These last few days of changing weather have sure reminded me that fall is in the air. The days are getting shorter and the nights are beginning to cool. Neither one is such a bad thing. I like this time of year, when the colors begin to change. As much as I like sunny days I think I like the autumn season most of all. I love watching the trees change colors and the leaves begin to cover the ground. A trip up the pass might be in order before the end of the month to catch nature in transition. I was giving all this a great deal of thought today as I created sample cards for an upcoming class.
Actually that is what I have been doing for the past three days, making class samples. The calendar is updated on my website, www.specialeditionsstudio.com and the class descriptions and pictures are beginning to be posted. Currently there are seven new classes on my website. My brain is tired! I forget how much it takes to put all these classes together. Not just the assembly, but the idea itself.
I think my creative process is a bit different than some. I begin by figuring out the calendars for three, now four stores over a four month period of time. Once I have all the dates secured and coordinated, a daunting task in and of itself, I get to deciding what it is I might want to do for a given class. Will it be cards, a book, a box or what? This takes another day or so. So, now I know what I’m going to be offering in the classes and what they will be called. That’s it; I got dates and a titles! What comes next is probably a bit backward for most.
I now write the descriptions for the classes themselves. Mind you I’m writing descriptions for something I have not done anymore than imagine! This part of the process takes several days and maybe a week. While the written descriptions might seem simple I assure you they are not! By the time I have done this for twenty of so classes my head is about to explode! I set the calendars up and hand them off along with the class descriptions to each of the stores and then I shut my brain off for several days. It really needs a rest at this point.
This weekend was time to kick it in to gear once again, and get to the most important step, creating the samples themselves.
I’ve decided that I need to have all my class samples created by this Friday for the next two months calendar. I need this for several reasons really. Mainly I should be more organized. Something I always say I will do better with but don’t always seem to accomplish. Secondly, there is another big workshop at Friends and Company on October 25th in which I was once again honored to be asked to teach. That adds to the workload. And last but not least in being accepted to Ranger U I want to go there with all my home work finished so that I can concentrate on learning new products and techniques that I will be able to add to future classes.
So getting seven classes completed I feel good. That means I did everything three times for samples. And, I also put kits together for each of them. Everything is done and ready to put in my car to head off to class whenever it pops up on the calendar.
I hope to see many of you in some of these upcoming classes. There are some really great cards coming, a fun book or two and maybe a surprise! I’ve missed seeing many of you over the summer and hopefully that will change. I hope you make room on your calendar to include a class of two. It is such fun for me to teach these classes and I hope as much fun for you to be there. Additionally it is one of the best ways to support your local craft store. Remember you can’t get these classes at the big box stores!
Come join in the fun. Make something new, learn a new technique, bring a friend along or meet some new ones. In the meantime sit back relax and enjoy the view from your window seat.







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