Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 August 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 the United States, Russia, and Italy. This month we selected a whole bunch of favorite fabrics turned into the most gorgeous items. We selected some fall accessories and kids fashion pieces. And a cool DIY project. Take a look and see if there is something for you too. Have a look and enjoy our August selection.

1 // My Eclectic Nest
The beautiful Brooklyn based Tiffany is one of our fave interior bloggers. She lives in Williamsburg and on her blog and Insta she shows us here beautiful family home full of character and color. Her blog is a great source of inspiration and filled with DIY projects. Our yellow Cranes fabric was used for this beautiful table setting including custom napkins, wonderful cutlery and plates. She used our fabric to up-cycle her dining room chairs and we love how they turned out. With a little mix and match she shows us how to create a fun and inviting table for guests. Read more on her blog about this Spoonflower project.

2 // Mamapapa
Mamapapa has finally launched their Autumn Winter range with our Little Smilemakers prints. I think we’ve been waiting for almost a year to see the result of our collab. And we are so excited to see what’s been made with our prints! For their new collection they licensed 6 designs and turned them into the most adorable baby rompers and sleepwear. We love how our Minimal Spots turned out on these new born baby rompers! We also licensed a bunch of other designs, so if you are curious take a look on their website and browse all prints and styles.



3 // Pipolli
We wanted to show you this cool puppy teepees. And we stumbled upon this brand a few years ago. Pipolli creates fun dog accessories. And we especially like the dog teepees they offer. The cactus print was licensed to Pipolli a while ago already but we couldn’t resist sharing this pug with you. So cute right? So if you are looking for a fun doggie hang out or blanket check their website and see what they got to offer.

4 // Stella & Lu
The colder season is coming so it is time to grab some new warm blankies! Well, they’re pretty convenient for these cool Indian summer nights already too. Whitnie and Jes own this fun business selling all things soft for your little one. For the new season they have selected a bunch of our designs for our new collection. We especially love the Minimal Universe pieces they created. Inspired by the moon. Our copper rainbows, cotton flowers and moon phase are now available in their shop.

5 // Wolves of Wellington
We’re obsessed with all the fun dog accessories our fabric is used for. Wolves of Wellington is based in New Zealand and we love their fun pup products. Dog collars, harnesses, leashes, you name it, they have it. In a bunch of fun prints and styles. For this months Made With we selected our monochrome crosses that were used for their dog bandanas. How cute is that pup? Right? Here’s the link to their website, in case you NEED to order.

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 May 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 Poland, the United States, UK and Canada. 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 some cool pet accessories, dog leashes and cat collars, we selected some new nursery pieces and some other fashion items you’re going to love! Take a look and see if there is something for you too. Those dog items sure make a cool gift! Have a look and enjoy our May selection.

1 // Monsters and Co.
For this month ‘Made with Spoonflower fabric’ post, we selected two adorable on-trend bow-ties. Abby is a real animal nut and has 5adorable pets who inspired her to start her own business. She started out in her living room creating accessories for her own pets and it became an obsession. We love her colorful style and we wanted to feature some of the new animal prints she just launched on her website this month. We love how these fun bow-ties turned out. How cool are these for your pup? She also has some cool bandanas available that fit your cat. So cool! We’re excited to know there’s even more to come! All her items are made from eco-conscious fabric and handmade in London. Take a look into her shop for more fun pet pieces.

2 // Fog + Fern
Kristy was born and raised on Vancouver Island, this might be why her collections are so full of raw nature-inspired prints. She’s been using our fabric for a while now and we just saw her beautiful new cacti leggings pop up in our Instagram feed. We just had to share these beautiful images of this rusty color piece, showed by the most adorable little girls. Such wonderful images! The rusty color and the minty blue, sooooo satisfying! Wanna see more of Kristi’s creations? Check her website and see all leggings, onesies, tees, beanies and also adult apparel. Enjoy and leave a comment below and tell us what you think!



