Behind the Scenes of My Moonlit Grove Mini Collection
Anastasiia MarmyzovaWhen the Kinder Cloth Diapers art call was announced, I was so excited, as this is exactly the opportunity I've been dreaming about for a while. I had plenty of time to work on it, or so I thought. Until Spoonflower Design challenges, my day job and mom responsibilities took over and I felt that familiar sinking feeling - I procrastinated on this one and now I had neither the time nor the bandwidth. Creating something entirely new from scratch felt impossible, and for about two minutes, I genuinely considered just skipping it.
But then I reminded myself that I'd been quietly dreaming of seeing my patterns on kids products again. I'd even pitched some of my older designs to cloth diaper and other baby product companies last year. Nothing came of it at the time and that's totally ok by the way.
So back to this art call... After a little rush of panic and contemplating if I should skip it or not, I realised I needed to! I wasn't starting from zero. The dream was already there. The designs were already there. All I needed was the right way in.
In this post, I want to take you behind the scenes of my watercolor pattern design process — specifically, how Moonlit Grove came together, what I wanted it to feel like, and what it taught me about trusting the work you've already done.
When the palette tells you something
I already had some designs meant specifically for baby products.
This one was my very first licensed pattern. It was quite popular in 2021 and I thought I could give it another life. I started where I always start: doing research. I went to the Kinder Cloth Diapers website to see what their style is like, what are their best sellers and what their color palette looks like.
The brief was pretty broad, but it included fairies, insects, household pets and visually calm patterns/color palette. The original pattern already had fairies and winged bunnies. So I had my main elements right there. Now I needed a color story. My first instinct was something earthy — soft greens and beiges, the kind of palette that feels like a daytime forest walk. Grounded. Gentle. Safe.
But when I looked at it, something felt off. Not wrong, exactly. Just not alive. Like the collection was sitting down when it wanted to stand up. So I let myself try something else: teals, blues and a tiny bit of beige, held in the background like a memory of warmth. And it clicked!
The design should be not a daytime forest, but a night one! Where fairies drift between moths and stars. Where bunnies sit very still among botanical leaves, as if they know something you don't. Where the light comes not from the sun, but from the quiet spaces between things.
I think about this a lot when I'm designing: the way a palette isn't just aesthetic, it's emotional. The earthy version was safe. The moonlit version was true.
The feeling I wanted to evoke
This pattern is designed around a very specific feeling.
It's that feeling of stepping outside at night and being surprised by how beautiful it is. The quiet. The stillness. The sense that something magical could be just at the edge of the light... and that's ok, because it's friendly magic, not frightening magic.
For a baby product, I wanted that to mean: safety and wonder at once. A world where the night isn't something to be afraid of. Where your smallest person can be wrapped in something that asks them, gently, to believe in fairies and bunnies who know secrets. Where the stars aren't just decoration, they're company, offering you a little bit of warmth and miracle ✨
That feeling of calm enchantment is what I come back to again and again in my work. It's what I want people to carry with them, even when they're not consciously thinking about it.
The collection: four patterns, one world
Moonlit Grove is a four-pattern mini collection, designed to work together across a range of products — or stand alone, depending on what you need.
Moonlit Whispers — The hero print. Delicate fairy figures and soft moths drift across a deep teal background, with scattered star points and trailing botanicals. Watercolour-style, with that slightly dreamy softness that makes you look twice.
Bunny Grove — A coordinating print with gentle bunnies nestled among botanical branches on a lighter dusty blue. Quieter energy, still full of magic. The kind of print that works beautifully in repeating patterns across softer surfaces.
Lunar Vines — A leaf-and-branch coordinate in a mid-tone blue, designed to ground the collection and work across smaller surface areas or as a tonal backing.
Star Garland — A simple, dreamy scatter of warm-toned stars on deep navy. The most versatile of the four (as blenders usually are), works beautifully as a lining, an accent, or completely on its own.
All four patterns share the same tonal palette and were designed to mix, match, and coordinate naturally.
Available for non-exclusive licensing
This collection is available for non-exclusive licensing, which means multiple brands or products can carry it, and it's available right now.
Moonlit Grove would be a natural fit for:
- Reusable cloth diapers and baby accessories
- Children's bedding, nursery textiles, and cot sheets
- Clothing and soft goods for babies and toddlers
- Stationery, gift wrap, greeting cards, and paper goods
- Packaging with a soft, magical, or nature-inspired direction
If you're a product maker or brand and you'd like to know more about licensing this collection, I'd love to hear from you. Contact me through the form on this website or send me an email at info@staciemar.com.
The funny thing about Moonlit Grove is that I didn't create it for the art call, I created it with it, using work that already existed, seen from a slightly different angle. I shifted a palette, trusted what felt true, and I showed up with something that already lived in my world, rather than trying to manufacture something new from nothing.
I think that's what it means to build an art business slowly. It's not about having a brand-new perfect thing for every opportunity. It's about knowing what's already there, and trusting it's enough to walk through the door with.
⭒ ⭒ ⭒
I'd love to know: have you ever almost skipped an opportunity and then found something meaningful waiting on the other side? Tell me in the comments.
⭒ ⭒ ⭒
