I’ve created eight new backgrounds this time, bringing the total number of patterns I’ve made up to (a pretty ridiculous) 250.

That background with the janitorial supplies pretty much illustrates my 2010. It was a rough year for me. Rough to a point of hilarity (Run out of a burning building? Check. Fend off a gypsy robbery? Check.)

In making the drama llama background I was able to draw entirely from my vast personal library of llama photos. No, seriously. I really have taken an unusually large number of llama-related photos.

Happy New Year’s, everybody! Here’s to 2011! Good riddance, 2010!

-Sarah

I’ve made some new printable gift tags for your Christmas presents. I crammed all the labels together this time so that it takes less effort to cut them out. There are two other sheets of labels also available on this site from previous years, but this particular sheet is muy especial.

Download the new PDF or See all available gift tags

This year the labels are también disponible en español because ¡porque no! Also I think the words for ‘To’ and ‘From’ are the same in Spanish and Portuguese, so that means they are also disponível em português. Oh yeah that’s right, I’m all international now. En serio.

Also I drew this wallpaper.
This really pessimistic wallpaper.

Happy Holidays and Feliz Navidad and all that. I will try to stop lapsing into Spanglish sin razón but I make no guarantees.
-Sarah

Well hello there.

Somebody wrote to me a while back and asked me to make a wallpaper with John Collier’s painting Priestess of Delphi, so I thought, yeah, sure, what the hell. So here’s a new wallpaper that ties in with two previous ones that I’ve made.

I’ve also made three new tiled backgrounds, all in blue. A shiny new penny to anyone who can tell me where the term "buffalo plaid" comes from.

I uploaded 16 iPad backgrounds on Flickr. They’re either new colorways of previous designs or all new creations. I know ya’ll are getting one of those iPads dealies for Christmas, so here’s to making it fabulous.

Today I worked the 3AM Black Friday shift. YOU’RE WELCOME, shoppers of America.

Don’t be tardy for the party.

-Sarah

Hi again. I’ve added nine new backgrounds.

To make this set I used drippy printer ink, tracing paper, the lace from an old tank-top and all manner of paper scraps lying around the house. I’m getting a little bored with making completely flat-looking designs using software. I’m trying to use a little more texture these days.

I’m not sure if I even like the look of the collage background, but collages are too fun to make. I used to get terribly arty with collages a few years back, doing all sorts of crazy crap to scraps of paper (Cooking oil! Plastic wrap! Dental floss!) with all manner of mixed results.

One thing I do not recommend is Wintergreen oil. The oil is a handy way to transfer images from a photocopy to another piece of paper. I’ve run across a few craft websites that suggest wintergreen transfers are a fun and easy project that will make super cool art that smells like tasty chewing gum. LIARS, I say! It’s not easy, fun, or aromatic. Wintergreen oil is a deadly toxic substance, and so potent in minuscule quantities that cracking every window in the world will never get rid of the dizzying stench. WORST. COLLAGE. EVER.
Now you know.

-Sarah

As promised, here are my last batch of stamps. These ones are from Cuba, from the year 1959 onward.

I’m going to add some new patterns soon, including a background featuring all these stamps crammed into one design.

I had a very bad day last week.
One day I am going to write some seriously awesome absurdist fiction based on all this crap.

-Sarah

I do not collect postage stamps. At least not on purpose.
I think I’m just drawn to pretty pictures (read: cheap art), which is maybe why I seem to have accumulated so many. I don’t really know what to do with these things, so I figured that maybe I should post them on the internet. Welcome to the over-sharing generation!

These images are not actual size. I arranged them to fit into squares and highlight the interesting ones.

Cuba (Pre-1959)

Mongolia

Bolivia

Mozambique

This is an art form likely to disappear in the coming years. Sending snail mail is already a dying practice (Saturday service is scheduled for the chopping block), and electronic postage makes sending tiny works of art nearly unnecessary. The US post office does still release fabulous designs (why did I not buy more cowboys??!!) though buying special stamps seems willfully nostalgic.

I’m breaking this post up into two parts. Next time I’ll post a batch from post-revolutionary Cuba. Take note of how the Cuban stamps before 1959 featured two American presidents- Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Once the cold war hits they’ll get replaced by Russian astronauts.

-Sarah

I am still alive! And I’ve added ten new images.

I made this batch of backgrounds using a bunch of different mediums: design software, collage, acrylic, cheap watercolor and imported Venetian ink. When I was done painting, I scanned the paper towel that I used to sop up the extra paint, so now that’s a background too.

I will try to update more often!
-Sarah

Yo soy el hombre de la selva,
perfume, cántico y amor,
pero encendido de relámpagos,
pero rugiendo de huracanes.
Yo soy un río de pie.
-Raúl Otero Reiche

There aren’t a huge number of tourists in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in the eastern part of Bolivia. The foreigners that do turn up don’t tend to arrive solo. So when I showed up alone and with my big dorky camera, I looked pretty conspicuous. It’s a little unnerving to unapologetically take photos of a big and busy city. I think when it comes to travel, we only see what we want to see. So I don’t know if these photos are reflective of anything. It’s entirely possible that I’ve captured the skin of the city and failed to reveal the heart.

This trip was a real comedy of errors. I lost my luggage! I got lost in the middle of the night! I got locked out! I got locked in (the door had to be broken with a kitchen knife)! I got called a heathen! I got computer viruses on my new camera! I almost got robbed by gypsies! And it was AWKWARD sometimes. But I lived, damn it. And I met some fantastic people along the way, people who were so kind that I could never possibly thank them properly.

A few more photos of Santa Cruz here.

Cioa,
Sarah

Hola.

There´s been a serious lack of updates around here lately, I know. But I really do have an excuse: I´ve (temporarily) run away to Bolivia.

I wrote that like it was a sane thing to do.

It seems in vogue now for single women to run off to exotic countries, and while I´d love for this to turn out like some Eat Pray Love fantasy trip of a lifetime, I´ve been hampered by a streak of bad luck. This trip does not make me want to take up yoga. It makes me want to take up smoking. I´ll be hanging out in Santa Cruz de la Sierra for one more week, then it´s back to the regularly scheduled programming of fabric designs and wacky embroideries. Please, wish me luck.

Ciao,
Sarita

Hiya.

I’ve added three new backgrounds, seen here…

…And two new wallpapers.

This one features the mythical jackalope, a taxidermist’s fusion of a rabbit with antlers that roams freely (and fictionally) in the Southwest. I was sort of fascinated with these things as a kid. And really, any excuse to draw a bunny.

And this one is a quote from Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. I am trying to read lots of the classic books that I’m told everyone reads in high school (though I don’t think anyone actually does anymore, because I definitely didn’t). As hard as I am trying with this, I had brief relapse from the scheduled reading plan when I picked up a copy of Twilight (and shut up you know it was awesome. It’s like eating candy for dinner).

Love,
Sarah