3 // Gray & Hound
We love Nyah's shop that’s based in Oregon. We love her outdoor adventurous style. 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? Looking for some on-trend dog leashes or score some cute dog collars, this is the place! Take a look in her shop, where she offers our most popular fox designs on her pet items.

4 // Poppy + Ted
We love the story of Paige, who started her webshop simply because she loves sewing and creating. Teddy is her model sidekick, the Frenchie part of the team, and her business was named after both her niece and this furry colleague/friend. Her dog accessories, leashes, collars, and harnesses have become a great hit and it is awesome to see her small business growing. Paige has a soft spot for animal prints and used a whole bunch of our leopard designs for her new spring/summer collection. She even matched her manicure with the new collection. Obviously, we needed to share her creations on our blog. Take a look on her website and enjoy her minimal, abstract inspired new collection.

5 // Kalamati
For five years we’ve been working with this awesome Polish baby nursery textiles brand. Violetta has a great eye for on-trend minimals and Scandinavian inspired abstracts. We love her steady stylish range of prints and this season she’ll be releasing 3 new Little Smilemakers designs she licensed for her business. The first one is our Rainbow designs, part of our Inky Texture series. It’s available in different color palettes, gender neutral or with a girly touch. We loved seeing the result of this collab come in. It’s always lovely to see the result after (not so) patiently waiting for months. Of course, we are super excited to see the other designs turned into nursery textiles and bedding as well. But we couldn’t resist sharing this one with you guys already. Wanna get your hands on these too? Check the Kalamati shop!

Rusty Pink Autumn // New surface pattern designs available for fabric & art licensing

Fall must be my fave time of the year. It is filled with small rituals and as an autumn child this colorful season is my personal fave. When you realize the last rays of sun have to be soaked up fully. You go for walks in the forest to see the leaves turn into bright autumn colors and feed yourself with inspiration and at the same time calm the mind.

The forest is filled with inspiration: acorns, chestnuts, berries, toadstools and leaves in all shapes and sizes. I love the autumn lights, harsh and bright, waking me up in the morning. Autumn, I love it. And it’s my fave time of the year to create new print designs. Inspired by more earthy tones. Every year around this time I create new designs for the autumn season and an exclusive presentation is sent out to our customers who have the first pick when it comes to licensing exclusive designs. But we also look at some old prints and turn them into autumn versions: we add new colors and new scales to our Spoonflower shop, create some cool new palettes.

This year we create the Rusty Pink collection. With typical woodland, wild life and forest themes but also some more on trend prints like the Llama design featured here. And this fall animal prints; leopards and panther designs are it. So we added some of those too. Combined with our abstract designs they make a very nice broad collection to create home decor, fashion pieces for your little ones but also some on trend items for your own more mature wardrobe. So much to choose from! Take a look into our Spoonflower shop and let us know what you think of this new palette.

Designs featured here are available for licensing and on fabric and wallpaper in our Spoonflower shop. Click on the titels to get redirected to our Spoonflower shop.
Sunflowers - Llama Cactus - Rusty Leaopard - Dashes and Strokes

Finished Product: Lsea Swimwear // Flamingo two-piece bikini

Oh yes, I am a little water rat myself and love that the temperatures are rising again. Cannot wait to put on my bikini and take off to the beach when everyone else is working. You can imagine how super excited we get to work with fashion brands that focus on swimwear. We have worked together with several beachwear companies in the past and we wanted to put a little extra light on this cool fashion brand based in Florida.

Swimwear made with love
We loved seeing these images pop up in our social media feed. So fresh and fun. We just couldn’t wait to share them with you. But it is not only the awesome flamingo bikini we love. Also the story behind the product is very interesting.

Bethany is the owner of Lsea and she and her husband visited the Dominican Republic back in 2015. She totally fell in love with the country but also witnessed Dominican youth, the problems, the poverty. After this trip she decided she wanted to do something more meaningful and created a brand that would make a difference. A portion of the income is donated to educate and nourish Dominican children, giving them a proper foundation to build their future on. Bethany wanted to offer them the same opportunities she had while growing up and while her swimwear brand is rapidly growing, her dream of helping these kids becomes reality.

