Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!

Wishing you all a happy Christmas and wonderful things in the upcoming year.

Here are some of my favorite Christmas items I made this season.

Have a magical day!!!
Shonna

It's The Most Wonderful Time...

Ok, I know it's a little early, but I start my Christmas celebrating early because I am always working on arts and crafts for the Holidays starting in October. I just participated in a arts/craft show and did pretty well. Some of the money I earned went to Elizabeth Hospice and that makes things even better!

I do have some left over items that I am posting here. If you are interested, please let me know by leaving a comment. The prices are on the photos (add $3 for shipping to U.S.). In a few days, I will list them on Etsy, but I thought I would give my blog followers first choice.

All items are hand drawn and painted by me.

xoxo,
Shonna

Watercolor anyone??

I got to take a break from teaching yesterday (in my own class). One of my students is experienced with watercolors, so I asked her if she wanted to teach a lesson. This class is my Journal Junkies class that meets once a month in my home. Libbi actually taught us two different lessons and I just had an absolute blast playing with watercolors. I dabble in watercolors, but I really learned a lot from Libbi about white space and different types of watercolors etc. Here is what the class produced...


Our Teacher for this lesson...Libbi

Here are my pages. We didn't get a chance to finish, so I finished mine this morning.

So much fun!!!!
Have a great week!
XOXO
Shonna

New Video!

I am working on making things for an upcoming Arts and Craft show in November. I decided to record some of the items I am creating. This one is a cute little notebook with a blank cover. I bought about 15 of them, so I better get off this computer and get busy....

Shonna

Art Teacher??

Well, I guess I can call myself that now!! I have been teaching two art journal classes for several months and now I will be teaching kids classes twice a month. I also have an adult mixed media card class that I'm trying to kick off locally as well. I've been sooooo busy!! I have neglected my poor blog. Sometimes I'm not sure if anyone reads it anyway. LOL!!

Here are some pics of my recent classes...


My home Journal Junkies Class Made this:

 My Charity Wings Journal Junkies Class made this:

We will make these cards in the next Mixed Media Class I will be teaching:

And here is the kids class I am teaching this Friday:

And don't forget the online class I am teaching along with a ton of other artists. Soul Food!! Sign ups are open and it is going to be wonderful class!!!

http://communitythrive.com/page/soul-food

Hope you have a great week!!
Shonna

And The Winner Is.....

Today is the day that I am giving away a spot in the Mixed Media online class, "Soul Food" starting in December! I am one of the teachers in the class and was able to giveaway a spot! I am so excited, aren't you?

I decided to do this old school and printed out the names of everyone who commented on my blog.

I folded the names and put them in a handy dandy box...

I shook the box and drew a name...

The winner is...

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Betty S.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Betty, I will be in touch with you!!!

Are you still unsure what this course is all about????? Here is Jeanette House to explain in detail all of the wonderful perks the class has to offer...including a recently added payment plan!! Hey! Holla!!!

Have a great one!!!
Shonna

Video Tour of My New Studio Space!!!

Also, don't forget to leave a comment in my previous post to win a spot in the new awesome online class Soul Food!!! I will pick a winner on Friday!!!

Shonna

My Soul Food Interview is here and Giveaway!!

My interview for the online class Soul Food coming in December is now available to view!

I hope you like the video, I am having some editing issues with Movie Maker, so I apologize if it was jumpy at times. 

I am so excited for Soul Food to start! We are going to have so much fun and I am in awe of all of the talented teachers that are going to be teaching. I am such a fan of all of them and can't wait to learn from them myself. Also, we have just announced that there will be a payment plan if you cannot pay the fee all at once. This makes me so happy because I think this will help more people join!!  

Giveaway time!!!

Ok, now what I have been waiting for!! I get to give away a free spot in the class!!!! YAY!!! (Insert happy dance). So, I'm going to make it real easy; just leave a comment here and on Friday I will randomly pick a winner!! 

Good Luck!!

Shonna

Next Soul Food Interview!!

Here is another great interview with one of the teachers (and Head Chef) of the year long class Soul Food!

