Have you ever thought about all the “fork in the road” situations throughout your life – where they lead you?  A tiny turn here, another turn there can lead to profound changes. Even a random “hello” while waiting to cross a street during a tradeshow or seminar, a brief introduction to someone on an escalator, or engaging in a conversation on a shuttle bus can create a tiny fork in my business. Where do these forks lead?

I have a friend who sends inspirational messages every few days. I received one this week that really hit home with me.

“Choosing a goal may cause only a slight change in your life’s direction at first. It’s like one of those huge freighters at sea: If the captain shifts course by just a few degrees, it won’t be noticeable immediately. But in several hours or days, this change in direction will bring the ship to a completely different destination…Start turning your freighter now, because up ahead, just a short distance away, is your future.” (Anthony Robbins, from his book Notes from a Friend – A quick and simple guide to taking charge of your life)

My entire career has been based on this philosophy. And quite unintentional. But looking back, I see all these little changes in directions. Some changes were based on intentional choices of what I wanted to work on. Others were so minor, like a random conversation or a brief introduction, that resulted in gradual, but huge changes in my career. You just never know when that change in direction will come or from where. Will it be something that is a well planned, thought-out change, or will it come from some insignificant, low-key randomness.

Although I guided my career with intentional directions and choices, so many of the changes in direction were the result of a small randomness. The one thing that is constant is that each fork in the road or change in direction leads to other forks/changes which lead to others. Even if you pick the wrong direction, the next change can correct that direction in an even better way. Think about it.

Thanks to my friend who passed this inspirational message to me this week. And who, by the way, I met on a shuttle bus at Quilt Market over 15 years ago.

Which direction will you take today?

Phyllis

Welcome back for more great products and displays from the Craft and Hobby (CHA) Winter Trade Show held in Anaheim, CA. If you missed my first CHA review post, please visit it to see some great color and design.

One of the fun trends I saw at CHA was paper sculpting and the Die Cuts With a View (DCWV) booth had so many fabulous projects, I took photos of all just about of them.

The bird, fish and peacock were all gorgeous and my favorite was the peacock with its tail “feathers” cascading to the floor.

Loved the paper flowers!

The paper sculpture tree held streamers of the beads from their bead line. DCWV also won the best booth for an island or peninsular. The DCWV booths at prior shows were also spectacular, including the one with full size paper dresses.

June Tailor had several new products in their gorgeous booth. Two of their new tools were the Rosette Template and the multi-size flower template as shown with the layered felt flower. The rosettes made with the Rosette Template can be used as accent pieces on boots, knit caps and much more. With your imagination, you can come up with tons more uses. The fringe on the cap in the top center was made with their new fringe tool. And I love the colors of pink and orange color combination they used in this section of the booth.

The gorgeous rose and hydrangea pillows were created with the Rosette tool and I guess you can tell that I love this tool!

I ran into the talented and beautiful Claudine Hellmuth at the Ranger booth after she finished her demonstration using her product line for Ranger -  Studio Paints, Studio Brushes and Studio Sticky Back Canvas.

Debi Schmitz of Expo International is just adorable!  She’s pictured above holding some of the new feather swirls that come in both the bright colors she is holding as well as the more neutral colors that are pictured right below her. They are beautiful, no matter which color!

Peacock’s are really trendy in both design, decoration and motifs. Their peacock feather adornments were gorgeous, especially with the bling in the center.  The hats are about 5″ – 6″ and are so cute. Expo had an entire line of the small hat adornments.

The EK Success booth had a line of crewel kits for their Dimensions Brand, all designed by Lori Siebert. I’ve always loved crewel and embroidery and am excited to see this type of needlework being featured.

In the recent years, Duck Tape has been put to much more creative uses than just being used as tape, with all kinds of fun things being made with it including clothing. Shurtech Brands displayed a prom dress and suit, all made with Duck Tape.

Vanna White was at CHA again, presenting the Lion Brand Yarn runway show. Vanna has been the spokesperson for Lion Brand Yarns for over 14 years. This display of their yarns really made a splash of color!

