Tag: art

Art-Venture Adventure (part 1)

During the past 18 months Prima Marketing appeared on my radar as a “new” company. No, they aren’t new, at least not T H A T new but I hadn’t really noticed them before. Perhaps it is because I’m not a “scrapbooker” (I’ve never made an album or a page layout), or maybe it’s because I focused for so long on Tim Holtz, who is an amazing source of creative inspiration to many of us.

Whatever the reason, the first Prima product I remember buying was a stencil. A retired stencil at that. Retirement = a chance to dust off your Internet searching skills. I’d used it in a class and fell in love with it. I searched and searched online and finally found it on eBay.

Prima has orchestrated a huge marketing campaign over the course of 2014, rolling out new and expanding existing programs. One new program is the Prima Brand Ambassador group, of which I am a member another is the Art-Venture 2-day art event. The first Art-Venture was held last January in Anaheim and the class pictures coming out of the event were stunning.

As a treat to myself I decided, mostly on a whim, to sign up for the 2nd event on January 5 – 8 in Anaheim, CA. I’d considered trying to combine attendance at my bucket list event, CHA, which begins on January 10th but, alas, work calls me home. CHA will have to wait for another year.

There are six workshops during the two-day event taught by an exciting array of international educators:

Below is a snapshot of the six projects I will get to create while I’m at Art-Venture in Anaheim. I can’t believe I fly in 5 short days! I will of course blog about my experiences at this amazing event when I return – so stay tuned!

ArtVentureProjects

Tales of a Prima Brand Ambassador

When I decided to become a Prima Brand Ambassador I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. I was thrilled at the opportunity to teach as well as being “paid” for my work in Prima product.

Each month I visit the local Hobby Lobby stores in my territory and demo/help customers to create a simple craft project that features the Prima products the store carries. The project changes every 5 to 6 weeks and Prima sends me most of the necessary supplies.

This is my second month working with the Federal Way and Seattle Hobby Lobby managers and employees to educate their customers about Prima products and all you can create using them. During the first month we made purse/backpack fobs and this month we made ornaments and gift tags since it’s Christmastime.

People have enjoyed the events and I’ve had a chance to teach some wonderful people, sharing my love of crafting with them. A true blessing. I have had so much fun each time I’ve gone to teach and the employees and managers are so kind and welcoming! I am grateful to have two great stores in my territory.

I also demo at my favorite LSS (local scrapbook store), Urban Scrapbooker. My first demo there is, coincidentally, my last of 2014 this coming Saturday, 12/20. If you read this blog and live in metro Seattle, I would love for you to come by and make a tag. I will be there from 11:30a – 2:30p.

Here are a few photos of the make-and-takes/demos I’ve done – I hope you enjoy them. Check back here in 2015 for my continuing adventures as a Prima Brand Ambassador.

Back to Bootcamp with Jen Starr

A few weeks ago I decided it was time for me to jumpstart my creativity with a trip back to “bootcamp”. No, I’ve never been in the military, but over the years I’ve had a few opportunities to participate in a learning intensive, lovingly called bootcamp.

This 4-part bootcamp (Paint Bootcamp, Colorful Effects Bootcamp, Stencil Bootcamp and Inka Gold Canvas) focused mostly on background techniques, but the final class we created a 6 x 12 canvas, on which we were encouraged to use what we’d learned during the last day and a half.

Our teacher, Jen Starr, was visiting the PNW from New Jersey. Jen is on the design teams for Art Anthology, Viva, Ranger, and Copic.

  1. Paint: the dread color theory, including creating our own color wheel and understanding how to avoid ending up with mud when you mix colors.
  2. Colorful Effects: Using salt, Vaseline, molding paste, and other fun stuff to add dimension and interest to your backgrounds.
  3. Stencil: Further work focusing on different ways to incorporate stencils into your backgrounds.

I had a great, albeit, exhausting experience and met some neat ladies (Dale my table mate is a very talented artist). Below are some of the things I created at bootcamp.