January Class 1

Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying your December holidays. I can't believe the end of the year is almost here. I know I'm not ready for 2014 just yet, but in the hopes that maybe next year I'll be a little bit more organized, I have made a calendar book for my next class at The Craft Retreat!

I absolutely love the paper I used for this project. It's a BoBunny paper called Zip-a-dee-doodle. It was fun and vibrant, and even came with an awesome set of stickers that I am including in the class.

The class will be January 11th at 10:30-1:30. It will cost $35, and all materials you see will be included. You will need to bring scissors, a hole punch, glue (I like to use the ZIG 2-way glue pens and a liquid tacky glue), a ruler, and a paper cutter. With all the prep involved with this class, I will be letting the students cut out the calendar pages and month labels themselves. A paper cutter with a sliding blade is the easiest to use, but scissors will work just as well. All the pages are easy to cut and pre-sized to the correct measurements.

Each month gets its own 2 page spread, a calendar page, and a pocket to hold photos or birthday cards throughout the year. I made a few pull-out tags in some of the months as well.

The month labels I drew by hand to match the paper, and I will be putting a digital copy of those to purchase shortly on my Etsy store. That way those of you who cannot attend the class, or attend and just want to make another book, can use the one-of-a-kind labels for your own projects. Keep checking back to my blog for more updates!!

December Class 2

I finally have my cards finished! Hopefully there's still plenty of time for people to sign up. I think the cards make a beautiful set. Of course, the paper was beautiful to start with, so really I didn't have to do too much. :) I used the Graphic 45 "12 Days of Christmas" paper. While making these cards, that song was stuck in my head quite a bit.

For anyone interested in taking the class, it will be at The Craft Retreat on December 21st at 10:30-1:30 for $28. Bring the basic supply kit (scissors, 3D tape, glue, etc) and come make some awesome Christmas cards with me!

You should be able to sign up for the class online (here) in a few days. It may not be posted until next week. However, you are always welcome to call the store and pay over the phone and sign up that way. Or you can just come in some time to visit me! :)

December Class 1

Hello! I have two classes in the works for December. I'm still waiting on some parts to complete my papercraft class, but I wanted to try a ceramic class that DIDN'T involve firing afterwards. The class is on December 21st, so there's not much time to fire before Christmas anyhow.

At first I wasn't too thrilled about the way the liquid pearls came out on the ornament, but after I had it all finished, it started to grow on me. What else can I do? I really like the box and I think the ivory paper adds a nice contrast. In the class you will be getting the materials to make everything shown, and I will bring supplies with me. All you will need to bring is a strong liquid glue, scissors, and a paint brush set if you can. You can find some really cheap at Walmart. It will be at The Craft Retreat for $15, December 21st, 2:30-5:30. Makes a perfect last minute gift!

I do have another card class that morning, and as soon as I am able to finish it, I will post pictures. It's using the Graphic 45 12 Days of Christmas paper. It's so pretty!

Openin' Up Shop

Hello everybody!

After the craft fair yesterday, I was left with a lot more pottery and cards than I wanted to go home with me. I decided that they still need to be sold, so I am opening up an Etsy shop! I've debated it in the past, but I figured, why not? If it isn't working out I can always delete it in a year or so. I wanted to give people an opportunity to buy my cards and ceramics in a more professional format, where people can pay with a card or Paypal. So far I only have one listing- there is a craft fair next Sunday that I might sign up to attend and try another go at selling my pottery. I don't want to put up a bunch of objects just yet.
 
You can visit my shop (here!!)

I will be adding cards and more ceramics as I acquire them. I'm pretty excited and I hope this turns into a more profitable endeavor than the craft fair.


IN OTHER NEWS:

The class I scheduled at The Paper Collage for next week gathered no sign-ups, so I decided to cancel it. Hopefully I will still be able to teach there next year. I will definitely keep you updated! 

Winter Wonderland Class Revisited

We got a date secured for the Christmas card class at the Paper Collage! You can sign up for the class at this website. It will be November 27th, 10:30-2:30 for $25. Come and make pretty Christmas cards with me! Here's a picture of the class again to tempt you...

Thankful for Cards!

I have my next class coming up really quick. It's Saturday, November 9th at The Craft Retreat from 2:30-5:30. I like this bunch- they are super colorful!

  

Also- good news! I found another place to teach! It's called The Paper Collage, and I will be starting with the Christmas cards I just did at the Craft Retreat. So far I've heard that the samples are getting a good response. As soon as I am emailed a link to The Paper Collage blog, I will make sure to share it on here as well. I'm super excited to be teaching somewhere else. I plan on having a lot of fun with the classes, experimenting with different crafts other than card making. We shall see how it goes!

Cute little bee!

I got some brown tone Copics and of course had to get a stamp to use them on! Hair is a great way to practice coloring. I would like to make this into a kit to sell.

Class Update

Hello!

I've been a little preoccupied with things lately, and so I haven't gotten my latest class posted. I'm doing some fun Christmas cards, and I really tried to do something different with each.

I had a lot of fun designing these cards. The snowflake card is my favorite. :)

The class is at The Craft Retreat on Monday, October 21st, from 2-5pm. Kits are available with instructions for those who can't make it. 


Also on a good note, my card kits did pretty well this last month. I sold 9 out of 12 kits! I've already come up with some new cards that will be made into kits soon. Pics will be posted shortly.


