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DIY Vespa Venture in Venice

Meet and mingle with our ~ DIY Vespa Venture in Venice created by young makers! If you’re connected with us on Instagram, you’ve seen young artists creating these precious popped out pieces in an after school workshop just before Valentine’s Day, hence the love lock addition! The vision was to create a colorful creature, possibly a vivacious vole, venturing and vrooming through the streets of Venice on a vibrant Vespa, full of Valentine’s gifts galore…that’s a whole lot of V’s, right!?! Of course, you could design any type of pretty packages for transport or choose any cute creature to be captain. Take a peek at our {hands on + mixed-media} process creating with crafty kids in Carbondale, Colorado in our downtown art studio at 449 Main Street.

Have you ever wanted your very own Vespa scooter!?! They come in SO many beautiful colors under the sun! They’re simply so easy to spot on a summery street in all sorts of savory shades. How could you ever choose from seafoam green, luscious lime, savory sky blue, amazing aqua, sunshine yellow, outrageous orange, just to name a few of the “scoops of sorbet”! Someday I’ll own my very own but for now, these vrooming Vespas completely fill my heart. Children LOVE creating things that are cute, crafty, creative, connected, contoured, centered on cardboard, all with a clever catch! This project took a splash into artsy architecture, a love lock tradition on-trend, and added a speedy story to showcase. Then there was the venturing vole (you could create any creature or even a humanized character) making a vrooming Valentine’s Day special delivery by Vespa!

YES!!! Our SUMMER ART CAMPS just opened for early enrollment! We also have our last SCHOOL YEAR ART WORKSHOP coming up with just a few spaces ~ a TOUCAN’S TRIP TO TAHITI in TIE-DYE starting the week of April 13th! Take a feathery flight this spring and join us in the studio!

SUPPLIES FOR ~ DIY VESPA VENTURE IN VENICE:

  • Vespa images for reference
  • Sketch paper
  • Cardboard- thin and regular weight
  • Glue- white glue and cool temp hot glue
  • Foil
  • Paper-mâché
  • Newsprint
  • Paint
  • Embellishments- specialty papers + sticky foam + pom poms + more
  • Heavy-weight watercolor paper
  • Ruler or straight edge
  • Watercolors
  • Permanent marker
  • Little lock and key for love locks (optional)

PROCESS FOR ~ DIY VESPA VENTURE IN VENICE:

DESIGNING A DREAMY VESPA

ONE Sketch a variety of Vespas using photos for reference. Select your favorite and get started on some exciting designing and color planning.

TWO Create the full body of your Vespa by sketching it out on light-weight cardboard. Cutout. Decide which components you’d like to pop out to create added dimension. Most of our artists popped their fenders, seats, racks, lights, and more! Smaller pieces take on more “pop” with traditional cardboard. We had an easy to cut, yet “thick cardboard” to create “spacers” between pieces to pop-out even more dimension. These pieces were simply glued between.

THREE Glue parts and pieces in place using white glue or a “cool temp” hot glue. Foil was a very moldable material for added detail but it needed to be hot glued. Some artists covered their foil with paper-mâché, while others used foil as a metal accent and left it artfully exposed.

Waa-laa! Here you have a finished Vespa ready for a Venice venture. Did you know Vespa is an Italian brand of scooter? The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946, to a full line of scooters. To think it all started in Italy.

FOUR Paper-mâché is optional. Our older artists had time to add a light layer of paper-mâché. Paper-mâché creates strength and unifies but it’s an optional step if you don’t have enough time, especially since the finished Vespa will be connected to another element for added strength.

Most artists love adding a little paper-mâché to their life! Extra small pieces of newsprint enabled the contours to still show the dimension and detail. If you do mâché your Vespa, fully dry before moving onto paint.

FIVE Paint your Vespa one solid color. Dry. Then move into smaller detail painting until your heart’s content.

SIX Embellish using specialty papers, sticky foams, foil, pom poms, and more. Secure in place with glue.

