michelle my belle

colorful hand painted stairs

it feels so good to actually take creative inspiration and turn it into action!
i can't say that i do it very often. 
i'm always just trying to keep up with the "have to dos".
painting these stairs is solely for the purpose of FUN, and it has just completely invigorated me!

after 16 hours, through the night! (hence the poor picture quality!)
i finished at 8AM!
i haven't pulled an all-nighter in quite sometime... well, besides when traveling back from china.

it was a much bigger project than i had reckoned.

quite thankful to have done them on a table/floor rather than in place, attached to the stairs!
i think that would be a real bugger. and back-breaker.

the water and a bazillion brushes were probably cleaned at least 4 times!
for me that is some pretty serious painting time.

oh, i forgot to show you these fabulous stairs that i saw while in london last year!
unfortunately i can't remember the equally sensational shop they came from. :(

i CAN. NOT. WAIT. to show you the stair risers installed!!!!
they are going to look fan-tab-u-lous!
soon, very very soon!

major stairway inspiration!

some of you may already know this...
we're going to be moving soon. (i'll share more about that at a later date)
and there are stairs in the new place that lead up to my home studio.
much thanks to pinterest i've been uber inspired: stenciled stairs, wallpapered stairs,
rustic stairs, colorful painted stairs, artsy stairs. oh my!

1. stencil gallery  2. color between the lines  3. claudio paillalef  4. apartment therapy  5. style files 
6. french by design  7. pinterest

picture via the style files

oh to decide what direction to take!
so many fun choices...
do i go pretty? colorful? artsy? modern? simple?

and off i go...
my work cut out for me.
16 mdf stair risers and a lot of paint!

pretty stitched lady purses

i don't know if you remember these darling handmade artsy-stitched purses my mom crafted for us this past christmas?
lot's of ohhh and ahhs were had by the recipients!
they were the hit of all gifts.

so my mom and i had an idea...
why not see if we can get these made on a small mass scale.
let me just say- much harder than i thought it would be.
even china doesn't seem to want to mess with these babies!
we've had probably 5-6 factories turn us down due to complication.

but, finally i think we may have found one that's up to the challenge.
very exciting!
what do you think? like them?

fruits & veggies... asian style

happy friday!
have you noticed - i'm back to blogging!
my momma and i both made a commitment that we're going to take our blogs more seriously and post more regularly. :)

thought you might enjoy a few more pictures from my china travels...

doesn't look much different than what you'd see here at a farmers market.
except maybe that most the produce was just on tarps on the ground.

oh, and they had cages with live birds...
can't get much fresher than that.

chinese... they are people too!

many people, for some good reasons, have very ill feelings against china.
i understand... kinda.
BUT, they are people too!
they need jobs to provide for their needs.
same as any other country.
they have corruption... WE have corruption...

all that being said... i LOVE my development team and the people i work with!
i feel so extremely blessed to know this group of people.
they are kind, hardworking and honest.
the same things i value in people in this country.


i don't try to cheat them on pricing.
or work them down so that they are forced to underpay their workers, or take short cuts on materials.
we do a good honest business together, which benefits them and their employees and myself, my employees and the independent stores we sell to - that are out there fighting to survive.

just another perspective on doing business in china.

mom, china, food & chopsticks

yes, you guessed it.
i'm in good ole china again.
working on our 2012 allen designs winter line.

something special about this china trip- i brought my momma, karla dornacher!
we're working on an exciting project together...i'll give you a peek later. :)

my mom with one of our humorous hosts!

mom working on her chopstick skills.
and some of the yummy grub we were privy to.


i figured after yesterday's gross post, i'd show you some beautiful food to make amends.

a little incentive not to smoke...

just in case you were thinking about starting up...
seriously.
can it get any grosser than this?

and yum. right next to the tea.

wanna take a guess at my whereabouts?

here's another hint...

the cutest shop in minneapolis!

my friend april owns 3 shops in the detroit area and i love cute, fun stuff.
so the natural thing for us to do while in MN for the creative connection was to visit local cute shops.
patina, digs studio and my FAVE... i like you.
the pictures below depict just how awesomely killer, this all handmade artisan shop in MN just is.

chocked full of lovely art, cheeky quotes, gorgeous jewelry... and a SWING to boot!

even the outside is fun!


and the displays... out of this world!
this one is definitely on my DIY to make list.
i'm scheming of all the crazy items i can hold hostage in an upside down glass!

and let's not forget the absolutely adorable one and only...co-owner sarah sweet!
who makes this magic happen.

the creative connection

the creative connection was awesome!
i met up with gift show friends- april of catching fireflies and leigh of curly girl.
leigh went last year but for april and i, this was our first!

left mid: me, the infamous susan branch and april

i think there was a fancy dessert at every meal.
did anyone else notice that?
my pants are reminding me of it still to this day!

one of the workshops i took was with the lovely leslie shewring.
she was the inspiration for our 2011 allen designs catalog.
it was quite an honor to meet her and see her in action.

april, leigh, kelly rae and me

okay kelly rae, i think you and i need some heels... or new shorter friends!!!

jessica with her sweet washi tape pendant

kelly rae, me, claudine hellmuth and april

lizzy flanagan, leigh and ..... oops...can't remember her name! :(

cute girls from provo craft!

boy, i'm realizing i really hammed it up! 
there were so many inspiring women entrepreneurs, my head was spinning.

i came away with a long list of new aspirations.
i came away encouraged.
and best of all, i came away with new friends and phenomenal memories!
thank you jo packham, i'll be back.