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Monthly ATC Challenge – Flowers

1 May

April Showers Bring May Flowers! And It Is About Time!

 

Welcome to a new monthly ATC challenge. As the saying goes “April Showers bring May Flowers”, so we shall be doing FLOWERS for our May ATC Challenge. After the weather we have been having lately, I am absolutely ready for Spring and sunshine and flowers! Can’t Mother Nature make up her mind whether it is winter or spring out there?

The April ATC challenge was WEATHER, and the photos of all the participants and the winner will be posted in a few days. The wonderful creativity of all of my readers is amazing to see. Thanks so much for sending in all of your beautiful works of art and sharing a little bit of your creativity with the rest of us. :)

ATC stands for Artist Trading Card. A little bitty piece of art created by you. Here are the rules guidelines for the challenge.

  • your ATC needs to be 2.5″ x 3.5″
  • you can use any medium you like (paper, fabric, metal, clay, etc)
  • you can use any technique you like (a great way to try something new)
  • art work is on the front
  • your personal info is on the back (name, location, contact info, date, title)
  • all skill levels welcome
  • this is a WTA – winner take all – so one person will ‘win’ all of the ATCs submitted (if we get more than 20 entries, there will be 2 winners announced)
  • submit one ATC (you get one chance to win with each ATC submitted – if you submit more than one you get extra chances – but make them different since one person will win all of them :) )
  • you can’t win if you don’t enter :)
  • deadline is May 31 – you can drop it off if you are local or mail it to the address below

I’d like it if you could include your city, state and country on the back side of your ATC. We have several Int’l participants as well as people from all over the USA, and I know they would love it if they knew where you were from. We don’t all know each other personally, so the info you provide is greatly appreciated. Another idea is to include your email or blog address as well. It’s not necessary, but nice for the winner to have in case they would like to contact you.

I hope you will join the fun of the monthly ATC challenge. It is a great opportunity to try something  new and play with  mixed media techniques. You only need to make one little itty bitty ATC, so it is really easy to complete. Get your friends to join the fun too. The more the merrier.

So the May theme is Flowers and I know there will be a lot of great entries for this theme. I’ve been looking forward to it for awhile now, so I am definitely ready to create some blossoming ATCs. For those of you who like to plan ahead, the June theme is Doorways! Now that one is going to be interesting too.  Have fun!

~Deb~

Blue Twig Studio - 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

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A Mother’s Day Gift – Part 2

18 Apr

Guest post by Kerry Ayers Cain – Design Team Member

A Mother’s Day Gift – Part 2

The Collage

In the picture my mother is wearing her signature turquoise color.  In fact, my daughter has teased that turquoise or teal is the go to color for all women in my family – my mother, my four sisters and me.  So needless to say, I had a large number of turquoise fabrics to choose from for my collage.  Below is a picture of the fabrics I started with, supplemented by buttons and ribbons I got from Blue Twig Studio.  Included in the fabrics I have are a number of vintage type lace and handkerchief pieces that I got from my Mom and that I had previously dyed.  If you would like some pieces like this to work with and don’t have any, Deb has some pieces in stock.  Most of Deb’s vintage pieces are neutral in color, but you can easily change the color by spraying them with Radiant Rain (or you can dye them like I did). (Note from Deb – a lot of my vintage pieces are not on the website, however if you call me I can give you some descriptions of what I have available, or you can set up an appt to visit the studio).

potential fabrics to use

potential fabrics to use

As with the size of the picture, as I work I often end up adjusting the size of the piece, but the first step is still to decide on the preliminary size for the wall hanging.

Next I choose a background fabric.   Sometimes I use a number of fabrics for the background, including cottons and upholstery fabrics from sample upholstery books.  In that case I draw the dimensions for the piece on muslin with permanent marker and then arrange my fabrics to cover the area.  I then use invisible thread and a zigzag stitch to catch all the edges.  I design on this patchwork background.  Below is a wall hanging of my daughter when she had pink hair that uses this type of patchwork background.

