love forever

Squam Online Workshop: Abundant Wildlife

Exciting news alert! My dear Squam Art Workshops is holding it's first online workshop, in partnership with the wonderful Alena Hennessey, called Abundant Wildlife. Registration is open now and the class runs from April 30th- May 25th.


In Abundant Wild Life, you will have the opportunity to work directly with Alena as she guides you through a carefully crafted curriculum that is brimming with techniques and experience to help you deepen your connection with the best and most fulfilled...abundant, wild, life. Through mixed media, journaling, photography, meditation, interviews with successful artists and a little bit of magic,  Alena helps you explore a mind, body & spirit approach to creativity.

Alena is an extraordinary resource who brings a wealth of specific design skills (her client list includes: ABC Studios, Target, Urban Outfitters, Galison/MudpuppyStationary, Papyrus, Monique Lllulier, Lark & Loon, and the City of Chapel Hill, North Carolina) but even more, she is an amazing teacher and guide in the artful experience. I speak from experience: I took a class with her last September and it was awesome! After the class, I felt invigorated, refreshed and full of creative energy.

Find out more and wath the video about the class here.

 

Maskmaker, Maskmaker

As promised, my masquerade costume for the company holiday party!









Slightly creepy, but in an awesome way. I made a mold of my face and stiffened vintage lace over the mold using this magical stuff. I had to do about five coats to get the thing really stiff. Then I sewed sequins and more lace pieces all over the mask. For the collar, I used a pattern I already had, sewed together a few more pieces of lace, some more sequins and whole lotta feathers. I was afraid, like many of my well-intentioned ideas, that it wouldn't last through the night, but it held up through champagne toasts, sweaty dancing and serious photobooth posing.

Here it is in action at the party with a few of my co-workers/partners in crime. They all made their own masks too- hey, as the visual team we have to represent at a costume party!


Band photo!


Masquerades are so much fun! Hiding behind a mask for the night is oddly liberating. Usually I like dressing up for the party more than the party itself but put a mask on me and all bets are off!

Bookkeeping

It's been a while since I've talked books but this week was a busy one in Appliqué Your Way-land and I wanted to post some updates:

One, I finally re-linked both of my books on the blog. One day, they just disappeared like "poof" and it seriously took me this long to put them back up. And by me I mean Mr. Loveforever, who is way more tech savvy than I.

Two, my super-talented little brother Jesse is trying to raise money to produce his second record on Pledge Music (like Kickastarter but for musicians) and, if you so desire, you can donate by buying an autographed copy of my book plus a kit to make these woodland creature ornaments above. My mom contributed this project to the book and we made the kits together. It's a real family affair folks!

Three, you can enter to win a copy of my book over at the Clay, Wood and Cotton blog. All you have to tell them is what your favorite summer read was. Easy as pie.

Get Ready for the Craft Derby!

My pals Kristen and Kristy from the always-awesome store Clay, Wood and Cotton emailed me yesterday so I could share the news of heir first-ever Craft Derby! What's a Craft Derby you ask? It's a friendly little craft competetion. Every two weeks, on Tuesdays, they will put out a call here on our blog for craft projects following a different theme. Entrants will have two weeks to send in photos and a description of their project for consideration.

There will be two winners for each theme: a Judges’ Choice winner and a People’s Choice winner. The Judges Choice winner will be chosen by Kristen and Kirsty + a different Special Guest Judge each week. The remaining entries will be eligible to be the People's Choice winner, based on voting on their blog. 

And the best part: they will collect all of the winning projects in a book, which will be available for sale as a PDF download on ClayWoodandCotton.com, and in softcover in their shop in Beacon, NY. 

So head on over an get crafting!

Fall Leaf Napkins Tutorial on Parents.com

Fall is suddenly here and I am ready to nest. As soon as the cold weather hits, I start thinking about gathering friends and family together for big dinners. I always like to use cloth napkins; they coudn't be easier to make! I'll teach you how to print on napkins using fall leaves as your printing medium over on Parents Magazine website.