Customer Spotlight: Buckle Me Baby - Print designs for PJs

Over the years we worked with a couple of trailblazers but when we got an email from Dahlia explaining what kind of product she created we got so excited to jump in and create some prints for her.  

Her story all began while raising her three kids and struggling to get them into their car seats during the colder season. With their coats to be too puffy they were not safe to keep on. But those cold rides were no fun for her kids either. Safety shouldn’t be a struggle, and she created the perfect coat for kids that could be kept on safely in those car seats. From 2016 to 2020 she developed her product got it tested and approved. And in 2020 she appeared on Shark Tank giving her that boost to keep going and create some real magic.

We love her Buckle Me Baby Coats, and we are so honored to be part of her creative journey. It’s where solving a problem and making something easier truly is a form of art. My designer hearts sure loves what she makes! If only all products put on this planet made this much sense. In her shop she also has other pieces of clothing for little ones and for her Pyjama Collection she used some Little Smilemakers print designs we really want to show you. We love the finished pieces. They turned out cute right?

Dahlia licensed our designs non-eclusively but she does have an extended license with exclusivity to her branch. With the Premium license you can use our ready-made designs and keep them unique to your company without breaking the bank. Need some prints for your products too? You can find more info about using our designs and our licensing options on our website.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 July 2019

It is so exciting to see a finished project after working hard on a new collection of designs, 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 if you check Instagram for some kids fashion you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives that use our fabrics have small home-based businesses and sell their projects online and tag us via Instagram. But there are also some bigger fish out they're using our Spoonflower designs for their business. 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 Germany, the United States, UK, and Canada. This month we selected a whole bunch of favorite fabrics turned into the most gorgeous items. We selected some breezy summer creations; summer dresses, baby rompers, skirts and more. Take a look and see if there is something for you too. Have a look and enjoy our July selection.

1 // KRZA
I can’t believe we didn’t feature Krystle's creations on our blog before! She’s been making girls accessories and fashion for years and has been a loyal customer of ours ever since we started selling our designs through Spoonflower. This summer she added a bunch of new Little Smilemakers designs to her shop like the jellyfish and panther print we featured here. We love her light and clean photography that reflects her style and creations perfectly. We love how she mixes texture and soft tones. A proper eye for pretty! And, if you love what you’re seeing, face it… how can you not?… Krystle also opened a brand new side business with home accessories! Enough reasons to give her a little shout out this month. Take a look at her shop and enjoy!

2 // Harlz & Haven
Socks, headbands, scrunchies, swaddles. Emma has the perfect newborn and baby shower gifts in her small online shop. Like lots of our mommy customers, Emma was frustrated and couldn’t find what she was looking for when she became a mom, affordable, on trend quality pieces. So she decided to create her own kids' accessories. This month we featured her handmade pink grid headbands made in mommy & girls sizes. Such an adorable image right? We’re so lucky to have so many cute things pop up on our feed every month! Take a look at Emma’s website for all fun items she has to offer.





3 // Bitty Bambu
Looking for some breezy summer dresses for your little girl? We found our watercolor palm leaves in the new Bitty Bambu Summer Collection. Taryn creates romantic kids fashion inspired by Hawaiian nature. We love these Indian summer vibes! Take a look at the shop to find more cute dresses!

4 // Thea Fashion for Kids
This German clothing boutique has a soft spot for clean Scandinavian designs. We stumbled upon their creations on Instagram and we are totally hooked ever since. Our ice cream, train, and abstract bubble mint prints were used for the 2018 summer collection. And this year our Sunny Day design was added to the collection. Time to show the new creations! Thea offers adorable kids items, t-shirts, dungarees, sun hats and lot’s more. So if you are based in Germany take a look in her shop.

5 // Olli the Cocker
Who of you has a little furry bestie? If you have one of these furry friends you know how hard it is to find cute on-trend puppy accessories. The past few years we’ve been working together with a bunch of online pet stores and our Spoonflower fabric keeps popping up on cute creations like this Happy Birthday bandana. This woofwear bandana is not for sale anymore. But we have some cute collars and haresses available at Poppy + Ted and Pawsome Paws has some cute bandanas and other accessories as well. Wanna make your own bandana? Check our Spoonflower shop for all prints and choose your fave! You can find all prints in there features in this months Made With post.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 March 2019

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 you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives that use our fabrics have small home-based businesses sell their projects via the internet and tag us via Instagram. But there are also some bigger fish out they're using our Spoonflower designs for their business. 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 Latvia, Poland, the States, and France. This month we selected a whole bunch of favorite fabrics turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and home and interior decoration, so much to choose from! We have selected a cool cute abstract romper, some on-trend kids bedding and some other fashion items you’re going to love! Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. Have a look and enjoy our April selection.