Girl with Mushroom

Girl with Mushroom

For my mother’s collage, I used a single piece of batik.  I then began placing fabrics on the background in a potential collage design.  I initially fold larger pieces to the desired size, as I don’t cut anything until I have determined the final arrangement.  I will normally try a number of different designs until I find my favorite.  Because I may ultimately decide I like an earlier design best, I take a digital picture of each arrangement, so I can always recreate one. As part of the design process, I will place any embellishments (such as ribbons, buttons, and beads) loosely on the arrangement.  Once I have decided on a design, I will cut my various fabric pieces to the correct size.   Below are three of the 7 or 8 potential designs I tried.  I finally decided on the third one.  Although relooking at them now, I waiver and think maybe I should have gone with 2 – has this ever happened to you? :)

Design 1

Design 1

Design 2

Design 2

Design 3

Design 3

I first worked on the portrait part of the collage and put it together by itself.  I layered the two fabrics and created a frame for the picture using a pleated ribbon I got from Blue Twig.  I liked it because the pleating allowed me to manipulate it to fit around and slightly under than my oval picture.  I pinned it in place and machine stitched it to the layered fabrics.

I then prepared the picture to attach it to the collage.  I decided the best way to do that on this piece was to fuse it down.  So I ironed a piece of misty fuse (very easy to use) to the back of the picture and cut it out on the oval line.  I then fused it down on top of the pleated ribbon and fabric.

Next I layered a leaf ribbon that Deb also carries on top of the pleated ribbon.  It comes in a number of colors, but not turquoise. (Note from Deb – I have quite a few colors of this ribbon, so if you are wanting a particular color that isn’t listed on the website please contact me about it.)  The closest was a pale blue.  I took it and painted it with diluted radiant rain.  Basically I took the lid off the radiant rain, poured a very small amount into another container and added a little water.  Radiant Rain out of the bottle is fairly intense and I wanted a softer color.  I then just painted it with a brush onto the leaf ribbon and ironed it after it dried.  I attached the leaves to the piece with flower sequins and beads.  The “finished” photo part of the collage then looked like this.

finished picture section

finished picture section

 

I then attached the two lace pieces to the background.  I machine stitched along the long cut edge and couched the turquoise cord down with a zigzag stitch.  I then hand beaded to finish holding the lace pieces in place.  I decided it would be easiest to machine quilt the background before adding the photo piece.

finished background section

finished background section

When I laid the finished photo piece on the quilt to machine stitch it on, I decided something more was needed in the bottom left hand corner.  I tried a number of things such as beads and buttons, but decided I liked some velvet ribbon streamers best (Note from Deb – the velvet ribbon is not on the website right now).  So I machine stitched them on and then stitched on the photo piece.  I added paper beads in the corners and wooden flower buttons that I colored with Inka Gold in silver.  Inka Gold is a really fun product that you can use on wood, metal and paper to give something a nice bling.  It comes in both metallic shades and colors.

So the finished piece looks like this.  I hope my mother likes it.

 

finished collage

finished collage

~Kerry

Thanks for a great tutorial Kerry. I know your mom will love it. ~Deb

Let Your Inner Artist Out to Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

A Mother’s Day Gift – Part 1

17 Apr

Guest Post by Kerry Ayers Cain – design team member

 

A Mother’s Day Gift – Part 1

I have spent the last week thinking about what to give my mother for Mother’s Day.  As she and I get older, I really like to give a personal gift when possible.   As I was saving pictures on my computer from a recent trip out-of-state, I remembered a picture of my mother I had always liked and decided to print it to fabric and make her a small wall-hanging collage for her.   Since many people still do not realize how easy it is to print on fabric with your inkjet printer, I decided to share some ways of doing that in part one of this tutorial and then to briefly discuss the process I went through in making the collage in part two.

Printing on Fabric

In making a collage that includes a photograph, the first thing I do is to print it out on paper in the size I think I am going to want to use.  I used to print it immediately on fabric, but discovered I often change my mind about size and then have to reprint it.  Since more time and cost is involved in printing on fabric, I have learned to print first on paper.

Knowing the collage design, I can now print my picture on fabric, so it is ready for the actual collage.  I have two favorite ways to do this.  One is by printing directly on the fabric with my inkjet printer; the other is by printing on a TAP sheet with my printer and then ironing that image onto fabric.  If you aren’t familiar with it, TAP is transfer artist paper and was developed by Lesley Riley.  I think it is a vast improvement on earlier iron-on transfer systems you may be familiar with since it doesn’t change the hand of the fabric (did you ever have a t-shirt where the transferred image felt very much like vinyl?)   Also, TAP can be used to transfer images to wood, canvas, glass, metal and more, as well as fabric.  A TAP image is permanent, washable and can be ironed.  It is reversed, so you need to mirror the image to print if orientation is important, as with text.  TAP is available from Blue Twig Studio and a package contains complete, easy to follow directions for using it.