I don’t usually get excited about irons, but this one is the exception. The Oliso steam iron the “iTouch” is fabulous and its on my shopping list. You just leave it flat and after a few seconds, prongs come out of the bottom and lifts the iron up from the surface. You don’t stand this iron on its “rear” end like most irons, but leave it flat. When you get ready to use it again, just touch the handle and it lowers back to the surface. So no burned or scorched fabrics!  And since it stays flat, is harder to knock over. Oh, another thing I love about it is that it fills on the side instead on the front top end.

More paper sculpture – the pinwheels in the Silhouette booth were cute and fun!

For you sewers and quilters, Sullivans USA had some exciting new products that caught my attention. The top photo shows cutting rulers that sharpen your blades as you cut. In addition, they have a new mat, Add-a-Mat, lets you size the mats as you need them.  This is a great idea for travel where you need to take a cutting mat, like to classes, or are limited in storage space.

CHA has a lot of educational seminars. Tony Ford, the COO of ArtFire and CHA’s Emerging Technology Expert, conducted two classes. I attended both, which were outstanding. I attended a seminar by him at the CHA summer show last year and learned so much. So I made sure to be at both of his seminars this time as well.

One of the fun things that took place at the CHA show was a flash mob dance before the show opened. We’re standing around above trying to blend in and look natural in the crowd before the flash mob.  All of us wore pink She’s Crafty aprons from Charity Wings and had to cover them up prior to the flash mob.

I’m looking forward to working with many of the fabulous products that I’ve shown you, so it will be a fun year!

Happy Crafting,

Phyllis

After spending several days in southern California for the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) winter show, I came home inspired and excited. I took photos of the fabulous products and displays, so many photos that I will have to divide my CHA review into two parts. CHA is a huge show with such a variety of products in about all crafting cagtegories. The variety is one of the things I love about the show.

The trends that I noticed at the show included lots of paper sculpture as well as bead sculpture, glass mosaics, beads and needlework to include both embroidery (and Crewel) and felt. I’m sure I missed some other trends, but these caught my attention.

I was working in the Gutermann booth surrounded by the beautiful and high quality Gutermann threads.

I love the wide assortment of the in both cotton and silk.  Watch for designs and projects that I will be creating using their threads – comiong soon!

I took a closeup of one spool of the varigated thread.  I loved the pattern created by the thread winding and the brilliant varigated color. Opening your eyes to things close  around you can give you beautiful patterns.

Brazzill Basic Papers had beautiful displays of sculptured flowers.  This display was hanging in a corner of the booth. A beautiful, larger display was in the center of the booth, but they were so busy and crowded with buyers, I could not get to it to take a photo.

Therm O Web demonstrated a new glitter – Glitter Dust, that gives a light sprinkling of glitter by aerosol.  The paper sculptured heart consisted of various sizes of flowers, all with a light coating of Glitter Dust.

Knitting and crochet are so versatile, as can be seen by the display in the Bernat booth with these chairs.

These chair covers were knitted and crocheted using Waverly for Bernat, based on 5 of Waverly’s popular patterns.  The yarns are in color collections based on the colors of the patterns. You can see my favorite 2 chairs below.

Aren’t they wonderful!!

And I just love these sweaters and accessories also in the Bernat booth. I will take one of each! I really love the colors of this display.

The ILovetoCreate booth was filled with several wonderful displays created by EdoHeidi Borchers and Tiffany Windsor. Heidi created the mosaic boots using over 2000 pieces of mosaic tiles and buttons. They were gorgeous!  The dress was designed by Heidi and Tiffany with 90 paper plates hand cut into over 5000 petals, glued and painted to look like faux leather.  This was a stunning display to show the uses of Aleene’s glue.

This large column, designed by Tiffany and Heidi, is decorated with 1200 paper plate hand and die cut into over 3300 pieces.

