asking for trouble

New Cookie Cute

cookie cute

I’ve been promising a redesign of my Cookie Cute gift wrap since I sold the last sheets at Christmas, and I finally had time to work on it this weekend. I thought I’d share a bit of the process for anyone who’s interested.

cookie cute old

Here’s the original design. The scale was too big, it didn’t have a proper repeat that I could use for other products and I wanted to take out the animals.

cookie cute 1

This is my first attempt. I ended up just keeping the gingerbread boy and girl (and a few bitten cookies randomly dotted about for a surprise) plus the heart and star. I made the repeat a simple stripe with an extra zig zag for interest, plus the striped background changed colour a bit. I was initially happy with this, but when I printed it out I realised everything was too crammed together.

cookie cute both

I made the hearts and stars smaller, which made a huge difference, as you can see. Much better!

cookie cute comparison

Being me, I now decided I wanted to make some changes to the actual characters. I should really have done this before I spent ages creating a repeating pattern, but that’s why my business name is Asking For Trouble. Can you spot the differences? The new ones are at the top and the old ones at the bottom. This sort of refining of characters goes on a lot with me as I either learn new tricks, or fix things I didn’t notice in the initial excitement of creating something new. For example, the icing outlines in the originals are in a very light grey instead of white, because I must have clicked on the wrong colour!

cookie-cute-3

And here’s the finished design! Now I just need to send it to the printers, wait a few weeks and hope it all prints as expected. What do you think?

marceline

Hello! I’m Marceline Smith, the designer and owner of Asking For Trouble. I create illustrated stationery, accessories and gifts using my cute characters inspired by Japanese kawaii. This is my business and personal blog where I write about my creative doings, inspirations, travels, Japan trips and daily life. Read more »


Browse the archives

Buy my stuff

other things I Do

COPYRIGHT

All text, photos and illustrations are © Marceline Smith 2007-2024 unless credited otherwise. You may repost my images with full credit and link. However, do not reproduce full posts without my permission or use my images or writing for commercial purposes. Thank you!

DISCLAIMER

All opinions are my own and I am not compensated or sponsored for writing about any products or services featured unless stated in the post. Links to shops and websites may be affiliate links – I receive a small commission from your orders at no cost to you, which helps me fund this site. I do not accept advertising.