So many thoughts fighting for attention in there and suddenly, it couldn’t take it anymore and off it went.

All because I’ve been frantically getting the site for my studio done–you know, the local NJ/NY Metro outpost for Make Great Stuff: Jackson Street Studios.

And now, it’s finally, officiiiaaaalllllllly………………………….Done-Ish!

What do they say–don’t let the pursuit of the perfect get in the way of the good? Right–so that’s what I’m doing. I mean, not doing….Er, one of those–the one where I’m okay with the “good”.

So as you can see from the above sentences, I’ve worked my head off and am officially fried, but I must say that I’m getting rather fond of my little site–it’s improving every day.

And I AM super excited by the class I’m teaching. Will you please take a look?

The Creative Breakthroughs Technique–A Collage Workshop

That’s what I’m calling it. Because it’s such a fabulous way to break out of a rut and ditch the self-censorship. With just enough structure to support you if it’s been a while since you made anything, but with plenty of room to express yourself.

This isn’t a class where you just copy a technique, make something nice, but secretly still doubt your own skills. It’s a way of helping you re-connect to your own creativity again. For finding your voice (again). I mean, there’s no point in your finding my voice for goodness sakes.

What was it Oscar Wilde used to say… “You might as well be yourself, everyone else is taken…”? This class is all about that.

Everyone in the February workshop marveled at how different each person’s work looked at the end, which made me ridiculously happy. Same technique, many visions. How right is that? So right.

And I must say that I have some kick-ass art tools and supplies as well as an extremely cool collection of wooden Indian fabric stamps (which everyone really loved). Plus a lot of weird bits and neat vintage paper and embellishments. Cool supplies are half the battle.

I teach a new technique each time before we get started, and last time I shared my secret stamping and embossing trick–something very, very simple that no one ever does, but makes the process soooo versatile. And almost everyone tried it. Yay!

But what’s really great about this workshop is that you don’t have to make space, own supplies or have ideas. Just show up! Yes–let’s re-ignite that creative fire!

And even better, when we’re all done and the studio looks like a truck just ran through it, you get to go home and not worry about it. No clean up required. Admit it, that’s awesome.

I’ve got all the details at Jackson Street Studios–including a 2 minute video to give you a taste of what happens at the workshop. I’ve included it here: (If you’re reading this in an email, you’re going to have to visit the site to see the video. Aw, c’mon, It’ll only take a sec.)

Neat right?

My next class is on March 26th, with a screamin’ good deal available for those who sign up by March 19th. Won’t you join me?

If you live in the NJ/NY area and could use a creative breakthrough or three, this class is the perfect thing.

If you don’t live in the NY/NJ area but need an excuse to come to New York for a long weekend, now you’ve got one. Sign up for my Friday night workshop, create and take home a beautiful matted work of art (flat–easy to fit in a suitcase), and then spend the rest of the weekend hobnobbin’ around the city. Good times.

In addition, I’m offering the workshop monthly because participating regularly can build you some great momentum and catapult your creativity forward. Take the workshop once, thrice or every month like clockwork, it’s up to you! To get you started, I have a special price for your first visit.

We had so much fun at the February workshop–everyone learned, took chances and surprised themselves. I’d love to see you there.

If you can’t come or live far away, could you do me a favor and forward this to someone who you think could benefit from participating in a workshop like this? I appreciate it!

What do you think? Are you ready for a creative breakthrough? Are you creating like mad already? Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

Last winter she gave a fantastic Ted Talk and I thought I should share it here in case you haven’t seen it.

It’s a great talk on creativity, “genius”, success, fear of failure, and the cultural stereotypes of the “unstable artist” and how we might rethink that. I hope you enjoy it–she’s very engaging.

(If you’re reading this in an email, you’ll have to click here to view the video.)

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Yes! The Telecrafting Teleseminar is next Wednesday, Dec. 16th  at 4pm. Whoa–time flies–Christmas is just around the corner! What does that mean for you?

