Pride designs - Queer inspired designs / Free for Commercial usages

Did you know our pride designs are free to use commercially? We make new designs around pride month each year. And all designs are available for licensing, completely free for commercial and personal use. We believe in supporting the causes that matter.

I grew up with a brother that was 11 years older and he loved dressing his full size Barbie doll (yup, me!). So it didn’t come as a surprise when he brought home a boyfriend. Growing up in a small town being gay was just not very accepted. My brother already moved to a city where obviously there’s a lot more diversity. But I was stuck on a school that was not very accepting of my ‘family’s choices.’ I loved my brother and thought it was the strangest thing that people would come up to me and spit in my face because they heard my brother was living with a man. So I was a lesbian then right? Oh those ignorant people. I met a lot of them.

When I travel I also visit places where this kind of LGBTQ+ diversity is hidden. Or just completely criminalized. I do visit these places because I think it’s good to open a conversation. I actually discuss my brother often when we’re talking to strangers abroad. They first meet me, I’m pretty all right, so they enter the conversation with an open mind. An invitation to talk openly.

This month we licensed some Pride designs to our dear customer Angela who’s the force behind The Fashion for Kids. She’ll be offering our designs on fabric and if you’re EU based you can order a piece on her website. We believe in making the world more colorful and fun. More inclusive and kind. And that means everyone’s welcome. If you resonate with our story. Please get in touch. We love working together with the warm hearted and like-open-minded.

I believe those small nudges matter. Talking about it, anywhere, matters. You want to meet half-way right? In order to see things from another perspective, you have to step out of your own comfort zone. And my experience is it’s not that filled with hate as we try to teach people. It’s just the lack of diversity growing up in a society where this kind of freedom just isn’t common that causes an unsafe atmosphere. So that’s why I don’t ban certain places from my travel list. I might agree, disagree, but it’s about connection. And you can do that with anyone as long as you’re open to it.

We live in a country that puts individuality above everything. Which I think isn’t the holy grail at all. We can’t live without each other. So I can understand why one of my friends accepted himself fully, but chose to live as a cis man with a women and kids. His culture & tradition’s wired like that. You choose the greater good: family above everything. And so everyone has a story. Hopefully our prints will trigger those conversations. We don’t fight for what’s right, but just kill ‘m with kindness. Open your eyes for all that diversity.

Most of the designs shown her and on our socials too are available for licensing. That means you can pay a fee and in return we will send you the original files which you can use for your own production. This covers commercial usage too. Want some more info about licensing and costs involved? You can find more info about our rates on the website. We have a lot more queer inspired designs available. Just shoot us a message if you'd like to browse our full portfolio.

These designs are now available for licensing. And we also have some of these designs available on fabric & wallpaper through our partners at Carriage House Printery & Spoonflower.

The Lookbook - Pinky Blossom / Where Seventies meets Nineties / Flowers for Summer

We have sent out four new lookbooks to our insiders last week. If you're signed up to our newsletter you might have seen them already. It's time to show them to you on the blog too. We created 4 new collections. New Abstract Aztec designs, Patriotic prints for 4th of July celebrations, a new collection with cats for fall and new flowers. We keep on making those!

Behind the scenes we create a ton of designs for exclusive usage. The ones that don't make the cut eventually end up in our non-exclusive design stash and can be licensed from there. We have customers that bring in requests we didn't cover. Themes we want to create a collection around. And we create lookbooks from designs made in our studio in between jobs. With this balance of input we can show you new lookbooks regularly. The first of this batch of four are these new colorful flowers.

The past year we license many flower designs. Especially large scales and over sized prints are doing well and the contrasting ditsy flower. This new Pink Blossom Flowers print collection reflects this mix of trends. It's a collection in which the Seventies meet the Nineties. With use of Nineties detailing and retro touches. Which one of these gives you all the granny vibes? And which one do you think is most nineties? These designs are perfect for summer creations. Back to school products, swimwear and dog accessories. See something you like? These designs can all be commercially used through licensing.