SEVEN Working on heavy-weight watercolor paper, sketch out a humanized creature with a whole lot of character to drive your Vespa (possibly a vole, pig, hedgehog, or maybe even a panda) and sketch out a stack of packages for your Vespa to transport! Define with permenent marker. Paint using watercolors or additional supplies at hand. Artists love adding watercolor pencils and watercolor crayons for artful accents. Dry pieces and cutout. Add thick cardboard pieces to the backs to pop out pieces before adding to the background element coming up next!

DRAWING + PAINTING A VENETIAN CITYSCAPE

Take a splash into creating a Venetian cityscape for your Vespa!

ONE Working on 18 x 24″ heavy-weight watercolor paper, we created a simple stencil for the center bridge placement to give young artists a starting point which had the curve line bottom, top line, and both side-lines, similar to the image above but less detailed. From this point, artists individualized their bridges by incorporating additional curves, lines, and details. The bridge, above the canal waterway, was then painted using a warm “golden pallet” of warm liquid watercolors.

TWO Create buildings using vertical lines with a ruler or yardstick. It seemed best to have 6 – 7 buildings. We discussed how building further away will appear smaller. We also discussed how the buildings were in the distance and how they could appear more “washed or sketch-like or loose” as this wasn’t the most important detail to this piece. Buildings were painted using a wash of warm watercolors.

THREE Move into painting the waterway, aka the canal, using cool watercolors for a colorful contast. We used a combination of traditional pallet watercolors and liquid watercolors. Travel up to painting your sky using cool colors which may entail clouds. Explore a variety of wet on wet techniques and washes. Dry.

FOUR Use a pencil to create the horizontal “3 – 4 levels or stories” on each building and add windows. Look at windows on old Venetian buildings and how they’re different than windows on skyscrapers of today. Compare architecture of today to historic architecture in Venice.

A bird’s eye view of painted pieces just before windows were added.

FIVE Use a black permanent marker to finalize windows and additional details. Most artists colored their windows in black to create a pop of color and contrast.

Love the additional waterlines-n-waves + bridge detail this artist added to her piece to personalize using a permanent marker!

SIX Assemble your entire piece and glue down all the clever + creative + crafty components which include a Vespa, creature aka driver, and packages all on top of your bridge above the lovely canal in Venice. Learn about the love lock tradition and add a mini metal lock to the bridge and toss keys into the canal to celebrate the completion of your colorful creation!

Take an upclose peek at all the clever additions on this piece.

Celebrate childhood + creativity + coming together as a community before taking a trip to Venice inspired by your very own clever creation!

Absolutely love this precious piece that was created by one of our youngest artists and immediately framed by her lovely mama in a sweet shadowbox for showcase, sweetness, and safekeeping!

This is my current scooter of travel, but you’ll be the first to know if I take the leap to get my very own Vespa for vrooming & venturing the downtown streets of our little mountain town of Carbondale, Colorado!

Tag us on Instagram with your creations.  We’d absolutely LOVE to see them!  As always, thank you for following our artful adventure on Main Street in the heART of the Carbondale Creative District!  Send us a note anytime!  We’d love to hear what you’re thinking, dreaming, envisioning, and of course, our favorite ~ CREATING!

Much love and happiness creating in this creative + colorful world filled with collaboration + connection + community + arts & crafting! Happy Springtime from our studio!

Ami

Creative Family Art Workshops

UPCOMING ART WORKSHOPS FOR KIDS:

SESSION IV ~ artful + abstract ASSEMBLAGE on canvas

Starting the week of February 17th ~ SIMPLY ENROLL

SESSION V ~ a TOUCAN’S TRIP to TAHITI in TIE-DYE

Starting week of April 13th ~ SIMPLY ENROLL

ART WORKSHOP DETAILS FOR KIDS:

  • Hands-on + mixed-media
  • 4:00 – 5:30 PM
  • 1x per week/6-weeks
  • Tues or Wed or Thurs offerings
  • 5 years & up!
  • A celebration + mini-exhibit on the last evening for families & friends!