It means that if you’d like to make a gift or two this year, and you’d like some support in the way of carving out a structured time to get it done, then you’ll need to order a Glitter Decoupage Ornament kit soon soon soon, now (ish), so I can assemble it, pack it and ship it out so you get it in time for our Dec. 16th rendezvous. I’m excited.

So, if you want to participate in the free conference call, you’ll need to order by this Saturday morning EST at the very very latest.

(Of course, you can always order the kits right up til Christmas day and make them whenever you’d like.)

Everything gets sent out priority mail, so if you live on the West Coast and you’d like to join in on the call, it might be better to order today, so I can get it out to you by Friday.

Testimonials

If you’re still on the fence, click here to read a couple-three testimonials from happy ornament kit crafters. I’ve gotten the nicest emails and Facebook & Twitter feedback–everyone seems to be having a really good time.

If you have any questions, btw, that you need answered before you can buy, feel free to contact me and I’ll get back to you asap.

Other Fun Stuff

Cool Drawing Warm Up/Loosening Up Exercise

I stumbled across this wonderful “artist warm up exercise” on Instructables.com and wanted to share. I think I’m going try this one out myself–it looks fun and is a great way to get jumpstarted. Click here to view.

“Creature Scarf” for a Kooky Kid in Your Life

The crazy scarf looked so fun and could be good for either girls or boys. If you’re not a super experienced sewer, it seems to me like you could use velcro instead of a button, but maybe all the crazy hairiness would get stuck on the velcro bit…I don’t know, check it out and see what you think. Cute and fun. Click here to view.

Sewing Tidbits in Your Future

When the weather gets cold, I always get in the mood to sew. And sewn items make great gifts.

If you’ve been thinking you’d like to sew up some zippered pouches for the holidays (to save money, reduce your stash and give something handmade and wonderful), I’m working on a good explanation for making them easily. There’s actually a very good explanation online that another sewer made that I want to share, but I’m trying to foolproof the technique a little bit to help everyone have maximum success. I hope to have that info up next week.

In the meantime, check out my pep talk and accompanying how-to video on threading your sewing machine.

In fact, if you love to sew, or would love to get better, consider joining the site/forum patternreview.com. I’m more of a “lurker” there rather than an active participant, but I love getting the discounts on patterns (with way more choices than the Big 3), have taken online classes with some great teachers (Shannon Gifford teaches there, and is an excellent sewing teacher–so generous with her time), and receive an email every day filled with pattern reviews from other sewers.

These reviews are a great way to learn about good/bad patterns, see how different people make the same pattern, and learn tons of nifty tips and tricks as people share great zipper insertion techniques, waistband workarounds, and more. It’s a big community of sewers ranging from raw beginners to seriously advanced experts. Check it out here:  http://patternreview.com

That’s It!

Have a great weekend and don’t forget to order up your Glitter Decoupage Ornament kits–Christmas is just around the corner!

Are you making any gifts this year? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear!

Don’t confuse this with actually knowing about astrology–I can never remember the significance of this house or that, but I find it completely fascinating all the same, and I love getting my weekly reading from Rob Brezny’s Free Will Astrology, because it’s always right on, and his writing is so life-affirming and expansive.

I share this little personal factoid today because I’m thinking something is terribly “retrograde” in the stars this week (for just me or you too?), and it’s only Tuesday. Ugh.

For my subscribers that got that perplexing blog post this morning–sorry about that! I was creating a new PAGE for my kits, but somehow got confused and created a POST instead, which I deleted close to INSTANTLY when I realized my mistake, but somehow Google/Feedburner saved it all and then sent it out to you. Of course they/it did.

Which is ironic because when I do want them to send things at certain times. they won’t.

