A Family Affair
This first month of 2025 has been one of the most creative months of my life. I cannot recall having this many art ideas fleshed out into something! I have made over 60 fabric designs that together make 7 fabric collections, over 10 handmade cards, many sketchbook pages, sewing a few things and even making handmade items too! I have had a blast, literally so much fun, but I do wonder….can I keep up this pace?
Well, I am not worrying about that. I am going to just keep going; keep drawing, keep painting, keep learning all the tools of digital art, keep trying to bring those seeds of ideas to life and also figure out the best venue to do that.
As I type this and watch my January header move up and down, I get so excited that I figured out how to make that happen. Wow, the possibilities are endless with these tools at my fingertips.
So let’s dive in and try not to get lost as you make your way through. LOL!
Cards of the Month
A sweet friend got me a paint it yourself calendar for Christmas from Grabie and what a perfect gift for artists! I am looking forward to painting something each month all year long. Before I started painting though, I decided to set a few self-imposed ground rules. #1 - it needs to stay simple, don’t over complicate, don’t over think. And #2 - I must use gouache paint. Check out the first photo below of my muted colorful snowflakes. And just like that, the idea went everywhere! I used it for several handmade cards and then I took it digitally to see what I could do and ended up creating the January header animation. I love it when ideas compound on themselves!
What’s New
A Family of Creatives
My Dad started carving ducks in 1983 after he broke his leg. He repurposed a pine beam from a log home he was building then to start this new creative endeavor. Like anyone trying a new task, he learned quite a bit from this first full scale duck carving. He has created many more and painted them in exact replica. They are all beautiful, but this first one left unpainted is my favorite and now this duck lives in my very own fabric collection I drew and designed with my rendering of his carved duck.
Also pictured is a painting I did when I was 5 years old with my initials at the top (H.LO)! This was right around the time he was carving this first duck. My Dad kept me busy painting while he was carving!
Other Fabric Collections I created this month
A Wintry Mix
Aquarium Decor
Coffee and Tea
Flower, Rock, Scribble
2 Tone Quilt Fabric
Colorful Countryside
Glass Tumblers Flora - just one so far in this collection
See all the ways these designs and more can be purchased in home decor items and fabric:
Family Collaboration
Grandma Evie’s Initials
What do you do when your aunt gets your grandmother to do a little artist trading card (ATC) art project and you delightfully receive it in the mail?? You make it into a repeating design for fabric, of course!
I was elated to get this ATC last summer (Thanks Aunt Cindy) and hung on to it. When I recently came back across it, I had the idea to try and create a repeating pattern. It was quite a challenge with the randomness of the lettering, but I finally got it.
Now we can get fabric printed with this design for fun family projects.
The art project was having my grandmother write her initials in different color pens everywhere on the card. So fun!
The repeating fabric design I created from the artist trading card.
Below are the mockups of fabric and a tea towel from this fabric design:
Handmade items
I am excited to share a few handmade items that will be for sale soon in our local community art center, Artmosphere, here in Clayton, NC.
Collage Kits: These are a curated collection of papers I have drawn or painted over the years. It is more than I know what to do with in a lifetime. So I created a collage kit that includes 30 pieces of hand drawn or hand painted papers, 2 blank cards and envelopes. Lots of possibilities with this fun little kit! (Also, I drew out the packaging info card!)
Bohemian Hearts: This was an idea that had been brewing for quite a while and I finally stopped to make one and I am ever so glad I did! Each heart is made with wire and an array of beads from my vast bead collection and also old jewelry many friends and family have given me over the years. I love taking apart old jewelry to repurpose into other new ideas. Some hearts also have my own ceramic beads or pendants I made too! Each heart is also finished off with a scrap piece of sewn fabric from my fabric stash. No two are alike and each one is put together with lots of love by me.
One more snowflake
I hope you made it through this month’s lengthy blogpost! When January 1st hit, I had no idea I would have this much to share already. This is so exciting!
For those that voted on my quilt fabric on social media - thank you! Voting has begun on Spoonflower and I have received a few votes thus far, which is exciting. Voting closes on February 11th. The design I submitted I was the navy and white design called Strict Confidence. It is the last design above in the 2 tone quilt fabric collection.
The next design challenge is stripes, so stay tuned to what I come up with for that one!
Thank you for all your encouraging words and support each month and reading my many artistic musings.
Stay creative out there~
Hannah