These designs are now available for licensing. And we also have some of these designs available on fabric & wallpaper through our partners at Carriage House Printery & Spoonflower.

All you need to know about licensing print designs // A little talk about the basics of art licensing, creating a steady visual output and creating a coherent print collection

We’re already a couple of weeks into the new year and as we are finishing up some awesome new projects we made a bunch of custom designs for, it is time to plan and schedule our new exclusive design mailing. Last year we’ve welcomed over 30 new clients, and we’ve seen an increase in exclusive design buyers. With this little talk we hope to give you some insight into what we do and maybe it helps you a little figuring our how licensing print design works and what works for you and your business.


We've been on the art licensing market for almost 13 years now and I dare to say we probably have the largest portfolio of ready-made designs available. The market is getting more and more saturated so finding unique designs and using exclusive surface pattern designs is getting more and more important. Using unique designs for your brand is so very valuable for the credibility of your product towards customers. It makes you stand out from the crowd, builds trust and it lifts your product. We are passionate about creating not only a print design, but also creating a steady signature look that suits your brand. Reflecting the values and strenghts of every single business we work with. We love working with small businesses and trying to find a solution for various budgets. Design is our passion. You'll see.


Licensing artwork for your business
We have two different types of standard licensing available. If you are in need of on-trend surface pattern designs for your company and you are on a budget we have a great amount of ready-made print available in our non-exclusive library. All designs we create that are not licensed exclusively are added to this continuously growing database. At the moment we’re releasing this blog post we have over 30.000 designs available for licensing. You can find our current rates for licensing non-exclusive designs on our website. This is a great option if you’re on a budget or starting out and want to test the waters and find your own unique signature design series. The non-exclusive license comes with a standard duration for production usage of 24 months. And even though we license our designs non-exclusively we avoid licensing to competing businesses. A pretty sweet deal.

Our second licensing option is going full exclusive. This one is a little more pricey. But we always tell our customers this investment always pays back generously. A unique design is key for commercial products and selling on large scale. Most of our non-exclusive licensees grow into this license after a little while. We create new exclusive collections every season and send them out into the world in our exclusive mailing which you can also sign up for by joining our list on the website. These designs are available exclusively for a limited amount of time.


Yes you can hire us for custom projects!
We also take on custom projects. We’ve been working together with kids fashion brands for clothing, shoes, swimwear. Woman’s fashion and accessory brands. We create exclusive designs for online pet supplies and accessories. You name it, we’ve done it. The first step we take is determining what our clients wishes are. What their values are. Their target and ideal customer. Together we work on finding this unique one-of-a-kind voice for their business. For some businesses we create very minimal designs, abstracts with a Scandinavian touch in moody palettes. But we also create whimsical prints, full of fantasy and illustrations in bright popping colors for our clients that need a more playful tone in their designs. What we think is most important for our clients is finding that unique voice and translating that voice into print designs. Creating a strong one-of-a-kind coherent collection.

If you are looking for some guidance and are not yet sure how to find your way in using print designs on products we can make things a lot clearer for you. With our global client base we are always researching trends and markets all over the world, so we have a pretty good insight into what works, what doesn’t work and what trends will be coming next. Because your target’s market is constantly changing we offer free trend reports on our website to give you a general overview and give some basic insight about trends that are key for selling print-based products; how they work, if and when they are applicable to your product and what’s coming next. You can find them in our tools section and download the trend report pdf files for free. Every business is unique and so is every collab we have. We’d love to give some guidance and assist you in creating that perfect print collection.

Ready to know more? Check our website for more licensing info. Download our free trend reports. And sign up to our newsletter and receive new designs directly into your inbox and if you have any questions, please fill out the contact form so we can help you!

Customers Spotlight: Sierra Creek Studio // Handmade Bags

Sierra Creek Studio was developed by Deb Barbour as a post-retirement design workshop. And every since she's been creating beautiful bags with our fabrics. Time for a little feature to show her creations. 

