Grateful - Happy Summer !

Yesterday the school year came to an end and finally the summer holidays are here. 

Dealing with exhaustion but also with withdrawal...we are deeply grateful for a fabulous school year with inspiring teachers and new friends. 

"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all." 

I love his quote by Aristotle because this is the way I feel about my children's education this year...and it makes me so happy !

With the latest, sad events from Nice and Istanbul, I feel strongly we need to work hard to educate the hearts of our children knowing they are our future.

I am wishing everyone a very happy and relaxing summer !

Enjoy ! xx

Illustration with Aristotle quote
 copyright © Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2016

World Lupus Day 2016

I am super happy to be part of the World Lupus Day showcase for the fourth year. 

"Before we begin a little word about Lupus. It is a chronic disease which can affect anyone at any age, it is hard to diagnose and the exact causes of the condition are still unknown. Lupus, considered to be a rare disease is becoming more and more common. The butterfly is universally accepted as the symbol which represents the disease." 

My friend Dawn Clarkson from "Nice and Fancy" is starting this project every year to celebrate World Lupus Day and raise awareness for this disease. 

There are four showcases in total over at the "Nice and Fancy" blog; kids design's as well as designs from adults. 

I am very impressed by the variety of designs, created in many different mediums.

Please hop over to Dawn's blog for the full showcase.

Butterfly design copyright © pattern jots by Maike Thoma 2016

Please feel free to make a small donation to Lupus UK through Dawn's Paypal account dawnclarkson@libero.it !

Thank you and Happy Wednesday !

Follow Your Bliss - Always !

Today my post is a bit more personal than usual... 

Quote by Joseph Campbell - you can find it here.

"Follow Your Bliss"... a quote by Joseph Campbell.  

With all hurdles in life, more than ever, I try to implement this quote into my life on a daily basis. 

Campbell said "I don't know whether my consciousness is proper consciousness or not; I don't know whether what I know of my being is my proper being or not; but I do know where my rapture ( or bliss ) is. So let me hang on to rapture, and that will bring me both consciousness and my being"

Something to think of...

Campbell told his students "...to go where your body and soul want to go...". From my own experience I know, it is very easy to ignore it and find millions of excuses why you can not follow your bliss and your ego even confirms it is fine doing so. Until...life changing events are happening...at least in my case. 

His assumption was that if you can stay true to your bliss, you will find truth and consciousness ( thank you Mastin Kipp to put it perfectly )...and isn't this what we are all seeking ?

So follow your bliss; sing, dance, paint, draw, love, read, write, volunteer, etc....

And if you feel you like to hang this quote into your home, you can find it here.

I enjoyed meditating this morning and now I will grab my favourite pencils and draw !

Happy Tuesday !

Happy Easter !

With a quick doodle I am wishing everyone a very Happy Easter ! Enjoy the chocolate eggs !

Happy Sunday !

Happy Easter !

Teacher Appreciation Gift

Inspired by the many fabulous teachers my children were - and still are - lucky to be taught by, I made an other version of my family tree. 

This time it is a class tree with the name of the teacher and all students, including details like school year, grade and a personal note. 

This teacher appreciation tree could also be easily converted into a boss appreciation tree, if you like to give a personal gift to your boss from all people working in his/her department.

You can find this wall art over at my Etsy store.

Happy Wednesday !

Teacher Appreciation Gift

Happy !

Happy Tuesday everyone ! 

I just received my first copy of Uppercase magazine in 2016. 

You most likely know Uppercase magazine from Canada...it is a beautiful magazine for the creative and curious with so much inspiration in each issue. 

If you hold it in your hands, you instantly love feeling the paper in your hands and the smell of a freshly printed magazine. 

Issue 28 includes a beautiful black and white calendar for 2016 with literally over 365 beautiful illustrations, patterns or quotes from illustrators and designers from all over the world. 

I am one of the lucky ones who got chosen to contribute. You can find my pattern in the month of November ( my birthday month ) on the 13th .