1 // Wuf Kids // Baby Teethers & Fashion Accessories
This Latvian shop has some cool things to offer. We love their range of leggings and we adore their fun little hedgehog fabric teethers. So clever! But they have lot’s more cute things to choose from. And lot’s of Little Smilemakers designs! Triangles, flamingo’s, teepees, ice cream cones, grizzly bears, and our minty feathers of course. I bet we forgot to mention some other designs but take a look at their Facebook page and see them all!



2 // Milutka // Bedding & outdoor accessories
Milutka is a company specialized in kids cottons. From soft winter hats to mommy hand warmers, pillows, soft toys and stroller gear, if you'd like to have one print for your entire nursery and kids outdoor gear go visit their online shop. They have our cute little raccoon cactus print in their collection but also our colorful pirates, elephants, squirrels, dachshund puppy, plus sign and owl prints. And last but not least: They have a great selection of kids bedding in all those prints mentioned above. Take a look!

3 // Woodbean // Baby Rompers
If you are looking for some unique snuggle wear for your little one this shop is the place to be. Lisa, who is based in Minnesota, creates the most wonderful soft pieces for your little one and we love her style of mixing and matching prints and uni’s. Her style is like no other and we wanted to share one of her custom made orders with you for which she has used our Abstract Bubble design. These soft little rompers are just to die for. We love how Lisa mixed the print with the contrasting earth tones. Check out her Etsy shop where you can see her wonderful collection in a series of beautiful, soft photography. Check out all her wonderful handmade creations.

4 // Pistol & Arrow // Leotards
We just adore the ice cream leotard made by Brittany Kleiss who runs her small Pistol & Arrow Etsy shop from Fair Oaks. The ice cream print has been around for a while but we found this adorable baby girl in her leo a few weeks ago. Since we have a little bit of a girly theme this month this webshop is def worth a visit. She has some adorable items for your little girl. So go take a look.

5 // Ty Mom Studio // Kids Fashion
Charlene is based in Paris and has a great eye for thinking in collections. Her fabric choices have a steady ‘feel.’ She has a fun collection of on-trend gender neutral fabrics and she is working on a big collection for her webshop launch. Even though her webshop is not quite open yet, we wanted to share some of her cute pineapple and cacti leggings and those gender neutral rompers with you. For now, you will have to try and have a little more patience until she opens up her shop you can follow her on Instagram. I already have my eye on these cool cacti leggings. Click here if you want to follow this brand new small business.

New Work // Maxomorra Fall Collection 2018

This week new Maxomorra prints for their fall collection were launched. The new Plus Collection contains a range of on trend illustrated print designs. We license our prints to this Swedish organic kids clothing company for two years now and as you expect from us: the new collection contains fun, minimal and colorful new Little Smilemakers prints.

We already launched over 10 design the past two years and we especially loved the past two spring and summer designs. They have been a hit! And even though it is a hot summer day here in the studio, it is time to release some new fall designs. Time for new prints!

We can already show you these two hand drawn original Little Smilemakers designs. Our sweet bunny print, which has been a hot seller at Spoonflower for the past three years, and what do you think of this new vintage car design? Inspired by Maaike's own Fiat, she's a little nutty for that one. How much fun to see this cool vintage style car illustration on the new Maxomorra range! Curious to see the rest of the fall collection? Stay tuned if you are an animal lover. There is still more to come! Super excited to see all reactions on these first two designs. Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Sources of inspiration // Living at Sea

My home is located only a 10 minute bike ride from the beach. During the warmer season I love cycling through the dunes and stare at the sunset. It is such an amazing way to finish the day. Get some fresh air and clear my mind. During these warm days I notice my creations get influenced by the re-found calm. My designs get a little more minimal, soft and clear. I love this time of the year and I would love to live in a climate where visiting the beach on flip flops would be a possibility all year long. But for now I will just soak up the sun and try to store some energy for the colder season.

I love living close to the beach and therefore love to work with customers who make products for the ocean. Splash About, LSea Swimwear, Bambino Mio... We have licensed to numerous swimwear companies and love seeing our designs used for beachwear and sun protecting kids items. Batoko, Little Mermaids, Quinn & Belle, are a few companies we collab with. But we have a lot’s of sea themed prints still available. Maybe something for your business?

The sea has been a great influence for me ever since I moved to this city 10 years ago. The city is packed and busy and the beach offers a great ease on crazy days. I even created a -beach- series, soft abstract prints influences by the sea and the life around the beach, parasols, waves, seagulls. The collection is named ‘Miami.’ A little more catchy that naming the prints after this small Dutch city The Hague. These prints are great for woman’s fashion and accessories.

Two years ago we also created our ‘Ocean Life’ series. A fun range of prints for kids. With sea turtles, fish, sea horses and shells. Dedicated to the colorful imagination of your little one. We are still in love with our octopus print. Which one do you like most?