This display of mosaics was also designed by Heidi and Tiffany for ILovetoCreate. I love the skirt!  It’s made with broken china – cups and plates.  Its really a work of art! The table and chair are mosaics using broken china.  All three pieces created a beautiful setting.

ILovetoCreate also has Tulip paints for body painting. A different design was painted each day.  The pretty model is Savannah Starr, Heidi’s granddaughter. I wonder if it tickles but it would be fun to paint and wear!

Tiffany is pictured here with me when I ran into her at the show. Besides being a great designer, Tiffany also hosts the Cool2Craft network.

The Kunin Group had adorable projects in their booth with colorful felt, including the this fish pillow and the stuffed fish.

The cell phone cases were one of the displays in the Kunin Group booth.  They are just too cute and are by Jodie Haffa of Lova Revolutionary.

David Tutera, wedding expert and host of My Fair Wedding on WeTV, has a bridal accessory line with Darice. Some of the products are used for the beautiful table setting above. And as you can see, I got to get a picture taken with David.

Mich Turner of Little Venice Cake Company, London, has a line of baking accessories also with Darice. Mich, the Queen of Couture Cakes, is demonstrating on the Darice stage.  Those cakes really look yummy!

Check back for part 2 of my review of CHA.  I have lots more to show you!

Phyllis

I just returned from the Craft and Hobby (CHA) Winter Trade Show in Anaheim, CA, in the Convention Center next door to Disneyland. It was great seeing lots of new and fun products as well as lots of friends. I attended several of the educational seminars that were packed with information. I took so many pictures (almost 300), so I have bunches of photos to go through so I can post them (much less than the 300) and  show you the things that caught my attention.

But I want to go ahead and post a link to one of the fun events of the trip. I participated in a flash mob dance “She’s Crafty” before the opening of the show. It was organized by CharityWings.org to earn money for charity and the flash mob consisted of almost 100 artists, designers, business owners and more. It was my first flash mob but I was enjoying the moment and kept forgetting to count the dance steps.

Please check back soon to see my photos from CHA of new products, great displays, and more.

Phyllis

I just returned from a few days at the Atlanta Gift Market and was thrilled with how exciting, upbeat and busy market was. Market was really busy all 4 days that I was there and I consider it a good sign for the gift industry.

Its always fabulous to walk market and see all the new products (many of which are designed by my artist friends). And its always fun to meet up with these friends. I can’t take pictures of the product displayed throughout market but its fun to take pictures of friends.

I went to several artist’s signings, where they were autographing some of their products. Robin Davis adorable new line Blessings with Wings is with Carson.

Lori Siebert was autographing her new products with Carson as well. I have to tell you that Lori was wearing the most fabulous and colorful boots (much like her art). I did try to take a picture of them but it turned out really blurry but take my word, they were great.

The fabulous Giordano brothers, Greg on the left and Bob on the right were both autographing some of their many flags at the Custom Decor showroom. I’m doing a pretty wimpy job of holding the flag.

My agent, Jewel Branding and Licensing, was exhibiting in the License and Design section that is held at the January markets. On Thursday, after the License and Design was set up, several of us met for an impromptu photo op – Robin Pickens, Brenda Pinnick, myself, Shelly Comiskey, Karen Embry and Sue Zipkin.

And for a period to get together and talk a bit, there was an artists gathering at the Westin on Friday afternoon.  You may see several of your favorite artists here – Teri Conrad, Paula Joerling, Joyce Shelton, BJ Lantz, Gina Wilder, Jane Maday, Sharon Himes, Robin Davis, Beth Yarbrough, Beth Logan, Audrey Jeanne Roberts, Karen Embry, and on the front row, Cherish Flieder, Janet Wecker Frisch, Shelly Comiskey, myself, Sue Zipkin, and Robin Pickens. Getting us all together for this photo was like herding cats and several got away. (Thanks to Shelly for this photo as mine didn’t turn out!)

As I was walking through Building 3 of the market, I saw this giant red and white helmet. I’m assuming it was due (or  I’m attributing it) to Alabama’s win of the BSC bowl last week. There was definitely a lot of Alabama items showing throughout the showrooms.

