One of my favorite things to do in Illustrator is create patterns. Unfortunately, I don’t do it enough. Last year, I made one or two batches of new patterns during the whole year! So when Melanie asked me if I would want to join her in her new year’s goal of making a new pattern every day in 2013 (remember Melanie’s great post about goals?) I jumped at the chance! I have found that making my pattern every day has become one of the most enjoyable parts of my day. I usually cozy up to the computer late in the evening after the kids are in bed and create my pattern for the next day.

If you’d like to see what we are doing, you can see my daily posts over at my blog, or Melanie’s daily posts over at hers!

We also post our patterns every day on instagram. Melanie is @fifthandhazel and I am @almaloveland, and we use the hashtag #365patterns. We welcome anyone to join us. Several of my students already have, and if you are looking to practice your own pattern making skills, this is a great way to create a deadline for yourself. Don’t feel like you have to do one every day. If you can do one once a week or once a month, that’s fantastic! Join us!

For the question of what to do with all the patterns? Well right now I’m happy about building up a body of work, exploring a lot of different styles, and focusing on quantity without necessarily worrying about the quantity or perfection of my work. I believe that my work will be better because I am giving myself the freedom to explore and experiment without the pressure of creating something perfect every day.

The other happy part is that it gives me a lot of artwork that I’m free to do whatever I like with! So today, I’d like to share some free printable note cards with you, since this is what I typically like to create for myself!