And then I had a painful (for me anyway) exchange in an online business forum which felt hard and awful but I eventually realized was a great opportunity to discuss the pros and perils of asking for and getting *FEEDBACK* here in the blog, since making things and getting feedback (requested or not) go hand-in-hand. I’ll share my wisdom, confusion, thoughts on that in my next post.

There’s more, but I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that I decided if the stars are gonna go all wonky on me, two could play that game. When the going gets tough, the tough go…to galleries! So I’m going to the Met this afternoon because I always feel incredibly soothed in that temple of art and I want a big hit of something that will nourish my soul.

My soul, however, isn’t just hungry for fine art and elevated ideas–it also enjoys a good belly laugh, so I re-watched a “music” video on YouTube called Craft Talk–so funny and silly, especially for those of us who like to make crafty things.

I thought you might also need a belly laugh as well, so I’m inserting it here–click here if you’re reading this in your email and want to watch the video. (Shout out to LiseDaddy, a friend and subscriber to this blog who showed me this video in the first place!)

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If you also find the video funny, leave me a comment about your favorite lines (one of mine is “work through the pain-workin’ through the pain”), I’d love to hear!
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Please watch the how-to video at the end of this blog post, because it lets you see if it’s something you’d like to try before buying. No risk!

A Perfect Holiday Project for a Creative Woman with NO TIME to Make!

If you’d really like to make a few gifts this holiday season, but are now worried you’re too crunched for time–take heart! This project is the perfect solution. Fast, fun and super easy, you can make these in an afternoon.

This is another great small gift idea like the bookmarks I wrote about the other day. They don’t take long to make, they look super pretty, and they’re something the recipient will enjoy every year when they decorate their tree.

This is actually even easier than the bookmarks idea, because the kit has everything you need to get started–no thinking or planning required!

Perfect as a special little something for co-workers, great as teacher gifts because your kids can make them with you, and so nice as  that extra surprise tied to a gift bag or bow that makes a gift so much more touching, because you made it.

I’ve taught a lot of different techniques in my day, and glitter decoupage is one of the most popular, I think because it’s easy, relaxing and meditative, and there’s really no way to screw it up. You’re pretty much guaranteed an attractive result without having to work hard for it. That’s a nice change.

This kit is also a great way to give yourself a creative treat as well, because making things feels good. When we’re pressed for time, it’s hard to give ourselves that feel-good making time without a “good reason.” Making something as a gift is that good reason.

It’s also a really nice way to have a creative experience with someone else:
invite your best friend over (who you practically never get to see) drink a glass of wine together, make ornaments and talk–all the while getting some holiday shopping making taken care of at the same time!  You can’t ask for more than that!

Great for Ornament Parties

Speaking of socializing, these kits are also great for ornament parties. If you buy three “Buddy Packs” (6 ornaments per kit), I’ll send you the fourth one FREE. That’s 24 ornaments at 4.50 an ornament. What a steal deal.

Could be a cool different thing to do with your book club, or to offer at your holiday party, or to suggest for an office party, so everyone doesn’t just sit with the same people that they work with everyday and talk shop, but instead mingle with folks from other departments as they make an ornament.

Nothing breaks the ice better than making something together.

Okay, so you can tell I’m excited, but I’ll stop now. Here’s the how-to video, I’d love it if you’d take a look. (If you’re reading this in an email, click here to get to the site.)

Click here to learn more about buying a kit.

Happy viewing and please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

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Or we try to make something we think is popular, hoping it will sell well and we can make a living being creative, but somehow, we find ourselves out of touch with what we really want to create or express.

Well, listening to NPR this weekend, I heard about a man named Pearl Fryer who made his art on his own terms and turned his South Carolina yard into a living sculpture garden, and the art world (and everyone else) came to find him.

Pearl Fryer never studied art or considered himself an artist. His initial motivation to create a garden was to defy traditional bigotry in his neighborhood and win the coveted local “Yard of the Month” prize.

