so you can just be creative.

I made vegan mayo from Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray’s 30 Minute Vegan, I love that recipe! It’s our only option here in Santiago, we can’t find vegan mayo at the supermarket. I once found a soy spread that was very expensive and tasted nothing like mayo, but it’s not on the market anymore (and even if it was, I wouldn’t buy it again).

Instead of using regular salt in the mayo, I used this garlic and seaweed sea salt we bought a while back, I must buy more of that stuff, it’s delicious and gives food a mild garlicky taste without being all over the place. I must have used about two or three generous tablespoons of mayo for the salad.

Potato Salad

Potato Salad

I steamed 5 potatoes, that were already peeled and cut into medium pieces, and let them cool for about half an hour before mixing them up with the other vegetables and the mayo. Once everything was mixed together, I checked the salt and that’s all, it was ready. Isn’t this a great recipe for a picnic or potluck?

I made two versions, a small one, to fit in a CD case, and a bigger one, letter sized, that I taped to the board I have on my wall.

Here are some pictures of what they look like once printed:

August 2011 Calendar - CD Case

August 2011 Calendar - CD Case

August 2011 Calendar - Letter

August 2011 Calendar - Letter

If you’d like to print out these calendars, all you have to do is click on the links bellow.

August 2011 Calendar – Letter (8.5 x 11 in or 21.6 × 27.9 cm)
August 2011 Calendar – Letter (8.5 x 11 in or 21.6 × 27.9 cm) With smaller numbers
August 2011 Calendar – CD Case (4.7 x 5.5 in or 12 x 14 cm)

I used one of Design Seeds‘s beautiful palettes as inspiration.

Have a nice week 

I thought a good way of bringing this blog back to life, other than writing a new post, would be with a free wallpaper calendar download. I intend on making it a monthly thing, and hope you enjoy it.

So this first wallpaper is, as I said before, a calendar, and I used a christmassy color scheme, with deep and light reds, and black. A couple of people have asked me what font I used for the numbers and the answer is: none. It’s all hand made.

Widescreen 16:10
1280X800
1920X1200

Fullscreen 4:3
800X600
1024X768
1280X1024
1600X1200

=***

For me, color is what gets me going. I can get inspiration from an image that has a harmonic color scheme, and sometimes (not always) I find it easier to define the colors I’ll work with before finishing a sketch or project. For me, deciding the colors of a layout is not a detail, it’s part of the project itself. And a very important part, I may add.

I thought it would be interesting to have a color scheme suggestion category in this blog, to help inspire other people and also to debate on the subject.

To start, I’d like to suggest color schemes that can be used very well in Easter projects. Easter speaks to me in pastel, soft colors. The queen pastel color is probably peach. It’s earthy and invinting, and can be combined with a number of complementary colors.

Here are some color combinations you may find inspiring if you are working on an easter project:

Easter Color Schemes

Of course, you don’t have to use these color combinations only in easter.  You can apply them in any project in which you’re goal is to deliver a message of something warm, invinting, calm, pleasant and relaxed. Pastel color schemes are also very present in design for kids.

Here are some examples I find inspiring:

Laura Ashling Botannical Birds collection.

Aimée Wilder's Clouds wallpaper.

Aimée Wilder's Clouds wallpaper.

Baby quilt from Casa & Ideas.

World Matrioska textile from Macrina Busato.

I hope you found the suggestions inspiring. Colors have a strong power to communicate emotions and concepts, not only in surface design but in general, and choosing the right color scheme for your project can help you achieve your goal.

Photo references:

Laura Ashling from Print & Pattern.

Aimée Wilder from http://aimeewilder.com/.

Casa & Ideas from www.casaideas.cl.

Macrina Busato from Growing Graphics book, from Index Book.

So, surface design and textile design are linked together, you really can’t separate both. I plan on focusing on the furnishing, interior and household textiles on this post. To talk about Apparel textiles would be a whole new world (a new fantastic point of view), I really don’t feel confortable going there, I have no fashion background and you can find information about fashion design and clothing in general in other blogs.

Furnishing fabrics can be found in your home (domestic) and in public buildings such as schools or offices (contract). This category includes carpets, curtains, wall coverings, etc. Household textiles are, for example, sheets, pillowcases, towels, blankets, quilts, amongst others. When household textiles are used in contract spaces (like a hotel os a hospital) they are called “institutional fabrics”.

Furnishing fabrics example.

Household textiles example.

I would differentiate furnishing fabrics and household textiles by considering that furnishing fabrics tend to stay longer periods of time in their “positions” and are harder to replace, and also more expensive in general. How often do you change your living room’s curtains? What about your room’s carpet? Now compare that to how often you change your towels, or your sheets. Yes, I am aware that Prada sheets cost more than IKEA curtains, but let’s be reasonable, you get the main idea.

Yarns.

In the textile industry there are many different occupations for a designer. In her book “Handbook of textile design – Principles, processes and practice” Jacquie Wilson includes the following positions:

• Colourists predicting and forecasting future colour ranges;
• Yarn designers;
• Knitted fabric designers;
• Woven fabric designers;
• Carpet designers;
• Print designers;
• Embroidery designers;
• Knitwear designers;
• Garment designers;
• Accessory designers;
• Print producers;
• Stylists;
• Colourists developing colourways;
• Repeat artists.

I really recommend Wilson’s book. It gives a very good understanding on the textile industry as a whole, and also points out what can a designer do in the textile and clothing market. In the book you can also find interesting appendix with Gantt chart examples for textile projects and how to calculate an hourly rate. It’s a technical book, so if you are starting to work in the textile industry or studying it, it can be very useful.

Personally, I’m more drawn towards repeats and colourways. Learning to do a repeat pattern is absolutely necessary to work in the textile industry and in the surface design market in general.

So, as you can see, there’s a large number of roles a designer can have in the textile industry, each position will demand a certain amount of specific technical knowledge, but as long as you love what you do, learning is nothing but pleasurable.

Photo references and important links:

• Wilson’s Book.
• Yarns photo by Muffet on Flickr.
• Furnishing fabrics photo by …Rachel J… on Flickr.
• Household textiles photo by Peppysis on Flickr.