Stephanie's Studio

Christmas shopping can leave you feeling warm or cold, anxious, boxed-in, eager, small, excited, curious, angry, sullen, empty, broke, infuriated, surprised, inflated, humbled, sorry, bland, informed, torn, confused, apathetic, charmed, depressed or even happy.   Every year it creeps up on you.   I expect to keep things simple and then like something stored up in a dark moist place it mushrooms until it is almost out of control.   I don’t think this has to do with the other people in my life.   I think its complexity builds and churns in my head until I’m left beaten and whirled like some kind of human batch of butter. The surprises are always nice.   I get so many different emails all year and one of them is called Found it.   Loved it!   They are supposed to be surprising finds you can look for on the internet. I decided to look at it for once, since I usually admittedly delete them and found this wonderful site www.artoftea.com .   It is all...

I use to like to buy things a lot when I was younger and I guess I still do but now it's mostly art or paper craft supplies. I didn't do any shopping on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. I don't think I've ever gone shopping on Black Friday, if memory serves correctly. I find that Black Friday is a better time for hearth, home and reflection on what I am thankful for. The thought of facing big crowds after Thanksgiving almost makes me physically sick. For years people have been suggesting that I get an online store on etsy. Finally, yesterday I opened one for my card line which is called Love Bird Designs. I figure, I've made about 175 cards since September and at that rate soon my studio will look like I'm a hoarder so I might as well get rid of some of these cards. I've been making Love Bird Designs since the late 80s but usually only to be given away for Christmas or Yule. I have found some new toys I like to use in the cardmaking over the past year. I added:...