Support her cause
So if you would like to get your hands on a new two-piece for the swimming pool or if you are planning a trip and dip in the ocean. Take a look at her website and support her sweet cause. She has some fun tropical prints to choose from and there are also some one-piece bathing suits available if you are a little reluctant to wear these minimal bikini’s. I know they can be a little challenging! Enjoy browsing around Bethany’s online shop.

Interested in licensing our prints for your business? We license our designs to fashion brands, home decoration suppliers, we'll anything you can out a print on, so please send us a message and find out what we can do for you.

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!

Behind the Scenes // Creative Business // Create a passive Income / Top 5 websites for artists

When I was still working as a graphic designer for a local design agency I started to upload my images on stock websites. I always loved to make photo’s and back in the day, we are talking 15 years ago, I was always carrying a camera. My archive of random street photography and abstracts was pilling up and I wanted to put those images to good use. While I was working as a graphic designer I use websites like Getty Images and iStock Photo and up until today I will have a steady base income from royalty platforms.

Passive income is very important. Without this chunk of income I would not be able to built my business. If you are starting out as an independent artist trying to monetize your work there are lot’s of places to turn to. Some websites are only looking for on trend creations, some you are welcome to sell your own original handwriting. Some just are too chaotic and you have to invest way too much time to prepare work in order to sell. I have tackled quite some websites in the past and am now happy with my small list of passive income companies I do business with. Here is a top 5 of my favorite websites to earn some extra cash.

1 // Spoonflower
If you are a surface pattern designer this website is a great way to showcase your work. You can upload your designs as .jpg files and the website is easy to navigate. You can add tag words, a short description and you can easily scale your designs, so you don’t have to worry too much about the quality you upload. Of course working with a high quality .jpg works best, that is obvious to proper designers, but you don’t have to add other scales manually. You can do that in their own system. Starting out Spoonflower can be a little bit pricey. You will have to order your own fabric samples and do a quality check and that can get a little costly. I started out selling my work through Spoonflower around 5 years ago. So my portfolio was built gradually. Seeing your first samples come in on organic cotton or silk is amazing though, and there is a lot you can do with those samples. For me this website is my number one pick.

2 // Society6
Society 6 is a website where you can sell wall art, clothes, iPhone cases, home textiles, accessories… there is so much to choose from. I love the quality of their iPhone cases and always order one of my own prints to protect my phone, a great way to start a conversation about your work, since your phone is always with you.
You can set your own price and I love how easy it is to navigate the backend. You can just prepare one file and use it for all products or you can customize your products. Whatever works best for you.

3 // Creative Market
As an artist I know creative Market is the obvious pick when it comes to passive income. I do not have a whole lot of experience with this website yet. I just started selling designs a year ago. But if you are a graphic designer it is a great way to showcase your work and get in touch with potential clients. You can upload logo designs, photography, website templates and more traditional graphic design products. You can also set your own process on this website. I love that you can have the option since some designs take a lot more effort to create then others. I would really recommend using Creative Market when you are starting as an independent designer. It is probably one of the most famous websites to purchase creative work. So your work will be exposed to people all around the globe. I see chances!

4 // Zazzle
This website has so many products listed it is madness. You can place your designs on products that will be printed by Zazzle. Since I have been selling here for a while I know all ins and outs but all those product choices can be a little bit overwhelming and you will have to invest quite some time to get some traction here. The overall style of the website is a little messy and looks a little cheaper than the clean Society6 website or stylish Spoonflower design. iI can understand this would be a no go. The website does represent your work. Something to consider. The fun thing about Zazzle is that some products are also used on tv series and in films. I found my owl iPhone case in a How I Met Your Mother episode. That sure was awesome! if you are based in the US this website is a great place to upload your content. If you are based in Europe like me you will also have to deal with tax forms and international trading laws. So inform yourself on these things before you start selling and notice it is not giving you any proper revenue due to tax regulations.

