Time for Creativity

Time for Creativity

Creative arts by Sharon Holland

I hope this post finds you and your loved ones well? I and my family are all well at this time and doing our part to social distance and be smart about things. Thank goodness the internet let’s us stay connected and less isolated but for the most part my normal day-to-day life hasn’t been impacted much! I rarely went out normally, because I work from my home and am generally too busy, to get away from my desk or sewing machine.

This social slow down has allowed me to do more of what I love to do best—create! I’m hoping it also allows you to find the time to do all those artistic and crafty pursuits you alway wished you could start.

Art Gallery Fabrics Spirited prints by Sharon Holland

Right now you’ll find dozens of fabulous quilt alongs happening on Instagram and what better way to dig into that stash of fabrics than with a fun, virtual sew along with your online friends!

I’ve joined in on the Star Crossing quilt along hosted by Lisa Ruble of Love to Color My World blog and love this quilt design in my Spirited prints for Art Gallery Fabrics.

Star Crossing by Lisa Ruble

Here’s (a virtual mock up) what my quilt will look like when finished. This medallion-type quilt design is rewarding to make because you see instant results from piecing and it goes together quickly. The sew along started last Thursday and will run until mid April so it’s not to late to jump in and get started. Find all the details about the pattern and quilt along on Lisa’s week #1 blog post.

If you’re not one for sewing along with others and want to just do your own thing in your own pace, don’t forget about all the FREE and for purchase patterns available on this blog. The shear number of projects from my blog could keep you sewing for a year or more!

Prairie Flower quilt by Sharon Holland

Maybe you’d like to use this available time to start some sort of new craft or learn a new skill? I’m currently getting reacquainted with painting and purchased an online course on painting with gouache paint from Lena Rivo called Color Mastery. You can follow my painting journey on my Instagram page @sharonhollanddesigns.

Here’s just a few highlights from my recent landscape paintings. The scenes are from a trip my family made to Arizona last September where we visited Sedona and Flagstaff area. Luckily I took a bunch of photos that I’m now using as reference for these small paintings.

Red Rock by Sharon Holland

Beating the Heat by Sharon Holland

Grassland by Sharon Holland

Gallery wall by Sharon Holland

Maybe this is the time to stop saying “I can’t” and start learning how to do! I’m a huge fan of Skillshare and as an ambassador, I can offer you two free months of premium access to any Skillshare class. Yes, that’s anything and everything you’d have the desire to watch or ever wanted to learn more about! Use this affiliate link to start watching and get started doing, today!

What are your goals, dreams, and plans for your new-found time? Let’s make good use of this new type of norm by helping ourselves grow and lending a hand to others.

Keep healthy and safe. Be creative and help others if and when you can. For daily inspiration, join me on Instagram as I keep things inspirational and post about my sewing, painting, and creative endeavors.

Big, social distancing virtual hug to all!

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

Looking Forward to the New Decade

Looking Forward to the New Decade

Resolutions have never worked for me. Instead, passion and goals are a much better motivator and reason for doing.

I don’t know about you but something about a decade change feels like it should be a big year. The last ten years I’ve been an artist, fabric designer, magazine editor, and back again fabric designer/author/quilt pattern designer. I achieved all those goals through continued education and passion. I’ve created an impressive amount of work during the past decade and this blog is visual proof of all that hard work.

Soul Searching

I’ve been struggling with whether or not to host some sort of quilting sew along or follow something I’ve been aching to do for a few years now—reconnect with painting. I know all of you would love a sew along and Maureen Cracknell and I have been kicking the tires on ideas but between our schedules and fabric collections it’s been very hard to nail anything down! The amount of advance work and prep is more than either of us can give right now. That doesn’t mean it’s an absolute “no” it just means I have nothing to announce at this time. Pursuing other aspects of Surface Design and being an artist means I need to put myself into my work 100% and follow my passion. This feels like the year to make that happen.

Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit Brooklyn Museum 2017

What I Need Right Now

One of the presents to myself at the end of last year was to buy the Georgia O’Keeffe Living Modern book from Amazon. I’ll have an affiliate link at the bottom of this blog post.

I was very fortunate to see the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum in 2017. The book and exhibit are more than an exhibit of O’Keeffe’s paintings—it’s about her intentional life style to reflect her art in every aspect of her life. Her clothing, home decor, minimal life style, and everything she touched supported her aesthetics. The exhibit placed her beautifully constructed and designed clothing amongst her paintings and photographic portraits. She was what we would call today a social media/branding genius. From her carefully curated outfits of black and white for studied portraits of her, of her with her art, and at home her Instagram feed (if she had one today) would be so polished and cohesive without even trying. I can only aspire to have such laser focus!

Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit Brooklyn Museum 2017

Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit Brooklyn Museum 2017

Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit Brooklyn Museum 2017

Now, I’m not saying I’m going to go off the deep end and becoming a minimalist or making all my garments but I would like to be more deliberate in my choices and find my painting voice again.

I’ve dabbled in many mediums and currently am in love with gouache because of it’s poster-like qualities and how it was used by textile/surface designers of the past. If you follow my Instagram @sharonhollanddesigns feed you may have seen my series of book covers. This is just something for funnies on the side—my real love is oil painting landscapes.

Book Cover Art by Sharon Holland

I love old books and especially the poster-like illustrated ones. The Old Santa Fé Trail is a book I own that’s a first edition, signed by the author in 1897. I saw a later edition online that had a green cover and liked that better than my copy so I took some liberties for decor purposes and went this a more colorful coloration.

I’m currently working toward having some of these book cover art offered as prints whether is will be from my website or from a print on demand service—it’s one of my goals for this year.

Book Cover Art by Sharon Holland

I had given my sister an original book cover painting for Christmas and had framed it before sending it off. I envision a reading nook or home library with my framed art and totally need to make a piece for this sunny corner in my office!

Mathew Boudreaux of @misterdomestic on Instagram is hosting an Auction for Australia that began Wednesday January 8 and will run until the following week. I will be adding a select number of prints to the auction so be watching his @mrdauctionhouse handle for my listings.

Continued Learning

The key to achieving goals is to never stop pushing yourself and never stop learning. Every new experience can build off old skills and open your mind to new possibilities—that’s why I love SkillShare.

Peace, Love, and Joy by Sharon Holland

Whenever I want to learn something or improve upon what I already knew—especially with technology that moves so fast—I can find it on SkillShare. If you’ve debated about trying SkillShare in the past this may be the year, the decade to give it a go! I am a SkillShare Ambassador and with it have the pleasure to give you a referral link for a Premium Free Trial of SkillShare. The Premium Free Trial gets you into every and any SkillShare course you’ve been wanting to see for two free months. You can learn a lot in two months but just think what you could do in a year!?!?

Right before the holidays I had a few extra moments and sat down with my iPad and Dylan Mierzwinski course on Illustration Practice: Lettering & Florals with Adobe Fresco. The wreath illustration above is what I made after watching her course and learned how to use a program I’d not tried before and loved it!

Bonnie Christine Focus to Flourish on SkillShare

My memberships (and your free trial) gives me access to Bonnie Christine’s new Focus to Flourish SkillShare course. Here, Bonnie gives us helpful insight into how to use our time wisely as creatives, create good habits, set goals, and basically go from dreaming to doing. Bonnie has inspired me to do more with my skills and find that balance between work and life. She also has corses on surface pattern design and is a phenomenal teacher.

Robert Joyner SkillShare courses

One of my very favorite fine artists to follow on SkillShare is Robert Joyner. His loose, expressive brush strokes, use of color, and technical skills help me to keep a fresh approach to my work. I’m basically going to go through every one of his course to get my oil painting mojo back!

Looking Forward

Prairie Flower by Sharon Holland

I do have a quilt in progress and will release a new pattern the end of this month or early February for sure. It’s called Prairie Flower and was the first quilt I made for my very first ever fabric collection with Paintbrush Studios (Fabri-Quilt). It seems fitting that this quilt started the last decade and brings in this new decade with a fresh remake.

Also, I’m working on a new fabric collection for fall of 2020 for Art Gallery Fabrics and over the next couple of month I’ll get that wrapped up. It’s very hard to work on that stuff behind the scenes and not be able to share for another half a year. Such is the life of a designer—I’m not complaining!

Wishing you all the best in 2020!

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

Gift Guide for Makers

Gift Guide for Makers

Let It Snow pillow pattern by Sharon Holland

Nothing beats a handmade gift like these all-winter decor pillows made from my free Let It Snow pillow pattern. But let’s be honest, sometimes it’s hard to find the perfect gift (handmade or store bought) for a fellow creative person or ideas for what you’d like to put on your wish list.

This year I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to work with several fabulous companies either as an affiliate (I get a small kickback on sales made from my affiliate links from this blog as a thank you for my promotion and time) or the company is a sponsor (company sends me products and I, in turn, offer giveaways on this blog or Instagram).

I only affiliate myself with companies and sponsors that I endorse 100% and feel their product or service is a true value and outstanding product. So, with that said, this Gift Guide for Makers blog post is mostly a product review of these amazing companies I’ve become an ambassador for and some of the links provided are affiliate links in which I will receive a small return from any sales made from those links.