He went down to his local nursery to buy a two-ball topiary to be his starting point, but instead, the nursery owner gave him a three minute how-to lesson on cutting his own, and that started him collecting discarded plants and sculpting them.

Over the next two years, he developed his style and began transforming his property into an incredible abstract living sculpture garden.

He not only won “Yard of the Month”, but his abstract topiaries are now commissioned by museums and collectors, and the beauty he’s created has drawn visitors from all over–which in turn has ended up improving the local economy. Ah! Art can change the world.

His story was so inspiring that I had to look him up on the internet and find out more.

Below, I’ve inserted a trailer for a documentary of his work and garden, as well as another short video about his connection with a local college and art students. (If you’re reading this in an email, you’ll need to visit the site to view the videos.)

No Obstacles

Pearl Fryer is a role model for being willing to experiment, to listen to the work in front of you, and simply make what you feel compelled to make. He listened to his heart and made something beautiful. He expressed himself, transformed his space and improved his community by creating on his own terms.

Unencumbered by the rules of the local tastemakers about “good gardening” he made something great instead, something they couldn’t have dared or imagined. How often is the truth of what our hearts want to make smothered by our adherence to the perceived or prevailing rules of taste or trends in our own lives?

He must have worked for a long time on those trees before they transformed into the shapes he was imagining–they must have looked strange and plain and half done for a long time before that foliage filled in. It can be hard to have your unfinished work exposed to the world and its judgment. I’m glad he didn’t care, because if he did, we wouldn’t have this incredible final product to enjoy.

What would you make if, as they say, you were sure you would not fail?

If we carry that thought an important step further, who would we be and what would we do if the possibility of either success or failure was not even a consideration in what we decided to make, but instead we simply followed our intuition, made things that we needed to make, followed our inner creative desires and whims unconcerned by how it may be received, or by ideas of “good” and “bad”?

Documentary DVD

I’d love to see his garden in person someday, but since I’m not sure when that will happen, I ordered the documentary about his life and garden from Amazon this morning. I can’t wait to watch it. If you want to check it out, just click here.

If you’re not sure if you should buy it because you don’t think you’ll watch it more than once or twice, why not buy it, watch it, and then give it to your local high school art teacher afterwards, so she can to show her students an inspiring example of  creating from the heart. I’m sure she’d be thrilled.

Share your thoughts about this video, Pearl Fryer’s work, or about following your heart in the comments section below–I’d love to hear from you.
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You can watch it here:
(if you’re reading this in an email, you’ll probably have to click on the title above to come directly to the site to watch)

I’d love to know your reactions to this video, so feel free to comment below!

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And hang onto your (wooly) hats, because that’s not all. October 3rd is the International Day of Felt and as a lapsed art felter, I decided I better participate.

And I think you should too! In case you’ve never felted before, my cunning plan is perfect for you too because it’s small, fun, and a great first time felting project.

Felt Rocks

Well, yes, felt does rock, but for the International Day of Felt, I’m going to actually felt some rocks.

I’ve done a lot of traditional wet felting in my day–which is the classic, ancient technique of wetting, rubbing and shocking wool batts until they begin to mesh together–and I love it.

But I’ve never made felt rocks before, and when I saw a huge pile at the Cooper Hewitt show, they were just so weirdly satisfying to look at and feel, I thought I had to make some myself. (I actually thought they were wool all the way through at the time, but they do, in fact, have rocks inside them.)

If it goes well, I’m thinking these might make wonderful holiday gifts (inexpensive, cool, and you know nobody is going to say, oh gee, I already have one of these…) So if you’ve been very good this year, you might get some rocks in your stocking!

A Great Video

Terry Pike, a friend from Facebook, is a felt artist in Florida who makes all kinds of felt projects. She has a site called Felting Lessons that is jam-packed with very thorough videos on several felting techniques–wet felting, nuno felting (LOVE this, I’m doing this next) as well as a GREAT video on creating felted rocks.

