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 // Memphis Style // July 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 Russia, The Netherlands and the United States. This month we selected a our top 3 Memphis products, 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, shirts, leotards. And we have a link to our Society6 shop, if you would like to add some Memphis to your home. This is our top 3 July selection.

1 // Tiny Little Cactus - Adorable 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 trending white Memphis print. Soft sole shoes, perfect for your little ones tiny feet. Seriously, things don’t get much cuter than this! We love these fresh colorful booties, but if you prefer our darker Memphis designs: She also has the black Memphis designs available in her shop. 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!



2 // Mami’s Little Muse - Baby & Toddler fashion
We haven been following this shop for a couple of years already. Isis is one of our regular customers and has made some cute fashion items for little ones over the years. For this month’s post we selected some of her newest rompers and leotards made with our Memphis fabric. We love how she mixes and matches colors and prints. Isis started her little shop after giving birth to her preemie daughter. She could not find any clothes to fit her tiny new born baby girl. Her little muse Kaili inspired her to start dreaming about sewing a whole wardrobe full of clothing for her. And her husband, sensing her determination, came home one day carrying a brand new sewing machine. With all it bells and whistles, it wasn’t long before Isis preemie was the most stylish kid in town with a dressed overflowing with handmade outfits in all the colors of the rainbow. Now she has expanded her collection by adding cool boy designs too. her shop is fresh, fun and colorful. And her items all have a little something special. if you are curious just take a look into her Etsy shop.

3 // LU Kids - Cool boys and girls
Our Memphis designs haven been travelling all over the globe and even in Russia you can find a cool range of kids wear. LU Kids offers trendy fashion items and accessories. This Moscow based shop offers shirts, pants, shoes, everything for your little ones wardrobe. But they have also reated some cool accessories. Shoes, hats, backpacks. An entire series of back to school Memphis prints is released this fall. For this new collection LU Kids has used organic cotton and eco-friendly printing, water-based inks on natural and synthetic fiber textiles. No additional chemicals are used in the printing or preparation process. That is something we just love to hear! Many of our customers are choosing a more conscious approach so we really wanted to list them in our top 3 this month.
Curious about their new stuff? Visit their webshop.

Home decoration & Accessories
We usually only feature handmade items and licensed products in our monthly Made With post. Because this month is a little different that our usual posts we also wanted to add a link to our Society6 shop. Where you can find fashion accessories, bedding, and als sorts of fun items to decorate your home with. If you want to add a little Memphis to your home. Go take a look. We have a whole bunch of other designs to choose from too.

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

Sources of inspiration: On the white // Living & working Nordic style

In a world where you can get anything on demand within a day, our lives and days are fully booked with appointments, skype call, internet dates and every day things we are all looking for a little ease at the end of the day. We are becoming more and more aware that dedicating our lives to more important things, spending our time with a more mindful approach is probably a better way to peace and happiness. That is why the Scandinavian design is a very strong trend, influencing design, fashion and interiors all over the world.

As a Dutch designer I also am stuck with the Scandinavian handwriting: I don't mind, space and white is important in our designs. Dutch design can be characterized as minimalist and clear with a little touch of color. Colors are usually trend related choices but the handwriting will always remain pure and spacious. In Scandinavian design white is also an important element in the design. It is not just clear space that can be filled up. try to convince your client of that when he buys a full page add in a magazine and want to fill up every inch with info. Designers love there 'space.'

Peaceful white
For our designs we use a white canvas. Every designer, painter, artist or musician, they all start out on a blank canvas or well, at least a clean slate. The very start. This white element is very important to our design process. I love designing prints on white and the majority of our designs are in fact originally made on a crisp white background. The strong black inky lines form a wonderful contrast to the white and the extra colors. And after designing for over 10 years, I am so happy this Scandinavian style was embraced in home decoration and fashion in other places than just Scandinavian countries only. The serenity and purity is finally picked up in other parts of the world too.

Easy home
So many things are keeping us busy each day. We have to get up, check out messages, get dresses, eat, work, we get exhausted by all the choices that cross our path. Here in the Northern part of Europe we live inside our homes for the biggest part of the year. Our cold climate keeps us cuddled up inside for months during the colder season and while most of us live in urban areas we do need our piece and quite. Our interiors have been a little more clean, and our spaces a little more serene compared to interiors in warmer climates where the colors are brighter and nature is lush and green.