Uppercase Magazine issue 28 calendar 2016

Happy New Year !

I am wishing everyone a very Happy New Year, peace, health, creativity and happiness ! 

I am very excited for 2016 and all opportunities ahead of me.

Time to get organized and follow up with projects.

Did you get a new calendar already for 2016 ? 

If not...here you can find some in my Etsy store for easy, instant download.

"Floating Drops" wall calendar

"Floating Circles" wall calendar 

"Vases" wall calendar

Happy Monday !

Happy Holidays 2015

Wow...I am just looking at my all time history of this blog - so far it had over 20 000 clicks.

 Thank you everyone who is stopping by from time to time. I appreciate every reader and every single comment. 

I am happy we are such a great, creative community who loves to get inspired by each other's art. 

My goal for next year is spending more time being creative and show more of my work. 

I love what I do and I hope you do, too ! 

Happy Holidays and a very Happy and Creative New Year !

Love, Maike

Holiday wall art available for instant download here.

Lemon Mix

Today I show you my design "LemonMix" on Kess InHouse products. I originally designed it for the last blog hop I was participating in.

Beautiful decorative door mat ...

Decorative door mat "Lemon Mix"

Great pillow sham ...

Pillow sham "Lemon Mix"

Always needed in the kitchen ...

Cutting board "Lemon Mix"

I think the shower curtain is my favourite product with Kess InHouse ...

Shower curtain "Lemon Mix"

Cooking up a storm with lemons ...

Apron "Lemon Mix"

Happy Friday !

Blue Layered Circles

Today I show you my design blue "Layered Circles". It looks beautiful on many different products by Kess InHouse and due to the two colours used it is modest in appearance.

There are never enough everything bags ...

Everything bag "Layered Circles"

For my future pet ...

Pet bowl "Layered Circles"

There are also never enough throw pillows ...

Throw pillow "Layered Circles"

New bedding ...

Cotton duvet cover "Layered Circles"

I would love to have an Apple Watch with this watch strap ... one day ...

Watch strap "Layered Circles"


Happy Saturday !

Retro Hearts

Today I show you a more playful design of mine - "Retro Hearts". 

I love this one, it works for kids and adults at the same time.

There are plenty of beautiful Kess InHouse products available with this design.

Large outdoor throw pillow ...

Outdoor throw pillow "Retro Hearts"

With this artistic apron you can cook up a storm ...

Apron "Retro Hearts"

I love this dog place mat ...

Dog place mat "Retro Hearts"

I want ...

Fleece throw blanket "Retro Hearts"

Happy Friday everyone !

Floating Circles

Today I want to show you my design "Floating Circles" in pastel colours. 

It looks great on many different Kess InHouse products.

I would love to do yoga on this mat.

Yoga mat "Floating Circles"

And I can not have enough of those small everything bags...

Everything bag "Floating Circles"

Super soft ...

Memory foam bath mat "Floating Circles"

And my personal favourite ...

Shower curtain "Floating Circles"

Happy Thursday !

What is new ?

It has been three months...I am so happy to be back ! 

I hope everyone had a fabulous summer...it is still very hot over here. 

Today I want to share good news. 

I am very proud to be accepted as a new Kess artist. Kess InHouse is a uniquely innovative concept of modern home furnishings and decor ! From now on you can find a few of my designs on beautiful products from home furnishings/accessories, pet accessories to stationary. 

There are so many products you can choose from to make your living space more beautiful ! Every week I will introduce one of my designs and show it on different products, starting today with my design "Biomolecular Science".

This 80 pages lined notebook/journal you can find over here.

You can cook up a storm with this artisitic apron which you can find over here.

Water proof artwork for the bath room, you can find this shower curtain over here.

And all pet accessories are on massive sale right now...

You can find this large dog bed over here.

You can find more Kess products with my designs over here.

I am wishing everyone a very Happy Sunday and see you next week !