All prints shown here are available on fabric and wallpaper in our Spoonflower shop. The Miami prints and Ocean Life series are available for licensing. If you would like to use one of the prints featured here or any other designs you see in our feed just reach out and send us a quick message.

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

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 you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives that use our fabrics have a small home based businesses sell their projects via internet and tag us via Instagram. But there are also some bigger fish out their using our Spoonflower designs for their business. 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 Latvia, Poland, the States and France. This month we selected a whole bunch of favorite fabrics turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and home and interior decoration, so much to choose from! We have selected a cool cute abstract rompers, some on trend kids bedding and some other fashion items you’re going to love! Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. Have a look and enjoy our April selection.

1 // Wuf Kids // Baby Teethers & Fashion Accessories
This Latvian shop has some cool things to offer. We love their range of leggings and we adore their fun little hedgehog fabric teethers. So clever! But they have lot’s more cute things to choose from. And lot’s of Little Smilemakers designs! Triangles, flamingo’s, teepees, ice cream cones, grizzly bears, and our minty feathers of course. I bet we forgot to mention some other designs but take a look at their Facebook page and see them all!



2 // Milutka // Bedding & outdoor accessories
Milutka is a company specialized in kids cottons. From soft winter hats to mommy hand warmers, pillows, soft toys and stroller gear, if you'd like to have one print for your entire nursery and kids outdoor gear go visit their online shop. They have our cute little raccoon cactus print in their collection but also our colorful pirates, elephants, squirrels, dachshund puppy, plus sign and owl prints. And last but not least: They have a great selection of kids bedding in all those prints mentioned above. Take a look!

3 // Woodbean // Baby Rompers
If you are looking for some unique snuggle wear for your little one this shop is the place to be. Lisa, who is based in Minnesota, creates the most wonderful soft pieces for your little one and we love her style of mixing and matching prints and uni’s. Her style is like no other and we wanted to share one of her custom made orders with you for which she has used our Abstract Bubble design. These soft little rompers are just to die for. We love how Lisa mixed the print with the contrasting earth tones. Check out her Etsy shop where you can see her wonderful collection in a series of beautiful, soft photography. Check out all her wonderful handmade creations.

4 // Pistol & Arrow // Leotards
We just adore the ice cream leotard made by Brittany Kleiss who runs her small Pistol & Arrow Etsy shop from Fair Oaks. The ice cream print has been around for a while but we found this adorable baby girl in her leo a few weeks ago. Since we have a little bit of a girly theme this month this webshop is def worth a visit. She has some adorable items for your little girl. So go take a look.

5 // Ty Mom Studio // Kids Fashion
Charlene is based in Paris and has a great eye for thinking in collections. Her fabric choices have a steady ‘feel.’ She has a fun collection of on trend gender neutral fabrics and she is working on a big collection for her webshop launch. Even though her webshop is not quite open yet, we wanted to share some of her cute pineapple and cacti leggings and those gender neutral rompers with you. For now you will have to try and have a little more patience until she opens up her shop you can follow her on Instagram. I already have my eye on these cool cacti leggings. Click here is you want to follow this brand new small business.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 3 March 2018

We love sharing your creations on our blog and social media feeds. Every month we make a selection of finished creations made by our Spoonflower customers. Our hearts make a little jump for joy every time our studio gets tagged in your posts too.

Most of the creations we see pop up are made by small home based businesses selling their projects via places like Etsy and they share 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 the United States, New Zealand and from the beautiful Paris. For this months March post we selected three shops run by moms. A little extra attentions for these three ladies!

1 // Ty Mom Studio
Charlene is based in Paris and has a great eye for thinking in collections. Her fabric choices have a steady ‘feel.’ She has a fun collection of on trend gender neutral fabrics and she is working on a big collection for her webshop launch. Even though her webshop is not quite open yet, we wanted to share some of her cute pineapple and cacti leggings and those gender neutral rompers with you. For now you will have to try and have a little more patience until she opens up her shop you can follow her on Instagram. I already have my eye on these cool cacti leggings. Click here is you want to follow this brand new small business.



2 // Bean Sprout Store
We love everything Hiedee creates. Her style is quirky and clean and she makes fun kids accessories such as book bags, hair ties and what do you think about these mustard cloud hats? She works together with Krystle Photography and together this New Zealand team of power ladies take it up a notch when it comes to small business marketing. Her photographs are amazing and make Hiedees creations pop! Take a look at her shop and see all new gender neutral creations made with our new spring fabric. Click here to take a look in her shop.

3 // Woodbean
Lisa is mom of 5 so you can imagine she has a lot on her plate with those tiny humans running around. Even so she makes time to build her business. Her style is comfy and cool. We love how she mixes prints and uni colors, these combinations make all her products one of a kind. Lisa has used some of our abstract designs in the past and for this months post we wanted to share her cool purple baby shirt where she mixes two of our most recent abstract designs. Her shop is currently closed for a bit while she is moving house. But stay in the loop and follow her Instagram account to see what she’s up to. So you can order one of her fashionable pieces as soon as she opens up her shop again mid-April. Follor her on Instagram here.