A PEEK INTO MINI MAKERS:

SESSION IV ~ mini Makers Mornings

Starting week of March 16th ~ SIMPLY ENROLL

SOMETHING TO HOOT ABOUT:

A CREATIVE COMMUNITY COLLABORATION:

MOUNTAIN PARENT MAGAZINE + LILYBART + HANDMAKERY

See PHOTOS of this full + festive + fun + feathery + flavorful + flock of friends at FIRST FRIDAY ~ February in the heart of the Carbondale Creative District for a MOUNTAIN PARENT MAGAZINE Reader Appreciation Party in our traditional MAKE & CREATE + 30 Drawings with guest artist ~ LILYBART!

OUR DIY IN MOUNTAIN PARENT MAGAZINE:

Our handmade upcycled DIY ~ SNOWY SNUGGLY OWL in MOUNTAIN PARENT MAGAZINE.

OUR RECENT DIYS ON ART BAR BLOG:

Sculpture with Kids ~ Ugo Rondinone Artist Study (Part One and Part 2) on Art Bar Blog! Discover how we used magnets for these mini monuments with kids!

BOOK A CUSTOM + CREATIVE CELEBRATION:

No date is too early to BOOK a custom + creative + childhood celebration on our Events Calendar!

SAVE THE DATE ~ FIRST FRIDAY MAY:

Be sure to pencil in the annual FAMILY BLOCK PARTY in downtown Carbondale | Colorado as we’ll be there creating in our outdoor art studio!

JOIN OUR SUMMER WORKSHOP LIST:

Get on the EARLY BIRD LIST for summer!

STAY CREATIVELY CONNECTED:

Follow our blog for more inspiring process-based art projects!  As always, thank you for following our artful adventure on Main Street in the heART of the Carbondale Creative District!  Send us a note anytime!  We’d love to hear what you’re thinking, dreaming, envisioning, crafting, creating, and celebrating!  Much love and happiness in this creative + colorful world, filled with collaboration + connection + community + arts & crafting!  

Tag us and say hello @handmakery Instagram with your colorful creations, celebrations, and shares!  

Much love,

Ami

A Fairy & Gnome Celebration for 40!

We recently hosted a magical + maker birthday celebration with 40 little artists in our children’s art studio! A Fairy & Gnome Enchanted Land Celebration for a sweet lil‘ one turning SIX! Definitely the largest celebration to walk though our Main Street door in the heart of the Carbondale Creative District. Take a peek inside this precious party with a plethora of lil‘ people! Indeed our studio felt cozy but also so crafty and creative as it completely captured childhood!

Knowing our hands would be festively full, we reached out to our good friend and photographer ~ Hilary Brock to capture this colorful celebration and oh my how she captured all the delightful details of this dreamy day on camera! Hilary, thank you for working your photography magic, you’re so talented!

For this creative childhood celebration, we took insightful inspiration from our awesome artist friend and LA studio owner, Meri Cherry and her ~ Fairy Gardens for Kids. Meri always makes miracles happen with mini makers. Meri gave us complete creative confidence for this celebration, connecting and chatting through Instagram. With a few artful additions, a mushroom masterpiece and wondrous whimsical treasures, this process made all makers feel creatively confident and gave them time to connect and cheerfully chat as they celebrated!

Giggling guests arriving and picking out their creative spaces.

A little one caught in the magic of mixing in the morning light.

The studio starting to fill as guests began artfully arriving.

The birthday girl getting the process started with a smile in Sunday’s sunshine.

All hands were on deck, both big and small.

Birthday wishes were sparkling and seen inside the soul to later be shared in a birthday song.

The mix of ages made this creative event completely captivating.

Selecting artful treasures was a happy highlight as each proud artist personalized their piece.

The morning light seemed to sparkle, shine, and create its own song & dance surrounding the marvelous mini makers.

Fairies and gnomes seemed to become artfully alive, appearing around the tables.

A maker and her sweet mama caught in a magical moment.

The whole family jumped into the artful action of this creative + crafting + community celebration in downtown Carbondale|CO!

A photo precisely about the pieces on point to protect the enchanted land.

Fairies lit up with sparkle-n-shine as they flew above the tables, taking in all the magic of the makers caught in the moment.