5 // Skillshare
Everyone has something to tell and something they can teach. When i hired an account manager this month I noticed all those things I could do on automatic pilot were not at all obvious for her. I had to sit down with here and while I was talking things over I realized running a creative business has let me to some skills other people are looking to learn from. Skillshare is a website where you can share those skills. You can make tutorials and monetize your creative wisdom. Talking about forms of media, targeting new clients to using Instagram for business, how to pick the right brush, creating watercolor flowers, there is so much we can all teach others. Make a list and write down all the things you need to do in order to run your business and also add your creative process. I bet there is a lot you did not realize is worth a little explanation. Teach art. Sounds like a great experience right?

Daily Objects // New designs on iPhone cases, office supplies and home decoration

For over four years now we have been working together with Daily Objects. The company started out selling phone cases and accessories but has grown into a full trendy lifestyle brand. They have expanded their collection with stationary products, tote bags, pillow cases and so much more cool stuff. So as you can imagine it was about time to post a little piece about this company before the holiday craziness kicks in.

Global & On Trend Phone Cases
DailyObjects works with over 70 designers from around the world and offer a fun selection of graphics. Abstracts, comics, Scandinavian inspired prints… enough to choose from. They use advanced printing technologies to ensure that your cases and other items not only look fantastic but are also durable, they even offer a lifetime warranty on their products. Their amazing collection of designs have been carefully selected from artists across the globe, now offering designs from over 70 artists from 28 countries. Watercolorists, surface pattern designers, illustrators, they are all part of the Daily Objects collective and they are still expanding. So much fun to be part of this rapidly growing business.

Tote Bags & Pouches
Daily Objects offers a small range of leather goods, key chains, leather wraps and notebooks. But now they 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. Oh yes and of course Daily Objects offers world wide shipping on their products too.

Notebooks
Ok as a designer I am pretty much a paper lover by heart. So when we found out Daily Objects was also making Notebooks we got super excited. We love those notebooks. I am a pretty neurotic list keeper so I can never have enough notebooks in stock. These notebooks have a soft matte finish. Perfect for some classroom notes or scribblings.

Cushion Covers
As a print designer my couch is filled with cool pillows. Daily Objects now offers cushion covers too. These cushions are a great gift for your BFF’s birthday or as a sweet house warming present. Many of our Indian themes are selected for their pillow range. There are some abstracts and Scandinavian inspired designs to choose from too. Take a look and smile up your new home!

Oh and don't worry they still sell over a 100 different cell phone case versions, protective cases, transparent cases and wood cut cases. Also they have some cool laptop sleeves and leather items. So for all you guy shoppers out there looking for a cool present for your girlfriend; check out their cool accessory collection for more manly stuff. Enjoy!

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.

New Collection available // Karla Cola Australia

A few months ago we licensed some of our monochrome designs to Karla who owns a fashion label in Adelaide, Australia. She creates beautiful, vibrant, unique original accessories as well as clothing pieces for woman. And we are so much in love with her tiny boutique we wanted to give her a little shout out.

Karla has a serious eye for style and her shop is filled with wonderful retro style fabric. Large organic shapes, popping colours and basic monochromes set the tone. All mixed with exquisite accessories, making her creations bold and unique. She mixes class and color with confidence and hopefully we’ll be seeing more of our prints in her future collections. I sure love what she has made with our designs so far; tunics, dresses and headscarfs. if you are curious to see all of her fashion pieces click on the link to her shop.

Shop Karla Cola Designs

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // Top 5 // May 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, Germany, The Netherlands and the USA. This month we selected a whole bunch of fresh blue colored fabrics, 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, blankets and a cool babynest. Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. This is our top 5 May selection.

