Friday, February 10, 2017

Another Lovely Batch of Fun-draising Cards


How does one go about creating a handful of cards to be made by many in an attempt to raise money for a good cause... well, if you're me, you just imagine what you would like to make if you went to said event and go for it! Or, more likely, you assess what you have in on-hand supplies, create away, and then leave the nest for a "needed" trip to Michaels :-)  Or, combine the two for a challenge and a shopping excursion combo win!
This is the third year my daughter's preschool has asked me to put together an evening of cardmaking for our parents to attend. I love helping other's, and fundraising has been a passion of mine for a long time, so of course I said YES! I know that most people don't create their own greeting cards, but they are much more fun to give out than the box store versions and often times cost less.
I knew my dad, Ed, would be in town, which meant my brother would also likely be in attendance, so I figured a Seahawks themed card would be more than appropriate. I've had my Aunt Lisa and her daughter Brianne on mind a lot this year, and their trademark shared phrase inspired my hand-drawn "I love you to the Moon & Back" card. Easter and Mother's Day are coming eventually, so I came up with a stained glass and heart motif that would last for a few more holidays. You can only give out so many Valentine's once you're out of grade school!
For my last card pictured here, I took a cue from the card I created for the Key Center Library's Second Saturday CraftWithAnna project and overlayed  a piece of vellum tied with twine on top of some stamped heart on the card base. A simple but wow! trick is to trace over your sentiment with some colored markers- hello perfect handwriting!
We will be at Key Center's Blend Wine Shop tomorrow night making this batch of goodies for your Valentine- stop by and donate $20 for your chance to make along side us. There will be couple extras for you over-achieving makers, too :-)
Speaking of over-achieving, this Spring, I'll be teaching a 3-week class in Greeting Card Making at the Tacoma Community College Gig Harbor campus through their Continuing Education program. We'll be making Mother's and Father's Day, & Birthday cards, Congratulations, Wedding, and a Holiday card too. From choosing a color scheme, to creating our own embellishments, to using our scraps to make more cards, I'll cover all the ins and outs of how I make a living! Keep an eye on this blog for more details to come...
Hoping you have a happy day full of love and laughter <3


Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Cause you know I'm all about that...

PAINT bout that paint, no troubles ♡

These last few weeks have been a creative whirlwind. Oh, that's no different from any other set of time in my craftalicious life, but I was lining up one "job" after another- nothing to complain about to be sure- and it seemed there were so many projects to complete, inspirational moments, brainstorming sessions galore... whew!

Good news: I have accepted fully, the fact that I am an instigator. Good news: I've used it to my benefit. Better news: I'm joyfully able to extend that benefit to others. 

Last weekend I taught two couples and a friend a painting class with the underlying theme of Relationships.  It was awesome to see so many unique expressions showing up on the canvases,. And speaking if unique, we added feathers to our birds! Yep, upped a simple fake bird acrylic paint job and transformed it into mixed media fantasticness times six (I included my in-class example too, tee hee)! 
I've been gifted a Valentines gift of a break from caretaking this weekend and get to travel to Enumclaw with my family (dad, younger brother, his gf, and her friend ♡ to a chocolate and wine festival. Can there be any better pairing ( except perhaps paper and photos)? Lol. 
Next weekend I've got back to back Valentine's cardmaking classes in Key Center; from 204pm at the library, and later that night I'll be fundraising for the New! Key Peninsula Cooperative Preschool Alumni Scholarshp Fund. I'm so excited about both of these make and takes  :-)