Artful Play Workshop Schedule

Ready for some Artful Play? This weekend I toyed around with these repro vintage button cards and think it would be a fun class. I purchased the vintage plastic hangers at Craft Depot. Sorry, I won't be able to provide those for the students.

Students can make them into a book or banner.

Button Card Workshop
Description: Embellish 12 reproduction button cards. I'll provide the paper and embellishments, just bring your basic tool kit (scissors & glue). You'll have extra supplies to make up to 16 button cards total.
Date: Saturday, Feb. 25
Time: 1-4:30pm
Costs: $35


Mini Santos Workshop
Description: Make a Santos doll from polymer clay. Measures about 5" tall. I'll provide all supplies.

Date: Saturday, March 24
Time: 1-4:30pm
Costs: $30

Found Chic Jewelry Workshop
Description: Make a necklace with chain, pearls & miscellaneous bling. You should bring your own focal piece and any other favorite items. I'll provide the chain, clasp, wire and filler pieces and help you create a one-of-a-kind necklace. I'll have some focal pieces for sale too.
Date: Saturday, April 21st
Time: 1-4:30pm
Costs: $45

Send me an email to sign up: artfulplay@gmail.com and I'll fill you in later on the details and confirm your seat.

Valentine Girl & Workshop Info

I decided to play with some of my new supplies today. I love this K&C valentine card kit (purchased from Michael's). They prepared an adorable jump start for a valentine card/project.

Today I was at Dollar Tree and found these large clear pebbles (approximately 1" in diameter)...I thought, this could be fun for something.

I also picked up these embellishments at Joann's today. These are from K&C...they're not new, but I've never bought them before.

I recently bought some new stamps from Character Constructions and have been stamping and cutting during my spare time this week (after work and before bed).

This is what I've came up with after playing around...

The chocolate candy in her hand came from a card from Diana G. - thanks D.

On another note, I'm finally planning some workshops to be held at my home. I'm thinking of having one in March and one in April. One workshop will be a "found-chic necklace" and another workshop will be the "mini-santos doll" (polymer clay)...stay tuned. I've been buying supplies to get ready.

Also, I got an email today from A Work Of Heart Studio(http://www.aworkofheart.com/). They asked if I would teach my Burlap Santos doll that was published in the Winter Somerset Studio Gallery. I said "Yes" and will be teaching this project sometime in June or July. The studio is in San Jose...come join me if you're in the area.

Wonderful Cake Box Class by Diana Giambrone

Yesterday, we celebrated my sister Frances's birthday by having a three-tiered cake box class taught by Diana Giambrone (http://di4art.blogspot.com/). Below are the samples made by our wonderful teacher:

The class was so much fun and these boxes are just adorable. We made the boxes from scrapbook paper. Each box can be opened. The completed size measures just 6" high and about 4" wide. Below are the ones we made.

Some of us made more than one. The pink/green ones with Maria on the top was the class kit. The other cake boxes were the ones we made using our own stash of paper and embellishments.
As you can see in some of the pictures, the theme of the party was Twilight, my sister's favorite movie and Robert Pattinson being her favorite actor.

 We all dressed in black and white (except Frances, cuz it was a surprise).

Lana, Kacia & Pat

 

Below is a close up shot of the first one I made.

Here's the second one I made - four tier with a frozen charlotte on top. The other two in the background are the ones Rachel made after the class was over. I showed her how to do it and she whipped these up in no time last night. She plans to make more and put her clay figures on top.

Happy Birthday Frances! As you can see, Frances changed her clothes...during the party she ran home to dress into her Twilight clothes. Ruby made that fabulous shadow box for her. If you look closely, you can see a shrink plastic Robert Pattinson necklace I made for Frances.

Love that candelabra candle holder! I got that at Urban Outfitters.

It was such a fun day crafting and being with family and friends!

Candace Kling Ribbon Flower Class

Yesterday, I spent a wonderful day taking one of Candace Kling's amazing Ribbon Flower classes. We focused on Fuchsias and Pansies. Tricia was a lovely hostess in her beautiful home.

Above were our ribbon flower inspirations, all created by Candace.

Below is how the fuchsia starts. This step is called mother hubbard's cupboard.

 This is my board at the beginning of class.

Did you notice that green pick-up truck pin cushion? I made that Saturday morning before class. I've been wanting to make this ever since I saw Cathe Holden's post on making a pin cushion from a pick-up truck. Her example was a bit bigger, but I haven't been able to find just the right size yet...so this little match box truck will have to do for now.