If you choose to print directly on fabric, as I did for this collage, you need to decide if you want a photograph quality image or something more muted.   Printing on fabric without any pretreatment will give a more muted picture.  As I wanted photograph quality, I pretreated my fabric with Golden’s Digital Ground White-Matte (Note from Deb – I only have a Digital Ground sampler pack at this time).  To pretreat, you brush two thin coats in opposite directions on your fabric, allowing your fabric to dry between coats.  I have used digital ground on a variety of fabrics including muslin, silk, and canvas.  This time I used white cotton muslin.  I usually treat a number of pieces of fabric at one time as the difficult part of pretreating is waiting for the digital ground to dry; that way too, I usually have a piece of fabric ready when I need it.

Picture of treated fabric

Picture of treated fabric

 

When the fabric is dry, I am ready to print.  At this point, the fabric is usually wrinkled and curling at the edges as in the picture above.  I just turn it over and iron it on the wrong side.  If you are concerned about your iron’s surface, you can cover it first with a paper towel.

To actually print on fabric, you just run it through your printer as you would a piece of paper.  Again there are several ways to do this.  If you have pretreated your fabric with digital ground it usually has enough body to just send it through without anything further.  Make sure the digital ground side is the side that is printed on.  

If you have not pretreated the fabric, or if you are not sure the digital ground has given it enough body to run through the printer, you need to back the fabric with paper.  One way to do this is by ironing a piece of freezer paper, the same size as your fabric, to the back of your fabric and then send it through your printer.

However, I have found that freezer paper method works about 90 percent of the time, but have had problems with it jamming the other 10 percent.  So I prefer to use card stock and tape my fabric to it with painters tape.  You place the tape along the top and the two sides as shown in the picture.   I never have problems with jamming with this method.

taped fabric with photo printed on it

taped fabric with photo printed on it

The other advantage to this method is that you can print on a piece of fabric smaller than 8 ½ by 11, so that you don’t have to waste fabric if you are doing a smaller picture or have to figure out how to combine enough small pictures to use the full page.  It is particularly useful if you want to print a label for your quilt.  The one thing you need to double check before printing is that your picture or text is centered on the page in such a way that it will match the placement of the fabric on the cardstock.  In other words, if the fabric is placed an inch down on the cardstock, your text or picture should begin at least an inch down on the page.  Most printers allow you a preview of the page so you can check and adjust this if necessary.

printed label

printed label

A picture printed on digital ground will not run if it comes in contact with water, although I have never tried washing it as I use this method for wall hangings.  I use TAP for any item I plan to wash.  If you don’t pretreat the fabric, whether the picture or text will be affected by water spilled on it depends on your printer ink.  In my experience HP ink (I have Vivera) spots and smears when wet.  In contrast, the ink in my Epson printer  (DURAbright) does not seem to be affected by accidental water spills (which I do blot up), although I have not tested it by leaving water on it or by rubbing the water in.  You can print with the HP ink, you just need to be careful not to get it wet, which can include steam from your iron.  Again, if this is a concern, consider using TAP.

(Note from Deb – another option for printing on fabric is to use ready-to-go inkjet fabric sheets that are already primed and cut to fit your printer.)

Tomorrow we will discuss how I made the actual collage. :)

~Kerry

Thanks Kerry. I look forward to reading about the rest of your process. ~Deb

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

Travel ATCs & Winner!

8 Apr

I hope the anticipation waiting for me to get this blog post done is worth it!  I had a show to do this weekend (and prepping for it before hand), so I didn’t get the blog post done and the winner announced earlier. But I am doing it today!

The ATC Blog Challenge theme for March was Travel. As always, there is such variety and fun with everyone’s entries into the challenge. I really wish you could see them in person, as they are so much more interesting that way. Plus some people put a note on the back describing how or where their ATC idea came from (which is a great idea). We had 19 entries again this month. I am really pushing to get over the 20 entry mark, so be sure to tell your friends and get them to submit as well. Once I get over 20 entries, then there will be 2 winners selected, with the ATCs split between them. Woo hoo!

Without further ado, here are this month’s Travel ATCs, in no particular order. I know you will be impressed!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

And now the winner is……….drumroll……….Toni Martin. Woo hoo! Toni, I will be sending you the winning ATCs for your collection. I know you will enjoy them.

The ATC theme for April is WEATHER, and I do encourage you to play again. It is fun and creative and easy to do. It is the perfect way to practice new techniques and use up all those little bits and pieces that you collect for your mixed media art projects.  All skill levels are welcome to play along. You can drop off your ATCs to me or you can mail them to the address below.  I can’t wait to see what you create for this month’s theme.  Have fun!

