One of the projects i had the most fun with in the doodle book is this Family Seek n Find. Each family member drew their answers to a series of targeted questions. i made a key listing all the items drawn by each family member. Then i filled the rest of the empty space with random doodles. Framed under glass, the Seek n Find can be used again and again using wipe-able dry erase markers to circle each find.

My 5 year old is so proud he helped and shows his friends when they come to play.

Try it out with your family! Its a keepsake, a game, and a way to spend an afternoon of creating with your family, all rolled into one!

Nothing like the sun streaming through the studio window on a sunday afternoon. Endless possibilities. This is such a beautiful sight to me.

Every weekend i swear i will catch up on overdue work and get some fresh new artwork done.

Every weekend flashes by in the blink of an eye and i come up short.

But this weekend, for some reason….i got it ALL done??? …and then some. So that meant that i could spend some time this lovely sunday afternoon being creative.

i’ve been keeping a little secret. i was contacted by an artist/author whom i consider to be pretty. darn. great. and she asked if i wanted to be part of her upcoming Blog Book Tour! Wow! Yay! (Once my very wet-behind-the-ears-in-the-world-of-publishing self came to understand what that was, i was stoked!) Essentially, she’ll be guest posting on popular creative blogs all over the web in the coming weeks talking about the launch of her new book, offering tips and tricks. interviews, videos and the like. Its a press junket that doesn’t require leaving your couch.

Turns out that this artist is about to roll out her own doodle book this month and thought we could partner on some fun press opportunities!!

Now, this is the part where i get all soft and squishy thinking of how many beautiful people i’ve met since embarking down this road toward my dream of being a full-time artist. i have found this community to be so giving, so willing to help. Nobody is looking to hog all the limelight and i have yet to meet a fellow artist who has been anything but amazingly generous.

Anyway, i’m still going to keep the full details under wraps a tad longer, but i thought i’d post some little tidbits from this first collaborative project we are working on together. i got to do Phase 1, then pass my work off to her for Phase 2, then i get it back for round 3 and …you get the idea. i can’t wait to see what develops! Happy Sunday!

This past weekend was time for some experimenting. i found myself in the painting studio in the wee small hours just itching to open up all those dyes you see lined up on the easel. i dug through my stash of silks leftover from my old wedding gown design business and found a suitable piece of habotai silk. i ripped it to a 36″ square and taped it to the back board. White duct tape. Classy. i’m certain it would have been nicer to stretch the silk onto a frame for painting, but did i mention it was the wee small hours? And i was just experimenting after all, what’s the worst that could happen? A few hours and a few episodes of PSYCH later ( i really love that show!) and i came out with what you see on the board.

The next day, i used fabric markers to add doodles all over the silk as well and here is what resulted.

It was so interesting to see how the intense looking colors in the jars translated to such watery, transparent colors on the fabric. i used Dye-na-Flow silk paints from Dharma Trading. i chose them because they seemed the most user friendly for beginners and are just heat-set with an iron. i am a very low maintenance kinda gal. If you start talking about crafts that require lots of odd ingredients and equipment, i sorta zone out. PLUS! they have a really nice variety of shades and colors….PLUS! they are economical enough to get a whole bunch to experiment with…under $3 for the small jars! My parents actually gave these to me for my birthday in november. Mom is awesome about getting you just what she knows you wanted! Thanks mom & dad!

The silk project was super fun and it made me want to try another project that i cannot believe i’ve put off so long! Lino Block Stamp Making! i have made all sorts of mickey mouse temporary stamps in my day out of potatoes, corrugated cardboard, foamcore etc….but never tried carving linoleum before.

EPIPHANY!!!!

Even though i just picked a simple design for my first time out, and wasn’t super meticulous cutting it, i know i’m hooked! Now i have visions in my head of shelves and shelves of unique patterns and such. Cutting the block is just so relaxing!

Here is the first little bitty block i cut.

And since i didn’t have a specific project in mind for it yet, i just added a few plunks of this design to the background texture of a new painting. Can you find it? i sorta obscured it with other designs….but the stamp will have its day in the spotlight sometime soon. Definitely.

“BLUESY” – 12×12 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

And what’s REALLY weird is that when i logged onto Facebook the day after i posted this, there was a very matchy-matchy post right below it in my feed!

Its the Pantone Spring Color predictions for what’s gonna be hip & happenin in 2012!? i am SO not hip & happenin. How did my brain know to use just about every color in this palette? Must’ve been all the PSYCH i was watching rubbing off on me. : )

If you read this blog with any regularity, i’m sure you’ve seen me post wonderful things, collaborations, observations, etc about my friend, Ashley over at Lil Blue Boo. She is an amazing individual.

In addition to being a talented artist, designer, business owner, she is also a generous humanitarian. Whether it be collecting sewing supplies or hair bows to girls in africa or donating to her local shelters, she has a heart of gold.

Now, if you also follow Ashley’s blog, you know she has been fighting cancer. Not cool.

A bunch of us in the Team Ashley Camp are working on a top notch, highly organized auction of fantastic handmade items to help offset some of Ash’s mounting medical expenses. She’d do it for any one of us, and we happily do it for her. In fact, i can’t think of a more giving, selfless person who deserves the giving be turned in her favor for a change. i’ll be posting auction details here soon. We are shooting for the end of February and the goodies we’ve collected already are PHE-NOM-E-NAL! its a testament to how much she is cherished in this community.

