Thrilled to introduce you to Gina Vide of Willowday! Gina is an amazing (…and oh SO talented) artist living in Sweden, between the sea and the city! She’s flower-inspired, a maker of miracles + magic + moments, with an ornate eye for “delightful detail in the delicate” captured through design and illustration! Her style is whimsical + wondrous, and completely full of woo + wow + wonder! She loves creating + crafting with children and exploring a creative + colorful childhood. So honored to have Gina’s ABC Flower Safari and Fir Fox + 24 Flower Friends travel to our studio for a little collaboration! Literally, they came by airplane into Aspen, for First Friday ~ September, to celebrate our One Year Anniversary, in our NEW location on Main Street! TODAY, Gina launches her ABC Flower Safari Art Prints! Next month she’ll launch her NEW book ~ ABC Flower Safari! The timing is just perfect to celebrate a sneak peek of her creations through a hands-on artmaking experience inspired by the artist herself! Enjoy peeking into Gina’s amusing animal alphabet as a little tasty treat this Thursday! Enjoy the joyous journey!
Our First Friday artmaking event ran from 6 – 8 PM. Early birds anxiously waited outside the studio, with faces and hands pressed to the glass! Happy faces were peeking in and excited to get creating with Gina’s ABC Flower Safari! Yes, a true artful adventure for all ages!
Gina Vide creates magic with her whimsical creatures made from paper, paint, cardboard, and flowers. Here you can see “Fir Fox” and a few of his furry friends as they take off by airplane from Sweden to visit the Rocky Mountains, landing in Aspen | CO, just before we picked them up for the ABC Flower Safari Exhibit!
Every letter of ABC Flower Safari is inspired by an animal and a coordinating flower. Meet “Fir Fox” pictured above. Can you even believe Gina created a full alphabet connecting an animal to a flower? We have her ABC Flower Safari Art Print in the studio and we’re happy to announce these original prints are now available in her Art Print Shop! You can also read more about our collaboration on Willowday!
A favorite photo of a little artist completely inspired by Gina’s “Fir Fox”! Children used cardboard, paper, paint, and flowers to create their very own Willowday inspired masterpiece on First Friday! Gina’s imagination runs wild, can’t even think about how whimsical her NEW book ~ ABC Flower Safari will be! Love this must-see, “Fir Fox” Adventures | No 4 | ~ “Once upon a Friday, Fox read a fairytale in the fern fort.” #willowdayfoxtales
Gina’s “F is a Fir Fox” is part of a series she developed to spark imagination in kids and the world around them, using flowers, paper, cardboard, and animals. You can use #willowdayproject to share some of your very own creations part of #willowdayflowersafari on Instagram!
Gina started this series with kids in mind. It grew from her long interest in children, teaching, nature, play, and parenting with a fun crossover to illustration. She loves the simplicity of elements and imagination found in nature walks with children that evoke a story.
We met several years ago on Instagram (@willowdaygram + @handmakery) and became part of the Rockin’ Art Moms. Over the years we’ve kept in touch and have formed a friendship afar…someday we’ll meet! Gina started a summer series, Friday Flowers for Kids, on Instagram. She was able to complete her delicate + detailed series by September as the perfect highlight to welcome fall and First Friday! It all came together and the gallery wall went up with ~ ABC Flower Safari handcrafted by Gina Vide!
A favorite letter is Gina’s “Lilac Llama”! We weren’t able to get ahold of lilacs this late in the season but how this artist so lovely improvised! Discover Gina’s 3D Lilac Llama with template to make your very own.
The studio was alive and in full bloom as children of all ages shuffled through the studio (sneak peek) with their families. Picking flowers, painting cardboard, cutting and gluing paper, assembling parts and arranging pieces.
Look at this delightful dog inspired by Gina’s letter D “Daisy Dog” created by a nine-year-old, aka my daughter!
A most mastered “Hydrangea Hedgehog” inspired by Gina Vide’s letter H!
Love how this family formed a team of makers.
