Dec 18, 2014

Happy Holidays

The count down is on and even though I thought I won't stress myself too much this year, it was nothing besides a great wish. 
I had some goals like adding more items to my Etsy store before Christmas so I have been very busy. In case you are looking for some last minute gifts, please check out Pattern Jots Shop. So far all products are digital downloads and you can just sit at home with your printer near by ( and some mulled wine in your hands ) and print some lovely Christmas gifts for your loved ones. No need to leave the house ( except you are planning to frame what you purchased ) and join the crowds.

My latest addition :

Perpetual Birthday Calendar, copyright©Maike Thoma by Pattern Jots 2014
Perpetual Birthday Calendar available at Pattern Jots Shop

A quote always makes a great gift :

Do What YouLove Wall Art, copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
Do What You Love Wall Art available at Pattern Jots Shop

I am taking a break over the holidays and I will be back January 8th 2015.
Thank you to all my loyal blog readers. I wish everyone very Happy Holidays and a fabulous New Year. 

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
Christmas Wishes from Pattern Jots

Dec 11, 2014

Marsala - Pantone Colour of the Year 2015

The Pantone color of the year announcement is always a much long waited event for all designer.
For 2015 Pantone announced the color "Marsala" 18-1438 as the color of the year. I have to admit I was not overly excited at the beginning until I started thinking about colour combinations and over a few days I warmed up to "Marsala" and can already imagine designing patterns which contain the color of "Marsala".

http://www.pantone.com/pages/index.aspx?pg=21163
Marsala Pantone color of the year 2015

I especially like this statement by Pantone :
A Unifying Element
"The impactful, full bodied qualities of Marsala make for an elegant, grounded statement color when used on its own or as strong accent to many other colors."

http://www.pantone.com/pages/index.aspx?pg=21163


And for sure I will buy this fab nail polish next...


http://www.pantone.com/pages/index.aspx?pg=21163



And here are some of my favourite color combinations for "Marsala"



And did you see this gorgeous dress in "Marsala"... by Derek Lam...I think I will dream about this dress tonight, it is just my style !

Dress by Derek Lam seen at Harpers Bazaar

I find this is the perfect implementation of "Marsala" in interior design

As seen on the Lonny website

And I love that pillow by Crate and Barrel

Linet 18" pillow by Crate and Barrel

And do you see the hint of "Marsala" in the center of that pillow ?

Pondicherry 18" x 12" by Crate and Barrel

And last but not least something for the Christmas mood...I found this gorgeous gift wrap by talented designer Allison Cole which you can currently buy at Target.


https://www.facebook.com/allisoncoleillustration/app_267091300008193



The New Year can start now in style with "Marsala"...

Happy Thursday !

Copyright for the top three pictures are with Pantone®

Dec 4, 2014

Adventchallenge 2014

The count down to Christmas has started and it is already December 4th. 
As the previous two years Faye Brown initiated the fun advent challenge again. 
Everyone is invited to create a piece of art ( illustrate, sing, sew, felt, film, take pictures ) for 25 days according to the daily theme. 
I was able to do all 25 days last year and it was so much fun...this year I am so busy with other projects but I hope I can do a few days here and there. 
If you like to follow the advent challenge, look out for the hash tag #adventchallenge on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. It is great to see what is posted. There is also a Pinterest board where new art will be pinned every day.

So here is the list :

Advent challenge 2014
And here are some great pieces of art from my fellow designers :

Day 2 "Christmas Tree" by Julie Hamilton http://artisticallyafflicted.com

Day 2 "Christmas Tree" by Lindsay Buck http://slumbermonkey.blogspot.co.uk

Day 3 "A Tree Decoration" by Suzanne Washington http://www.suzyspellbound.com

Day 4 "Penguin" by Rebecca Stoner http://rebeccastoner.co.uk

Day 3 "A Tree Decoration" by Mary Tanana http://groovity.blogspot.ch
Isn't this all fabulous...I am looking forward to see more beautiful designs for the advent challenge. 

Here is one of my designs from last year :

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2013
"A Tree Decoration" advent challenge 2013 by Pattern Jots www.patternjots.com
Please note the copyright for all designs shown in this blog post belong to the designer who created the art.

Happy Thursday !!!

