A Haunted Cottage Welcome
Hello everyone, and welcome to My Haunted Cottage: also known as my updated blog space! Looking back on this past year, I realized that I definitely didn’t use this platform as frequently as I had initially hoped. Time passes by much to quickly, and the hustle & bustle of everything that has happened in 2023 certainly caused me to let this fall by the wayside.
Moving into the new year with less major plans on the calendar , however, has inspired me to begin this anew! I’ve been incredibly inspired by some amazing artists’ newsletters (namely Amanda Marable, Alicja from The Corner Studio, Jamie Green, and Addie Best Studio), and wanted to incorporate some of their elements into this blog with my own twist.
Speaking of newsletters - if you haven’t joined mine, please feel free to do so! I promise my emails are few and far between, but they contain updates, links to my latest blog posts, exclusive coupon codes, and the occasional goodies or freebies! The sign-up is at the bottom of every page on my website.
One of the biggest changes I want to make to this blog space is to incorporate my newsletter into my blog. Currently, my newsletters are very sporadic and all-over-the-place in terms of structure, but I’m taking a page out of Amanda’s and Jamie’s books to break it up into different sections.
This section of my newsletter will be dedicated to the latest news for Stephanie Art & Design. Whether that may be shop update announcements, dates of special events, market schedules, or general housekeeping - this is the place to catch up on everything I’ve been working on! As of right now, there aren’t any super big plans aside from this blog post because I’m still mapping out what I hope 2024 will look like (and recovering from the holidays).
Though I suppose some news I could share is that, as many of you know, I did a collaboration with Vograce back in December! I created a series of digital botanical artwork inspired by vintage floral stamps that were then turned into washi tape & wooden keychains. I am so incredibly impressed with the quality of their products, and I’ll be listing them in the shop in February! Creating these illustrations truly felt like a stepping stone in my digital art journey; I think they’ve really helped me find my style. I’ll talk more about my shop update later on in this post, but you can get a look at the unpacking video over on Instagram.
I’ve also finished sending out January’s linocut for this month’s Mini Print Club! I was inspired by the idea of exploring a wintry boreal forest for this season, so I decided to design a sweet lantern to light the way. This year, my parents gifted me a beautiful set of Pfeil carving tools for Christmas, and I love how detailed my cuts can be now! There are only a few spots left in my club if you’d like to join in time for February.
As the title implies, here is where I will be showing sneak peeks into how the magic is made. I’ll be sharing snippets of my life, both personally & artistically, that will give you a glimpse into all that goes on behind Stephanie Art & Design. If you want to see a more in-depth look as it’s happening, I highly suggest becoming an Instagram subscriber. Being a member of Stephanie’s Treehouse, which is what I call my subscription, comes with tons of perks, including a free digital doodle for my “Cabinet of Curiosities”. I may also start a broadcast channel on Instagram to give quick updates, but I haven’t settled on that yet.
This month, I’ve mostly been working on getting my shop update all squared away, which means photographing the products, editing the pictures, measuring up everything & writing all the listings, and scheduling them in my shop so that they go live at the proper time. It always ends up being more work than I think it would be, but that’s just one of the many tasks that comes with being a small business owner. Seeing my camera roll fill up with multiples of the same thing with slight variances in lighting or angles is rather common!
In addition to the admin side of things, I’ve also been working on graphics for both this blog post as well as the shop update! I knew I wanted to push myself in 2024 when it comes to the sort of artwork that I make, and my first “official” piece of this year is certainly something I’ve never done before. I’ll be sure to share it with you all next month!
With all of the “business” affairs out of the way, this section is meant to be more fun & on the “lifestyle” side of things. Here are some of the things that have had a great influence in my life lately, or what I really love & just want to share with the world:
Winter: I am a very seasonal person, and am always inspired by the yearly cycles of nature. This time of year, I often find myself craving a cozy book & a hot cuppa tea. My trip to Denver back in December of last year allowed me to hike a few snowy mountains, and I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed its beauty.
Emily' Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett: for those of you who don’t know me, one of my favorite hobbies is reading. Whenever I’m not creating, you can probably find my nose stuck in a book! This novel was my first read of 2024, and it was everything I had hoped it would be. The story follows Emily Wilde, a Cambridge scholar who travels to Norway to study the local fae there. Full of magical descriptions of the northern landscapes, explorations of icy faerie kingdoms, and [eventually] heartwarming friendships, this story left a wonderful impact on me this time of year!
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree: similarly to Emily Wilde, this book is an incredibly cozy fantasy novel that is actually the prequel to Legends & Lattes, which was last year’s February pick for my book club! In all honesty, I think I like this book even more than the original. Despite it having a warmer, more coastal beach town vibe than I expected, it still scratched that fantasy itch that I always get this time of year. I feel like being cooped up inside a warm home all winter long makes me yearn for tales of magic & adventure, similarly to how folks used to curl up around a fire to share tales long ago. It makes me feel like a little field mouse burrowing until springtime comes again.
