Nasher/Matisse Contest

For the fabric design contest at Spoonflower this week, I had to create a design that Matisse could have painted for a tablecloth in one of his paintings.  The palette was limited to 4 specific colors.  I enjoyed trying out different styles and designs and finally settled on one.  Here is the final design that I submitted.  Final day of voting is tomorrow.  If you like my design, please click on the link and send a vote my way.  Thank you!

New Colorway for my Love Birds

Playing around with a new colorway for my Love Birds collection.  Decided to go with some pretty reds and pinks....just what my "Sweet Ruby" ordered.  Whatcha think....pink!   I will be adding this to my Spoonflower shop.

I love Photo Card Boutique Designer Templates!!!  This is where I took my color inspiration from for my new colorway for my Love Birds collection.  Check out this awesome site.  There are a years worth of color palettes!!!  An new inspiration each day!!  Whoo Hoo!!  

Love Birds Fabric Collection

 This week Spoonflower is having a contest for a bird or flight
related fabric design that is also palette-restricted.  All designs are limited to grey-707c7c, light teal-83c5ba, apple green-93d300, and pale yellow-F9ea62 (see diagram).  This contest is also sponsored by the wonderful UK craft magazine Mollie Makes.  The winning fabric design will be used in a photo shoot for the cover of their magazine!  I went a little crazy with this contest and designed some coordinating prints to go with the print I am entering.  I have combined them into my 'Love Birds' collection.

Prairie Christmas Cocktail Napkins

Complete design fits in a fat quarter (21"x18")

"Prairie Christmas" is my entry for the next contest on Spoonflower... a Holiday Cocktail Napkin Design.  The festive designs for my napkins are based on the Prairie style of design which I LOVE!  Originally my designs were created for Christmas cards, but when I heard about this contest I jumped at the opportunity to use them in a napkin layout.  Please stop by Spoonflower and vote for my design this week!  Thanks so much!

Close-up

Another close-up

Just Like My Hero

The contest theme for Spoonflower this week is "Be My Hero".  I decided not to go with a 'Super Hero' theme, and instead designed my entry as a tribute to all the men and women who risk their lives each and every day to keep our wonderful country safe and preserve our right to FREEDOM.  

Most children want to be just like their hero at some point in their lives. A hero can wear many hats and perform many different duties and rolls. When I asked my 9 and 12 year old boys who they thought some heroes in their lives were, they responded by listing just about every different military person they could think of. They also included firefighters and police officers in their list...with mom and dad thrown in too for good measure. :) I decided on a military (army) theme for my HERO design to honor our everyday SUPER HEROES.  Thank you for all you do!

Please check out Spoonflower if you get a chance, and VOTE for my design "Just Like My Hero"!  I greatly appreciate all of your support and encouragement!  Thank you!!

Close-up View

Got MY SAMPLES!!

I recently ordered swatches from Spoonflower for 30 of my fabric designs.  I was so excited to finally get my package!!  Here is one of the samples that I had printed.  It is the sample of my Vintage Indian Motorcycle fabric.  Did I mention how excited I am?  All of the designs that I ordered swatches of will soon be available for purchase on Spoonflower!!  YAY!!

FINALLY...found some time

Finally got the chance to enter another contest with Spoonflower. Please check out the link below and VOTE for my design! The winner will receive a one-year membership to Adobe Creative Cloud™!! WHOOHOO!!   The first design was the one I entered into the contest.  The second one was just for fun.  

http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters/new?contest_id=162

Firefighter Nursery Theme

Today I finished some adorable little paintings for a very sweet little boy.  My dear friend Lynn asked me to paint some canvases....about six months ago...when she found out she was having a little boy.  She had a very cute quilt that she wanted me to use as inspiration for three canvases.  The theme...Firefighter.  Well...sweet little Gavin was born 2 months ago, and today I FINALLY finished his paintings!  Phew!  It has been one crazy, busy summer and I have been chasing the clock to get these canvases done.  I was so happy to find the last two hours to complete little Gavin's paintings today.  I feel so honored that Lynn asked me to paint these canvases for her sweet little boy.  I hope he enjoys them for years to come!

Life of a Pomegranate

Last week Spoonflower's contest theme was Pomegranate.  I LOVE POMEGRANATE!  I had a great time sketching and designing a few coordinating fabrics for the Pomegranate theme.  Here are the three designs that I developed.  I also had fun playing around with color and was able to come up with three different colorways for my collection, "Life of a Pomegranate".  Feel free to visit my Spoonflower shop to view all three colorways.  Thanks for looking!

Sweet Summer Days

Miss Ruby inspired this illustration.  Today was HOT!!  Oh yes...it is FINALLY SUMMER in Minnesota!  With almost 95 degrees outside today, I took a little break inside our air conditioned home to sketch up this sweet drawing.  Ruby is always in the water...the pool, the lake, the sprinkler...where ever there is water I will find Ruby!  She is my little mermaid girl!  And what a gorgeous day we had today!  A perfect day for relaxing at the beach for sure!

Mid-Century Cocktail Dress Print

I am particularly excited for one contest that Spoonflower is holding in the coming weeks.  It is a contest to find the best print to use in the creation of a Mid-century cocktail dress/costume.  A costume designer at a local theater is looking for a print to use for a vintage pattern cocktail dress in an upcoming production of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.  This is the design that I would like to enter into the contest.  What do you think?  Your comments are greatly appreciated!  Thank you!