This sweet-sisterly duo spent the evening inspired, emulating Gina’s letter P “Peony Pig” for a priceless + pink + pair of pigs on parade!
This family “art affair” definitely brought community, closeness, collaboration, creativity, color, and craft to a complete circle!
Meet Gina Vide more in-depth in a Maker Mom interview over on hello, Wonderful!
A couple of happy zookeepers in the studio of safari!
Another F is for “Fir Fox” mastered by this maker!
Meet E is for “Eucalyptus Elephant” definitely a most favorite in the ABC Flower Safari collection!
This artist must have known she’d need to wear red to compliment, and really make her gorgeous green elephant pop in this priceless photo with a little P-O-W-!!! and polka dots!
Many artists were intrigued and inspired to create their own creations and unique combinations! Love this delightful D for dolphin!
With our logo being the owl, couldn’t conclude without adding Gina’s letter O is an “Oxypetalum Owl” handpainted in one of our most favorite tints of turquoise!
Love how this mini maker matches her eyes to her owl’s eyes in a wide-eyed expression! Hooo!
Next month Gina Vide will be launching her NEW book ~ ABC Flower Safari! We look forward to celebrating with her! Be sure you’re on Gina’s Willowday Mailing List! Excited to announce HANDMAKERY will be highlighting a very special “fox celebration” inspired by Gina’s “Fir Fox” which is perfect as we welcome fall, the changing seasons, and Gina’s NEW book!
In the studio, Gina also creates the most beautiful pieces using petals, leaves, and other items collected from nature during her walks in nature! Definitely pop into her Art Print Shop and say hello! Thank you Gina Vide for bringing your inspiration all the way from Sweden! So LOVE all you do!
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 in beautiful Carbondale | CO at 449 Main Street! Send us a note anytime! We’d love to hear what you’re thinking! Much love and happiness creating in this creative + colorful world full of collaboration + community!
xo Ami
You may have discovered on Instagram that we recently hosted a summer workshop for 6 – 9 year olds- CRAZie FOR CONTEMPORARY CUCKOO CLOCKS! Beyond excited to jump into this workshop as it has been a project that has been stirring in my mind for quite sometime. Thrilled to see it come to life! As a little girl growing up, one of my great-grandmothers had a beautiful, hand-carved, traditional, wooden cuckoo clock in her tiny home. I remember traveling to my great-grandmother’s Colorado home in the summer for weekend visits with my family. My sister and I were always mesmerized by her cuckoo clock. We were sure to be in the living room at the beginning of every hour to see the chirping bird make its grand entrance and to hear cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo! Definitely a favorite childhood memory that I can still visualize and hear as it was yesterday. Although our workshop’s cuckoo clocks were not mechanical, the children loved every moment of personalizing and piecing them together! Once we were in the midst of our mini-art exhibit at the end of the week, I was reminded of how BIG impressions are made in little + simple childhood days! I hope each of these children walk away with a special memory to hold. I’m thankful for each and everyone of my childhood memories, as they take me back to the heart of who I am today! Take a peek!
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FROM THE HEART ART KITS were created in HANDMAKERY FROM THE HEART: making + creating to give with 6 – 9 year olds as a project to learn about making to give. They were then gifted to local children in need, through our local Angel Tree Program over the holiday season! Each artist designed a box and shopped for a collection of art supplies with their families, to create their very own + personalized, FROM THE HEART ART KIT! You could create your kit to gift a loved-one this Valentine’s Day to show your love + appreciation. It’s a gift from the heart that inspires daily + yearlong C-R-E-A-T-I-V-I-T-Y and M-A-K-I-N-G!
Supplies to create a FROM THE HEART ART KIT {BOX}:
- Duct tape or Duck Brand Tape in various colors + patterns. Learn more here about duct vs duck tape!
