I seem to have my best ideas at the most inopportune moments, driving in the car, engaged while playing with our son, in the middle of cooking dinner. I try and combat this by simply having something to write my ideas down on where ever I am. It’s easier at home because I can often grab a piece of paper and jot down an idea right then, but when I’m out it is a little harder. I find that I use the notepad on my phone to keep track of a lot of brilliant ideas (admittedly there are also many not so brilliant ideas on there too!)
Here is a quick peek at how my second game I’ll be listing in the next few days was born.
It all started because I wanted to add a little something as a thank you for a friend who came to the rescue when I need to borrow a bike for the Seattle Danskin Triathlon two years ago and who has graciously let me keep it and finally buy it off her. Her little girl is the cutest spit fire around. While I was writing a thank you note to go along with the check for the bike I felt inspired by the front of the thank you card and quickly sat down to sketch some inked flowers.
Her daughter will be entering K this September and has been attending pre-school so I knew she would be beyond alphabet matching. In my idea notebook I’d written down word families as one of the next items I wanted to make and thought the flowers would be perfect for that. I also had purchased some wooden rounds from another Etsy seller at https://www.etsy.com/people/Sneezer222 that would make perfect flower petal matches for practicing word families.
I inked out the final copy and let loose with my colored pencils. I wanted it to have a soft feel and felt like paint which is often my normal go to was too rich and deep for the look I hand in mind.
My favorite part the bee flying straight at you! I often play with the direction an object is facing and find that I really love a non-traditional angle. I once completed an assignment in my college teaching art to elementary students class by drawing an elephant from the back. I was the only person in my class that did not have an elephant shown from the side. Personally I loved it. I also love the purple flower but then again purple is my favorite color. I still need to flush out the instruction card and playing pieces before my game is complete.
