And probably for the first time ever I didn’t use Illustrator to make any of these. In fact they’re mostly made with office supplies and old taco napkins. Let no one accuse me of not be resourceful.

Happy Halloween!
-Sarah

Cheers,
Sarah

I’m working on an eleven-year-old laptop with a battery that scalds people and a CD-ROM drive so dysfunctional that I now use it to store small notes. Also my fancy new(ish) digital camera has sadly been broken, presumably after taking a beating on the mean streets of the Big Apple. So if these images look a little more primitive than normal, it’s because they are.

I am still technically on vacation. This is like one of those vacations where like, you know, you get a part-time job and pay rent and sign up for classes and get a library card…

Love,
Sarah

Many thanks to all the readers of this blog. I could not have made it this far without the encouragement and feedback I’ve received over the years.

-Sarah

Six new backgrounds are now up!

To make this group of patterns, I used acrylic paint, markers, a circle template, design software, and um… lipstick.

Enjoy!
-Sarah

Here are seven new backgrounds for you!
I don’t usually do colorways of the same design, but that floral just looked too good for me to decide. I took all the photos last week, during the height of allergy season, which involved a lot of sneezing. You see, I suffer for my art!

There’s also a pattern with the chorus from the song "California Here I Come." I don’t know if the song is under copyright or not. If I go by the date it was written, it’s public. If I go by the date it was first recorded, it may not be in the public domain until 2019. So it’s probably fine, but if not then I blame Sonny Bono for the mix-up.

I got ahold of a book of paper toys last week, and I thought, I COULD MAKE THESE MYSELF. And so I tried. Seven discarded printouts later, I had my own little creature- a smiling, goofy-looking house. Just print, cut, fold and glue to make your own paper friend. This fellow’s based on a fabric I’ve been selling for a while now.

There are about a million paper toys already available on the internet, but ummm… now there’s a million and one. I’m late for the paper toy party but at least I showed up!

Enjoy!
-Sarah

Here’s a new wallpaper for you- MAY YOU LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES. I’ve heard it’s an ancient Chinese curse (though no one seems to be able to attribute it to China). This thing took ages to make, and I exhausted all my resources for public domain images.

Also, five new backgrounds. Four of them have a nautical theme. Did you know that the Titanic sank 99 years ago today?

Also I made a background of the cutouts from the wallpaper, since there was some good color to be had.

In my next life I’ll be a minimalist who finds harmony in beige and taupe. They say taupe is very soothing.
-Sarah

I spent some time making faux-Rorschach inkblots on computer paper using acrylic paint. They don’t resemble their inspiration all that much because I couldn’t resist adding some blinding colors.

Have a good day!
-Sarah

One of the backgrounds is a collection of old advertisements found in the back of science magazines printed between 1917 and 1923. This background took an enormous amount of time to make and it involved me typing out full-scale promotions for such products as vacuum hats, canoe glue, and macerated wheat. And in the end I had to shrink the damn thing so much you can’t even read all the amazing things these terrible products promise. Oh well. It was not a golden age for advertising.

I am working on creating a new wallpaper, but the new image is so large that my poor old computer
can barely stand to open it. Lately I’ve been reading entire Russian novels while waiting for Photoshop to load (Mr. Karamazov, you old lecher!).

Until next time, please enjoy this image I made two years ago of Edward Norton selling ice cream. I believe at one point this image made sense to me but now for the life of me I have no idea what the hell I was thinking.

-Sarah

Here are seven new backgrounds for you:

According to Pantone, the hot new color for 2011 is ‘Honeysuckle’ (AKA pink). But I’m going with my own selection, seafoam green. Not because it’s a flattering color for fashion but because I’m a little sick of pink. Maybe pink should be used sparingly, much like habanero chilies or Botox injections. A little bit goes a long way.

Ciao for now!
-Sarah