designsgirl

calligraphy gift tag/sachet

North Carolina client photographer Amanda Churchill asked designsgirl to create calligraphic items for a wedding photo shoot on the beach.

I hand lettered the word "beloved", scanned it and printed it on silk fabric from my printer. So simple.

"the art of embroidery"

A plain cover belies the treasures contained within the book "the art of embroidery: inspirational stitches, textures and surfaces" by Francoise tellier-loumagne. Embroidery like none you have ever seen, created from images found in nature, is shown within the pages of this wondrous book.

Abstract and modern applications, brought to life with 500 marvelous photographs, make me excited to resume my embroidery projects from a whole new perspective.

I shall start with teasel pompoms.

shredded paper bows

Make use of packing materials by turning shredded paper into gift bows.

designsgirl took large shreds of kraft paper from a delivery, wrapped a red velvet ribbon around the bunch and attached them to a Christmas gift. What a fun and inexpensive decoration.

cape knitting

I enjoy knitting because of the luxurious yarns but I tend to stay with simple and fast projects like scarves, purses, and flowers for packages.

When I began taking classes, my ambition supplanted my skills and I dove into this knitted cape with a Louisa Harding pattern and her gorgeous mohair yarn and Kimono ribbon. I was so proud of it and have not done another article of clothing since.

photo by designsgirl

gift wrap no. 3: "custom fabric"

My mother came to visit, armed with inkjet printing cotton and silk sheets to show me how easy it is to create your own custom-designed fabric for creative projects.

Here, I printed my "I Love You Calligraphic" design on an 8 1/2" x 11" cotton sheet through my printer in a matter of seconds, peeled off the backing and then wrapped a small gift box.

What a great way to wrap bridal, birthday and anniversary gifts with your own personal design.

interlude: "spoonflower"

Spoonflower is one of those creative online resources that makes designsgirl dizzy with the design possibilities.

I ordered this swatch in a cotton voile with my "Freesia" flower illustration to show how custom Spoonflower fabrics can be used for table runners, placemats, table linens, baby shower decorations and more to match a wedding or special event theme. You can even make fabric invitations, too.

Cool, indeed.

Look for designsgirl's "hello love" fabric designs available for sale at Spoonflower this fall.

 

 

 

essay: wrapping a beautiful package

A box carrying a gift inside is a blank canvas for those with creative inclinations. Wrapping a gift can be a form of artistic expression full of possibilities with a few pieces of decorative tape, twine, buttons and paper.

Gift wrapping is au courant in today's design world. So much so, that there are wildly popular blogs devoted solely to paper and wrapping including ohsobeautifulpaper.com and hellosandwich.com. Lifestyle doyenne Carolyne Roehm has even written a book on gift wrapping called "Presentations: A Passion for Gift Wrapping."

There are no rules to wrapping a gift and there is no need to spend alot of money. Use your imagination with bows, charms, fabric, trim, doillies, fresh flowers or handmade gift tags- and make it a creatively enjoyable experience.

wrapped gift by designsgirl

 

'hello love" wrapping paper

I love to wrap beautiful packages. It comes from my mother.

So when I opened the "hello love" shop, I knew I wanted to have a high-quality wrapping paper in my "Everyday Greetings" collection.

My first design is called "Circles" which I designed based on the circles on my studio window curtains. Each 18" x 24" sheet is made of fine vellum and offset-printed locally in Denver.

"Circles" correspondence gift sets which include the wrapping paper sheets are available, too, at "hello love".

beautiful packages

My mother always wraps the most beautiful packages and elegantly-wrapped packages remain one of the most exquisite and sentimental sights for me.

photo by Max Kim-Bee in Traditional Home Holiday magazine

interlude: sweet stitches

There is something so special about a piece of fabric embellished with a few sweet stitches of thread.

I like to make gift tags, guest book/album cover panels and greeting cards with these ubiquitous notions. It is child's play for the grown-up crafter in all of us.

Visit  Rebecca Sower's beautiful blog for embroidery inspiration.

photo by designsgirl
 

shibori ribbon

Japanese hand-dyed Shibori silk is luxuriant and comes in the most vivid colors.

My mother gave me a gift of Shibori silk ribbon in which to create hand made flowers and to decorate my designsgirl packaging. The tactile stimulation of touching this material is addictive.

Shiborigirl, who makes each dyed and pleated ribbon, has an Etsy store to order her materials and also offers fabulous online class videos for making flowers from this exquisite ribbon.

hello embroidery

Jenny Hart, the talented Sublime Stitching maven, has made embroidery cool. I mean, really cool. Her iconic stitched portraits of celebrities are works of art and her embroidery kits, like this greeting card set, are a fun way to dive into a sublime stitching session.

photo and card by designsgirl