Most of our Spoonflower fabric gets purchased by mom’s who love to make something cute for their little one. But some of them take things to a whole other level and open up their own handmade shop with the most wonderful creations. So inspiring! We would love to give all of you hard working mommies a little shout out but we cannot share all your wonderful creations, unfortunately. If you would like to be featured in one of our Monthly ‘Made With’ posts. Just reach out and send us your fabric creations!

New Collab // Dollhouse Bandits by Tiny Little Cactus

With a new year came a new fun product launch. Tiny Little Cactus has created a new range of tiny dollhouse furniture with fitted bedding and interior textiles for your little ones tiny home.

When I was a little girl I had this amazing three story wooden dollhouse. But I didn’t like the furniture that was available in the eighties: all plastic and too big to fit into my perfect dream house. I remember being frustrated that my interior was a mix and match of style. Well, more of a mix and mis-match. When Krista approached me to help her on her new collection I just had to say yes. I love a well thought out interior design. And this seemed to be it!

You might know Tiny Little Cactus from last year’s fabric collab: BabyBooties. Adorable soft sole baby booties, all handmade with soft and on trend fabrics. This year they added a fun new range of products and for this we have created some custom print designs in Kawaii style. Clouds, bunnies, stars and some of our abstract designs have been used for the bedding for these tiny beds. These small blankets and pillows are now available in all Tiny Little Cactus palette colors. So if you have a little one and want to surprise her with a little bedroom ‘make over’ choose your favorite Dollhouse Bandit.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 December 2017

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 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 the US, Australia and India. This month we selected a whole bunch of winter and seasonal inspired fabrics, turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and home and interior decoration, so much to choose from! We have selected some cute tote bags, leggings and soft sole shoes. Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. This is our December top 5 selection. 

1 // Daily Objects 
Next to phone accessories, laptop cases and notebooks, Daily Objects now also launched a new collection of tote bags and pouches in different sizes with beautiful high quality leather detailing. We love those new totes! They make a perfect gift for Christmas. In Holland they have banned plastic bags, a cool shopper is a must. They also added some cool home decor to their range of products. Our prints are now also available on pillows. Oh yes and of course Daily Objects offers world wide shipping on their products too. Click here for their collection.

2 // Le Petit Bouton 
Lisa Gillies a young mum and the owner of Le Petit Bouton. Like many new mums, she was madly searching for items for her little girl that were unique, on trend, and made with beautiful fabric and she was getting frustrated at not being able to find exactly what she wanted. That is why she decided to start her fun shop, stocking gorgeous little girls hair clips, hair ties and headbands using beautiful designer fabrics and organic knits. Our little reindeer girls have also been added to her webshop for this holiday season. Her products are perfect for special occasions, party favors, birthdays, baby showers, new arrivals, school, stocking fillers...the list goes on! Baby skyler is modeling her fun products. Such a cute little girl! Take a look at her shop if you want to get your hands on one. 

3 // Olive the Things 
For our seasonal ‘Made with’ post we selected a cute reindeer sweater. One our our personal favorites for this jolly season. This Utah based shop offers a great selection of soft sweaters, hoodies, shorts and other cool kids items. of you are looking for some cozy pieces for your little one, this is the place. take a look at their Etsy shop and check all fun mix & match pieces.



4 // Hazel & Holly 
We love these cute Origami Santa leggings. Perfect leggings for the holiday season right? And suitable for both boys and girls. This Washington based shop offers handmade kids clothes has a wonderful collection of seasonal fashion for kids. We have created some new Christmas themes that were selected for her new range. Leggings, skirts, beanies. Check them all in her Etsy shop.

5 // Little Pitterpat 
Every month a new set of soft soles pops up in our feed. Little Pitterpat has been using our designs for over two years now and we keep loving the way our fabrics are turned into the most adorable baby and toddler shoes. These soft soles baby shoes are made by hand in Sharies studio in Montana. For this months 'Made with' post we selected their Grizzly Bear Ski Slope print. One of our fave designs suitable for both boys and girls and we know how handy those gender neutral items can be. Looking for a baby shower gift? These cute shoes make a great present. So take a look into her shop if you want to have a pair of these. She has over 500 different items, yes lot's of different prints as well, to choose from. 

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 // August 2017

We love 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 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 the UK, United States, New Zealand and Australia. This month we selected a our top 5 Spoonflower creations, turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and have you seen those cacti swim suits? There was so much to choose from! This is our top 5 August selection.