With art and artistry at her core, Deb has approached her handcrafted Charlie Collection of shoulder, sling, belt, crossbody & tote bags with a belief that stories are shared through image and artistic expression. So every bag is a one-of-a-kind piece created to inspire in its everyday use and to bring unique art, patterns, & color to every street.

The original Charlie Bag was inspired by the flexible shoulder bag Deb carried as she and her husband photographed street art with their family dog Charlie comfortably tucked inside! Since, she has evolved a collection of bags which are crafted using unique textiles designed by artists across the globe and sustainably printed in the United States.

Designs featured in this post are available on fabric in our Spoonflower shop. We also have these design available for licensing. If you want to use our designs for your business you can find more info about using our designs commercially on our website.

Easter Designs are here & a little update from our creative studio

It's been way to quiet here on the blog. The past year we've been in this very bad relationship with social media consuming all our time! But it's time to get back to what we love most and that's reating print designs! And of course we still want to have a platform to showcase what we're doing. Our blog space seems to be a good spot for that. Without adds and spamming followers without consent. This feels like a safer space to put our work out there.

Last month we launched 4 new collections and if you're signed up to our newsletter you probably have viewed them already. We created new valentine designs, St. Patrick's Day patterns and we created a great amount of new print designs for Easter & Springtime. And, 4th of July! if you also want to stay in the loop and view new designs: Sign up to our newsletter!

Hopefully in 2024 we can revamp this page and get more consistent posting what's going on behind the scenes and what's been leaving our creative studio! We have so many beautiful projects to share. Logo designs, new dog accessory collabs. We've been working with some new fabric supplyers, so next to Spoonflower you can also find our designs at Tiska & Carriage house. A lot to share so stay tuned!

Licensing print designs
If you would like to license our prints for your business too please send us a message. Reach out if you need something custom for your brand. We license print designs all over the world, and we love to welcome new collabs.

Finished work: Mjolk nursery textiles

We are excited to show you one of the new prints we’ve created for Mjolk Russia. Mjolk specializes in neutral baby nursery items such as rompers and hats. They also create textiles for your little ones crib and all other types of nursery textiles and accessories you can name. We’ve been working with this company for a couple of years now.

We even worked on their logo when they decided to rebrand a couple of years back. This year we’ve created 12 designs for their winter and summer collections. And this image was just too cute not to post. The Little Home print was an already excisting design we tweaked a little for Mjolk. The print was licensed for non-exclusive usage and is also available on fabric in our Spoonflower shop. It's a fun neutral with simplistic icon-style illustrations. Perfect for the minimalist baby nursery.

Next season another batch of 5 Little Smilemakers prints will be launched so if you’re in the Russian area you’re up for a treat. There will be some cute little sheep, florals and some other abstracts. Aaaaah we're teasing. They'll be coming soom. You can follow Mjolk on insta and keep in the loop about when all new prints will be launched.

Licensing print designs
If you like to license our prints for your business too please send us a message. We license print designs all over the world and we love to welcome new collabs.

Finished Work: Pawsome Paws Boutique // Pet Accessories // Fall launch 2020

When summer is coming to an end it is time to show you the newest fall products that are launched. For Pawsome Paws Boutique we’ve been licensing a bunch of new fabric designs. Some flowers, leaves, rainbows and giraffes.

For this fall collection we mostly used gender neutral colors. Sophie wanted to make the collection as versatile as possible and she has chosen to use a bunch of neutral colored designs for this fall collection that can be used for boys & girls. Mustard, Blue and gray and she release another giraffe print so now there’s a his and hers. We are super excited to see how these prints turned out. We love seeing them on poop bags and harnesses and the best thing in the world: those furry pups wearing them. We can't get enough of these customer images.
We licensed these four prints with a non-exclusive license. These designs are still available in our Spoonflower fabric shop and for other types of businesses who'd love to use them for their products. See something you like? Want to use some of our designs on your products too? If you'd like to find out all there is to know about licensing, visit our website for all info. If you'd like to chat please fill out the contact form and lets discuss what we can do for your brand too.

