painted pattern pumpkins

I couldn't resist transforming a few more pumpkins into something unique and chic to use for fall decor around our home. As I am sure most of you know by now that I am very inspired by bold patterns and I thought it would be fun to paint some of my favorites on the surface of some small pumpkins.

I love ikat print and pattern and painted the entire pumpkin white and then added the ikat pattern over the top.

I love suzani textiles and decided to paint a suzani inspired pattern.

And I couldn't resist painting a Missoni inspired pumpkin!

The three pumpkins look GREAT together and are the perfect alternative to a traditional carved or painted pumpkin!

a date with my sweetie

My husband and I have been trying to keep busy with the hope of distracting ourselves from the impatience, excitement and restlessness that we both seem to be experiencing in these last days before the baby arrives. This weekend we occupied ourselves with two of our favorite past times- eating and roaming around our favorite spots taking pictures together.

fall leaves

autumn is in the air

Autumn has officially arrived- on my palette and in my sketchbook.

sketchbook pumpkins

It's no secret that sketching is a big part of my daily creative routine and this year I decided that I would use that concept in my fall pumpkin decorating. I am not big on traditional jack o' lanterns and I always like to find unique ways to decorate pumpkins and gourds.

I started with a few pumpkins

and using permanent markers, I began to fill the surface with sketched leaves.

Once the surface was filled with leaves I used white acrylic paint and painted around the leaves so the leaves would pop in orange. While the paint was wet I scratched into the surface to add texture.

Last, I painted the stem white and touched up the edges of the leaves with more dark lines.

I even decorated a larger pumpkin and reversed the color- white leaves and orange background.

They are oh so pretty and perfect for the center of our dining room table!

updates from the studio

38 weeks pregnant in the studio

I am still pregnant over here- in fact I am actually two weeks away from my due date and still kickin' and before things get crazy I have a few updates that I wanted to share.

First- while I will be having a baby any day now- I have spent months preparing all kinds of blog posts and inspiration to share and have even invited a handful of my creative friends to share some projects and inspiration so there will be no time away from the blog- instead I have lots of fun stuff coming in the weeks and month ahead.

My creative biz will also be in full operation thanks to lots of planning and tons of prep on my part and help from my wonderful family. The shop will still be open and online classes available for registration at any time.

Speaking of the shop- I have a number of new things coming in the weeks and months ahead and first is a couple of new sets of notecards- Sweet Treats and Sugar Skulls.

And a fall leaves paper kit that is PERFECT for creating a wreath like I did in this tutorial last fall.

Jenny Doh has a new book coming soon called Creative Pilgrimage and I am honored to be a part of an amazing group of artists featured in the book. Here is a peek into the book-

My new book Sew Wild is officially out there and actually being read (this always gets me excited!!) and I am loving the wonderful feedback that I have been receiving!

I created a flickr group for Sew Wild where you can upload photos and share your own projects and techniques inspired by the book here.

I have a number of really exciting things to share on the creative front very soon that will be happening this year so stay tuned!