Batoko
The cactus swimsuit is one of Batoko’s hot selling pieces and has been available in their shop for over a year already. They just keep on producing them and they keep running out of these quirky summer beauties. We love this fabulous swimsuit and they now also sell tiny versions for your little ones. And we keep getting cute images showing babies wearing our cacti swimsuit. So cute! So mommy daughter mix and match! Our best selling cactus print is now available again over at Batoko. Wanna look fabulous on the beach? Get yours in the Batoko shop!

Bean Sprout
Bean Sprout must be one of our favorite webshops using our Spoonflower fabric. Hiedee has a great eye for unique and bespoke designs and we love her style and gorgeous clean photography. Bean Sprout has a pretty big collection of Little Smilemakers fabrics, all turned into the most adorable baby and kids fashion accessories like baby bibs, book bags, summer hats and nappy wallets. For this months post we selected our bunny print that was turned into a fun book bag, and we selected some hair ties made from all different left over fabric she uses for her products. Wanna see more? Take a look into her gorgeous shop for all wonderful handmade creations.



Handmade by Monica
Monica’s business is located in London and she currently has a day job to keep up with the rent. However crafting is her passion and she hopes to make it a full-time pursuit one day. She turned a spare room into her workspace. She loves creating unique bunting designs that are quirky, colorful and perfect as a gift or for parties, to brighten up your home. Monica is a big fan of and heavily influenced by all things bright, cute, quirky and fun. With an interest in Japanese culture (Kawaii in particular!) since she was a child. For this months “Made with” we selected her colorful squirrel creation made with our retro animals fabric from Spoonflower. Curious to see more? Check out her fun shop over at Etsy.

Hiku Designs
Aga Wells is a British mum of two and creates modern baby, kids and interior accessories, such as baby bandana bibs, super soft baby blankets, natural wood teethers, fabric toys, kids cushions and luxurious baby gift sets. As a mum, she understands that baby products must not only be super cute but they also need to be practical and safe. Her designs are finished with great care and attention to detail, ensuring that each item will last through many squeezes, cuddles and washes. For this monthly post we selected our ice cream cones, one of many Little Smilemakers designs in her shop. Wanna take a look and see more? Visit her webshop.

Howl and Hound
Our fabric has been used for all sorts of things but seeing these cool dog bandana’s really made our day. We love a stylish pup! And this pet accessory boutique based in Brooklyn, New York made some cool ice-cream bandana's. Looking for some cool pieces to add to your doggies wardrobe? Check out the Howl and Hound webshop.

New Collection // Maxomorra // Fall & Winter '17

Founded in 2008, Maxomorra is a children’s clothing brand from Sweden. Their clothes are characterized by functional design with playful colors and patterns, produced using ecologically and socially responsible textile processes.

The new Autumn Winter ’17 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. But have some patience, the collection will be released for autumn and isn’t in shops just yet.

Conscious
The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) was developed through a collaboration by leading standard setters with the aim of defining requirements that are recognized worldwide and that ensure the organic status of textiles from harvesting raw materials through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing all the way to labelling in order to provide credible assurance to the consumer.
Maxomorra has been using GOTS certified cotton since 2008 and is a GOTS certified brand since 2011. So if you are looking for some new conscious baby and kids items to fill your shop with contact Maxomorra and ask for their new Autumn Winter Plus collection. Here are three of the designs that will be available next fall.

Behind the scenes: Printmaking // New Under Water World summer fabric collection 2017

Last week we released a new series of designs we have been working on. Our new Under Water World collection with over 25 different prints is now available as fabric and wallpaper and we would love to show you a little sneak peak, a little behind the scenes of making this collection.

Yeah yeah, I know, you know. I love traveling and I adore being in and on the water. When I travel I try to make boat trips and look for places to go snorkeling and have a little peak into the colorful world of sea creatures and coral. I have seen quite some amazing things with my face in the water and my ass catching a nice sun burn. Tiny colorful fish, beautiful coral reefs, sharks, yeah, not my fave! And I love the textures and shapes. So very inspirational. Unfortunately I could never capture the beauty of all this n my prints but for these new ocean series I tried to make some joyful colorful designs.

We originally designed these series for our own production and shop in The Hague. But since we were partnering with someone that decided to step out of this process we are now releasing the entire series at Spoonflower as well. Our own production is on hold at the moments and these prints are too cute not to share right? For the print making process I started out making some a quick list of all sea life I have witnessed while traveling to tropical places. There were so many creatures but there were a few which I thought were most fascinating. The Octopus, turtles, the sea horse and the colorful corals. These were the base, the foundation of these new series.