New Collab: Alice + Ames

 

A quick New Collab post before the weekend hits! We are super excited to show you this amazing result of a new collab we took on with a new kids clothing brand.

For their new summer collection we have licensed some of our exclusive designs to Alice + Ames. A US based fashion company that specializes in girlswear. Their items are comfy and stylish, with a hint of Scandi. For the new season we made a collection of fruit prints and this citrus print was one of our favorites. We licensed these oranges back in spring together with some other designs. We love how Alice + Ames turned our print into this airy sun dress. This breezy piece sure makes our design come to life! If you'd like to find out all there is to know about licensing, visit our website for all info. If you'd like to chat please fill out the contact form and lets discuss what we can do for your brand too.

The Lookbook: Mystic Universe - New Trends Fabric Collection & Surface Designs

Little Smilemakers studio is run by a lady boss. And the moon is a big part of our monthly planning. When we create, when we connect to new businesses, it's all in the stars. The moon is a powerful influencer, even if you might be sceptical and only believe in social media influencers, this design collection was in fact inspired by the mystical ways of the moon.

After reading Kate Northrups book Doing Less I realized we didn't have enough universe themes up in our portfolio. So as soon as I finished the book I started creating some moon-inspired designs. I'm a strong believer of following your female cycle so this collection was long overdue. If you believe in the magic of the universe, this one is for you! The sun, the moon. We also have some tarrot inspired mystical prints and falling stars. And they are all available on fabric in our Spoonflower shop now!

Wanna license print designs for your business? Please send us a message. We’ve also put some more info about licensing on our blog earlier this year, so if you’d like to read more about that and check out if licensing could be something for you read the blog post. We made an easy step-by-step about what you need to keep in mind before licensing print designs. Any questions? We’re happy to help. Just reach out!

Wanna be kept in the loop and get exclusive designs right into your mailbox? Sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date. You’ll get all new print designs right into your inbox. And of course, we’ll keep you informed about what we’re working on.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 January 2020

It is so exciting to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection of design or a series of illustrations for our clients. But with finished fabric designs it is even a bigger surprise to see what customers create. To see how final products evolve when people put their own creative energy in there is amazing.

If you browse around on Etsy or Instagram for some kids fashion or home decoration you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives with small home-based businesses sell their projects via the internet and tag us via Instagram. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from Russia, Sweden, and the US. This month we selected a whole bunch of hot selling fabrics, turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories, and dog accessories, so much to choose from! We have selected some cute shirts, collars and climbing accessories too. Take a look and see if there is something for you in there. This is our January top 5 selection.

1 // Gray & Hound
This super cool webshop specializes in dog accessories like collars and leashes. We love Nyah's shop hat is based in Oregon. Ever since she opened up her webshop things took off rapidly and we love seeing a small business grow. For her winter collection, she selected some of our most fave prints and we love how our foxes turned out on her trendy, high-quality products. So here is a little shout out to this wonderful shop for pup lovers. Wanna get your hands on one of her handmade doggie pieces? Take a look in her shop.

2 // Mamapapa Production
This Russian shop specializes in baby and toddler wear. For the new spring collection, we worked together on some cute new designs that will be launched within the next few months. But we also had some cute winter pieces we wanted to share, like their Baby Elephant onesie. Isn't it adorable? We love seeing our prints on these tiny humans. If you have any cute images to share, please do, reach out and maybe we'll feature your little one here on the blog too. If you are based in Russia yourself; take a look into their webshop. They have so many cute prints to choose from! And stay tuned for the new spring collection!

