Lemurian Garden Stencil Debut!

One of my lifelong dreams has been seeing my own designs used in fabrics, wallpaper, clothing, packaging, paper goods, sheets other useful products. After finishing college with a degree that didn't really suit me, I went back to school and studied Textile and Surface Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. For about 10 years, I worked in the fashion industry as a print stylist, selecting designs, patterns and colors for a textile converter, and going to the mills to oversee the production quality. The company's look was different than my personal style, so I rarely produced my own designs. After my daughter was born, I shifted into layout design for magazines and newspapers. Still, in the back of my mind a little voice kept asking: "What about YOUR designs?" I often sketched ideas and doodled and imagined what my own designs would be.

Finally I had the opportunity to produce stencils for StencilGirl. Out of the hundreds of designs I had scribbled on sticky notes and doodled on the edges of notepads over the years, I selected five. They are all designs I doodle, sketch and draw over and over--shapes that have showed up in my paintings and drawings for many years. Realizing that they were all designs based in nature, I named the group Lemurian Garden, after a magical place that some believe was the Garden of Eden, located in the area where the Hawaiian Islands are now.

The five designs in the group are the Spiral, Leaf, Pansy, Tulip and Lily, and they work beautifully together, but also stand on their own individually.

Here's some samples of how the stencils look with various methods and colors. The earrings and necklace were stenciled onto shrinkydink film, then baked in the oven. Some are Intention Cards, some are journal pages. There's also a greeting card and handmade envelope as well as a little gift box.

LEAF

TULIP

SPIRAL

For the birthday card and envelope, I started with a piece of deli paper that had blobs of paint on it. My silicone mat had been covered with paint, and it looked really pretty, so I covered the mat with thin matte medium, placed deli paper over it, pressed out the excess with a credit card, and let it dry. I carefully peeled away the paper from the mat and was left with some pink., orange and green splotches. Next, I used black archival ink through the spiral stencil in a random, allover pattern until the paper was covered. Using an opened, flattened envelope as a template, I cut the envelope shape, folded it, and glued the sides. With the leftover bits, I used a folded 8" x 5" white index card to make the birthday card. I stamped "happy birthday" onto deli paper, then glued it in place with matte medium. 

Click HERE to see a short video on the making of the card and envelope.

PANSY

LILY

 And here's a few things I made using ALL the stencils together. I liked the pastel (on the left) so much that I scanned it and printed out paper from my inkjet printer, which I used for the limbs of the paper doll.

I'm so excited about the stencils, and can't stop using them. They are full of energy and life. I hope you enjoy using them as much as I do!

Reiki Pyramid Treasure Box

A few months ago Cloth, Paper, Scissors Magazine had a challenge called “Make Mine Mini”. You could make anything, but the one rule was that whatever you made could be no bigger than 4”. I decided to make a mini pyramid treasure box out of some purple stretch velour fabric that I had screen printed with gold acrylic paint. My screenprinting was done with Thermofax screens that Lynn Krawczyk made for me in her Esty Shop called Fibra Artysta. http://www.etsy.com/shop/FibraArtysta
On the outside of the box, I alternated a spiral leaf and an energy symbol. The leaf shape with a spiral inside it is my own design…it is something that I doodle a lot. I am not sure exactly what it means, but it seems to belong to me. The one that looks like a musical note is the reiki energy symbol. On the inside, there are four heart shapes that have a spiral design in them, which is also an original design. The purple color is the reiki healing color.

I glued the fabric to heavy cardboard that I had pre-cut to make the pyramid. After I glued it all together, I put 2 grommets in each triangle top and threaded a shimmery gold ribbon through to make the closure.

The pyramid is intended to be a safe place to keep little pieces of paper inside—things that are hoped for, dreamed of, and prayed for. It seems a quite magical, with the special symbols and the healing color, so I hope that the all dreams and wishes I write down and put inside will come true.