A Surreal Halloween Garden: Story, Pattern, and the Personal Journey Behind My Award-Winning Design

Introduction: Embracing Halloween in a New Home

Autumn in the UK is often marked by a slow transition of colours—the golden leaves, chilly dusk air, and pumpkin lanterns staring at you from neighbours’ windows. For me, as a Hungarian who has made this island home, these changes have come with another, more personal evolution: the transformation of Halloween from a foreign curiosity into a heartfelt celebration. This journey has not just changed the way I see October but has also profoundly influenced my work as a designer. At the centre of this tale is my daughter, Lilly, whose joy at trick-or-treating first introduced me to the magic of Halloween and ultimately inspired my surreal Halloween garden pattern—a design that recently won a coveted award and has since flourished as a bestselling fabric on my Spoonflower shop.

This reflection is a mix of memories—holding Lilly's little hand as she rang doorbells in her first wobbly costume, watching her become more independent and less thrilled by the tradition, and figuring out a holiday that never really felt like mine. It's also about finding creative inspiration: how an imaginative, otherworldly garden took shape in my mind, blending Halloween's vibrant weirdness with nostalgia and change. As I dive into creating this design, I invite you to join me on a walk through memories, artistic processes, and the commercial journey that came after—one that reshaped my experience as both a parent and an artist living between different worlds.

Halloween: A Tradition With a Comedic Twist

Hungarian Beginnings: All Souls, Subtle Lanterns, and a Different Autumn Vibe

In Hungary, late October into November is like the quiet library of the calendar—shush, please! Halloween, with its loud costumes and plastic pumpkin overload, was as foreign to me as a vampire at a garlic festival. October 31st would drift by not with “trick-or-treat” echoes, but with the gentle glow of candles on family graves. It marked All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days—a time for serious face, not silly masks. For older Hungarians, this was and still is a moment for deep thoughts and whispering to ghosts, not dressing up like them and demanding candy from neighbours.

Pumpkin carving was like the unicorn of events—rare and mythical, showing up more in kids' craft classes or at expat gatherings than on the porch of a village home. The concept of knocking on doors in costume to score sweets was so bizarre that when we first took Lilly to “trick-or-treat,” I had to consult Google as if I were trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube blindfolded.

Inspiration: My Surreal Halloween Garden

Every Halloween, our tiny front yard becomes a stage for storytelling. Some neighbours opt for minimalist solutions—a pumpkin here, a spiderweb there—while others transform their lawns into haunted cemeteries or enchanted forests. Outdoor decor has taken on a new lease of life in the UK and I've found myself drawn to the surreal: not just spooky, but strange, magical and dreamlike.

This year, I channelled that spirit into a seamless pattern—a twilight Halloween garden where pumpkins twist into creatures, spiderwebs wrap around blooming roses, and glowing eyes peer out from the petals. “Surreal” to me means unsettling beauty: familiar shapes with a touch of mysticism. My palette combines deep violets, inky greens, and acid oranges and shadowy golds, inspired by British autumn gardens and European folk art.

I began the design with pencil sketches on quiet evenings with Lilly. Her ideas—invisible cats, twisted branches—added a whimsical touch to my vision. I created the pattern digitally in Procreate, layering the motifs into a seamless repeat that flows endlessly across fabrics and wallpapers.

This award-winning pattern has been a bestseller on my Spoonflower shop since July, and is now available at:

• Spoonflower

• Redbubble

• Zazzle

Whether you’re decorating, crafting, or sewing something special, I hope this surreal garden brings a little magic to your Halloween mood.

The Process of Creating a Seamless Pattern: Technique and Technology

Why Seamless Patterns? The Power and Challenge

A seamless pattern is designed so that the left and right, top and bottom edges align perfectly when repeated—making it ideal for fabric, wallpaper, and wrapping paper. This seamlessness is never accidental, especially when the motifs are intricate or whimsical. The payoff is huge: the viewer can’t tell where the pattern begins or ends, creating an immersive, continuous world.

My Workflow: Combining Hand-Drawn and Digital Editing

• Hand-drawn elements: Each motif begins as a pencil sketch, which I scan and clean up for digital use.

• Digitalizing: I redraw the elements in Procreate on my iPad to ensure crisp, scalable lines.

• Building the tile: For most designs, I use a 12" x 17" canvas. Motifs placed along the edges are mirrored on the opposite sides to ensure a perfect repeat.

• Testing for seamlessness: Before adding colour, I tile the design multiple times on a larger canvas to check for awkward overlaps, gaps, or visual hiccups. Only when the repeat flows smoothly do I move forward.

• Colour and texture: Using Procreate and Photoshop, I experiment with texture overlays, grain effects, and hand-painted washes to add depth. I also group elements carefully so I can easily test new colour palettes—either for creative variation or to meet a buyer’s request.
  

  

Final Tests and Presentation

I upload my designs to various mock-up platforms to visualize them on real products—pillows, curtains, clothing, and more. My personal favourite is Creatsy, which offers a wide range of free mockups. I also upload the designs to my Spoonflower store, where I can freely rescale and preview them across different fabric types and product formats. From my experience, I’ve found it best to upload each design in three different scales: full size, medium, and small. I also create 2–5 colourways per design to offer variety and increase appeal.

Vintage Surreal Halloween Garden

Entering the Spoonflower Halloween Design Challenge: A Surreal Garden in the Top 100

I entered my surreal Halloween garden pattern into the Spoonflower Design Challenge — and it placed 68th out of 1,130 entries, earning an official award-winner badge that I proudly display. This recognition was not just a number; it symbolized the culmination of my creative efforts and the passion I poured into my work. Each entry in the challenge represented a unique voice, and to be among the top 100 was a significant achievement that underscored the resonance of my artistic vision.

This experience transcended the mere pursuit of accolades or the allure of joining a global design circuit. For me, it was profoundly personal. I had a vivid vision of what my design could convey, a narrative I wanted to share, and I was eager to discover how it would connect with others. Spoonflower’s design challenges provide a rare platform where independent designers like myself can experiment with bold ideas and showcase them to a diverse audience. This particular challenge felt especially significant to me, as Halloween has always been a time of year that inspires creativity and evokes a sense of wonder and mystery.

The theme was Halloween, but rather than relying on traditional clichés and overused symbols, I sought to create something that captured the essence of eerie beauty. I aimed for surreal storytelling, weaving together motifs that felt alive and imbued with a sense of enchantment: twisted pumpkins that seemed to whisper secrets, ghostly florals that danced in the moonlight, and glowing eyes peeking out from the depths of petals, hinting at the magic lurking within. I dedicated countless hours to perfecting the repeat structure, ensuring that the design flowed seamlessly, while meticulously selecting a colour palette that evoked the haunting yet beautiful atmosphere I envisioned. The emotional tone of the pattern was equally important, as I wanted viewers to feel a sense of intrigue and delight when they encountered it. Seeing my design rise into the top 100 was not only a validation of my hard work but also a confirmation that my artistic voice resonated with others.

Since entering the challenge in July, this design has garnered significant attention and has been sold across multiple platforms, solidifying its place as one of my most popular patterns in my shops. Each sale is a reminder that there is an audience out there who appreciates the unique blend of creativity and storytelling that I strive to achieve in my work. The journey has been incredibly rewarding, and I look forward to continuing to explore the boundaries of design and art, inspired by the positive reception of my surreal Halloween garden.