Creative, cozy, childhood, celebration, crafting, community, chaos, captures, collaboration, connection, Carbondale Creative District, children, and coming together in colorful Colorado with cheer!

It’s all about the process, the details, the experience, and the memories that will forever stay in the mind and heart of the makers.

A delightful-n-dreamy rainbow cake baked by the birthday family, both bright and brilliant.

Sweetness + smiles + stargazing + sunlight on a super Sunday in the studio.

A closeup capture of a mushroom masterpiece including both fairy & gnome, a beautiful butterfly taking flight, a pathway on point, and an enchanted land all handcrafted by a clever child.

Tag us @handmakery with your colorful creations and celebrations on Instagram!  

Follow our blog for more inspiring process-based art projects!  As always, thank you for following our artful adventure on Main Street in the heART of the Carbondale Creative District!  Send us a note anytime!  We’d love to hear what you’re thinking, dreaming, envisioning, crafting, creating, and celebrating!  Much love and happiness in this creative + colorful world, filled with collaboration + connection + community + arts & crafting!  

Much love, Ami

Ruckus in the Radiant + Rare Rainforest

Happy forever fall! October days in Colorado have been most beautiful, filled with sweet sunshine and warm weather! Our studio just wrapped up our first six weeks of a fresh + new school year and we’re excited to announce SESSION II STARTS THIS WEEK! We have just a few spaces in our art workshops offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays! Jump in and join us if you’re in the Roaring Fork Valley!

We’d love for you to peek at the most recent project dreamed up + designed + created by creative children in our workshop ~ Ruckus in the Radiant + Rare Rainforest! You might just be inspired to make your own! Tag your creations @handmakery on Instagram!

SUPPLIES FOR ~ RUCKS IN THE RADIANT + RARE RAINFOREST:

  • black & white imagery for inspiration
  • heavy-weight white paper
  • India ink
  • paintbrushes
  • scissors
  • pencil & eraser
  • tempera paint
  • permanent marker
  • cardboard
  • white school glue
  • pattern & solid papers
  • foam core
  • posterboard
  • egg carton
  • hot glue
  • embellishments: pom poms, buttons, glitter sticky foam, stickers
  • drill
  • twine

A SIMPLE PROCESS FOR ~ RUCKS IN THE RADIANT + RARE RAINFOREST:

ONE Read The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest as a fantastic introduction to rainforests. Get inspired using simple black & white imagery for discovery, inspiration, and reference. Imagery may include rainforest plants, flowers, leaves, and trees. Use a thin brush and black India ink to “draw” on a large scale, filling a large paper with a variety of observed + organic habitat. Illustrations should remain separate so they can eventually be cut apart. Dry.

TWO Using tempera cake paints in neons and fluorescents to bring color into the rainforest habitat. This semi-transparent paint will allow the black lines to still shine through. Dry. Cut plantlife apart, leaving the exterior black line.

ART WORKSHOPS FOR KIDS!

ENROLLING: SESSION II ~ FALL

WORKSHOPS + CLASSES + CAMPS + EVENTS

Early online enrollment at HANDMAKERY is highly encouraged as seating is limited!  Start making + creating + connecting in a colorful community focused on a creative + collaborative childhood!

STAY CONNECTED @handmakery ON INSTAGRAM!

THREE Use pencil to lightly sketch rainforest creatures. Start with simple shapes like circles and ovals, eventually moving to smaller shapes and detail. Use simple black & white imagery for animal inspiration. Move to a permanent black marker to outline, detail, texture, and to bold each creature. Cut out each animal with scissors keeping the exterior black line. We did most of the cutting so young artists would have more time drawing and painting.

Each artist selected their own creature combinations to incorporate into their rainforest. Creatures included poison dart frogs, snakes, exotic birds, sloths, leopards, monkeys, and more! It was exciting to see the different combinations of animals each artist selected to personalize their piece.

FOUR Explore lightweight cardboard and white glue construction for additional plantlife popouts and to add additional dimension. Paint cardboard pieces using solid body tempera paints in neons and accent with tempera paint pens.