CELEBRATE AMERICA

This week I designed a couple of fabrics for my "Celebrate America" fabric collection for Spoonflower.  The theme for the contest that starts tomorrow is "Stars and Stripes".  I geared my designs to be all about America...very Fourth of July feel to them.  I hand sketched these designs, scanned them into Photoshop and added color.  I wanted a very playful feel to the designs.  Let me know if you like them!  I would love to hear from you!  My "Stars and Stripes" design is entered into this weeks Spoonflower contest, so please stop by Spoonflower and vote for my design! Voting starts on Thursday.  Thank you for your support!

"Stars & Stripes"

"The American Way"

Fabric8 Finalist Profiles

Here is a link to all 8 of the Fabric8 Finalist from the Spoonflower & Robert Kaufman Fabrics contest.  These artists are AMAZING!  But don't just take my word for it....click on the link and check out their profiles and amazing work for yourself!  These wonderful women are truly and inspiration!

Motorcycle Themed Fabric Design

This weeks contest theme on Spoonflower is Motorcycles.  I decided to use a gorgeous vintage Indian motorcycle for the inspiration in my design.  I kept my design simple, because I felt the beauty of the bike could stand alone.  Using Photoshop I digitally manipulated the image and used some filters to add interest to my design.  Then I added a solid dark background to help draw your eyes to the details in the bike.  And voila...my entry in the Spoonflower Motorcycle contest was complete.  Once again...I would LOVE your vote!!  Please click on the link to vote for my Vintage Indian Motorcycle design!  Thank you!!  

The Place to BE....PV (Portable Vision)

Portable Vision is an art based mentoring program at Central Minnesota Youth for Christ in which teenagers and mentors work together to create quality pieces of art which tell their unique stories. Art then becomes a meaningful and useful way to connect lives. On this art making journey these stories converge...and it is beautiful.

Tonight...after 12 weeks of sharing, discovering and creating, the Portable Vision artists and mentors are hosting their public gallery exhibition at the Central Minnesota Youth for Christ City Center Building in St. Cloud, MN. This is an amazing event where we will learn about the artists and mentors and view their beautiful pieces. You won't want to miss it!

Fabric8 Finalist Profiles

Spoonflower is featuring the profiles of all 8 designers in the Fabric8 contest on their blog.  So far, they have posted 4 of the 8 designers.  These talented individuals have developed some beautiful fabrics!  And now, thanks to Spoonflower, we get a glimpse at what inspires such wonderful creativity from these designers.  The first profile is for Lucie Duclos and her Water Flower fabric design.  The second is for Heather Dutton and her Afternoon Tea fabric design.  And the third is for Sara Berrenson and her Watercolor Blooms fabric design.  The fourth is for Mandy Kippax and her Red Poppies fabric design.  I will post links for the remaining 4 designers once they are posted.  I am giddy with excitement waiting for their final collections to be revealed!!

Holly Helgeson's photostream

Holly Helgeson's photostream on Flickr.

Please check out my flickr account for on-going additions to my design library.

Miss Ruby goes to....Spoonflower!

This week the design contest at Spoonflower was for a "Hand drawn" design.  No fancy Photoshop or Illustrator software knowledge required for this contest...(however I did use them to change a few colors around and put my design into repeat).  Since I am doodling constantly, this contest really appealed to me.  Plus, the guidelines were so open, I could pretty much enter anything my little heart desired.  So, since I had already spent months developing my "Miss Ruby" paper dolls for my own little daughter Ruby, I decided to use them for my "Hand drawn" entry.  I also added a cute little pink stripe to the background, and here is how my fabric turned out.  I really do think this design would be adorable in a quilt or made into curtains for a little girl's room.  What do you think?  If you agree, please vote for my "Miss Ruby" design!  Voting ends tomorrow.  Thank you so much for your support!!

Fondue Fun

Who doesn't love to fondue?  What could be better than yummy snacky food on a stick that you can dip in gooey goodness?  Well...this week the Spoonflower contest theme was "retro kitchen" and the design was limited to only 4 colors that they picked (including white).  Yay!!!  Right up my alley!!  I just adore retro kitchen!!!  And the design possibilities were endless!!!  I started out thinking I would design something involving old retro appliances and spice boxes.  But something in me was yelling "FUNKY FUN"...and from that "Fantastic Retro Fondue" was created!  Please click on the link to vote for my design! I sincerely appreciate all of your support!!  Thanks so much for your vote!!!

http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters/337591

Check out my IPOD Cover Design on Society6

Since diving into fabric design on Spoonflower, I have found more ways to get "My Art" out there in the real world.  I came upon a wonderful website....Society6.   Here, I am able to upload my designs and have them made into several different items.  So far, I have uploaded 2 of my designs and made them into framed prints, canvases, stationary, IPHONE cases, and IPOD skins.  I could also have t-shirts and hoodies made from my designs.  Seriously...how COOL is that?!?!?  Here is how my designs turned out.  

All of these items are available in my Society6 shop at http://society6.com/HollyHelgeson.

Please stop by my shop and take a look around!