Welcome

  • Great design is good for the soul. It is like eating a piece of chocolate or watching a beautiful sunset. It affects us on many levels. In ways that we are not even aware of. It has healing properties. It is my wish to help inspire those around me and in turn inspire myself. I hope that you enjoy my blog. Stephanie Ryan

Daily Affirmations

  • I AM ALWAYS GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. I HAVE UNLIMITED ENERGY AND MOTIVATION. LIFE IS EASY, AND I RIDE SMOOTHLY THROUGH IT!
  • My body is a precious temple.
  • My possibilities are endless!
  • I let go of all expectations.
  • I am worthy.
  • I am Beautiful.
  • Just for today I will not feel fear.
  • Just for today I will not worry.
  • This or something better now exists for me, for the highest good of all concerned.

July 03, 2008

To be Proud of Someone

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I hope that you all have a great Independence Day weekend. Tomorrow, we will be celebrating the 4th by attending a going away party for our nephew Fran Misantone. Our brave 19 year old has enlisted in the Army and will be leaving for boot camp on the 9th. We are so proud of him, and wish him nothing but the best. It takes quite a man to make such an important decision like this, especially with the world the way it is. So please, remember all of our soldiers out there making sacrifices for our Liberties. We love you Frannie!


Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.

-George Washington

Fun Find: Michelle Brusegaard

I love these prints I found on Etsy by Michelle Brusegaard. I have a thing for all things miniature. Michelle also has a virtual booth over at Poppytalk Handmade.

July 02, 2008

Pattern Play

Here are some patterns I have been playing with. They are all inspired by existing Blue Pumpkin Press designs.

Have You Ever Been....

Have you ever been to Kris's Color Stripes? I highly recommend it. I am a color junkie and am inspired there daily.

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(images from Kris's Color Stripes)

July 01, 2008

Back in the Saddle.....again.

I am back from my great weekend! We had such a good time, the wedding was so much fun. Congratulations Rod and Katrina, we wish you a lifetime of happiness.
I drank too much, danced too much, and yapped too much. Is there such a thing as too much? Naaahhhhh. It was a damn good time. So, I have a renewed spirit and am ready to jump in with both feet. If there are any other workaholics out there, I highly suggest taking a break. Here are two great print's from Groundwork.

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(image from Groundwork)

June 26, 2008

Taking a Long Needed Break.

I am leaving for a nice long weekend. My husband and I are going to a weekend wedding on a lake up in the mountains of Pennsylvania. It should be a lot of fun, I can't wait to drink a nice cold beer and look up at the stars over the lake. I need a break. I promise to make a wish to the stars and the Universe that we all are able to express our creative hearts and live our true destiny. I also promise to drink some beer for all of you as well... or maybe some wine, I can't decide. I am leaving you with a picture of some of my crystals, a quote, and a picture of my dog Maisy...just because she is so cute. Have a great weekend, see you on Tuesday.

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Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.
-Walt Whitman




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Have a happy weekend! 


June 25, 2008

Random

I was looking through my pictures in iPhoto and came across this cool photograph taken at the  State Capital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Picture 5 (images © Stephanie Ryan)

June 24, 2008

Blue Pumpkin Press: Festival Collection

I am so happy to debut the new Festival Collection by Blue Pumpkin Press. Invitations for fall, Halloween, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Years. I hope that you enjoy them! To see our entire line, please visit our website.

 
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(images © Blue Pumpkin Press)

June 20, 2008

If I Posted About This Kind of Stuff, Would you Still be my Friend?

Would you still be interested if I posted about things like this? Here are some things that I have created in the past. Small sparks of creativity dowsed by the weight of day to day life.
This is it by the way, besides my stationery design work. Fleeting glimpses of insights into the life that I want, followed by the incessant voices of my left brain mind chatter telling me that I can't do it. Would you be interesting in seeing more of this? Would you still visit my blog? Should that stop me?

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If I Were a Blog, What Kind of Blog Would I Be?

This is the question I am pondering. I have been loving my blogging experience, but feel like it's not quite right. This all started about a year ago when a psychic told me that I would be a writer or some kind of a scribe. I immediately laughed at her and said there is no way I could be a writer...HA! She was a bit upset with me and said not to discount it. I have never written anything, and quite honestly I have trouble talking, let alone writing. I don't even want to discuss my poor grammar and having to go to summer school in the 10th grade for English. So, I pushed that craziness out of my head and went on with life as usual. About 5 months later, I started getting interested in blogs. I knew they were out there but didn't explore them much. The first blog that really caught my attention was Hello, my name is Heather. Why? I think it was because she designed patterns for fabric and her blog was so beautiful. I also fell in love with her studio and I think it really resonated with me on a deeper level... I want to do that. 

