Star Charts and Little Lifts
Day 8 – Made to Matter: 13 Soulful Stories from the Studio
Some of my favorite pieces begin as afterthoughts—scraps and remnants that might be overlooked by anyone else. That’s how my decoupaged risers came to be.
I started designing these small wooden risers out of necessity. I needed something to elevate items in my display—just a touch of dimension to bring attention to handmade jewelry, small artwork, or candles. I gathered leftover wood from past projects, painted the surfaces, and decoupaged whimsical decoupage papers across each one. I wasn’t planning on making more than a handful. But to my surprise, they became crowd favorites—selling out almost every time I brought them to a show.
At first, it was just the function I loved. But the more I made, the more I began to feel like each riser carried a little story. I fell in love with the papers I used—vintage-inspired illustrations that reminded me of the "man in the moon" art from old storybooks and dreamy night sky maps. Some with soft eyes that seemed to watch over you. Some grinning wide like they were in on a secret. All of them whispering a little bit of wonder.
These risers are multipurpose, but they’ve always felt like more than just display pieces. People tell me they use them on their bedside tables, on their mantels, in their reading nooks. They become a display for items that you want to draw the eyes to, a stage for favorite objects, give height to your display area – and they in their own right are pieces of art. It delights me that something made from leftover wood has found such meaningful places in people’s homes.
There’s something poetic in that—a reminder that even the scraps of our lives hold potential. That joy doesn’t have to be grand or polished. It can come in small, unexpected forms. These little risers carry the spirit of possibility: that what we build from what's left over can still be beautiful, beloved, and brimming with light.
A Thought to Carry
Let even your smallest scraps speak with intention.
Joy often rises from the most unexpected places.
“Yours is the light by which my spirit’s born—you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars.”
— E.E. Cummings
Psalm 8:3–4 (NKJV)
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?”