I’m back in full work mode, but will be leaving next week for Anaheim for the Craft and Hobby show (CHA). Check back as I can show lots of product from this show.

Phyllis

Welcome to my studio! I am joining with 11 other artists on a hop through our studios. We are showing you where we spend the majority of our time, creating new art, designs, and other creative endeavors. I invite you to check out each of the fabulous studios of the other artists by clicking on the links below or the forward button.

The artists participating in this hop are:

Aaron Christensen

Barbara Johansen-Newman

Beth Logan

Brenda Pinnick

J. Wecker-Frisch

Karen Embry

Paula Joerling

Phyllis Dobbs

Samantha Walker

Sharon Himes

Shelly Comiskey

Sue Zipkin

My studio is a work in progress and if I ever finish it, I will probably be starting over within a few weeks! I work best with everything completely organized (not that I stay organized) and have created distinct areas in my studio for the way I work. I keep striving for the perfect work flow to fit me and the various techniques that I use. After a recent big upheaval and reorganization of my studio, I think I have found the best arrangement for me, although I’m 100% sure I will continue to tweak it.

I am both and artist and designer.  My art is licensed for various products such as fabrics, garden flags, kitchen textiles and more. I also design quilt and sewing patterns and have a new quilt book debuting in April. In addition I work with textiles and mixed media.  So with working in all 3 of these mediums, I have have tons of “stuff” that I use.  So all of my supplies need to be where I can find them easily in addition to being close at hand.

My drawing/painting table and supplies are located next to a set triple windows so I can catch the natural light. Sometimes it’s hard to keep my focus inside.  I have 2 plastic storage units with drawers to hold paints and painting supplies. They tuck neatly under the left edge of my table when not in use and are easy to pull out when I need them. I’ve been repainting a lot of my studio furnishings and have painted the filing cabinet and the multi-drawer cabinet turquoise. Both are great for holding additional supplies. The cabinet with the small drawers has 30 drawers and is my favorite for storage.

My studio is on the 2nd floor of my home but the view from my windows is like looking from a 5th floor window or a treehouse. Our backyard drops at a steep slant to a bubbly creek at the bottom.  Although I like the winter view, my favorite is the spring and summer with all the green. The fall is also beautiful with the golds, oranges and reds as the leaves turn. Like I said, sometimes its hard to keep my focus inside, especially when there is a woodpecker knocking away.

My fabric cutting table is set up in front of bookshelves filled with all my craft, needlework and quilting books. I love books as well as magazines (stacks of which are at one end of the cutting table). I use an antique chair that was my grandmothers to hold a large roll of batting behind the table making the batting easy to pull out as I need it. My cutting rulers are stored under the table and another plastic drawer unit and a low book shelf unit tucked under the table hold all my cutting tools and supplies.

My sewing area is set up in one end of my studio with an antique pub table painted white and a low white table. I store fabrics in an antique triple armoire that I bought at an auction years ago. To keep all my threads, fibers, buttons and all things related to sewing handy, I use two plastic drawer units stacked together as well as a white bookcase loaded with smaller draw units. I save all sizes of jars to hold buttons, pins, and anything else that needs a home.

This table is my play space. I craft, draw, play with textiles, ribbons and beads, and create mixed media here. For a before and after makeover of the chair, visit my chair makeover post. You can’t see them all but I have lots of storage boxes filled with the supplies I use in this area. You can see a black ribbon storage rack on the wall and part of my 8 ft. cork idea board.  You may wonder what I do with all those red folders on the cabinet behind the table.

I travel a lot with my business and accumulate a lot of paper for each trip – hotel and airline reservations, badge and show information, and classes plus a multitude of other papers related to a trip. I used to have a horrible time keeping up with the papers for each trip, having to rush around at the last minute searching through stacks of  papers or files. So I came up with the “Red Folder Method of Keeping Travel Records Straight”. I taped red folders on the front of this cabinet and annotate each folder with a post it note for the trip. Then I put all my papers for that trip in the folder as I receive them. I keep the trips in order and move the information up after a trip. It works for me and has been a big help with my travel organization.

