A Girl's Favorites

This is Ruby Ritz's new fabric design, with all the things she holds nearest and dearest to her heart. Shoes, lipstick, perfume, a ladylike handbag, her grandmother's pearls, and of course, a good strong cup of coffee and her cell phone---which she could never be without! And that hard-to-find perfect moisturizer. We thought a soothing pastel palette would become her and calm her nerves. She has so much on her mind these days, and is stressed to the max....but aren't we all? Money, money, money...that's all anyone can think about. And you're either working too hard, or hardly working. I guess we should have put a TV on this design too---a nice HD flatscreen--as it seems that's how Ruby's spending a lot of her time. Watching TCM & HBO. Wondering how she's going to make it through the winter without Mad Men....Betty's outfits, Joan's snappy career gal wisdom, Sally's directness, Roger's cool, Don's flaws, and Peggy's resilience. And the spot on, perfect art direction--how about poolside 60s LA in the final episode? They even got that slightly faded polaroid color just right.

Photoshop Fun

I just learned this weekend how to put a design in repeat in PHOTOSHOP, and I think it's going to be a huge life changer! Now, these repeats, as you can see, are basic side-by-side style. I have to figure out how to do a half drop repeat, which will give a different look. But still, I can take a design and instantly turn it into a repeated one...so it's really exciting. And of course, I have Danika to help me if I get in a jam and am stuck. And my son David is a Photoshop pro as well. I have a lot of designs in my portfolio that are painted and finished, but not really in repeat...this way I can make them more fully developed, and maybe get them printed up. I found this website called SPOONFLOWER that I had read about last year, and forgot the name. You can upload designs to them, and they'll print them on cotton fabric. You can get samples for $5 a yard, or actually order yardage for $18 - $32 per. So, it sounds like it would be worth a try! I'm not sure what digital quality is like on fabric, if the colors are a rich, but I definitely want to look into it.