My life at the time was not great. I have a full time job (that I really like) but it is an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half drive from home. My fault, because we rented the house we are living in after I got the job. We decided on this place because it is close to my husbands work and it is amazing. It is a 167 yr old stone farm house on a hundred acres with a stream that runs by the front of the house. I couldn't pass it by, plus the rent was cheaper than all of the places that were closer. It was meant for me...I will cover that in another post. Anyway, I was pretty depressed because of my commute and I was having some issues with my partner of the stationery business, which was eating up any free time I had. Things were not good for me, my energy was so low. (My partner and I have since resolved our issues and are very happy.)

One night, I picked up my laptop and got in bed and decided to start my own blog. Just like that, the thought had never crossed my mind before. I needed for something to be my own. My design work at work was not my own, and my design work for my stationery company at the time did not feel like my own. Oh, and I still hadn't thought about the fact that the psychic told me that I would be writing.

It took me a day to pick the name and TypePad as my provider and about a week of working every night to design the site and get started. I had no idea of what the content would be. I just knew that  I needed to be inspired by something and that hopefully that would heal my wounded soul. That is how I came up with the name Design Healing . There was a point in the beginning where I had 3 blogs all linked together. Design Healing was design oriented, Our Healing Circle was more new age/spiritual in nature, My Journal, was just that, my journal. I buried that one in my Our Healing Circle blog because it was so personal. I eventually limited it to the blog that you see. My problem is that I haven't felt 100% connected to any of my blogs. They just weren't right, but there were pieces of them that were.

I started to really think about this lately. I have a hand full of blogs that I look at everyday. They are wonderful and unique in their content. I can feel the passion behind the writers of these blogs. Decor 8, Design for Mankind, Please Sir, Creative Thursday and The Black Apple are just a sampling of my favorites. Please see my blogroll to view the rest. Is my blog unique? I think some aspects of it are, but not as a whole.  I think my heart is in the right place but my content is not. So, I thought about what first attracted me to blogging and it was the Heather Bailey site. She was making things... I love making things! I would love to have a blog that was more about my creative life as an artist. I would love to spend my free time painting, designing, and sewing. I would also like to share more about what inspires me at my core, both creatively and spiritually. I think that is why I find myself over at the Creative Thursday blog a lot these days. Marisa is a huge inspiration to me. I think her site is a nice mix of all things. I think it is the model for my new blog.

I think I will be keeping my Design Healing name (for now) but slowly will be changing the content. I do love showcasing the work of artists and designers but there are so many better blogs out there that do that. It will still be something that I do here, but it will be a smaller part of my content. I want to share my work and my life more with you, with the other stuff mixed in. This change may take a while because my time is so limited, but I feel really excited about this decision because it means that I get to play more. My first step in this new venture is to take some sewing lessons. Yes, 11 years as a doll maker and I never learned how to sew. I taught myself some basic stuff and am really good at making pillows (cause they are easy).

To start off my new blog I will be posting some things I have made in the past. Thanks so much for listening. I don't know what I would do without you. Much love.

June 18, 2008

So Loving: The Designs of Johanna Basford

How great are these wallpaper designs by Johanna Basford? Love them!

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June 16, 2008

Can I Inspire Someone?

It started with a truly wonderful gift of kindness by Emily Martin from the Black Apple , to  Marisa Haedike at Creative Thursday. Emily had a Giveaway over at her blog and Marisa was one of the winners.
Marisa just embarked on a new creative journey of making handmade soft sculpture pieces of her very successful line of character's that she paints. What perfect timing for Marisa to win a package filled with scraps of fabrics and notions to help her along her way. I learned about this on Holly Becker's blog Decor 8. Holly had the great idea to pay it forward. Read below, or check out the link.(you have to scroll down to the post) So, I decided to join in. I recently got my studio back together after being in storage for months after we moved. I knew I had some things that I could share, plus what a perfect excuse to play! I was a dollmaker for 11 years and miss playing and making things with my hands. Most of my time now is spent on the computer. Holly started her post with "It's time to inspire and be inspired!" How true that is. Not only am I able to send a fun package of inspiration to someone, I am in return inspired to play more. I hope this helps Holly, and I hope the person receiving it has some fun playtime with it too.