- Chromebook or laptop boxes with built-in handles
- Sharp scissors
- Measuring system (simple handmade paper guide or ruler or yard stick)
- Partner or an extra set of hands
Our Process:
First decide on your color scheme and overall design plan. Move into cutting duct tape strips using a lot of muscle power to stretch the tape. Cut using the inner part of the scissors, as this surface is the sharpest. Remember to hold your tape tight before cutting and be sure it doesn’t twist. We used a simple handmade paper guide to measure our length for strips, as there were two lengths and this method was much easier for this age group than measuring with a ruler. Each artist teamed with a partner for the entire duct tape process, which made the cutting + lining up + taping manageable and much more fun!
There was lots of excitement over tape selection as we discovered lots of solid + patterned duct tapes in our duct tape quest! Creating their own color schemes + patterns was such an expressive piece to this process! A each artist became a product designer and loved every minute of it! I definitely got the feeling there would be much more experimentation with duct tape in the future with these individuals- they LOVED working with duct tape, especially because it’s so vibrant and beautiful!
General Materials + Supplies to Include {INSIDE}:
- a pair of child scissors (round tip)
- a glue stick + bottle of white glue
- a simple set of watercolors + brush
- a simple set of markers + crayons + colored pencils
- a simple sketchbook + pencil
- any additional art supply you and your child might want to add!
Additional Materials + Supplies You Might Consider Adding:
- glitter glue + glitter + sequins
- yarn + fabric
- pom poms
- stickers
- pipe cleaners + wooden sticks
- clay
- pencil sharpener
- pencil pouch
- washi + assorted tapes
- art books + more!
Each artist in our workshop had our general art supply list and went shopping with their families to fill their box to create a very personalized FROM THE HEART ART KIT!
Two+Two bags are always a lovely + local addition! two+two designs chic reusable bags and bowl covers that are food-safe + eco-friendly. Based outside of Aspen, Colorado this young company is run by two creative Moms with a passion for style, sewing, Mother Earth, and doing what’s best (and cutest) for their little ones. two+two products keep goods + food fresh and uncontaminated with a proprietary lining that is free of lead, BPA and phthalates. The various sizes of eco-friendly reusable bags accommodate any and all packing, organizing and traveling needs. We love having the two+two families “two children” part of HANDMAKERY!
A proud + beaming artist just after she had filled her FROM THE HEART ART KIT and it was ready to travel to a child wishing for new art supplies! Each box was taken to our local Angel Tree Program, where boxes were added into gift bags and gifted! Thank you to the seventeen HANDMAKERY Families that donated art supplies to gift and a BIG thank you to each artist that gave from the heart, something special that they had created on their own! Also a huge thank you to Cresta Stewart and the Carbondale Rotary Club for heading-up + organizing + dedicating tons of time and energy to this fabulous project, that benefited so many local children!
If you are looking for another fabulous idea and an all hands-on art making blog! My art friend, Meri Cherry, has a fabulous post on Art Gift Baskets and What to Put In Them for another take on gifting art supplies which I absolutely LOVE! Let us know if you decide to create one of your very own for a special Valentine! xo
Our 2014/2015 SCHOOL YEAR {HANDS-ON + MIXED-MEDIA) ART WORKSHOPS are up and running! Session I led the way with our workshop: HANDMADE little ENTREPRENEUR designed for artists 6 – 9 years of age! Shown above, are logos dreamed + designed + created by each artist in our workshop for their individual art + small business, in which they sold their handmade goods in a pop-up shop + mini-market!
In this six-week workshop we focused on small business upstart and crafting handmade goods! Our last day included friends + family joining in for a pop-up shop + mini-market, shown above! Website home pages + logos + product packaging were displayed, business cards were given out, and one-of-a-kind handmade goods were sold! It was truly an amazing experience for everyone involved! Thinking back to my childhood, I will never forget being involved in our school mini-market and spending summer days creating little businesses with my sister and selling various handmade goods! Growing up we were lucky to have an arts and craft store at biking distance. Most of our money was spent at the arts and crafts shop, probably more than we earned. My childhood is filled with memories of crafting lots of handmade goods, anywhere homemade worry dolls, to leather + concho belts, to elastic + fabric hair ties, to sewn bags and more!
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