A very wise person once said, “It’s not easy being green.” OK, so it was a Muppet. But Muppets are people too. This week Spoonflower assigned a frog theme. Right off the bat, I decided I did not want to do green.

Now I love green. Celadon, apple, lime, sea green, teal, and of course, emerald. I prefer green apples, lime jello, limeade and green gummy life savers.  I love green vegetables, including Brussels sprouts. In my dream house, there will be shades of green on the walls, in the linens and of course, in the garden. Frogs are green and lily pads are green.

I thought it would be more of a challenge to take green out of the equation.

I painted a few small swatches, to try to help me decide what color family to use. I planned to paint some intricate designs like those I have seen on real frogs. I scanned the swatches to see how the colors looked, and just for fun I tried one on the frog silhouette I had. BAM! WHOA! COOL!

So that was that. I liked it. The splotchy messy colors looked like the camouflage a frog has. I did not have an end use in mind when I worked the design. The colors make me think of New Mexico. Bright skirts and warm woolly blankets. Turquoise and chili peppers. And everyone who knows me, knows I love GREEN chili.

Voting started today, and ends on Tuesday. The prize for the weekly challenges is $100 Spoonflower dollars. This can be used to buy fabric, or to order swatches of your designs. Before any fabric can be put up for sale, a swatch must be printed. Thanks to all who take the time to vote!

Original design

Leapers product mock-ups