The Emptiness by Alesana: This album holds a special place in my heart, because I first discovered it when I was in middle school. I had fallen in LOVE with the song “The Thespian”, but the entire album as a whole is a complete masterpiece. Back in Denver, when I was particularly homesick, I rediscovered my love for this band & listened to it on repeat. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem Annabel Lee, this album tells the story of an artist, his lover, and his decent into madness. I highly recommend giving it a listen all the way through! The themes of this album very much made me want to create an entire “gothic” Valentine collection this year, but we shall see how much I actually get done in February. Who doesn’t love a dark romance?
Victorian motifs, particularly Victorian puzzle purses: If you couldn’t tell from some of my past work (and honestly some elements from The Emptiness), I absolutely adore Victorian art. There were a few videos making the rounds online of people making “Victorian puzzle purses”, and as someone who had an affinity for origami as a young girl, I knew I had to try my hand at one! Beautiful paintings of cupids, flowers, and old birds from vintage Valentines certainly made their way to my inspiration boards in preparation for next month; I cannot wait to show you the one I made for Seth.
Here are a few things that I’ve been up to lately:
Reading: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - I’ve just finished the first section; wish me luck!
Playing: Hollow Knight on the Switch - it’s SO cute, I want to make fan art.
Watching: The new Percy Jackson series, which has its ups & downs.
Listening to: A lot of classic Disney soundtracks - my sister & I saw Aladdin at the Fox Theatre this past month, and I got a few Disney LEGO sets for Christmas!
Cooking: I think I’ve finally perfected my fried rice recipe - let me know if I should share it here!
Making: Galentines for a few of my friends, and some tattoo designs for my cousins!
This last section of my newsletter will focus on ending with a hopeful note - my goals for what I aspire to accomplish within the next month (or year, in this particular case). I think this portion will certainly provide some much-needed accountability on my part, especially since I can review how well my goals were met in the next post or so. While I know 2024 vision boards are rather trendy nowadays, I feel like my “vision” is constantly changing depending on my mood. Call me a little old-fashioned, but I also just enjoy writing out a few resolutions that I am confident I can work towards achieving. Here’s what I’m hoping to achieve this upcoming year:
In case it wasn’t obvious - keeping up with this blog! I may not be able to post every month (especially at this length), but I will make an effort to at least do every other month. I’m also considering including a free semi-monthly printable coloring sheet or downloadable for my newsletter subscribers, but I also don’t want to add too much to my plate when I already have a Mini Print Club! We shall see; this idea may be pushed to 2025.
Not spending any money on art supplies, but instead use what I have (I have a terrible tendency to hoard because I feel as though I’m saving it for a time when I’m “actually” a good artist, but I’ve come to realize that it’s just hoarding & it’s better to MAKE the dang thing rather wait for a day that will never come!)
In a similar fashion, not buying any books until I’ve read the ones I already own (my physical TBR list is a bit too long for my liking)
Create larger-scale pieces. Most of my work is done in one sitting, because I know I would never return to a piece once I put it down. My goal is to break that habit by intentionally working on lofty ideas that would require more time & energy. I need to slow down, rather than churn out quick pieces like a factory. I am an artist, not a machine!
Improve my foundational art skills. Back in December, I bought myself a few Domestika courses on anatomy, landscapes, and other subjects with which I struggle. I want to brush up on some of the basic art fundamentals to hone my talent & break out of my comfort zone. Portraiture, here I come!
Make all of my gifts this year, rather than buy them. I want to live more sustainably, and I love how thoughtful handmade presents are! It’s one of the best parts of being a creator.
Outside of art, I’d love to cook more, improve my skating skills, and read at least 50 books. We’ll see how well I manage my time on top of work with all of this, but I’m excited to be creating the life that I want to live!
As for this upcoming month, my focus will mainly be finishing up my first “official” piece of 2024, my Mini Print Club, and welcoming my cousin from Alaska to Georgia! I’m hoping to start working on my homework for Domestika near March, and I may also have some Galentine gifts in the works.
Well, that’s pretty much all I had for this newsletter. It’s definitely a lot lengthier than my usual blog posts, but I think since I’ve been journaling more I’ve found myself being a bit wordier than normal - I just don’t want to leave anything out, haha! If you made it this far, thank you so much for taking the time to peruse this. I hope it was a pleasant experience, giving you the time to stop, take a moment, and just read something with a few cozy vibes. If there is anything in particular you’d like to see in these posts, please feel free to leave a comment below. I hope you all have had an incredible start to 2024, and here’s to a new year full of new possibilities!
Love always,
Stephanie