3 // Hello Wild Baby Co
We are so happy to feature Hello Wild Baby on our blog. Candace has selected a whole bunch of our abstracts for her new collection. And you know we love seeing how our abstract fabric gets used right? The images just kept popping up in our feed, so we wanted to say a little something about this small home based company. Candace works from her home in Nevada where she creates wonderful baby and toddler items: a new collection of kids wear and accessories was launched this month. And we are so excited to see those cute hair bows, bonnets, shirts, and leggings. She also has some adorable teething rings on her new bandana's. It is a great shop to browse for a newborn gift set. Mix and match all Little Smilemakers fabric and show us your little ones wearing these gorgeous outfits! Take a look!



4 // Knox Mtn Bags
As some of you might know, Maaike loves her nights in the boulder gym. She only started climbing a year ago and noticed there were not a whole lot of brand making fun chalk bags. But then we got tagged by Anne who created a bunch of super cool handmade chalk bags with the most adorable patterns on them. We wanted to show you our hedgehogs that were used for the Knox collection. if you love climbing and are looking for a cool chalk bag, or have a climbing lover around you'd like to surprise with a cute bag, take a look on the website and browse through all cool climbing bags.


5 // Maxomorra
We love this Swedish kidswear company. The Plus Collection is a new design project, risen from their curiosity to explore Maxomorra outside the box. The new Plus collection contains eight prints in a limited selection of styles, all made by Little Smilemakers Studio. With a few extra details to the prints and a brand new and beautiful color palette. To create complete outfits, there is also a small basic collection with solid colored jersey and velour available. As always, pick your favorites, mix and match, and go out and be fabulous. There are t-shirts, leggings, hats and so much more to choose from.

The Lookbook: Climbing Lovers - New Trends Fabric Collection & Surface Designs

Any climbing or boulder fans out here? We recently created an entirely new exclusive collection of designs inspired by climbing. There are two types of climbing: bouldering, without a rope. Of with rope. Personally I love bouldering, it's a little more technical in the gym. And well, to be frank, climbing outside is not really an option here in The Netherlands. We live below sea level and there's no such thing as mountains.

But, inspired by my climbing trip to Spain and my weekly bouldering sessions with my climbing buddy, I created a collection of prints. I simply couldn't find any fun print designs covering this niche. They have been popular prints for chalk bags and dog accessories. There are lots of peeps out there with a furry friend climbing mountains! So if you see something you like: these designs are available for licensing. And most of them are available on fabric over at Spoonflower too.

Wanna license print designs for your business? Please send us a message. We’ve also put some more info about licensing on our blog earlier this year, so if you’d like to read more about that and check out if licensing could be something for you read the blog post. We made an easy step-by-step about what you need to keep in mind before licensing print designs. Any questions? We’re happy to help. Just reach out!

Wanna be kept in the loop and get exclusive designs right into your mailbox? Sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date. You’ll get all new print designs right into your inbox. And of course, we’ll keep you informed about what we’re working on.

The Lookbook: Play Pop - New Trends Fabric Collection

This collection was inspired by our new ways of communicating. Back in the day, I worked on many picto & emoji projects. I studied typography so communication via minimal shapes was definitely ma thing. Nowadays basic illustrative language is incorporated into our every day. We send out hearts and smiles to our friends to express ourselves. And this collection is inspired by just that.

Connecting and expressing. Simple shapes and easy to read illustrations form the base of this collection. On-trend palettes, minimal illustrative designs, with minimal type designs for a fun mix. The Play Pop collection is now available for licensing, both exclusively or non-exclusively. We just released our latest batch of print designs and all of these new prints are now available to either license as a collection or you can license single prints if there’s just one that catches your eye.
We also take on commissions. If you’d like a custom type design or need some specific picto style print that meets your product just reach out. We’re happy to chat about all possibilities.

Wanna license print designs for your business? Please send us a message. We’ve also put some more info about licensing on our blog earlier this year, so if you’d like to read more about that and check out if licensing could be something for you read the blog post and find out step-by-step what you need to keep in mind before licensing print designs. Any questions? We’re happy to help. Just reach out!

Wanna be kept in the loop and get exclusive designs right into your mailbox? Sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date. You’ll get all new print designs right into your inbox. And of course, we’ll keep you informed about what we’re working on.