Watch Terri teach us how to felt rocks right here: (If you’re subscribing by email and don’t see the video below, you’ll have to visit the site to watch!)

She also offers tip sheets and supply lists to accompany each video which you might find helpful. Visit her site for more information or to watch other great felt-making technique videos.

Rock On

You might think you could just go in your backyard and pick up a few rocks, and be ready to felt. But if you live in a more urban setting, or all your rocks are very jaggy, or both (that’s me), you might actually wonder where you’re going to find the right kind of rocks to try this project.

Go to your local, full service garden store or nursery. Lowes or Home Depot might not cut it, but a place that offers landscaping services or pond making supplies, will probably have big bins of soft rocks that they sell by the pound. I just went to my favorite local nursery, picked out several stones I liked, had them weighed by a bored teenage boy, and I was off.

Wool Suppliers

When I was a poor art student, I bought my wool shorn straight off the sheep. It came in a huge trash bag from a sheep farmer and was very uh, pungent. I had to wash the dung out of it (that took forever) and then I had to card (comb) the fibers into batts using a hand cranked drum carding tool. Boy, was I in touch with my art materials.

Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to buy clean, dyed, carded wool roving online and start felting. Most art felters use Merino or Corriedale wool, and I’ve hunted around for a few online resources to help you get started. I haven’t ordered from them personally, but they all looked promising.

The Felted Ewe:

I personally love to use undyed wool roving because I love the range of white, silver, grey, brown and black that are the true colors from the sheep. The Felted Ewe has a nice range of undyed roving here:

http://www.thefeltedewe.com/naturals.html

But if you just love color, or want to participate in the International Day of Felt (in which case you’ll need yellow, orange and red roving because those are their color parameters this year); The Felted Ewe has a lot of color options here:

http://www.thefeltedewe.com/dyedroving1_15.html

Alpaca Direct:

This online retailer has quite a cool range of all different types of roving for knitting, spinning and felting. They sell Corriedale wool under a heading called “Colonial” –not sure why, but click here to check it out. (They also have merino if you prefer.)

Outback Fibers:

These guys actually combine merino and corriedale wool together into single batts—which are generally wider than roving. Take a look here and see what you think. I notice Terri recommends Outback Fibers as well on her site.

Here’s a few more wool roving sites she recommends:

• Copper Moose

• Woodland Woolworks

• Blue Goose Glen

So Are You In?

I’ve got my rocks from the nursery and I’ve got some wool roving socked away somewhere in my studio. I hereby pledge to make some felted rocks for the International Day of Felt and I will post my results here on Make Great Stuff for all to see.

How about you–are you ready to make a few felt rocks (or some other felt-y thing for that matter)?

Yes? Excellent–I will be on the lookout for great pics!

Not sure yet? Watch Terri’s video and see for yourself why you should give it a try.

Do you make felt? Do you have some favorite places to buy wool roving that you’d like to share? Are you going to try to make some felt rocks too?  Leave a comment–I’d love to hear!
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Seriously.

Once you realize it’s no big deal, it completely changes your relationship with your machine, because you’re no longer scared of it.

You don’t have to conquer all the basics of sewing to enjoy your machine. But if you stop dreading changing your thread, you’ll start using your sewing machine as a creative tool (yay!) and actually enjoy it. Big projects and small–white thread and black. You won’t care, because changing your thread is super easy.

So set your timer for 20 minutes , park yourself in front of  your sewing machine and just try it. (Believe me, this is better than waiting to try it once you’re in the middle of a project that you care about, are in a giant hurry or both. And weirdly, those things always seem to go together…)

You’re Not Alone–Because I’m Here in Video Spirit!

To reduce the pain and suffering of this task, I’ve created a video (below) of how I thread my own machine, refill my bobbin, and draw up the bobbin thread. Maybe watch it a couple-three times before working with your machine. I hope it functions like a fabulous bravery pill that enables you to give yours a go.