Corals
From here I started making some sketches. For the first stage of sketching I use a fine pen with black ink, usually a sharpie or a micron. For this series I used both since I did not only draw outlines but texture as well. I started off making a whole bunch of different illustrations, a variety of corals, leaves, plants. And after filling several pages of my sketchbook with drawings I try to select the most interesting shapes. For the corals I choose three completely different shapes that make a wonderful series of abstracts by there own. I turned these into three different designs. These three designs all have a different quirky shape and texture, eventually these are put into the Under Water World color scheme so the prints are easy to mix and match with each other, or with some of the creatures. But not at this stage. I just focus on shape and how to get a strong repeat with basic elements. After that we started with the creatures.

Under Water Creatures
After sketching a whole bunch of ocean creatures we had to make our pick. We decided to skip the fish designs since we already have some cool dolphins, sharks and whales up in our Spoonflower shop. So after eliminating these three main characters stood out. The octopus, turtles and sea horse.

The Octopus, which I keep calling Jelly, stubborn as I am, since the characters are a little mix of both, has two variaties. The small ones; that are all slightly different and make a great print for kids fashion items and home textiles for the nursery. And then the large ones; for the older kids, these illustrations have a nice texture filling with dots and stripes and is also available as home pillow. Making the shape larger gives the illustration more character. The image looses a little of the cuteness that makes is more suitable for a slightly older audience. I wanted to make one illustration suitable for both babies and slightly older kids. But I could not figure it out. So instead of choosing one, there are two versions of these awesome creatures. Hope you like them.

The Ocean consists of so many amazing and colorful creatures. But most interesting are the shapes and textures down there. The Sea Horse has always fascinated me. Such a curious face and funny shape. We added some sea horse designs to the collection. I just couldn’t resist. I love the shape of these creatures. So beautiful! We could not leave them out. To complete these series we made one design with all corals and creatures combined. We are so curious to figure out which of these designs will pop up in our feed first. We are so curious to seeing what our customers will make from this fabric!

Home decorations & Paper art
Finishing up a series of prints means I can use them for all sorts of products. Our new series of designs has also been translated into a bunch of colorful posters and wrapping paper. For now these will only be available via our shop in The hague. We also added some pillow patterns to our Spoonflower portfolio so you can make your own cool jelly or sea horse pillow. I am looking forward seeing these babies pop up in nurseries and kids interiors! Hopefully you like our new summer series as much as I do. Click on the link to check out all our new designs over at Spoonflower. Select your favorite fabric or try out a swatch for some unique wallpaper.

SHOP NEW UNDER WATER COLLECTION

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 // April 2017

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 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 Australia, UK, The Netherlands, New Zealand and the USA. This month we selected a whole bunch of pink fabric designs, turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and have you seen those baby booties? There was so much to choose from! We have selected some cute baby shoes, leggings, baby bibs and a cute little teepee romper. Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. This is our top 5 April selection.

Little Living
This fun children’s clothing shop based in the UK specializes in fun, comfortable apparel handmade with love for your little ones. They sell all of our favorite prints this season. Our featured pink teepee's, clouds and bunnies are up in their Etsy shop. All items are made with soft jersey fabric. Little Living. Perfect for your little ones soft baby skin. Wanna see the entire collection? Check out the shop on Etsy.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/littlelivingshop

Tiny Little Cactus
Krista visit our shop in The Hague to get her hands on some of our Memphis fabric. She became a fan of our designs and a week later she ordered a whole lot more of our fabric via Spoonflower. When we asked her to tag us in her social media posts, because we are curious what peeps make from our fabric, the most wonderful items popped up. We love anything cute and love this local webshop filled with crafty stuff and everything Kawaii. For this months “Made with” we selected her adorable little baby booties in our abstract pink dashes print. Soft sole shoes, perfect for your little ones tiny feet. Seriously, things don’t get much cuter than this! If you are looking for some baby shoes or if you are a big Kawaii fan like we are check our her website. Such a perfect new born or baby shower gift!
https://tinylittlecactus.com



Quinn & Belle
When you're looking for something modern, fun, stylish and cute, Quinn & Belle has you covered. From handmade, one-of-a-kind items to unique tees & dresses, we truly are the one-stop shop for modern parents that is sure to keep you smiling. Quinn and Belle is a shop based in Arizona run by a mom of four girls. Creating beautiful clothes that were as unique as each of their little personalities. That's how Quinn & Belle was born. A girl should be two things in life: whomever and whatever she wants! Everything you see in the shop is hand selected and handmade by someone who understands how important it is that your dollars go as far as they can and your little ones look great in the process. For this months post we selected a cute Easter theme that has been a hot seller this spring: our pink bunnies. Take a look into her shop and check out all Little Smilemakers creations.
https://www.quinnandbelle.com

Ollie & Coco
Ollie & Coco is a small company based in Australia and makes adorable baby bandana's and bibs. They just added a big selection of Little Smilemakers prints to their shop. We love designing on a clear white background and clearly we are a good fit. We love seeing so many of our designs pop up in their shop so for this months post we selected their pink blush leopard. But there are so many more to choose from. We have counted over more than 20 Little Smilemakers designs so far so eat your heart out! Wanna get your hands on one of these cool new bibs? Check out their cool webshop!
https://www.ollieandcoco.com