Our Scandinavian style of living gets adopted in homes in warmer climates and in very different cultures such as India and Japan. Mid-century architecture and interior design is booming again and we all love to reduce the amount colors and stuff in our lives. Going back to a little more basic again. That is what Scandinavian design is all about. Natural colors, textures and lot's of white. Don't be afraid to grab that cluther from the shelves and you really don't need all those tacky commercial buddha's. Make your space one where you can get some rest and refuel.

Japanese serenity
Our Scandinavian inspired designs have been more and more popular each year. Recently we have been exploring the Japanese market with our designs. We are now selling our prints at Green Apple, a fabric shop and Milk Panda, a webshop that sells toys, bedding and other interior products for the Japanese home. I think the traditional Japanese style is very much related to the Scandinavian one. It is pure, with our too much fuss. That is why Natsuko Anderson, founder of Milk Panda, started her business, she wanted to combine these two styles, offer well designed honest products and in her worldwide search she found our Scandinavian designs. In the Milk Panda shop you can find a special range of clean crisp black and white prints for kids. We are very happy to see our prints pop up all over the world but Japan holds a very special place in our designers hearts. Of course. It's Japan!

BB Fabrics & Little Smilemakers Studio // New Memphis style inspired collection

Have you seen our new collection over at BB fabrics? We have been working with this company for a few years now and last months they launched their new summer collection of colorful home textiles. I collaboration with their creative studio we made a new collection with a mix of pastels, geometric basics and a Memphis twist.

BB fabrics is a company that has been running around the textile business for four generations. With an eye for good design and a warm heart in doing business they are the absolute top of the industry. This year they changed their entire look with new name, a new logo, and a stylish new website and we are honored to be part of this new direction with our new summer range.

You might have seen some posts on our Instagram already. We are very proud to share this new collection with you. We made some memphis inspired ice cream designs that lead to this colorful collection for the summer season. BB fabrics offers a large collection of home decoration textiles and heavy weight fabrics. With their in house design studio they collaborate with designers and license brands to offer a broad range of unique prints with every new season. Their high quality fabric is sold from stock, so they are ready to ship within 48 hours. Check out their website for all new prints and order your favorite Little Smilemakers designs here. Stock up for your business and order these new prints before they are all sold out!

For a few years we have been collaboration with BB Fabrics now. We have developed a whole bunch of designs together in the past. We love their no nonsense honest way of doing business and which lead us to a long term collaboration with hopefully many more fun collection to come we are currently looking into doing exclusive work for them. We love to give them a shout out here. So stay tuned!

Sources of inspiration: Munich // Amazing streetart // Late night Biergarten // Top 5 things to do in this Beautiful capital of Bavaria

Of course if you are visiting Europe from another continent other cities might pop in to your head first while planning your trip. But there are many hidden gems, smaller cities that have a little extra something. Munich is one of those places having it all. Great night life, parks, the Alps are around the corner and the city has an historic center and lot's of cultural sights to visit.

First of all I am a back fan of German cities. I haven't been in a city in Germany I didn't like yet. During summer people are outside and celebrate the warmer weather. There are lot's of things to do all around the city. here are a few of my favorites. Munich is a city located in the southern part of Germany and has a great cultural heritage. I am a big fan of German cities with their broad streets, rivers and amazing old architecture. We all know Munich is the center of the famous Oktoberfest but Munich also is a city with high class top notch museums and fun coffee places. I must say I love that combination! Here is a little top 5 of things to do and places to see spending a day in this Bayern city.

1 // University Rooftop Bar
Are you a fan of heights? I always love to visit one of the cities taller buildings and the first thing I do when I visit a city is go look for a rooftop bar. Munich has a student bar that is open for public. Cafe Vorhoelzer is located inside of the Architectural faculty of the University and from the bar you have a great view over the city. When the sky is clear you can even see the Alps. The bar itself is packed with students and usually a place on a location like this is crazy expensive but the prizes for drinks and food are very okay. Drink a coffee and have a fresh Panini or try out one of their very refreshing cocktails.

2 // Street art tour
All along the old train tracks, old industrial area's and outskirts you can find some amazing street art. Somehow there is always room for these forms of creativity in Germany. I am always amazed by the great works of art that turn all German cities into open air museums. And Munich actually promotes street art. They say Munich is the city where street art in Germany began in the eighties and it was the first city in the country where graffiti was legalized in some parts of the town. This way Munich street art became a true respectable form of art. There is so much to see when you hop on a bike and just cycle around town. You can also join an organized graffiti sightseeing tour. Be amazed!