Thanks for reading!

Halloween Kits!

I'm so excited to have my first card kits out for sale! Thanks to the support of The Craft Retreat, I'm starting to put myself and work out there for others to enjoy.

Woo hoo! There's so many! Here are some close ups.

 This one didn't make it in the kits- I haven't found the right size envelopes for them yet. But she's still a cutie!

Second class!

It's off to a slow start, but my second class as The Craft Retreat is coming up. Like I said, slow start- I don't think there has been any sign ups yet. I'm a little disappointed but I won't give up hope.

 

I think he's so darn cute! Keepin' my fingers crossed.

Catching up...

I've made a few cards since the last time I posted. One for my grandpa's birthday, and another for a friend's birthday.

I also made a pretty cool Mario Brothers themed card to go with the gift card inside. I used a few printed images from the web to keep the video game references exact.

 That was a fun one.


Anticipating a busy winter, I got started on my Christmas cards! I'm trying to keep them as simple as possible- layers of paper add up to a few stamps, and when you're mailing 50 cards, you don't want an added expense.

My first class of many to come...

It was awesome! Of course, I had some jitters starting out. But by the end I think the ladies were having fun and enjoying the project. I love that everyone did something a little different and made the boxes their own. Here are the little works of art:

Thank you to all the ladies who joined me, and hopefully there will be many more who will join me for some classes in the future. 

Card update

A few cards I have not posted yet:

I made this card for my dad for his birthday. I originally had made him the one below, but we got that hot rod stamp shipped to the store a few days before his birthday. He is the definition of a car guy, and I couldn't resist.

Making a masculine birthday card was definitely challenging. Perhaps this might be a good kit opportunity? We will see how the Halloween kits do, and if there's a place for this one.

Getting my kits ready!

The countdown begins- my class is this Saturday! And of all things to go wrong, one of the major components to my project is back ordered. Ugh! I'm hoping I can find it around town here so I won't have to make a big online purchase.

 

On a more optimistic note, I have 9 out of 10 slots filled, and I'm hoping over this next week the last spot will be taken. I might just go ahead and prep for 10 and sell the last kit separately if I don't get my sign-up. 

I've also been working on a photo album documenting the day my boyfriend and I went to the zoo. This has been keeping me busy. All that's left is the binding, then I can move on to my next project- Halloween card kits! I will be posting pictures of those of course after they're done.

Update

I'm really starting to love Copics. I used one of my colored stamps on a card this morning, and I'm pretty happy with the result.

 

I'm starting to get better at small details, but I realized it would be a smidgen easier if I got the missing grey value. So I bought that one at work today, and just finished this little beauty:

I'm working on textures and shadows. I gotta look up some tutorials! If I find any good ones, I'll share them here.

'Til next time!

Who knew? Copic's AREN'T scary!

After following some visual inspiration from a class instructor at The Craft Retreat, Jenn Dove, I had to buy some Copic markers. For those who don't know, they are alcohol based and range in a huge variety of colors. The blending capabilities are limitless. Due to their cost I could only start off with four colors: Black, Warm Grey 7, Warm Grey 3, and the colorless blender. I've been playing around with them a little bit and realized they are quite wonderful.

I went a little crazy with the dark values on this rose, and I realized that it's kinda difficult to stay in the lines. The colorless blender likes to bleed a little. It's probably because I'm using normal cardstock, and it's not durable enough. They are surely soaking through.

I LOVE the way this one came out. Again, gotta learn to stay in the lines, haha. But I was able to control the values a bit more and, with only using 2 greys and a black, I think I did pretty ok. I can't wait to get more.

It's official, mark your calendars.

I have a class at The Craft Retreat on August 10th!!

I'm featuring the Graphic 45 Bohemian Bazaar paper. It caught my eye my first day, and it took me a while to figure out what to do with it. Then tucked away in a little corner I found the perfect thing. It's called a "Coaster Box" and it has 6 little tiles that fit inside. This is the final project:

Each little card is double sided, and features one of the stickers that go with the paper set. I had a lot of fun coming up with the different designs and I hope the class turns out to be a successful one.

If anyone in the Glendale, AZ area is interested in taking the class, you can sign up at The Craft Retreat website. The class fee is $20 and you are able to pay on the website. I don't know how soon people will be able to sign up through the website, but it should be ready within the next week.

New Card!!

LOVE this one!! I was trying to incorporate the sparkle paper on a neon background, but that turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. After letting it brew for a while, I decided I still wanted to use the sparkle paper, but I need to put it on a grey background. Then it all came together from there.

It's kind of hard to see some of the details because of the flash and the shine, but hopefully you get what's going on.

Cards Galore!

I started my new job on Wednesday, July 10th. Since then my head has been buzzing with card making. There's something really simple and fun about it that makes it relaxing. Here is what I've made so far.

 

Don't judge my make-shift work area. My house is a little messy at the moment. :)

New Beginnings

Seeing as how my website has tanked a little and I need to get my work out in the world somehow, I decided to keep up on my blog and post my work as it happens. I do ceramics and papercrafts, and just got a job at the best little craft store called The Craft Retreat. My goal is to teach classes there and get some experience under my belt. Who knows where this will take me. So far I like what I've done, and I hope other people will like it, too. :)