~Deb

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

Sign up for the Blue Twig Studio newsletter here.

Monthly ATC Challenge – Weather

1 Apr

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.~John Ruskin


Welcome to a new monthly ATC challenge. As the saying goes “April Showers bring May Flowers”, so we shall be doing ‘weather’ for our April ATC Challenge. You don’t have to do showers. :) Think of all the weather options out there – stormy weather, sunshine, blizzards, lightening strikes, wind, etc. I think this will be lots of fun!

The March ATC challenge was TRAVEL, and the photos of all the participants and the winner will be posted in a few days. The wonderful creativity of all of my readers is amazing to see. Thanks so much for sending in all of your beautiful works of art and sharing a little bit of your creativity with the rest of us. :)

ATC stands for Artist Trading Card. A little bitty piece of art created by you. Here are the rules guidelines for the challenge.

  • your ATC needs to be 2.5″ x 3.5″
  • you can use any medium you like (paper, fabric, metal, clay, etc)
  • you can use any technique you like (a great way to try something new)
  • art work is on the front
  • your personal info is on the back (name, location, contact info, date, title)
  • all skill levels welcome
  • this is a WTA – winner take all – so one person will ‘win’ all of the ATCs submitted (if we get more than 20 entries, there will be 2 winners announced)
  • submit one ATC (you get one chance to win with each ATC submitted – if you submit more than one you get extra chances – but make them different since once person will win all of them :) )
  • you can’t win if you don’t enter :)
  • deadline is April 30th – you can drop it off if you are local or mail it to the address below

I’d like it if you could include your city, state and country on the back side of your ATC. We have several Int’l participants as well as people from all over the USA, and I know they would love it if they knew where you were from. We don’t all know each other personally, so the info you provide is greatly appreciated. Another idea is to include your email or blog address as well. It’s not necessary, but nice for the winner to have in case they would like to contact you.

I hope you will join the fun of the monthly ATC challenge. It is a great opportunity to try something new and play with  mixed media techniques. You only need to make one little ATC, so it is really easy to complete. Get your friends to join the fun too. The more the merrier.

So the April theme is Weather and I know there will be a lot of great entries for this theme. For those of you who like to plan ahead, the May theme is Flowers. Have fun!

~Deb~

Blue Twig Studio - 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Sign up for the Blue Twig Studio weekly newsletter here.

The Arty Party and The Mohawk

28 Mar

Guest Blog Post by Cass Mullane – Design Team Member

The “Arty Party” and The Mohawk

by Cass Mullane

Wednesday was an interesting day… I attended my first “Arty Party” at Blue Twig Studio.  What a blast!

I arrived and I found the tables all pushed together into a giant workspace.  There were GOBS of fun baubles, trinkets, fibers, sticks, batting, fabrics, and, of course, ribbons.  I was immediately offered a glass of vino (not a bad way to start the evening!) and encouraged to find a seat.  I started snooping all the goodies and asked what we were going to be doing and was told that it was a mystery.  Great, I love mysteries!

And so it began!

An “Arty Party” is an evening of fun and joyful creativity hosted by Deb Prewitt of Blue Twig Studio.  She holds them on the fourth Wednesday of each month and selects a mystery creative project we can complete in a couple of hours.  This party turned out to be a laugh festival!

After Deb got us settled, she announced that we were going to be making Wise Woman dolls.  She showed us some samples (they were quite interesting) and then walked us through the process step by step.  We each were free to create whatever we wanted, with Deb there to guide us through any questions and challenges.

My Wise Woman started out as a bamboo skewer which was then wrapped a strip of batting, then bits of fabric and cheesecloth, and then finished off with fibers and ribbons to secure the bundle.  It sounded so easy, but my Wise Woman lost her innards (to the great amusement of my friends across the table!) and I had to start over.  Good thing Deb was there to show me that a couple of strategically placed pins would solve my problem.

Once we each figured out just how to make the whole thing stay together and actually come out looking sort of doll-ish, the real fun began!  We were finally allowed to dive into the baubles, bits, trinkets, beads yarns and ribbons to embellish our wise women.  I got so busy adding random strings of beads, trinkets and other embellishments, that I forgot to add hair to my Wise Woman.  The poor girl went home bald!

Not to worry, I promised to give her a do and now she’s sporting a lovely violet mohawk inspired by Kokopelli (another mischief maker).

