If you hang around Cedar Canyon for more than a day or two, you’ll quickly learn that I am a huge fan of “sticky” tools. In particular, no slip mats have been on my must-have list since I published Paintstiks on Fabric back in 2005. For the last 10+ years, I’ve been singing the praises […]
Tame a Busy Background with a Sheer Paintstik Overlay
As I’ve been debating the fate of my Whole Cloth Collage project, my friends encouraged me to save the background, but find a way to tone it down. Of course! All it needs is an overlay. And for me, that means a Sheer Paintstik Overlay! I could “see” how this would work in my head, […]
Try A Beaded Background
When I decided not to finish the entire Paint, Stitch, Bead project I was working on last summer, I had every intention of finishing up two sections and having them framed. That was only (ahem) five or six months ago, so it was time to add a beaded background and git ‘er done! The […]
The Magic of One Decision
Can I ask a personal question? Do you have a stubborn streak in you? Do the people around you say “uh-oh” when you get That Look in your eyes? If you’re wondering what in the world a stubborn streak has to do with fabric art, hang in there with me. A Stubborn Streak and […]
Design Magic Art: What will you make?
Last week, someone interested in the new Design Magic online course sent a couple of great questions. The writer said something to the effect of “Well, this design thing is easy for you – you wrote the book! What about us ‘non-designers’ out here?” She then asked, “what will we do with our fabric?” First […]
Let’s Make Design Magic!
Are you ready for a new fabric art adventure? Are you ready to banish the “I can’t find the right fabric” blues? Then step right up, and let’s make some Design Magic! Before we jump into any of the details, let me say this: The Design Magic course will turn you into a designer – […]
Dream or Goal?
Can I ask a question? Are you a Dreamer or a Doer? And that special thing on your wish/to-do list… Is that a Dream or a Goal? I’ve learned a whole lot about this Dream or Goal thing over the past few weeks. And, believe it or not, my lesson came in the form of […]
Online Courses at Cedar Canyon Textiles
Lots of questions have been coming in about the online courses that will begin in mid-January, so I want to give you a bunch of answers. I know that many of you have taken online courses – from me or from other instructors – or perhaps at a website like Craftsy. But, for those of […]
Design Magic: Round 3
In the late 1990s, I took an Art Cloth seminar with Jane Dunnewold that included an introduction to Notan. Notan is a Japanese design principle that we use all the time – the interaction of positive and negative space – but the term is not widely known outside the art education world. The lesson from […]
BYO Batik: A Renegade Stencil Experiment
With time set aside for experiments with Renegade Stencils during my retreat, I decided it was time for some BYOB. In case you’re feeling like you’ve encountered yet another strange word in the “Shelly Dictionary,” BYOB stands for Build Your Own Batik. We’ll save the bottled spirits for another time! Build your own Batik fabric […]
Design Magic in Chapala: From Fountain Tiles to Fabric
Design Magic is the title of a book that I wrote in 2010. It’s a methodology for creating a design using a square of paper, turning the design into a pair of positive and negative (equal and opposite) stencils, and adding the pattern to fabric with Shiva Artist’s Paintstiks. The process described in the book […]
Easy Paintstik Placemats
With Thanksgiving around the corner, I want to give you a quick and easy recipe for dressing up your table. Let’s dig in and make some Easy Paintstik Placemats! Dress up your holiday table with Easy Paintstik Placemats! Click To Tweet There are just a few ingredients in this recipe. Some relatively plain fabric. If […]