There is One Other Teeny-Tiny Thing

I must admit that you’ll still kind of need your manual so you can figure out exactly how to do it on your particular machine. I know, you hate the thought of reading the manual–you sort of hate me right now for just saying the word “manual”. Don’t worry, I get it. I also hate reading any manual. (Just ask my husband. He’s somewhere rolling his eyes right now at the thought of me reading a manual!)

But you’re not really reading the manual, you’re just following the little (well, sort of little ) diagram for threading your machine. Ignore the rest.

And all that mumbo jumbo in there will make more sense this time anyway (after watching my video), so thank goodness for that. Because even though our machines are set up a little differently from each other, the principles behind how they work are the same. So your bobbin might be side loading, or you might have a few more curlique bits that your thread has to go through, but it’s all little details. Deep inside, our machines were separated at birth.

So watch my video, find your timer, and get your brave on:

And after that timer rings, lean back, unclench your shoulders, breathe, and bask in the golden light of your courage–you did it! And if you don’t have it quite figured out yet, that’s okay, too, because you’re  a lot closer than you were 20 minutes ago.

One Last Truism

The only other thing you need to do is not put your machine away. A sewing machine needs to be out. Okay, you can put the cover on it if you want, but don’t put it in the closet. If it’s in the closet, it’s as good as gone.  Remember, if you didn’t want to sew something, you wouldn’t have a sewing machine!

Did you try this and it worked? Leave a comment and let us know! Still struggling? That’s okay, let’s commiserate! Are you a great sewer who can attest to how easy it is to change your thread and how much fun it is to sew–leave a comment for your fellow creatives who are new to sewing to inspire them!
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Enjoy the video, and don’t forget to read the rest of the post below for other great tips that I couldn’t include in the video.

Extra Tips for Decoupage Success

>In the video, I suggest you tear about half your sheet before you get started gluing. The reason I don’t tear the whole sheet of handmade paper into pieces right at the beginning of the project is because once I start gluing, I realize that I want to tear the design a little differently than I might have thought before getting started.

For instance, with the black and white tie-dye paper in the video, I realized after I started  gluing that I wanted to tear out one or two whole tie-dye sunburst shapes so I could make them make a focal point on the sides of the vase. Such mini-revelations basically happen to me every time I do this project, so by not tearing up the whole sheet in advance, I keep my options open.

>The wonderful thing about this project is that it’s endlessly editable—you can keep layering the paper until you’re satisfied with the design–in fact, it’s kind of rare to be satisfied with the design in the first go. Just keep turning your vase and work on each section–tearing and gluing more pieces (balancing the pattern, evening out the color, etc.) until you love it.

>Rice Paper Decoupage is very low risk–as long as you use a waterbased sealer, you can actually soak the paper off the vase and start over anytime you want. It takes a while, because the glue is really strong and effective, and you do have to leave it sitting in a tub of water–maybe even overnight. But if you change your mind or change your decor and don’t want your vase covered in that paper anymore, you can recycle your project and start again.

>Finding a vase (or any object) to decoupage on is half the fun–this is a great chance to find a killer deal at a yard sale or a big discounter like TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning, or Home Goods. Because as long as you like the shape of your vase, it doesn’t matter what the surface looks like, because you’re going to transform it with your wonderful handmade paper! So while everyone else walks by that crazy-ugly-thing on the bottom shelf marked down 6 times–your mind’s eye sees a brand new future for that castoff, and you scoop it up for next to nothing!

There are a lot of different decoupage techniques out there, and I’ve got a bunch of great ideas for more videos and technique posts in the future. My next Rice Paper Decoupage technique will involve using stamping and embossing as part of the process. Combining techniques opens up the possibilities of what you can make and adds an interesting level of complexity, so give this simple process a try so you’re ready!

Please leave me a note in the comments and let me know what you think of the video. I’d also love to answer any questions!
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