The Lookbook: Flora Botanicals - New Trends Fabric Collection

For all romantics, flora lovers and girly girls! We’ve made a new floral collection that is now available for licensing. This collection is part of our quarterly exclusive series and is available to license as an entire collection or if there’s just one design that catches your eye, they are now available to license as single prints too.

Every season we make a new collection of botanical prints. This new collection was inspired by wildflowers. Don’t you love all the color popping up during spring? The variation of colors and shapes popping up in those green spring fields? This collection is created in neutral tones and therefore suitable to license for both summer and winter projects. These prints make a great base for wallpaper and textiles. And the abstract flowers are perfect for swimwear or woman’s fashion. We are curious to know what you think of the new Flora Pop collection.

Wanna license one of these? We’ve also put some more info about licensing on our blog earlier this year, so if you’re new to licensing and you’d like to read more about it, check out if licensing could be something for you. Read the blog post and find out step-by-step what you need to keep in mind before licensing print designs. Any questions? We’re happy to help. Just reach out!

Wanna be kept in the loop and get exclusive designs right into your mailbox? Sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date. You’ll get all new print designs right into your inbox. And of course, we’ll keep you informed about what we’re working on.

How to license artwork for your business? Licensing print designs in 3 easy steps // Everything you need to know to start licensing pattern designs

We work together with lot’s of small start-ups and usually these are the best collabs. It is lovely to connect with new business owners and mompreneurs that are starting their new ventures. But licensing can be a little scary. Every step you take is new and there are so many things to consider if you launch your own product. With this blog post, we’d like to give you a little more insight into licensing artwork for your products.

We’ve been licensing print designs for over 8 years now and every time we collab with newbies we see how this process makes them super insecure. We understand that hiring an artist for artwork can be scary, but it’s not all that complicated and expensive as you might think. This piece is for all you peeps who are on the break of licensing their first pattern designs. These are three easy steps to license artwork for your business.

Step 1 // What do you want?
Before you license designs, it might be good to think about the following. Are you looking for a complete visual brand-wide signature, a coherent collection containing print designs that involve working around a theme or season? Or would you like to license single print designs? Working in collections might be a little pricey. Most starting businesses we collab with ask us to license single prints and later on grow into licensing collections. Make sure you know what you’d like to tell your customer. What’s your vision? Together we can select prints that are carrying your own unique vision. We have lot’s of themes, color palettes and styles to choose from and we’re always up to date about trends and waves going on on the global market. If you know what suits your company best, what you’d like to reflect, we can assist you in picking the right prints. Free of charge.

Step 2 // Pricing
We have over 10.000 non-exclusive print designs to choose from. We have been building our portfolio for over 10 years now. These designs are also available in our Spoonflower shop, and because we can monetize our prints this way we can offer our print designs at low cost. If you license our non-exclusive designs know that we never license prints to similar companies. We always check availability first. This way you can have unique print designs and don’t have to worry about competition and you don’t have to spend a crazy amount of cash. Pretty good right?

Step 3 // The process
Once you’ve selected a bunch of prints, or just one (we value each and every customer!) we’ll prepare the files & invoice for you. Depending on what you’ll be using the prints for we can send you the files you need. The standard three we usually sent out are a high resolution .tiff. The original vector or .psd image. And a .jpg visual. Some designs are made in vector, some are made in watercolors, depending on the origin of the design we’ll make sure you’ll get the right files to send to your own printer or producer. Once payment has been completed these files will be sent to your inbox. Usually, the licensing process only costs two business days. Once you have all files but need further assistance you can always reach out and ask whatever you need. We’re here to assist you even when all files are sent.

Of course, we do not only license our non-exclusive designs. Each quarter we also send out exclusive work to customers who signed up for our mailing. You can also receive these in your inbox. Just send us a quick message. Note that exclusive designs are available form €268. If that’s a little pricey for you licensing our existing designs might be a better solution. We can always tweak colors and detailing and create a one-of-a-kind print.

