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February 2012

January 2012 posts

I'm trying to think if I can even explain what it feels like to open the box of brand new stencils when they arrive. When I sit down to design the stencils it's a lot of theoretical work. I use a combination of hand drawn sketches, Photoshop, and Illustrator. And it's a lot of guess work as to what will translate into an awesome physical stencil. Will the line be fat enough? Too fat? Will the design work in 6x6 and 12x12? Does it appeal to a mass market? Lots of hard questions. Then the stencils arrive. And I find... Read more →


It has been a long time since I posted kit club sneak peeks. I was on a kit club design team (Serendipity Scrapbooks, My Kits & Pieces, Label Tulip, and then Kenner Road) continuously for more than three years. And that was a wonderful thing because I love kit clubs. I know that the big selling point of kit clubs is that everything is coordinated, but that's not the draw for me. I love kit clubs for 3 major reasons: The community. Most kit clubs have message boards and a community that chats about their crafty lives. The latest and... Read more →


Class starts today and I've gotten a bunch of questions, so I thought I'd share some of the answers: Q: I don't quite understand how the class works (or any of the online classes). When I sign up and pay for the Carving 101 class can I watch it on other days - not only on the days you will be teaching? A: Yes. A new video lesson is released every Monday and Thursday for five weeks. You can watch them any time after that. Q: How long will I have access to the class? A: Forever (which essentially means... Read more →


Welcome to Day Seven of Organization Week! Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog. Has this been a whirlwind week or what? Today is our final day of the organization madness! We're wrapping up with some more specific solutions and a bit of parting advice. I've got two storage solutions that I want to share with you today. Both are systems I came to after a lot of trial and error with a number of failed systems. I keep all (well...most) of... Read more →


Welcome to Day Six of Organization Week! Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog. For our final two days of "Organization Week," we're going to talk about some specific storage solutions. Remember, you can't organize the way anybody else does unless your brain works the same way. So steal what works for you, and leave the rest! I'm going to share two ideas with you today that both involve repurposing storage I bought for another purpose. In my studio there is a... Read more →


Welcome to Day Five of Organization Week! Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog. One of the things that clogs up a lot of people's studios is their finished or half-finished artwork. About a month ago I wrote about how I helped my friend Nat organize her studio. She had a lot of finished artwork sitting around: scrapbook layouts that needed to be put into albums, canvases, 3-D art, lots of stuff. Some of it was piled up and some of it... Read more →


If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, all the posts can be found here. Please read this post first. There is a flickr group for sharing right here. Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day! No need to finish anything or even like it. Because of "Organization Week" there will be not be a big Art Journal Every Day post today. Instead, I'm going to leave you with seven quick journal prompts (one for each day of the week) that will take less than ten minutes each to complete. Use an unfamiliar object to... Read more →


Welcome to Day Four of Organization Week! Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog. Today it's time to put together the heart of your studio: Your desk area. Personally, I think it's vitally important that everything from your list of "ten supplies you must have" be within arms length of your main desk area. You shouldn't have to get up to access any of it. Bend over, turn around, reach -- okay. But try to keep all of it very very near.... Read more →


Welcome to Day Three of Organization Week! Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog. Today we're going to talk about storage containers. If you're an organizing geek like me, a trip to The Container Store is as good as one to Disneyland! It's pretty obvious why storage containers are important, right? What's less obvious is that using the wrong storage containers can be disastrous! I'll give you an example: You're all excited about being organized! So you head out and buy all... Read more →


Welcome to Day Two of Organization Week! Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog. Have you ever been to a woodworking studio? Maybe you have one in your garage? Woodworking studios are very functional places. Rarely "cute." And all the tools are out and ready to use: lots of open storage, maybe a peg board on the wall, and labeled bins. How about your kitchen? It's super functional too. I'll bet all of the forks are together in one drawer and you... Read more →