Detail dry painted cardboard pieces with glitter sticky foam or smaller mixed-media components such as pom poms, circle stickers, buttons, oil pastels, washi tapes, patterned papers, and more.

FIVE Layout the cutout “creative collection” of rainforest plants, black & white creatures, and dimensional habitat on a horizontal, pre-painted, black cardboard, backed with a smaller piece of foam core for strength and stiffness. Arrange pieces considering foreground, middle-ground, and background. Pieces can flow off the black cardboard to allow more space and to add dimension.

A beautiful rainforest flower painted in paint pen to pop out.

A birds-eye-view of rainforest animals accented with eye catching patterns. Creatures remained in a black + white color scheme for a brilliant + bold + contrasting statement.

SIX Use three to five, precut egg carton pieces to pop out selected pieces. Use white glue to attach a low profile egg carton piece to add height and a bit of pop.

SEVEN Arrange finished pieces on the pre-painted black cardboard, again, that has been backed with foam core for added durability, flatness, and strength. Use a light amount of white school glue to tack down pieces so they’re not fully glued down, so pieces still have a flex & flow. Use a neon poster board to create a vibrant frame to finish off and showcase. Drill holes in the top two corners and add a piece of twine to display.

A peek at a few pretty pieces in progress as artists were planning and popping with a unique perspective, point of view, and of course a powerful punch, all part of the process and on point. Now say this three times!!!

Having a project with “several separate pieces” allowed artists to move around pieces to the puzzle, to build, and to layer their one-of-a-kind ~ Ruckus in the Radiant + Rare Rainforest so it was unique to each artist. Keeping all animals black & white created a wonderful contrast to the colorful habitat.

Every artist walked away with a one-of-a-kind creation with a collection of creatures they were proud of creating!

A little hand-stamped + black & white saying we printed for each artist to frame using materials of their choice. Little wooden clothespins were used to clip onto the twine of their projects. We discussed how this piece was truly an artist statement to ~ RISE + RALLY + RESECT + RADIATE YOUR HEARTS for the RUCKUS in the RADIANT + RARE RAINFOREST to remind humans to protect and preserve this special land!

The week wrapped up with our traditional recognition ceremony + mini art show as makers took home ~ a most marvelous mini-masterpiece on Main Street in the majestic mountains!

Tag us @handmakery with your creations on Instagram!  Follow our blog for more inspiring process-based art projects!  As always, thank you for following our artful adventure on Main Street in the heART of the Carbondale Creative District!  Send us a note anytime!  We’d love to hear what you’re thinking, dreaming, and envisioning!  Much love and happiness creating in this creative + colorful world filled with collaboration + connection + community + arts & crafting!  Ami

Sculptural Springtime Sloths

Hello there! Excited to give you a little springtime inspiration in your day! Our artists recently showcased their ~ SCULPTURAL SPRINGTIME SLOTHS in a sling, sporting stylish sandals + sunhats + sunglasses + scarves, while sipping & sun-basking in the sunshine in our early spring + six-week + school-year art workshops for ages 5 & up! We have a feeling these creatures will “slowly” steal your heart! Sharing a list of sweet-n-simple, go-to-supplies, to get your very own sloth started using several upcycled material you might already have on hand! Be sure to tag @handmakery on Instagram if you give this project a GO! Take a peek below!

SUPPLIES FOR ~ SCULPTURAL SPRINGTIME SLOTHS:

  • Newspaper {upcycled}
  • Paper bags {upcycled}
  • Tape- masking + duct tape
  • Scissors
  • Paper-mâché mixture + bowl
  • Paint + pallet + brush
  • Driftwood
  • Fabric- fleece
  • Fishing line
  • Embellishments for sandals, hats & sunglasses

A SIMPLE PROCESS FOR ~ SCULPTURAL SPRINGTIME SLOTHS:

BUILD + CONSTRUCT:

PAPER MÂCHÉ:

PAINT:

ASSEMBLE A SIMPLE SLING:

EMBELLISH: Sunhats + Sandals + Sunglasses + Scarves + Sips

A STUPENDUS + SUSPENDED + SLOTHFUL SHOWCASE:

Did you know sloths are the most trending animal of the year? Would you believe the sloth has replaced the unicorn!?! Indeed, it’s true! Read about their debut as “the most trending creature” of this year. Would you also believe a baby sloth was just born, right here in Colorado!?! If you’re looking for some amazing + simple sloth facts for kids, to go along with this DIY, take a look. Artists loved learning all about these cozy and trending creatures! We even hosted a sloth birthday party right in our very own sweet studio!