Bean Sprout
Bean Sprout must be one of our favorite webshops using our Spoonflower fabric. Hiedee has a great eye for unique and bespoke designs and we love her style and gorgeous photography. Bean Sprout has a pretty big collection of Little Smilemakers fabrics, all turned into the most adorable baby and kids fashion accessories like baby bibs, book bags, summer hats and nappy wallets. For this months pink theme we selected our bow ties, bunnies and one of their abstracts with pink and white brush strokes on pink. Curious? Take a look into her gorgeous shop for more wonderful handmade creations.
https://www.beansproutstore.co.nz

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 // February 2017

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 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 Canada, Sweden, The Netherlands and The United States. This month we selected a whole bunch of fresh trendy fabrics, turned into the most gorgeous items. Kids fashion, nursery accessories and home and interior decoration, so much to choose from! We have selected some cute blankets and baby nests, leotards, leggings and jammies. Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. This is our top 5 February selection. 

LoveBird BabyNests
LoveBird BabyNests was founded by Ashley, an adventure seeking, outdoor enthusiast, nutrition and fitness passionate, loving mother of 4 beautiful children. While she was pregnant she decided to take on a sewing project creating a little baby bed that turned out to be a cute little baby nest. After her son was born she it became clear she couldn’t live without it and started making custom BabyNests on request for friends and family. Her business grew and now Ashley has a wonderful little online shop. For her small collection of BabyNests she selected some of our favorite Little Smilemakers fabric. Our Geo Rain in pink and our very popular minty blue Camping print both available via Spoonflower. Not having any sewing talent? Don’t worry, you can order a custom BabyNest via her webshop.
www.lovebirdbabynests.com

Maxomorra
For the new fall/winter 2017 collection we have licensed some really cool prints to one of the most trendy Scandinavian kids fashion brands: Maxomorra. For this year’s fall and winter season they expanded their collection with 8 of our designs. We love how our bunnies turned out. They make the cutest little Jammies. But of course we also have these 8 prints available in our Spoonflower shop as well. So if you would like to start your own roject with one of these designs check out our Spoonflower shop. The new collection hasn’t been launched just yet but stay tuned for more info. We will let you know as soon as these items become public and available in the Maxomorra shop.
http://www.maxomorra.com/

Ansje Handmade
For our brick and mortar shop in The Hague we are collaborating with Anouck who runs a small online fabric and sewing supply shop, and of course creates the most adorable kids fashion pieces and home decoration for our new collection and store in The Hague. For this months “Made with” we selected some of her kids home pieces. Gorgeous blankets and pillow made with our Bebé Casa Poland textiles. Soft certified fabrics with our cute kawaii designs and spring pears and triangles are available on pillows and blankets in our shop and fabric per meter via the Ansje Handmade webshop. Wanna see more of what she makes? You can visit our store in The hague from Thursdays to Saturdays or check out her website for more handmade items.
http://ansje.eu/



Woodbean
If you are looking for some unique snuggle wear for your little one this shop is the place to be. Lisa, who is based in Minnesota, creates the most wonderful soft pieces for your little one and we love her style of mixing and matching prints and uni’s. Her style is like no other and we wanted to share one of her custom made orders with you for which she has used our Amsterdam Bicycle design. These soft little shorts and cute romper are just to die for. We love how Lisa mixed the print with the contrasting ochre and mint. Such a lovely set. Check out her Etsy shop where you can see her wonderful collection in a series of beautiful, soft photography. Check out all her wonderful handmade creations.
www.etsy.com/shop/woodbean

Quinn & Belle
Last but definitely not least we wanted to show you two of our favorite prints that were tuned into cute joggers and leotards by Quinn and Belle. We love this blue Lion design picked for their new leotards. Usually leotards are pink and meet with the girly ballerina dancer cliché but not there. Quinn and Bell turned are cool Lions & Arrows fabric into some super cool stuff for tiny little dancers. And they also added our bunnies to their new spring collection. Our hot selling bunny fabric is now available on joggers. But you should definitely check out the rest of her fresh new spring range of kids fashion items; headbands, tops, leggings, bloomers and more. Check out their shop!
https://www.quinnandbelle.com/

Maxomorra Plus Collection // Fall Winter '17

Founded in 2008, Maxomorra is a children’s clothing brand from Sweden. Their clothes are characterized by functional design with playful colors and patterns, produced using ecologically and socially responsible textile processes.

The new Autumn Winter ’17 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. But have some patience, the collection will be released for autumn and isn’t in shops just yet.