3 // Long biergarten nights
If you talk about Munich of course there must be a little something about beer. Every year this city turns into madness: it is the Oktoberfest Walhalla. Every fall the city transforms in a festive beer drinking party, they even have created an entire park to celebrate all the craziness. If you don't visit Munich during Oktoberfest there are enough places to drink a beer like Bavarians do. Biergarten are the place people hang out during warm summer nights. Some have open air movie nights, other have a little playground for kids, or little food trucks where you can get traditional Bavarian snacks and finger food. It is not just a place to drink bier, it is part of the countries social tradition.

4 // The Isar River
On a hot summer day nothing is so refreshing that a little dip in the river. The Ivar river is east from the city center and a popular place for peeps to hang out. You can reach the river by metro or rent a bike and have a little ride along the green Ivar Trail. It is a great place to meet up with friends over a little BBQ or get a little tan, there is also a nudist area. It is green and lush and a great escape from the hot city center. So if you want to get out of the busy hot summer streets this place is a great afternoon gettaway.

5 // Museum Brandhorst
Pop art and contemporary pieces. I love a good Art Museum. And thankfully every mayor European city has a place worth visiting. Of course you can visit the Pinakothek Museum but the Brandhorst Museum also has a great package of modern art, paintings and sculptures. The Brandhorst Museum was built in 2008 and even the building itself is worth a little peek. It has a colorful clean cut facade that looks amazing in sunlight! Sometimes a Museum can be an overwhelming place but Brandhorst is not too big. Spending two hours inside is enough to see it all that is why it is a great place to visit if you will only be in town for a day.

Freshtastic Little Smilemakers Fabric: Memphis Style Abstracts // August selection

Every month we upload new work to our Spoonflower shop and over the past 5 years our portfolio has grown from zero to over 3000 designs to choose from. Behind the scenes we can search within our portfolio but we noticed customers have a hard time finding what they want sometimes. With our monthly Freshtastic Fabric post we feature new fabric that was added to our shop. We include some direct links to these new designs and color versions. Hopefully we can filter on trend designs and make the process of selecting prints a little easier.

For our August post we selected some of our new abstracts. I love making designs with a little raw edge. For these series of designs we used large brushes, ink and paint rollers and turned those abstract spots and strokes into beautiful series for the summer season. Colorful raw Memphis Style inspired abstract fabric designs for cool kids clothes and fun items to color your home. Hopefully you like them as much as I do and we hope to se some finished creations pop up in our feeds.

Lemons
What is your favorite fruit? I personally love all sorts of fruit prints. I have had my cherry fase, some apple years and of course with my wodka fase came the lime. For this summer we have made some fun fruit prints like these lemons to match our memphis Style inspired collection. We made them in three colors that are now also available in different scales: mint, pink and yellow.

Strokes & Circles
The base of these designs are either large brush strokes or circles. Together with these tiny spots and beige rain drop shapes they form a nice matching collection for cool abstract clothes for your kids or fun colorful summer decoration for your interior. Here are the links to these 5 matching prints: Sand Raindrops, White Circles, Black Circles, Sand Strokes, Yellow Strokes.

Summer Rain
All sky related designs have been trending the past year so for our memphis collection we also included some abstract raindrops. We have made them in colorful summer colors, beige blue, pastel pink, blue and pink, and winter color schemes as well. You can mix and match with other prints of this collection, the dot details are similar to other fabric.

Dots
Some new colorful dots are also added to the fabric collection. We have made some fresh summer color schemes to mix and match with these Memphis Series but you can also mix and match then with our summer animals and other abstracts we have made for the warmer season. You can find the link here, from top to bottom: Lilac, Blue, Peach, Black, Yellow, Mint. Hope you like these new additions to the shop!

Sources of inspiration: On the white // Living & working Scandinavian style

In a world where you can get anything on demand within a day, our lives and days are fully booked with appointments, skype call, internet dates and every day things we are all looking for a little ease at the end of the day. We are becoming more and more aware that dedicating our lives to more important things, spending our time with a more mindful approach is probably a better way to peace and happiness. That is why the Scandinavian design is a very strong trend, influencing design, fashion and interiors all over the world.