A sweet + sisterly + sloth-selfie sent in by one of our amazing HANDMAKERY families! Thank you for tagging #handmakery on Instagram with your creations!

SUN BASK, SIP, SIT BACK & RELAX INTO SUMMER:

TAKE A SPLASH & JOIN US THIS SUMMER:

1. JUMP IN AS SUMMER ART CAMPS ARE QUICKLY FILLING!

SIMPLY ENROLL:   WORKSHOPS + CLASSES + SUMMER CAMPS

Early online enrollment is highly encouraged as seating is limited!  Jump into summer making + creating + connecting in a colorful community focused on a creative + collaborative childhood, in the heART of the Carbondale Creative District on magnificent Main Street!

2. FAMILY BLOCK PARTY ~ FIRST FRIDAY MAY!

Free Art Making In Our Outdoor Art Studio First Friday ~ May 3rd, FAMILY BLOCK PARTY, 4 - 8 PM!

You don’t want to miss this event! If you’re local to the Roaring Fork Valley, be sure to join us for our 7th year hosting a ~ FREE art-making booth for ALL AGES! We’ll be making & creating in our outdoor art studio which will be located in downtown Carbondale |Colorado, at the heART of the Carbondale Creative District! Join us for the much-anticipated + annual + artful ~ FAMILY BLOCK PARTY!

3. LET’S CONNECT ON INSTAGRAM!

JOIN US ON INSTAGRAM!
@handmakery

Tag us @handmakery with your creations on Instagram!  Follow our blog for more inspiring process-based art projects!  As always, thank you for following our artful adventure!  Send us a note anytime!  We’d love to hear what you’re thinking, dreaming, and envisioning!  Much love and happiness creating in this creative + colorful world filled with collaboration + connection + community + arts & crafting!  Happy Spring! xo Ami

DIY Cardboard “Candy” Cottage + First Friday Crafting

Happy December + Happy Holidays!  Save yourself long hours in the kitchen spent mixing, rolling, cutting and baking gingerbread dough – use cardboard instead for a ~ DIY CARDBOARD “CANDY” COTTAGE!

This fantastic upcycled material is abundant and easy to use.  Plus, you can avoid a sugar melt-down by skipping the temptation (and expense) of supplying bags of candy, sprinkles and royal icing – and sculpt your own candy cane columns and gumdrop windows using modeling dough.

This open-ended, creative process is fun for ages 5-12 (or, say, age 35+, if Mama is so inclined).  These cottages can be used as holiday ornaments, wall hangings, or added as a 3D element to a canvas painting, as shown here.  You can even make a village; a timeless, long-lasting heirloom, completely made by – hand from the heART!

Traditionalists who want a classic edible gingerbread house (complete with candies galore) can skip the inevitable sticky cleanup at home, and instead, deliver their children to December’s FIRST FRIDAY ~ CANDY COTTAGE WORKSHOP at HANDMAKERY, where crumble-proof walls and every sweet adornment will be provided.

See the full CARDBOARD “CANDY” COTTAGE article in Winter Edition | Issue 10 of the MOUNTAIN PARENT magazine offered FREE throughout the Roaring Fork Valley in print (oh SO beautiful) and/or online throughout the world!

SUPPLIES FOR CARDBOARD “CANDY” COTTAGE:

  • Printable download
  • Pencil + eraser
  • Cardboard
  • Scissors
  • White school glue
  • Hot glue (adult use)
  • Clear wrap
  • Masking tape
  • Modeling dough: Crayola Model Magic (white)
  • Tempera paint + brush
  • Glitter (fine white)
  • Chalk markers (optional)
  • Embellishments- white pom-poms, red & white paper straws, striped cupcake papers, wire stars, & white string.