If you are looking to create a series of print designs for your business and would like a fully exclusive range of designs, that is an option too of course. Since every single custom design process is different we’re happy to chat with you about how this works and we look forward to discussing this directly by email. Just reach out and send us a message.

The Lookbook: Boys Fantasy - New Trends Fabric Collection & Art Licensing

Every year we make over a thousand new pattern designs and we noticed there is a mayor dis-balance when it comes to girl vs boy prints. The majority of licensed designs are Gender neutrals and more girly print designs. 70% of all our designs are girly prints and licensed for kids fashion and accessories and baby nursery textiles and home decor.

Since there is so much demand for girls, we realized it was about time to add some cool boy prints to our collection. We realized we needed to upgrade our selection of boy prints and wanted to show you this new collection of designs. Perfect for kids swimwear, fashion items, and fabric. And we’d love to see them in those tiny human bedrooms too. Those palm leaves make a great wallpaper, right?

This collection was sent out as an exclusive set of designs are is now available to license both exclusively or non-exclusively. We just released our latest print designs are all of these are now available to either license as a collection or you can license single prints if there’s just one that catches your eye. Wanna license print designs for your business? Please send us a message. We’ve also put some more info about licensing on our blog earlier this year, so if you’d like to read more about that and check out if licensing could be something for you read the blog post and find out step-by-step what you need to keep in mind before licensing print designs. Any questions? We’re happy to help. Just reach out!

Wanna be kept in the loop and get exclusive designs right into your mailbox? Sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date. You’ll get all new print designs right into your inbox. And of course, we’ll keep you informed about what we’re working on.

The Lookbook: Raw Minimal Animals - New Trends Fabric Collection & Art Licensing

For our quarterly exclusive mailing, we sent our 6 brand new designs collections. We wanted to put a spotlight on our new Raw Minimal collection which was inspired by the raw organic texture in nature. We’ve created a collection that contains 4 abstract animals prints.

As you might know already, the animal print is trending. You can see the leopard and panthers pop up in fashion all over the US and Europe. And since we are always studying trend waves we’ve merged these upcoming trends into a selection of new designs.

This set of designs is available to license as a set, but you can also license single designs non-exclusively. We’ve used current color palettes, we combined bright color pops and muted tones to create a one-of-a-kind free shape pattern. If you’d like to license any of these designs but need them in different colors, we’re happy to customize them on request. Just reach out and send us a message if you’d like to know more about licensing these Raw Minimals.

Wanna be kept in the loop and get exclusive designs right into your mailbox? Sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date. You’ll get all new print designs right into your inbox. And of course, we’ll keep you informed about what we’re working on.

New Work // Halloween fabric collection

Fright night is coming! And we are preparing for a night filled with spook and yikes! We just had to add another batch of designs for this year's halloween. We added a series of skulls for both boys and girls. Some geometric halloween animals that are just to die for. Super cute as I may say to myself...

and of course some witches, vampires and scary shizzle is now up in our Spoonflower shop. If you would like to license some of these prints for your business just reach out and send us a quick message. Traditionally October 31 is the day to remember the dead. But nowadays it is a time to dress up and have fun. And we love to see what our fabric customers are creating this year. Fun pumpkin leggings, black cat dresses. We've seen some cool pupkin dog accessories pop up. So many cute creations made with our Little Smilemakers Spoonflower fabric.

And even though this holiday has turned into this crazy dress up party world wide, it is also a day to remember those that passed. Enjoy this joyful holiday, celebrate and remember the life of those whom have passed and left a mark in your life or have influenced your being. Happy Halloween!