As a Dutch designer I also am stuck with the Scandinavian handwriting: I don't mind, space and white is important in our designs. Dutch design can be characterized as minimalist and clear with a little touch of color. Colors are usually trend related choices but the handwriting will always remain pure and spacious. In Scandinavian design white is also an important element in the design. It is not just clear space that can be filled up. try to convince your client of that when he buys a full page add in a magazine and want to fill up every inch with info. Designers love there 'space.'

Peaceful white
For our designs we use a white canvas. Every designer, painter, artist or musician, they all start out on a blank canvas or well, at least a clean slate. The very start. This white element is very important to our design process. I love designing prints on white and the majority of our designs are in fact originally made on a crisp white background. The strong black inky lines form a wonderful contrast to the white and the extra colors. And after designing for over 10 years, I am so happy this Scandinavian style was embraced in home decoration and fashion in other places than just Scandinavian countries only. The serenity and purity is finally picked up in other parts of the world too.

Easy home
So many things are keeping us busy each day. We have to get up, check out messages, get dresses, eat, work, we get exhausted by all the choices that cross our path. Here in the Northern part of Europe we live inside our homes for the biggest part of the year. Our cold climate keeps us cuddled up inside for months during the colder season and while most of us live in urban areas we do need our piece and quite. Our interiors have been a little more clean, and our spaces a little more serene compared to interiors in warmer climates where the colors are brighter and nature is lush and green.

Our Scandinavian style of living gets adopted in homes in warmer climates and in very different cultures such as India and Japan. Mid-century architecture and interior design is booming again and we all love to reduce the amount colors and stuff in our lives. Going back to a little more basic again. That is what Scandinavian design is all about. Natural colors, textures and lot's of white. Don't be afraid to grab that cluther from the shelves and you really don't need all those tacky commercial buddha's. Make your space one where you can get some rest and refuel.

Japanese serenity
Our Scandinavian inspired designs have been more and more popular each year. Recently we have been exploring the Japanese market with our designs. We are now selling our prints at Green Apple, a fabric shop and Milk Panda, a webshop that sells toys, bedding and other interior products for the Japanese home. I think the traditional Japanese style is very much related to the Scandinavian one. It is pure, with our too much fuss. That is why Natsuko Anderson, founder of Milk Panda, started her business, she wanted to combine these two styles, offer well designed honest products and in her worldwide search she found our Scandinavian designs. In the Milk Panda shop you can find a special range of clean crisp black and white prints for kids. We are very happy to see our prints pop up all over the world but Japan holds a very special place in our designers hearts. Of course. It's Japan!

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // May 2016

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

If you browse around on Etsy for some kids fashion you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers prints. Most creatives with small home based businesses sell their projects via internet and tag us via Instagram. So we see some amazing things pop up in our feed every month. We love how Little Smilemakers creations are the foundation for other creatives all around the world to work with. So here is our monthly blog post that features some creative results from the USA, UK, Holland and Sweden. This month we selected a whole bunch of summer fashion themes. We have some tropical birds and leaves, some watercolors. Take a look and see if there is something for your little one too. This is our May top 5.

Sew Kuddly Clothing
We are obsessed with this small UK kids shop. Not only because they have tons of products with our prints and we love their finished items but they also have some adorable photography, some cute tiny models that show off their headbands, leggings, headbands and other cool items they sell in their Etsy shop. For Hemmers/Itex we have made an exclusive series of designs and our new origami fabrics are turned into cute baby and toddler items. Our favorites: Birds and crocs are now available in their shop! So need anything for you boy or girl. Look no further. And support this super cool small business.

Yeti Feet & Co.
We love those cute and comfy moccs. They are perfect for our little ones tiny feet and these printed shoes made by McKayla Nelson are part of her new Arizona collection with cactuses, dreamcatchers and animals. She is a big fan of cactuses but she also has some of our other designs in her collection of soft soles. They make a perfect gift to a baby shower or kids birthday. These cactus shoes and more are available in her shop. Go check out her Etsy shop!



MommaMakes
By using mostly gender neutral prints for their range of clothes and accessories this small UK based shop is a great place for some one-of-a-kind pieces for your kids. Of course there are some boys and girls themes too but we love their eye for pure and simple gender neutral designs like the one they used for these cute parrot leggings. Check out the shop for more Little Smilemakers prints, they also have our mermaids and some cool abstracts.