PROCESS FOR CARDBOARD “CANDY” COTTAGE:

ONE  Download a FREE printable template on handmakery.com/blog.  Prepare a cardboard cottage cut-out ahead of time by cutting out two shapes:  one will be the cottage, the other will be the roof. Using white glue, attach the cardboard cottage to the cardboard roof by overlapping just a bit and gluing in place.  Dry.

TWO  Have a mixture of smaller pieces of cardboard scraps available that can be cut and used for pop out details.  Lighter weight cardboard is ideal as it’s easier to cut. Corrugated cardboard adds a wonderful texture and is also easy to cut.  Architectural pieces can be drawn and cut to create doors, windows, porches, fences, shed roofs, steps, a chimney, and more. Draw, cut, arrange, and glue down detail pieces using white glue.  Dry. Cottages will become one-of-a-kind mini-relief sculptures!

THREE  Cover completed cardboard cottage with clear wrap and use masking tape on the back of the cottage to temporarily secure.  This protected surface will allow modeling dough pieces to be placed on the house to dry without attaching to the cardboard cottage and will keep the cardboard protected from paint.

FOUR  Keep cottage covered with clear wrap.  Move into making accents using Crayola Model Magic which is a fantastic product for use, flexibility, and simple drying.  Start by rolling coils to imply snow and icicles. These pieces will take on the look of white icing. These snowy details can run along the edges of the roof, cottage, above the door + windows, and atop the chimney.  Use modeling dough to also make candies such as gumdrops, mints, candy canes, and other savory + sugary treats. Wreaths, snowballs, and snow piles can also be fun additions. Allow pieces to air dry in place, on top of the clear wrapped house.

FIVE  Paint dry modeling dough candies using paint and a small brush.  Allow painted pieces to dry on top of the clear wrapped cottage.  Pieces that are to remain white are beautifully painted with white glue and sprinkled with fine white glitter for added sparkle.  Dry.

SIX  Carefully set all modeling dough piece aside and remove the clear wrap.  Arrange pieces in place for gluing down onto cardboard. Most dough pieces can be glued with white glue.  It can be helpful for an adult to hot glue fragile icing pieces for strength and a quicker dry time.  Use chalk marker to add small details of color on the cardboard cottage.  White chalk marker can imply small areas of icing and colored chalk marker can add vivid details to the cardboard pieces.  Now, you can add your embellishments including,  white pom-poms, red & white paper straws and striped cupcake papers, wire stars, and white string for lights.  Most embellishments can simply be glued in place onto the cardboard. 

Be sure to tag @handmakery on Instagram with your Cardboard “Candy” Cottage creations as we’ll be featuring your work on our feed! #candycottage

A peek inside the studio at a mini-exhibit + recognition ceremony for our Winter-IE Wonderland Workshop as family and friends gathered to celebrate Cardboard “Candy” Cottages atop a wintery landscape!

JOIN US IN THE STUDIO ~ FIRST FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7TH:

>>>>> RESERVE TICKETS for DECEMBER 7TH!

Happy Holidays! Tag us @handmakery with your creations on Instagram!  Follow our blog for more inspiring process-based art projects!  As always, thank you for following along on this artful adventure!  Send us a note anytime!  We’d love to hear what you’re thinking and dreaming!  Much love and happiness creating in this creative + colorful world full of collaboration + connection + community!  

xo Ami

Llamas in Pajamas

Happy Summertime + July 1st!  Excited to announce we’re partnering with Deep Space Sparkle as an art presenter in their Draw, Paint, Make online workshop this Saturday, July 7th!  Learn more about this incredible art workshop, the art teachers involved (pictured below), and all the amazing techniques, processes, and projects featured!  In this artfully amazing workshop, we’ll be demonstrating all the steps + secrets + special techniques used to create our recent ~ Lil’ Llamas in Pajamas Party Project!  Designed, dreamed up, and created with mini-makers in our very own downtown studio!  Within the workshop, we’ll also be giving a tour of our NEW art studio (click for a sneak peek) and its organization for creating with children!  Join HANDMAKERY + six other art teachers to jazz up art projects with inspiring, yet easy, processes, plans & techniques this Saturday!

