Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 02:41PM 
Happy Spring morning to you!
Awesome announcement: Shapes & Colors Textiles will be selling handmade home decor & accessories in the Bazaar Bizarre Pavillion at Maker Faire Bay Area - May 18 & 19, 2013 !
More on this, soon. Now to sew up a hundred pillow covers then make some late breakfast.
XO, Samantha
Monday, March 18, 2013 at 03:34PM 
Hello Retailers and amazing shops,
Incase you read my blog, I just wanted to let everyone know that I am definitely working on finishing up my line sheet this week and it will be in your inboxes very, very soon!
Thanks to everyone for supporting my shop: customers and retailers - big and small!
Best,
Samantha
Monday, February 4, 2013 at 05:04PM 
Holy moley - I can't believe it's been two years since my little lover was born! We had a very wonderful Saturday celebrating his special day. There was the park, a big 'ol vegan cake (and low-sugar!), lots of treats, cousins, friends, giggles, balloons, and love. As a parent, I felt super proud that my son has grown so much - year two was spent learning to walk, talk, eat on his own, communicate and grow. Yay Nico! We love you!
Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 02:44PM
I have a new color obsession: purple-pink. A slightly Violety-Pink that works amazing with other fave colors Tomato Red, Citrus Green & Marigold Yellow. Do you have a current color obsession?
Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 03:36PM
January has been a great start to 2013. A few weekends ago, my boys & I went up to Point Arena in Mendicino County for a little bit of post-holiday R&R. It was a pretty relaxing weekend (well, as relaxing as you can get with a toddler in tow), and a welcome break from thinking about what to do next. I love spending time in a place without cell phone reception. There are no excuses to not enjoy the moment. The following week I returned to the drawing table refreshed and ready to start designing.
This year I am getting back to my roots and creating patterns with pen, paper, glue & tape. There is something so honest about hand patterened textile design. A direct connection from my brain to my hand to the paper. In college, they taught us to draw every line with confidence - not just place it on the paper and erase. It's been fun and challanging getting back to that, and I feel it's a really important step in the process of growing as a designer. This years collection is going to awesome.
Thursday, January 3, 2013 at 05:16PM 
You know what I love about what I do? Everything.
Take this project for example - designing and creating a one of a kind duvet cover & pillow set for a friend turned client, Jason. He has a favorite color and that is Golden Red Yellow (or PMS 123), which of course is a great color and I couldn't be happier that he picked such a sunny hue. After months of trying to figure out space issues, printing issues, issue issues - I finally figured out a good way to block print 6 yard of fabric. That has been my past two days of focus. All that is left now is to sew 'em up and heat set the ink to the fabric. Once this project is completed, we're planning on doing a little photo shoot in Jason's San Fransisco apartment (btw, he has really great taste and I cant wait!). For now, here are some process shots of printing and drying. More block printing projects to come! Yay!
Monday, December 17, 2012 at 05:03PM 
The Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Show was a success! I just want to THANK EVERYONE SO MUCH for coming to the show and buying me out of all my goods! Seriously, you guys are awesome and I'm so HAPPY you like the things I make! It was a pretty crazy 3 weeks of craft fair holiday goodness, but the hard work payed off and I learned a whole lot (like, dont plan 3 consecutive shows without production help!). My main man Markandeya built me those really cool boxes (actually, he builds me everything for the booth - am I a lucky girl or what!), and helped out so much - wow is he great. You may have met Vicky at some of the shows - a super friend who kept me company while M was taking a much needed break. THANKS YOU GUYS!!
So now I take sometime to rest (being sick helps), catch up with my family for the holidays and drink a lot of tea. Can't wait to visit my family on the Central Coast and sip champagne by the fire. Also can't wait to give everyone the gifts we made them - they turned out sooo cute (Thanks Sunset Magazine!).
I wish the Happiest of Holidays to you and yours!
XOXO Samantha
Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 02:55PM 
A big THANK YOU to everyone to made it all the way over to Bayview for the Holiday Indie-mart at Speakeasy Brewery in San Francisco! We had a great time, met a lot of cool folks and did a bit of tasty beer drinkin'.
See ya Next week at the Renegade Craft Fair at San Francisco's Concourse Exhibition Center!
XO
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 12:24AM 
This past Thanksgiving, I made a last minute decision to scrap the usual apple pie and do things a little differently. I made vegan donuts! This recipe is originally from VeganYumYum, but I added some variations and alternative ingredients. You can find donut pans at shops like Target or Williams-Sonoma. Trust me, once you see how easy and delicious these are - you will think twice the next time you reach for that pie recipe ;)
Baked Vegan Donuts
Makes 6 Donuts (20 mini donuts)
Dry Ingredients:
Wet Ingredients:
Preheat oven to 400º F (350º F for mini)
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients with a whisk to mix thoroughly. Combine wet ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium low heat and mix until earth balance is melted. This mixture should NOT get too hot, you should be able to stick your finger in the mixture. It should feel slightly warm. If you burn yourself, 1) it’s not my fault! and 2) it’s too hot for the dough!
Add wet to dry and mix until just combined. It should form a very soft dough.
Optional: If you'd like to make these into 'vanilla bean' donuts, gently scrape the vanilla bean pod and add to wet mixture. for 'chocolate spice' donuts, add cocoa & ginger to the dry mixture)
Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out dough into your ungreased nonstick mini-donut pan. Smooth out the top of the dough with your fingers, this will make for more even, prettier donuts, but isn’t crucial.
Bake for 12 minutes. They should not be browned on top, but a tester will come out clean. Invert hot pan over a cutting board or cooling rack to release donuts. Allow to cool completely before decorating.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 08:30PM 
(L to R, Top to Bottom : 1. south wall of booth display - lots of new bags! 2. fold-over purse - a best seller! 3. Most handsome booth helper, hands down ;) 4. stack of OOAK wallets 5. pillows on display 6. messenger tote - available soon! 7. "sunset rainbow" infinity scarf - another best seller last weekend! 8. fold-over clutch 9. morning of the show)
Hello! I would like to thank everyone who made it out to the Bazaar Bizarre Holiday Craft Faire this weekend. There was a great selection of handmade, really nice people, and even though it was raining up a storm - the clouds parted for a few lovely hours of sunshine. My good friend Vicky came and helped out on Sunday (thanks Vicky!), which was nice because it's always fun to run a booth with her. Also, big mega thank you to Markandeya for building me beautiful display props & being all around awesome. It means a lot to be supported be such special people.
Next up: Indie Mart! @ the Speakeasy Brewery / 1195 Evans Ave, SF - it's FREE to attend and there's going be some really good beer & food trucks!
See ya there! XO
(photos taken with instagram: @shapesandcolors)