Nov 27, 2014

Illustrated Birthday Calendar

So sorry I did not make it to write a blog post last week...health issues came up I had to take care of. Back at my desk for a few days already and it is getting very busy over here, less than a month until Christmas. 
I guess everyone is feeling the rush right now. I am happy to show you my latest project : a perpetual birthday calendar you can buy now from my Etsy store
It is an instant download and makes a perfect Christmas gift. So no need to leave the house and join the crowds in the city. Plus you support an individual artist and not the big box retailers.

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
Front page contemporary birthday calendar by Pattern Jots 

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
January page


See the full calendar over here.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Thursday everyone !




Nov 13, 2014

Thank You

It was my birthday this week and I received so many lovely birthday wishes and gifts...unexpected ! 
I was overwhelmed by all the love from family and friends. 
To show my appreciation I designed Thank You cards and I very much enjoyed doing it. 
Here you can see one example.

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
Thank You card copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014

Happy Thursday !!!

Nov 6, 2014

Etsy Shops

This week I have been working on opening my Etsy store...I have to admit I was procrastinating for a long time. 
I read a lot about opening an Etsy store and I remember reading, you should not try to be perfect in the beginning, just open your store and go from there. 
For a perfectionist like me this is easier said than done but in the end I did it. 
Starting with some digital products so far I have 6 products ready to sell. My dream is selling actual products, handmade by me...one day !
Since Christmas is around the corner I designed some circle shape gift tags which also work as cupcake toppers. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/209819548/digital-holiday-gift-tags-cupcake?ref=shop_home_active_1
12 round gift tags available as digital files on Etsy


You will also find a variety of Washi tapes for your craft projects.

Digital Washi tape available on Etsy.

Reading so much about Etsy and looking at a lot of shops, I want to share my favourite shops with you...it is just the beginning...there is so much amazing art available on Etsy, I could literally spend days looking at all different kind of Etsy shops.


Have fun shopping on Etsy and Happy Thursday !


Oct 30, 2014

Mid Century Design

Inspiration of the week...one of my dear friends bought a house and she showed it to me the other day. 
The house was built in 1959 and you could see it was a gorgeous house by that time. 
Walking inside I felt like time travelling, almost everything was still authentic. Amazing ! 
I do not need to mention I admire the Mid-Century style a lot and got quite excited inside. 
The first thing what caught my eye was a kind of music shelf with doors with beautiful flower designs on it.

http://patternjots.blogspot.ch
Mid Century Flower Design

Then we walked into the rooms and I saw beautiful wall paper ... I still can not believe this wall paper is on these walls for over 50 years.

http://patternjots.blogspot.ch
Mid-Century children's wall paper

http://patternjots.blogspot.ch
Mid-Century wall paper

http://patternjots.blogspot.ch
Mid-Century wall paper

Happy Thursday !

Oct 23, 2014

Pattern Mix

Fall break is over and after visiting family in Germany and getting some rest I am happy to be back on my desk designing.

During fall break I received a nice email saying some of my patterns are published in the new e-book Pattern Mix by Pattern People. 
It is a great inspiration and features over 100 talented surface designers from all over the world. 
It shows more than 800 print designs on 200 plus pages of colourful patterns. 
As much as I love to hold an actual book, I get used to ebooks I can conveniently store on my iPad which means I almost always have them with me which is great.
You can check out more details about the book over here.

E-book Pattern Mix by Pattern People

One of my designs published in the book.
copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
Surface Pattern "Abstract 1"  copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014

Happy Thursday !

Oct 3, 2014

Happy Fall Break !

I feel we just had summer break...it is beautiful in Switzerland right now, fog in the morning and sunshine in the afternoon. 
The leaves are falling and colours are changing. 
I am off for fall break and will be back in three weeks.

Happy Friday !


copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
Happy Fall Break !


Sep 25, 2014

Patterns on Bedding

I can not believe it is Thursday again...time flies. 
One more week and the kids are on fall break already. 

Today I was enjoying myself mocking up some of my "Intricate Chaos" designs for bedding. 
For a designer there is nothing more satisfying than seeing their own designs on products. Lucky for us there is software which helps to mock up your designs into wallpaper, pillows, boxes, curtains or on bedding. If you find or make the right picture to use for a mock up, there are no boundaries.

Happy Thursday !

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
"Dissonance 5" for bedding copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014




  copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
"Intricate Chaos 2" copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014


copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
"Intricate Chaos 1" copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014

Sep 18, 2014

Woodlands Illustration

Fall is approaching fast - it is still warm over here in Switzerland but it is foggy in the morning and the air smells like fall already. 
Thinking fall the theme "woodlands" always come into my mind. 
Exactly one year ago I designed a woodland fabric collection and this illustration also came out of it.
I hope you like it ! 