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Studio scrap (images © Decor 8 and © Stephanie Ryan)

June 14, 2008

Fan of A New Earth? Watch this.

If you are a fan of A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, you will most definitely enjoy this. Named one of Time Magazines most influential people, and featured on Oprah's Soul Series. Jill Bolte Taylor's book, My Stroke of Insight, lends physical proof to the ideas found in The Power of Now, Stillness Speaks, and A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. I recommend tuning into the free webcast on Oprah.com as well. I hope you enjoy it, and remember every time you hear that brain chatter, push it away and focus on the silence.

If you are having trouble with the video, go here to view it.

June 12, 2008

Happy Birthday Creature Comforts!

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Creature Comforts is turning one! In honor of this special event it's creator Ez is having a Birthday Giveaway Extravaganza !!! Check it out. Here are just some of the prizes.

Picture 15 (images from Creature Comforts)

June 11, 2008

A Little Press Never Hurts.

How cool is this? My Batik design for Lenox Simply Fine is featured as one of iVillage's Tabletop Trends.
Woo Hoo! It is the one on the bottom.

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(images from iVillage)

June 10, 2008

Kimura Glass

This beautiful glassware is from Kimura Glass Co. At less than 1 mm thick these little works of art are an elegant edition to your table. Beautiful!

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(Images from Kimura Glass Co.)

June 05, 2008

It's finally starting to sink in...I think.

My Blue Pumpkin Press business partner Jessica and I decided to not go forward with our Licensing Rep. This was a very hard decision to make. First, I would like to say that I really liked the rep, she was very nice, but we didn't feel like it was the right fit. I know crazy right? It is very hard to get a licensing rep to even return your numerous emails, and I am passing on having one represent me. Here is my thought process. It took me 3 weeks to put together a body of work that would take most months, there is value in that, no? Everything looked really great, and there was a lot of interest. The process made me more confident in my abilities, something I struggle with even though everyone tells me I'm crazy. During the process, the rep gave me suggestions on what BPP's product should look like, " bright and bold colors with Happy Birthday written on things, palm tree's and flip flops are big sellers"...oiy. Then came the resistance in sharing information. I was told that they couldn't promise regular updates on what company's my work was being sent to, and that I couldn't be copied in on emails because they represent other artist. Okay, I can understand that a bit. But my confidence in them branding us effectively was wanning. Anyway long story short. I think I had a problem with someone with less experience than me, telling me how to represent my work. Trust me, I am no slouch in that department. A psychic told me a little while ago that I would start being successful when I start marketing and selling my own work and I think it took this experience to show me that I am capable of doing that. Am I crazy for thinking so? Gosh, what a horrible thing it is to have an underachieving ego. The struggles I go through with self-worth are the pits. The immediate plan is to get the stationery business up and running so that our name gets out there. Oh, very cool news!!! We are in Union Street Papery in San Francisco. Sorry, had to throw that in there. Where was I? We just hooked up with a new printer and have a hand full of quality reps waiting for our sample decks. That is priority #1. I am also updating the website, then I am free to play a bit. I am going to create my little heart out, and just have fun. I have fabric on the brain, I have to try to design for fabric before my head explodes. I think I will know when the time is right to do the licensing, and when the time is right I will try doing it myself. Sorry for the thinking out loud, it helps me to sort these things out. I will keep you posted. Thanks for listening.

June 04, 2008

They stopped me in my tracks...Poppies!!!!

Love, love, love them! I was checking out the Modish {handmade goods} site and stumbled upon these beauties. Super sweet. Coral Poppy Pins by foundling.

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(images by Jena at Modish {handmade goods})

June 03, 2008

So Inspired: The Art of Patrick Dougherty

I found this link over at Cherry Coloured.(a very cool blog by the way) It is the work of Patrick Dougherty. His installations are amazing! Check him out.

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Picture 26 (images from Patrick Dougherty)

It needs to be written.

  • Copyright Info. © All personal designs, images and written words are copyrighted 2007-2008 by Stephanie Ryan unless otherwise credited. Please do not copy my original art or written words without my permission or without noting its origins on your post. Thank You.

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