Sunday, July 14, 2013

RECAP :Handmade U Fourth Semester - Class with Dawn DeVries Sokol




Day 2 of Handmade U - Spring 2013

After our fun welcome dinner and vendor night we had a full day class Friday with the talented Dawn DeVries Sokol.  You know her from her many fun Doodle Books.  She had a new release Art Doodle Love and each student received one as a part of the goodie bag!  It is a fun doodle starter book for those of us that stare at a blank page and FREEZE!  Check it out, it's on sale at Amazon as of this post.


We all were excited to get our ART on!  As you'll see we all had our official Handmade U T-shirts on too for our class photo.  We like to be comfy for our crafting!  Plus why worry where the paint might splatter?!

Here is my table space...clean for the moment...not to last long...




The class was a Doodlicious Tape-bound Book that began with the kit above.  Dawn had brought along cereal boxes, dog treat boxes, cardboard, etc.  This was to be the base of journal.  


We started by learning a bit about Dawn's process.  

We collaged using scraps of ephemera, I just pulled out all my swap goodies from the night before and had MORE than enough fun things to choose from.  Here is what my first layer looked like...


I loved how Dawn showed us how to start with a base then to keep adding more and more layers....I always feel bad covering up a layer I just worked to create...I mean you don't see all the detail anymore?!?....then once the next layer goes down you start to see something wonderful forming...a work of art you couldn't have planned in one try!  So here goes....we also learned a little about color choice...she showed us how not to mix colors together that end up as BROWN and MUDDY...unless you like the muddy look, but I was happy to hear how to avoid that!



Here are a few of the attentive students :)


Then we all chose our colors from my tote of paint and the colors Dawn brought along!


I was pretty happy with how mine was coming together...as you can see here I was still sad to cover up the cool ephemera that I had laid down first...but don't worry I get over it later!


Of course Dawn's was look A.MAZING.


Shelley and Jennifer were finger painting away...they both made beautiful books!


Jayne and Tamatha's also came out so cute!


There is just something about paint all over your fingers!


Next putting the pages into the cover with TAPE!


We used an assortment of masking tapes, duct tape, washi tape, etc. to add pages to our book.

Dawn brought some of hers tapes to share, and nearly all the students had a pile of their own!


They make such fun colors and prints of duct tape these days, hot pink was Dawn's choice.


Then we just added pages and pages to the book.


This is how my cover was coming together..


Of course I had to add some of the mustache duct tape....why wouldn't I?


After we all had our pages in and were at a place to start doodling, Dawn gave us some prompts to start us working.  Here we were to create a Doodle Quilt...


One of the others was to create Doodle Lines...


All in all this was a FANTASTIC Class!!  Just look at all these fabulous journals!  Each one unique to the special students we have at Handmade U!


Thanks again Dawn for such a FUN class, so happy to have you as an Alum of Handmade U!  


XOX Rachel

Friday, May 10, 2013

Fifth Semester of Handmade U - Sign-up NOW!

Hi Everyone,

I know 4th Semester just wrapped up, but the fun never ends here in Omaha NE!! Fifth Semester will be held Oct 3- 5th, 2013 in downtown Omaha once again.

Please visit www.handmadeu.com to Sign up NOW! Limited space is available.

We have two amazing teachers coming!!

Stephanie Ackerman!



Stephanie has a ton of fun in store for us!



So excited to doodle, carve & stamp and stitch!!



Lexi Grenzer!



I am so ready to get over my fear of being a terrible solderer, with Lexi here I am confident that I'll be making pendants like no body's business! This class is for those that have never soldered to those that are pros!



Sign up today! Space is limited. If you see we are sold out please email me to be added to our wait list!!

See you in Omaha this Fall!!

-Rach

A RECAP of Fourth Semester of Handmade U!




Fourth Semester RECAP!!




Our Fourth Semester began at the Hilton Garden Inn on Thursday night for our Welcome Dinner!  The space is amazing with lots of natural light and windows to open!


Lots of goodies to welcome the gals!


Name Tags were School Pennants and the stars represented each semester the ladies attended of Handmade U.  Shelley has attended all Four so far :)


The Students got to know each other over dinner, followed by Nothing Bundt Cakes :)  YUM!


After Dinner we all shopped at Vendor Night!  Lots of fun things!





Once we all shopped til we dropped we exchanged our swaps!  We had an ephemera swap, a handmade envelope swap and a one on one vintage box full of ephemera.  WOW did we have some fun looking at all the amazing boxes!


Julie got this amazing Cream Crackers tin from Jennifer.  Very cool!


Each gal picked a color theme that her partner used to fill up the box!  Michelle put together the above RED vintage jewelry box full of goodies for Laurel.


This Yellow Tin was Fabulous put together by Mollie!


A Green Box


This Red little box full of Red and Turquoise items was put together lovingly by Julie for Jennifer.




Kadee put together these AMAZING packets of ephemera for all us in the swap!  We were so sad she had to cancel at the last minute!  But hope to see her at another semester soon!


Michelle's ephemera swaps!  She's got a wonder stash of good stuff!!


Envelopes!! 


More envelopes!!  WASHI TAPE!


More to come soon!!!

-Rach

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Handmade U Spring Just Over a Month AWAY!!

Hi All-

Our fourth semester of Handmade U is just over a month away. I am getting so excited to see all the Alumni coming back and all the Freshmen coming for their first semester.



Our instructors are busy preparing for their day-long classes!

Our deadline to register for the remaining spots is March 17th! The Hilton Garden Inn is the location of our event in Omaha. They are offering HU students a special rate until March 4th. Reserve you room and register soon!!

Treat yourself to a weekend of learning new techniques, enjoying the Old Market of Omaha, NE, and meeting new friends!!




Hope to see you in Omaha in April!!

-Rach