So check out Deb Prewitt and Blue Twig Studio’s “Arty Party” for a creative and laughter filled evening!

P.S. One thing I found particularly interesting was that the three metal pieces that I’d randomly added had words that were perfectly suited for me as a business coach:  Listen, Breathe, Inspire.  Guess that little doll’s indeed a pretty Wise Woman!

Wise woman doll by Cass Mullane

Wise woman doll by Cass Mullane

Wise woman doll by Cass Mullane

Wise woman doll by Cass Mullane

 

PS from Deb – Love your Wise Woman Doll, Cass. There is a new class every month and it is a different project each month. And yes, there is wine and chocolate and a lot of fun and laughter. Perhaps you can join us next time!

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

An A-Ha Moment

22 Mar

Guest Blog Post by Kerry Ayers Cain – Design Team Member

For Valentine’s Day a year ago, I took my mother to tea at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.  They were doing a presentation on crazy quilts, which has always been one of my favorite quilt forms.  The presenter was offering classes in making a crazy quilt and I signed up as motivation to finally make one and get that off my to-do list.  (Have you ever tried to motivate yourself this way?)  Well the small wall-hanging quilt I started as part of the class is still a UFO, but the class was more than worth it for the a-ha moment I had when I discovered Valdani thread  (Valdani threads are hand-dyed, colorfast threads in luscious colors, both solids and variegated, and a variety of thread weights, in cotton, silk, polyester, and rayon. They offer hand-sewing threads and yarns, as well as machine threads. They have something for every project.)

I have done embroidery of various kinds since I was a child and always used embroidery floss, separating it into as many strands as the directions say, hoping the floss would behave and wouldn’t separate or twist or knot or do any of the other things floss sometimes did.  Then I took that crazy quilt class and the teacher suggested using Valdani thread to embroider.  I tried it once and was hooked.  Compared to floss it is so much easier to use and makes the hand stitching fun rather than being a chore (Valdani does offer a floss as well for those times when you really need it).  The first big project I did with Valdani thread was as part of the first Blue Twig challenge when I used it in my Crazy Wedding Quilt  (pictured below).  I found I was never exasperated or frustrated with the way the thread behaved, even with all that hand stitching.

 

Crazy Quilt Wedding Dress Challenge by Kerry Ayers Cain

Crazy Quilt Wedding Dress Challenge by Kerry Ayers Cain

Wedding Dress close-up by Kerry Ayers Cain

Wedding Dress close-up by Kerry Ayers Cain

 

Over the past 18 months, I have built up a fairly large collection of Valdani thread (and really appreciative that I can get it so easily from Blue Twig Studio).  It comes in a wide variety of colors and I particularly like the variegated colors, which offer a choice of either subtle or dramatic color changes in the variegation. I use Valdani in about 90% of my hand sewing, although there still is that occasional part of a project where floss is the better choice.  Because the thread makes it so easy, I have found that I do more hand sewing in recent projects as you can see in the pictures below.

In the first project I copied pictographs onto fabric, using primarily the Green Mask pictographs from Sheiks Canyon, Utah.  I then hand stitched and beaded over the copy.

 

Petrographs Interpreted by Kerry Ayers Cain

Petrographs Interpreted by Kerry Ayers Cain

Petrograph close-up by Kerry Ayers Cain

Petrograph close-up by Kerry Ayers Cain

 

The second project is part of another challenge called “Along the Trail.”  The challenge specified the size of the quilt and the use of a given piece of fabric as a “trail” across that quilt, but everything else was left up to me.  I designed and stitched a scenic piece in the style of Judith Baker Montano.

 

On The Trail by Kerry Ayers Cain

On The Trail by Kerry Ayers Cain

On the Trail close-up by Kerry Ayers Cain

On the Trail close-up by Kerry Ayers Cain

 

Finally, I have recently used the thread in a wool “block of the month” piece that used some of the basic hand stitches such as the buttonhole stitch, featherstitch and backstitch.

 

Wool Flowers by Kerry Ayers Cain

Wool Flowers by Kerry Ayers Cain

Wool Flowers close-up by Kerry Ayers Cain

Wool Flowers close-up by Kerry Ayers Cain

 

The next time you are considering a hand-stitching project, do yourself a favor and try some Valdani thread.

~Kerry

PS from Deb – These photos don’t do the work justice. It is really hard to see the details from hand stitching in a photo. It is so much more impressive when seen in person. And Kerry does amazing work!