The Quilter’s Planner

Photo courtesy of The Quilter’s Planner

I had the great opportunity to make a quilt for the 2018 Quilter’s Planner calendar and magazine. You can read about my quilt in the Share the Love: 2018 Quilter’s Planner blog post. Founder Stephanie Palmer and her amazing team not only produce an outstanding quality calendar and magazine they but host a block of the month sew along where the blocks are part of the fabulous magazine, they are a wealth of quilting information, tutorials, and support on their website, and they are all passionate, talented sewers themselves and truly lovely people!

Photo courtesy of The Quilter’s Planner

Wether you grab a calendar for yourself or for a quilting friend you’re getting way more than just a calendar. Check out all the features and options with this affiliate link HERE.

The Dutch Label Shop

The Dutch Label Shop asked if they could send me labels and in return, I would write a review of their product—nice! I was just about out of my old labels anyway so the timing was right but I didn’t just want any old labels and had to check them out before accepting the offer. I was impressed with what I saw on their site and images of the tags and labels printed so went ahead and placed my order.

I chose a Woven Logo label that center folds (the raw edges are sewn into a binding or garment seam). If you like the size I selected, here’s a screen shot of how to select this type and size of label (below). I uploaded my Sharon Holland logo design for a custom label but you can also work from their templates and fonts to create a label on their site.

When ordering a center fold tag like mine you want to know what size the tag will be once folded in half. I ordered a 2” high tag so when folded in half it becomes a 1” tag. If you sew it into a binding you will loose 1/4” on the raw edge side, so keep that in mind. The width of my labels are 2-1/4” wide.

I am slightly disappointed in the peach color I ordered but the color may have been affected by the blue thread used for the logo since this is a woven label. I did not opt to have a photo proof so I cannot tell you if the colors would have been true looking or not with a proof. Regardless, the labels are a fine quality and should do extremely well when laundered.

The customer service from this company is excellent but shipping is a bit slow so order early if you want labels for Christmas. I am please to be able to offer you a 15% discount on your order if you use the promo code: sharonhollanddesigns15 when ordering.

oliso

There are definitely many perks that come with my line of work and getting an iron from oliso is one of them!

Let’s face it, most of us don’t give much thought to our irons and pretty much dread that aspect of sewing. This pink cutie makes ironing almost fun! I still have yet to add any water to my oliso pro because I prefer to iron without steam for the most part. As long as the iron gets HOT enough like this model does I don’t feel the need for adding steam.

The outstanding and innovative feature of an oliso iron is the hydraulic lift system. It takes a bit of getting used to—to leave the iron flat but you soon adjusts your muscles memory of standing the iron on-end. Soon you also realize you’re not nearly as fatigued by all the lifting of that old iron.

The biggest selling point to me of this oliso iron is the safety. I’ve always been nervous about a traditional iron falling over if the ironing board is bumped. And as one that has always had kids or dogs under foot as I sewed it was a constant concern. This iron is so steady and responsive to lift the hot plate up off the surface immediately after your hand is off the iron—it’s a dream to use!

Side note: I just went to their site to get you the link and oh my goodness, saw they have a OLISO SMARTHUB™ that looks pretty amazing! Are you familiar with sous vide cooking? Well, check it out—it’s such a smart way to cook.

I get no affiliate kick backs from these links but oliso is now a sponsor of this blog which means in the future I will be hosting oliso iron giveaways for the oliso pro and for their new mini iron!

Skillshare

Give the gift of learning to yourself or someone special. Skillshare (affiliate) is an amazing resource for whatever you want to learn or improve a skill. I’ve had a membership with them for two years now and I’ll never have enough time to view all the incredible courses—there’s so many of them and so many being added! The beauty of a membership is you can watch an unlimited number of courses!

Here’s some screen shot examples (not linked) of courses but just about everything under the sun is a Skillshare subject:

Fundamentals of DSLR Photography with Justin Bridges

Watercolor Winter Illustrations with Olga Bonitas

Insta Creative | Documenting Your Creative Journey on Instagram with Linda & David

How to Sell Your Art on Etsy in 2017 with Melanie Greenwood

Beginner’s Guide to English Paper Piecing with Kylie M. Kelsheimer

The Beginner’s Guide to Fashion Fabrics: Wovens with Caroline Somos

Okay, those all look amazing, right? Many of these I have in my Class list and am currently watching. The great part about being a Skillshare affiliate is I can offer my followers a 2 month free membership! This allows you to watch as many course as you’d like for FREE when you use this Skillshare affiliate link. If you end up purchasing a membership after your free 2 months I will get a small commission from your purchase.