I can't express how amazing this course is going to be! Plus we have added more Artists to the lineup. Stephanie Ackerman, Nolwenn Petitbois and Mary Beth Shaw!!

In other news, I myself have recently taken a wonderful online course with Kate Thompson on the Ning site The Trodden Path. Kate is amazing and uses fabric, joint compound and watercolors to achieve wonderful paintings.

Here is what I painted using the techniques from her class.

I am donating this piece to help raise money for Cancer research. I named it "Brave."

Have a wonderful week!!

First Soul Food Interview with Mystele!!

Twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays), instructors from the awesome new online course Soul Food will share a little about themselves via video or written interview. The first interview is with one of our Head Chefs Mystele. You have to watch her video interview. She is insightful, intuitive, and SO passionate about art! I just love her!!! She is also giving away one free spot in the class on her blog. 

There is a special "Early Bird" price for signing up, but it ends August 31. So don't wait! Sign up now! We are going to have so much fun!! I feel so blessed to be teaching a long side such wonderful artists like Mystele!

Sign up for Soul Food here!

Art Fair Season is Upon Us...

Therefore, I am trying to get a jump-start on it all. The crosses in my last post will be up for sale and so will these cute little 3x4 mini notebooks. Perfect for a purse!! I am having a blast making them and coming up with different ideas on what to put on the cover. Sometimes it is nice to work small too.

Have a great week!
Shonna

New Youtube Video!!

I have posted a new youtube video with a little tutorial on how to make these cute shabby chic crosses. I hope you enjoy!!

The Progression of a Painting.

I will be teaching something very similar in the Soul Food online class. So I thought I would give my blog readers a little sneak peak. I won't be teaching this exact page, but I will be using some of the same supplies.

I started out with collage. I used different pages in a magazine along with some old book pages. Then I added joint compound and used stamps and bubble wrap to add texture in the joint compound. I added a wash of color, so you can see the texture and then sketched out my little princess.

Here I added more washes of color and began to paint the princess.

 I continued to add more color and rubons for even more texture. I also added some background stamping as well.

 Here is a close-up of the texture the joint compound creates (I love that stuff).

 Here is the finished piece.

I am so excited to be co-teaching in the online class Soul Food. Come and join us!!! We have an introductory price right now, so sign up before the price goes up!!! It will be a whole year of wonderful projects by a really creative bunch of women who want to share their love of mixed media with you.

I really hope to see you in my class!!!

Craft Fair Season is Coming!!!!!!

Just a little post. I bought these cute 3x4 paper mache lined notebooks and thought they would be perfect to sell during the upcoming craft fair season. I got them at JoAnn's and took all they had. I am really happy with the way they came out and I had an absolute blast making them.

Journal Junkies Month 3

Yesterday was month 3 of the art journaling class I teach in my home. My students made some beautiful pages and we all had so much fun in the process. I get so much enjoyment out of seeing people make things that they didn't think they could make and the smiles on their faces are priceless.

There are 12 pages in our journal and each month I have them create and journal something that they can share about themselves. In the end, I want them to have a complete journal all about their own thoughts and feelings that they can pass down to their children or grandchildren.

This month was their favorite quote or Bible verse.

 I made silhouette stencils of the ladies from magazine photos. You can buy sheets of plastic and make your own stencils. I bought a sheet of 3 from Wal Mart for about $2-3 dollars. I will have to do a tutorial on how to make them. It was really easy.

They all said this was their favorite page so far. Now the pressure is on for me to think of something they will love as much for the next meeting. :)

Have a great week!
Shonna 

Encaustics

I took a two day Encaustics class this week and it was so much fun. It was at The Charity Wings Art Center in San Marcos, Ca. and the Instructor was Jess Greene. I have been really intrigued lately with Encaustics (painting with hot colored wax). I love using hot Beeswax on top of some of my paintings, but I know there is so much more to painting with wax. I had a great time and learned so much. Here are my final pieces.

Here is our main table, but we took over about 5 tables total.
                                 


Here is the was on a pancake griddle.

 My works in progress

Some other beautiful Student work

 The beautiful work of Jess Green.