We had a few days of sunshine and warmer weather last week, just enough for my spring fever to kick into gear. Since it will be months before I can poke around in the garden, I’ll have to be content to poke around my studio and play with flowers indoors. When it comes to flowers, […]
Paintstiks, Stencils & Suede: A Gorgeous Combination!
In the middle of December, I holed up in my studio for a weekend and started playing with the suede I got from Bella Nonna Design Studio. Jayme and Megan have a new line of leather and suede, and Megan came to see me at the Houston Quilt Market to see if our Shiva Paintstiks would work with the leather.
I found that the finished leathers were not terribly interesting — it’s difficult for the paint to adhere to the smooth finish. But the suede — oh my goodness — it’s nothing short of fabulous! You really have to give this a try. It’s beyond fun and the possibilities for the finished suede are endless.
Bernina Likes Shelly’s Magic Mats!
I just got a lovely note from a friend to tell me that Bernina is featuring my Magic Mats in Issue 4 of Through the Needle, a free online publication. I knew the article was coming, but it’s always a thrill to see one of my projects in print. Happy me! Because we have so many new people in our community, I want to share the Magic Mats tutorial that I posted last summer. Enjoy!
Here’s a great little project for our DesignMagic stencils – or one of your own designs! My Magic Mats pattern is the simplest way to make a placemat that I can think of. All you need is two pieces of fabric, some interfacing, one paintstik, one brush, and one pair of DesignMagic stencils. It’s easy!
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.
Celebrate the Season with Ornaments
As I look out the window, it’s truly starting to look like winter here in central Minnesota. We’ve got a fresh coating of snow and the air is full of big, fluffy snowflakes. It’s a perfect day to think about decorating for the holidays and it looks like weather this Thanksgiving weekend will be more suitable for hibernating in the sewing room than fighting the crowds at the shopping malls.
So I’ll pull out the paintstiks and a couple of our new sets of stencils and have some fun playing with gift bags and some simple decorations for the holidays. My graphic artist extraordinaire, Matthew Mills, did a fantastic job pulling some great images together for these stencils. The Ornaments are very classy and the variety of sizes works for large images and small. I hope you enjoy the new stencil designs as much as I do!
Anything Goes!
Well, amost anything goes… 🙂 No, I’m not talking about crazy parties, bad behavior or unlimited consumption during the holidays! Anything Goes is the name of my new tote pattern. It’s not as exciting as a dash down to the Bahamas for a spur of the moment vacation, but it’s a fantastic way to show […]
Design Magic Wreath Stencils: Full Images or Outlines?
I’m having lots of fun designing some new Design Magic Stencils. I worked on a design earlier this summer that started off as a goofy squiggle shape. I was playing around in the Illustrator program, which is definitely not my strong suit, but I decided to turn the shape into a repeating pattern to see if it had any possibilities at all.
New Paintstik Colors Have Arrived!
One of my all-time favorite days of the year is the day new paintstik colors arrive in our warehouse. It’s very exciting to see the actual product after months of discussion about exactly what shade of green, testing 14 versions of red (which don’t turn out the way I have my heart set on) and then figuring out what we should name them. After all the up-front work, I’m thrilled to announce “they’re here!!!”
Free Project: Shelly’s Magic Mats
Here’s a great little project for our DesignMagic stencils – or one of your own designs! My Magic Mats pattern is the simplest way to make a placemat that I can think of. All you need is two pieces of fabric, some interfacing, one paintstik, one brush, and one pair of DesignMagic stencils. It’s easy! […]
Design Magic: Make Scrollwork This Summer!
As part of my visit to Bernina University, I offered the dealers and shop owners a free DesignMagic stencil along with a free project. (More on the project at the end of the post.) I was really interested to see which of the 4 stencils (Safari, Scroll, Fractured-X or Wavy Squares) they would choose most frequently.
While all of the stencils were popular, 35% of the dealers chose the Scroll stencil to make the sample for their project. The most frequent comment was that they liked the circular lines of the design — often referred to as “curlicues.”
Design Magic: On Safari with Margo!
After much holding of breath and saying of prayers, the first copies of Design Magic arrived in my office just a few days before Spring Quilt Market. I felt totally blessed that the book arrived in time — and that Spring Market was held in Minneapolis this year. We’re just a few hours away from the Twin Cities, so I didn’t even have to drive as far as the airport.
Once the book arrived and everything was packed, I decided to take a few hours to make something special for myself using the cover fabric from the book. I’ve already worn out the Primrose tote that started my Design Magic adventure, so I decided to make the new Margo bag from my good friend Joan Hawley at Lazy Girl Designs.
Make a little Design Magic!
I know I’ve been missing in action here on the blog, but I’ve been totally immersed in finishing up my new book called Design Magic for Paintstiks on Fabric. The book went to the printer at the end of April, and I should have copies in my hot little hands sometime next week! And just in time for Spring Quilt Market. Whew!
Here’s the cover of my new baby and a few paragraphs from the Welcome section:
Welcome to the world of Design Magic. It’s a magical, mystical world indeed, where simple shapes are transformed into easy-to-use tools, and fabulous fabric is created in far less time than you ever imagined possible. It’s almost like having your own magic wand!
And now that you’re here, I hope you enjoy the Design Magic adventure as much as I have. The path is full of exciting “aha” discoveries and “wow” moments. There’s never a dull moment in the world of Design Magic.
So, what’s it all about?
Design Magic is a really slick method for making your own designs and putting them on fabric with minimal tools and time. It’s faster than fusing and easier than appliqué! Here are the 3 main steps.
* Create a design by cutting shapes from a square of black paper.
* Make a set of equal and opposite stencils.
* Stencil repeating images on fabric with paintstik colors and stencil brushes.
The book includes complete instructions for making your own designs and stencils (of course), but I’ve also included a set of pre-cut mylar stencils for those of you who just want to jump in and paint. Here’s a picture of some fabric I’ve painted with the Primrose stencils that are tucked inside the back cover of each book.
There’s way too much to tell you in a single post, so I’m not even going to try. If you want to see what else we are introducing at the Spring Quilt Market, jump on over to the New Products page on our website.
We’ll be shipping the new books and stencils out to our retailers and distributors within 2 weeks, so you won’t have to wait too long to get your own personal copy of Design Magic.
Happy painting!
Shelly
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- Next Page »