Our Lil’ Lamas in Pajamas Project focuses on painted pillows, poufs, ottomans, and wallpaper as interior design elements.  It also highlights lovely lil’ llamas, a pajama party a-poppin’, the artist as a photographer peeking into the party, a masterpiece mix of techniques using sketching, drawing, painting, collaging, photography, interior design, expressive color, a unique + exquisite color scheme, patterns, layering, humor, a fun storyline based on the letter P, and more!  Did we mention, in our six-week workshop creating with children, we topped it off with our very own pajama party plus mini-exhibit for our mini makers!?!  Would love for you to join us this Saturday for Draw, Paint, Make!  We’ll definitely be there chatting and chiming in!  See below, photos highlighting one of our favorite projects we’ve designed for kids!  Be sure you’re following us @handmakery on Instagram for the latest and greatest creative happenings!

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DIY Delightful Dragonfly

The art studio was filled with mini maker exhibits and recognition ceremonies as ALL six-week workshops wrapped up last week!  We celebrated our fifth exhibit, an end of the week highlight, hosting a FIRST FRIDAY “kid at heART exhibit” showcasing my 88-year-old grandfather, Bob Fadely aka Papa Bob, and his very first art exhibit ~ COLORING IN COLORFUL COLORADO!  Megan Tackett, an incredibly talented and enthusiastic writer, captured my grandfather in both a delightful article in The Sopris Sun and live interview on KDNK!  After it was all said and done, my most genuine Grandfather shared with me, “Last week was one of the BEST weeks of my life!”  “Art  (without a doubt) washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”  – Pablo Picasso

As springtime unfolds the outdoors become artfully alive!  Dragonflies always mesmerize with their stealthy speed, shimmery color, intricate detail, and pattern on point.  They lead us to our favorite outdoor places and spaces, including rivers, ponds, and lakes. Spring into a simple process upcycling household goods to create a bountiful + beautiful ~ DIY Delightful Dragonfly dreamed up in the HANDMAKERY art studio!  Simply take a peek!

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Forever Fishbowl

Excited to share with you a project recently dreamed up, designed, created, and of course, constructed in our very own downtown art studio!  Take a BIG splash into our ~ DIY Forever Fishbowls!  This project was created, carried out, and creatively constructed in several of our mixed age, six-week, after school, hands-on + mixed media, art workshops creating with young artists!

Beyond excited to also announce hands on + mixed media + NEW ART WORKSHOPS START NEXT WEEK for a wide array of ages!  Hop on over to ENROLL AT HANDMAKERY.COM as spaces are quickly filling!  While visiting, peek at new photos on our site and IG feed!

As you can clearly see, artists used a wide array of mixed media to bring their vision to life!  Below, you’ll discover all you need to create your very own ~ DIY Forever Fishbowl.  The big + beautiful bonus, you’ll never send a fish into fishy heaven, EVER EVER EVER again.  YES, this fishy will truly live F-O-R-E-V-E-R and children LOVE this fact!  Like, XOXOXO times a million or LOVE for a lifetime!

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Art Workshops + Weaving with Kids

Happy New Year!!!  Looking back, one of our most favorite workshops for children included ~ wee Wondrous Weavings on Wooden Looms!  Oh my, the possibilities of textile design!  These mini-masterpieces were created by 6 – 10-year-old artists!  Our NEW ~ 2018 Winter Art Workshop Brochure is hot-of-the-press!  Workshops start early January, yes this week and they’re filling up fast, just hop on over to our simple SIGN UP!  If you’re looking for hands-on + mixed media + creative expression + an artful highlight to each week + a chance to meet new families and friends JOIN US + ENROLL TODAY!  You can also connect with us on Instagram @handmakery to keep an eye on what we’re creating in the studio from special art events to birthday parties, and of course everything in between at our NEW art studio located at 449 Main Street in Carbondale | CO in the heart of the Carbondale Creative District!

WORKSHOPS + CLASSES + CAMPS

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