Made4Ukkies
This Dutch company has some cool handmade new born and infant items. We licensed some designs to Hemmers/Itex and Staghorn this winter and now we see the finished results pop up on our feed. We love the colorful range of spring and summer clothes this small shop has to offer. They also have our cool bears up there and our feathers are also represented. Go check them out.

Lilla Busfro
This Swedish shop is run by Carin and we love her trendy collection of prints she uses for her handmade kids collection. She turned our feathers and plus sign fabric into some adorable leggings, t-shirts and hats that are available in her shop.

We love to see your finished results too. Even if you don't have a shop but make something gorgeous for yourself or as a gift, tag us via Facebook or Instagram and maybe you will be featured in our monthly "Made with" post.

Madkouch Boutik // Inky Texture Cactus // Boys summer collection

I remember drawing my first cactus for a gardening calendar I made years ago. That same cactus became a hot selling print two years ago when suddenly the cactus was 'picked up.' It took a while! Trends come and go but after a few years the cactus is still going strong. Our cactus prints are, together with our pineapples, our hot selling designs on fabric.

We have made several designs, western themed, with skulls and botanical elements. But our plain and simple cactus prints sell best. This winter we made a new range of exclusive designs. To offer our business partners more unique prints. We created the inky texture collection. With hot air balloons, clouds, tulips, apples, feathers and other trendy themes.

Our inky texture cactus design was licensed to Madkouch Boutik, a small eco friendly business in France creating gorgeous colorful kids clothes. We have licensed some other designs to Madkouch before but this cactus range has such beautiful photography, such a pleasure to share this collection on the Little Smilemakers blog. We always love to see what our fabrics are used for and we are very pleased with the result. If you are looking to expand your little boys wardrobe take a look on the website. Madkouch has some beautiful baby, toddler and kids products such as leggings, rompers, t-shirts and headbands all made with eco fabric.

If you are interested in licensing one of our Inky Texture designs? Or one of our other surface pattern designs, just contact our studio and we will give you more info about licensing and availability. Just send us a message.

Let's celebrate yellow / 5 reasons why we all adore this color of joy and creativity

Colors have a strong but also subconscious effect on our everyday lives. During my design studies, studying color was our most demanding and time consuming subject. As a visual artist I was taught how to influence and effect others with my use of the color spectrum.

Yellow is the color of sunshine, joy, vitality, happiness and creativity. Yellow is bright and warm and often used for light, breezy and joyful subjects. When I think about yellow I think off sunshine, vacation… But this color is also symbol of courage an confidence, boosting energy and self esteem. And with a little hint of black, bright sunny yellow turns into a trendy mustard color. With a little touch of red, ochre. All gender neutral colors that are very popular right now.

1 // I love yellow personality
I personally never liked yellow. Up until last year I wouldn't use this color in my designs. Only a little hint every now and then. Now I create full yellow, mostly mustard colored, designs and I really love these shades of yellow, but still I would never add a 100% yellow color to my work. I still have this inexplicable aversion towards the bright yellow color. Maybe it is just a little too energetic, draws a little too much attention, and with this ingredient it is hard to balance out colors in a design too? According to spiritual studies the color represents our self worth and in stressful times can be too vibrant. The color always makes me feel a little agitated.

2 // Yellow & branding
Yellow has often been used as a signal color. Like red is used for caution, bright yellow is often used to stand out and bring attention to the subject too, think about urban signage or the numerous cabs that circle around Manhattan, they are easy to find since their color pops out. And what about post-it notes, a brilliant color to remind you of things to do. A great color for attention without the heaviness of danger. Yellow loves to talk and is a color that can speak for itself. It is not often used in logo design but if we think about yellow branding we all think about cheap, outlet companies. Can you come up with some?



3 // The color of creativity
Yellow also lifts our mood and increases brain activity if we are surrounded by the color. It is the color of new ideas, while activating us it puts the brain at work and can give us a new perspective, create new solutions. Yellow activates in al lot of ways.

4 // Yellow & food
Studies have shown that people that were eating in a yellow room would eat a lot more than in rooms that were painted in other colors. So maybe painting your dining room in a shade of yellow might not be a good idea if you want to watch your weight. I do not eat at fast food joints often, most of these 'restaurants' have yellow interiors to make you eat a little more. A clever way to generate more cash right? One of world's largest fast food joint is well know for it's screaming yellow logo. The go to place to stuff your face.