MATS Bootcamp May

May is almost over and I feel this month was just flying by. Make Art That Sells boot camp is finished for this months and I have to admit I had not much time to spend on this month's assignment but I was still enjoying it, especially looking at all amazing art from my fellow #mats designers. The topic was designing a plate with crustaceans in the front and a pattern in the background. The May gallery is open to view now and I can tell you already the work of my fellow designers will blow your mind - just stunning. 

Crustacean plate   copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2015

Happy Thursday !

World Lupus Day 2015 ( and Mother's Day )

Today is World Lupus Day and my fellow designer and friend Dawn Clarkson is having a butterfly showcase over at her blog Nice and Fancy in its third year to raise awareness of Lupus disease.

"Lupus is a chronic disease which can affect anyone at any age, it is hard to diagnose and the exact causes of the condition are still unknown. Lupus, considered to be a rare disease is becoming more and more common. The butterfly is universally accepted as the symbol which represents the disease."

  

I m very happy I was able to contribute with a butterfly design and a small donation to help to create interest towards Lupus. 

Due to the great response of Dawn's call for butterfly designs she is having four posts in total today over at her blog. 

What a great success already ! 

There is even a Pinterest board where you can see all designs together.

Please take your time and check out all gorgeous butterfly designs at Nice and Fancy.

Butterfly design for World Lupus Day 2015 / copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2015

We also do not want to forget it is Mother's Day today...I am wishing all amazing moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day - may it be filled with joy !

Happy Mother's Day Card / copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2015

Happy Sunday !!!

Quotes

The lettering from last week started something in me...I kept going and made those two Zen/Taoist quotes out of my lettering. 

You can also find them in my Etsy store for instant download. 

Zen Proverb "All You Have Is Now" design copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2015

Taoist Proverb " The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Step" design copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2015

I am off to Spring break and will be back beginning of May ! 

Enjoy the the first warm sunshine ! 

Happy Thursday !

MATS Bootcamp April

After a quiet ( and very cold ) Easter Weekend I am in full swing back into designing. 

I was very much looking forward to the new "mini" assignment for Lilla Roger's bootcamp new mini assignment for the month of April. 

It is lettering...the words "The Global Art Gathering". 

The Global Art Gathering is actually taking place in June in Brighton and I wished I could go and meet fellow designers as well as Lilla and many other fabulous speakers at the event. 

Usually if I do lettering I start designing a whole alphabet and then use any letters I need for my illustration, patterns, etc. I did the same this time but pulled out my collection of Origami papers and started cutting out the letters. Next I did some hand lettering and while putting the words together, I also used some letters I have done some time back already and mixed it all up. I am happy with the result and I might develop some quotes for my Etsy shop in this style.

Lettering cut out of Origami paper

My finished design for the "mini" assignment   copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2015

Happy Friday everyone !

Happy Easter !

Easter Greetings !

New Items

Last week you saw some sketches of my vase shapes and this week I want to show you what I did with them. 

So far all items are for digital download and you can print them out on your home printer or in a copy shop. 

Over the next few days I will also experiment with this pattern and see how it looks on the front cover of a notebook. 

If you like to see what else I have in my Etsy store, please click here.

Perpetual Birthday Calendar "Vases" copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2015

Wall Art "Vases" copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2015

2015 Wall Calendar "Vases" copyright©Pattern Jots by Maike Thoma 2015

I am wishing everyone a Happy Thursday and a very Happy Easter !

Sneak Peek

Life is busy and I am always grateful if I can sneak in some time to draw. I wanted to draw something in black.

I always love black and white art - I find it extremely powerful and it is simple at the same time.

Thinking about what I can draw ( and looks good in black and white only ) vases came into my mind and I started drawing some...just as shapes.

Here is a sneak peek...next week I will show you my new product(s) I made from it for my Etsy store...it is still in progress.

Sketches : Shapes of vases

Happy Thursday !