TSP SISTERS MARGARET AND PAIGE have been lucky to know writer, stylist, crafter and all-around super-duper sister-friend Kari Chapin for several years now, and we couldn’t be more excited to feature her and her new book, The Handmade Marketplace, here on TSP. Get the scoop on Kari and her take on sisterhood, and a chance to win a signed copy of her book! It’s all here.

Susan decoupaged matchboxes and tissue-box covers with sistery ephemera.

THE SISTER PROJECT IN THE PHOTO ABOVE STARTED WITH A LAMPSHADE. True. I brought a lamp in need of one in to a local shop called Shandell’s, where owner Susan Schneider makes custom shades and other things out of vintage papers and fabrics. In the process of picking material, I glimpsed Susan’s treasure trove of ephemera—things collected over 20 years by this self-professed “packrat”—and thought wow, what a sister story some of the bits could tell. I guess I said it out loud, and got Susan thinking. Visit our new TSP Galleries show of her resulting decoupage sister project, and get a chance to win one as a holiday gift. Susan’s story, and the contest, are here.

Our Songs of Experience, by Julianna Bright

WAY BACK IN May, we profiled artist Julianna Bright, whose magical images transported us (and, we hope, you) to a wonderful, fantasical realm. Now she’s got a new show open in Portland, Oregon, with incredible additions to her portfolio of works on paper. We hope you’ll revisit our profile of her and her work here, and if you’re in the area, stop by the Fontanelle Gallery to see her creations in the flesh (so to speak.) You can also purchase prints and her groovy new 2010 calendar at her etsy shop. Tell her the sisters sent you!

MY SISTER AND I SOMETIMES AGREE: We both love postcards, and snarky quotes. She returned from a trip a few years ago with a gift that scored on both counts (above). It’s of a handkerchief by Louise Bourgeois that could be our family motto. Looking at it the other day (framed, on my kitchen shelf), I challenged my TSP sisters to collect more examples of how to say it with needlework. A slideshow of their collected crewel words:

“Bite Me” by Julie Jackson at Subversive Cross Stitch

“Don’t Make Me Cut You” by Julie Jackson at Subversive Cross Stitch. We first saw this one on Sarah McColl’s blog, Pink of Perfection.

“We Would Both Be Wrong” made from the phrase robot on Subversive Cross Stitch.

“I Don’t Know” by Jenny Hart, hand embroidery and salvaged appliqué on satin.

“I love your guts!” Valentine from Sublime Stitching.

“This Work Never Ends” by Jenny Hart, hand embroidery on vintage muslin.

“Tough as Nails” by Katie Holland and featured on Sublime Stitching.

Embroidered handkerchief by Louise Bourgeois from an exhibition at the Tate Modern.