How to take care of your Spoonflower fabrics // soft and gentle care

3 Tips for prepping your Spoonflower fabrics

1 // Wash your cotton or polyester fabric before use. Unfold your fabric and wash with a phosphate-free detergent in cool or warm water using a gentle or delicate machine cycle. Wash separately or with like colors for best results. Use of phosphates in detergent is highly regulated in the USA and many other countries and is relatively uncommon. However, we encourage you to double-check your detergent prior to use.
2 // Special note for cotton fabrics: As these fabrics are surface printed with water-based inks, there is a chance of some fading (especially on darker colors.) Front loading washers are the worst offenders due to increased tumbling action during cleaning. Fading can be minimized through the use of cool water and gentle wash cycles.
3 // Tumble dry before use. Indulge your fabric in a cozy tumble dry on a low temperature.


3 Tips for ironing Spoonflower fabrics

1 // Cotton fabrics: Iron our 100% cotton fabrics using standard settings for cotton. Always iron with the printed side down for best results. Steam may be used to remove wrinkles. You'll want to avoid spraying the fabric with a water bottle while ironing because this can lead to unexpected staining.
2 // Special note for Linen Cotton Canvas Ultra: High temperature settings may cause discoloration or crushing of linen, so we recommend you use synthetic settings and a light touch.
3 // Polyester fabrics: These tend to be wrinkle resistant, but if necessary, iron with a light touch on the unprinted side of the fabric using a synthetic setting only. Do be careful with the heat as higher iron temperatures may result in color transfer and, in extreme cases, melting of fabric.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 February 2018

It is so exciting to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection or a series of illustrations for our clients. But with finished fabric designs it is even a bigger surprise to see what customers create. To see how final products evolve when people put their own creative energy in there is amazing.

If you browse around on Etsy for some kids fashion you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives with small home based businesses sell their projects via internet and tag us via Instagram. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from Mexico, India, USA and The Netherlands. This month we selected a whole bunch of hot selling fabrics, turned into beautiful items. We have some cool kiwi bird backpacks, FU prints and fun woodland bears. Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. This is our February top 5.

1 // Zippy Jamz
This US company changes how babies and parents experience their new lives together through high-quality, simple and intuitive products. ZippyJamz’ patent-pending design combines two zippers in a single garment. The first, along the front makes dressing easy; the second, along the inseam, makes diaper changing super convenient. Your baby stays warm during the changing and keeps them in a state of sleep making the nights a little less challenging.
Curious about these genius onesies? Check out their webshop and experience these easy to unzip pieces for yourself.



2 // Cucu Baby
We have been licensing our designs to this baby accessories company for over a few years now and the most recent prints are now launched and available on their website. Their collection is colorful and joyful. With clever diaper bags, blankets, accessories and toddler school bags they offer a wide range of high quality products that are unique on the Mexican market. We love seeing how small businesses develop and grow with us and we hope to create even more fun pieces together in the future.

3 // Dollhouse Bandits
We love clever small businesses and this on one of them most definitely. The Dutch based business Tiny Little Cactus creates the most adorable nursery items and has now launched a new range of doll house furniture, bedding, characters and decoration. We love seeing these adorable items pop up in our feed and it makes me all nostalgic. I used to have a big dollhouse with three stories but never got around to decorating it, my parents thought it was too expensive to actually get doll house items, and they were back then. Dollhouse Bandits is affordable, on trend and perfect as a gift for your little one. Check out all cuteness on the Tiny Little Cactus website.

4 // Daily Objects
We started working for Daily Objects right after our second trip to India. I was all awe about the country and said yes to this collab immediately, which is not something I usually do. There is some research and proper conversation before the ‘yes’ usually. But working together has not been disappointing. Four years ago the company made phone accessories and I started selling Little Smilemakers designs on cases and laptop covers. Now they expanded their range with office supplies, notebooks and home decoration and we love seeing our new prints added to their collection. Take a look and see if there is something you like!

5 // Baby Online Boutique
Of course we had to feature one of our handmade mommy at home businesses. Baby Online Boutique has the most adorable baby and toddles sets. Leggings and matching hats, sweet little jumpers, playsuits and more. We features little Harper in our Grizzly print. Check out this US business online for all fun items.