Monthly Archives: October 2014

For the budding surface designer

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Spoonflower  is an online service that allows you to upload your patterns and have they printed on several mediums – fabric, wallpaper or gift wrap.

Fabric choices include basic combed cotton, Kona cotton, performance pique, cotton poplin, poly crepe de chine (for a limited time), silky faille, performance knit (a fave of mine), cotton silk, linen-cotton canvas, organic cotton interlock knit (another fave), organic cotton sateen, eco canvas, heavy cotton twill, faux suede and silk crepe de chine.

Wallpaper choices include smooth and woven wallpapers with adhesive backing or peel and stick wallpaper.

Gift Wrap is available in matte or satin.

It is a great community offering weekly contests to participate in and be inspired by the great works of others.

Not ready to design your own? You can browse other people’s designs or check out their design tools to lead you to your heart’s desire.

Learn and create

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For Mother’s Day, I received the best gift – a year’s worth of learning. Creativebug provided a great price and my family picked up on my not-so-subtle hints — $50/year which provided me unlimited access to all workshops. Looks like the annual subscription is still available!

Creativebug offers online craft classes, with classes added weekly.

So far I have learned basic embroidery stitches, crochet stitches, strung bead and leather bracelets, and free-form machine embroidery.

Some of my favorite designers are instructors – love being inspired by them:

Natalie Chanin

Heather Bailey 

Amy Butler

Lisa Congdon 

Anna Maria Horner 

Heather Ross