I’m never going to have a career as a professional organizer; but, I have learned a few things about where to store things in my work space. If I use something a lot, it has a home in the center of my room, handy at a moment’s notice. If I use something a little, it […]
Ready For A Party?
We’re counting down to the big day when we reveal the great Shape Shifter Fabric Art Adventure! As I was putting the Shape Shifter Ebook together a few months ago, I realized that this technique had so many possibilities that a book just wouldn’t do it justice. So we’ve planned out an amazing online learning […]
Keep Track Of Your Paints
As you know, there are a whole pile of Paintstik colors out there. There are 21 Iridescent colors, 54 Matte colors and 2 blenders. So how in the world do we keep track? I’m not a big fan of printed color cards as it’s just about impossible to get accurate colors. The best thing I […]
Be My Guest: Francesca De Grandis
I received an interesting phone call a couple of weeks ago from Francesca De Grandis. She had a question about a Sapphire Blue Paintstik, which just happens to be one of my favorite colors. Once we finished discussing her question, she told me that she was an occasional guest blogger for Dharma Trading, and she […]
Small Groups, Big Pleasures
Like many of you, I belong to a small group of like-minded women who share a common creative passion. We get together on the first Wednesday morning of each month. It’s not the best meeting time for me, but I’m the only one in the group still working full time and for a group of […]
Ten Commandments For Hotel Art
Do you ever find yourself doing “hotel art?” You know, you’re at a conference, you take a class, and you just can’t wait until you get home to finish up whatever you just learned about? Or you took a class that involved messy stuff, and you really have to wash out that fabric before you […]
The Case For Creative Coaching
Are you stuck? Do you have tons of good ideas but they aren’t making the trip from your brain to your hands? Big plans that are languishing instead of getting implemented? You’re not alone and there is definitely something you can do about it. Let’s face it. We all get stuck at different times of […]
Kathy Tanner’s (Design) Magic Elephants
Some days I get tons of junk in the e-mail, but some days I get absolute treasures! I recently received photos from two artists with notes and photos of how they are using the Design Magic concept with animals. I have to be honest – I never even considered playing with critters as a design elements – but these ladies could create an entire menagerie! Let’s start with Kathy Tanner’s elephants. I’ll share another post with a great idea for birds later.
New Year – New Adventures
A new year has arrived and it’s time for some new adventures. Doing the same old thing gets old and I’m feeling the need to spice up my life and my business. After all, doing the same old thing makes Shelly a very dull girl. It must be time to change things up so I […]
Ring in the New Year with Bubbles
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
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
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.
