Archives for December 2010

Ring in the New Year with Bubbles

December 28, 2010 ShellyStokes

The new year will be here in just a few short days, and I can’t think of a better time to introduce our new Bubbles DesignMagic™ Stencils. If these don’t remind you a bit of champagne, I’m not sure what will!

I started this design and then handed it off to Matthew, my graphic designer. I liked it, but it needed something, and I couldn’t quite seem to figure it out. When I got the design back from Matthew, my first reaction was “Wow – Swiss cheese on steroids!” I made up a sample, loved it, and sent it off to the stencil cutters. Now how cool is that!

The Value of Rituals in Art and Everyday Life

December 21, 2010 ShellyStokes

I’m going to share something totally different today. It’s not about making art, but it certainly applies to how we approach our daily tasks – from washing the dishes to making art. It’s a blog post from Peter Bregman at the Harvard Business Review. Peter posted this entry on his blog on Wednesday, December 8.

The Harvard Business Review is not on my usual reading list. I saw a reference to this post in a discussion on investing. If you are wondering what in the world a blogger from Harvard, an investing forum, and quilting have in common, I invite you to read on and discover how we can all use the power of rituals to be more focused on our work and produce better results. Here is Peter’s entire post. I’ll add my comments at the end.

Cold Weather Play Day – Paintstiks on Leather

December 14, 2010 ShellyStokes

I always chuckle when I see “bitterly cold” in the weather forecast, but that was about the best description for our weather last weekend. We dodged the snow storm that buried the Twin Cities, but it was colder than cold and the wind was howling. Definitely a good weekend to hibernate in my studio. I had an itch to try something new, so I pulled out the beautiful pieces of yummy colored suede that I acquired at the Houston Quilt Market. (Yes, one of the dangers of attending quilt market is the temptation to do a little shopping with the other vendors…)

Jayme Crowe and Megan Cook over at Bella Nonna Design Studio have introduced a new line of sewing leather. They sell it in 4″ squares and 8.5″ x 11″ pieces. Megan brought a few squares over to our booth at Houston to see if we could stencil designs on the leather with paintstiks. I’m happy to say the answer is most definitely yes! Here’s what I did this weekend.

50 is Nifty and Other Reflections

December 7, 2010 ShellyStokes

I recently turned 50 and one of my girlfriends did the most wonderful thing — she contacted the members of my small quilt group (the DIVAS), and a bunch of my friends and acquaintances from around the country and asked them to send me fiber art postcards. Fetching the mail was never so fun as […]

Celebrate All Year with Celebrate Stencils and Bosa Nova Bags

December 2, 2010 ShellyStokes

Celebrations aren’t just for the holidays. There are countless reasons to celebrate over the course of the year. We all have birthdays (whether we want them or not) and most of us have reason to celebrate weddings, anniversaries and other gift-giving events throughout the year.

To make a gift truly special, I like to wrap it up in a hand-made gift bag, preferably something that can be used more than once. And I really like the gift bag to match the occasion. Here’s an example I made from our Bosa Nova Bags pattern and the new Celebrate Stencils. And don’t forget about that new Lime green paintstik – I love that color!

Archives for December 2010

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