What is Paint Club?

Paint Club is a fun way to connect with friends and a safe way to get out of the house during this time of social distancing. It is proven that getting creative releases endorphins, it's a little boost of pleasure, resulting in a feeling of well-being.

We meet once a week at the Blue Heaven Studio for three hours of painting and socializing. We all wear masks and stay 6 ft away from each other. We all work on the same project taught by a professional artist who takes us through step by step from blank canvas to a work of art. Some projects are completed in one session, others are completed over several weeks. No set schedule dictates how slowly or quickly we complete the project. It's a very relaxed way to learn how to paint.

The Paint Club is best enjoyed with a drink in hand, so we take turns bringing a bottle and snacks.

The photos in this post are projects we have been working on recently. I've learned so much about paining over the last year, our instructor Dee Catallo is fabulous!

Cheers!
Lori in Blue Ridge, GA

My New Creative Space.....

I absolutely loved working with metal clay during my jewelry class at the John C. Campbell Folk School. My Husband encouraged me to continue working with metal clay after the class; he even bought me a kiln in my favorite color purple as a surprise...    

What he didn't realize was that I needed many additional tools to be successful at this new craft. Dryers, tumblers, polishers, textures, expensive metal clays, metal tools, etc, etc, etc... The tools for clay and supplies for other crafts began to take over every flat surface in the house.  When he had to move my tumbler, dehydrator, and handmade card stock so he could make dinner, I think he was sorry he encouraged me to start down this new jewelry making path...LOL.

So, today construction of  my new Metal Clay Studio is complete and ready for action; we've enclosed one of the porches on our house with weather tight panels and screens. Take a peek...you can't get much better natural light than this!

The entrance to the studio...

The kiln, tumbling, and drying area...

The design and production area...

The View...

The view of the stream...

Stay tuned for updates on my spring collection of  metal clay jewelry...I'll be working in both copper and bronze.  LOVE the new creative space!

Cheers!

Lori in Blue Ridge

Love this Place...

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to attend a week long class at the John C. Campbell Folk Art School in Brasstown NC. It was a wonderful experience and well worth the investment!

Mrs. Olive Dame Campbell donated her homestead and created the beautiful campus. The school was founded to nurture and preserve the folk arts of the Appalachian Mountains, it is a nonprofit adult educational organization based on non-competitive learning. Founded in 1925, the Folk School's motto is “I sing behind the plow”. The Folk School has week-long and weekend classes year-round in traditional and contemporary arts, including but not limited to jewelry, fiber, blacksmithing, music, dance, cooking, gardening, nature studies, photography, storytelling and writing. 

The landscape is inspiring...

The studios are well appointed...

Classes are fun and varied...

The classes are beginners to advanced levels...

I took a class in precious metal clay jewelry; the instructor was Pam East – she is a precious metal clay artist who shares her knowledge with beginners like me. She is funny and interesting and a great teacher.   Here is a sample of my work:

Looking forward to my next class this summer!

Cheers!

Lori in Blue Ridge

Winter Sale Event...

As part of my “fresh start” effort this year, I am cleaning out the clutter and releasing some of the baggage that has been weighing me down. I mean this figuratively and literally. I get this yearning to lighten the load about every 5 years.



Examples of items currently On Sale in my shop.



So, to jump-start my effort I’m reorganizing my jewelry studio and offering 15% off the price of everything in my Etsy shop. That’s right…everything. I need to make space for my new materials and direction I want to take with my Etsy shop. I love making lampwork beads; I’m just ready to try something new this year.

I hope you can take advantage of the sale….Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are just around the corner. Sale ends at 5:00 PM EST Tuesday January 31st.

The clock is always ticking!

Time is a precious resource in all types of business.  When it come to managing time when running a partime craft business there never seems to be enough of it.  With marketing, designing, listing, shipping, and so on on my plate time management  is a must. 

• Time Management Tip #1: Make it easy to do your job.

As a jewelry artist, the key to successful time management revolves around creating new items for my shop on Etsy. To make that easier, I decided the expense of a dedicated studio space in our townhouse was well worth it. I juggle a professional project management career and running a small partime business.  My creative time would be far less if I didn’t have a work space set-up all the time.  Whenever I have a few minutes to be creative I can just sit down at the workbench and create without having to drag all the supplies to the kitchen table. My time is spent creating, not setting up a work space. This is how I make it easier to be creative.

• Time Management Tip #2: Break things down into smaller tasks.

I simply cannot predict when and how much time I'll have to work on jewelry.  Because of unpredictable business interruptions and family obligations, I have to do my Esty tasks in small chunks. This allows me some small chance of completing things in one go rather than having whatever it was that I was doing interrupted. I set time for marketing, designing, photographing, listing, shipping, etc. as separate small tasks throughout the week.  I get a feeling of accomplishment when I complete each of the small tasks toward the end goal.

No matter how hard I work at my time management skills, there is always room for improvement. Working from home, having an online business, being on the computer all day, make it way too easy to get distracted and loose my entire day answering emails and convos, chatting on twitter, checking your shop etc, and I am guilty of all these things.  To be successful and make money, I had to learn to buckle down and be productive. I'm still working on this but the steps above have been a step in the right direction...

In the Studio

Still working on photos for the Etsy listings...This is taking a long time but the return will be worth it. My sweetie has taken about 80 photographs of six designs. He has worked all day on enhancing the photos and cropping. Look for new posts to my Etsy site soon.

One example of the new photos....