Here's my sister, Maryl concentrating on her flower.

 And my other sister, Frances, working on her piece very carefully.

 Here's a picture of all the student boards...

Below is Fran's flower board. I took a picture of her board separately, since she had to leave early...such beautiful flowers.

Here's my final board...

Picture of me with Candace.

It was a great class, I learned so much and the setting was just perfect!
The last item I wanted to share with you is this ribbon holder from Joann's. I love this storage holder for my washi and wire ribbon. Michael's doesn't carry this one, I checked. I think I need to pick up a second one.

2 More Collaborative Calendars To Share

This week, I received two more beautiful calendar months. If you've been following my blog, you know that I'm participating in a calendar swap with 11 other Catherine Moore fans/artist. See earlier posts for more details and to view the other calendar months.

Below is July, created by Teresa Gifford from Wisconsin.

Then we have August, created by Linda Waryln from Illinois.

Both such beautiful calendar pages! This past month has been like Christmas every day...running to the mail box, waiting for the mail person to show up with a document mailer. We have just one more to complete our year. We're anxiously awaiting for March to arrive.

This swap was so much fun that I want to organize one, too. Maybe a charm swap. Each person makes a charm that can be hung on a necklace or bracelet. You make the same charm for each person that is participating in the swap. You send the charm to each person and in return you get one from everyone in the group. At the end you end up with a necklace or bracelet full of unique charms. Hmmm, anyone interested? If so, let me know. We'd probably have to come up with some guidelines/theme. Dolls, mini books, toys, valentine, nature, bling, etc.

Mini Restaurant Remodel

I did something I've never done before - advise a restaurant on some remodeling tips. This is how it started. My husband and I usually go out to lunch together every Thursday and Friday (those are the days I tend to work from home). We have our favorite restaurants and Shan Dong in Oakland Chinatown is one of them for lunch. They serve Northern Mandarin cuisine; it's different than your typical Chinese Cantonese style restaurant. They specialize in hand made dumplings and noodles and a little more spice than usual. We've gotten to know the owners, Charles and Tiffany - they're so sweet and one day they asked if I could help pick out a new wallpaper for them. I often bring in Stampington magazines to read and so they thought I was some sort of artist (ha). Well, my first thought was (working on a limited budget and time frame of 2 weeks), "No more wallpaper - let's paint instead". So, long story short, let me show you some pictures...

BEFORE...

 They had lots of red lanterns hanging...

They posted various red signs on the wall and yellow tables (that weren't going to be replaced)...

And assorted pictures here and there.

During the remodeling...

They removed the wallpaper.

And here are the AFTER pictures...

I selected the wall colors and recommended how to hang the new pictures...

I sewed the black and white panels for them (they were red before).

We removed the red menus on the walls.

We removed the red lanterns.

So, now I say it looks a bit more modern and high tech. I love gray with yellow.

 I consolidated all the pictures into one frame. I have more to hang up soon.

And this is how the restaurant was last Friday at lunch. It's usually always packed at lunch time...I mean if you don't get there before 12:15pm, plan on waiting for a table. What a fun project this was and I'm so glad everyone enjoys the new look. It's a small restaurant with great food, friendly service, at a great price! If you go there, tell them Connie sent you :-).

Tomorrow, I'll post a couple more 2012 collaborative calendar pages to show you (July & August) - they're fabulous!

More 2012 Collaborative Calendar Pages

It's been so much fun checking the mail every day, waiting for another calendar page to show up. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm part of a collaborative calendar project initiated by Chris Capista. 12 people participated and each person created a page using Catherine Moore stamps. I have 6 new months to share with you...ENJOY!

Let's start with January, created by my sister Lana:

Next, is Ms. February, created by Jackie Peters of Oklahoma.

We have our Halloween themed month, created by Lisa Bruno also from Oklahoma.

All the way from France, is December, created by Vilma Gasnier.

June was created by a designer for Character Constructions, Laura Haviland from Ontario.

From sunny Florida, Barbara Smith created November.

And last but not least, created by our founding stamp designer, Catherine Moore, is September.

WOW, are they fabulous or what? I love each one, they all have something so creative and unique. I'm still waiting for a few more months (March, July and August).

I have more exciting news to share in the coming weeks. During December, I helped with a minor restaurant remodel (definitely a first for me) - I'll show before and after pictures later. Then, I was recently asked to create a piece to be displayed at the 7 Gypsies booth at the CHA show this month - I will be showing you what I had to work with and the completed project (once the show is over).