5 // Girls & boys
This year yellow has been making a come back in fashion design. Yellow is a perfect color for gender neutral interior accents and is perfect in fashion for both boys and girls. Right now ochre and mustard are two shades that are very trending in print and fashion and also two shades we love to work with. We have made an entire new mustard colored series for this summer season. Go shop for sunshine at Spoonflower.

Summer beach trend : welcome back to the printed swimsuit // Cactus swimwear for Batoko

Shopping for swim wear can be a struggle especially finding a two piece bikini that needs to fit top and bottom and also flatter. Yeah no, I am not a big fan of shopping but I really hate shopping for beach wear. So I am very happy to see the swimsuit made a real come back this year. Celebrities like Beyoncé and Doutzen Kroes all have been spotted in one piece swim wear this summer. So make it a little easy for yourself and embrace the trend. There are lot's of fun designs to choose from. And we have one over at Batoko. A cactus swimsuit you really need to get your hands on!

The girl in the image above is the very talented Australian based DJ Tiger Lilly. We are very happy to see her in one of our fun creations. She looks awesome with this cactus & mermaid hair combo, doesn't she? The photo was made by Melbourne photographer Shevin Dissanayake. Follow this photographer via Instagram @shevindphoto.

Yuka is a LA blogger and is wearing this cute desert theme with some crazy cool sunglasses to coachella. We love the color scheme of this photo. Follow her on Instagram @yukasaur and check her fashionable blog for daily fashion inspiration.



We love how companies are exited to use our designs and always tag us in their posts. Kudo's for all amazing peeps creating such joyful things with Little Smilemakers designs, fabrics, wallpaper and paper goods. Your tags and credits are very much appreciated. So again: Thank you to all creators and followers. If you ever stumble upon one of our designs. Please tag us @littlesmilemakers!

A designing process // A brief step by step // New Indian Summer Boho feathers

I love the summer season. I would love to move to a climate in which the temperature is a plus 20 degrees all year long. As some of you might know, my joints are terrible during the colder season so I love focusing on summer. During the winter most of the summer designs take shape. During spring we can see the first sales and see what our most trending themes are.

This year the Indian Summer Feathers were one of our hot selling designs. From Australia to South Africa, this Boho print is now everywhere! But the summer season is not over yet and since nowadays our production process doesn't take 6 months we can add new designs and adept to what's happening quite easily. So this week it was time to add some new feather designs.

Designing on screen can be very annoying. I don't like the digital process all that much but of course, designing on screen is a lot quicker and gives a design a completely different look and feel. I love to create things by hand and need a pencil or brush in my hand at least once a week. Our feather collection contains hand drawn ink illustrations, designs that are completely created on screen but there was no feather print made with watercolors yet. I love using a sharpie to draw but I am too much of a perfectionist to actually like my drawings. Somehow they never seem good enough. By using a brush, a lot of things can happen that are not under your own control. The ink can drip and make little circles, the hair of the brush all go there own way. The end result is a lot more spontaneous and not as crispy clean as an ink pencil drawing.



A brief step by step
To create a pattern the first step is making the first illustrations, paintings or shapes. For the new Boho Feather design I painted a series of different feathers on several pieces of paper. I love to mix lot's of water with the, in this case, black ink to creates shades of gray that make the design more layered. After painting I let things dry for a few hours. The paper can be soaked so I make sure everything is all dry before scanning the artwork.

First I clean the glass plate of the scanner to make sure no extra dust or speckles are scanned. I create a .jpg file that I tweak a little in contrast and color to make the white paper background a crisp white and have a contrasting deep black. I use Photoshop for those little tweaks and adjustments. Usually after that I would trace the image in Adobe illustrator. But since I love the raw touch of the brush, it is hard to convert the image to vector and not loose this particular element I like so much, so for this design I use Indesign. First I cut out every single feather and shape and put them in all in separate documents. That way I can place the image and scale and rotate all feathers separately from one another. By using Indesign it is also quite easy to repeat the print, make it seamless and change the colors. Eventually I export a .pdf document which I check and open in Photoshop and then save as the file needed for production.

So now we have a final digital file. The design is now uploaded into our Shutterstock and Spoonflower libraries and will soon be available on European market as well. Wanna have a piece? Follow us via Facebook and stay up to date about new things that are happening or follow our Instagram feed where you can find some DIY inspiration.

