Ashley Hackshaw Archives - Stephanie Corfee

In 5 days, a group of women, most of whom have never met each other OR Ashley Swenson Hackshaw, (of the now officially famous – since someone asked for her autograph yesterday!!) blog, Lil Blue Boo, will be posting their best creations on an online auction website. The goal is to help sweet Ashley defray mounting medical expenses that are inevitable when one fights like heck to beat cancer. Ashley is a designer, a writer, a mother, a wife, a daughter, sister, friend. I highly encourage everyone to read her blog. You will laugh a LOT, you will cry a little, and you will come away feeling crafty, inspired and empowered.

You can read about the auction here. And keep up with general auction updates and happenings on our friend, Amy’s blog over at Evy’s Tree.

Ashley didn’t ask us to do this. She would never. She is likely hugely uncomfortable (though grateful!) at the thought of so much love, prayer and attention being funneled her way. But that’s how it often is with those people we want most to help. They are humble, and giving, and lack even an ounce of self-centeredness.

Team Ashley, as we have come to call ourselves, is a motley crew. We are scattered all across the country (and CANADA!). We are crafters, business people, moms, friends, tellers of bad jokes(ha!) and sayers of prayers. So many prayers.

We hope that many will join us, and the 200+ generous-beyond-words-contributors to this auction which runs from February 27 thru 29th. Wait til you see the selections! Each contribution has been eliciting oohs and ahhs as photos have been coming in. Its like Christmas! You can actually SEE the love in each item, the care that has been taken in its creation. Folks have pulled out all the stops and sent us the most beautiful things. You won’t want to miss it!

For me, i wanted to create a painting that summarized my admiration for Ash, this person i have come to know as we’ve done projects together over the past year or so. Knowing how she loves to document HER experiences, i went ahead and videotaped the creation of the CHOOSE JOY painting shown above. CHOOSE JOY might be all you see in the finished piece, but the underlying meaning?….yeah…..its hidden in the paint. Its what i really feel when i think of my friend. She is outwardly so unassuming and easygoing, but its so clear her heart is full, and her compassion and generosity fuel her from within. i picked a song that seems so beautifully appropriate to her. i’m absolutely positive God pointed me to it online as i was sifting thru a sea of possible soundtracks. i’m sharing it here and hope you will enjoy….and maybe bid? i would surely appreciate it.

Choose Joy from Stephanie Corfee on Vimeo.

To all of my friends, family, followers who are reading this; the other items i’m offering in the auction are shown below. If you think any of them would appeal to you or your loved ones, i’d be so grateful if you would share the info for the auction. Or, if auctions aren’t your thing, there is a secure DONATE link in the right sidebar here. Did i mention THANK YOU? in advance?

Have a wonderful day everyone! Choose to be joyful!

xo,s

DECORATOR SET – a pillow featuring my original artwork, a print with a quotation from Ann of Green Gables, and a3.5″ diameter decoupaged trinket bowl with one of my illustrations, JOYFUL

DOODLE SET – a wood-mounted print of my artwork, “Doodle Sky”, a signed copy of my book, Creative Doodling and Beyond, and a 3.5″ diameter trinket bowl decoupaged with my artwork, “JOEY”

BLUESY – an original 12×12 acrylic painting on canvas inspired by Lil BLUE Boo

CANDY NECKLACES – a 20×24 original acrylic on canvas

A CUSTOM ILLUSTRATION OF YOUR CHILD – a “Lil Fashionista” sketch in the style shown above (the above is an actual custom i did in the past for a client). This auction listing will be completed by my own little hands, but was purchased by my dear friend and repeat customer, Kristina, for DONATION into the auction. She asked me as soon as plans were underway if she could buy a custom slot from me as her contribution to the auction. Is she the sweetest ever? or what?

The above print is one i had been working on a while back and just never completed. You may have seen similar typography style prints in my shop, but with a watercolor fill which i did by hand. In this case, i was just stumped as to what color scheme i’d use for this phrase. It wanted to be a bit more bold and less soft and washy like watercolor. Then along came Ashley.

i’ve had a life altering blog discovery a few weeks back. It’s called Li’l Blue Boo. have you seen it? You should. Artist, designer, painter, crafter, and creative ingenue, Ashley Hackshaw is the woman to know. She creates fabulous upcycled knit dresses with a patchwork, whimsical style that is too cool for school!! She also designs and lays down her own artwork as screens on the knits and incorporates those into the dresses! When she’s not sewing and screening, she’s raising an incredibly creative daughter and also painting gorgeous portraits and customized art for kids. And she shares her know how on all of the above through very easy-to-follow tutorials like this!

OK…..so now that THAT introduction is made, i’ll just tell you that after reading Ashley’s blog end-to-end in one sitting, i was oddly compelled to write her and tell her what an inspiration she is. i thought for sure she’d think i was a crazy lunatic, but most people do anyway, so i got to typing.

And she wrote back.

She was super sweet and wondered if i ever collaborated or wanted to? WHAT??? Me??? Of course!!!! Pinch me! i jumped onboard in a heartbeat and knew just what art i could send her to screen on these precious works of art. i sent the “When i Grow Up” print pictured above. More precisely, i sent her the outline of that art. She needed the one-color art for screening anyway, and i still had not figured out the fill.

The next day, it came to me. It needed to be filled with a joyous amalgam of color and texture. This was art meant for little girls and big girls who remember what it’s like to dream. It needed an injection of HAPPY! So i immediately pulled Baby Bohemia from my archive. After all, it’s been a very important piece to me. One that helped define my style and which has sold super well since day one. i had just recently made the artwork into a repeating pattern since i’ve been considering dabbling in a little textile design. Lucky for me, it was just perfecto for this project. See how it came together 1-2-3!

i wanted to make sure the print was listed in my etsy shop in plenty of time to coincide with the launch of our collaborative collection. Because, c’mon! Wouldn’t it be a sweet & super-unique gift idea to give a dress and the art that inspired it in one lovely package? Well at least i thought so.

Now, Ashley has been so kind as to give me the green light to use her photos to show glimpses of the work as it progresses. So far, she has selected ink colors and fabrics and made a pile of various screen printed fabrics to be pieced together in to these dresses. You can see those, along with some of the fabulous other offerings in her shop below. (The middle dress/tunic is BIG Blue Boo, for us stylish mamas!)

i am so, so excited for these dresses to hit the web. i give many, many thanks to Ashley for working with me. i mean, really, she’s doing about 95% of the work at this point! And i’d only offer one word-to-the-wise if you want to snag one of her creations anytime soon. LBB has a fiercely loyal and HUGE following, and dresses sell out FAST!, like- minutes after they’re posted fast. So be forewarned and be at the ready! Yippee!