Worktable Wednesday:Designing "The Look" Of My PDF's

I made an announcement last week that I'm going to be designing and selling PDF patterns. A lot of work goes into doing that and the Free patterns that I offer to you my blog readers and my email subscribers, so I thought I'd document the process. It's given me a whole new respect for designers who do this.

So to begin with I needed to design "the look" of my patterns. Yes that's a thing and I wanted a clean look that would work with all my patterns and be identifiable as a Sassy Packrat Studios Pattern.

I first picked the type font I'd use for my headers, which are the name of the pattern, and all titles, like Instructions, supplies etc. I chose the font I use in my logo, which I really love and made it a blue color that also come from my logo.

  All the secondary text will be in a medium gray color and the important copyright text will be in black. The red box above is where the beauty shot of the finished plush piece will go. I'm considering adding a few lines of a story about the plush character on this page. I also will add some snowflake graphics for this particular PDF.

  This second page is an introduction about making this piece and supplies/tools. I'm probably going to make this 2 pages with the supplies and tools on it's own page. There will be photos of the supplies and tools needed plus a written out list.

 The sewing instruction pages will have photos, graphics and written text explaining each step. All pages except the cover page will be numbered.

 This is an original design I used to make that was pretty popular, so I've chosen it for my first selling pattern. I'm re-designing it and it will look somewhat different than this, but it's a cute and easy to make pattern that doesn't require a lot of skill and will turn out well.

My goal is to have this pattern ready my the end of April. I'd love to have some pattern testers, is anyone interested? 

Here are the details: You get the pattern FREE to try, be willing to send me 3 photos of your finished piece and feedback on the pattern and process. After I've made tweaks I'll send you the final pattern for FREE as compensation for testing the pattern. I'll also keep you on my list for future testing. Sound good? Then email me with your interest. I'm Jennifer, sassypackrat(at)hotmail(dot)com. Thanks!

Friday Finds: For The Love Of Harry Potter

I was sitting here in my studio, looking out into the hall at the bookcase that holds all my favorite books, including the Harry Potter ones, and remembering that the Harry Potter books were the first books my son and I really bonded together with. I found the very first book in a little paper order thing they send home from school where you could buy books and thought this looks good. We read it together (with his sister) and kept on reading more and more (this was before HP was big here in the States). 

Then the movies started coming out and my son preferred to see the movie instead of reading the books, which made me kind of sad, but he was still into to Harry, so we shared the love through the movies. I hope one day he'll share that love with his own son.

So I thought today's finds should be Potter related since that's what's on my mind.

  Anders Attic

Absolutely my most favorite quote from the book. It still makes me tear up, especially after Alan Rickman's death.

Silly Lunastorta 

Amazing character bookmarks. I'm so in love with these!

Lullaby For Fox

Adorable little Mandrake inspired pin. No shrieking is going on while you are wearing this, just super adorable sweetness.

 

Eye Charts

One of my favorite Dumbledore quotes on a great colorful print.

 Super Textile

This is one of the best Harry Potter dolls I've seen in the handmade world.

 Dreamscape Ink

Well this mug pretty much says it all. I will ALWAYS love Harry Potter!

I hope you enjoyed these picks as much as I enjoyed finding them!

Worktable Wednesday: A Change In Direction and Progress On Some Dolls

I've made a decision about my business, I'm going to become a mostly pattern based business. This means you lucky people will be able to make your very own Sassy Packrat Creations! I will probably need pattern testers to try out some of them and get feedback, so be on the look out for that announcement if you are interested.

This will be a slow process and I'll still show wips and for sale work that I'm doing. I'm hoping once I have things all set up I will have more freedom to join art challenges and do more commissioned work. Like I said I'll be doing this slowly over time so there will always be something to see going on here. I'll also continue to offer FREE patterns here.

 Now on to what's on the worktable today.

This doll is coming along. I love this cherry blossom fabric. Arms, hair, shoes and accessories need to be made.

Here's the second girl on my worktable. I have the most amount of progress done on this pretty girl. Tunic, leggings and an over vest.

 Working on some embroidery for the vest.

 I love to add flowers on anything I can.

 I even put the dreaded french knots on it. This time they came out really well, whew!

 Done, now she just needs shoes and hair. This doll is getting a modern Asian look.

 Sorry these last pics are so yellow, it's crappy and rainy here. Closer view of the vest.

Friday Finds: Super Adorable Cat Plushies

Wednesday would have been my buddy Binks' 18th birthday so in his honor I'm sharing adorable cat plushies with you today.

 Dodobob

My first find is this sweet kitty. He's so full of character and looks like a cuddlier. 

Lavender Stories 

Such an adorable cartoon type creature. I just love that she's a non cat color pink. Who can resist a polka dot nose and heart?

 MosMea

A personalized drawing of your cat made into a plush. A touching way to honor a special feline friend.

 Shebbo Designs

This one is my favorite find of the day. It reminds me so much of my Binks. They do dog portraits too, this shop is worth checking out.

Pikelet Workshop

I love this one of a kind rag doll type kitty. It has such fun fabric combinations and makes me smile.

 Tinytot Atelier

Last but not least my love of felt dolls had me choosing this charming gray felt kitty doll.

I hope you enjoyed my finds today. As always if there is a theme you'd like to see me find, let me know. Also if you would like me to feature your art please contact me at sassypackrat(at)hotmail(dot)com.

Worktable Wednesday: Finishing Up Some Dolls and Another FREE Pattern Offer

I spent an hour digging through various bins of finished and unfinished projects looking for these dolls this morning. I'm deciding on clothes, shoes and hair. These should be ready for my next product lunch in April (date TBA).

Aren't they a lovely ethnic rainbow? I love making dolls of and for all people.

 Here's a custom set I made a while back of a mom and her little boy.

I hope you got a chance to see the FREE Easter pattern I posted on Monday. I also made a different FREE pattern for my email subscribers too.

They received a PDF of a double sided ornament and I think it's so cute! You can get this FREE pattern by just signing up for my email.

I'm currently working on the next pattern, it's for Earth Day in April. If you have any ideas for a pattern you'd like to see me make, just leave a comment!