This area is the brain of my studio – the computers where I put it all together digitally. A shelf unit holds the printers and scanners close for easy access and so I don’t have to reach too far. All my papers for printing are stacked on a shelf unit under my desk. The desks with the computers plus the crafting work desk above form a large U shape area that works fabulously for me.

And, what studio is complete without a studio cat (or dog). I adopted Kitty Kat when he was about 6 months old and since he answered to Kitty, I kept that as his name. I should have named him Lucky because he lives a life of relaxation and luxury and thinks he’s boss of the house. He loved my old CRT monitors in the top picture, but didn’t like it much when I went to flat screens. He loves helping me put together things, such as this Ikea drawer unit – maybe its the supervising part he loves. But resting in a chair close by while I work is his favorite activity. I think he’s wishing for a hammock.

Thanks for visiting and please hop forward to visit the other artists studios!

Phyllis

One of the best things about traveling to trade shows and events is meeting people who I’ve talked with via social media and forums.  At the Surtex show last year, I met Cindy Ann Ganaden in person. She is a fellow artist and author of the BluPenny blog. She publishes a Sketchbook Story series in which she interviews artists on their inspiration, how they use it to create sketches and finalize into art.  The art is then licensed for various products.
Cindy Ann just interviewed me and posted the interview for the Sketchbook Story in which I show my inspiration and results. I used my cat for inspiration to create an art collection which was then turned into a fabric collection for Quilting Treasures. Everyone has different techniques and ways they use to create their art.  I hope you will check out mine.

The apron shown in the interview can be downloaded – free half apron pattern.

I’m off to Houston for Quilt Market.  Please check back as I will post pictures of Market next week.

Phyllis

This has been a busy week, unwinding and getting back in the flow after attending the amazing Creative Connection Event held in St. Paul. Days 2 and 3 were devoted to classes, various panels, and other speakers and panels at breakfast and lunch.  (My prior blog post detailed the first day with exciting BlogHer panel discussions.) I chose to take 4 classes on these 2 days although there were several panel sessions I would have loved to attend.

Its always fun to have some arts and crafts play time and to work in different techniques than I’m used to.  There were many  classes to choose from but I chose to take all 4 of Traci Bautista’s classes with different focuses of art journaling.

There are so many surfaces you can journal on and, as shown by Traci, fabric is one of the surfaces that can be used.

Our table early during first class with our basic journal pages in process.

Karen Embry and Brenda Pinnick are very intent on their journal pages.

In another of Traci’s classes, she is explaining different page techniques and the binding of journals.

Our table in another class – lots more more product and lots of swapping between tables.

A journal page I was working on during one of the classes.

Art journaling can get messy so its best to cover up both surfaces and clothes.  Its amazing that I didn’t get any paint on the shirt I brought to protect my clothes. If I had been in my studio, I would have had paint in my hair, on my face and all the way to my feet.  But it was impossible to keep my hands clean!

On Friday evening, the event had a cocktail party with book signing by the authors in attendance.  I didn’t pass up a chance to have my picture taken with several of the authors.

Jo Packham, although the same height as me, is a giant.  She is not only the editor for Where Women Create and Where Women Cook, she is the co-founder of The Creative Connection Event. I know TCC event took a tremendous amount of planning, but Jo pulled it off to perfection.

Holly Becker is the author of the popular decorating blog Decor8 and her book Decorate is an international best seller. Holly is a tremendous speaker and was the dinner keynote speaker Thursday night along with Christina Ferrare.

Kelly Rae Roberts, author of Taking Flight, was also part of a very informative breakfast panel of speakers.

And I love this group photo at Crafty Chica’s (Kathy Cano-Murillo) signing, left to right – Eileen Hull, myself, Ann Butler, Kathy – Crafty Chica, Karen Embry, and Brenda Pinnick.