My Little Hands Australia // Winter collection // Baby & Todler home textiles and fashion

A few months ago we finished up a new series of designs for My Little Hands Australia that is now finally for sale! Yeah, we do not have a lot of patience when it comes to waiting for the end result but it was very much worth it...

My Little Hands is an online shop, a place to find all things beautiful for your little one’s including bedding for babies and children, clothing, floor rugs and room decor including wall art, garlands and wallpaper.

The Australian company is run by the gorgeous Emma Colombera. She has a heart for true designs and asked me to create a range of products for her shop. We started out with a series around the water colored foxes. A cute simple repeat of these yellow creatures is now available on cute blankets and other MLH items.

For this season we created a series of Bohemian Feather designs for both girls and boys including the Sleep little one & Buonanotte pillow case. Some cute framed artwork for your little ones nursery and well, many more cute things are available in the online shop. Check their online shop to see the entire new Winter collection or visit the My Little Hands Facebook page to see what's new.

Knippie Magazine June // Rainbow Love fabric summer dress

One of our Spoonflower customers sent in this adorable photo of a girl in her little summer dress made with Little Smilemakers Studio fabric. The final result was selected for Knippie's June issue.

Knippie is a Dutch DIY Magazine in which you can find sewing tips and tricks, new trends and fun fashion patterns for your little ones. For this new June summer issue the Rainbow dress made by one of our customers was selected as part of the "rainbow children" photo shoot. It has been a while since we were featured in a Dutch Magazine. Fun to see our designs a little closer to home too.

Want to make this dress for your little girls yourself? Check out the Knippie website and order a copy. If you would like to use this Rainbow Love fabric for one of your sewing projects you can take a look in our Little Smilemakers Spoonflower shop and order your piece. This design in available in three different scales. Don't forget to send us your creations once your done! We are curious what you create with this dreamy fabric.

Sources of inspiration: Botanics and Wild life - All about green

I have to admit I do not only draw all day. Half of my work is researching markets all over the world. Doing so I get inspired most by what is happening in Brazil and other tropical markets right now. I am a big fan of the minimal Scandinavian designs but I adore the lush green tropical influences finally coming our way in mainstream fashion and home decor. Much more character!

So why not have a little feature about fascinates me most: Nature. I grew up in a place where we forget how to live in harmony with trees and whenever I travel I find myself a little more at ease when I am surrounded by nature. Culture fascinates me, but come on, the diversity in wild life and plants.

There is of course a serious green trend going on in every aspect of life for a while now. People get more conscious about their health, their environment and about what they eat.



Last year tropical prints were already introduced into the western fashion world. The pineapple made a come back, cactus themes and large green leafs. And with this year's spring entering the country there is finally room for plants. There is a trend going on in home decor as well. Lush branches, large retro plants decorate the living room again and colors of the tropics find their way into our interiors again. Even on minimal markets like in Scandinavia and central Europe. So yes, nature is back and we love it!

Made with Little Smilemakers Studio Fabric // May 2015

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

I 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, Poland, United States and Russia. This is our new May selection, this month with a little soft pink theme.
If you browse around on etsy for some kids fashion you are very likely to stumble upon some Little Smilemakers. Most creatives with small home based businesses sell their projects via Etsy. So take a look and see if there is something for your little one too.



Geometrics and Ballet
We love the photo styling here. The cute little triangle shirt was made by Posh and Cozy. Danielle makes fun kids and baby fashion she also sells via Etsy. Don't you love the combination of the cool triangles shirt with the soft pink voile ballet skirt? She just received another batch of new Little Smilemakers fabric so stay tuned!

The vintage cabinet project
Ferpie and Fray is a blog where you can find all sorts of up cycling projects. The old vintage cabinet was painted in warm soft pink and the drawers were covered with Pastel Feathers wallpaper made by Little Smilemakers Studio. You can find the step by step process on their blog together with other inspiring home decor projects.

New born soft soles
The feathered baby shoes by Titot were made with Little Smilemakers feather series via Bebé Casa. These soft soles keep you little ones feet warm in the fresh spring breeze. Marta is based in Poland and started our with only leggings and shoes but now you can also find: headbands, scarfs, bandanas, blankets and many more for children and mammas in her easy shop. Everything is made with love for fabric and sewing and with greatest care. So take a look at her shop.

