Studio Sunday

Welcome to Sunday!  Because this is the weekend between Christmas and New Years, I'm kind of all over the place here in the studio.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends and you are taking a much needed break before 2015 rolls in!

This weekend I was busy cutting more stencils and experimenting with them on paper.  I'm thrilled with the Tim Holtz Distress Stain Sprays.  They are so beautiful and then using some of the Distress Inks with them, the colors are fantastic.  This section above is what I started with to create the two designs below.  This process is so much fun and I continue to amaze myself with the all over designs that can be achieved by using a section of the paper results.

On this design below, I just repeated a block without rotating it and I could see these blocks alternated with solids or another similar pattern for a quilt top.  I'll have to explore this further.  The more and more I consider these as fabrics, the closer I get to actually ordering the fabric to play with.  My fingers are itching to get back to playing with fabric and stitch so it is just a matter of time!

This design below is incredibly YUMMY!  I had experimented with a new repeat design which happens to be the background you see in the image above and created this design by layering, flipping and rotating the original laid on top of a gelli print I had done a while ago.  I'm going to go back in to see if I can position the layers so that the entire overall design looks like the blue and orange sections only.  Up close, this design would make you swoon! LOL

A new development this weekend was a chance to go to the CHA Tradeshow again with my friend Barbara (Joggles.com) in Anaheim, CA, January 9-13!  Talk about a spontaneous decision but the flights were affordable and it will be a well-needed super inspiring trip.  The Crafters and Hobbies Association Tradeshow is where all of the paper arts products (stamps, stencils, scrapbooking paper and supplies, Ranger, etc.) show new products for buyers.  I attended in 2012 with Barbara for the first time and it was incredible.  Shortly after that trip, we launched the Joggles stencil line with yours truly :)

I ran into so many artists there including Joanne Sharpe, Dina Wakley, Julie Fei Fan Balzer, Mary Beth Shaw, Pam Carriker and Rebekah Meier!  The most memorable artist sighting was Lisa Engelbrecht, who most recently passed away.  This was the show that I visited with Lisa, she remembered my name from way back at ArtFiberFest 2005, and she designed my name written in her  amazing style which I still have and will always cherish.  It is packed safely away but I think it might be time to take that out and frame it.  I still can't believe she is gone :(

It will be a fun trip as Barbara and I turn into brainstorming devils.  It's great for the soul and I'm in a big need of an inspiration injection!  I'm sure I will have lots to share!

Stay happy, healthy, and safe this New Years and check in next weekend for more design inspiration!

Margaret