Conscious
The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) was developed through a collaboration by leading standard setters with the aim of defining requirements that are recognized worldwide and that ensure the organic status of textiles from harvesting raw materials through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing all the way to labelling in order to provide credible assurance to the consumer.
Maxomorra has been using GOTS certified cotton since 2008 and is a GOTS certified brand since 2011. So if you are looking for some new conscious baby and kids items to fill your shop with contact Maxomorra and ask for their new Autumn Winter Plus collection. Here are three of the designs that will be available next fall.

Trend alert: Typography monochromes

Some of you might know that typography can make me happy, I have studied graphic designs and typography before I became a printmaker. So seeing typography pop up as a trend makes me go yay! So happy to see this being picked up.

We wanted to feature some of our monochromes for this month’s trend alert. Raw sketches ABC & numbers designs. We have made a series of back to school prints for fabric and also added some typography designs for postcards and iPhone cases in bright popping colors and of course black and whites. Those simple and elegant black and white fabric designs are perfect for gender neutral clothes and home and nursery accessories. And we see an increase in popularity in on our monochrome designs. So come take a look at our collection.

Fabric featured in this post:
Sketch & Type
Spotted dalmatian
ABC Love
Raw Math
Strong Alphabet
Number Love

Fabric feature Friday // New Apfelschick fall collection // Plus sign fabric

Our plus sign print has been one of our all time faves all over the world. This design keeps selling like crazy for over three years now. But we never licensed a darker version of the fabric up until this fall.

We have licensed some fabric designs to this small online webshop in the past year. This German company run by Dana, mommy of three, sells fabric per meter and doesn’t really turn these into kids clothes herself, ok she probably does, but when we saw this amazing photoshoot with this cute little boy showing off his new plus sign sweater and beanie we just had to share it with you guys and give them a little Shout Out. Our new plus signs are now available in her shop so if you’d like to start being creative and make some fun fashion for yourself of your little one get your hands on a piece of this wonderful fabric before she runs out. Visit the shop!

Photo credit: Eulis Nähwerkstatt

Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet // Dutch Holiday season start // Kleurplaat & Kijkdoos

For non-Dutchies this might be a little bit of a strange post. Each year The Netherlands celebrates Sinterklaas the first week of December. It is quite similar to the well known Santa tradition in the US but our old white-bearded man comes from a typical Dutch heritage. He arrives on a boat with a dozen helpers that come and turn the dark November month into a sweet candy filled mayhem. Like Santa fills socks, Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Piet fills kids shoes with presents and candy.

Each year we try to create a cool freebie around this traditional Dutch holiday. This time of the year we need some cool crafty projects to work on while it is pouring out go sit down and have a nice crafty afternoon with your kids. This year we have a fun project to work on. A Sinterklaas and Zwarte Pier themed set of drawings your kids can color, cut and paste into their Sinterklaas paper Peepshow. Click on the image below and save the file to your desktop. Don't forget to send us your results!

This crafting set was originally made by me around 10 years ago for H&M Holland when I was still working for a design company that was hired to do all H&M's graphic design in The Netherlands. The original illustrations were made for them and this crafting project was a free giveaway they handed out to mommies and daddies shopping for their youngsters.

Announcement for Shutterstock buyers // License designs // Contact our studio directly

Some of you have noticed already: We are no longer licensing our designs via Shutterstock. Due to a crazy sh*tload of misuse, and no proper sollution to prevent this in the future, we decided our designs were not getting protected as they should and we decided to delete our collection. We are very sorry for all you buyers it had to come this far since we worked with Shutterstock for almost 10 years, but things got.... unworkable.

We have removed our all our designs and we are working on a new library of non-exclusive artwork. You can now only license our designs by contacting us directly. If you would like to receive a link to view our online portfolio just send us an email and we are happy to send you a link to our work. We are still in the process of adding all designs to this library, not our entire collection has been uploaded yet but we are working on it! It will take a little while before all 5000+ designs are all up, processed and tagged. Please have some patience!

Fabric Feature Friday // Handmade doll clothes // by I can’t dance Sweden

A few weeks ago we were tagged by Jenny on Instagram. She had just finished a cute pink sweater made with our Hemmers/Itex panda fabric. But not just a regular sweater, Jenny makes doll clothes. Oh yes googly eyes!

We fell in love with her panda creations immediately and wanted to write a little something about her and her small creative business. Jenny is based in Sweden and has been creating doll related items for over 8 years. She makes doll clothes but also designs dolls herself which she draws, prints via Spoonflower and then tuns into stuffed fluffy creations. She designs fabric, jewelry and all sort of other fun items. This girl is truly creative by heart. And we love her whimsical and joyful style.

If you want to create some cool doll clothes yourself? Check out our fabric available at Spoonflower. Most of our designs can be scaled down so if you need another scale of a specific design just send us a quick message via our Spoonflower account. If you are curious about what Jenny is up to? Follow @icantdance on Instagram or check out her Etsy shop to find these cute doll dresses and sweaters.