How Acorn & Artisan’s Enamel Pins and Keychains Are Designed

This week, I finished the artwork for Acorn & Artisan’s upcoming fall collection of enamel pins and keychains.

Seeing all the finished designs together feels a little like meeting a very strange and extremely specific group of new friends. There are bookish creatures, familiar wildlife, colorful details, and plenty of personality packed into very small objects.

They are exactly the kind of things I love to create: playful accessories that make someone immediately think, “That one is so me.”

The new designs are now moving into production, which means there is still a little waiting between the finished artwork on my iPad and the moment I can finally hold the real pins and keychains in my hands.

While we wait, I wanted to share a look at how these tiny accessories begin, and why I think the smallest details can sometimes make ordinary life feel much more personal.

1. The Best Ideas Are Usually Oddly Specific

The most interesting designs rarely begin with a broad idea like “nature,” “books,” or “animals.”

They begin with something much more specific.

A raccoon who would rather be reading. An opossum curled around a book. An armadillo that somehow became a croissant. A familiar animal given one tiny detail that completely changes its personality. Those are the ideas I cannot stop thinking about.

When I start a new enamel pin or keychain design, I am not only asking whether it is cute. I am trying to figure out who the character is and why someone would feel connected to it.

Is it for the reader who always has another book in her bag?

The person who stops to look at every unusual bug?

The friend whose keys already carry more personality than most people’s entire outfits?

The more specific a design becomes, the more recognizable it feels. It may not be for everyone, but it becomes exactly right for someone.

That moment of recognition is one of my favorite parts of making art.

2. Tiny Accessories Can Carry a Lot of Personality

You do not need to replace everything you own to make everyday life feel more like you.

Sometimes, all it takes is one small addition.

An enamel pin can turn an ordinary jacket, tote bag, backpack, or corkboard into a tiny display of your interests. A colorful keychain can make the keys you misplace twice a day much easier to spot, and much more fun to carry.

These pieces may be small, but they can say quite a lot.

They can tell people you are a reader, bird lover, wildflower stopper, chicken enthusiast, tiny-joy collector, or certified silly goose before you ever say a word.

They also let you change things whenever the mood strikes. Move a pin from your jacket to your market bag. Add a new character to your backpack. Trade the practical keychain you have owned for ten years for one that actually makes you smile.

Personal style does not always need to be dramatic. It can live in the little details you interact with every day.

3. Give Yourself Something Small to Anticipate

One of the strangest parts of creating products is the gap between finishing the artwork and seeing the final object.

I can study the colors, adjust every line, check the size, and approve the production details, but there is still a moment when the design leaves my screen and becomes something I have to wait for.

That waiting can be difficult when I am excited about a collection.

It is also part of the magic.

Soon, the artwork that currently exists as digital files will become shiny enamel pins and sturdy keychains that can travel around on bags, jackets, keys, and backpacks.

That gives me something small and wonderful to look forward to.

The fall collection is officially taking shape, and I am already imagining these new characters heading out into the world and finding the people who understand their very particular energy.

Two Tiny Joys from This Week

Finishing the fall designs was a major studio moment, but two smaller things brought me just as much joy this week.

Finally Seeing a Spotted Bird Grasshopper

Outside the climbing gym, I spotted a spotted bird grasshopper - the real-life inspiration behind part of the upcoming Garden Bug Club bandana.

I already knew they were colorful, but seeing one in person made me stop in my tracks. Its colors were so bright that it almost looked illustrated.

Moments like that are one of the reasons nature continues to find its way into my artwork. There is always another strange creature, unexpected color combination, or tiny detail waiting to be noticed.

The Garden Bug Club bandana is coming soon, and now it carries the added joy of having met one of its inspirations in real life.

Turning Our Walls into Eila’s Summer Art Gallery

We also hung Eila’s summer artwork on the walls this week, and it may be my favorite gallery installation yet.

Her snail and cat both have slightly unhinged o.0 expressions, and seeing their faces every time I walk past brings me an unreasonable amount of joy.

There is something special about displaying children’s art as though it belongs, which, of course, it does.

It makes our home feel more personal, gives her creativity a place of importance, and fills an ordinary wall with something nobody else could have made.

Honestly, the snail may now be my favorite piece of art in the house.

One from the Artisan: The Fall Collection Is Taking Shape

This week’s biggest studio update is simple: the new fall enamel pin and keychain designs are finished.

Bringing a collection together requires more than drawing several individually cute things. Each design needs to feel distinct while still belonging beside the others. The colors need to work as a group, the shapes need to translate into enamel, and every tiny detail has to remain readable at a much smaller finished size.

Now that the artwork is complete, the collection is heading into production.

There are bookish creatures, wildlife, and a few wonderfully specific characters that I suspect some of you are going to recognize yourselves in immediately.

I am keeping the full reveal tucked away for a little longer, but I cannot wait to show you each finished piece.

The Acorn & Artisan fall pin and keychain launch is coming soon.

Small Things Can Still Feel Meaningful

I believe ordinary objects deserve personality.

Your keys can make you laugh. Your backpack can carry a tiny piece of art. Your jacket can reveal an oddly specific interest to the person standing behind you in line.

These are not essential objects in the strictest sense, but joy does not have to be essential to be worthwhile.

Sometimes, making life feel more like your own begins with choosing one small thing simply because it delights you.

And sometimes, that thing is a book-loving woodland creature made from colorful enamel.