Join us Monday, January 18th, at 11 am for another mindful doodling experience! Last week, we created doodle borders with watercolors and tape. This Monday, we will create circular shaped doodles using watercolors, and fine tipped pens. Bring your art journals, greeting cards, or watercolor paper along with your pens, markers, and watercolors for a fun, and relaxing class. 

Tonia Jenny will be joining us in the Crafting Club to share her unique creativity by offering a class once a month! Tonia is a talented crafter, and her mission is to guide creative individuals in refining their unique message and offering while determining the best means for them to share it. She provides editorial, writing, and coaching services and online art and craft courses to encourage others to try something new.
Please visit her at www.toniajenny.com

​Join us for this tactile workshop and learn to make an aromatherapy diffuser necklace to use with your favorite essential oils! Tonia will show you how easy it is to work with small bits of clay using simple techniques for texture and optional color embellishment that ensure you’ll walk away with something beautiful, crafted by your hand.

​The Crafting Club club offers you an opportunity to make new friends, expand your creativity, and share your passion for crafting in a supportive virtual environment. Most of all, the Crafting Club is fun! Be sure to register for the live events, and if you miss one, you can always find the past events to view at a later time. See you soon!

​Did you know August 2nd is National Coloring Book Day? Coloring is a relaxing activity for everyone of all ages and skill levels. You will learn some basic and creative coloring techniques using colored pencils, markers, and watercolors in Thursday's live class.

There are lot's of free printable coloring pages available on the internet, and I found some that you can print so you can color along in class. Print them out on your ink jet or laser printer, and grab your colored pencils, watercolors, and markers! The links to the pages are below:
Stay at Home Stay Creative Coloring Page
Inspiraled coloring page
Mandala
Owl Dreamcatcher
​Patterns of the Desert
Zen Birds
​To get the print to fit nicely on your page, it is suggested to download the pdf onto your computer, and print.

The Lotus Flower begins to grow in the deep mud, far away from the sun. During the growing process, it reaches the light becoming one of the most beautiful flowers. Known in many different cultures as a symbol of purity, enlightenment, self-regeneration, and rebirth, the Lotus is a positive symbol of perseverance and strength.
Its characteristics are a perfect analogy for the human condition: even when its roots are in the dirtiest waters, the Lotus produces the most beautiful flower.

I enjoy folding lotus flowers out of Yuzen paper or fabric. If you start with a sheet of six-inch paper or material, you will have a flower that holds a battery-operated tealight perfectly! The flowers also make great gift toppers and look great worn as a brooch. When folded out of waterproof paper, they make beautiful floating arrangements.

After yesterday's live class, I discovered a way to fold the origami lotus flower using one less step. It's much easier to fold and it fits perfectly into a battery operated tea light! You can place these little folded beauties around your tub, or pool to create a relaxing atmosphere. Enjoy!

Doodling is the act of creating spontaneous drawings in an unconscious or unfocused manner. Doodles are repeated patterns of designs, and science has proven that the enjoyable activity of doodling has many benefits. Mindful doodling can reduce stress, improve memory, and keeps you in the present moment. 

​Watercolor is my favorite medium because it is fresh, spontaneous, and has a mind of its own! I started creating watercolor doodle birds out of color mixes, mainly blobs of two or three colors blended. I usually make color mixes on a separate sheet of paper before I start the real painting to see how the colors look after drying.
I wouldn't say I like throwing away anything, so I started to doodle on the painted blobs with a brush or pen.  The addition of a beak, wings, and legs made the most fun whimsical birds!

​Grab your supplies, and don't forget to register for the live class! If you can't make it, you can always watch the recording at a later time. Of course, it will be more fun to make doodle birds together!

​Join us in a relaxed and calming mindful art exercise today at 11 am MST.
There are many benefits of doodling and mark making! The practice of making marks is not only relaxing; it may help you with become more creative as well as focused. In the class, you will learn to use the simplest of supplies and focus on the brush, pen, ink, and paper.

"Several years ago, I developed a meditative art technique inspired by the Zentangle method developed by Rick and Maria Roberts. I loved the relaxation benefits "tangling" had to offer but had difficulty remembering the steps and sequences. I also wanted to create something that started with splashes of color. After a lot of experimenting, the Kumomi method was born! The word Kumomi comes from a combination of Japanese words meaning cloud gazing.

​When we look at random shapes such as clouds, we sometimes see familiar things. It's our brains trying to make sense out of chaos! Cloud gazing is very relaxing as we watch clouds float by and change shape as they go forming into elephants, birds, angels, and just about anything. The configuration takes form then drifts away quickly. Kumomi is the essence of cloud gazing. The shapes are painted loosely on paper using a combination of colors.  The colorful shapes are outlined with a fine-tipped pen while we look to find something familiar. The final step is to bring out detail with lines, shapes, and doodles.

For several Saturdays this summer, I'll be teaching mindful crafting techniques for relaxation, and well being. Kumomi will be in the first session so be sure to register so you can join all the relaxing fun! We will be doodling, mandala making, and other mindful art and crafts!

This Saturday, June 6th, I will introduce you to the art of Kumomi in a live event. I promise it will be fun as well as relaxing. Below is a list of items you need to get started. If you don't have everything, please feel free to watch and enjoy the process so you can try it at a later time.