New Crafting going on!

So for some reason this week I have been super crafty, well at least more than I usually have been (at least lately). I have some new pics that I will be sharing with you soon on the projects I have been working on, but I wanted to wet your whistle a little first, and share some of them with you.

So first my son and I painted crazy all over some scraps of canvas that I have had lying around that I will be cutting up, sewing together, and adding embellishments to...I can't wait to share these with you! The idea behind this project came from a painting I did a couple years ago (which is below)

 

The second project that I have been working on is making mittens from old sweaters. I picked up a couple sweaters from goodwill and made a pattern for my hand, the first pair were a little snug so I gave them to my son's preschool teacher for her daughter. So as I work on that and work out the kinks I will post some pics for you.

The third project was adding to a project I did a long time ago, I made some wreaths out of scraps of fabric, yarn and buttons, but they never seemed finished so I added some vintage ties to them and they are starting to look better, again I'll post pics later.

Last project is my journaling. So many have been asking me about this and I am super excited that I will be teaching spiritual art journaling this year at Willow Creek North Shore's Women's Retreat. I will have 2 sessions on it! How cool is that. SO right now I am working on what I will actually be teaching and what techinques to teach...as this comes together more I think I will start offering online classes for those of you not in the Chicago area.

That's my week so far, how's yours going?

My Class

So last Tuesday I taught art journaling for the first time! I had such a blast with the wonderful women at Believers' Fellowship. I started the class with a demonstration on what they were going to be learning to do later on in the class and then gave a brief overview on what art journaling was and why it was important to their spiritual journey.

They jumped right in, when it came time to creating their own page. I had pre-cut 5x7 sheets of paper, markers and paints on the table for them as well as little baggies with magazine pictures, scraps of paper, ribbon, string, buttons (all things that they might find lying around their house. I wanted them to see that they didn't need to go out and buy anything special to start a journal. These women were amazing! They came up with some beautiful pages, which you see in this post. They only had about half hour to forty five minutes to create these! I am still blown away. Especially if you consider most do not consider themselves artistic or creative and it was their first time to work with these materials. Thanks again ladies for making my teaching debut a success!

 

Teaching for the FIRST Time

So I am working on a new project! I am going to be teaching my first class in less than a week. I am scared, but at the same time so excited! I can't believe how quickly this is pulling together. (less than 2 months) The class is going to be on art journaling. It's not a new concept, but I am going to be teaching those who do not think of themselves as being creative or artistic - so it's new to them. I have been focusing a lot of my time lately on my own journal and really feel lead to teach others. This is way out of my comfort zone, so I must be on the right path, right?

Anyways I am totally looking forward to it, and would love to know from all of you, if you journal and if you do what do you focus on when you journal...