Hen House Apparel - Umbrella Leggings
Nicole is a mother of two boys living in sunny California who runs a small etsy shop with organic materials and unique prints. You can find a small selection of our designs in her shop, mermaids, guitars, polar bears and our cool umbrella rain design that is featured in this months post. With our umbrella print she has made some cute boys leggings and these are also available in her shop in different sizes. Take a look and enjoy her fun collection of leggings, shorts, head bands and more.

LoveBird BabyNests - Blue hedgehogs
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 hedgehogs is one of this years hot selling fabric and available via Spoonflower. Not having any sewing talent? Don’t worry, you can order a custom BabyNest via her webshop.



Tiny Little Cactus - Blue Baby Booties
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!

Cover Up Baby Studio - Dino Blankets
Did you know Spoonflower also has a very soft minky fabric which is perfect for nursery blankets?
Mary, who is grandma of two, runs a small Etsy business from her home in Michigan selling fresh and unique new born baby swaddle blankets. We love what she made with our blue dinosaur fabric and love her style which is fun and colorful. Take a look into her shop if you want to get your hands on one of these adorable items.

Glitzerpüppi - Blue Garden Fabric
For this German shop we made this cute blue garden fabric that popped up on our Instagram feed a couple of weeks ago. This print is also available via Spoonflower and we love this cute little new born set: a baby romer and a matching headband was made for this little one. Curious about their own fabric production and available fabric? Take a look into their shop and get your hand on some of our exclusive prints.

Sources of Inspiration // Top 5 spring-summer trends in fashion and home decoration

Another warmer season is coming, so it is about time to plan those decorating and sewing projects. With these top 5 trends for this year you can never go wrong. Add some Boho to your wardrobe, or add some retro geometric textiles to your garden as a contrast to your tropical plants and leaves. We are curious to see what style you like most. Have fun creating!

Bohemian romance
Summer is for dreaming. And this summer this dreamy bohemian breeze takes over fashion. The Bohemian style has been around for 200 years and back in the day it was a style that was carried by artists and intellectuals who wanted to reject the bourgeois lifestyle. Adding imagination and color the bohemian style was a way of expressing a different way of dressing and decorating. This style reflected the fashion in parts of Eastern Europe called Bohemia, where lot’s of Gypsy people lived: Immigrants without a home, traveling and living on wheels. Nowadays we still associate the Bohemian style with freedom. The romantic prints, colors, the ethnic elements. it all turned into a cult. A carefully picked outfit with lot’s of colors and accessories.

The Boho trend has been on the rise for a few years now including indian icons, such as native aztec prints, feathers, arrows and dreamcatchers but also flowers, natural and oriental elements are part of this easy trend. Mixed with bright color pops, think of neon detailing and wooden ornaments this is the perfect trend for romantics. We have created some modern version boho prints, our own interpretation of the Boho trends, that are available on wallpaper, home decor items via The Roostery and fabric of course. Pick your fave fabric type and order our boho designs. Have fun creating pieces for your new summer wardrobe.

Explosive Pastel
The Scandinavian style still is on the rise. The dark days of winter are behind us and the pure clean white makes place for a little hint of color. The nudes, blush and pastel color palette has been popping up going strong in Scandinavian fashion brands and home decoration and is a definite must have in your summer wardrobe.

But did you know the big pastel wave in the 80’s had it’s origin in Miami? Back in the 80’s Miami Vice was recorded, I bet you all know about this iconic TV show. It was situated in Miami and the Art Deco architecture was translated into the set and the shows wardrobe. Around that time film, music video’s and effects became very influential and lead to a pastel wave. Anyway, I am a big fan of pastels and since my skin is pretty white, winter is not really the season to pull off these soft colors. With a little more color on my cheeks I can finally wear those mints, soft grays and blush pinks again.