Happy Thursday !


copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2013
"Woodland Squirrels" copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2013

Sep 12, 2014

Fabric Designs for the Minted Competition "The Extra Yard"

Life is extremely busy over here...so today it will be only a quick blog post about the latest Minted competition "The Extra Yard". 
Minted is a beautiful online shop for all things stationery, personalized and non personalized and it shows the best from designers from all over the world. 
Minted is having a lot of calls for competitions and some of my designer friends won a prize already. So I had to give it a go as well and entered Minted's first fabric competition. 
Here you can see my entries :

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
If you like my "Japanese Flowers" you can vote for it over here link.

copyrigh©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
If you like "Intricate Chaos 2" you can vote for it over here link.


copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
If you like "Intricate Chaos 1" you can vote for it over here link.

Of course voting for all three designs is possible, too ;) Just click the link below each design.

Thank you and Happy Thursday !


Sep 4, 2014

Intricate Chaos - Wallpaper

This week I am having a lot of fun designing patterns for the trend "Intricate Chaos" for fall / winter 2015. 
It has been the last brief from the Make it in Design summer school and I feel lucky I have time to join. 
Love the brief, it really suits my style and as you may know I love to draw detailed ornaments. 
The trend is an explosion of patterns and I was very much inspired my maroc and tunesian ornaments.

Here you can see my sketches :

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
Sketches Intricate Chaos copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014

And here I made two room mock ups with some of my designs as a wallpaper. It is always fun to see your design on a product - I love wallpapers ( I even dream of beautiful wallpapers sometimes ). 

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
Wallpaper in trend colours for fall/winter 2015 copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
Wallpaper in trend colours for fall/winter 2015 copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014


I will work on many more designs for this trend...too much fun to stop.

There is also an online gallery for the last brief of Make it in Design summer school, where you can see all the amazing art from my fellow designers.

Happy Thursday !


Aug 28, 2014

Sneak Peak Print Fall/Winter 2015

It is a short blog post today...busy drawing. 
Just a quick sneak peak of my drawings on ornamental, intricate patterns. 
I have a few more to go before I will put it together into repeat patterns. 
They also work as placement prints. 
It is fun and I am curious to see how it will develop. 
I love this trend for fall/winter 2015...it suits my style.

Happy Thursday !

copyright@Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
Ornamental sketches copyright@Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014


Aug 21, 2014

Ethnic Patterns Collage

School has started over here in Switzerland and I feel summer is officially over - the weather also acts more like fall. 
We are settling slowly back into a routine and this helps a lot with spending more time on my desk. 

Hurray !

Last week I was talking about the trend for fall-winter 2015 "Ethnic Patterns Collage".
It is also the topic for part 2 of the "Make it in Design" summer course.
I signed up for this course just for the fun of it so I pushed myself to design something for part 2.

Some typography fun first.

"Tribal" copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
"Tribal" with ethnic patterns by Pattern Jots

 Colours

www.patternjots.blogspot.ch
Colours "Ethnic Patterns Collage"


And my final main print.

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
Main print "Ethnic Patterns Collage" copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014

I already had a sneak peak of wonderful designs from my fellow designers and you have to check out the gallery over here.

Happy Thursday !

Aug 14, 2014

Ethnic Trend Winter 2015

As a designer thinking ahead and being up to date with trends is key. 
There are always some strong trends, repeating almost every year in different variations. 
One of these trends is "Ethnic Prints and Patterns" - sometimes the trend leads more to asian designs, south american designs and sometimes more to african designs. 
You can see this trend in fashion as well as in interior. 
The twist in this trend for 2015 is thinking ethnic patterns collage or patchwork. I am working on this trend for the "Make it in Design" summer course - just for the fun of it. 
So far I only have managed to do some research online but I hope I can show you something next week. 

Here are some inspirations :

copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2014
I took this picture at a thrift store a while back and it was actually a skirt made out of half circles - quite fascinating.
I found this pattern on canstockphoto.com called sunburst ( source )
A quilt I found on Etsy ( source )
And I totally fell in love with those indian patchwork pillows, also found on Etsy ( source )
More indian patchwork pillows ( source )
Kilim pillow case on Etsy ( source )

Happy Thursday !