I remain inspired from this event and am already looking forward to next year’s. If you are thinking of attending, you won’t be disappointed!

Have a inspiring day!

Phyllis

Back from The Creative Connection event held in St. Paul last week, I returned home inspired and amazed (plus exhausted!). Not wanting to miss a minute of it, I attended everything from early morning until late at night and then met friends to talk even later (meeting in our PJ’s with a glass of wine in hand). Everyone I spoke with was just as thrilled with the events. Women attended from all 50 states plus 6 countries. I talked with a talented artist from Slovakia and a woman from Melbourne Australia. Both visited the US just to attend TCC.

After checking in, I was delighted to see the view from my window of  the Mississippi River across the street. I meant to walk over to it, but there wasn’t a spare minute to leave the hotel.

The 3 days of the event were filled with panels, speakers, classes, and social activities.  I have so much to write about, I am going to present my coverage in two parts – BlogHer with technology and then the creative part with classes and much more.

The first day of TCC was sponsored by BlogHer Handmade and was focused on technology for blogging and social media. I learned so much from the panels. I thought I had already learned a ton from past conferences/seminars that I have attended, but so much more was presented by BlogHer panels. Please check out the links to the blogs for these talented women.

The panelists from the first panel I attended are from left to right Marie LeBaron (Makes and Takes), Mena Trot (Sew Weekly),  Corinne Leigh (previously on ThreadBanger) and Megan Jordan (Velveteen Mind).

It was tricky taking pictures with all the various lighting types in the hotel so the photo for another panel did not turn out. The presenters were fabulous – Alicia DiRago (Dismount Creative), Anne Kuo Lukito (Crafty Diversions), Megan Auman (CraftMBA) and Tara Gentile.

Two of the 3 founders of BlogHer were the panel for the Keynote luncheon Friday. Elisa Camahort Page (right) and Jory Des Jardins (center) told of founding BlogHer.  Nancy Soriano (left) led the panel discussion. The third founder, Lisa Stone, was unable to attend.

It was interesting to hear each of these women tell of how they started their businesses as well as the technology they presented.

Here I am with friends at a table during one of the panel discussions Karen Embry, myself, Brenda Pinnick and Eileen Hull.

The Creative Connection event was co-founded by Jo Packham, editor of Where Women Create and Where Women Cook and Nancy Soriano.  I extend a huge thanks to them for their starting this event!

Check back for part 2 of The Creative Connection of classes, author signings and more. The classes were fun – I love to work in a new direction or medium than I am accustomed to.

Phyllis

Its always exciting to attend the Surtex and the National Stationery Shows, both held concurrently in New York at the Javits Center last week. While the weather was gloomy, none of this gloom penetrated the shows which were hot and hip, filled with vibrant colors and and wondeful art. I attended as my agency, Jewel Branding and Licensing was exhibting in the Surtex show for art licensing. Surtex has grown this year in the number of exhibitors, which is a great sign. Many booths were so spectacular, stopping people in their tracks! And exhibitors I spoke with were excited about the number and quantity of contacts they spoke with.

My photos didn’t turn out too well.  I must have had my camera setting set on “grainy” so most of my pictures are awful so I don’t have many to share. Many of us attended the Surtex opening night party which was held in Battery Park. Fortunately, the rain stopped and although it remained cloudy and damp, it didn’t dampen the spirit of the partiers. Enjoying the party are, beginning at the left, Corrina Bucholz, Robin Pickens, myself,  and Erin Serpa and Ilene Guy of Simon & Kabuki. Amy Medhurst was behind the camera.

I enjoyed spending time chatting with friend and artist Robin Pickens in the Jewel booth.

The National Stationery show was filled with wonderful stationery products, from cards to all types of stationery accessories.  A Paper Runway exhibit in the stationery show was spectacular with the dresses make of paper.  The exhibit and contest were sponsored by NYC’s LIM College.  Other dresses were from DCWV Scrapbook Papers. Here are a couple of the dresses.

Now, to get busy with work!

Phyllis