Colorful Memphis
During the pastel Miami wave there was another crazy trend popping up in the eighties. The Memphis Movement. Highly influenced by pop culture; their name alone was based on a Bob Dylan lyric. The movement was established in the early 80’s by a group of designers and was very strong in interior design, furniture, film decor and fashion. Geometric shapes, strong lines and bright contrasting colors were the groups signature and this short term colab has made such an impression that it is celebrating their revival. We especially love the geometric patterns that go hand in hand with the contrasting bright chunks of primary and secondary colors. Inspired by this style we have made some colorful, geometric Memphis inspired designs with of course a little twist. We left out the primary colors and made pink, mustard and blue hues. Hope you enjoy them!

Botanical Jungle
Book a ticket to the tropics this year cuz we all need a piece of tropical green. The past year we have seen an increase in more conscious prints. We noticed our customers buy more gender neutral prints and with more knowledge about climate change people are more attracted to nature based trends. Green has always been a very difficult color in retail but the past few years green is all back and this summer it is back in a lush tropical way. Think about palm leaves, jungle life, botanical creatures, corals, everything tropical & nature is hot hot hot. And we cannot get enough of these greens. Back to nature with this tropical trend. Yes please! For this post we selected our not so common print.

Summer Candy
Last year we saw an increase in sales on our Kawaii designs. Japanese graphics inspired prints and with this trend on the rise now we see the lollipop, sugar candy and popsicles take off as a trend on their own. We all need to eat during those warm summer days, so a little refreshment here and there is very much needed. These whimsical illustrations sell best in the brightest colors and are perfect for your little ones wardrobe. So if you’d like your little one to be on trend, splurge and pick your favorite candy! Oh and don’t forget those ever strong pineapples. We have them in all shapes, colors and sizes. need another scale for your wall of sewing projects, just send us a message and we’ll add another size to our collection for you.

Here are the links to all featured prints. All prints are available on fabric and wallpaper and if you are interested in a license, please fill our the contact form.

Boho: Pineapples - Arrows Memphis: Rain - Umbrella - Geometric - Memphis Eyelash - Lilac Stripes - Mint Swirl Ice Cream:
Yellow - Blue - Beige Botanical: Desert creatures - Spiders

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

Happy Valentine // Share the love and send out a romantic gesture

Little Smilemakers designs are available at several postcard and stationary companies all around the world. There is one company in Holland we are working for directly. Kaartje2Go is an online website from which you can send out a postcard to your loved one, friends or family. You can choose a design, add images and you can even upload text in your own handwriting.

Since social media took over there are not many people sending out paper postcards anymore but digital mailing services have grown ever since. It is all about that little sweet gesture. Who doesn't want to receive a little note from their loved one with Valentine's Day? I must say it has been a few years, well maybe even 10. Yes, I know how to pick some very unromantic boyfriends (working on that!) No, seriously, I am not a very big fan of the commercial Valentine's Day. But any gesture is welcome right, when you love someone? You just want to take some time and think about how to make that special one actually feel special, so we have a whole bunch of cards inspired on love available. To send to your significant other, your best friend or family member who should know they are lover.

Last year typical red and pink prints were hot sellers. Popular trends this year are minimalistic designs. Basic black and whites with color pops. A more simplistic style related to the Scandinavian trend going on in surface pattern design. But also typography is trending this year. Hand lettering with sweet notes with a little quirky touch. With a background in typography it is always nice to step aside from our daily surface pattern design routine. These hand lettered designs were made in ink and pencil. For this post we featured our less common love prints and we wanted to show you our Panda postcard. I am celebrating not having any panda point today! Yay!



So here we are featuring some of this years new trending designs for Valentine. So have your pick, browse around this years most popular postcard designs and send one to your BFF or love of your life. Not sure what to write to your loved one, family member or friend? Hallmark has come up with a series of sentences if you lack inspiration or don't know what message is appropriate. So if you do not know what to write check out Hallmark's blogpost about what to write to your valentine this year.

New exclusive fabric collection // Brick and mortar pre-opening // Makerskwartier Den Haag

For some of you this might not come as big news, we have been posting some of our renovations and process on our Instagram and Facebook already but it is in fact pretty good news. Behind the scenes we have been working hard to move the studio to our super fine brand new location in the old heart of The hague. And we have been working on setting up our own production for the past few months.