In the meantime, the notecard above is just a teeny way to help. Ashley made up some thank-yous like these at Christmastime for her little girl. They are so fun for your kiddos to use and help reinforce the great habit of saying “thank you”  – in writing – to those we love. Download the card by clicking below and your $1 will be sent to Ashley …to add to her donut fund maybe? we hear donut molecules can kick cancer molecules’ butts!

Your download will include a 4-card page (each card measuring 5.5×4.25 – an A2 envelope) and a 2-card page (each card measuring 5×7 – an A7 envelope). The larger size is helpful for younger writers who tend to have LARGE penmanship : ) Just print the page you like to a standard piece of letter size cardstock and slice it up! Instant thank you notes whenever you need them.

Thanks in advance for your support!!  xo-s

$1 Fill In Thank You Notes for Kids

i’m experimenting with my new waterbrushes and creating a “color puddle” to use as background color/texture for a new illustration in pencil. Seriously, anyone can do this. You literally CANNOT mess it up.

Watercolor by Twilight from Stephanie Corfee on Vimeo.

Next time, i’ll work on my lighting  : )

Update: here’s what i got to wake up to the next morning! its why i love to work with a very puddly page…..the edges and the surprises you get when the painting dries are my favorite part!

just messin with my new waterbrushes that i got for christmas.

Hi everyone! i sat myself down at the computer last night and drew up a bunch of lovey dovey goodies for you in time for Valentine’s Day. First, I’ve got 4 valentine cards that your kiddos (or you!) can give out to friends. You know you wanna! Second, i made some lovable graphics suitable for making iron-on transfers for tees. Take a look! The girly transfer says “You know you love me!” and the unisex one says “leavin a trail of…” with a broken heart graphic. The broken heart comes in a red-on-red color palette(not shown) and a red-on-black color palette.

Everything is bundled in a 2-page PDF download.

The cards are oh-so convenient to print on a standard, letter-size piece of cardstock. Cut the page in quarters and you’re done! OR, add some glitter and marker pizzazz if you like.  The 2nd page graphics are great for iron-on transfers so you can channel your inner Cupid. But they could also be used for stickers, posters, placemats, whatever! 

If you go with the iron-on transfer plan, i highly recommend Dharma Trading’s Super Soft Transfer Paper. It doesn’t give that thick plastic feeling. Just make sure to choose the “print mirror image” option in your printer driver when you print off the transfers, that way the image will be right-reading after its flipped and ironed on.

Happy Valentine’s Day!! – xo, stephanie

Valentine’s Day Cards and Graphics – $5 instant download

its here! my doodle book is finally here! actually, it came late december, but who has time to blog amidst making MANY christmas cookies and wrapping lots of goodies? : )

2011 was such an amazing year with milestones, joy and tears. So my first post of 2012 is really a thank you to all of you who supported me the whole way through this whirlwind year.

From watching my belly grow week by week on Facebook until out popped a beautiful baby boy only a few weeks before my firstborn turned 5! i cannot believe i have a kindergartener now! hmmm, and factoid: that room in the photo is a lovely pale shade of grey now.

….to cheering me on as i illustrated my very first book, and got to see it on the shelves at Barnes & Noble!? i didn’t care if i looked geeky….i snapped an iPhone photo or 2 when we spotted it! : )

…..to continuing to cheer me on even when it was probably getting PRETTY boring – as i DOODLED my way to writing my 2nd book. MAN! i really could not be more humbled by the people surrounding me. You guys never complained about how blah my facebook posts were all that while. that’s totally impressive….cuz they were REALLY blah.

i closed out the year doing a lot of painting….a lot. see?

and hung a solo local art show that is actually still up thru january at Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore, PA. Its a cool coffeehouse/LIVE music venue that our family really loves. i highly recommend the breakfast sandwiches! i’ll be taking down the show at the end of the month and will try my best to find homes for all these babies. my house cannot contain them. 3 of them are 4 feet square! so keep me in mind if you are looking to splash some color on the wall.

lastly, a new little book i collaborated on at the tail end of the year is slated to come out in spring and i can’t wait to share the details. But until then…

…x to tha o my friends. i am truly thankful because i couldn’t have done any of it without you. i sure do hope that 2012 holds many blessings for all of you and your families.

Here’s a sweet idea for a quick Christmas Eve crafting tradition!

Make some memories with this holiday WISH ornament you can print and color using just basic white cardstock and a B&W printer. Just Click the image below to start your FREE download. Color, cut out and fill-in your families wishes on the pieces. Glue them back to back for a nice, sturdy ornament. Punch a hole and thread with ribbon for hanging! i’ve included the “2011″ on the first ornament, but you can print multiples of the blank version so you’ll be able to repeat this tradition for many christmases to come and reflect back on past wishes each year as you decorate the tree. Imagine reading your kiddos’ 6-year-old wishes someday when they are 18, 28, 38….ah memories. Merry Christmas everyone!

Just in time for the holidays! Here is a super-simple printable that just uses plain old letter size cardstock. Each print, cut down the middle, creates 2, A2 sized greeting cards that you or your kids can color for teachers, friends and family. The perfect festive craft to keep the kids busy for a while this holiday season. And an easy fix for those a-ha moments when you’ve forgotten a card and have no time to dash out to the store.

Here’s what it looks like:

Your download is immediately available upon purchase! Happy Holidays!

$1.00  COLOR-ABLE HOLIDAY CARDS DOWNLOAD