Etsy Shop Open!

Guys, I finally opened my shop yesterday! Woohoo!

katiepeastudio.etsy.com

It's not "perfect" but I'm trying to go with the flow of things not being perfect and putting it out there anyway. I can't wait to start building it up. And I got my first sale yesterday! It may or may not have been from my kindergarten teacher but a first sale's a first sale!

Full disclosure, I was starting to feel sick the day before but I was still scrambling to get all my photography and listings done and I may have over-exerted myself. But I was so determined to just get it out there! And now I'm super-sick. But it was worth it. :)

Now my oversized mug of tea and I are going to make our way to bed now. Later!

How I Make Patterns

I made this pattern a couple of weeks ago and I thought I'd walk you through my pattern-making process a bit! It's not a full-blown tutorial as I tend to forget to document my progress, but more of an overview.

This YoutTube tutorial by Beret Nice is a very good reference on how to make patterns by hand (minus the whole stitch-it-together-on-your-phone thing which is actually really cool!). It's very close to how I do mine.

Also want to note that my process is a bit tedious and roundabout and you might think why is she doing it this way?! but I've accepted that it's the way I like to work best. If you have any other tips please share!

After the drawing is complete

First I start with a pencil drawing on a square. It's kind of tricky to explain but the YouTube tutorial mentioned above explains/shows this better than I do here. Before I cut it up like in the picture I start with the square (in this case 5x5") and draw all of my elements in the middle of the square. You can make it as big as you like as long as you don't touch the edges.

Then, you have to muster up the courage to cut through the work you've been doing the past hour and slice the drawing into four equal parts. Then you do a little dance with the paper (metaphorically) and switch the left pieces with the right and then the top pieces with the bottom. Carefully flip all of the pieces over and tap them together on the back.

Flip the paper back over and fill in the middle with more art. And now you technically have a repeating pattern square! Go ahead and scan it in.

Note: I inked some of the more delicate lines of the pattern so the showed up better, really for my own reference.

I bring it into Photoshop and hit Edit -> Definite Pattern. I fill in the pattern in a new document. Now, it's not perfect, but you can see it definitely repeats.

So THEN I take the original square and bring it into Illustrator where I trace and color the elements and add a little texture. I then take those vector images and make a pattern in Illustrator similarly to how this person does it.

Told you my process was a little tedious, but it works for me! Sorry it's so glossed over. Next time, I'll do a much more detailed tutorial on how I make my patterns but I thought it might be good for now to do an overview. :) Happy patterning!

Allison's Wonderland Co.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of doing some lettering for my friend Allie's Etsy shop Allison's Wonderland Co. She sells super adorable hand-stitched crocheted goods and you should all go check it out! She wanted a bit of a modern refresh in the calligraphy and I thought something a little bold and bouncy would be perfect for it.

This looks like a hot mess but I do the lettering several SEVERAL times over to get the right one. I'll test out a few different brush pens and do some variations on the letters.

When I find the right one, I scan and bring it into Illustrator and then trace over it with the pen tool, adjusting here and there. While I usually love the little nuances and texture of brush lettering, I thought it would be best if it was nice and clean, especially for a logo.