Located in the old heart of The hague we are joining forces with other creative makers and creators in our street. We became part of the new Makerskwartier in the Boekhorststraat and old shopping street that needed a proper lift. The past year this area has been under the microscope to turn it into a new area for creative peeps to sell their handmade and up cycled items.



Makerskwartier
One of the first shops relocating in this street was Loft and Sound, run by our super cool (seriously be aware of his awesomeness!) neighbor Ard Regenboog. In his shop he sells the most beautiful vintage pieces: restored lamps, old industrial furniture and he is always polite enough to offer his customers a proper coffee.

Next to Loft and Sound you can find the small workspace Cecile, who makes leather handbags and accessories. Pop in and see how she creates these wonderful pieces.
Accross the street you can find Studio Joske, she is currently renovating her space but it is turning in to something mighty fine. She knows how to work her tools. She creates the most gorgeous pieces of furniture. Chairs, tables, pillows, all with her very own unique colorful style. Of you love color to enter your home, pop in!

Two doors down there is another very colorful shop that is part of our Makers. Liries Conceptstore run by Richelle has some bright and colorful paintings and other pieces of art, interior items and vintage. I love Richelles style, she mixes color with current themes and mixes different techniques creating stories with her artwork. This concept store is a mix of her personal work and some whimsical pieces made by others.

Pre-opening
At the end of the street you can find our brand new shop. We relocated last month and our space is divided into a shop and work space area. Since our pre-opening we have been welcoming lot’s of people into our tiny shop. I never expected it to be so much fun. We are not ready and working full swing yet, and we will still need to have the grand opening but we planned on opening the shop to clear out all of our samples and do a little testrun first, clearly we are pretty much doing this for the first time so yes, setting up an entire production and brick and mortar shop takes a whole lot of time, patience and effort. The shop has been pre-open for a month now and I never expected to get so many awesome customers in there, giving us the sweetest compliments and some very useful feedback.

We now sell our sample fabric, designs we ordered at our GOTS certifies producers the past few months. We have some fun boy prints, designs for girls and some cool gender neutrals and abstracts if you would also like to create something a little less kiddie-like. We are working hard to find the perfect match for our first collection. Hopefully within two months we can stock up and our shop both brick and mortar and online will be up and running by then. While we are already working in our new space we are also setting up our own production. This spring we will launch our very own exclusive range of designs that will only be available via our official Little Smilemakers Shop channels. But we are definitely not ready yet. We are waiting for our fabric, working on our visual communication and so much more. You’ll be the first to know once we have ur new collection available. Stay tuned!



Workshops & Sewing classes
My new business partner Anouck has been working her ass off (she pretty much forgets all about her lunch most of the time) on some sample pieces for our fashion collection. With her sewing skills she has proven to be a real sewing magician. We now have some new born fashion accessories, home decoration such as pillows and blankets, and of course a small collection of new born baby, toddler and kids clothes. If you visit our shop you can now handpick your fave fabric & product and Anouck can turn it into something custom made for you or your little one. But you can also attend one of her weekly sewing classes on Tuesdays. You can just join the class, sign up via Facebook or email and create your own Little Smilemakers pieces. Anouck has also planned some workshops on Sundays you can join her and make something from scratch and finish the same day. Usually she works around a theme; make a baby romper, or harem pants. You’ll be working on the same project with 5 other people and go home with a finished item at the end of the workshop. You can find more info on her Facebook page, check it out and sign up!

For now Little Smilemakers Shop is open from thursdays to saturdays 12:00 / 17:00 - Boekhorststraat 191 Den Haag - Netherlands

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.

Limited Edition Memphis Style Little Smilemakers fabric // available via Ansje Handmade

We have something really cool to share with you guys! The past months we have been testing the market for fabric production ourselves. We worked with suppliers in the past but never produced our own series up until this summer when we decided to test these grounds.And we have something cool to show!