Bows and birthdays
Some Little Smilemakers designs people just can not get enough of. But some more simplistic designs stay in the shadows of the hot sellers. Seeing finished projects of those designs rarely used for kids fashion is always fun.
This cute bow legging was made by a Russian costomer. Petite Princesse is a small kids fashion brand in Moskou and they sure know how to represent themselves. We love the quirky photoshoots and props in their images. Good job!

We have already seen a lot of awesome sewing projects made by Little Smilemakers fabric customers. We made a little selection out of the dozen photographs that were sent to us or that we were tagged in. Cute home decor items. Personalized bedding, scarfs, leggings and head bands. So much to choose from! If you'd like to be featured in on of our monthly "made with..." posts. Please send us your images.

Well hello summer // Pineapples and Ice Cream Cones // This year's hot selling fabric // Summer 2015

Preparations are in order! Just two more months and we can give a warm welcome to summer 2015 and customers are already creating entire new collections of cute summer fashion for themselves and their little ones. Our head is already celebrating summer but first a little feature about this year's hot selling Little Smilemakers Designs. And so many adorable items to choose from!

This year we have some oldies that have been hitting the charts like mad. Most popular designs for this years summer have been made a while ago, some designs are made years ago. We always try to make sure to be ahead and on trend. This year all fabric hot sellers are from our Little Smilemakers golden collection. Two most popular themes: Pineapples and ice cream cones. It doesn't get more summer than that!

Brazilian influences are introduced a few years ago, not only in home decor, they now also make their way into fashion more and more. Last year tropical florals were hot sellers. Green lush and tropical flowers. Now the botanical garden and cactus theme is one of our best selling designs on fabric for this year but tropical fruit is selling like mad too this year, maybe the fruits will top the cacti heaven? We'll see. But we sure love to see all these cute items you make with our designs.



The pineapple. We have seen fluorescent and ceramic pineapples pop up in home decor magazines for the last three years and finally one of our favorite designs is picked up. This hand drawn doodle pineapple, featured here, was drawn three years ago and part of a summer garden surface pattern collection then. Two years ago the design was put on the market as fabric and this year all mom's seem to wanna have this print for their little one's shorts, leggings, head bands and tops. Since it has been our spring hot seller we have decided to add five more color schemes to the summer collection, introducing gender neutral and boy versions. So take a look!

Have you seen the Twisted Knot shorts with pineapples and water melons? They are adorable. But our most popular design this spring is the colorful ice cream cone. We have created a few different versions to choose from. Have you seen the geometric cones? You can also mix and match these ice cream illustrations with other summer prints in the same color palette. Take a look in the shop and choose your favorite print for this summer and show us your creations!

Leggings with pineapples and ice cream that are featured here can be found in the Yay for Handmade shop. The Water Melon & Pineapple shorts are made by The Twisted Knot and can also be found online.

Photography via Fotolia

Arrow and Indians Cactus theme // Most popular boys fabric // Spring 2015

For a while we have been focusing on more gender neutral and boy designs. There is a fun trend going on in the sewing mommy world. We are so happy to see so many adorable large scales patterns on onesies and baby leggings. It is a trend that has started a year ago and we get so many requests for fun boys patterns that is was about time to post a little something about our most popular prints and designs for boys here in the Little Smilemakers blog.

Half of our work is trend watching and researching designs all over the world. One of our biggest inspirations is are tropical economies. Like Brazil and India. Countries that get influenced by there blooming economies. Prints are amazingly lush, colorful and green. And even though green has been one of the most difficult colors to sell in fabric, home decor and print, we see those exotic colors and natural themes finally influencing European countries too.

But there is another trend going on which has been something to work with. There is much more demand for gender neutral themes. Costumers are still very conscious about making and creating new but efficient products. Like onesies and baby leggings for both boys and girls. We will still add new gender neutral designs to our collection. But with summer ahead prepare for more popping colors too.

Usually we are ahead of the trend and it is always fun to see a theme finally take off after years of maturing. That is what happened with this year's fabric hot sellers too.
All through the winter we have sold an amazing amount of geometric and woodland themes. All indian summer themes were very popular. Customers in Australia were all falling for our summer pineapple designs. But our most popular print for boys this year is definitely the woodland animals and cactus theme. It is a design that was made a few years ago and matured over time with new details and color scheme's. We are happy to see this print take off. The designs featured here can all be ordered via Spoonflower. Check out all boy themes in our Little Smilemakers fabric shop.