I also want to let you know that if you are looking for a particular color or type of Valdani thread,  I can order it for you. Since Valdani is out of Canada, it is often hard to find, but I am happy to order the colors or weights that you need for your project.

Blue Twig Studio - 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

Have you sent in your Travel ATC yet?

19 Mar

The countdown to the end of the month is on. If you are planning on participating in the monthly blog ATC challenge (March theme is Travel), then you need to be sure to drop it off or send it in the mail to me. The deadline is the end of the month. You usually have a day or two beyond the end of the month if absolutely necessary, as I don’t post the winner until the 3rd or 4th of the following month usually. If you think you will be late, please let me know so I can watch for your ATC.

life-quotes-travel-is-the-only-thing-you-buy-that-makes-you-richer

You can read more about the monthly challenge here. I encourage you to join the fun. ATCs are just little itty bitty works of art, and can be completed in any medium or technique that you like. You send one in (more if you want to) and then I randomly select one person from all the entries to WIN all of them. If we get over 20 entries, then there will be TWO winners instead of one.

Invite your friends to play along with you too. I know you can have a lot of fun creating these in a group atmosphere. :)

All skill levels are welcome and if you have been wanting to try your hand at ATCs, then this is a great opportunity to get your feet wet.

And remember to have fun with it!

~Deb

Let Your Inner Artist Out to Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

Diva Challenge #109 – Zentangle Quest

12 Mar

This week’s Diva Challenge #109 is a Zentangle® Quest – using parallel lines. Seemed like I could do that one. Ha Ha. I know I haven’t done any of the Diva Challenge’s for awhile now. Sometimes I just don’t get the time to do them. You can find out more about the weekly Diva Challenge here. Or by clicking on the link to the right.

This week I decided to do a video and share it with you. Hope you like it. :)

 

 

You can learn more about Zentangle by visiting zentangle.com. If you are interested in classes, please let me know. I am more than happy to work with you to provide you a class that suits your needs. You can purchase Zentangle products and books here.

~Deb (CZT8)~

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

Introducing my Design Team

7 Mar

I want to introduce my new Design Team for Blue Twig Studio. A Design Team is a group of people who explore and create and share their interests and ideas and inspiration for a specified period of time. And I now have a Design Team! Woo hoo!

This is my first time at having a Design Team, so I am quite excited about it. I know that having the team in place will make your experiences with Blue Twig Studio better, which is very important to me. How so? you may ask.

  • you get inspiration from more than one person 
  • you have more tutorials and product reviews to learn from
  • there is a lot more eye candy to enjoy
  • you get another point of view about art and creativity and all things fun and playful
  • there will be a lot more project ideas

Sounds good to me!

There are 2 people on my Design Team, and they will be busy and active here and at the store during the next 6 months (and hopefully beyond that).  I know you will enjoy them and their work. Please welcome Cass Mullane and Kerry Ayers Cain. (clap clap clap)

Cass Mullane  is a combination of a successful businesswoman and an artist. She worked in business management in Washington, DC for over 20 years, then moved back home to Colorado Springs in 2004 and founded Prosper Creatively, LLC, her business and accountability coaching practice.  She specializes in coaching right brainers and creatives who want to succeed in the left brained business world.  As a fiber artist, Cass quickly realized that experimenting with materials and techniques and making her own designs fired up her creative juices.  Cass joined the Design Team to challenge herself and to ensure she’d spend plenty time in the studio!

Cass Mullane

Cass Mullane

I look forward to seeing what Cass creates for Blue Twig Studio and I know she will be especially fun to have around. Cass is very creative and absolutely loves experimenting, so you and I both know that there will be some innovative and playful stuff coming your way from her. I can’t wait to see what she does.

Kerry Ayers Cain was recently introduced as a BTS teacher, so her bio can be found on this post here. 

Kerry Ayers Cain teaching at Blue Twig Studio

Kerry Ayers Cain teaching at Blue Twig Studio

Kerry is an amazingly creative artist. She has a wonderful attention to detail and her art work is absolutely stunning! She loves playing and creating and is quite excited to learn about new products and figuring out ways to incorporate those ideas into her art work.  Teaser alert: she has a fabulous new class she is going to be teaching called Textured Play. (The new class schedule will be out next week!)

Watch for guest blog posts, project ideas, new art work, tutorials, and class offerings by the new Design Team of Cass Mullane and Kerry Ayers Cain!

Please welcome them to Blue Twig Studio.

~Deb~

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

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