We have been approached by numerous companies in the past who wanted to order fabric outside of Spoonflower. Up until now we never provided this service but we would love to see if this would be a possibility in the future. Hopefully we can start doing so in the near future but as you can imagine, we want to make sure to cover all glitches and we want a top notch quality, with a low impact on our environment. Aiming for a high end product. Safe for babies and toddlers and with a long lasting print. of course all GOTS certified meeting the highest standards in the industry.

Ansje Handmade collaboration
When the designer herself starts her own production you can make sure things better get close to perfect so for our own production we are definitely not ready yet but we have started a test production and we now have released a limited edition range of Little Smilemakers fabric working together with Anouck who runs her small fabric business Ansje Handmade. Without her things wouldn’t have come this far, she has been a vital partner in starting this process and with a whole bunch of positive energy she has supported me and together we hope to get things up and running within the next year.

Fresh Limited Edition fabric
For the first small batch we have selected 9 different colorful prints to choose from. Some fresh Memphis Style inspired abstract rain drops an brush strokes. Our all time fave geometric plus sign design and some fun kids themes of course. All designs are printed on 220grams GOTS certified jersey fabric. And there is only 15 meters of each of these designs. So for all Little Smilemakers fans in the Netherlands, rush to Anouck’s online shop to get your hands on a piece of this fresh fabric. And stay tuned for more fabric production news!

Finished product // Bebè Casa new fabric collection

The past few months we have been working on a series of cool trendy new prints for Bebè Casa Fabrics. We have been working for this Polish company for over two years now and we love seeing their collection grow.

Always on trend with new pastels, gender neutrals and watercolor themes that are now available. Fun fresh and colorful fabrics suitable for your little ones wardrobe, create some cute dresses with those unicorns or fun home accessories or bedding for your kids bedroom or nursery. We licensed colorful mountains, vintage toys, retro owls, new feathers and sweet kawaii sky designs to Bebè Casa that are not for sale anywhere else.

Bebè Casa uses certified cotton and inks and the colors are vivid. If you are looking for some good quality cottons look no further. They have released their super fun collection of kids prints the past few weeks and they are now also available in their online shop or for all Dutchies: check out Ansje handmade, we manage to have some fabrics for sale in The Netherlands! Yay! Of course we are curious what beautiful creations will pop up from this new collection of designs. Don’t forget to share your finished results and tag @littlesmilemakers via Instagram.

Pura Vida Collection // Sweet jungle animals // Costa Rica jungle designs for fabric

Five years ago I traveled to Costa Rica, the country was number one on my bucket list of places to visit for a long time so when I finally saved up enough money I couldn’t wait to see all the lush green parks and quirky animals.

As you know I love traveling and whenever I come back from a trip the first thing I do is create new work. Usually I have been on the road for weeks and during my trips I never get around to create anything, I do however collect scribbling and sketches, little thoughts and notes. So when I come back my head explodes, it is full of fresh ideas. But 5 years ago I didn’t make any time creating a full collection of prints after my trip to Costa Rica and while I was cleaning out my photo’s when my new computer arrived in the studio I found all these images of sloths, snakes and wonderful wild life, beaches, corals and national parks. And those fresh fruit! Pineapples, banana’s and papaya’s. I got that itch again. Something needed to be done!

I finally sat down and created an entire Pura Vida series of fabric this year. Inspired by my trip and inspired by my Costa Rican muse who reminded me to revisit this inspirational journey. I hope you enjoy how this collection has turned out. We created some sloth designs, sweet baby snakes, fish and a mix of tropical birds of this lush green paradise. Of course lot’s of green shades and colorful bright colors for fall and winter.



All designs featured in this post can be found in our Spoonflower online fabric shop where we offer our designs on 16 different textiles and wallpaper. If you have trouble choosing the right fabric for your project check out our Spoonflower frequently asked questions post. And do reach out if you need another scale for your project, we are happy to add an extra scale to the shop for you.

If you would like to license one of the designs for your business, please send us an email or take a look at the website for more information.