Color Master Designer’s Palette

I first introduced you to the Color Master Designer’s Palette bundles in my October 18th blog post HERE along with a free quilt pattern for the fat quarter bundle.

Art Gallery Fabrics has made gift giving easy with these beautifully packaged box sets or paper label bundles. You can give a gift of your favorite AGF fabric designer to yourself or a friend. Each fat quarter or half yard set contains 10 prints from across the designer’s fabric collections and are expertly matched to create a new curated palette. My Sharon Holland Designer’s Palette contains prints from Signature, Coastline, and Sketchbook.

Download the free Feathered Nest quilt pattern HERE.

For shops that carry my AGF Color Master Designer’s Palette boxes and bundles, see listing on my Fabrics page.

Bloc_Loc Rulers

As you remember from the Community Sampler sew along Bloc_Loc Rulers has been a wonderful sponsor on this blog. I only recently started using these rulers with our sew along and have no idea how I’ve lived without them all these years! I you’re going to ask for Santa to bring you anything this year and don’t already own some of these rulers you better put them on your list and be on your best behavior!

I just recently splurged for the Blooming Cogwheels templates and pattern book. You’re looking through the back of the templates because I haven’t even removed the paper on the templates yet. I also received a Pineapple template and am excited to test these babies out early next year. I just wrapped up my spring fabric collection (coming in May) and want to make some special quilts with these templates.

Hopefully you have a few gift giving ideas or maybe ideas for what you’d like to receive. It’s been a wonderful year and I want to say thank you to all of you that have been following along with my blog, sew alongs, and creative pursuits throughout the year. I’m hoping to make at least one more post before the end of the year and fill you in on some of my goals and aspirations for 2019.

Happy sewing everyone,

Sharon

A Creative Life

A Creative Life

September Bouquet by Sharon Holland

Believe me, I'm fully aware of how lucky I am! My sister always said I'm charmed and I think she is right.

My husband is a wonderful, kind, and giving man who not only makes me laugh everyday but has worked hard to provide for the family which allowed me to be a stay-at-home mom when our kids where growing up. He's always accommodated me in my pursuit of arts and crafts and supported all my dreams along with putting up with crazy photoshoots, sourcing excursions, and taking over the house as my workspace. 

Yellow Rose study by Sharon Holland

My recent time spent reconnecting with painting has me first, wanting to thank everyone for the out pouring of wonderful comments and support and second wanting to encourage you to pursue your dreams and goals as well.

You have to know by now that I'm a natural-born enabler, right? Well, I like to think of it more like a cheerleader for the arts whether it's for sewing/quilting, photography, crafting, or fine arts. 

Fox by Sharon Holland

With kids back to school and summer drawing to a close, it's time to start thinking about following some of your dreams.

Even though I have a background in art from my college days long ago, I still wasn't up to date with modern technology. If I hadn't of taken the plunge and gone back to school at age 45 I may not being doing all the wonderfully amazing creative things I'm able to do today.

Luckily, there's now an easier way to learn at your own pace and right from home. It's called Skillshare. I'm a such a big fan of Skillshare that I'm now a Skillshare ambassador!

Monarch on Coneflower by Sharon Holland

Skillshare is an amazing platform that lets you watch unlimited videos at your own pace the on every subject imaginable. Maybe you're interested in starting watercolors or learning how to draw? There's hundreds of phenomenal teachers from all over the globe are on Skillshare and ready to teach you what you want to learn. 

Want to be a better photographer? Yup, they have all sorts of levels from beginning photography to advanced. The courses are not just art related either, you can learn about how to improve your Instagram feed, be a better business owner, gardener, start calligraphy, learn the newest technology (like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign for example), and improve your lifestyle, health, and fitness. 

Summer Lace by Sharon Holland

Sometimes the hardest part is knowing where to start. When I wanted to start painting again I felt incredibly rusty but Skillshare helped me gain the confidence I needed to put pigment to paper again. 

So, if you're intrigued or still on the fence about what Skillshare could do for you, here's a sweet incentive for you to give it a try for 2 free months! Use coupon code: igamb1169.

Yes, no obligations other than signup for your free 2 months and start learning something new--today!

Here's just a few of my favorite teachers on Skillshare:

Leah Goren - Skillshare

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Bonnie Christine - Skillshare

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Katya Rozz - Skillshare

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Robert Joyner - Skillshare

There's no end to what you can accomplish and each Skillshare class is broken down into bite-size segments and class projects you can share with the class and get feedback from the teacher. You work at your own pace, access the classes at anytime, and rewatch as needed. 

So, what do you say? You have nothing to loose and everything to gain!!!!

Happy learning from your creative cheerleader,

Sharon